Kära vänner i Norge,

Idag är mina tankar hos er och familjerna som drabbats. Ofattbara tragedier!

Dear friends in Norway,

Today my thoughts are with you and with the affected families. Unbelievable tragedies!

Helena

Summertime... 

... and the living is eeeeaaasy...

Dear readers, a HUGE thank you for all your lovely comments 

on my previous post. As I am currently away from home,

with only limited time at the computer, I am - still - rather

 invisible on your blogs, but very grateful and humble that

you still take the time to stop by mine.

These photos are from last week's "heat wave" in the UK,

when even the most frozen of souls must 

have been humming a merry tune...

The inviting sound of flip-flops

echoing down the street, T-shirt-less torsos

 flexing their wintery paleness...

(perhaps not as inviting a vision...)

Time for some Swedish cinnamon rolls in the sun!

I simply cannot get enough of pansies and violets this year! 

Charity shop bargain cup and tea pot seem to enjoy hosting these sweet little purple ladies.

 

Some readers might wonder if I live in some sort of over-styled universe all the time,
as more and more of my blog posts seem to show what may appear to some a very staged setting.
The answer is no, of course not.
Nor do I spend all my waking hours creating little still lifes
and arranging pansies to look their cutest.

However, as my work is freelance and I am fortunate enough to work a lot from home,
I can use my lunch break to potter about in the garden,
unleashing my creativity for a moment,
while my brain is processing whatever work task is on the agenda.

I am no painter, nor can I draw very well.
Many are the art forms that I do not master, not even a little, not at all.
However, I do believe we all have some artistic veins inside us that are begging to be nurtured,
and I really believe that in order to stay healthy, we need to explore that creativity,
find whatever artistic expression that carries our voice,
and allow for some playful experimenting.

With so many people living in poverty around the world
and with natural disasters and illness forcing them to focus all their attention on survival,
it may sound a little arrogant to talk about
"the need to explore our artistic voices to stay healthy".
The basic needs of survival are of course an obvious priority,
but if we are lucky enough to live in a safe place,
we may allow ourselves to explore our creativity,
to create beauty around us,
in whatever shape we see it.

For me, right now,
playing around with colours and materials,
flowers and small creative projects,
is both inspiring and therapeutic,
calming and energizing.

To me, decorating is a moment's meditation...

At the end of this very long blog post, 

my warmest regards to you all!

Helena

(Home-made cake stand from earlier this year. 

Twigs tied with jute string around a tall glass vase, 

to serve as a nature-inspired pot for an ivy (on the table).)

An anti-materialist defeat...

Inspired by some healthily non-materialist friends in Sweden, my ambition was to not return to the UK laden with new purchases. In a non-consumerism spirit, at least try to aim for recycled items if at all attempting shopping. Hm, success rate on that attempt? Sadly compatible to Sweden's Eurovision Song Contest results...

Sweden is absolutely swimming in beautiful accessories at the moment, and this candelabra in the garden centre chain of shops "Plantagen" looked exactly like the one I have been dreaming of for a long time. Shopping craving vs Anti-materialist efforts: One-Nil.

This beautiful little note book with the text "But he that dares not grasp the thorn, should never crave the rose", was a gift from Lotten, together with the lambs' ear egg in yesterday's blog entry and the sweet miniature bottles below, so they do not count in this little duel of values... The score: still One-Nil.

The more perceptive among you may have noticed a new member of the - I admit - extensive Swenglish cushion family, the C'est La Vie (C L V) cushion in the middle. Yes, guilty as charged. Indeed bought -for a surprisingly modest sum, but still bought - in a small shop in Uppsala.

Oh bother. Final score not looking very impressive. Shopoholic cruisade: Two - Antimaterialist success rate: Nil. Zero. Not a sausage. Nada.

Inside, the battle between the good values and the girl liking her "pretties" goes on. I shall try harder next time.

Vitamin C, in a skirt...

Back from a gorgeous week in Sweden, where - as usual - I only managed to see a fraction of all the lovely people I would have loved to catch up with. However, a few precious moments were wrapped, folded and gently placed in the mental suitcase to be brought home to the UK...

