Summer with light nights, singing and dancing

Dearest blogg readers,

What happened in your peak of summer?
Did you celebrate summer solstice?
See any midsummer fairies?
Met the bear up in bear country?
I wish I did.
At least we saw bear poop in the forest.

Leo sniffing out big shit.

Right now, lovely August is covering us under her wings.

What do you wing?
What's now, what's created now?

I'm working every day with creative writing.
Not so fast today, because I struggle with a cold and fever.
So I go with the flow.
Gathering thoughts, pinning down some pictures from my dreams.
Taking small notes.
The dog needs walks and I marvel at the jungle I'm living in.
In the linden trees thousands of honey bees
sing their song.
I brought my tuning fork with me to listen carefully
to what notes they sing.
Soon this blooming is over for this year.

Living now.
Visioning forward. 
Learning from what happened.


Here's a little retrospect what happened in June-July.

My cd Vida was released on Spotify in the middle of the summer riddle.

Thank you photographer Maja Tekla Jonsson!

Midsummer light nights. Picture taken at 23.39:

Summers journey stop #1 was to dance boogie woogie in Herräng. And of course some lindy hop and blues dance and balboa too. Oh what a lovely week! We are so blessed. My daughter and I in a camping tent and spending day and night to dance.

The journey continued to the vast forests and hills and valleys where I come from. I was lucky to spend some time with my scythe, visiting goats on a mountain farm, fäbod, and walking to the top of the world.

My scythe.

Making traditional messmör.

In the turning of July into August we were blessed with a blue moon and Irmelin performed at Urkult Festival in the high north. There I had the most amazing birthday celebration and enjoyed it very much to welcome a new turning point in my life.

Nämforsen stone carvings from the time of the first people.

Ylva Varik artistry.

Att vara tant är att få göra vad fan man vill.

To be an old lady is to be allowed to do what the *#-/* you want.

My antennas are up in the air. Some questions are going to be investigated.
Some lyrics are going to be written.
Some more music will be transformed from the dreamed into reality.
Some future journeys are going to be planned according to the golden map of the inner landscape.


Come rain come shine, life takes us on an unpredicted journey.
Family, friends and love.
Some endings and some beginnings.
Reunions, a break-up.

I pray our hearts continue to be tender in the sometimes hard world we live in.
Let's be curious.
Let's walk in peace.

Eva

August 9, Tove Jansson birthday

With all my heart I want to celebrate the author and artist Tove Jansson who would have turned 100 years today. She's one of my house godesses.

Tonight we celebrate Tove and raise a glass of apple lemonade in her honour.

As a sign of my affection of her work and life I have been to the forest today and enjoyed an enchanted moment with my daugther and our little dog. Walking back home in the light rain of a summer afternoon. That we fancy rain might be one of the links back to Tove Jansson's writings. In her books the stormy and rainy weather is just making people more filled with energy and adventure.

I brought a water lily and some spicy scented myrica for Tove.

In my young years my mother used to read loud from Tove's books in the evenings. It was a casual and yet highly appreciated little reading ceremony we did every evening. Gathered around the kitchen table we sat listening to the advetures of all the creatures and animals living in Moomin valley.

Later on I read some of her other books. And books about her and her artistry. Once I have seen her paintings in an exhibition at Millesgården. Fantastic!

Earlier today I enjoyed going to the local second hand market. I found two green silk tops and a white lovely transparent blouse with embroidery on the back. The shirt is smaragd green, and that is a color for Tove, I think. In her writing Tove is very specific with colors.

I also found two tea cups of the kind my grand mother Agnes always used.

Eva

A musicians guide to coffé in town and out door

Advent Calendar #7
Have some gingerbread. There's a quote that says "eating gingerbread makes you kind."


Coffée was plenty today.
Coffé in the morning with a dear friend who is one of my muses, sometimes appearing with messages in night dreams.
Coffé at work with Myst during intense workshop with composer Roger Johansson.
Coffe at lunch break with Myst.
Coffé after work with Myst going out in the dark December evening in Göteborg city.

This evening I went to the yearly christmas concert my daughters school's music classes give. I totally give in to all the beautiful voices, young voices, their tenderness that grown up choirs might lack, the choice of some of the finest traditional christmas songs. This starts to be a very important tradition to go to their christmas concert in Johannebergs church.


Nothing compares to having coffé outdoor.
If you want to know how a Sami Coffé pro, Anne Wuolab, is preparing coffé, have a look at this: Nordic coffee culture


Sharing with you some sami fashion from Norway, redesign by Charlotte Nilsen.

My own fires

Last weekend of September.

I went to the forest, to the north, to the place where the stars in the sky is bright clear like sparkling ice, milky way mesmerizingly visible.

My clothes and hair is full of smoke from all the fires I made.
I’ve been writing, I’ve been reading.
I walked in the forest and picked berries for the winter.

I’ve been reminded in the fullest of how much we all have to live every day with all courage we can bring about. To live our lives deeply and lovingly. One member of the village, a middle aged man, decided to end his sorrows and find his peace in death. My thoughts goes to his family. The whole village is grieving at this loss, his big heart for animals, people, nature, theater and music. His uniqueness will be gone, but live in our memories. We cannot meet him in the local food store from now on. But what we can do is to live totally and make sure that no child or anyone will be left behind. I speak for myself and I will do my best to connect to the more silent, the few-worded personalities in the future. They have so much to tell, but it takes longer time for them to start to tell. This man carried lots of knowledge and good values.

