Ingrid and her job at the bakery have been supplying us with bread, buns, cakes and other assorted goodies for almost a year now. We get leftovers that would otherwise have been thrown out, because they’re either too old or too ugly to be sold. And we can buy the good stuff at a 50% employee discount, which makes all the difference, because it’s a pricey establishment.

Not that the goods they make aren’t worth the price! They make everything from scratch, bake with real butter, and unlike so many cafes, they don’t just serve the standard Swedish fika cakes. Their bakers and pastry chefs win awards in national competitions for their amazing creations.

Just look at this cake. I can’t even guess how you make something like this. The coating is cocoa powder; underneath it there’s something creamy that reminds me of tiramisu. There’s blackcurrant jelly in the middle, and the base is a thin brownie. The little drops on top are a mystery.

Took the train to town for shopping. Mohair yarn for the white wool dress; magnetic poster hangers for two photography posters I bought months ago; crimp beads so I can make my own stitch markers; charity shops where I didn’t find any of the things I was looking for.

The trains are on a half-hourly schedule due to summertime engineering works. It’s not as bad as it has been some past summers; at least we get trains. But the trains turn around in Spånga, and if you live further out, it’s replacement buses for you.

It was lunchtime by the time I got back. I stopped at Spånga Konditori for lunch. Ingrid won’t be working there any more after the summer, so we’re going to lose our access to her staff discount. I need to get the most out of it now.

I had a lovely hummus and avocado toast and strawberry lemonade. It was quiet at the café, and Ingrid could come sit with me when there were no customers to serve.

We’ve had very unsettled weather for the past few weeks. Sunny one day, gray and windy the next day, back and forth. Yesterday evening we had storm-strength winds, with trees falling on cars and people in central Stockholm. I didn’t notice them much, and nothing was damaged here.

Today the weather has already switched back and forth several times. Gray in the morning; beautiful in time for my morning meeting; gray again; sun again for lunch. I carelessly left the chair cushions out after lunch, as well as my cardigan and the newspaper, and then didn’t pay close attention to the weather afterwards, so I ended up running out to rescue them from the rain an hour later.

The Friday newspaper usually has the best crosswords, so now the newspaper is spread out to dry together with the cushions.

I didn’t get a photo today, so here’s one from this weekend. Gelato from Gelato Scarfo. Their ice cream is worth a trip of its own.

Organic Swedish strawberries on the left, hazelnut on the right. The strawberry gelato is somehow even more strawberry-y than eating fresh strawberries.

Decanted and strained the elderflower cordial. It came out very pink and pretty.

I’m less happy about the taste. Too little elderflower flavour for my taste, and too sweet. A bit too much “pink sugar water”. I’m going to give it another try on a hotter, sunnier day and see how it works then.

Next time I’ll let it sit for longer and use less sugar.

By nine o’clock, when we have our daily sync meeting at work, the sun has moved far enough across the deck that there’s room in the shade for me and my computer, so that I can sit and have the meeting outside.

I wish I could do more of my work out on the deck, but it’s too bright, and the screen on my laptop is too small for proper work.

I have finally made a start on a project with the white yarn. I’ve been vacillating on what to make out of it, because it’s a little bit tricky to work with, and because I don’t want to waste it.

The decision is never going to get any easier, so I just bit the bullet and got started. Either it will work out, or it won’t, and I can’t find out which it will be without just doing it.

I’m aiming for a dress, after all. The top is going to be based on the Sweatrrr pattern. I’ve already made three sweaters based on this pattern and here I am, using it again. It’s just perfect. I like the clever shoulder construction, and it has fit me perfectly every time.

Picked elderflowers to make cordial.

I’ve been wanting to use the flowers of my own elder bush/tree, but last time I looked, it was so badly infested with aphids that that wasn’t an option.

This year the situation was much, much better. A minority of the clusters of flowers (which, as I learned today, is called an umbel) had a small number of aphids, but most were clear. I picked a whole bunch of them. Not enough to make the amount of cordial I wanted, so I supplemented with white ones from bushes in nearby parks – in fact the whites were in majority – but enough to make it feel like “mine” and hopefully also enough to give it a nice pink colour.

Speaking of amounts and “enough”, the recipes for elderflower cordial are annoyingly vague. “25 to 30 large clusters of flowers”. How large is a large one? If I have small ones – which was the case for most of what I picked – then how many should I take instead? Why can’t they just provide the amount in grams, please.

Now I’m taking notes with proper measurements, and next year life will be easier. 120 clusters of mixed sizes tending towards small rather than large, weighing 500 grams in total. 6 lemons of, on average, 130 grams each. 4 litres of simple syrup (made with equal volumes of water and sugar).

I was going to just mow the lawn behind the house, under the cherry tree. Some cherry branches kept hitting my head in a very annoying manner, so I lopped them off. And while I had the loppers out, I might as well prune away some of the dead branches on the tree. And if I’m doing that anyway, then why not also tidy up the damson bush a bit. (I was really supposed to be shovelling soil, but procrastinating one gardening task in favour of another is OK.)

All this work resulted in decent-sized heap of dead and mostly-dead branches. Both cherry and damson are brittle; if you break them, they snap, without any fibres keeping the two pieces attached to each other. I broke all the branches into little pieces and they didn’t even fill up the garden waste bin. Almost disappointing: I want the pile of waste to reflect the time and effort I spent!

I really appreciate the garden waste collection service. It’s so nice to not have to worry about a compost heap, or having to bag it all up to take it to a recycling centre.

I really don’t like cycling in the rain. If I wear rain clothes, I get all sweaty; if I don’t, I get wet and cold. I don’t like either of those. On rainy days I take the train.

Several times this season, the weather app has forecast a rainy day, and I’ve taken the train, and then there’s barely been any rain at all, and I feel vaguely cheated. A cool, cloudy day without rain is pretty perfect for cycling.

Today was going to be another one of those days. To heck with it, I thought. I don’t want to regret my choice for a fourth time. I’ll take my chances with the weather, and cycle.

Weather forecasts are impressively detailed these days. Radar maps of precipitation in particular are great. I have a fair bit of flexibility in the afternoon I could leave work at any time between, like, three and six, depending on what the radar shows. Rain for the next 30 minutes, and then dry for an hour? Great, I’ll leave in 30 minutes.

In the morning I got to the office without a single drop of rain. In the afternoon I caught what must have been the edge of a rain shower – enough rain that I covered my backpack, but also so little that I was dry by the time I got home. Didn’t even need to hang my clothes up to dry.

One time is no time, as the Swedes (and Germans) say. But this was successful enough that I’ll try again the next time the forecast is iffy.