The Swenglish Home

noreply@blogger.com (Helena, The Swenglish Home) — Tue, 13 Mar 2018 23:53:00 +0000

With (a) spring in my step...

It has been a while.

A rather long while.

Blog intentions were present and willing.

Life threw me other things to do first.

And then one day I caved in to friends' insistence that I ought to try Instagram.

So I have been instagramming a bit. (You can find me at @helenabernald on Instagram.)

After months of hibernation, when I have occasionally placed a paw outside, in the vain (= desperate) hope for some spring vibes, it was not until today that I felt the air filled with hope and signs that spring is on its way.

So I have (a) spring in my step today.

And decided to welcome spring with some recycled, upcycled "Easter craft on a shoestring" (inspired by the very creative and crafty Helena at http://helenalyth.se/). Photos taken with my phone, so the quality is not brilliant, but you get the idea... :-)

I used egg shells from previous lunches, some leftover wall paint, the tiny satin ribbons you sometimes get in new T-shirts (the ones used to keep the T-shirt on its hanger), some small branches from a pile of cut down bushes nearby, and voilà, mini vases with a spring-y, Easter-y feel!

Wishing you all a lovely week!

Helena

noreply@blogger.com (Helena, The Swenglish Home) — Wed, 27 Sep 2017 08:18:00 +0000

September... with that spring feeling... ?!

Dear blog readers,

I hope you have had a lovely summer and that September and the reality of back-to-school/work did not hit you too hard... Perhaps you even welcomed it?

The leaves are beginning to change colour here in the UK and I find myself seeking out maples and other colour-generous autumn providers, just to see if they are "on fire" yet and marvel at nature's magic.

And then there is the odd surprise to brighten one's Tuesday. Like the garden of my son's saxophone teacher, which yesterday greeted us with a sea of small cyclamens. Photo snapped with my phone, just before I lay down and rolled around on this pink blanket. No, not really. But very nearly. Decorum is overrated, don't you think...? 😉

Wishing you a colourful, flower-rich week!

Helena

noreply@blogger.com (Helena, The Swenglish Home) — Fri, 30 Jun 2017 18:33:00 +0000

A summer postcard...

Oh, go on then, why not make it two...

Dartmouth Castle, dating back to the 1380s.

... from stunning Dartmouth on the coast of Devon here in the UK. These photos are from a couple of years ago and I long to go back. Should you find yourselves anywhere in the area, I urge you to visit this gorgeous spot on the on the western bank of the estuary of the River Dart. Stay in Dartmouth or across the water in Kingswear and take the small ferry across to have dinner in Dartmouth, enjoying the sunset on the water. Great sea view walks in the area and for those longing for white sails, there is the annual Port of Dartmouth Royal Regatta.

The countdown has started. Summer holidays, come, come!!!

Summer greetings,

Helena

noreply@blogger.com (Helena, The Swenglish Home) — Mon, 05 Jun 2017 14:08:00 +0000

What's for dinner..?

Oh dear. Not much, by the looks of it... ☺

But this is where dinner happens, when it happens. Prepared in the tiny kitchen at the back of the house, it is carried through a small "passage" and gobbled up at this Ebay bargain oak dining table.

On one side an IKEA bench, reasonably comfortable for a long meal with friends, and on the other side, oh-so-uncomfortable plastic stools. As this space is quite small, I prefer to have small stools rather than space-craving chairs, but for the sake of my family and friends, I hope I will soon find some more comfortable ones!

I do have a penchant for small bird details on kitchenware... (This bowl is a recent find at IKEA.)

The quarry-tiled floor in the dining room I believe is the original floor in this old worker's cottage and dates back more than a century. When I came across this old and rusty (army?) barrel, I thought it would make a nice side table to match the slightly "rougher" look of this room. An old floorboard, a jigsaw and a few pearls of sweat later, a table top was born and now hosts my bowl of proud orchids.

So, there we are, a small tour of my small dining room.

Now, time to start thinking about what to cook tonight!

All the best,

Helena

noreply@blogger.com (Helena, The Swenglish Home) — Thu, 25 May 2017 10:24:00 +0000

Fairytale feathers...

It is quite a crazy creation, don't you think? (Good crazy!) This blue beauty, our 'town bird'.

