Back from the UK

We have been over to the UK for a wedding. It was our friend's younger son who was getting married with his long-time girl friend. She is very active in the local church so it was held in "her" church called St Nicolas Church. There were quite a few of the church members present and the atmosphere was very friendly. 

Two of the ladies with head gear. 

Time to update your Facebook status!

The wedding party was held up on a hill called Wintershall Estate. It had a lovely view. The church usually has a Nativity play every year hence the presence of the donkey, who was a guest of honour. The Red Arrows Aerobatic Team flew over as part of the Farnborough International Airshow and even let out some smoke.

Chester made a guest appearance at the
wedding.

Grandpa and grandson at the small family dinner the
night before the wedding.

Hubby in the back barbecuing some sausages at the luncheon
following the wedding. They didn't have a total fire ban as
we have right now here in Sweden.

My friend R really has green thumbs, as
you can see. The rest of the garden is
equally gorgeous.

The wedding cake was made by A,  a
family friend and was delicious

The day after the wedding our friends held an all-day luncheon at their place with guests from afar and also the bride's family. The temperature was up in the +30° C so it was nice for the kids to have the use of a paddling pool.

We stayed on for a few more days and enjoyed our friends' company and the beautiful weather. Hubby also got to visit the Mid-Hants Heritage Railway while I went to visit Hinton Ampner House which was very beautiful but sadly under re-construction so I couldn't go in.

We had planned to visit Chartwell House in Kent before going back to the airport on our last day but in the end we didn't. We needed sustenance in a pub after having lost our way a few times and then arriving at a very full parking lot. Chartwell was the family home of Winston Churchill and he claimed "A day away from Chartwell is a day wasted" so we clearly missed out on something very special. It will have to be for next time.

Just thought I'd finish off with this nice
phone booth that has found a new use. Apparently one can just go in a grab
something to read. Maybe you also
have something to put in there in return.

Until next time, take care dear readers!

Snuff and stuff

A lot of Swedes use snuff which you buy in little round boxes and if you are a long-time user your trouser pockets take the form of the snuffbox and everybody can tell that you are a snuff user. Anyway our son tried it while he was here and we were all a little grossed out and kept telling him how off-putting it would be for a possible girlfriend. He retorted that a lot of girls use snuff here in Sweden, and sure enough in the afternoon while shopping I saw this blond angelic-looking girl put in a snuff portion (they come if the form of tea-bags) while parking her bike. Apparently it's safer than smoking and not only old men use it, which used to be the case in the old days.

Last night was elk-spotting time again. Just as we were fretting over the last minutes of the soccer game between Croatia and the UK our neighbour came in to tell us that there was a huge elk in her back garden. Our daughter and husband abandoned (very reluctantly) the game and ran off to see it but I just couldn't. As it was, they made it back to see Croatia score 2-1 against the UK, which none of us had expected.

Hubby has been over in Australia now for two weeks working, but is coming back on Sunday. He will be very pleased to see the garden in tiptop shape thanks to our son-in-law.

Before that he was over in Durham for a graduation ceremony among other things. He does look a little Harry Potter like, doesn't he? (This link is not too remote; parts of Durham Cathedral, including the room below, doubled as a film location for Hogwarts in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.)

Sweden is suffering from a very dry period and except for the rainstorm two days ago we haven't had a drop of rain since we arrived in May. In fact, it wasn't just rain it also hailed quite a bit and our son-in-law was quite amazed since he had never seen hail before.

Our son has gone back to Australia after a fun month here with pizza-oven building and swimming and generally doing holiday things.

Enjoy the rest of the summer if you are in Europe! If you are in Australia just try to cope with the cold weather, someone said it was just 10° in Sydney!