Month: April 2022

April 30 – Valborgsmässoafton – Walpurgis Night. We haven’t been able to celebrate it for a couple of years due to the pandemic. But this year we could see the bonfire again and listen to the choir sing (their last song anyway). 

We had invited our parents over and my sister & brother-in-law (the girls were otherwise engaged) over for dinner and we had prepared a meal with a Greek theme. Skewers of chicken and beef, oven baked potatoes, tzatziki, bread, Greek sallad. And yoghurt with honey and walnuts for afters. Or canned fruit with ice cream if you preferred.

A lovely evening and nice to gather us all for a couple of hours. Thank you for tonight! 

Friday again – and a very productive busy one. Great to have a good last day of the week – much easier to take a mental break from work-issues over the weekend if most things are solved. 

The cherry-tree from yesterday had started to bloom this morning. Progress! 

Picked up some pizza for dinner, then enjoyed the spa for a bit before it was time to watch “Masked Singer” and a glass of red. Let the weekend begin! 

Still freezing in the mornings with degrees below 0C but quickly goes up to around 10-15C in the afternoon. Slowly but surely the flower buds are opening up one by one. Our cherry tree is a few days ahead of our apple tree but it won’t be long now before they will be in full bloom. 

A very busy hectic day with a nice break for a lunch with one of our suppliers. Now me and the boys have finished some of the leftovers in the fridge – nice to get rid of leftovers before the weekend. My hubby is away tonight on an over-night even with his work. He’ll be back tomorrow. 

Today I’ve been working on getting organized and prepare for our next project at work. Short day and when I left the office I saw these new Iittala mugs in a shop window. Love them. Maybe something for my office – but I doubt it. 

Had a late lunch when I arrived home. I’ve been working on my jigsaw puzzle for a bit – need to complete it if/when we are having guests on Saturday. Our youngest is starting to come down with something – maybe he has what I had the other week. Fingers crossed he will feel better soon – otherwise we might have to cancel. He has a sore throat and a slight fever. Tested negative for covid, so that is good. 

Tuesday and long day at work. The day went by so fast – so strange how some days just disappear sort of. And other days feel like they never end. Lol. 

The construction work at Slussen is making progress. Not sure when it is estimated to be completed. 

Made chicken and pasta for dinner tonight. Now some corner time to relax a bit and watch a couple of episodes of our Finnish series “Sorjonen”. 

Back to work again and a very busy day but I managed to tick off all the things I had set up to do today. Great. I had to run an errand to the building across the street from Kungsträdgården so I popped over to take a photo of the amazing cherry trees that are in full bloom. Lovely! 

After work I went another errand to pick up a present for my niece before I left the city to go home. Now a lasagna is in the oven getting ready for dinner and I will make a burger with pasta for the son who doesn’t eat lasagna. Yes, those people do exist. Lol. 

A nice sunny day invited to wear spring clothes and sneakers along with my leather jacket. Finally. But it was below 0C when we got up this morning but now it is a lovely 15C outside. Tricky to dress with the big difference in temperature over the day. 

Last day of our holiday. After breakfast we went on our usual weekend-round and also picked up my new glasses and sunglasses that I tried out a few weeks ago. So far so good – always a challenge to getting used to new glasses.

We’ve kept the laundry machine going all day long to get thru three weeks worth of dirty clothes. But, now we’re done. Also we’ve taken a nice walk this afternoon. After dinner we worked some in the garden and trimmed our rosebushes. We noticed during our walk that the birch trees have started to leaf and then it is time to trim the roses. Fingers crossed we’ve followed the instructions correct and that our roses will be happy and bloom!

Time to pack up and close our paradise and make the long drive back to the real world again. We’ve had a great couple of weeks but now we need to get back to work again. 

When we arrived back home an envelope was waiting for me with a birthday card from my American mom & dad. The card had this poem which made me warm at heart ; 

“Once upon a time there was this person who came into the world in the ordinary way. And every day, that person learned a little more and grew a little more. That person had talents and gifts and thoughts and ideas like nobody else. That person had love to give and happiness to share and that person made a difference in other people’s lives every single day. So, as it turns out, the day that person came into the world wasn’t ordinary at all. It was the beginning of the unique and important life of extraordinary you.” 

Now we’ve had a nice family dinner with the four of us – our youngest has been home by himself all week so it was great to see him again. We picked up some take away dinner and now we’ve crashed in our corners relaxing a bit before it’s time to hug the pillow. 

This morning my sis and the girls started their journey back to the real world again. The rest of us – six still remaining – have one more day in paradise this time.

After lunch me and my parents took a walk over to my second-cousin and her family for a chat and afternoon coffee. We could sit outside in the sun and it was very nice to see them. As we walked back home we saw these “gullvivor” – cowslips – now spring has arrived for real!

Time to clean the houses and pack the last bits and pieces – tomorrow we leave our paradise and close up until we return this summer. A great couple of weeks have come to an end. And my cold is almost gone .. need a few more days before I’m 100% ok again.

A very windy day today so we didn’t take a long walk together. We’ve been relaxing doing this and that. I’ve been working on my knitting-project that I brought with me.

My parents went to get some take-away dinner – kroppkakor – a local specialty which we all love. It is a potato dumpling filled with smoked pork and onions. Served with lingonberry jam and melted butter (if you like).

After dinner our hubby’s have been busy bees cleaning the wooden deck so we can put linseed oil soap on it tomorrow. The rest of us either played board games or cheered on our team playing soccer – another win – yeah!