Ex-voto from Napoli

This is one thing that you come across rather often in Naples, or Napoli, in southern Italy. It is called an ex-voto, and if you ever visit the beautiful city do not forget to take a look at the chruch of Gesù Nuovo.

It has a lot of these, ex-voti. An ex-voto is an offering to a saint or a divinity. You can buy these in shops in churches and all over the city of Naples. This one in silver is an offering for someone that need help with a throat, neck or mouth. You could be sick and want to get better or just get a better singing voice really. In Gesù Nuovo you can see a lot of these ex-voti.
Here is a link to another photo from the church, not my photo thu, but you can se many more of them here:
http://flic.kr/p/7SjAdu

Incense outside

One thing I really love is the profume of incense, but it could also be very intense, so I also use it outside as you can see here.

And it is not only give me a "nice smell" outside, but also scare away all the mosquitos and other flies.

A peace dove

This is my mother´s stuff again, love her watercolor paintings, and this one is from her religious collection.

Maybe it is peace dove, on the way with some good news. Or... It is whatever you want it to be.
The painting is somewhat cropped.

Berså by Stig Lindberg

This is just ine can of a set of a dinner set in ceramic made by designer Stig Lindberg, in the series called Berså by Gustavsberg.

We are now selling it since it is really not our style, but it has some charm I must admit. It is regardes as an antique piece now days, but I used it as a teenager I remember when my mother bought it.

Blackcurrant for dinner

Just went down to my garden to pick some homegrown,organic blackcurrants for dinner. Together with some greek youghurt and muesli it was amazing.

Here they are on the bush, ready to pick... Later I will use them for jam and marmelade.

At Knivsta station

From the beautiful country of Malta to my little "town" of Knivsta here in Sweden. It is not really where I live but it is where I was brought up and went to school.

This little house on the photo is the old station house. Not in use anymore, but just for the moment is is used as a brewery of a very local beer, Train Station Brewery. But the train passes as usual, to Stockholm or to Uppsala.

Church of Mellieha in Malta

As you maybe have seen before, I have been in Malta recently. A tiny island and country between Italy and Tunisia. I was staying in Mellieha bay, at Seabank hotel.

But I naturally visited the small city of Mellieha, and the church there on the cliff. It was build in the 1880:s and all the stones was transported to the place by local peasants.

Here you have the view of the church when you valk up the hill from the bay.

For all of you that lost a loved one!

Today I will also sent a memory to all of you that have lost a loved one, whereever you are and who ever you lost.

This is for you! Thinking especially of all the victims in Oslo and Uyøya. And I will always remember my mother Gunvor, father Bertil and uncle Åke that have passed avay some years ago.
An earlier blog entry with my mothers helping hands:
http://agnetanisbeth.blogspot.se/2012/07/helping-hands.html

Pizza party

Making pizza in your own garden is really wounderful, you can make it just as you want it and it taste really good!

I have written about this wood burning owen before in this blog, and here you can se how it looks when I use it for a pizza party, la vera pizza forno a legna!!

Read my earlier entry about pizza here:

http://agnetanisbeth.blogspot.se/2011/10/homemade-pizza-al-forno-legna.html

Helping hands

Have to take this photo and blog about it a day like this, tomorrow Sunday july 22,  2012 it is a year since the massacre in Oslo and Utøya. And then I have to read about a mad man killing people in a movie threatre in USA.

This is a piece of art from my mother Gunvor, two hands on a cross, helping hands. We need each other, always.

By the water

Some days ago I was at the Krusenberg slott, a castle outside Knivsta, close to the water. The same water that brings you all the way in to Stockholm and then to the big sea.

Krusenberg is now a nice hotel.  This above is - a jetty - where you arrive at when travelling with a boat. Something I did not, I used my car.

Here is another scene from the same place, beautiful isn't it? It was a little to cold for me to take a bath, but the waters are clean.

Berries to be

Redcurrants to be, they are still a bit green, but soon I will make marmelade and other lovely things.

Here they are in another photo, more close up.

An soon I will have my lovely apples to pick from my garden, all organic of course. But this is what they look like a week ago.

In some weeks time, this is going to be an apple pie or something else.

A very Swedish lilly

This lilly is calles Krollilja in Swedish, and it is growing wild in my garden, they have a lovely perfule but they tend to stain your hands, clothes and table if you bring them in.

Thay are called Lilium Martagon or maybe Turk´s cap lilly.  I have them in diffrent shades of lilac and pink.

Toast with Chanterelles

Yesterday I ate this toast for dinner, and lunch... Really gooood. I love Chanterelles, nice little yellow mushrooms picked here in Sweden. Not by me thou.

