All Alone

This is not Sweden, but East Anglia, taken in January from the car window as Granny whizzed us on our way. But it will do to illustrate how we are feeling this weekend, cold and lonely. The children have left us and gone with the Scouts to ski in the mountains. The youngest rang this morning at 6.10 am just to let us know she had woken up. She rang again at 6.20 am to tell us that she had a tummy ache and that she loved us both very much. She called again at 6.30 am to say that the tummy ache might be due to hunger and once again at 6.40 am informing us that big sister had woken up. Since then things have been very quiet, so I guess they're having a good time. We have kept ourselves busy, shopping this morning and visiting art exhibitions this afternoon, well one of us did, the other slept. Paintings don't normally move me to tears, but this afternoon one by the artist Berta Hansson (1910-1994) did, together with these words next to it:

The Last Bird

This evening yet another bird landed
On my out stretched canvas.
One big and white.
The last one of all.
How do I know it is my last?
Well, these things cannot be mistaken.
These things are felt in the heart and in the marrow of the bones.
I fought long with the paint,
Conquered the black
With the white.
When the bells of Mary Magdalene
Rang dully twelve times
Then I left my easel for good.
Ending my life as a painter.
Without, I believe, self-pity.
But with, of course, trepidation.
Now all that remains is to wait.

Berta Hansson 1991

Happy Mothering Sunday

The weather wasn't perfect, wind and hail, but we still managed to skate a few miles this afternoon. Coming home with the wind behind us felt like we were sailing.

Too sick to ski :(

Last weekend I should have been skiing 30 km, instead I slept off a queasy tum and a blinding head ache and opted for more gentle means of transport in the crisp cold, minus 20 C.

Saturday skiing

We spent Saturday skiing. I spent a couple of hours cross-country skiing in the morning. I'm in training for "Tjejvasan" a 30 km skiing competition in 3 weeks time. I managed 12 km without too many problems.

In the afternoon I took the girls downhill skiing, which they much prefer to cross-country. I suppose the views and the speed are exhilerating, but I think I'd rather have the quiet calmness of cross-country.

Musts

These were taken on January 11th when we arrived back home from our trip to England. It was warmer here than in England, only 2 degrees below freezing.

This is what I should be doing right now, out skiing, but it's cold and I'm tired and I've got loads of work to catch up on. Maybe this afternoon.

A cold start

Leaving England, we saw most snow at the port of Harwich, but at least the sea wasn't frozen...



unlike it was at the port of Esbjerg in Denmark. Not that it hindered us, we just kept heading further North.

Happy New Year!

Love and joy come to you,

And to you your wassail too;

And God bless you and send you

a Happy New Year!

See, I've almost caught up. Twelth Night was yesterday, if anyone is still using the old calender?
Spent New Year's Day in London with baby sister taking good care of us. We took the bus down instead of the train. Normally I prefer the train as you can move around more. But the bus was fine and much cheaper, not a double decker, but we caught one of these at Victoria. This one was in the New Year's day Parade heading towards a Happy New Year, as can be seen if enlarged.

Happy Boxing Day!

In Swedish they call it "sucking the toffee" (att suga pa karamellen), making something good last as long as possible. Christmas Day was spent at mum's and dad's, together with my gran and my baby sister and her 3 children. On Boxing Day we all went out to watch the Hunt.

Merry Christmas!

At least, I hope you all had one, we did.
Thanks to my family. I love you.

Happy Halloween!

Sorry! I don't seem to be able to keep up, but we're all fine. It's half-term and we're heading off into the wilderness. I've done the cleaning and almost finished packing, but the cars still have to be fixed. One needs a dose of something sweet to stop it from freezing up, the other one is having its battery re-charged. Once we have done that, then we're off for a few days to re-charge our batteries. I'll come round and see you all when we get back.

Winter's here

It snowed last Sunday, but it didn't settle. Then on Tuesday evening it snowed again. The snow in town stayed until Wednesday morning, then the sun came out.

But out at the cottage the snow was still waiting for us. And the ice was several inches thick.

We left the Man in town to take care of himself, and the girls and I had a wintery weekend all to ourselves: baked potatoes, hot chocolate, skiing and Cluedo. Perfect.

Purring...

Thanks to Crowbard, I read an article a few weeks back about cats and their ability to heal themselves which was contributed to the vibrations their purring made. Don't know if it works on humans, but, just in case, Miss T has cuddled every available cat during the last few weeks. Today she had a final operation to remove the pins in her arm and the x-rays showed that her arm was mending well. No complaints this time about the care she was given, treatment on every level was very good and we were kept well-informed.

The waiting room I sat in still wasn't very clean, and the communication between different departments at the hospital is still poor. The worst thing that happened wasn't to us. As we were leaving an elderly man was not quite quick enough for the revolving exit doors. He got knocked sideways and lay trapped and alone, stuck between the doors. I ran for help, while a lady the farside of the doors tried to force her way in to help him. Eventually he was rescued, but what a stupid place to have revolving doors.

Taking it slow

Spot the cat?

And shadow games.

