We played another round of Exit. It went much better than last time: we did it much faster, and with fewer hints. We’re getting familiar with how the game designers think. Which is kind of also taking away a bit of the fun of it for me. I wonder if there are any competing, similar games with a fresh approach.

I’m technically not really sick any more – no fever or anything, although I’m coughing at the least provocation. But my appetite is still gone. I eat half a portion at lunch, and even though I don’t feel full, I really don’t feel like eating any more, either. Just don’t want to, at all.

After a week of little to no food already, this isn’t exactly helping me get my energy back.

Chocolate ice cream as a late night snack sort of works. I can eat it without actively struggling against it.

Looks like this is all I’m going to see of Kläppen. I’m still barely able to stand, and definitely not up to any skiing. Worst ski trip ever.

Still sick. But I’m actually eating real food today, for the first time in days. And I even stood up long enough to fix it, and then I sat up while eating it, and I even chewed it all by myself.

We’re in Kläppen for a few days of skiing and I’m sick as a dog. Instead of skiing I’m spending all day lying down. Not even sitting up. My body hurts at night so I can barely sleep, and I have a fever and zero appetite, so I’m weak and tired all day. Don’t even have the energy to read or knit or anything.

We’re off to Kläppen for some skiing.

Nysse does not like long car rides. He especially does not like being boxed in inside his crate. This time I let him sit outside the crate but on a harness and leash, and the leash tied to the seat, so he couldn’t climb around just anywhere, or go flying freely in case of an accident. He was still vocally unhappy – until I let him climb up on the luggage behind us. Later I pushed up the headrest to provide him with more protection – and there he stayed, all the way. There was still some yowling, but on the whole he was much more content than during previous trips.

For next time, I’ll get him a better harness, though. This one was meant as a secondary means of containment, not as a safety belt.

Estonian butter knives are the best. Swedish butter knives (not pictured) are better for spreading butter than ordinary table knives, but they’re thin and the blades are small, so they’re not very comfortable to use. We somehow manage to wear ours out, so several of them are now barely more than flat sticks.

I’ve been planning to buy more butter knives of the well-designed Estonian kind when we go to Estonia. I was already planning on it last summer but never found the time. Oh well, we’ll make do with pointy sticks for another year. But yesterday at the crafts fair I saw a whole huge stand of wooden utensils, including butter knives with sturdy, rounded handles – and the lovely smell of juniper wood.

At first I thought that maybe some Swedish firm had copied the superior Estonian design, but then I saw the Estonian brand name. No need to wait until summer – the knives have come to me.

I bought several. And then sniffed at them for a good while before packing them away in my bag.

I took a half day off work to go to the crafts fair at Älvsjömässan. I’ve missed the last few fairs (it’s a semiannual thing) because of travels and other calendar conflicts, and really wanted to go. Not with any particular plans of buying anything – mostly just to go pet pretty yarn and be inspired by all the fun and colourful things.

I really liked these sweater designs. Just a plain black base yarn, and the simple but striking design arises from combining it with a colourful mohair yarn. Such a simple but powerful idea.

Ballet evening at the Royal Opera. The first of the three pieces was called Cacti and involved cacti. Which at first glance and at a distance looked like real things, but it didn’t take a long time of watching the dancers hold and swing them around in a rather cavalier manner to figure out that they can’t be. It would have been way cooler if they had danced with real cacti, but health and safety probably wouldn’t allow it. And the cacti might not survive it, either.

The Urb-it office is on the seventh floor, with grand views over the roofs and squares of central Stockholm.

First thing in the morning, walking up all seven floors is sometimes a struggle. I arrive huffing and puffing, and sometimes a bit dizzy. Sometimes I even take the lift.

After lunch it’s like it’s a whole different set of stairs. Or a whole different me, I guess. I’m fairly racing up the stairs, taking them two at a time without any particular effort.

Early mornings are not my thing. My body needs hours to properly wake up.