Month: July 2019

Today it was a bit chilly but nice and sunny for the most part. The ocean was a degree warmer than the air this morning. We haven’t missed our morning dip once!

My sister w/ family and my hubby decided to drive down to the south end of Öland while the rest of us remained here. Me and my mother went grocery shopping – we had hoped for fresh flounders but due to the windy weather there was no draught. Maybe another day. My favorite dinner all summer is when my mother fries fresh flounders.

In the evening we drove up to take a photo of the old grinding mill which used to polish granite and limestone to look all shiny like marble. We arrived just as the sun set. Lovely.

This morning my parents left us for the day to visit friends in Småland and our other friends said goodbye and started their journey towards Stockholm. It was a grey and windy day with some rain so the rest of us stayed indoors (except for my sis who went shopping) and I made a cake and also prepared a lasagna for dinner.

In the evening another friend came over for a coffee together with his son. They have rented a place here on the island for the week. Let’s hope the weather will get better than it was today and give us plenty of sunsets to be dazzled by. They enjoy taking photos so let’s hope Öland will deliver!

New week .. new wonderful friends visiting. This morning we went grocery shopping – just us three “pyssel-tjejer” – to prepare for a dinner together. A quick visit to the liquor store for some more wine and then a longer visit to the grocery store.

In the afternoon we met up to go for a quick dip in the ocean and then in the evening they came over for a bbq. My mother prepared the potatoes, my friend made three different kinds of sauces (yum) and I prepared the meat and veggies for the bbq which my hubby and brother-in-law cooked. We sat outside for dinner but then we went indoor for the rest of the evening since it was rather chilly out. After several hours playing the game “På spåret” – we called it a night. I haven’t laughed so much in a long time.

A great day with great friends. Life is good.

A lot of visitors this summer – fun! Today our second cousin on my grandmothers side stopped by for a coffee together with her hubby. They had never been to Öland before and wanted to see our paradise they have heard so much about. It was lovely to see them and nice with a catch up. My uncle and his wife came over too.

My sister was in charge of dinner tonight and served us a delicious pasta sauce with chicken, sun-dried tomatoes and feta cheese together with linguini pasta. Lovely.

Later this evening another family came to visit – our friends and neighbors from Stockholm – and they will stay at the camp site for a few nights. We sat outside and enjoyed a glass of bubbly as the sun set. Perfect ending of a perfect day! And the water temperature was up to 17C today so much better than yesterday!

Saturday. We got up early (which was really hard since we didn’t go to bed yesterday til after midnight) and our hubbies went to pick up a trailer at 9 and then we filled it with things to take to the waste disposal site. A good days work! While they were gone we went grocery shopping and also did some laundry.

After lunch we received new guests – and old colleague to my sister stopped by for a coffee together with her husband. She was my colleague too previous to my sister so we have some history too we share. When they left we went down for a dip in the ocean and it was quite refreshing (16C).. It’s been a very warm day today and I wouldn’t be surprised if it will thunder tonight (my slight headache suggests that it might).

A great ending of a great week. Our two house guests could enjoy one final day in the sun and a dip in the ocean since the algae’s are gone!

An old class mate of mine stopped by for a coffee after breakfast and stayed for a chat and catch-up. Haven’t seen him in a while so it was a nice visit. He lives here on Öland with his wife and family since about 15-20 years or so but this was his first visit. Hopefully not his last.

In the afternoon it was time to take our house-guests to the bus stop and then we all went into Borgholm for dinner at Sörens. After dinner the guys went back home again while us ladies had a fun night planned with tickets to an outdoor concert – Diggiloo. It was a great evening and we loved the concert! John Lundvik, Magnus Carlsson, Jessica Andersson, Mariette, Brolle, Mimi Werner, Arvingarna and Thomas Peterson led by David Lindgren.

The concert was divided in two halves and the second half started with a Queen-medley which was awesome. All the artists performed besides their own big hits also other artist hits and helped on stage. A fun mix!

This morning a delivery truck arrived with our new couches. So we’ve had a very busy day today. Clearing out both our living room as well as my parents living room. A good thorough clean and then we could build our new couches (IKEA – of course). We decided on a sofa-bed so we can have stay-over-guests and also make it a bit more comfortable to sit in. For my parents house we choose a dark blue corner-couch which will fit one more person than the last one. It turned out great!

Since we have been working hard all day we treated ourselves a take-away dinner – “kroppkakor” (a sort of a potato dumpling). Perfect. Tomorrow we will have to go and rent a trailer so we can throw away the old couches and a bunch of other things.

It’s been really hot today and we had big problems with the algae in bloom but tonight the water was clear again. Fingers crossed it will stay that way.

July 24th – a day of celebration in my family since it is Kristinas’ names day.  Since forever we have a strawberry cake this day and put the Swedish flag up. Happy names day, grandma! And my oldest niece. And several friends.

My oldest niece baked this cake together with her friend and we sat outside for coffee in the sun. My uncle came along too so all 13 of us! Tonight we are going to bbq chicken wrapped in bacon. Oven baked potatoes, carrots, onions and asparagus to go with. It’s been a great day with a lot of sunshine – even though it started out a bit grey and almost rainy.

Another rainy day in our paradise so we haven’t really done anything. My sis and the girls went for a shopping tour up north and the rest of us stayed at home. We had some algal bloom in the ocean this morning – I hope it will disappear as quickly as it arrived. With some luck it will be gone tomorrow.

After a lovely pasta bolognese dinner we played some dart before it was time for our Tuesday-“mys” in front of the TV. We had different kinds of melons and some prosciutto ham served with a glass of wine. Our friend L arrived tonight and will be our guest until Saturday. Lovely.

The day started a bit cloudy but soon cleared up and turned into a great day. Me and my sister went into town for groceries and brought my oldest for a well over-due visit to the hairdresser.

We found this little guest sitting in the grass and after a while we found a couple more. Then must have been born not too long ago. What a cutie!

Tonight we have grilled sausages of all sorts and my mother made her delicious potatoes sallad. 11 around the table today and tomorrow and then we will be one more as of Wednesday.