Last Saturday we went to Lauters (still at Fårö island) at a countryside auction. You know those charming ones with lots of old things - crap as well as real gold findings.

We love to just stroll around and have a look at the stuff - you never know what you’re gonna see there - as well as the wonderful surroundings.

This below is the nearest neighbor house to the auction. An old friend to our farmer lives there. I just love this house.

I love spotting old objects you haven’t seen in ages. Like this old sledge below.

…or what about this old row boat…? Could come out handy with this rainy summer we have with floodings here and there! *giggles*

I always love all old cofferts. I wish it were practical to have an old one when out traveling. Wouldn’t you want one with such a history rather than a brand new one?

Then I spotted the obligatory old picture of the Swedish royals when we had King Oscar II. So common in the old days. I’ve seen many different ones during the years.

I wanted to bid on two objects: two different bicycles, but we didn’t wait for them to be announced - it could take hours.

First this red bicycle that were in good condition and could be used at once. We wouldn’t mind having bicycles here at the island.

The other one were in really bad shape, so it would require a lot of renovation before using it - especially new tires, but still it were something with it.

It’s the one in the front of the photo. I so wonder what it would tell me if it could speak…

As the weather has been so far, it was no loss that we didn’t stay to bid on them… I don’t fancy cycling through water!

All Sweden have had heavy rain the latest 24 hours, with floodings at a lot of places. The worst place were in Borlänge where it came 85 mm.

Here at Gotland island it has been up to 50 mm “only” and stormy as h*ll. I refused to go to the outdoors toilet yesterday evening. I found a bucket. I say no more.

Maybe we should have bid on that rowboat after all…. *giggles*

Have a look at the Fårö weather report at yr.no.

Lifecruiser ♥ Countryside Auctions
 

The farmers sheep has been cut nekkid (lol) now while we’re here. It was a new guy clipping them, earlier it has been a woman actually.

This guy was faster than the former clipper, he had another technique - which he had learned in England somewhere. It did look so easy when he tipped - and clipped them.

If you watch the slideshow you can see how he has tipped the sheep and clipped it.

The weather has not improved, so I almost feel like taking all that sheep wool and create something warm to wear…

Luckily I bought a red sweat suit yesterday which is brightening up and keeping me warm (indoors) right now while the rain is pouring down!

Lifecruiser ♥ Sheep
 

Old faithful vacation homes at the farm we’re staying, now retired. It was just a couple of years ago since hubbys daughter stayed in the green one. She loved it!

So old, so darn cool - don’t you agree….?

Lifecruiser ♥ Vintage Vacation
 

We saw dogs in all shapes and sizes when waiting in the ferry line in the warm summer weather. I wish I had taken a photo of them. The most striking I noticed where Dalmatians and Grand Danois.

Above you can see Mr Lifecruiser waiting at the ferry line. The ferry in the end of the photo.

The vacation mood did struck as soon as I sat my foot on the island, so I haven’t felt like starting up my computer at first and then when I wanted to, we had a major power failure that took some time to fix.

We had very nice weather at first, then the cold front did hit the island and it has been very, very cold. Icing winds. Today we’ve had rain all day long, something that is not that usual for this island. We’ve heard that all Sweden have had bad weather - as well as Norway.

I hope they’re right when they say that the heat wave from Russia is on the way to Sweden - I have had double pants on me today! *giggles*

We have been around the island to check that everything is the same. Small changes here and there, but not so big ones. One thing: the cafe is not run by Selene and Paco this year, because they’re expecting their second child in July. We’ll miss them very, very much. Such a lovely family.

The days passes by very relaxed with some small chat moments with the people on the farm - the same people arrives here year after year, just like we do, because it’s such an awesome farm. The Norwegians arrived early this morning.

We’ve been back twice times to Fårösund - at the northern tip of the island Gotland, to shop some things we needed and to do something while the weather was bad.

There will come more soon, especially photos.

Happy summertime!

Lifecruiser ♥ Fårö

How suitable this drink are, right now. You see, this is a drink I had at the bar at Lauters at our summer paradise island Fårö last year. I will not tell you what it is in it, simply because I don’t remember! *giggles*

I do remember though that tomorrow, Thursday 2 July, we’re going to Fårö for 4 weeks!!!! I’m in the middle of the packing. The summer don’t really start until we’re going there.

Yes, we will have internet connection there, but if it’s hot weather, we’ll mostly be at Sweden’s best beaches playing with our toes in the warm sand…. or the Baltic Sea…. ah….

Do you have any drinks from somewhere in the world to share with us? Read How to participate in Drinks ‘Round the World Meme.

