Wedding anniversary

G'day everybody,

We are in our cottage in Sweden now and so far so good, aside for the massive lawn mowing that will have to be done.

The trip went well and other than the fact that the rental car company has given us a ridiculously low car that is virtually impossible to get in and out of, all is good.

Before we left Australia we had a great meal with our kids in Cronulla at a restaurant called 1908. It was to celebrate our 40^th wedding anniversary, which is ruby, so I got a pretty necklace and earrings in ruby.

That fateful day!

Here is a little tip to the ladies. You go out and buy the jewellery you want and give it to your hubby to give you. It seems to work out the best for everyone. Takes the pressure off hubby and you can pick what you want. It is a win-win situation really. Hubby had actually previously promised me rubies but it turned out that they were artificial rubies used for aligning diffractometers at work. They are also used for the balls of ballpoint pens, and are very cheap.

Unfortunately the other photos with all four of us were very dark.

Our first visitors arrived the second day we were in the cottage and it was our old friends from Grenoble. They had an appointment at the Chinese embassy in Gothenburg for their visas so they came out for a quick overnight stay which was great. Hubby is green with envy because they are actually going on the Trans Siberian Railway in September but unfortunately we can't go. Hubby is still not retired  and has to work then unfortunately.

The quieter end of Smögen.

First breakfast of the summer in the sun

I am going to publish this entry now and get back again shortly with an account of our UK friends' visit. They left last night after a great week's visit with lots of sightseeing, cooking and eating delicious meals and card playing.  So I'll be back shortly.

Long week-end

G'day everybody,

It is the Queen's birthday so we are having Monday off. I mean that is for those who work, for me 'everyday is the Queen's birthday' to paraphrase a sentence by Ross from the series Friends.

I am in the process of writing my memoirs. That sounds a bit hoiti-toiti; I really just meant that I am collecting my thoughts on paper and trying to remember where my life went. I think I have to be hypnotised because there are so many gaps in my memory. For example where was the kitchen situated in the house in Panama City, Florida, where I lived when I was 15, and what and when did we have dinner and what did we have for dinner? I have no memory of that, but I clearly remember the kitchen on Södra Vägen in Gothenburg where I grew up and what we usually had for dinner there. Maybe it was because my grandmother always cooked since my mother worked and my grandmother was very traditional. For example, Thursday was always pea-soup and pancakes, even if we had already had that in the school cafeteria for lunch. This is just one example of things that I don't remember.

Swedish (Thursday) comfort food

Yesterday hubby went to a model-railway exhibition in Rosehill and we had to grab something to eat before. There was a Hooter's there so we decided to try it. We had avoided it on principle for years but it was the only place conveniently near by. They only have waitresses working there, no waiters, and when you are employed it is only by looks and shape. You have to wear a tiny sleeveless t-shirt and very small shorts showing half of your bum. It was very strange and you wonder why any normal person would accept the conditions but I guess a job is a job. 

Our waitress was beautiful, she looked like a 40's filmstar with long pitch-black hair and a very beautiful complexion with blue eyes. As we were leaving we got talking and it turned out she was from Bodø in Norway and had only worked there for two months.  She seemed happy with her job. On the wall at the bar was a sign that said "our waitresses are flattery driven". It was a little difficult for a Swede to take all this in and I wouldn't want my daughter to have to work in such a demeaning place.

When we got home we googled Hooters and other similar American chains that all go under the title "breastaurant" and they all have some sort of sexist dress code. Definitely to be avoided in the future, even though the chicken wings were pretty tasty.

House hunting

Dear friends,

The reason I have not been writing very much here lately is that not very much has been happening, duh!

Every weekend is taken up by going looking for houses and we still haven't found one. Are we too critical and demanding? I am so sick of it, wish that somebody could just go out and buy something for us and make us take it. I wouldn't complain, promise!

The kids have even started to realise that we are struggling and the week before last they both came with us house hunting. It almost didn't happen for our son though because as he was walking out of his house and through a little park he saw a naked man sitting on a bench. I mean stark naked. He was pretty much out of it and had nothing with him, like a wallet or a phone. Our son tried to find out where he lived. He thought he could send him home in a taxi but he wasn't responding so our son went home again and got a blanket for him so he could cover up and left, only slightly delayed at that point.

He then walked into a bar, not what you think though, but one that was sitting on top of a car and sticking out quite a bit without having a red warning flag on it. He cricked his neck and I think he still has a bit of pain but he had to carry on since he was afraid to miss us at the train station.

He got the bus to his nearest station and when he got there the trains were replaced by buses and there was a bit of delay. He finally got on one of those buses and after a short drive he realised that they were not at all driving in the right direction. The young female bus driver had taken a wrong turn and sometimes that is all it takes to go somewhere completely different with all the one-way streets. It is not easy to turn a big bus around either so all this took some time.

He finally got to the pick-up point three hours later. This is normally a 40 minute trip.

