Sunday, December 12, 2010

Staying safe

Please don't worry about the Granny. We're trying to take good care of her: boiling all her water (apparently we have the parasite, cryptosporidium in Europe's cleanest water) and only letting her out with a bodyguard and in the protection of one of Santa's elves. She has to spend a few hours in Stockholm on Tuesday, but we'll wrap her up in some of the cotton wool in the background first.
xxx

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Half term

Last week was half-term, holiday here. The girls got the whole week off, and I was able to work from home Thursday and Friday, so we went out to the cottage for a few days. It was great to be able to let the dog off her lead. She loved the freedom. The only problem is she moves so fast it's difficult getting shots of her. Miss T. got the dog to stand still for a second on this shot, then she was off again, flying over stones, snow and ice, while we slipped and skidded. I even lost a welly at one stage, it got stuck between stones under the snow.


The hole in the ants nest in the background of this picture was probably made by a bear. There weren't many blue berries this year, so hopefully the local bears have filled up on ants instead.




Sunday, October 31, 2010

Hamlet in a box!



For my birthday Miss T. has made me an amazing present. It's Hamlet in a box. When teaching Shakespeare I normally borrow the girls toys, Barbie dolls, Playmobil, Action Men etc and put on a small production of Hamlet. Now I don't have to hunt around any more for an appropriate toy to play Queen Gertrude or Polonius, I've got them all in a shoe box, each figure carefully crafted and placed in it's own labelled and lined box. The shoe box itself turns into a stage where the pieces can be moved around to create different scenes. She has even included details such as swords, a horse, a throne and a cup of poison. No wonder I haven't been allowed into her room for the last few weeks!



Thank you Toots! I love it and you!


Monday, September 27, 2010

From Four to Five


This is Nipa our new family member. She is 6 years old and comes from the far North. We had to travel several hundred miles north of the Arctic Circle to find her. She is a Nordic Spitz and the most easy going, gentle creature we could have wished for.

After our thousand mile long trek North in search of Nipa, we are catching up with life here at home and preparing for our trip back to the old country to say farewell to our Great Gran.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Back to school... a month ago!

Sorry everyone, there has been a lot going on here, but I'll keep trying to stay on top of it all and whatever happens I shall follow the advise of my Grand mama and keep smiling :):):) too.
And it's not all bad news either, we have a new family member. Introductions tomorrow, if I can fit it in. P.S. Happy Belated Birthday Pa! 26 again!!!

Sunday, August 29, 2010

No ghosts allowed!

Travelling on a train a few years ago my youngest daughter asked me why ghosts were not allowed to use the toilet on the train. It took me a while to work it out, but as you can see she's quite right. According to the signs pasted to each toilet lid, ghosts are not allowed to relieve themselves on Swedish trains.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Haunted House?


As ghosts have been a favourite topic of discussion amongst our almost teenagers this summer we took them to visit a local haunted vicarage.

I am glad we didn't stay the night, I don't think we would have got a lot of sleep, it was the sort of house where every floorboard creaked before you even thought of putting a foot on it.


This young man hung from one of the bedroom walls and it is said he haunts the dreams of those who sleep there, or so I have heard from someone who has.


Waffle? Definitely, as the ones served with cloud berry jam and cream in this haunted house were delicious.

Sunday, August 08, 2010

From the Stone Age into the 21st century





Holidaying at home we are finding there are plenty of places to keep us all entertained. These photos were taken at a new museum in town where the military history of the area is represented. There was lots of stuff to keep the kids happy and the MOTH took a trip down memory lane.

Thursday, August 05, 2010

Touring: rock carvings and horses





Last week we went to see the 5 000 year old rock carvings beside the waterfall at Glosa. It's a place where you can well imagine the people of the Stone Age celebrating a successful hunt and taking their time to leave their mark.

We stopped on the way home for ice creams at Wangen ("a national center for education and development in Swedish trotting" :) We didn't see many horses, I think they must have been, like us, on their summer holidays.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Experimental Day Out







Going down south to pick up a nice niece, we made the most of it by spending half a day at the National Museum of Art, my treat, and a whole day at Tom Tits Experiment, the girls treat, see pictures above. All very satisfying, thank you Granny! And thank you Pa for the gobstoppers, the long journey down was very quiet, even if their tongues and teeth turned black and yellow!

Friday, July 23, 2010

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Summer snaps



Just a couple of images of summer here in the north of Europe. I want to try and get some fishing done today, so I'm only dropping in for a quick look. Back soon with more.

While I'm gone, see if you can guess what this is?

Sunday, July 04, 2010

Miss T.




Miss T has been poorly this week. Her temperature has been 39 C (102 F) for nearly a week. When she's is sick or in pain she becomes the politest person you could ever wish to meet, apologizing for not being able to eat or drink more, and thanking me for small things like puffing up her pillow. I knew she was on the road to recovery this morning when I thought I heard her say something rather rude to me as I tried to convince her to take a second egg. When I questioned her about it, she said "No, I didn't say that, I just thought it!"