Old shoes out, new shoes in

Yes, I know. I haven't been updating this blog in ages. The reason? I have been wearing out my shoes by all the walking I do nowadays! :-) Since the stores here mostly sell the black ones (despite the fact that these shoes come in like ten different colors) I tried my luck on-line instead. And yes, I found a pair living up to my color standards. On-line shopping vs. regular shops 1-0. The shipping was free and really fast - I ordered the shoes this Monday and today, two days later, I could pick them up at a nearby grocery store. On-line shopping vs. regular shops 2-0. But, unfortunately, I could not check the manufacture date on these shoes and they turned out to be only five months younger than my old pair (that I bought last spring). On-line shopping vs. regular shops 2-1.

Time to taste!

And finally, I could taste the elderflower cordial for the first time. Yummy! The weird thing in the glass is an ice cube with some elderflowers...

Bottling time

So yesterday, after three days, it was time to filter and bottle the elderflower cordial...

Elderflower cordial

During this morning's walk with Inga in the lovely weather, I collected more than 60 bunches of elderflower. Back home I rinsed them in water and then let them sit on a towel, waiting to become elderflower cordial. I never made elderflower cordial before, so it's kind of exciting, but it's not hard to do so I am quite sure it'll taste just fine.

After rinsing the flowers, I placed them in a big casserole and covered them with three lemons in thin slices. Then I added 2 liters boiling water, 1,5 kg sugar and 50 g citric acid. I stirred until the sugar was dissolved and now it's supposed to stand covered for three days before filtering. Then, hopefully, we will have about 3 liters of concentrated elderflower cordial...

The Royal Wedding Chocolate

This past Saturday our crown princess Viktoria got married to her prince Daniel (he wasn't a prince until they were married, but just a "regular guy" who happened to be the boyfriend of our princess). To celebrate this occasion, we split a big box of chocolate with our friends Samuel and Jenny. These are the remains on the day after the wedding. They didn't last long...

It's getting darker...

Now it's getting darker again. Today the sun rose as late as 4.22 am and it will set "already" at 9.55 pm here in Lund. In the north of Sweden (where I grew up) the sun rose at 1.00 am and will set at 00.06 am... How I love the summer nights in Sweden!

Summer is here

Today it has been a really nice summer day with high temperatures. So when Inga and I walked through the botanical gardens today I wasn't surprised to see lots and lots of white skin... Yes, we Swedes tend to undress as soon as we get the chance. I am however sure that many will regret this later on when their skin is bright red since not everyone uses SPF 20 like I do...

You know that you are old when...

... you are surprised there's a new Robin Hood movie coming up. Wasn't it last year Robin Hood - Prince of Thieves with Kevin Costner ran in the theaters?

More flowers

These beautiful flowers came to us this week. It was my colleges at the school where I worked who sent us them to congratulate us to our little girl.

The sun

Today the sun rose at 5.31am and it will set at 8.39pm here in Lund. The days sure are getting longer. But it's much darker here in Lund than in Boden where I grew up - there the sun rose at 4.04am today and will set at 8.59pm. In Brugg, where we lived in Switzerland, the times are 6.14am and 8.32pm...