Sunday & Monday morning- Flowers, flowers & more flowers

Sunday morning we met together in fellowship at the home where we were staying in Stockholm.
I realized later we missed one when we took the photo--Daphane did not get in it, she had went on a quick errand.

I posted both of these because not everyone was looking in either!

For lunch today we had --Flygande Jakob (Flapping Jake), which was delicious! Some of you may have seen the conversation posted about this recipe on Laura's facebook page a while back.  It's a chicken dish served with rice

Robert was suppose to be adding the bananas.  He says it doesn't need many.  His mother says it does.

He compromised by cutting them into smaller pieces, so we had both small and large.

The finished dish--and I will tell you, it was VERY good!

Sunday afternoon Obbe took us on a tour of the family business -- flower greenhouses -- and it was amazing. Row after colorful row after vibrant row of beautiful flowers....chrysanthemum, cyclamen, begonia, hydrangea, heather, ornamental grasses, etc., and just getting started on the poinsettia's to be ready the middle of Nov. .

The plants on the racks are loaded, ready to go to Market early Monday morning.

I don't think that the pictures do it justice! I took so many of them and of course won't post them all, but the rows & rows of flowers in all different stages, along with color & style were just amazing!

Monday morning we got up very early to leave the house at 6:15am (some of you may not have gone to bed yet when we're getting up for the day!). Patty took us to the market where Obbe or one of his brothers takes a truckload of flowers every morning and is there from 7am-12pm. It's where his buyers come and where he buys from trucks that come in from Holland, Belgium, Germany, and he buys either the cuttings he uses for his plants, or buys plants he doesn't grow that his buyers want. He says they do grow some from seed, but the majority is from cuttings

This is the Market where they take their flowers to sell.  It is a huge warehouse where many different nursery venders rent space and sell their flowers and other landscaping and decorating supplies

We saw many different flowers and plants that we didn't recognize & had never seen before!

It was a very fascinating, educational tour. Flowers are a very big part of this area, and we see a lot of greenhouses/nurseries as we drive along. I don't know if any of you were aware of the Crown Princess of Sweden getting married this past summer, but obviously it was a major event, and the Skallebergs were providers of a lot of the flowers that were used. Obbe's very modest about it, but we did learn that they are one of the very top (one of the top 3 I think he said) greenhouses in Sweden. His parents started the business in the 1940's.

The tour gave us a new appreciation for greenhouses, and both Ruth and I are anxious to go shopping next spring at our local places and see what we can find. 

These last two photos are out of order....we took them Sunday night and I missed putting them in order.  I don't want to go back & change it.

Ruth and I had alot of fun watching this little girl entertain us! She is about the same age as some of our grandchildren, and Liv is just such a cutie & so good natured.  She is the grandaughter of the people where we stayed.

Sunday night we had pizza, and Patty & Obbe's daughter Maddie & family were with us too. 

Thank you all for the wonderful hospitality we enjoyed with you while we were visiting Stockholm!  You really made our visit special!

I'll leave you here with my blog tour for now, after we left here we packed up and headed to the Ferry on Monday noon to go to the Aland Islands!  Bon Voyage!