Saving the scent of summer

Summer came early to the south of Sweden this year. So today, about two or three weeks to early I had to start the lavender “harvest” to save the scent of summer. I love lavender. The scent, the color and the way it draws bees and bumble-bees to my garden. I make small lavender “pillows” and bags every year to put in my chest of drawers and the scent helps me to get through the dark winter months. Today I had so much lavender ( and still more to gather) so for fun I made a lavender mobile to hang in my garden.

I am not the only one in love with lavender

Some of my "harvest"

Now I have a few weeks to make the pillows before the lavender is dry.....


My lavender mobile

Summer house

Me and my youngest daughter have been on a mini vacation to the beautiful little island Styrsö in the archipelago outside Gothenburg. We had five days of shell seeking and crab fishing and sitting on cliffs watching the sun set in the ocean like a big orange. It was just what I needed after a hectic period at work. Styrsö is a small island with mostly old wooden houses and large gardens full of roses and jasmine. When you walk through the small alleys in the evening the scent is overpowering.

The crab fishing was great fun. My daughter spent a whole day lying on her stomach on the pier fishing crabs with seamussles on a string. Her shriek of delight mixed with terror echoed over the whole island when she caught the first one! The terror was soon overcome and she held the rest of the crabs in her hand before letting them back in to the sea.

I fell in love with the houses. They were all a carpenter’s delight! So when I got home I wet and needle felted a picture of the house we stayed in.

It will be a lovely memory along with the shells that we picked and the stones polished smooth by the water.