Yes, going for a stroll around our little town without stumbling over a peacock or five is actually quite an unusual thing. They live in the grounds of Corsham Court, the local Estate house, but often venture out into the streets, stopping for a casual rest on the side of the road, on top of a wall or in someone's garden...

Even as I write this, just after midnight, I can hear them calling, in that "tooting" voice I have become so accustomed to, yet still find so peculiar. How can these, the prettiest of birds, make that noise? Fairytale birds who, you would think, ought to have vocal cords like silk to match their spectacular costume?

But don't get me wrong... I love these fancy feathers and their unusual way of communicating with the world. And I love stumbling on them on an almost daily basis, sometimes even in my road. Nature's own painter's masterpiece. The world's very real fantasy bird.

All the best,

Helena

noreply@blogger.com (Helena, The Swenglish Home) — Wed, 10 May 2017 23:03:00 +0000

Peaceful pickings...

Perhaps I should not be so light-hearted in my word play about something

so crucially, urgently, desperately important.

Peace.

With so much conflict in the world, and so much pain, it may perhaps feel like making a peace sign of moss and bluebells is a decadent waste of time - time which might instead be used to try to make the world a better place? Like the whole idea of blogging about craft projects and pretty petals is a pointless luxury that is unlikely to feed hungry mouths or put an end to suffering, big or small?

Yes, I feel like that sometimes. But throughout history, different forms of art have helped people through difficult times, perhaps served as a balance to an uglier reality nearby. And perhaps that is what I am drawn to... an opportunity to balance bonkers* with beauty? For myself and for others. To offer a corner of tranquility with no demands on the reader, you, to do anything other than sit back, relax and hopefully find something that pleases your eye or inspires you in your own artistic expressions.

Perhaps that sounded big-headed of me... to think that I could offer all of the above? Well, it is perhaps a wish more than a belief and with that, I think I may just have described the reason I am blogging...! However, this is not to say that we can't combine the two... Balancing bonkers with beauty AND work for a better world in any way we feel we can.

✿✿✿

And on the topic of bloggable blue beauties...

The image above and the two below are recycled images from a few of my previous blog posts of bloggable bluebells. From the rougher, "untidier", or wilder looks (pic above and second of the two below) to a slightly more sophisticated setting in the first photo below - I love them all... sweet, sweet little blue friends!

The last photo above was snapped with my phone a few weeks ago, when I stumbled upon one of UKs many, many bluebell forests (and no, you are not drunk, the photo was taken on a slope!). I believe my squeals of bluebell delight are still echoing between the trees...

Wishing you peace in every form,

Helena x

* "bonkers" is British English for "crazy", or here: "madness"

noreply@blogger.com (Helena, The Swenglish Home) — Wed, 26 Apr 2017 12:16:00 +0000

Green meditation...

In recent years, I have seen an increasing number of colouring books for grown-ups pop up in book stores everywhere. They are often designed to offer a form of meditative, anti-stress art therapy, or mindfulness, and often contain different mandala shapes for you to colour in. I completely see how they could offer all of the above, but have personally not been drawn to them.

However, when I recently stumbled upon stunningly creative Hanna Wendelbo, (click on her name for link to her website and here for a link to her instagram account) a Swedish designer with a passion for all things floral and who, among other things, designs beautiful wallpaper and offers workshops in what I would call floral art, something clicked in me and I could not wait to experiment a little myself.

A large black sheet of paper, a few leaves and buds snippety-snipped from my garden and I found myself absorbed in meditative petal positioning and a wonderfully symmetrical adventure that is right up my street! These first attempts are perhaps not so advanced or elaborate, but the marvellous thing about creating something for yourself is that it does not need to be advanced or elaborate - it can be what you would like it to be! I already have ideas for many other patterns and petals, and with any luck I will find the time for some more green meditation...

I will finish this blog post with one of Hanna Wendelbo's photos of one of her amazing flower art creations. For some reason, this photo has really stuck with me and I find these gerbera petal angel wings so breathtakingly beautiful.

(Image shown with Hanna's approval.)

So, dear friends, go on, pick some petals and try for yourselves. But a small warning might be appropriate here... I cannot guarantee that you will not become slightly addicted once you start! 😊

Love,
Helena

Ps. I just saw that another hugely talented and creative designer and influencer, Helena Lyth, recently attended and wrote about one of Hanna's workshops on her blog, where she also shows some of her own beautiful flower mandalas.

