FOUR THINGS RIGHT NOW

I am changing my colours (and nails) into autumn mode. As usual there's an itch for darker colours and plaid patterns. And red wine. So wine red it is for me.

More colours! The last tomatoes from my garden pots. So cute you'd almost not want to eat th..munch munch nom! I like to mix them red and still green and fry them in a pan.

They got some feta cheese, garden herbs, salad and omelette to blend along with.

Now packing for Berlin; going there to perform in the weekend. There will be lots of pastel coloured things in the bag. Not for me, not for the trip nor the show, but for next week - we still have some work to finish off on the costumes for the Norma book release show; when we are performing the custom ordered numbers based on the themes of the book. Phew!

I heard it will be real warm in Berlin this weekend so might have to lighten up on my plaid-autumn-beret-and-kints mode then. Hmmm.

SEPTEMBER

And so one day it is September and you open the door in the morning and wonder how it can be, that on the first official day of autumn it really feels like a change of season in the air; it is cold and the morning mist is heavy and grey, just like nature would have a calendar and switch mode as soon as the date change. Strange.

I have as usual been busy with work but also just spent a lot of time reading the newspapers and articles feeling even more bad than it usually makes me and thus not really feeling like blogging after that.

This morning I however had some time off.

Gave my orchids a bath; haven't been properly at home in either place to take care of my plants.

Did something of a pimp-my-hipster-porridge for breakfast - oat porridge, a nectarine, peanut butter and red wineberries plus hazelnut milk.


Opened the door and smelled autumn,  just before it started raining (and it rained all day).
And here are Dag's gathering of coloured tractors on the back yard table.


It will be chili time soon! (Btw it is always good when you water your outdoor plants just before it starts raining for some 12 hours straight. It makes you feel like you really just did something useful.)


And my coriander, in the growing box that survived the vicious lamb attack, is overgrown huuuuuge.


Then I went back inside and thought about wearing this little mint green vintage fabric piece that arrived from Etsy some time ago. (But I just ended up wearing a kitty romper instead).

TRIPLE CHECKS AND HALLOWEENISH WEATHER

Even though it has been pretty nice during the days lately evenings have turned stormy, dark and spooky - just like they should this time of year!

Apart from a few days a bit back it has however still been rather warm, so the vintage Pendleton jacket I finally got around getting myself (after thinking about one such for years) really did come in handy and has been of much use.  I think I've always had issues with the so called mid-season wear, everything  most jackets I've had have usually been too warm or too cold, but this time around not!

To take my double checks from last week up a notch I added a checked skirt for triple checks. Autumn, you know (although,  the checks on the skirt are pretty subtle.) Scarfs and checks and coloured tights that just call for huge hot cups of tea.
And some red wine, not to forget.

COLOURS AND AFTERNOON SUN

 Just look at these colours! I have hundreds of pictures like this from each year but it's as much of an 'Oooooh!' every time.  Isn't autumn amazing?
(Animals spotted in this picture: two. Cats.)

And here I am posing all naturally as anyone would when standing among a bunch of autumn leaves.
In a Trashy Diva dress. It's those checks making their way out of the closet again because: Autumn.

Animals spotted in this one: several. For a well-trained sheep eye like mine. They are hanging out on the other side of the road between the birches.

Also, thank you for the comments on my marathon-long post the other week. I did not answer them separately, but read each and every one and appreciate the thoughts given me.

DOUBLE CHECKS FOR A BAD WEATHER BRUNCH

Yesterday we defied the nasty October weather and headed out for a family brunch to celebrate my sister's hubby's birthday.

It's been rather cold but the vintage pendleton jacket I got myself earlier this year has kept me warm still even though it's unlined. Hooray. And because autumn kind of equals checks I've been pairing it with my checked scarf. Double checks all the way!

The dress underneath is trashy Diva.

WARM AUTUMN DAYS

And still time to get around wearing my poncho!

OCTOBER; 33, THE EIGHT YEAR AND THE SECOND ONE

Arrived home after a fabulous and work-filled weekend in Turku (of which you can see an ultra quick  fun time-lapse vide of on vimeo, by Tuomas) just in time to catch all the lovely colours of autumn - last year I missed it, as the leaves fell of quickly, and I was in Stockholm performing during those short days of excessive colour.

Dag and I had to go out on a mission immediately as some of the lams had decided the grass was greener on the other side of the fence rather literally, and for some reason also on the road. So we chased them back much to Dag's excitement. 

He is wearing a Mickey Mouse-coat that both me and my sisters have worn when we were kids, that we got from our cousins who were a few years older than us. There was one in about every size and this is the first one. Dag finds it very fancy.

Lambs trying to camouflage themselves.

