I’ve been wandering around a good deal, and have got back to good internet connectivity. Here are two of the very interesting places I visited in the Skane area of Sweden, thanks to and her affectionate hospitality....

We decided to start with visiting and at the stuga (cottage) they'd rented out in Tomelilla. I dragged along, too. Imagine being in Sweden and not attending an LJ meet!

Here are Caro and Nina, who brought colour into my life when they visited me at Bangalore earlier!

The cottage actually used to be the stables, and the weather-vane bears that out:

The cottage is well-decorated and comfortable inside, too: A cute loft: A cute staircase to the loft: The old stable windows look wonderful: Some pleasant modern windows, too: Nice pics on the wall: We sat outside in the garden, scoffing doughnuts and swilling coffee: No one realized that there was a spider on the sun-umbrella over our heads: ...so I didn't tell them, either! I liked this whale-in-the-wood just behind us: Manolo is a great raconteur, with a great sense of humour. I wandered around the garden while the others chatted, and was enchanted by what I saw: This seemed to be the main house: Another house nearby: The view from there: The flowers in the garden included hollyhocks Pelargoniums (can I forget that I call LJ user="idahoswede" PQ, or Pelar Queen?) Daisies and roses: Snapdragons: Wild flowers delighted me, too: this, told me, is Valerian (Valeriana officinalis) ...that is often used in preparations to help people sleep; it was also used as perfume in the past. Given its sweet scent, this is not surprising! Bees and other insects were at their pollination work, amongst the flowers: This barn had a Swallows' nest, with the parents flying in and out: We went for a walk to a very old, ruined church nearby, which is still sometimes used for weddings: This Muscovy Duck was sitting in the stream that we crossed: A White Wagtail sat on top of the barn: We crossed fields of asparagus and horse-radish: A railway track, too... Local trains are purple! We came to the church: It lay, dreaming in the sunshine: The explanatory plaque was, of course, in Swedish! The gates were hospitably open: The very lichen on the rocks seemed mellow with age: Narrow, slit-windows spoke of defence against marauders, when a church was also a citadel: Photography was mandated! A pigeon seemed to be one of the present inhabitants: What scenes had these windows looked down upon? Now, like the eyes of a departed man, they were shut... The church did look like a face that was exclaiming at its own chequered past: Overhead soared a European Black Kite: The men were probably discussing how the hot weather was good for a beer! Here we are, photographing on our way back: The cattle made a pretty scene: Nina wanted to get to know the cattle better! </lj-cut> I photographed my friends: After Tomelilla, we were going to Ystad... But that's the next post!