in the blueberryforest

she felt utterly relaxed, picking the blue little orbs. at the same time exilirated and in perfect harmony with the surroundings. a young raven barked from a tree when she drew too close. cobwebs over the berries. toadstools, snails, but no snake today, even though she purposfully hang around the rocky part of the forest, with lots of places for snakes to rest and nest. maybe they saw her.

so many things in this modern life villified her, she felt, but picking blueberrys were an ancient ritual, passed down from mother to daughter, since beginning of time. perfectly natural. something that makes sense. the blueberrys have a healing effect. at first when she picked them, then eating them - they level out bloodsugar and thereby prevent diabetes. and also, in the wintertime, warming her with the rememerance of summer.

she did not fear the bears, who also were out eating the same berries. she knew that because both she and them were so concentrated on the berries, it could happend that they suddently discover they were in the presence of eachother. then they could be startled, but it would be important to not make a fuzz. if she did not, the bear would not. they were, after all, kin.

her people, the sami people, have a legend that they are the children of the suns daughter and the bearman. so they all have a bit of bear in them. she belived it, because her man sometimes, or quite often, became a halfway bear. inside. one could tell by his way of walking then, heavily, his grunting and that he no longer could understand human language. then she had to drive him into the forest. half a day later he would return, a man anew. and she was the same. she suspected all sami were. to know this about them would make it easier for others to understand them.

but the skilled nåids of her people were said to be able to turn wholy into bear. that was why the bears were revered, and given a royal burial if killed. much ritual and magic surrounded the burial som the spirit of the bearman would not return to take revenge. the wimen would chew red bark from (al)tree and spit it on the returning hunters trough brass rings, which she imagined symbolised the circle of the sun. forgive us, father bear, in the sign of our mother!

the vikings feared these bear men, and had a name for them that they transfused into the english language: berserk. Bärsärk, means björn (bear) särk (shirt/guise). they used the name for men who could go into animal fury in battle, and prove to be formidable warriors...

snowflakes

there are no snowflakes in Sweden yet.
i am afraid there will not be, until sometime in october.
hopefully the first snowflake will fall on my birthday,
just like it did last year.

in Sweden we have snow six months of the year.
it is good for skiing on, or snowboarding on.
the winter is a good time for reading books.
rainy wheather is another good excuse to read.

i own hundereds of books. half of them is novels.
last week i bought four old books - a series about western architecture.
the latest book i read was "The Robber Bride" by Margaret Atwood.
right now i am reading "Dinas bok" by Wassmo, a norwegian author.

i liked how Atwood used the four aspects of the godess in "The Robber Bride". in the end i realised that they all needed Zenia, the disruptive force, because they were all so unable to let go of destructive parts of their lives. she had to do it for them. it was all so elegantly written. a new favourite of mine!

i read Dinas bok because long ago someone reassured me that i would love it or it would somehow relate to me in one way or another. then i happened to find it at a bargain price, so now i will find out if it was a true observation. i will let you know...

it has fallen some rain every day the past few weeks.
i am glad that i soon will have opportunity to wear autumn clothes.
i like the materials, colours and styles better. brown, purple, wool.
velvet, silk. granmother stuff. my gran was very glamorous.

saturday i bought a pair of hand-made "nålbundna" mittens.
for my 30:th birthday my friend Lisa made me a pair of "nålbundna" mittens, but they disappeared when i was at a booksale. i guess they were too beautifoul to leave unwathced for two minutes. but mittens are not necessary yet!

Moon day i changed the dirt in the flowerpots. today, Tyrs day, i bicykled to the nearest forest and picked some blueberrys. they are good for levelling out blodsugar and therby protect against diabetes. there was three latinamerican indian looking wimen with their children there too. the girls were a bit curious of me, but shy, too. i will put most of the berries in the fridge to make muffins later.

there is something so wonderfully monkyish about picking your own food out in the "wild" nature... in this forest i often encounter animals, i perticulary like a snake that is kind enough to take a minute to look at me before she crawls away, and the calm elk family we saw when we were cross-country skiing last winter. i heard that an otter resides at a local strea, i have to get hold of a boat to check it out! otters are so neat and i have only ever seen their tracks before.

soon i will have to go back to the university. this summer i have
seen much animals, birds, wildlife. some concerts and theatres also.
i have not had any quarrels with anyone. i am rested.
i have, however, not finished my essay. this bothers me a lot.

my essay is about ecocentrism in a book and a literary genre.
i have fifty pages to write about it. that is why i sit at the computor.
i actually dislike computors, or i do not like them. i would not
name my pc. but i met my man on the internet. for that i am gratefoul.

this fall he is taking a course in building ecologically, houses, boats.
we find our funiture at auctions, second hand stores, at old relatives attics. last week he got a couple of teak chears for the balcony and a Perstorps-table. it was in fashion in sweden in the fifties. i got him a tomatoplant.

we also found our plates and stuff second hand. i prefer greenglaced Scandinavian stoneware, square plates, art deco forms. Old Höganäs is nice but Deco will do too. when we went to Åre we made stops on the way at least fifteen times to check out "loppisar" as we call second-hand stores in sweden. i found a pair of green drinking glasses, an Old Höganäs bowl, and teaspoons that i am sure were designed by the swedish artist Hans Arnold.

in Åre we went hiking in the mountains. a bit too exiting when a thunderstorm came upon us i Vålnådalen. this summer, all by chanse, we have visited places were Ronja Rövardotter (after the book by Astrid Lindgren) was filmed . Skuleskogen and Rissnefallen. impressive nature scenery. makes me want to see the series again.

well, i will prepare some porridge to eat blueberrys with. i do not know where my man went but the flat was thourogly cleaned when i came back home. when he starts cleaning i usually assume that he is in a bad mood and wants to be left alone. but it really needed some cleaning! and i have not done it. he made us food today, too.

by the way, i am no special and uniqe snowflake.