Ps 2. Thank you so much for your kind words on my last blog post and for welcoming me back so generously to the blog world, despite my long absence!

noreply@blogger.com (Helena, The Swenglish Home) — Fri, 21 Apr 2017 00:18:00 +0000

Pretty in pink...

Dear readers,

Greetings from a dormant blog...!

It has been a while. A very long while...

Having just spent a snowy (!) Easter in Sweden, it was rather lovely to come back to a very pink world in our small town in the UK. Eager to enjoy the floral fiesta before the petals fall to the ground, I walked down to the local cricket field, stroking the soft, fluffy cherry blossoms as I walked underneath them, spotting at least two benches where I could see myself with a picnic basket...

With a head so full of craft ideas and a heart full of blog-longing, I would love to take a few trembling steps back into the blog world. Life tends to demand my attention to be directed elsewhere, but I might just try a gentle re-entry... Baby steps...

Wishing you all a colourful day!

Love,

Helena

noreply@blogger.com (Helena, The Swenglish Home) — Wed, 05 Nov 2014 00:05:00 +0000

A sneak peak...

Dearest blog readers,

A quick hello from the land of dormant blogs...

Thank you so much for all of your lovely greetings, both here and in emails

- you have really touched me with your kindness!

Many of you have also asked to see the inside of my new home.

So perhaps it is time for a little sneak peak...?

Yes, there is an inside to this little cottage.

A work in progress, you might say.

An interior that is yet to be Helenafied, or Swenglified.

For this I need a creative mind to outwit the challenges of compact living,

a eureka moment about how to live with carpets e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e,

and the time and the head space to realise the ideas as they come to me.

But I think I might get there in the end.

Even if slowly.

The potential is there.

The good vibes.

The friendly house elfs.

Together, we will create...

HOME.

The walls look a strange shade of greeny-yellow here, but they are in fact white. See the strange and not at all straight line at the top of the first photo above? Yes, that is indeed where the wall meets the ceiling. Visitors taller than 1,87 m may think twice about coming for tea... Compact living? Oh yes. Bijou at its bijouiest...

Wishing you the loveliest of weeks!

Helena

noreply@blogger.com (Helena, The Swenglish Home) — Tue, 15 Jul 2014 23:05:00 +0000

Summer greetings...

Dear blog readers,

Have you entered the summer "lull" yet,

the lazy days,

the stopping what you are doing long enough to spot the most wonderful of growing inspiration,

of "Nothing Is Impossible" and two fingers in the air to anyone who says

poppies cannot grow out of a dry stone wall if they feel like it...

Does you laundry smell wonderfully fresh from spending hours in the light summer breeze, weaving more than fresh air into the thread count of the sheets, storing life and new beginnings in the same...?

Is your home-made elderflower cordial drunk yet,

drunk with sparkling water to the tune of the ice cubes clinking and clanking in the glass,

drunk till the last drop of golden summer flavours is devoured

and the longing for next year's harvest has begun...?

Has your vine started producing grapes yet?

And more importantly...

- have you stopped to smell the roses?

I confess, I am not quite there yet.

My work has not gone on holiday, so neither have I.

But occasionally, and eagerly encouraged by my youngest son,

I do stop to smell the roses.

Literally.

My son says:

"Mamma, you have got to come here and smell this one. It smells like lemon."

Although he says it in Swedish.

"Den luktar citron, mamma!"

"Oh, and come here. This one smells like raspberries!"

So I stop.

And I smell.

And he is right. The yellow rose does smell a little bit like lemon, the red one like raspberries.

So I pick one, put it on the table.

The scent of lemon, summer and sweetness fills the room.

Wraps us all in the arms of summer, despite the boys still having a week left before school finishes and my having more work than I dare to think about...

Lemon. Roses. Raspberries.

Sometimes that is all it takes.

Helena

♥

noreply@blogger.com (Helena, The Swenglish Home) — Sun, 22 Jun 2014 23:00:00 +0000

Why I think I might start drumming...

Every now and then I hear other parents tell me - not seldom without a poorly hidden despondency in their voices - that they have just bought a drum kit for their child, because said child really, really wants to become a drummer...

I have often wondered how I would react if one of my boys presented this idea to me...

Glorious, GLORIOUS part of this home, housing the indoor swimming pool.