Fractured in Sweden

For six days Miss T had the top of her right arm like this. She didn't cry or complain and only took pain relief during the first two days. The emergency unit sent us home the first day saying that they thought the break would start to mend on it's own and to come back in five days for more x-rays. We weren't shown the first x-rays, had we seen them we would no doubt have questioned their analysis. On our return visit the x-ray department hadn't been informed of our appointment, the emergency unit had forgotten to send on our referral (?) and we spent several hours in waiting rooms. This time an orthopedic doctor looked at the x-rays and came to the conclusion that this break wasn't going to mend on it's own.
The next day Miss T was booked in for an operation. The anesthetist mixed Miss T up with another patient, fortunately I was there to correct him , but he took some convincing. He also put in a needle that was too small so the poor nurse who was administering the anesthetic had to struggle. The operating table was the wrong one and had to be changed after Miss T had already lain on it for about 10 minutes, and in the room next to the operating theater where I was gowned up there was a 4 inch hole in the wall that had been filled in with scrunched up paper.

By now the broken ends of bone had penetrated muscle so the surgeon, who had calculated on a 30 - 60 minute operation, spent two hours repairing the damage and pinning her together. During these two hours I was left in a small waiting room and given no information. I spent my time observing a mosquito flying around and reading posters on the importance of hygien.



In spite of everything the surgeon was brilliant. He talked to Miss T before the operation and explained very carefully what he was going to do, and he came to the recovery room directly after the operation and apologised for taking so long, but he had wanted to keep the cuts as small as possible and taken his time, for which we are very grateful. Most of the nurses were fantastic too, considering the conditions they have to work under, and yes, we are in Sweden.

Operation Arm

Back home after two days in hospital and two hour long operation on Miss T's arm.
Just wanted you to know she's OK. More details later.

Bad Break

The camping trip went very well. The rain we were promised never came and everyone was tucked in by 11 and quiet at 11.30 pm, which meant I got a solid 6 hours sleep before a solitary raven woke me with his call as he circled the camp.

Everybody in my charge made it home safe and sound, I just wish I could say the same for Miss T's teachers, who called me, as I was on the march home, to say she had fallen from the top of a see-saw whilst on a school outing.

Poor baby has bust the top of her right humerus on her first week at her new school. She's still amazing, no tears until today, 24 hours after the incident, as she starts to realize how handicapped she will be for the next few weeks. More x-rays on Tuesday will tell us more. Until then she is trying to keep as still as possible as there is no plaster holding the bone in place. The break was too high up.

She's not ready for photos yet so here's another sort of break.



And here's her little sister taking her own pictures.

Waves

Miss T has taken to riding. She used to come to the stables just to be with the cats, but now she wants to ride and Maya Pirya is her favourite. This was taken yesterday afternoon.

I can't tell you what they're giggling about, but I can say that the first shot here was not for publication. We are scouting out a location for camping next week when school starts. I'll be spending a night with 70 thirteen year olds not far from here, and Miss T and Strawberry will be at home keeping the man of the house in order.

We don't get waves very often in the small lake where the girls like to swim, but last weekend was an exception. They had great fun jumping them and being lifted by them once they were in a bit deeper. I was very tempted to join them, but the temperature put me off.

I haven't been posting very often this summer and now work has started I doubt I will have time to post more than I have, so I am setting myself a new goal. From now on I'll post once a week. If I get the time it might be more, but it won't be less.

Scouting out

We've been testing our sails and picking wild strawberries while Miss T has been down south in Dalarna with the Scouts. Here she is eating one of the camp's specialities, a coconut toffee apple. She doesn't look very happy, but she claims that the only bad thing about her camping trip was that it came to an end!

Damp Disadvantages?

Worst of the wet weather is the increase in mosquitoes; there are two on the brim of Strawberry's hat.

As soon as there's a clear spell we try and get out, but the water level in the lakes is much higher than usual. The jetty the girls swim from is partially immersed and not only did we have to do a lot of bailing from the boat, but we also had to wade out to get to it. Still the fishing's good and three fine perch have been caught and eaten.

So I won't complain, just hand me the mosquito repellent!

Rain, rain go away...

This was taken on Saturday, when it was still warm and sunny, on our way home from a visit to the other side of the lake. Since then all it has done is rain. But the strawberries don't seem to mind.

Before and after

Now we are back we have to provide for ourselves. Fortunately Miss T caught a fine perch on Tuesday which fed us all. Before we left Strawberry and I attended a cowboy and Indian party, but I didn't have time to blog it, so here we are:

Back in Sweden!

The MoTH, couldn't come and pick us up in Stockholm, but he booked us beds on the night train home and we had a few hours in the capital to kill. We spent them at "Gröna Lund", something we have never done before. Miss T. loved it and queued happily for hours to ride "Insane" and "Jet Pack", not pictured, as the sight of them makes me feel a bit wobbly. Strawberry, who turned into an orange in the rain, preferred the candy floss and the merry-go-round.
Now we are home safe and sound and preparing to head for the wilderness. The grass there will be in dire need, as I have yet to cut it this year.