We went for a walk around Svartsjö (“black lake”) out on Färinge.

The book where I found this walk (“Alla dessa promenader i Stockholmstrakten”) described it as “beautiful, memorable and full of variation”. I wouldn’t rate it quite as highly as that, mostly because it hadn’t been maintained in recent years. The path was a rough mown trail, often uneven and with holes under the grass. Information signs had fallen down; the “viewpoints” were overgrown and barely distinguishable from surrounding nature. I guess the authors hadn’t re-walked this walk in recent years, even though the book claimed to be the new, revised edition from 2015.

The lack of suitable picnic spots around the lake led to some grumpiness and emergency fruit stops. In the end we did our sausage grilling right by the side of the lake, in what had probably been a picnic spot some years ago but was now muddy and invaded by nettles. On the plus side, there was an almost-climbable tree, and a stick that could be used for poking stuff in the water.

Adrian and I went geocaching in Judarskogen nature reserve. We’ve been there before but then mostly followed the main trails, sometimes even on bikes. This time I kept us off those trails for a slightly wilder experience. It’s all criss-crossed with paths so it was still very easy walking, but a bit more fun this way.

In addition to caches we found several fallen trees right across the path. Adrian liked climbing over/under/along those.

We stopped to look at one of the newt ponds. There are several in Judarskogen, all man-made to compensate for the loss of natural ponds suitable for frogs and newts – shallow ponds of still water, with no fish. At first the pond looked all brown, slimy and dead. Then suddenly something moved, and I saw it was a big, fat frog. We looked more closely and saw a whole bunch of them sitting in the shallow muddy water near the edges, with just their eyes sticking out, seemingly staring at us.

Ingrid and I celebrated summer break by bowling at O’Leary’s and conveyor belt sushi at Zan. For some reason O’Leary’s thought it would be good to have disco lighting in the bowling alley. Pointless and distracting. Well, at least there was no loud music.

We played three series. I won the first one, then Ingrid beat me, and we finished the third one with exactly the same score. (She with gutter guards, me without.)

End of term, end of school year, end of lågstadiet (elementary/primary school), end of three years with a wonderful teacher.

End-of-school summer party at Adrian’s preschool: a show by the kids with songs and other performances, and then ice cream with strawberries.

All the kids got to choose what kind of the performances they wanted to do. There were songs, and “magic tricks”, and “tigers” leaping through “rings of fire”, etc. Adrian, after much deliberation, chose to be “master of ceremonies” together with her friend: they announced each new act.

I suspect he chose this role because it was the least showy one and let him stay in the background. He’s not one to enjoy standing in the limelight. So unlike Ingrid who topped off the show for her year with a duo with her best friend M, loudly singing Twinkle twinkle little star in Swedish and English.

This year’s summer camp for the Spånga scouts will be in Tiveden, in what is said to one of Sweden’s most beautiful national parks. I’ve never been there but it sounds incredible. When Ingrid signed up, I wanted to go, too, so I signed up for the kitchen crew. For about four hours of work every day, I get a free trip to Tiveden, and I don’t even have to make any arrangements myself.

The camp won’t be until late July/early August, but the kitchen crew has already made all plans and preparations. Or rather, our experienced leader has made most of the plans, but we did help with the preparations. These are the low-tech but very sturdy crates that all the kitchen equipment will be travelling in. I wonder how many trips they have survived.

At the National Day concert/picnic with the Royal Opera in Hagaparken.

Ingrid ran the Stockholm mini marathon today, 2310m.

At first she was trying to swing high enough to touch the cherry branches with her toes. I don’t think she succeeded.

Then she turned the swing into a carousel thing, twisting the ropes as high as possible and then letting it twirl down. This is nothing new, she’s done it before. What I only realized now is that every year she grows a little bit taller, which allows her to twist the swing a few more turns, and get a little bit more speed out of it. By now it’s really fast.