I am not sure I would jump up and down with joy...

I think I would rather spend the rest of the day trying to convince them that the instruments

they are already playing are SO much better for them, for so many reasons...

Noise level being one of them...

However...

... having today fallen completely and irrevocably in love with this

stunning house and its equally stunning gardens...

I am beginning to think that this drumming business is not such a bad idea after all...

If this is what Nick Mason, former drummer in Pink Floyd, is able to call home (one of his homes) today

(and yes, this is his home, on the outskirts of our little town)...

... I think my view of my boys potentially choosing a drumming career might just have changed dramatically...

In fact, I think I might give it a go myself!!!

Summer greetings to you all!

Helena

noreply@blogger.com (Helena, The Swenglish Home) — Thu, 08 May 2014 22:14:00 +0000

Garden glimpses...

Scruffy shed at the back of the garden?

Nothing that a few pots of lavenderishious loveliness and a couple of

gently green garden chairs (from ASDA) cannot fix...

My peaceful friend joined me in the move from the old house...

... and now enjoys the scents of summer from the perfumed plants,

whilst contributing to 'the calm and the cosy'

in this little corner of contemplation.

The view from the chairs or the bench above?

Well, a lawn crying out for a haircut and the garden path leading back to home, sweet home!

Dearest readers,

I am - again - humbled by your kind words,

your greetings here on the blog and via email, your warmth and your kindness.

Thank you all SO much!

With love,

Helena

noreply@blogger.com (Helena, The Swenglish Home) — Thu, 24 Apr 2014 20:30:00 +0000

Trashy treasures and a woolly welcome...

Dearest blog readers,

Would you let me hug you, please?

Hold you tight for a minute and tell you how lovely you are and how touched I was

by your kind words after my modest blog come-back two weeks ago?

I struggle to find the right words to describe how you made me feel.

I feel I ought to say something profound and yet all that comes to mind,

over and over again, is "you made my day".

You. Made. My. Day.

During my blog silence, one of the things that kept me busy was moving in to this little 18th-century cottage, in a tiny hamlet a few minutes away from the "old" Swenglish Home. Full of good vibes, history, lady birds and spiders (!), this is a home where my compact living skills will be tested again and again...

However, my nose for recycling and turning trash into treasure has already proven intact, for example when I spotted these two rattan chairs being thrown away at the local recycling centre. "Stop, hold on! Surely you are not throwing those away?!" I bellowed at the men unloading the contents of their lorry into the skip. "Want them? They're yours!" they bellowed back, raising one or two eyebrows at the beaming Swede embracing their rubbish with such joy. Perhaps not my dream garden chairs, but they were free and they have already proven to be splendid seats for lunches in the sun.

The observant among you may have noticed that there seem to be two front doors to this little aged beauty. This is indeed true. In the old days, this used to be two cottages and as I sweat and fret over lack of storage space, I think of what it must have been like living here in those days, in only half of the cottage, and instantly I feel really blessed and grateful for the space that I have got!

The front door to the left in the photo above leads straight into the kitchen. This is a kitchen that, in the mouth of an over-eager estate agent might be described as "bijou", but which we all would know means "so tiny you can barely turn around". But do you know what? It also comes with this view:

... and that makes even washing up (my least favourite household chore) a joy!

And just like my woolly neighbour welcomed me into my new home,

let me welcome you to

"The New Swenglish Home Blog"!

Helena

noreply@blogger.com (Helena, The Swenglish Home) — Thu, 10 Apr 2014 22:59:00 +0000

Winds of change...

Dear blog readers,

It has now been an eternity or two since I last resurfaced,

and many are you who have sent kind messages during my web absence

- thank you so much!

Days became months and before I knew it,

five whole months had gone by without a sign of Swenglish life...

But not to worry, there is still life here.

Although with the winter storms came other winds too.

Winds of change.

And of these winds, I might perhaps speak soon...

Until then, may your paths be lined with spring blossom,

and sunshine embrace your every step!

Helena

noreply@blogger.com (Helena, The Swenglish Home) — Thu, 31 Oct 2013 22:50:00 +0000

Resurfacing...

Dearest blog readers,

Now how did that happen?! A blog silence so long that even I was beginning to wonder if I would ever find my way back to the gates of Bloglandia. As you can see, I have resurfaced, but only with the help of some recycled photos from previous autumns. My camera lies dormant in its case, and I, I neither lie nor am I dormant very much... Instead, it seems I have boarded life's own speed train, with a ticket that will last at least another few months...

