Ladies on flowers

Finally my pumpkins started to flower. The firsts lady-flowers opened while I was in Svea. The next ones opened when I came home, but then I didn't have any male-flowers. So, I needed to go and talk with my friend, who also have some pumpkins. She had a male-flower but not any females, so I just got the complete stamen and pollinated my ladies. When I got some male-flowers, I didn't have any use for them, so they ended up to frying pan and were tasting delicious.

We haven't yet loose the view to Hiorthfjellet.

Midsummer

It was time to celebrate the summer solstice. The sun has reached now it's highest position but summer is still just in half way. Traditionally midsummer was celebrated with a bonfire and barbecue on the beach.

In mainland swimming is also included in a Midsummer celebration, but swimming here in the fjord where temperature isn't much above zero Celcius degrees isn't that tempting - at least not for me, but our fourpawed isn't agreeing that. Our dog is really eager to swim and if I can let him to run little bit after swimming he doesn't seem to be bothered of coldness at all. It's bigger problem to get him out of water! But a wet dog running and shaking his wet fur can't be that popular when there is lot of people around, so for both of us a solution against the shivering was to go home and have a warm shower.

Svea

A miner with his working clothes on Varden.

Ice is starting to melt on van Mijdenfjorden. That's nice: soon we can take kayaks and have a little paddling trips on the fjord. But still, we need have a trip to Varden every week just for to follow how the amount of snow is changing during summer.

Sommer week in Longyearbyen

When I started in Svea, I was thinking I'll be having so much time on my free weeks that I can do all kind of projects I have been dreaming on but never had time. Yep, I was thinking so - but having a week free isn't actually so much! It just disappears!

One of the thing I like much is to be out with my friend and dogs. For that we had a real summer weather with blue sky, temperature around +8 Celcius and almost no wind. I got totally tanned during last week - and not any beautifully but with real Svalbard-tanning: Face totally brown, but white around eyes marking the sun glasses, also neck is totally white. Fingers are tanned, but arms are white. Pretty... In Svalbard you never know how many of those kind of days you get during the summer, so it's really important to enjoy all of them.

I'm also enjoying my "garden". There is enough salad to eat in every dinner and it's nice to follow how the plants are growing constantly. Thanks for light 24 hours per day and big windows which make our living room like the green house. Strangely enough now in summertime one of the biggest problems in the houses are that they are getting far too hot with the constant sun.

A wet dog is a happy dog.

View from the ridge to Nordenskiöldtoppen.

Black eyed Susan is flowering.

Pumpkins are having their first female flowers.

Males haven't started to flower yet.

There is already first small tomatoes growing.

We're having far too much parsley - wouldn't believe that!

There can never be too many radishes.

My garden is growing well.

How do you know summer has arrived?

* You can go out and have just a T-shirt under your down jacket.
* You can start to use your thin woollen underwear.
* You can start to use your summer mittens.
* You don't need to be worried that your radiator can get frozen if you forget window open.
* You need to go up to a glacier for to have a skiing trip.
* Overseas cruising boats arrive on the harbour and there is more passagers on those boats than there is people living on the town.

Home sweet home

Flight from Svea to Longyearbyen in fantastic weather: Nice to be at home again!

Back to Svea

It's a Svea week again. Time has got incredibly fast - it's just two days left and then I'm back in the town again. Days are going at work and in the evenings I'm having some training or a trip to Varden. And sauna I just can't avoid!

Even though I'm really happy with my work here it will be nice to fly back to the town and see how my boys are doing there :)

Midnight sun eclipse

We were supposed to see that magical phenomenon in the late evening of 1. Juni. Instead of seeing the sun eclipse almost 60 % we were watching clouds hanging low on the mountain sides.

Can't be always lucky...

A free week in Longyearbyen

A complete free week sounded so long time and I was having lot of plans, but time just disappeared. But it was so nice to be free!

Our "garden" doesn't need too much work, but it's really nice to be following how plants are growing. And best of all is to eat them! We're having now enough our own salad and some herbs for our own use. It's kind of nice to eat a dinner spiced with real local food :)

We've got some taste of radishes also.

Tomatoes are starting to flower.

Also pumpkins are having some buds. All of them seems to be males, but later there should come also some female flowers.

Not all of our plants are eatable; it's also nice just to sit in the kitchen under a vine.