Last weekend, on Saturday, it was also my 33th birthday. I rarely celebrate mine; last time was when K and I threw our very fabulous True Blood feast when we turned 30. Usually I have been at work on my birthdays as a grown up, first in the harbour (where one tended to spend the whole day as shifts are long), now on stage. This year was no different!

As those of you who have hanged around here for a longer time know, my blog also gets a year older along with me - so we are entering our eight year here now. That is a long time I tell you!
If someone ever wondered about the rather imbecile but catchy name of my blog it has been explained here on a few occasions back in the days but we can do it one more time; the idea of a blog was born way before it actuallystarted, when blogging looked a bit different that now. I had just found fashion blogs that consisted of outfits and outfits only, and I found them both inspiring and a bit silly at the same time. So The Freelancer's Fashion Blog was an ironic idea -  I have always had a big wardrobe, but from time to time (a lot like now) I haven't really been able to use it properly. Back then in 2006 and -07, when thinking about blogging, I had finished my studies and worked with freelance graphic design as well as in the harbour. So I was basically working most of the time (like now, but in a different matter) and felt that I mainly was wearing black tights or leggings (or underwear) and a black t-shirt or a top, when in front of my computer or under my workwear. What people who work from home often look like... And I thought about how that would make it in a fashion blog, different versions of something that looks just the same. Well, that blog never happened. When my blog then started it was all about drawithe outfits though and staying incognito -it took until March the next year until I posted a photo of myself - and as with most blogs this one slowly developed into something more personal.

This was that very first photo, from many years back.

Speaking of outfits, there is of course a reason why I have been walking around mainly in stretchy wear and sneaky yoga pants, other than the one that I am always running from workouts to rehearsals and classes nowadays- I got pregnant again! And unlike the pregnancy that ended in a miscarriage this summer, when I had felt strangely well when I thought back on it, I this time felt bad and swollen,  just like I had with Dag, feeling like I was hungover for two months. Until week seven was over I was a bit scared every time I went to the toilet that I would see blood, and was reliefed when I passed the weeks of the previous miscarriage. I had my first prenatal appointment and had all future ultras and appointments set now, as is the custom. But, even though I am lucky enough to get pregnant easily - so far always on the first try, I am apparently not as lucky after that. Last Friday, the day before my 33rd birthday, I had an ultra sound and found out I had had a so called missed abortion; the foetus had died a few weeks earlier. Well, I could almost see it right away - the baby in the monitor looked too small for it's weeks, although I kept thinking that perhaps they always grow miraculously just the week after this. But I moved my face from the screen to the doctor's face and saw he looked serious and then he told me he could not see a heart beat. As the first miscarriage came rather slowly I had time to let it sink in and it was an event that made me disappointed and frustrated, but this was totally different. I couldn't imagine it could go wrong a second time because everything had felt so normal!  Not now, not this one! I was rather shocked. Not just because of the loss of the  baby-to-be, but because of how much we already had planned with everything else around the fact we would have a baby in April; jobs, life, arrangements. It's because I was looking at maternity dresses onine already. I shouldn't have! Everything had been just right, damnit! But it wasn't.

I had a lot of things to take care of during that day, which was awful to go trough, and I skipped out on some because I was so tired and just wanted to lie in bed. My body still felt pregnant, swollen and nauseous, and I was distressed over the fact that it was not over totally yet, but I would still have to abort it during the week to come. The thought of the pain that might bring, and all the arrangements around that felt the worst for the moment. I would have to call lots of places and re-arrange meetings and cancel classes and tell them I had the flue or something because you don't tell people you lost a pregnancy. You could, but you don't, because they will get uncomfortable. Too much info, stick to the flue.

As Scandinavia is ruled by the Jante -law (the 'don't think you're any special'-one, which in cases like this translates to: don't think your pain is any worse than anyone else's), and as I've grown up in a society that looks down on self-pity (well, don't they all?) and go by the mentality that one should shut the fuck up and quit whining, I thought it was best to do so. And as everyone keeps telling you: it is very common and it happens a lot. So it is. I had a lot to do during the weekend too; had to perform and hold a workshop and first the thought of all that felt rather horrifying. But it actually helped to be busy and around people and kept my mind off the fact there was a little dead beginning of a human lying inside of me. On Monday I went to the hospital and got the pills to empty the womb and so today this second one was over with less physical pain than I had expected. (For the record, for those who might read this in a similar situation: they gave me Cytotec, which is what they use over here pretty much as the only option, a drug I have had once before -I presume- many years ago for a similar reason and that was a very painful experience. Well at least I was prepared for what the beginning of labour would feel like when the day that came. The almighty internet is also full of mainly horror stories on said drug, as you see I of course googled a lot waiting in horror for it to kick in, but let it be said here for those who have an interest in this: This time I was stocked up with strong painkillers and it was not all that bad, by evening the medicine had done it's job. So it worked for me.)