Autumn is slowly easing in, the nights are colder and one can go for a walk without breaking out in a sweat. It's usually a pleasant +24° or around that in the day and nice and sunny. The surfers still surf though, they seem to do it all year but some of them wear wet-suits.

This was Mother's day in a nice tapas bar down
by the Georges River.

It's also time to buy tickets for our Europe trip and I am on it. I think we have to have a stop over somewhere so we'll see what the travel agent comes up with. However we won't be staying as long as we normally do since we need to get back to the house hunt. This weekend will be the last house-hunting outing before we go. There is a 42 days delay before you get to take over a new house for administration and a cool off period so after this week end it is too late.

I was going to add some more photos but realised when I was looking at them that they are always of us sitting at tables eating. I seem to have forgotten to take photos of beautiful landscapes. So here are a few bugs that hubby saw when he was gardening instead.

PS Yesterday we saw Australia go through to the finals in the Eurovision song contest.  

Back from Melbourne

Greetings dear readers!

We have just been down to hubby's hometown Melbourne for a very quick visit in connection with his uncle's 90 birthday.

It was held in a hotel with an all-you-can-eat buffet. It is a convenient way of getting a lot of people together with not a lot of expense to the birthday boy or girl. Everyone pays for their own meal and drinks at the bar. You can bring decorations, i.e. balloons and cake and flowers etc, and make it personal.

Hubby's grand-paternal clan on his father's side (phew!),
and yes, hubby has (re)grown a beard, maybe inspired by
all the hipsters we saw in Sweden or just laziness.

Now with hubby's grand-maternal clan on his
father's side, and that of his uncle's dear departed
wife.

My brother-in-law, sister-in-law, hubby,
and me.

Here is the birthday boy in all his
splendour. Pink satin shirt with
matching cravat and grey shiny suit
with black shiny shoes. Very stylish!

It was just an overnight trip, since hubby is still working and doesn't have many holidays to take. He will go back to Sweden in February to help our elder daughter hang paintings for an exhibition at a gallery near our cottage.

I wrote on Facebook that my mother had passed away. It was very sad. She had had a fall and broken her hip. We really thought that she would recover, especially when they sent her back to her nursing home from the hospital after the operation. She passed away after a week in hospital and a week back in her room at the nursing home. I was very happy to have been there for those two weeks.  They were very kind to her and me, letting me stay in her room in the hospital.

We didn't have a big funeral, only family - one grandson, hubby and me. My mother was 94, and most of her relatives and friends are gone too. Then we had to empty her room and sort out her belongings which was also very sad and brought back many memories.

It feels a little strange now that I am the older generation in our family. I wish I had written down more information while there was still time.

Sydney's fireworks are pretty good, live on TV!

We are also well into 2019 and I would like to wish you all the best. I haven't made any resolutions this year either, since it always seem to jinx it. 

Hubby made a small one though ... wait for it ... buying stickers and remembering to write on different packages that he puts in the freezer. This came about after he, on several occasions, has grabbed something to take to work for lunch, and it has turned out to be unsuitable for a work lunch room, e.g. raw prawns, uncooked osso bucco. He would love to have labels on everything not only the things in the freezer. It is not a real life-changing resolution like jogging every morning or stopping drinking, but it is a good one, and I am wholeheartedly behind him on this one.

I have also had time since being back from Sweden to catch up with my friend A before Christmas. We had a lovely lunch at one of her fave restaurants, the Boathouse.

Christmas Day was fun. It was "the kids" and friends of theirs, and the weather was gorgeous. We did miss the pool that we had in the other house though, so that is definitely on the checklist when we go looking for a house to buy now.

Have to go now and simulate housework, although hubby has caught onto this by the sink still being warm when he steps in the door.

Take care and be kind!

Hubby back

Hello again dear friends, 

Hubby is back from France, back where he should be and where he enjoys being, in the kitchen cooking. I think we are having osso bucco with gremolata, yum!

Today is Sunday, so it is a late lunch. Unfortunately the kids couldn't come. One was working and one was trying to deal with his tax declaration. When you have your own company it is really tedious, I believe. It was then that I realised I have hardly ever done my income tax declaration, ever. In both my marriages I was spared the anguish. To make it even more complicated in our situation we have to declare income in three countries.

Next weekend we are off to a place called Griffith for the weekend with hubby's friends from university. It is where a lot of Italians settled, so we are hoping for good food and wine.

I don't have a lot to tell you this time since it has been quite peaceful and uneventful, so I'll finish off with an elk story. The elk in this photo managed to get himself into the bus station in Partille, a small place near my hometown, Gothenburg. It must have scared the bejesus out of people sitting there waiting for the bus.

It looks quite empty so maybe people have fled outside.

Have to leave you now, I just heard "Á table" from the kitchen.

