Again With The Showing Off

I'm a Swedish person, condemned to a lifetime of snow and darkness and electricity bills going through the roof. Therefore I have the right to once a year brag about sun and temperatures rising over 15°C. So please indulge me. In this post I will continue to talk about the weather we're having. It's only going to last until Friday, and then we're back to normal Swedish summer and this blogg will be gloomy again and all will get back to normal. But for now, dear friends, indulge.

So here's how hot it is today.

• It's so hot that I've had coffee three times and tea twice, all in the name of staying-awakeness.
• It' so hot that the kids went straight from the beach (though "beach" is probably stretching it and also planting a way to glamourous picture in your minds) to the pool (though "pool" also is stretching it and again with the planting of the picture).
• It's so hot that I sanctioned a naked dinner (kids, not me) (NOT DAD), and if you know me at all, you know that this is big. (Not even underwear! Naked, I tell you! Nekkid!)
• It's so hot that we've had ice cream thrice and I'm pondering a quadruple. (Yeah, I know you can't say that, but I'm on holiday and so is grammar).
• It's so hot that I've turned the tv on just to keep them out of the pool ("pool"), where the sun still lingers and threatens to burn my young'ns to a crisp.
• It's so hot that I opened the freezer just now and stuck my head in it. That was really uncomfortable.
• It's so hot that my father's taken to practising the tuba (the horn? the tutilur?) in the cellar.
• It's so hot that friends and family stuck in town keep texting me with their hallucinations, involving cold drinks and nakedness and other unmentionables.
• It's so hot. I'm so happy.
  

There. Thank you for your patience. If this post made you irritated (and I can totally see why it would), feel free to read any posts labeled "winter". Then come back and say you're sorry and understand my need for obsessing over this day utterly and completely. Thank you.

Raspberry Sorbet

I'm no longer wearing the hula skirt. I'm wearing sorbet. Though I must say, Blanka does it way better than I.

Showing Off

This really is a terrible picture, but I just had to get it out of my system. See it's now eleven thirty at night and I took this photo fifteen minutes ago. Yep. We have no daylight for nineteen months and then we get this for about three nights every summer and go loco bananas. I'm wearing a hula skirt as we speak.

She's A Size 26

But we're working with what we've got.

Midsummer In Midsomer

We danced around the maypole. We ate lax and strawberry cake. We wore flowers in our hair. We ruined our shoes in the rain. We were a little cold. We met and greeted summer friends and family. And when we had danced and eaten hotdogs and bought candy of the kind they call homemade, we went home to meatballs and sill on knäckebröd. Night fell very late on the longest day of the year. And we fell asleep with grassy feet and dresses still on.

Carpe Diem Is More Of A Sport Up North

Today it rained for about a hundred hours.
Then this happened for ten minutes.
Weather like this makes for a strange people. Proof of which will follow tomorrow, when we celebrate Midsummer.
That's Midsummer in Midsomer, for the hardcore WWLDonians.
Stay tuned.

Ludacris

First run today.
Met two deer and scared them away with my panting and non-elfish moves.
And the BABY I CAN SEE YOUR HALO bellowing.
Laughed out loud with the sheer ludicrousness of it all.
The same feeling I have when I'm in the car.
Just look at this person with the driver's license, maneuvering her vehicle.
Look at this person with the legs moving forward and the rest of her body trying to follow.
Look at her.
Look at me.
Look at me go.

Just Look At That Kiss

After twelve years of love Emilia and Fredrik are now Mr and Mrs! In (almost) total secrecy and with their sons as witnesses they got married at the drop-in weddings at Skansen during Pentecost. (Like your friend Emi did last year!) Veil and flowers and pretty shoes and yes, diamonds are a girl's best friend. Moments after the ceremony they sent me this picture and I was so surprised and so happy that I had to go outside and hide by my bike to cry in private. I've loved this girl for fifteen years. And I have been protective of her in ways that haven't always been as subtle as they could. But if I've been wrong before, please let me be right this once when I say that any marriage starting with a kiss like that is something out of the ordinary. Just like you guys. So good luck, bonne chance and God bless. I'm so very happy for you.

Summer Starts Here

So this is it.
We're off.
The kids and I are on summer leave for a million billion weeks.
Yesterday, Day 1, was grey and cold and filled with nag nag nagging.
There was a little swimming as well (indoors, mind you) and some elder flower cordial making.
But mostly nagging, sighing, frowning and frowning and nagging again.
Today was a little better.
And the million-billion-eons-of-timeliness of it all makes it easier to let go.
That and old age.
Yep, I'm definitely getting smarter.
That and humbler.