As for you, dear readers, I wish you all the best, hoping you are enjoying many revitalising autumn walks and special moments with friends and family. The season for going a little candle crazy is here, so bring out the hot chocolate and the fluffy throws!

Helena

noreply@blogger.com (Helena, The Swenglish Home) — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 15:33:00 +0000

The winds are changing...

Today when I went for my morning walk, the fields were full of sheep, crows and autumn. The sheep, who usually greet me with cheerful baah-baahs, were surprisingly silent. Perhaps they thought that the croaking wall of sound from the black feathers was enough noise for a Sunday morning, perhaps they were simply contemplating the changing seasons...

And the seasons are definitely changing. A different wind tickled my temples today, luring various strands of hair out of my ponytail and playfully throwing them straight into my eyes. The ducks in the lake told me in no uncertain terms that they were not impressed by my lack of bread for them, and the skies looked at least fifty shades of grey...

The photos in today's post are from the pretty little village of Monkton Farleigh, just a few minutes drive from here. It is apparently known for its underground mines of Bath stone, which have been converted into one of the largest Ministry of Defence underground ammunition stores in the UK. To me, however, it is known for its beauty, its quintessentially English... well, Englishness!

It is with a spot of melancholy that I say goodbye to the glorious summer that seemed to last forever, but it is also with a smile that I greet autumn. The colours, the crisp air, the cosy nights in... bring it on!

Wishing you all the most wonderful autumn days!

Love,

Helena

noreply@blogger.com (Helena, The Swenglish Home) — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 19:45:00 +0000

At last...

... a small sign of life ...!

Yes, I am indeed alive. And kicking. Mostly accidentally kicking sheep droppings on my many walks in the countryside here, where summer has been lingering and the air has had that lovely scent of promise, warm soil and cow dung. Well, the latter might not be my preferred perfume as such, but there is something so grounding, so wholesome about walking through agricultural land, that a whiff of fresh cow pat actually does add that je ne sais quoi that makes the picture complete somehow...

The summer of 2013 was glorious, the weather sensational and I simply could not bear to spend a minute more than necessary indoors. The blog was neglected and with life picking up speed again now, I dare not make any promises for regular posts anytime soon. But perhaps that is how it is sometimes, that one part of your life has to slow down in order to make way for other parts to evolve...?

I hope you have all had a relaxing and soul-nurturing summer and that September has begun with smiles all around!

Love,

Helena

noreply@blogger.com (Helena, The Swenglish Home) — Fri, 26 Jul 2013 21:23:00 +0000

Flirting with turquoise...

Now, many are the eyebrows that might now be raised a little higher than usual in front of the computer screens... Turquoise, she says? Aqua colours in the Swenglish home...?

Well, lately I have, to my own surprise, felt drawn to this strong and cheerful colour. Perhaps it is because of the magical summer we are having, where temperatures seem to have soared many weeks ago, only to surprise even themselves by then getting stuck there, high, high up in the unusually sweaty register... Perhaps this is why I am drawn to this slightly cooler colour, a sort of surrogate dip in the ocean for a Swede longing for school to finish and mental doors to open for beach days and splashing galore?

Perhaps this is why, during a visit to Camden Market in London at the beginning of the summer, I was surprised to see myself point at this large piece of fabric and say "could I have that one please?" and a moment later find myself in the street a few pounds shorter but with a bag full of aqua-coloured joy?

(Love versatile garden equipment..., like here with a tray placed on an upsidedown leaf bin/butt/barrel -instant side table, hooray!)

And this little fellow, he and I met in Sweden in June, and I invited him to come home with me. I am very glad I did, as with him came some wonderfully calming vibes...

Fruit... oh how we eat fruit in the summer heat! Pears, melons, strawberries - any and every fruit seems to lodge in our fridge, but only for a brief moment before it is enjoyed, giving us the juicy, fruity kick we are craving...

So there we have it, a quick and long overdue hello from a warm Wiltshire, where we are now getting ready for some proper summer holidaying, hoping the weather will not already have exhausted itself completely...

Lake splashing, here we come!

So, from my little corner of turquoise tranquility, a warm hug to all of you who still pop in to visit The Swenglish Home blog. What is your colour that has got you tingling this summer?

