The poppy is flowering.

Also, I managed to mow the lawn (as much of it as I was going to) just before a thunderstorm got here. I’ve let the grass under the cherry tree grow until now to let the cowslips propagate, but now it’s time to prepare for cherry season. Picking cherries (and picking getting rid of bird-eaten half-rotten cherries on the ground) is much easier with shorter grass. Now I skip the parts with a lot of clover, or wild strawberries. I wish there was a magical way to get rid of the tall grasses but not touch the strawberries.

Midsummer picnic in Drottningholm.

I was kind of feeling like just having a Midsummer lunch at home, but everyone else wanted to at least go to some nice place, so a picnic it is. Drottningholm park belongs to Drottningholm palace, the home of the Swedish royal family, so there was no risk of any loud, crowded celebrations with line dances and lotteries and whatnot.

We sat in the shade of a giant, beautiful oak tree. Around us were trees and a couple of ponds, a few other smallish groups also having Midsummer picnics, and geese. Goose droppings everywhere. Step one when moving the picnic blankets to a new spot (because the sun caught up with us): remove the goose turds.

Strawberry roll cake for dessert, topped with extra strawberries marinated in lime juice and shredded mint leaves. The last two roll cakes I made (one of them a month ago and then an exact copy of it for the closing fika of our embroidery club) came out so well, and were so transport-friendly, that my thoughts immediately went to a roll cake for this occasion as well.

Roll cake makers all have their own tricks for how to keep the roll from cracking. The last recipe insisted that you needed to roll it up while it’s still warm. Some instructions online say you roll it up in a towel while it’s warm, let it cool, then unroll, fill, and roll again. I tried a third version this time, which was to let it cool entirely, under a moistened kitchen towel to keep it from drying out. And to flip it out from the baking sheet onto a kitchen towel (rather than parchment paper) and use that to help roll it nice and tightly afterwards. I don’t know how much of a difference the moistened towel made – maybe it would have been equally easy without – but there was no cracking whatsoever. Using a towel as support while rolling was very helpful.

Took a half-day and went kayaking after work with a friend.

I’ve never done kayaking before. Canoeing, several times, and SUP paddling once, but never kayaking. It’s been on my list for several seasons and just never happened. My friend was in a similar situation, so we tried it out together.

We rented kayaks at a rental place on Långholmen, right in the middle of Stockholm. Great views of Stockholm as soon as we set off.

It was a strange experience, seeing the city from this angle. It’s like all the waters that previously were (normally are) non-places, in-between-places, suddenly became the real thing, and vice versa.

Kind of being outside of everything, looking in.

It also felt odd to be looking up at everything. Houses, bridges, waterside shrubberies – everything was above us.

There’s an entire boatyard in the middle of Stockholm, that I’ve never paid any attention to. At one point, we met a towboat was pushing a barge transporting a small car. Why? Where in Stockholm would you want a car, but not drive it there but take it there by barge?

The rental place gave us instructions to stick close to the shore of the island, both to avoid waves and to not get in the way of any largr boats. We didn’t need to worry about any of that. There was no wind at all, and no waves. In the middle of a Thursday there was also no other boat traffic, so we had a very calm and quiet first ride.

My friend found the kayak seat quite uncomfortable for his back, so we weren’t out as long as I would perhaps have chosen to be on my own. I enjoyed it more than he did, and will surely do this again.

Photography was tricky. I wasn’t worried about the camera – I don’t drop my camera on dry land, so why would I do it here? – but it was a bit challenging to also balance the paddle at the same time. And as soon as I stopped paddling, the waves – which were tiny enough to be invisible – started turning the boat sideways.

Afterwards we circled most of Långholmen again, this time on the ground.

The office has a nice little terrace, facing a quiet courtyard, full of afternoon sun. There are chairs and a couple of small cafe-style tables, but the furniture is more suited to taking a cup of coffee than to actual lunch. I chopped up my spaghetti into little pieces (every Italian nonna is probably turning in their grave) so I have the bowl in my lap and eat one-handed.

Patched a large hole in the pocket of Adrian’s jeans. A small and simple mend like this is such a nice project: near-instant gratification.

Most of the year, there are two small lamps hanging in front of the French doors. (I thought for sure I’d have photos of them, but now I can’t find any.) The two lamps cords have been half-tidily bundled together and plugged into a single extension cord so that they can be controlled with a single switch (and a timer).

When it’s summer and the French doors are open as much time as they’re closed, the lamps come down. Otherwise we’d be hitting our heads against them all the time when we walk in and out – they’re at perfect face height for me.

Now I’ve finally fixed the mess and spliced the two cords together with a tidy little box. No more bundled-up cables, no more cable ties, no more double plugs. Super neat and tidy. Now the lamps get packed away until autumn, and I will forget about them, and then I will get to be pleased about this fix all over again.

The only hard part was stripping the wires. The wires inside the lamp cords were coated in some kind of extra-hard, shiny, translucent plastic. And it was really hard to strip off. It just would not let go. I guess it really wasn’t meant to be worked on by casual DIY:ers. Several attempts to strip it off with pliers all failed, and I ended up breaking or cutting the wire inside. Then I thought it might go better if I softened the plastic with heat, but that didn’t make much of a difference at all. I ended up burning the coating off entirely. Which was interesting in and of itself, because the plastic didn’t want to burn easily, either: very fire-safe.

Celebrating the end of the school year with ice cream at Spånga Konditori. Adrian had a blueberry sorbet and a mango/passion one; I combined the mango/passion sorbet with a cherry yoghurt gelato.

Heavy rain off and on through the day, but we managed to get here dry and get home dry.

I was out of all sorts of baked goods again, and that did not feel good. After a focused effort today, I now have Estonian oatmeal cookies, cheese bread, and a walnut brownie.

All of these recipes I feel I can reproduce reliably, with good quality, whenever needed. Unlike sourdough bread, which is still hit and miss.

My mum needs to renew her driver’s license, and isn’t satisfied with the official photos you get at the offices of Trafikverket. (By necessity they always use a short lens, which doesn’t flatter anyone.) A cloudy day with soft light, plus a bedsheet clipped to some patio furniture, made for a decent makeshift photo studio.

Last meet-up of the knitting club for this season. Apparently there’s a tradition of finishing the season with a restaurant dinner.

We had tables booked from 17 to 22, and I thought, there’s no way we’ll be there for that long.

First there were drinks, then there was food. Then a special offer to buy yarn from a local yarn shop, and a knitting-themed lottery, and a round of bingo, also with knitting-related prizes. And dessert, and some general hanging around, and overall this was a lot more than I had expected. By the time I left, it was already nine o’clock, and most of the crowd was still there.