{ C' E S T L A V I E }

Autumn is here, with beautiful colours all over our woods! We are not doing much in terms of visits, meeting friends and such... but the forest is still here on our doorstep, so we indulge! 

Two weeks back into the term and Poppy is well and truly back on Skramur's saddle! Her weekly sessions at the stables are a source of joy and pride, she is such a good rider! 

So far the sunny weather has meant pleasant rides in the forest, let's hope it continues :-) 

Another day, another excursion - Poppy is away for the week, Lili has started her summer-job and Otto has a friend at home - for Pete and I. We set off for Adelsö with the 8am buss this morning and had completed our 15km trail by 2pm, including a few stops for cups of tea, sandwiches and an ice-cream at the cable-ferry kiosk to round up. 

A very nice walk! A lot of different landscapes, views and discoveries. Flowers, insects and animals (frogs and deer, ospreys, many birds that we cannot name too...). Perfect weather, warm and sunny mostly, no rain at all. It is fun to try new paths and routes, we are becoming quite familiar with our local natural environment. 

Pete and I went for a bike ride to Svartsjö slott (Färingsö) and carried on a bit further as the countryside was so nice and the sky blue (in places).

Maybe we should have been less ambitious as the heavens opened copiously halfway upon her home journey. We got quite wet but the general temperature is still warm and the sun came back after a while, so we did not have time to freeze. 36 km in total, not bad, hey?

The castle had the advantage to have increased its range of ice-cream - 23 different flavours to choose from! - so the destination had been a good idea. I trued walnut and Pete took some lemoncake ice-cream, nice!

The park's flower-and-vegetable garden is amazing, so well kept and in full bloom right now, beautiful! 

Another sunny day, another little escapade! We just took the bus for 10 minutes and we were on Lovö, the island where the Royal Palace of Drottingholm is located, No royal visit for us, but a long walk on the northern and wilder part of the island. Beautiful countryside, paths along the water and through deep forest, even a stop at Fox Rock, a huge gathering of rocks apparently home to foxes for generations. Nice to explore and climb. A great day out! 

To vary our daily routines we decided to go on a day trip to Skoklosters slott, a 17th century castle built by a count and preserved in a fairly good state. We went round the grounds and inside, enjoyed our picnic before we went for a little walk in a nearby nature reserve. Lots and lots of berries there, blue- and raspberries, it is the season to pick (and eat on the spot, as shown by Otto's blue lips)! 

Sometimes you haven't even had time to eat breakfast and there is a toad already visiting! Basil was intrigued but usually gets bored with batracians as they play dead when frightened - no fun at all! 

Bees can rejoice: fields of wild flowers abound on our island, millions of pollen reserves for them to visit. Amazing to see so much pink clover! 

The season is definitely here! Lots and lots of the blue gold in the our woods! We got about 700 g in a short session with just Lili and me picking, as neither Poppy nor Pete had the patience and Otto was somewhere else. Enough for a crumble or two, yum :-) 

After a few days of unsettled weather we thought a sunny Friday would be an opportunity to make a trip to Skansen, where we have not been for a while. A way to support the open-air museum too, which suffered quite a lot from the closures imposed in spring. 

Poppy, Otto, Pete and I got on a boat in the morning and then walked to Djurgården from Klara Mälarstrand, a pretty promenade along Strandvägen that was not too busy - no tourists around right now...

Skansen was pleasant as usual, quiet for the season! We looked at the moose, the seals, the bears, the wolves, the wild-boars, the farm animals and...the monkeys, of course - Poppy's favourites :-) 

Now the week-end is a bit more gray with rain forecast, we'll have to find other things to do!