well now ...

I completely lost track of the days and missed the Autumnal Equinox last week.

We certainly feel the days are shorter. We get gorgeous sunsets with our dinner and by the girls' bedtime it's dark outside.

This morning Sofia told me it snowed and when I said that it was unlikely she looked again and said "But it's dark out. Why is it dark out?"

I remember Isabel had difficulty understanding that at four too.

I have started lighting the candles in the lamp above our kitchen table after dinner. It looks so cosy with the lights lit and soon enough I'll go through a pack of IKEA tea lights in one and a half weeks.

Speaking of - an IKEA visit needs to be scheduled.

I need to trim the candle in the lantern outside so we can start lighting it in the afternoons. Rickard gets home pretty late and I like to have the lantern lit when he comes home.

I've not taken any pretty pictures in a while so there will be nothing to break this post up. I hope to have some by the end of the weekend. I have the day off tomorrow and I plan to spend it by the sewing machine.

Happy weekend!

(Also - how much am I looking forward to tomorrow's season finale of Doctor Who? ;__________________________________________________________; This much!)

Feel the wind on my face!

Isabel galloped (rode at a gallop?) yesterday at riding classes!

First time ever.

She thought is was a bit scary and didn't want to try a second time but I'm sure by next week she's ready for it again.

Party time!

Isabel turned 7 years old in July but since everyone is on holiday during summer we decided to postpone her party until later and today was the big day. 10 girls were invited but only 7 showed up. I had asked their parents to call if they were not coming but we had had no calls so I was a bit surprised. That part is always so annoying.



Anyway. I ordered flowers from the local florist and picked them up this morning. They are roses and some alstroemerias. I have no idea what the big green leaves are called but I think it turned out quite nice.



The girls got individual cupcakes to decorate. I had already coated them with whipped cream and I gave them prepped piping bags with tinted whipped cream and lots of different kinds of sprinkles and nonpareils.



After they had eaten we played spin the bottle so they had some activity while handing over the presents. Then some of them wanted to go play outside which I let them but it turned out to be quite a mistake as they ran off and pranked some of our mutual neighbours.



We ended it with some Musical Statues and then they got their party favours which were brown paper bags with candy that I dressed up with some baker's twine and home made labels. I had put them up on the wall and it looked rather cute I think.

Engaging

15 years ago yesterday Rickard and I got engaged.

We had gotten rings together ahead of time and packed a picnic basket and headed to Ales Stenar.



We stood by the largest stone at the West end of the circle and exchanged rings. We took a picture of us too but it's non digital and I haven't got a scanner.

After that we drove to Skillinge, a little fishing town a few kilometers north east of Ales Stenar and had lunch at the Harbour restaurant there. We had fried, whole plaice with potatoes and a cold sauce and it was delicious.

We had taken out an ad in the paper the next day and my father called in the morning to ask where we had been the day before. We hadn't told them or Rickard's parents about it, and his parents even missed the ad so we had to call them to let them know.

We got married 4 years later.

Comparison

I've been reading up a bit on more environmentally friendly cleaning solutions and the one thing that pops up everywhere is baking soda.

In Swedish baking soda is called bikarbonat (bicarbonate of soda) and the biggest problem with using it for cleaning is this:


The biggest box of bikarbonat I can find is the one on the right. It's not even a quarter of the one on the left.

The box on the left is from the American Store and even though it's imported it costs the same by weight as the kind I can find here.

I tried the baking soda to clean out the oven and it worked well so I think this might be one thing I'll actually buy there and not at my usual store.

First day of Fall

September 1st - seriously?

I can't believe summer is over already. Theoretically at least. We have a chance of a few nice weeks still before the Autumn gloom sets in.



I received a parcel in the post yesterday from a friend in the States. I posted a few pictures from our crawfish/crayfish party and she offered to send me some Louisiana style (or was it Texas) crawfish boil.

I think we'll have to use it on shrimp since I doubt our dill boiled crawfish would mesh well with the flavours from the South.

My friend mailed me and asked if she could get me something else as there was room over in the envelope and I mentioned, sprinkles, spices .. I couldn't really come up with much when put on the spot.

So imagine my surprise yesterday when that envelope contained this:



My friend suggested trying the Gumbo mix first and I think that's what we'll do. Rickard was interested in the cornbread and chilli mix so I think we'll do that one next and I'm making up a batch of chocolate chip cookies with some of the chocolate exchanged for some butterscotch chips.

Now to take a stroll through our store with new glasses on to see what I can find to send back. This is going to be fun!

Thank you Johanna!