Month: July 2015

Finally some sun – but only 16C in the ocean. We have been outside a lot today – working with different projects.

We bought this when we went down on our shopping tour the other day – two birds on one side and a glass ball on the other balancing on a small stick and turning in the wind. 

Since it was our last Friday together this vacation we treated ourselves some Fredagsmys with a glas of bubbly, some olives, sausages and serrano ham. I made a bread with cheese in it that turned out quite nice. My sister made a fantastic dinner tonight too!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Third long walk this summer – we have managed to do it once per week so far – just as we planned. No photo this time though since my walking partner borrowed a pair of walking sticks too and therefor was unable to take pics. This time we started from our house instead of getting dropped off and walked north along the coast and then back in a big circle. It started out with sunshine and ok weather but the last 20 min it was raining and got quite cold. We managed 8,6k in 93 min so that was ok for us!

I have received my new Jawbone UP2 today – replacing the old one that broke down in May. I have really missed it and I look forward to getting to know this new version. Hopefully it will keep me going that extra mile..

What to do on a rainy day… we hopped in the car and drove down to Färjestaden for some shopping. Stopped in Glömminge at the Alséns ceramics store where I found these amazing tulips that I couldn’t resist. They will look great on our table in town.

After that we went to Färjestaden and visited a bunch of other ceramics stores – Paradisverkstaden and Lotta & Mary i.e. They both have really nice things but since I already had treated myself the tulips I didn’t buy anything else. After a hamburger lunch and a visit to the mall we headed back up to our paradise again where it was raining pretty hard for the rest of the evening.

A fun game of trivial pursuit ended the day.

Tuesday and no improvement weather-wise. Me and my sister went up to Löttorp to get groceries – someone is emptying our fridge, can you believe it? We usually buy food for three days at a time since we don’t have a very big fridge or freezer and we are a lot of people. So 2-3 visits to the supermarket every week.

Tonight it was my turn to make dinner – lasagna – and who can complain working in a kitchen with this view? The sun came out a few times today but it is still “long-pants-weather”.

I have been a busy bee today putting spackling paste on all the screw-heads and gaps in-between the plasterboards. Manage to finish one room – one to go. Yeah! Progress!

Our third week in paradise has begun – still only around 15C in the ocean and no summer feeling what so ever.

So we decided to do something we have never done before – blast glass. We saw an ad in the paper about a place where you can design your own glass and then blast it. It was quite difficult and tricky to put on the sticky decorations – but the result was quite amazing and we were all happy with what we had accomplished.

Right next to the glass house was a caramel factory where they made their own caramels in all sorts of flavors. Yum. Of course we couldn’t resist a visit.. They also served coffee so we all sat down for a bit and enjoyed a coffee or a hot chocolate before it was time to head back.

A very windy Sunday with 13m/s (29miles/hour). The waves are very high but it is only 15C so it’s not great to go and have fun in the waves anyway. 

My brother-in-law is on the bus back to the city and the other half of this summer vacation has officially started.

We have had a great vacation so far in the sense that we have accomplished what we had planned and everyone is healthy and we are relaxing, eating good food and enjoying each others company. The one thing that we are not thrilled about is the lack of summer warmth, the amount of rain and wind and the cold temperature in the ocean. But, we are in paradise and days like this are spectacular and gorgeous.

A very rainy Saturday – no fun at all. It started out pretty nice and we all took our morning swim in the ocean, but after breakfast it started to rain.

Since it was our last day together (my brother-in-law has to get back to work) we went into town (Borgholm) for dinner. My sister wanted to go to a specific restaurant which has great food but when we got there the place was already full and they didn’t take any more guests. Typical. We called them yesterday to make a reservation but they said they didn’t take reservations during the summer.

So, we went to another restaurant instead, but the food was not as good as on the one we didn’t get in to unfortunately. But we had a great time anyway. A quiet evening in the house with an old movie and a glas of rosé ended a very rainy Saturday.

Today it is the Kristina names-day and since both me and my grandmother was named Kristina we have always celebrated this day on Öland with a strawberry cake. Now we don’t have my grandmother around anymore but my oldest niece is also named Kristina so we still have more than one reason to make a cake and raise the Swedish flag.

Tonight we have had a crayfish party with my uncle and his family. It got quite chilly outdoors after a while but we had a great evening together. Then my sister arrived here with the last bus for another couple of weeks in paradise. The whole family finally gathered together again for a few days. Lovely!

A very windy day in paradise (9m/s) but the sun has been shining most of the day and no rain. We decided to give ourselves a real treat for dinner – and called our local fisherman to see if he had any fishing luck today. Fortunately for us he did! So we asked him to hold on to 15 flounders and we went to pick them up.

Then my parents drove back home but me and my oldest niece walked back. 8,5k in 90 min. We did good!

Tonight we have enjoyed my mothers cooking – fresh flounders with new potatoes from our own garden. Can it get any better? I seriously doubt it.

Tomorrow my sister will be back with us here in paradise! A great weekend to look forward to with the whole family in one place.

A local speciality – kroppkakor – a favorite we can’t resist! My grandmother made her own and we have tried too with good result. But, this time we bought them already made. Usually we buy them at Eva’s but today we decided to try another place – Ninni’s – and they were quite tasty too!

If you want to make these kroppkakor – potato dumplings – you make a dough made of boiled potatoes and wheat flour. Then you fill your dumplings with smoked pork belly, onions and allspice. After you have boiled them, you serve them with lingon berry jam and clarified butter for those who wants. Mmmm..

A visit to the city this morning for groceries and more material for our house. Even managed to get my oldest to accompany me for a 3k walk this afternoon. A good but still very cold day has come to an end.