I still say yes to strawberries when they’re in season. Also raspberries and blueberries, for those who prefer those.

Splurged on extra nice strawberries for today. The supermarkets here usually have a single kind, and it’s whatever they can buy in bulk. The veggie stand in Spånga Torg often has several varieties, sometimes named ones. Today they had “Malwina” strawberries. Intensely red all the way through, and super delicious!

I’ve been gently suggesting that we could retire this pillowcase, because there is not much left of it, but didn’t get any agreement because “it’s so soft!”

Now that it has actual rips in it, though, I’m throwing it out. But it deserves a mention here for its long and loyal service.

I remember using it in high school, so about thirty years ago. I also remember the colours being *a lot* more vibrant. The top half of the photo shows the fabric on the outside of the pillowcase; the bottom is the folded-in section that hasn’t been sun-bleached. The original colours were of course even stronger than that.

This year’s deer kids are old enough to be walking around with their mums.

When mum jumped over the hedge and the chain link fence behind it, the baby instead found the cat passage under the fence and used that.

Life is good when you’re a cat. And when people kindly provide cat beds in all sorts of places.

In the middle of summer, I am knitting the thickest, warmest, woolliest sweater I’ve ever made. With every sweater or cardigan I make, I realize another gap in my winter wardrobe; this is filling the one for something simple and rustic to wear at home on the coldest days. Not that it won’t be stylish enough to wear to the office! But it will be bulky enough to be somewhat difficult to fit under a coat.

I’m not fond of ribbed hems, and I’ve also learned that rolled hems are not my thing, so here I tried a folded picot hem. Quite nice.

I ran out of the dark gray yarn just after the fold, so there’s a hidden, secret red stripe on the reverse side.

It looks like the sleeve will turn out too narrow. I think I underestimated how much the bulk of the fabric itself would affect fit. My gauge swatch grew a little bit in blocking, so the sleeve *might* be OK after blocking, but I’m sceptical. Nevertheless I blocked just the half-finished sleeve, to check, and now the living room smells like wet sheep.

We were gone in Italy during the Midsummer weekend, so we made up for it with a belated fake Midsummer brunch today.

All the traditions were present. Devilled eggs, pickled herring of various kinds, new potatoes, mini quiches, and a strawberry cake.

The cake may look ugly and sloppy and shapeless, but it is utterly delicious. Strawberries and an elderflower curd – sweet and tart and juicy. Recipe here; Dagens Nyheter is the source.

Ordered four new cushions for our deck furniture. Three looked normal – and the fourth was missing the dots. Which probably won’t affect functionality for a long time, but it looks weird enough that I’ll be sending it back, which is a hassle.

The camera is going on a trip to Portugal for repairs. Actually the main problem is not so much the camera (although it does need repairs) but my everyday zoom lens.

The camera’s problems is that the rear LCD screen only works if I fold it out partway. It’s been that way for long enough that it’s ingrained in my muscle memory now to fold out the screen before even turning on the camera. Not a big problem, most of the time.

Now you see it…

… now you don’t.

The lens on the other hand just plain doesn’t work. When I turn on the camera, the lens motors in and out a few times and then stops, but the picture is black. It looks like it’s not connecting to the camera.

If I’m sending in one for repairs then I might as well send both.

Olympus have made it very easy. Fill in an online form, pay the flat fee, send it off. No guessing, no estimates, no “send it in and we’ll get back to you with a price”. And if they can’t fix it, you get the money back. It’s not cheap, but neither is a new camera.

There hasn’t been much rain recently so the little plum trees need watering. The clay soil gets so compact that it won’t absorb water well at all. I’ve settled on giving each tree one watering can’s worth of water, but I have to portion it out slowly, or it will just run off without reaching the tree. So I water one tree until the water puddles around the tree, then walk around the house to do the same to the other tree on the other side, and back and forth like that until they’re both properly soaked.

Some kind of force had torn down the anti-gnaw protection around the tree, so now I tied them in place with string.

29 °C outside, 29 °C inside. I am not enjoying this.