Dark times

It is not as bad as it sounds but on the weekend we changed back from daylight savings and gained on hours sleep, yay! But it is a lot darker outside now, it is dark already by 5 pm and it is 2 more months to go before it starts getting brighter outside again. Not to worry, we will have to light candles and use the fireplace to get lighten up the evenings a bit. And after a dark winter it makes me appreciate the summer and the long days a lot more.

This time of year in the gardening diary is for getting things ready for winter, raking leaves and stowing away outdoor furniture. I mowed the lawn for the last time this year, unfortunately I didnt completely finish, our lawnmower doesnt work anymore so I borrowed the neighbours lawnmower till I broke it... But it wasnt the first time it had broken like this, they had temporarily put it back together and it was just a matter of time before it would break again but I still felt bad. I only had a tiny little square left in the middle and the little bit at the front of the house, anyway, it will have to survive till spring when we get the robot lawn mower installed. I cant wait! But because of all the leaves on the lawn I had to use the catcher and I probably moved something like 15-20 metres at a time, then I had to empty it, another 15 metres, stop and empty and so on. Quite annoying but still a lot faster than raking it all into piles and using the wheel barrow.

We have also hung a little bird feeder in the plum tree at the front porch to help the little birds survive winter. A lot of birds travel south to Europe and even Africa but some stay over winter and it is quite nice to sit at the breakfast table and watch them.

We have also, actually not we but Stephen, invested in a pool table and a Playstation 2 with a whole heap of games including guitar hero with 2 guitars, a drum kit, and a microphone. It will all go in the boys room. Now he is looking for a sofa as well to make it a bit more loungy. I think he is planning the first pool competition in 2 weeks time, while I am away on a girls weekend.

Stephen has not only been shopping for the boys room, he has picked up on his swedish studies again. I hope I can support him more from now on and actually speak at least some swedish with him and not always take the easy way out and speak english. Mum and dad are now speaking mainly swedish with him and it works well on the understanding side of the fence, it is a bit more difficult speaking but hopefully this course will help him a bit further.

Heureka - it works

http://www.emmaleaphotography.se/

Now I just need to upload some more photos to it =)

4 days of celebrations =)

It has been a hectic weekend of cleaning the house, making soup, and preparing for 16 people to have lunch. It all went really well I must say!

The celebrations started already on Saturday with my fantastic husband cooking me a 3-course meal with matching wines. And not to forget the breakfast in bed! On Sunday all the rellies were here and it was a lovely afternoon. Tonight mum and dad has been here again to install a new outdoor light that they gave me for my birthday, it looks just like the old one but has a sensor as well. We always forget to turn the light on when we leave home and if we get back when it is dark then it is difficult to get the key in the hole. And because I had meetings all afternoon I didnt get time to go and get cake for afternoon tea at work so I will do that tomorrow instead. And tomorrow night we are having some friends around for birthday cake in the evening. Then it will have to be an end to all the cake eating!

We are waiting for IKEA to get some recliners back in stock again, as we are setting up the library with a couple of them, I think the library will become my favourite place in this house this winter. Sitting in front of the fire place and reading a book and having a cup of tea. That is what I will do right now actually, maybe I'll skip the tea though...

Wednesday again

I cant believe how fast the time goes by, it feels like yesterday I wrote the last update and it is already half a week ago.


Stephen is away overnight, he is going to a "technical exhibition" in Stockholm, or maybe it is called expo... Anyway, lots of companies presenting their technical abilities I guess. Jonas is part of it as the company he is working for is there to show off their stuff.

Tonight I have been preparing for the coming weekend soup lunch that I have decided to host as part of my birthday celebration, and also an opportunity for the rellies to come to beautiful Älmhult and look at our house. So far I think we will be about 12 people, maybe a few more or less depending on the cousins.

I have decided to make a pea soup from dried yellow peas, of course with some pickled pork ;-) And also a goulash soup which is bubbling away in the slow cooker as I type. I might make a vegetable soup as well, I haven't devided 100% yet, but this time of year is root vegetable season and there are a lot of nice veggies in the shop.

