två kvällsdopp i sensommarvärme

Hade lika gärna kunnat kalla det här inlägget "snygga människor i badkläder i snyggt ljus" för nu förstår ni blir det en ren fröjd för ögat!


Sista veckan i augusti blev det varmt och härligt, och jag prickade in två så perfekta badkvällar med olika vänner. Först cyklade Lisa och jag till Västra Långvattnet ...


... där vi träffade Mia och Jonas som promenerat.


Hej! :)


Det låg ett magiskt guldljus över sjön. Några andra sällskap var där, tvärs över sjön och lite längre bort, men annars var vi ensamma och allt var tyst och lugnt och mjukt.


Det var ljuvligt i vattnet! När man väl halkat i. :)



Sedan halvt cyklade, halvt promenerade vi hem till mig och drack te alla fyra. Och ja, återigen tänker jag på hur perfekt jag bor i Stora Torp, med närheten till allt detta. <3


Några dagar senare sammanträdde bastuklubben! Och det gjorde vi med utomhusbad, för första gången i bastuklubbens historia!





Nä, jag vet inte vad som händer här! Jag ser i alla fall nöjd ut, nöjd åt att vara i vattnet och åt att vara med på bild, kanske. :)



Sedan fikade vi i stugan som ligger vid bryggan och vars förening en i bastuklubben är medlem i. På alla år jag badat i Härlanda Tjärn har jag aldrig varit inne i den stugan, förrän nu!


Sedan badade vi igen!



I ännu tjusigare ljus!

Och det var allt för de här toppenkvällsbaden. Glad att jag fick in dem innan sommaren gick över i höst!

Georgia | It's Euphoric

ships, puzzles and waffles

Brits in Sweden, part 2! On Sunday, the day after our daytrip, we all felt like having a chill day at home. So we went for a little walk in the forest ...


... up to the lake, where obviously, Fergus and I did a good bath. :)


Liam solved sudokus, hiding his British legs from the sun under a jacket. :)


On the way back from the lake we went to Lyckan ...



... for a spontaneous Sunday waffle.


Liam made his lemony tomato pasta for dinner. Love it.


And then we spent the rest of the evening chilling at home. Fergus read a book,


Rachel and I did a puzzle (with some help from Fergus),


and Liam watched something or read something. This was one of my favourite parts of this whole weekend. When you live far apart, it's the relaxed hanging out that I miss the most. And it's so lovely to get to spend so much time together in one block that you have time to sink into that. Seeing friends at dance events is wonderful and so valuable (I'd rather have that than nothing!) but actually getting to hang out in someone's home, that's where the gold lies, for me.


The day after we did the ultimate touristing and showed them a proper Swedish pick and mix store. :)


But that was mostly on the way to today's boat related touristing: We went to Maritiman, the ship museum. I remember going inside this submarine when I was a kid, but it's closed now due to "ionizing radiation in the reflective tape" (!) (yes I absolutely had to look up the translation of that from Swedish). So no submarine for us.



Inside the warship Småland, there were many things to poke. :)


Fergus illustrates how satisfying this switch is. :)





It's quite big and there's lots to see; I have a limited amount of energy for ships in general and warships in particular, so after I while, I trotted off to the café to wait for the others.


And then we all went to Steinbrenner for an afternoon fika. We had to take Rachel and Fergus somewhere where they can have a proper kanelbulle. And I had a bar of luxury liquorice fudge, which I choose over kanelbulle any day. :)


After a quick trip home to recharge we went again to go dancing, but first dinner at Pinchos - it was the closest I could think of that could still get food in us relatively quixkly.


It's nothing out of the ordinary, but tasty!


And then we went dancing! Our regular Monday dance is outside in the summer. I don't love it because the floors are always bad (I know - I'm such a floor snob), but still, it was a nice evening!


At this point in the (long) weekend, we were all wuite tired, so we didn't stay long. We went home and watched four episodes of Ghosts (British Ghosts, not American!) instead. :)


And the day after, we said goodbye and Rachel and Fergus went back home to the UK. I felt a bit sad, already looking forward to when I get to hang out with these lovely humans again. And that's a good feeling; I like loving people.

Magos Herrera | Aire

touristing with rachel and fergus

Well well well, what's this? Three Brits and one Swede! On a ship in Gothenburg! For one long weekend in August, Rachel and Fergus came to visit from the UK and it was SO GREAT. Just so great. They spent five nights at ours and we had time to both go out and do touristy things and relax at home, doing different things but together. It was like a vacation for Liam and me too, except without the travelling itself.


It was also a very boat centered weekend, because Fergus works on the Sir David Attenborough (BOATY MCBOATFACE!!!) and apparently, even though he's away for months at a time essentially going back and forth to Antarctica (I know - so cool right), he still can't get enough of ships in his free time. :)


So off to Ostinidiefararen Götheborg we went on their first day here! It's a newbuilt replica of an actual 1700s trade ship and very cool. I've been before, back when Johannes (long time readers of this blog will know my friend Johannes sailed part of the way to China with this ship). But that was nearly 20 years ago, and I forget that it's possible to do touristy things in my own home town, so I was very happy for this opportunity to get some Göteborg touristing in.




We'd just been told that on the original ship that this one is a replica of, steering with this wheel would have taken a lot of physical power. Not for Liam, clearly, he seems to be chillin' ...



... while the rest of us at least put in some work. :)



It was a nice little tour with plenty of charming stories even for someone who isn't necessarily into ships specifically. Recommended! (Also this shade of blue with the gold - isn't it beautiful?)


After that we walked along the pier and ended up at Alkemisten for lunch. I'd never been but Liam eats there all the time as he works literally next door, and he's said many good things about it.


And then we took the boat back to the mainland since I have to take ALL guests to Berzelii. We picked four different bakelser (a bakelse is like your own mini cake) ...


... and cut them in four so we all could have a piece of each. Not the prettiest way to eat them maybe, but definitely the tastiest. :)


Then a walk through Haga. See, we did well in showing the local cute and touristy areas! :)


Then we went home to make dinner and after that we played Codenames. I was so bad at it that Rachel and I lost EVERY round to the boys.


Ah well, there were elderflower sours and good company to console me. :)


Saturday morning and roadtrip time! We borrowed my mum's car and drove south, to Gärdets Gård, where everyone immediately found various things to poke at and examine. :)



I was mostly looking at all the typography stuff, as usual.


All the things you can find in this place!


Then we went to Tjolöholm!


It's a manor house and a pretty place and I like it. So did Rachel and Fergus which was very fun.




The main dining room (where Liam and I went for Christmas afternoon tea last year!) was prepared for a wedding that same night. (WHO can afford to get married in a CASTLE?!)



I liked this flowery pattern on the crockery


while Fergus admired finger plates.


Well, hello!




These two, such a delight to have around.



Then we went to the sea! Because Fergus likes a good proper outdoors bad! And he was delighted when he heard that we have both sea and lakes available for bad here. :) As readers of the blog will know, the word "bada" is missing in English, so Liam and I use it in Swedish; I don't want to say "going for a swim" because the swimming isn't the point, the bathing is. And I've almost never met a Brit before who likes to bada in the way that all the Swedish people I know like to bada. But here he is! Fergus!


We were very pleased with ourselves and our bad.


Our respective partners had zero interest in getting themselves cold, wet or sandy. :)


And then we went for dinner!


At Byaregården, of course. We take everyone here.



And after dinner, we went home and had ice cream and watched Stardust, as it turned out that Fergus had never seen it before (shocking!). The perfect ending to a lovely day!

Peter One | Cherie Vico