Bought them by a lady that knows the forrests better than me. I am so afraid to get lost. But we are all free to pick mushrooms and berries in the woods here. The toast is made of just the Chanterelles and butter, salt and pepper with just a spoon om cream. Served with a salad of rocket, rucola.

Different shades of green

Swedish summer is so great, even if it's not always sunny. We have all these different shades of green - everywhere you look.

This is my country in summer, one day in my garden. Look at all the different colors.

Raku bowls

As I have told you many times before, my mother Gunvor loved to work with different techniques, as she was a  potter from the beginning, then she started with all kinds of art.

These are ceramic bowls made in the Raku style, a Japanese style, hand shaped from low firing temperatures, then you remove the piece from the owen still hot and then cooled of in a bin with combustible material.

Green grass, red barn and white flowers

The withe flowers on the bushes in this pictures is Jasmine, they have av enchanting perfume. The green is the grass and it is so lush. The tree to the right is another color of green.

And then we have the rad old barn in the middle, most barns are painted in this red color here in Sweden, called Falu rödfärg. And then, I almost forgot, the blue sky above.
Falu Red the color is called, in English, and it is originated from the copper mine in Falun.

Eat in Stockholm

Eat in Stockholm - it's a new restaurant ine the Swedish capital, it is inside the shopping Mall "Mood", it is a Asian style place with both cheaper lunches and more expensive dinners.

Then you have this Tapas bar and restaurant Boqueria in the same place, you could eat just a bite here, and drink some good Cava with it. This place is still in the mall "Mood".

I pass Mood every day on my way to - and - from work, and took some photos for you.

Pot of concrete

It look like it was made of stone, the big pot of concrete that you can see here in the picture, with flowers in it.

This year there is red Geraniums in the old, antique pots. And they are really heavy to move when winter comes.

And now lunch

Are you hungry? Here is my lucnh, american pancakes my way. Sometimes it's sooo good to eat pancakes, not so unhealthy at all. It all depends what you eat how you combine it.

I ate them with fresh strawberries that I mushed with a little vanilla sugar, then I put some blueberries on top, easy and very good.

Cat inside

And here is my cat Kisse inside, wanting to go out. He love to be in one of the windows, and chek out what is happening outside. When he is not there.

But on the other hand, today he did not want to go out at all, it is raining...

And here is a story of a cat outside:
http://agnetanisbeth.blogspot.se/2012/07/cat-outside-and-cat-inside.html

Cat outside

I have only one cat, Kisse, the one I showed you here on the bloog earlier. But I also have a stray cat outside that comes for food almost every day.

That black and white one is also very friendly and when I take a walk, the cat goes with me. Or like here, lay in front of me.

Here is a story of a cat inside..
http://agnetanisbeth.blogspot.se/2012/07/cat-inside.html

My mother's copper cup

Here is another thing made by my mother, a cup or maybe a mug in copper, all hand made as usual. It is soo beautiful and simple.

This is not really art, just handicraft, and a very good one. My mother Gunvor loved to try all differnt kind of materials.

My forest

Maybe it's not really my forest but I go here often, it is so relaxing. But I have a problem with finding my way out of the forest, so I have to be careful not to gest lost....

Here you have a big pine tree and a bush with wild roses, among other things.

Wild roses

Love all wild flowers, especially if they are beautiful like these roses, Rosa Canina I think it is called in English.

In the autumn they give us some lovely fruits - Rose hip, not to eat directely but to cook and make a sweet soup of, we call it Nyponsoppa.

Love in sculptures

Love in art, by my mother Gunvor again. This ones are sculptures she made some years ago, all about love - and kissing!

These sculptures in ceramic, as you can see.

In some way the couples are integrated, like they are one.

Swedish summer night

This photo is taken at 10 in the late evening, but it still light outside. This is the famous Swedish summer night's, the bright night's people are talking about.

And here you have another photo taken at the same time, really beautiful isn't it?

And look at all the different shades of green there is.

Blue and white in a vase

Today in my dining room. The white ones are peonies and they have a lovely perfume. The blue ones I don't really know what thay are called, there is two different ones I have in my garden.

Blue and white go well together. The most important thing is that they look lovely in a vase.

And here you have som lovely jasmines, they have such a lovely perfume.

Apples to be

In one month or more, these small tings will become big, sweet apples. This photo is from today - in my garden.

Just love these apples, they are from a very old apple tree, as you all can see. Will take more photos later.
Here you have an earlier blog entry about my apple garden:
http://agnetanisbeth.blogspot.se/2012/04/old-apple-tree.html
And here another blog entry when the garden was full of lovely apple blossoms:
http://agnetanisbeth.blogspot.se/2012/05/before-apples.html