Now it is time to go to sleep, and read the new book I just bought, I have to take the opportunity when Stephen is away, he tends to interrupt my reading when he is around, if he is bored and wants attention =)

Ferret

Today has been a long but productive day, the curtains are on their way, a slow cooked meal is finished, I made some soup for lunch, I sewed an apron, went for a walk, took some photos, dropped Stephen off, picked Stephen up in time for a bbq and on the way back we saw a ferret run across the road. The only thing I didnt fit in was a kip =)

Very productive! I should get up early mrore often I think. It was so nice and peaceful to have the whole morning to just let things take its time.

And today was an absolutely wonderful day, fresh autumn air and plenty of sunshine, and when the sun set it was foggy, almost magical to drive on the countryside, according to old Swedish folklore the fairies were dancing.

Saturday morning 6.30 am, footy grand final

Stephen is having some friends over to watch the footy grand final, here in Sweden it starts at 6.30 am and has Swedish commentators. They have already opened their first beer. I was gonna try and sleep in a bit longer but as the bed room is next to the lounge I didnt have too much hope that I would be able to. As it turns out I couldnt get back to sleep after Stephen got up, not because it was noisy though, I really dont know why. And I do like my sleep and weekend mornings in bedbut here I am, waiting for the door bell to ring and the rest of the gang to show up. Simon has been here since last night but there were at least 3 more coming, I dont know if they changed their mind then the alarm rang way too early for a Saturday or they are just aiming to come in half time =)

I have decided to devote the day to fiddle around at home, do some laundry, hang some curtains, sloowcook some pickled pork and just plod around.

Yay!!!

My scarf is done!!! Now back to that darn cardigan that I hope to finish by Christmas....2015...

Fantastic day

Today we had a fantastic day, another day that could be the last nive day before winter and we tried to make to most out of it, having lunch outside for example, and mowing the lawn and getting the garden ready for winter.

Last year the snow came in late October, only a month from now.

I just realised that the weekend soon is over and I still havent finished that scarf...

Tomorrow mum and dad will come during the day, dad is doing some electrical work for us, like putting up little fans in the bathrooms to increase the circulation and adding a few powerpoints and another light in the garage.

And because the autumnal equinox (as google translate told me it is called in English, when day and night have approximately the same length) happened a few days ago, and it is now getting darker in the northern hemisphere I have decided to post some photos of the midnight sun from our honey moon.

Bsy busy busy week

Tuesday night - birthday dinner for a friend
Wednesday night - catching up with my old friends
Thursday night - house warming party at Stephens colleague
Friday night - Relax in the sofa eating nice food and drinking nice wine

This weekend we are going to Malmö for another birthday party, staying over night and then it is back to work on Monday. And I'll be in Warsaw Wed-Fri and Stephen will go to Gothenburg to watch the grand final next weekend.

Then we are taking it easy for a while I hope! I will have time to put the final touch in the kitchen with the curtains and hopefully finish off that Cardigan I am knitting, and my scarf should be finished before the weekend is finished, I am soooo close now, just a few more centimeters!

And in November me and the former Adelaide girls who now live in all different parts of Sweden are planning a get-together in Luleå, where we all studied and one of us lives. It will be a lot of fun to meet them again! We really are spread out all over the country, one in the far south, me in the south, one in Stockholm area and the last one in Luleå.

Busy weekend!

Yesterday was gardening day and today has been indoor doing stuff day. Laundry, vacuum, mopping, cooking, food shopping, knitting and putting up curtains. And we have also finished off the last episode of Entourage, a tv-series that Stephen started watching a while back and I kind of learnt to like it. And I just read on Wikipedia that there will be an Entourage movie! They just have to write the script first...

My other domain is not changed yet, I just checked, have no idea how long it will take but I hope it will be fixed soon. Until then I should probably get back to lightroom and have a look at my photos, if I ever will get it sorted I need to use it a bit more often and get a work flow going I think, I am just not that disciplined...

Tomorrow it is time for the timing belt in the car to be changed, and also for someone to have a look at the rattle, hopefully after that, knock on wood, the little car will be as new again!

Now I will get back to my knitting, I want to get that scarf done so that I can use it soon!