As it turns out, our digital camera isn’t totally dead and it can be coaxed to take a few pictures now and again. We managed to get it working a couple of times today, and I got some nice pictures.

The building of the wall has finally commenced and Lydia’s new room should be livable inside of two weeks. Olof’s dad came by bright and early this morning and he and Olof set to work getting the frame put up. Tage was very interested in all the goings-on, of course, and it didn’t take him long to join in the action.

Surprisingly enough, considering he’s not yet two, he was very good about sitting in one place and staying away from all the sharp and dangerous tools. I sat nearby keeping close watch on him, but he wanted nothing more than to be “one of the guys.”

Once all the wall studs were securely in place, Olof’s dad went home and I talked Olof into making a quick run to the flower store in town. While he and Tage did a bit of grocery shopping at the ICA nextdoor, Lydia and I feasted our eyes and our imaginations on all the lovely plants in Blomsterslottet (in the car on the way to town she asked me “What does ‘major shopping spree’ mean?” I felt like giving her a hands-on demonstration when I saw all those plants!). We came away with three begonias (including one spectrum begonia), a gorgeous purple-black ivy geranium, a few plastic pots for re-potting, and a little wall clock I’ve had my eye on for the past week or so. All in all a successful trip.

When we got home, I had two new cuttings that I won on an online auction waiting for me. The first, a Bornholmspelargon, is a lovely little plant, sturdy with good color and lots of leaves. The second, an Orange Appeal cutting that I couldn’t wait to get was far less impressive, pale in color with just a couple of spindly stalks and barely any roots developed. I put it under the fluorescent lights, though, and I’m hoping for the best.

Oh, while we’re on the topic of plants, can anyone tell me what this is?

I got it from my mother-in-law a couple of years ago and have never known what it is. I finally got around to asking her, and she said she’d gotten it from another relative and she didn’t know what it was either. Help!