Whenever I look at the calendar I’m caught off-guard by the fact that’s it’s only mid-August. With the distinct chill of autumn in the air and Lydia’s having gone back to school today, it’s indisputably fall, no matter how much the date might suggest otherwise (yes, yes, I know … mid- to late August is… Read More Wednesday

So Crown Princess Mary–you know, the Australian chick who married the Danish prince?–well anyway, apparently she’s not pregnant, so I guess that’s one bow I can untie from my finger. I’d been trying to remind myself ever since I read the tabloid headline a couple of weeks ago at the grocery store to tell Olof… Read More Sunday

My front lawn is strewn with little grey feathers and riddled with partially-eaten bird and rodent corpses. Åsa is a huntress extraordinaire, which causes me no end of distress. It’s bad enough that she has to kill all those unsuspecting little creatures — the least she could do is dispose of their remains somewhere I’m… Read More Predation

A great day ’round these parts! Tage turned two years old today and we had a nice little party to celebrate. The first guest to arrive was Helena and it was nice to have a few minutes to chat before I had to go into hostess mode. She’s going to come out and stay over… Read More Friday the 13th

This is the last week of “vacation” but I’m feeling too stressed out by everything we’ve got coming up in the next several weeks to be able to relax and enjoy my few remaining free days. Lydia desperately needs a haircut before school starts next Wednesday, but none of the places here in our little… Read More Thursday

If there were any justice in the world, at least one member of this family would be a neat freak. I spent a good portion of this afternoon helping Lydia clean out her old room and move her stuff into her new room. In addition to her furniture, books, and toys, we took out six… Read More Dirty little secret

Today was the last day of Olof’s vacation. I don’t envy him having to return to the daily grind after having five weeks off. That must be a hard adjustment. I know it’s going to be a hard adjustment for me to have to resume full-time at-home mom duties instead of sharing the kid stuff… Read More Sunday in pictures

Sweet Mother of All That Is Holy, is it hot up here! We’ve all been reduced to giant inert blobs with barely enough strength to wipe the sweat from our brows. And, oh, what sweat it is … this humid heat is so sticky and uncomfortable. I could take a half-dozen showers a day and… Read More Mercury Rising

The rest of my family are in bed but I’m waiting up for Åsa. I just can’t sleep easy with her outside since Pia was killed. Today was a good day. Helena came over to help us wallpaper the living room, but we were very easily sidetracked by lunch, the beach, and fika so we… Read More Friday

I had a tray of geranium seedlings on the balcony. Fourteen tiny plants that I had nurtured from the day I planted the seeds four weeks ago and watched closely with an almost-maternal pride as they sprouted new leaves and reached their slender arms up to the light. This afternoon I stepped out onto the… Read More It’s Not Easy Being Green