Ironic

When we first moved to Australia a lot of people warned us of all the dangerous snakes and other animals, like sharks and crocodiles and jelly fish and spiders, that we might run into. It is true that Australia is home to many dangerous animals but I haven't seen any yet and we have been here now over eight years. 

That is why I was quite surprised to see my next-door neighbour  in Sweden come running across the field and telling me that she had been bitten by a viper while picking cranberries. Her arm and hand were swelling up as we spoke so we hopped in the car and drove to the local medical centre. They gave her cortisone but didn't have any serum available, so they decided to call an ambulance and take her to the closest hospital which is in Kungälv (whose facilities I enjoyed in early June) where she was kept for two days. She seems fine now even though the swelling has still not gone down completely.

Hello again dear readers,

That first part was written before I left Sweden in September. I have now been back in Australia for a month and have had the pleasure of catching up with family and friends. My painting lessons are on hold for the school holidays but I had time to get one lesson in before that happened and it was great to see everybody there as well.

One of the first friends I met up with was A who had just arrived in Australia to visit her son and his family. We had lunch in a restaurant in Circular Quay and her son B also came later on. We got to know each other in Grenoble but we don't see each other very often especially since they don't live in Grenoble any more so even when we go back there we don't see them.

Yesterday I had lunch with another A, a friend who lives in the city quite near IKEA and Decathlon the French sport store, so every time we meet up there is also a bit of shopping involved on the way home. We got to know each other many years ago in Grenoble. She had also been overseas for a few months so we had lots of catching up to do. The Italian restaurant where we had lunch was in a place called Hunters Hill, where I had never been before. It was very nice with big old houses all with a view of the water. There are so many nice suburbs in Sydney but you have to have the cash, lots of it.

Last week end was labour-day week end so people who work were off work on Monday. The weather was gorgeous so on Sunday hubby and I took the train into town and the ferry to Manly to enjoy the yearly jazz festival. It was fun with a lot of great bands, but very crowded.

This was the first band that met us when we got off the ferry
and even though we listened to many other  groups that day
it was still the most endearing one with a real good stomp.

Time to go now dear friends and get another day started. It is a bit lonely right now with hubby having just left for France. We have finally sold our house there and he has to get papers signed plus he is also going for work. I don't want to dwell too long on the sadness of selling the house where the kids grew up and where we had such a happy life. It had to be done to enable us to buy something here in Australia.

View from our former house in France of the
Dent de Crolles

The big debate right now is yes or no to letting
companies advertise at night on the Sydney Opera
House. Just for the record, my vote is on NO.

Take care and watch out for snakes!!!

Compliments

I am sure you agree that it is nice to get compliments. So today at lunch when elder daughter said: "You look like you've lost weight ... your hands look slimmer"! I decided to take that as a compliment even though she probably just meant that my hands are looking a bit old and wrinkled.

Another compliment that I think I have mentioned before is the Aussie "You (or she) scrub up well". This is being said when someone has dressed up, say for a wedding or similar big party and put on their best frock and makeup and high-heeled shoes. It doesn't mean that you look nice and clean after a shower.

Actually what made me think about compliments was something hubby said recently. After trying to think what to make for dinner (again) and what to get for tomorrow in the shops both our daughter and he said "How difficult it must have been for you, mum, to make meals for us five and do the shopping for over thirty years". YES, I thought, finally recognition! Plus, again, I took it as a compliment, and that is what brought on this subject.

Anyway, compliments are always nice, even if they are late and a bit backward, so keep spreading them around.

Hubby is in the kitchen cooking a last meal before going back to Australia on Friday. It is a good afternoon for it because it is just starting to rain and it is nice to be inside. We desperately need the rain after this dry summer, so no complaints here.

Elder daughter has been very busy painting in preparation for an exhibition. I don't know if it will include the portrait of my nephew (below) but she paints a portrait of him every summer. This pose is very relaxed and the subject can also have a nap as you can see.

We looked after my other nephew's 6-year-old son this week, and hubby took him on a seal safari. I think hubby was as excited as the 6-year old, if not more, and we now have hundreds of photos of seals. I didn't go. I think I have mentioned before that boat outings are not my thing. Seasickness is though, and I really didn't feel that I wanted to risk it.

You thought getting in and out of bed was difficult. Just watching
the seals wriggling up the rock was tiring in itself!

Must go now and listen to hubby giving us info about what to do when we close up the house before we leave.

Hello again,

Just a quick greeting before I send this off. Quite a few days have passed since I started writing this but I got interrupted. Hubby is now back in Australia even though he missed his connection in Stockholm and had to spend a night in a hotel, completely due to the incompetence of the travel agent who organised the flights. The weather has changed here and today is grey and chilly and we might finally be able to barbecue after the long fire ban.

Elder daughter and hubby have gone into Goteborg to see a Senegalese group so I am on my own. Let's see what kind of mischief I can get up to. Until next time, give each other lots of compliments, I am sure you can think of something positive!