We must create a true belonging for our young ones. Aren’t we all born to be part of a belonging? Where we will be seen and respected for who we are.

I will take this highly important message with me from my weekend in the north. Also the joy of seing the milky way and the stars, the freedom of walking in the forest, making my own fire. Tomorrow it’s the first day at my new job as youth leader in a nearby church, in the suburb of Hjällbo. This will be a golden opportunity to get in touch with our young ones in my own neighborhood, in my lovely Angered-hoods in Göteborg. The job is a part time job, 50% and I will still have many fruitful music collaborations going on. Irmelin, Myst, and my choir Lei-La plus more solo appearances.


Eva

Free play room

Yesterday at Spranglehall, Sölvesborg, nature reserve by the sea.
Music filled the sky.

Fritt spelrum.

Bring your own chair.

Irmelin singing.

Come dad, let's go have our hair in sun fire.

Solid as the rock.

Rooted.

Delighted.

Love is in the air....

Cheek to cheek

Time to sleep a little. Eva

By the lake

The third and last photo session for the songbook was made yesterday. By the lake Delsjön close to Göteborg we set up our little camp base, being proactive against rain. No rain fell at all wich was lucky, and we got good clouds with a small sun beams now and then. Perfect light conditions!

And the team, oh how I love them. Janne photographer, Gabriella, graphic designer, and Eva, stylist. Because they all share so much of their care, love, laughter and good connection with people. It made us all prepared to give everything, and the models of the day created magic infront of the camera. Thank you our lovely models, Erik, Andreas, Lena and Håkan.

Eva is fixing the kravatt again, and again, and again..... Andreas and Erik our models in the morning-session.

Coffé in the forest is always great. Breakfast actually.

Janne our photographer.

Eva is styling Lena for the afternoon session.

Gabriella is fixing Lena's hair flower. The theme has been paper flowers the whole way through.

Preparations always take the most time.
Then when it was action in front of the camera we could witness a rare thing. Can you imagine something more beautiful than Håkan and Lena who got married years ago, now standing surrounded by water and forest, holding hands and talking secretly by themselves about their long life together. We couldn't hear, just see the most magic and caring touch between two souls, two hearts so twined together. I'm honuored to be present in this moment.

Our models have been so brave in all our 6 photos. We placed the models into scenery and staged the situation. Still they gave us all the magic, personality and connection that will shine through the photo's in the book.

I will not show anything here on the blogg that looks a bit alike the photo's Janne made. That will have to stay as a secret and be a surprice when the book is released.



Eva

Following the tracks of the trout

I've been a full day outdoor, by the sea and in the forest, invited by Sensus as a thank you for jobs I've done. So I say, thank you Sensus for a wonderful inspirational day! We had a guide with us, Anders Nicander, who knows almost everything about the life of the trout. A fish that in this time of the year leave the big sea, swim into the rivers, jump upwards waterfalls of the smaller streams and find their perfect places to mate and make new fish. About 10 people, not knowing each other since before, going out in the forest to spy on mating fish, that's also a way of spending a Friday, isn't it?
Temperature has to be perfect for the trout, waterlevels/amount of rain has to be perfect, the small stones on the bottom of the stream has to be perfect size. Isn't it a miracle somehow? That's also a reason not all fish of the population swim into the streams, some 10% stay in sea and do it next year instead, just in case the weather or nature for some reason would destroy the whole process one year. How does the fish know when to go?
Everytime I get this small insight in such a complicated eco-system, I just have to say: life is a miracle!

Yesterday was a day of many shades of grey. Perfect for some photographing. Our guide is a fish photographer for a fishers magazine, so he had a lot to tell how it is to try to catch a fish on photo. Many hours laying in the stream in a wetsuit it is...a rather contemplative thing actually. I'm glad I'm not doing his job thou.... I really tried to make a pic of a fish, and the result can be seen below. I have deleted many pics that is just showing water surface. There's a trout's fin crossing the surface in this one:
And I had the luck to see many trout! Big ones, playing ones. They easily see us, so we had to be very careful going close to the water. This means we had to crawl in the mud to the stream shore. But in the forest it's many things to look at.

The gateway to the sea:

Deer on farmland.



Warmest autumn-wishes from Eva

360° view and hight fright-lunch

Dreams are some days reality, in a very specific way. Dreams of my heart.

Säntis, one of the best hiking places to go in Switzerland. Mountains has always attracted me, they are so powerful and timeless. One word has been repeated a lot the whole day: amazing! The wonders of my life's adventure has now taken me here. I wouldn't have been here if I've never met my love.

Right on the top there's a small space for hikers to sit and enjoy the vast views. Like birds on a roof. The mountain Spitzeli sides fall steep on each side. It's having lunch under height fright, with a viwe of 360°, and side by side with my love. That's the way I like it most.
Sun was shining on the mountains the whole day, but lower lands was under the fog sea. Reminds me of one of the best chapters in Michael Ende's The never ending story.

Looking from Spitzeli towards Säntis.

To live fully 100%, that's what it's all about, isn't it?

Eva

Mera Färöarna

Utsikt från Knúkur, högsta toppen på Mykines:

Torkad fisk. Det smakar helt ok och är oerhört komprimerad näring. Men luktar som tetramin, fiskmaten som fanns för akvariefiskar i min barndom. Gul burk med brunt lock, någon mer som minns?

Fyren på Mykines.

Lunnefåglar.

Avfärd från Mykines.

Sitter nu på Vagar flygplats och väntar och väntar. P gr av vädret är alla flyg försenade. Kram från Eva.