As I wrote about the first miscarriage I thought it would be strange not to mention this second one. And, as I said the last time, when you have some sort of situation going on, you google all you can find about it, and then you google some more. (I always search in three languages to get as much out of it as possible). You want to and need to read about it. There is always someone out there who feels better reading about things like this, because of how one can relate, even though this story here is not one of those miracle stories where there was still a living twin inside!  (which will only give you false hope, because you know, there seldom is).

But it is still a bit odd, how we are not really supposed to mention miscarriage, and are not supposed to feel bad about it either. It is something of a taboo. With a friend who was, and luckily still is, as many weeks pregnant as I was, we talked about how you usually feel your worst and weirdest in the beginning of pregnancy but you are not supposed to talk about it because things can go wrong , and then if they do go wrong and you feel terrible you can't talk about it either because no one knew about it and you know, it does happen all the time.

So, no use of dwelling on things one can not change! I have a lot of work and projects that I will concentrate on the rest of this year, and also on the wonderful little fella in the Mickey Mouse coat that I shall snuggle up!
And come the weekend, I will drink some wine, oh yes.

FARMER'S & SLOW FOOD FAIR IN OUR HOODS

This weekend there's a farmer's market and artesan food fair for locally and mainly organically grown and produced products at a farm close to ours.

After a storm last night autumn was as it's best this morning, crisp and sunny.

Suitably for the occasion I put on my cowboy boots that I got from Ina for making her some promo material for her shop.

Dag got to wear a team shirt.

The fair is at Mangs which is just around the corner (in countryside measurements) from our farm. It's a very idyllic place. The fair itself is rather small but with a huge amount of visitors.

Eddi & his brother's farm is all-organic. Here's the stand.

We have linseed, fava beans, honey, rolled oats and rye flour. (Or well, "we"; I did not make that much to produce those. But I have made the packing and print material for all the products.)

We also had sour dough bread that a local bread enthusiast has baked of our products.

And care products for home and house, like linseed soap which is an all-natural product that can be used to clean anything and everything.

The boys had also picked linseed flowers which they sold. Not Dag though (although he did a nice try to pick some with me earlier this fall; they are rather hard to collect neatly actually).


He spotted the tractors right away and it topk many tears to get him off the BIG TRACTOR after some time of admiring.


I took him to admire the alpacas instead. Which are super cute. Such cuddly shape! And they  make cute noises as well.


A couple of our lambs are also admirable at the fair for the kids to pet and feed. Dag was super excited because you know, he can also see them almost every day at home.


To let him try out something he does not get to do all the time like look at tractors and lambs, he got to ride a pony. And then we got cinnamon rolls made with goat milk and they were so good.
(They sell them close to the yellow house just next to the pony rides, if you happen to go there. YUM!)


Here are some more alpacas BECAUE JUST LOOK AT THESE!

The market is open today on Sunday from 10 to 16hrs. To get to Mangs turn off road 51 at Degerby and then follow the signs to the market, which is a 10-15 minute drive from there.

FRESH APPLE CAKE WITH CINNAMON

Then apple season came and went by. We picked apples and I made apple mash and apple marmalade and apple cakes... and then decided I wanted to try out something different and new - which turned into a raw food apple cake!

I used almonds and sunflower seeds for the crust but you can make this with just either one, or hazelnuts and walnuts for example. I used one of this dried pressed packs of dates (250g) that I soaked in water; 2/3 for the crust and 1/3 for the filling.


For the curst:
4dl almonds
2 dl sunflower seeds
200g  dates
a handful (about 0,5dl) dried apple bits, soaked

Filling:
2 dl cahsews
3-4tsp cinnamon
1tbs melted cocoa butter or 2-3tbs coconut oil
100g dates
7 small apples

The apples on our trees over here are rather small so 2-3 equals one store bought regular sized one.


Mix the nuts and add the dates and the apple bits. Press the curst out in a cake mold (I put baking paper underneath to get it out easily), then proceed to make the filling.


Mix the cashews smooth. You can add a few drops of the water you soaked the dates or dried apple in, (or some apple juice) after a while for easier mixing. Then, add the cinnamon and the dates in small portions. Pour in the cocoa butter (or coconut oil; you won't taste the coconut); this will firm the filling once you let it cool afterwards. Chop the apples (peeled or unpeeled, your choice) and add the bits to the mixer. Pour the filling in the crust, smooth out and let the cake cool for an hour or two before serving.

Enjoy with a cup of fruity tea or coffee. Or some apple lemonade!