Helena

❤

noreply@blogger.com (Helena, The Swenglish Home) — Mon, 08 Jul 2013 11:42:00 +0000

Munching dragonflies in the kitchen...?!

No, not to worry, no insects were harmed in the production of this blog post...

I just thought I would dig out some photos from our kitchen from earlier this spring...

... to somehow bring the interior theme back into the blog, before...

... I go off on one of my garden musings again, or perhaps...

... simply give in to the urge to make hundreds of thousands of biscuits

with my new dragonfly cookie cutter...!

Sooo, if you do not hear from me again for some time...

it is very likely I can be found somewhere near a beach...

with a face that says...

"Who... me?

No, I did not just eat eighty-three dragonfly-shaped biscuits!

Of course not.

Ehm."

Wishing you a lovely July week,

filled with your favourite biscuits!

Helena

noreply@blogger.com (Helena, The Swenglish Home) — Wed, 26 Jun 2013 21:35:00 +0000

You Can Leave Your Hat On...

... I believe he sang, Joe Cocker, all those years ago...

And here, in my favourite garden, a hat may be advisable to shield you from the sun, but on some days you need not worry about any other clothing, as The Naked Gardeners welcome visitors in their birthday costumes on certain dates throughout the season...

However, on Friday last week when I revisited Abbey House Gardens in Malmesbury, it was a normal day, where the only nudity on display was offered by a few statues in the glorious, creative and inventive gardens that constitute this green gem. The photo above was taken from the tiny island in the river, a perfect spot from which to admire the majestic backside (no pun intended!) of the house.

I love the contrast of the wilder, "junglier" area down by the river, after having admired the slightly more formal garden rooms in front of the house.

The sun loungers looked very appealing on this sunny day, as did a game of chess...

The front of the house is covered in an array of gorgeous green leaves and more colourful floral phenomena...

And when we sat down for a drink in the café by the koi carp pond, Robbie came to say hello. Well, Robbie admittedly seemed more interested in the biscuits my fellow garden admirers were munching than in any real bird-human bonding, but even so, I fell in love with this little feathery fellow!

Now look at those curves! I LOVE this section of the garden, with the funky gigantic green head, the lollipop trees and all the shaped box hedges and trees...!

Gorgeous giant poppies, red, pink and white, all looking as if made of silky paper...

Now, I am not the kind of girl who forces people to do things, nor do I tend to give unsolicited advice to my friends, but I may just have to make an exception here... You simply HAVE to visit this garden one day! It is a very special place and if you do not find at least one spot in the five acres of green loveliness that makes you weak at the knees or at least filled with a desire to plant your bottom on the lawn and just be for a moment, soaking up the view from your tranquil spot, well, then I am not sure what to say!

There are loads more photos from this garden under the heading Abbey House Gardens in my Categories - please feel free to browse them should you like to see more.

Blog posts are not exactly bombarding your screens from The Swenglish Home at the moment. Summer hibernation has set in, I am afraid, and I spend more hours outdoors than in at the moment, far, far away from screens and keyboards. I hope you are also enjoying the warmer season. A special thank you to all of your who still pop in to visit my quasi-dormant corner of the blog world, and a special-special thank you for kind comments!

With much love,

Helena

noreply@blogger.com (Helena, The Swenglish Home) — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 16:11:00 +0000

Lollipops, lucky clover and a surprise little black number...

Just outside our double doors to the garden, there is a small patio between the house and the steps that lead into the actual garden. If you have visited my blog before, you will have seen this little corner of my world a lot, as this is an area that changes with the seasons throughout the year.

With the baskets of pansies looking less than... well, less than alive, shall we say, after my visit to Sweden (when they were left without the tender love and care they crave), it was time to invite some new players to the team...

Can you see all the four-leaf clovers in this beautifully coloured clover-y plant? I look forward to many lucky moments in my life over the next few years, if this is a sign to go by! And my new lollipop mini-trees - what is it about me and my lollipop trees? I can't seem to get enough of them. They are just so... cheerful!

For the second time in my life, "a little black number" has found its way into my decorating. Or two little black numbers to be precise, both old terracotta pots that had a close encounter with a jet black paint brush the other night... The greens of the clover and the other fluffy green loveliness seemed to demand to be offset by a black pot, and I obeyed, of course.