One of these very special encounters was with a new friend, a rather extraordinary blogger, creator and artist, whose personality permeates every word and every image in her blog, and whose bubbly spirit in real life - as well as in her blog - works as an energizing dose of Vitamin C...

The first image above may have given some of you a clue, as Lotten is the lambs' ear lady of all lambs' ear ladies, at least in my rather lambs'-ear-people-limited world. Her home is every bit as spectacular as it is portrayed on her blog, and Lotten herself, every bit as warm and inspiring.

Some of you who may already have read Lotten's kind words on her blog about our encounter, may perhaps find this public exchange of praise a little "much", a little too much of a "club for internal admiration". I can understand that. Perhaps to a degree, that is what "life style" and interior decorating blogging is, sort of a club for internal admiration. But perhaps that is not all bad. Most of us read blogs displaying and expressing images or words about a shared interest. Most of us find inspiration in doing so, otherwise we would not do it. Most of us leave positive comments on other people's blogs only when honesty is holding our pens and when the words are sprung from our hearts. And to me, as a contrast to so many dark news stories and negative world energy in the shape of death and destruction, this generous, positive, strengthening blog community brings some beautiful light to anyone wanting to join in. Because that is the beauty of this "club". No membership cards needed, no auditions, no restrictions.

So, having just sung the ode to the "power of love", I will return to Lotten once more here. Because, you see, she may talk about enjoying spreading cow dung around her plants, but her own rays of light and laughter are far more far-reaching than her own garden. And I, for one, am grateful for that.

Tomorrow I will show more of the things that came with me back in my physical suitcase from Sweden. Hopefully I will also be able to catch up on missed blog reading... Until then, light-filled greetings to you all!

Time...

Dearest blogreaders,

Since I started blogging a few months ago, my ambition has been to post something every day, and with the exception of a few days when my laptop had crashed, The Swenglish Home has indeed made itself heard in the blog universe on a daily basis. The joy of reading lovely comments of old readers and new have fuelled my efforts, and some fellow bloggers have become friends, with whom the daily exchange of thoughts and kindness brings joy and positive energy.

Lately, especially with the glorious weather ushering young and old outside, and with the garden out-shouting the interior of the house in its need for attention, trying to keep up the daily blogging is proving rather tricky. Adding to that work, craft projects and a family, all moderately or profoundly neglected recently, well, a change is called for.

So, dear readers, from now on my blog entries might not appear every day, and my comments on your blogs may be found more scarcely, because I am taking some time to catch up with loved ones and with life, and to...

... blow dandelions!

( I am very fond of clocks, scruffy by time and neglect or scruffified to look the part, and the one above hangs at the top of the stairs to the first floor. The ocean of dandelions above could be found a few weeks ago just above the village of Castle Combe - whose church can be seen in the distance.)

To Bangkok with love...

Yesterday a very kind neighbour brought me

these exquisite orchids from Bangkok...

Today, as I admire their beauty,...

... I can't help but feel that my turning them this way and that...

... feels a little like an insult to the people of Bangkok,

whose worries are on a different scale...

So today, I will take a moment...

...to really appreciate what I have got...

Today, I will take two moments or three...

... to think about the people of Bangkok, with love...

(The vase is wrapped in pages from an old Turkish book.)

Ett tack and a thank you...

Thank you.

Thank you to those of you who visit my blog regularly and leave kind comments. Every little message is like a gift-wrapped present, waiting patiently for me to impatiently unwrap when I return to my computer.

Thank you to those of you who take the time to send me lovely e-mails with heart-warming words. These may be brief encounters, perhaps just the two e-mails exchanged across the globe, but they are all precious. Being seen is nice.

Thank you to those of you who find my blog interesting enough to become a follower of it. Nice to meet you. Enchanté. Trevligt att träffas!

Thank you to those of you who simply pop in for a quick look, perhaps by mistake or on your way somewhere else. It is nice to see you here. Do stop by again if you want.

The world of blogging is a strange and splendid one. I still feel like the new kid on the block. I have just moved in, and every now and then I say hello to a neighbour and stop to admire their curtains, or perhaps their lily pond. Every day is an exciting new day in this unusual little micro cosmos and I am intrigued. Delighted and intrigued.

Thank you.