This is all about having fun together, so you can just show us a photo or write something - it’s up to you. If you’re making your drink while writing, drinking while commenting: even better….

Leave a link to your drink post in the comments, so we all can come over and have a sip!

Be sure to mingle - and please be aware of the fact that we have different time zones, so be sure to check back later too.

Let’s have FUN this summer! Cheers my dears…

Lifecruiser ♥ Summer Drinks
 

Deia is a truly picturesque little town up in the Serra de Tramuntana mountain, which we fell in love with at first sight. It’s said to host many artists, painters and other celebrities. It’s also there the world famous La Residencia Hotel is, owned by Richard Branson once upon time.

Even Valldemossa has some celebrities, Michael Douglas own a house nearby and can be spotted in Valldemossa from time to time. Otherwise it’s known since Frederic Chopin and his lover, the writer George Sand lived there.

So did we see any celebrity? We’re not sure. We did see a very beautiful woman drive by in a cab in Deia, followed by a car filming her driving on the roads there, so we guess that had to be someone famous - or soon to become famous.

I’ll not say much more about those places, I’ll let the photos speak for themselves - even though photos never can show how it was to experience it live.

Those doors have seen many people coming and going. If they only could tell us their history…

Lifecruiser ♥ Deia & Valldemossa
 

The festival were called Inti Raymi - The sun festival: “Everybody joined under the same sun”. This was the first time for this festival and such a multicultural performance which we never have seen before in Stockholm!

There were songs and dancing from all over South America including a very special cultural integration performance with the inka and dancing to the sun gods honor - among many other scenes.

Sitting there in this very Swedish park seeing this cultural event so far from our country did feel a bit unreal, but also very, very interesting!

It also gave me visions of South America and especially the Andes mountains. Suddenly this park scene felt not beautiful enough for these scenes.

It’s great that this cultural exchange between our countries has started and we all want to see this festival become an annual event.

Lifecruiser ♥ South America
 

Sounds crazy? Yes, we thought so too and that’s why we went there to check it out. We welcome all such wonderful ideas. Really creative. It required a blog post, right?

The bar was exactly right: our hot summer weather demands drinks - and the bar were placed in convenient nose height.

The snacks obviously smelled delicious because most of the dogs followed the smell right into the shop where they were placed.

Not so surprising, since the were Canapes composed by the wellknown restaurant Sturehof’s star Chief Felix Netzell.

But surprisingly enough, the dogs seemed to be more interested in the snacks and to have doggy bags with them, than to actually have a drink at the bar….

Don’t you think like me: that they had preferred to have the Champagne (or Beer?) instead of the water drinks? *giggles*

Lifecruiser ♥ Dogs
 

My visit there this Thursday were in much more peaceful manner - only filching photos of some of the beautiful flowers over there! *giggles*

Or see the bigger version of Lifecruiser Hasselby Garden slideshow at Flickr.

Lifecruiser ♥ Hässelby
 

Hässelby Castle were built in the 17th century by the Swedish kings architect Simon de la Vallee for the owner Karl Bonde, who often were seen together with Sweden’s national poet, Carl Michael Bellman. Known for his songs and big influence of Swedish music.

Karl Bonde’s family owned it until 1931 when Stockholm City bought it plus the belonging land to build the suburbs Vällingby and Hässelby - where I grew up.

My funniest memory of this castle is the first time me and one of my childhood friends should take a look inside the castle, at visiting time in the mid 70’s. First you had to listen to a piano concert, before the guiding around.

Neither one of us were any fans of classical music, we were about 13-15 years old and here he was, the extremely serious classic piano player, who really acted like Animal in the Muppet Show, hammering the piano like crazy man, with his hair shaking.

We did break down and started to giggle. There we were, the only youngsters with only grown ups, very serious looking audience staring harsh at us when giggling. And we just couldn’t stop.

You see, my friend had a VERY contagious laugh, so I decided to move away from here to be able to stop giggling. Only problem was: she followed!

Needless to say: we got kicked out of the castle! *giggles*

The small baroque garden were put back in it’s original style in the beginning of the 60’s, following the original drawings. When I saw it this Thursday though, I thought that it was not quite as well maintained as I remember it from the first half of the 70’s.

Oh, and why were not the fountains filled with water and turned on? I enjoyed them so much when I was a kid! I do hope it was just temporarily empty.

From 1995 the Finnish company Fazer AB started Hässelby Slott hotel and conference center and there is also a hostel in another building as well as a Spa.

Have a look at the other photos of the castle:

Lifecruiser ♥ Hässelby Castle