And my dear Buddha seems to have survived last winter without any cracks or blemishes, and sits on his special spot on the steps, spreading vibes of serenity and calm to anyone walking past.

Cluttered with pots? Perhaps. But as our neighbours have recently cut down all the bushes and blackberry branches that used to form a little roof over this seating area and offer a leafy feel to the place, as well as covering some of the not so pretty parts of the old wall, well, this abundance of green and purple eye candy works for me!

Today the winds reign here in Wiltshire. Everywhere I see people muttering and mumbling as they pull their coats tighter around their sun-longing torsos. The sky shows very little promise of anything that does not involve wet and damp, but I will cling on to the hope that we will have more of those lovely temperatures that only a few days ago spoke of summer and planted sunshine in our hearts and in freckles on our noses...

May the sun be with you, in heart and happy freckles!

Love,

Helena

noreply@blogger.com (Helena, The Swenglish Home) — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 20:48:00 +0000

Precious pickings...

"It is like a dream", he said.

"It is almost unreal", he continued.

"It is like a fairy-tale."

As we were walking along the small country road, the dry gravel going crunch-crunch under our feet, my nine-year-old sighed in awe of the beauty around him. We were on our way to pick some Mother's Day flowers for grandma (Mother's Day is celebrated on the last Sunday of May in Sweden), and having just arrived in a gloriously warm and sunny Sweden from a bitterly cold UK, this seemed even more like Paradise than usual.

All around us, nature had just exploded in a symphony of floral festivity, and we soon realised that we would not be able to contain ourselves and pick only the traditional lilies-of-the-valley bouquet, but at least one more bunch of stems picked with little fingers and much love would come home with us that day.

"There are just sooo many trees!", my younger son exclaimed. "I haven't seen this many trees in one place for a loooong time", he said, emphasising "sooo" and "loooong" in such a manner you would think that the poor child lived in a concrete bunker and not in green and lovely Wiltshire in the UK. Not to mention the fact that we visit Sweden several times a year...

But they are right, both of them. 54 % (or as much as 75% of the land area according to Wikipedia) of Sweden is covered by forest, and where my parents live is no exception. And it is breathtakingly beautiful. It is also a particularly peaceful place, where the only music accompanying me on my walks are the sound of my own thoughts against the pleasant backdrop of multi-layered birdsong and the occasional humming of a lawn-mower in the distance.

Football fun for the boys and flower-picking in the adjoining field for mum

- now that is what I call a win-win!

And when it gets too hot to carry on with either...? Well, next to this field of wonderful wild flowers is the lake, offering to cool us all off. (In fact, if truth be told, FREEZE us all off, more like it!!!)

With spring having lasted what seemed like only a day or two in Sweden this year, before summer took over, the mix of flowers on offer was a strange one when we arrived. White anemones* and the occasional daffodil* rubbed shoulders with summer flowers of every shape and colour, all looking somewhat surprised to see each other on the same stage... (* = not pictured here)

And within the week we were there, the apple blossom came and went...

Yes, you may have wondered about my -unplanned- long blog break, but having spent most waking hours outdoors for the past couple of weeks, my laptop has had to cope without me, and it has done me a world of good!

***

Our home in Hungarian magazin Otthon...

A few days ago, one of my kind Hungarian blog readers sent me an email to tell me she had seen a feature of our home in Otthon Magazin (6/2013), a Hungarian interior magazine. In 2011, photographer Brent Darby and journalist Hazel Dolan did a feature of our home, which was published in the UK magazine Country Homes & Interiors in April 2012.

Through an agency, this feature has subsequently been sold to German magazine Landhaus and now Hungarian magazine Otthon. I have got nothing to do with this and do not know anything about this when it happens. I have in both cases found out from kind blog readers who have recognized the Swenglish house, and I am very grateful to them for letting me know.

I have not yet read the feature in Otthon, but having seen the layout drawing they have made of what they claim to be our house, I have realised that it is not only in gossip magazines that a certain measure of -shall we say- "artistic freedom" is used when it comes to portraying the truth. The layout they have made up does not in any way represent reality! OK, so it is perhaps not such a big deal that they have fabricated every square inch of the layout of our home, but it really surprised me and again made me realise that not everything that is printed is true. I will soon find out if the text carries the same "creativity"...

