Bottled Up.

Passing a shop-window in the Old Town in Stockholm I noticed the largest "ship in a bottle" I had ever seen, except it was a weaving loom on 3 different levels with china-headed dolls on each level.

Two days later in Trafalgar Square my record was broken by several yards.

Only two months behind!

Two months ago during the Easter break, we took the night train to Stockholm. Strawbs took the top bunk while Miss T tried hard not to stick her head out of the window.

(See below: Stockholm townhall across the water and primeminister's official residence behind Strawbs. on our arrival at 7am)

We had a picnic breakfast next to the palace and watched the changing of the guards in the early morning sun,

before heading for London...

Happy Easter

This Easter weekend has been hot, almost 20 C in the shade. The bears are up and about, so I made lots of noise walking the dog through the forest this afternoon.

Yesterday in town the Great Lake was still frozen and there's still lots of snow in the mountains, and yet it's so warm.

We put the trampoline up today keeping the girls busy.

Nipa nibbled the old dry grass, holding it daintily between her front paws.

We got our bikes out this week. Strawberry thinks she's big enough to ride mine. I think she should wait another summer.

The ski slope, see behind Strawbs, is still covered in snow, but Spring is definitely here.

Passing on.

Sorry, I have not been a very active blogger recently.

I have given precedence to other dear ones for some time now, but I haven't forgotten any of you.

My in-laws have been close neighbours ever since I married and moved to Sweden 23 years ago and I have always felt welcomed and loved by them. Saturday March 19th, after several months of illness, my father-in-law passed on. The funeral was held last Friday.

My mother-in-law says that he was the best husband she could have had. I know he was the best father-in-law I could have had.

Mad March Days

Taken today on a long walk with the dog. We stopped for a drink from a spring. The water was a little cold.

Trying to capture the hound in the same image didn't work this time. She's so fast and my phone camera is so slow, but here's her nose and Miss T decorating the background.

The two pictures above were taken last weekend on the ice, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. The days are starting to get lighter.

This is Strawberry about to eat the moon, she's still convinced it's made from cheese thanks to Wallace and Gromit.

Happy Valentine's Day

Dogged but slow...

..that's me, unlike the dog who is nippy and quick to learn. We can now clip claws, with Miss T's help, I can't do the left side because I can't work out how to hold her paws left handed, but I can do the right side (?). This is mostly due to a very kind and patient nurse at the animal hospital who took her time to win the dog's confidence and to show me how to do it.
The weather is weird... it poured with rain all Sunday night here, so walking to school on Monday morning was almost impossible. Every other step and Strawbs or I would slide down the very slippery slope, fortunately Miss T (or her boots) was made of sterner stuff and she just pulled us back up. Now the temperature is back down to minus 16 C and the ice isn't quite so lethal.

The Last Day of Christmas!

Thanks to good old King Canute we still have 20 days of Christmas here, so I'm not too late in wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year :)
We spent the holidays quietly, but happily with a beautifully decorated tree ...

and wooden angels watching over us...

eating oranges...

watching an eerie 80% eclipse of the sun...

Cross-country skiing with the dog, she was never still long enough to get her in a shot...

Playing in the snow in spite of the extreme cold, at one stage it dropped to minus 36C (-32.8F)...

and sometimes managing to land face first :(

playing board games...
downhill skiing in town :)...

and avoiding Rudolph and friends on the roads.
I'll try and stay up to date from now on, after my long rest.

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

Jamtli jul marknad

I 'm here.