Adrian has an entire collection of fiddle toys in front of his bed, that he uses while I read for him at bedtime. (Currently reading: Howard Pyle’s Robin Hood.) These have accumulated over the past few years. The magic snakes appear to be the best, because they satisfy both his fingers and his brain. They were a bit loud and “clicky” to begin with, but with some use they’ve softened. Or maybe I’ve just gotten used to the slight noise.

The boys taking care of the dishes after dinner.

Brought my brother over from Uppsala for a visit. Cooked a semi-fancy lunch, played board games with him and Adrian, and even made a rhubarb crumble. The crumble tastes much better than it looks, believe me.

With the whole covid thing, I haven’t been driving much at all outside the suburbs here. I am out of practise when it comes to driving longer distances. The two return trips to Uppsala were good practise.

Adrian and I got fresh summer haircuts.

Seeing our hair side by side reminded me just how gray mine has become.

Today’s activity: mowed some lawn. To be fully honest, I sloppily mowed about half of our lawn. But last time I did less than half so the mowed area actually increased this time, which makes me feel slightly better.

I’m on vacation as of this weekend and the kids have summer break, but Eric is still working. Ingrid is busy with her group of friends, but Adrian and I are sort of on our own. And not so good at activating ourselves right now. Left to our own devices, we’d probably just laze the entire summer away on the sofa, doing nothing much. Especially with this heat.

So now we’ve made a pact between the two of us: every day, we will do at least one active thing. Going somewhere, making something, just something.

Midsummer day’s picnic in Hammarskog. Lots of food, thereafter a bit of a food coma, and after that Ingrid and Adrian prepared quizzes for us. Ingrid won Adrian’s quiz, while I won hers.



(Adrian took this last photo, after decorating me with his cap.)

Midsummer lunch, with herring and eggs and new potatoes. And a decadent strawberry and elderflower cake.

In the evening, Ingrid and Eric watched the movie Midsummer. They’re the only two in this family who like scary movies.