***

Last but not least, a small apology to those of you leaving comments here on my blog. Having recently had a dramatic increase in spam comments (around 250 only on my last post!), with various links to unsavoury websites, I have had to install the word verification to try to filter these unwanted spam comments as much as possible. I would rather not have this time-consuming filter there, but I am not sure what else to do. Thank you for your understanding.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

Love,

Helena

noreply@blogger.com (Helena, The Swenglish Home) — Thu, 16 May 2013 23:47:00 +0000

Taking a Bluebell Break...

Dear blog readers,

Sometimes, when the rain finally holds back for a brief moment,

the clouds part long enough for the sun to caress our skin and souls for a few precious minutes...

... we ought to find our own little bluebell spot and allow ourselves to sit down,

breathe slowly and gather our thoughts...

With a feverish little fellow at home from school today, my planned morning walk had to be abandoned and I found myself rushing around doing laundry with one hand and lunch preparations with the other...

... whilst also making a few fish-shaped biscuits to cheer up the little man...

But then I saw them.

And I heard them.

Those seductive, cajoling rays that chanted 'come out, come out, enjoy us while we last'...

So I did.

A few moments of time out in the garden.

In the very wild garden in bad need of a haircut, a shave and a general face lift...

I hope this weekend you find your own bluebell spot and the time to enjoy it!

All the best,

Helena

Ps. Thank you so much for all your kind comments. I appreciate every word.

noreply@blogger.com (Helena, The Swenglish Home) — Thu, 16 May 2013 08:51:00 +0000

Feeling flowery...

Dear readers,

Not much new to report from the Swenglish abode. The temptation of summer that was offered to us just over a week ago, has been exchanged for a much colder, rainier shade of grey. So, what to do to push away the clouds in sky and mind? Flower picking, of course! Inside, I become seven again, remembering how I used to walk to my grandparents, picking flowers for my grandmother on the way.

So I pick. Whites and blues and any perky petal that smiles a little extra at me as I walk past. Instant colour therapy. Did you hear that, oh great grey clouds in the sky, you have not defeated me yet! 'Flower power' will go a long way...!

Wishing you all a lovely mid-May week, and may your days be lined with petals.

Helena

noreply@blogger.com (Helena, The Swenglish Home) — Tue, 07 May 2013 12:20:00 +0000

Roma, per favore...!

Today, I am sitting by the pond in the garden, listening to silence. Well, I can, of course, hear the birds tweeting their joyous spring hymns, the faint sound of a lawn-mower in the distance, and every now and then a bee buzzing by my head, inebriated by a greedy dose of nectar...

Yesterday, however, was a very different story. It was the story of crowds, chaos and cream. Cream as in ICE cream. And, at times, as in I Scream. The former as in the staggeringly delicious Italian gelato, the latter because of the insufferable number of people in the Vatican museum, making it very hard to have that special tête-à-tête with Michelangelo that one had envisioned...

I confess, I am in love with the amazing, beautiful, interesting, overwhelming, hot, busy and more than a little chaotic city that is Rome. The mother of all capitals, the queen of ancient marvels. The majestic churches, the lively markets, the wooden shutters on the old houses lining the cobbled, narrow little streets...I could go on and on... I first visited Rome around twenty years ago, and I did actually not fall in love then.

But this time.

Oh my.

Perhaps it had something to do with watching my sons enjoy it so much, being blown away by the ruins at Forum, the pasta that made all other pasta pale in comparison and simply the feel of this jewel of Italian culture.

The Villa Borghese park is a wonderful breathing hole in the busy city, and perfect place for a mental and visual time-out. Although there is still beauty to behold, but of the visually calming kind, like in the photo above.

The photo above I have borrowed from Airbnb's website, the agent through which we rented a flat in the centre of Rome. Having compared prices with various hotel rooms, we realised that we could rent a fully equipped flat at the same expense, and it turned out to be a very lucky move. This flat is simply stunning! Its location is superb, only a short stroll away from the Spanish Steps and within easy reach of all the other sights. The owner of the flat, Luigi, made us feel so welcome and made sure we felt well looked after throughout our stay. To anyone heading for Rome, I can highly recommend renting this flat, and you will get some good exercise too after all the wonderful pasta and gelato you will have had, as it is several floors up with no lift... You can see more photos and information here.

Arrivederci for now. See you soon again!

Helena