Saturday

I went for coffee with my best friend.
She bought me a 1$ skirt.
I love her.

Check And Check!

I DID IT. I got my driver's license. As of this morning, I'm not only suburban mother of two, I'm also a licensed driver! YES. That's me. I'm only a sports oriented kid away from full blown soccer mom. I can drive a car. I'm allowed to drive a car. I'm not a menace to society, driving that car. (Actually, my first solo drive in life was pretty far from perfect, but I blame that on exhaustion and total giddiness.) I sat in the car by myself laughing out loud. Drove 2 k and made a million mistakes. And noone but me to see them. Ha! Such a relief. Such a joy. I picked Wilhelm up from school, dangling the car keys in front of him, and he jumped up and did a little dance, screaming "You can drive? You can drive now?!" And I kissed him and said that I could. And I can.

Then we went to pick up B ("Are we taking the car? Where's daddy?") and came home, safe and sound the three of us. And I practically fell asleep making dinner. I'm about as tired as I've been after giving birth. It's crazy, I'm so exhausted. So good night, y'all. And thanks for your support. I feel like I can do pretty much everything now (again with the post-delivery feelings). But it will all have to wait until tomorrow.

These Are The Days

It's eleven fifteen at night and every window, every door, in the house is open.
Night has yet a long time to fall.
Jesper's outside, painting the fence.
The neighbours are finishing their dinner.
I'm in the study, fighting away a moth that is drawn to the computer, it being the only light on the house.
The elder flower, covered in lice, haunts me through the open window. The smell, sourly sweet and more June than any other.
Yes, it is night, but noone seems to know.
It's still light.
It's still 22°C.
The birds are still singing, the blackbird showing off from the tv antenna.
It's impossible to wrap this day up.
These are the days that we will talk about.
These are the days that will be Summer.
These are the days that will seem to good to be true.
These are the days.

Getting Ready

New shirt (finally flowers for a boy)? Check.
Pink jumpsuit (with lingonberries for my girl)? Check.
White knee socks? Check.
New sandals? Check.
Gifts to teachers? Hm.
Fake vans instead of smelly sneakers? Not yet.
Doting grandparents? Check.
Garden in bloom? Check.
Dandelions f-g everywhere driving me crazy? Check.
Proud mama? You bet.
Ditto daddy? Indeed.
About ready to be ready with school? YES.
Really bad photo? Oh yes.
Loving the fact that you're here, even when you don't say much? Amen.

One More Photo To Make You Go Aww

It was good to be back by the sea.
Since my parents sold the summer house I've been reluctant to go.
Holding on is easier than letting go, it's as simple as that.
But this was good.
And beautiful.
Now it's back to doing Monday, though it's already Tuesday.
Back to work and school and planning meals and folding laundry and shaving legs.
But don't pity me. I don't deserve it.
You see, it's countdown time.
School's out on Friday.
Midsummer in less than two weeks.
And it's 24°C in the shade.
Or 75°F, if you're feeling transatlantic.
Plus. I. Have. Freckles.

Have a good one, ya'll.

Glory Days

Glory days
Well, they'll pass you by
Glory days
In the wink of a young girl's eye
Glory days
Glory days

(Bruce Springsteen)

Ascension

We're on holiday. Well, technically we're still here, but we have five full days off, starting today with Ascension and ending with our national holiday on Monday.
The kids are in full-on summer mode, running from backyard to backyard, eating masses of ice cream, bruises on knees and grass stains on skirts and shorts. Never wanting to go to bed, laughing so loud I'm afraid the birds will leave our garden.
Asking me if this is summer.
We feel it too, in the gardening and the staying up late, in the night cup of tea outside and the sneaking a cigarette once the kids are in bed.
Lilacs are in full on bloom, peonies about ready to burst.
And the sun.
Impossibly, unbelievably there.
And friendly friends and birthday parties and friendly neighbours with big dogs and all things good.
And too much to eat and running shoes not in use and work put on hold for a while.
It could be summer. It feels like summer. I think it is.

He Made It! (Kind Of)

Lasse survived a whole day of kindergarten. That's pretty good for a dog his age. Unfortunately on our way home, about five minutes after this photo was taken, we lost him to traffic. Yes, it was a sad and traumatic event for everybody involved and the wailing took on Beyoncé-ific proportions. Luckily, there was icecream in the fridge and Bolognese for dinner. And he's in a better place now.