Martagon lily.

Much of what I have planted, I have chosen for the plants’ ability to be green, fill space and survive without cosseting. There aren’t many with eye-catching flowers. The aquilegias and alliums that I did plant have basically disappeared. Surprisingly, martagon lilies seem to be among the survivors.

Earlier this year, new benches turned up in the schoolyard at Spånga gymnasium (high school). We pass through that yard quite often because it’s the shortest way to a nearby Pokemon Go gym.

The schoolyard has gotten a facelift in general, but the mosaic benches are in a class of their own. They are works of art, and I am curious to know who the artist might be. I sent photos to a local newspaper and hope that they might have resources to find out more about the benches.

Just look at the way the angular turquoise and white pieces evoke shimmering water, and the iridescence of the cat’s eye – or the way the bottom of a broken plate or bowl becomes a knothole.

Ingrid’s four-day dance and theatre-themed day camp ended with a performance of Oliver Twist, in which Ingrid played the role of Bill Sikes (in an orange velveteen coat).

I am of course far from impartial in this question but in my eyes – and especially ears – Ingrid was among the very best of this cast of twenty-odd kids. She played her role with enthusiasm and feeling, and had a real presence on the stage. The group’s drama teacher shared my opinion and encouraged Ingrid to join a theatre class in autumn. Ingrid had already been thinking in the same direction.

tretton37 moved into a new Stockholm office, since the old one was bursting at the seams. There were usually nearly enough desks for everyone, but the lack of meeting rooms was such that we were sometimes forced to have meetings in nearby cafés or even to rent office space.

The new office is not only larger but better in all ways. It is in an even better location. It has plenty of daylight from large windows, better soundproofing than the old office, and even a bicycle garage. And because we have all this space (so much of it that one could almost get lost here!) we also have room for luxuries such as several sofa/lounge areas, a ping-pong table and even lockers for the employees.

tretton37 has a ninja theme so the interior decoration riffs on that.

One Sunday in June, the Swedish Botanical Society hold a “day of wild flowers”, when they organize nature walks with a botanical theme. I like plants, and I like knowing the names of plants, so this year I joined one of these walks. The leader of that particular walk was knowledgeable but not particularly inspiring, so I came home with a bunch of new plant names but no real desire to do this again next year.

Afterwards I hung around a while and photographed some of the plants we saw and named. We started and ended our walk next to a dry, sunny road embankment, and that’s where we had the best light, hence my choice of plants to photograph. Blueweed, burdock, and welted thistle.

The blueweeds were full of bees and bumblebees, but those were strikingly difficult to catch in photos, because they stopped so very briefly at each flower.

The black-leaved elder (‘Black Beauty’) is flowering in pink. The blossoms are brightest when they just open, and then fade towards a softer, creamy pink.

The aquilegias didn’t like this place any better than the Slope (a.k.a. The Slope Previously Known As The Slope Of Weeds). Almost all have disappeared. The white bleeding hearts likewise; I planted a white one here and now I cannot even find it. The Polygonatum and Brunneras and Lamiums are hanging on but far from thriving.

Lady’s mantle is in great shape; so are the new Bergenias that I bought last year. And the Galium is spreading like a weed. It’s hemmed in by the house and the steel edging that separates the flowerbed from the lawn, otherwise I’d worry about it taking over the whole garden.

During the warm days of summer, we keep the glass doors towards the deck and garden open all day long, and well into the evening, too.

The garden is clearly outdoors, and the living room is clearly indoors, but the deck in between is neither, a no man’s land that melds the indoors and the outdoors into one.

In the evenings they separate again. The later it gets, the darker and cooler it is outside, and the less we cross that threshold. The doors no longer feel like the doors they are during the day, but more like a giant window or balcony. We do not go out; we let the outside leak in. The chilly evening air, the light breeze. The song of the blackbirds. The smell of everything green.

Adrian with his fresh summer haircut. Catching Pokemons of course.

This is what most of our lawn looks like. Dry and dead. The parts I didn’t mow are doing somewhat better, but I do hope we get rain soon.