A great midsummer

Time for a quick catchup. We did indeed have a successful trip to Guns and retrieved a huge amount of alcohol. (Clicking boxes on the internet is a lot simpler than carrying bottles of sparkling wine on our little boat!)

The midsummer celebrations were on the 23rd and our 'neighborhood' on the island was responsible for the kid's games and the clean-up. The six of us (Raymond and Eva, along with Karin and Kalle) made plans to man the various games. Thankfully the weather was perfect. Lots of us came together to decorate and raise the midsummer stång.

We joined Gun and Bosse at their house for lunch; afterwards was the traditional boat parade around the island, followed by music, games, and dancing. We all had a great time and our little group ran the games very well, if I say so myself. Dinner was at Annika and Olle's with their friends and family. We had a super time. It's so nice to have friends who would include us in their family celebrations.

Speaking of being included, the next day was my birthday, and we had dinner with Peter and Jeanette. We were joined by their son Sebastian and his girlfriend Jade, and their dog Harry. We had a stupendous meal. This weekend was one of my best birthdays ever.

Lots of photos of all this fun are on my flickr page. We'll be back in three weeks, and I can't wait!!!

T-Minus one week!

Seven days from now, we'll be in the air on our way to Stockholm. Sooz is taking Ollie to his old dog sitter in Ascot, and I'm meeting up with her to take Norwegian Airways after work.

We will take the late afternoon boat to Aspö on Saturday, so we will have time to shop on our way to Stavsnäs. We'll be having dinner with Annika and Olle that night. We can't wait.

PS. Happy Birthday to Grant!

A dozen years!

The birthday boy

Today is Ollie's birthday. He's reached the ripe old age of twelve. I seem to have mentioned most of his birthdays since I started this blog. Looking back, we've all been through a lot!

I am glad to report that he's still the same happy and handsome boy he's always been. A drawback of living in Texas is that it's not feasible for him to join us in Aspö for the summers. He stays at a great kennel while we're away, so we know he is well cared for. That said, we sure wish he was with us.

Perhaps he can celebrate his next birthday in Sweden? We can only dream. Today, though, he gets his traditional lamb chop.

The social whirl

It was a whirlwind trip this time across the pond. We were gone for less than two weeks, and “on the go” every day.

First, we flew to London and spent a few days there to celebrate Sooz’s birthday. I asked her what she wanted as a gift for her big day, and she said “dinner in London with my friends.” Her wish was my command! Grant was able to fly over as well. We had a great time.

Then onward to Stockholm on a late night flight. We spent Tuesday recovering, until yet another birthday celebration at Pharmarium in Gamla Stan. There we met up with our Swedish friends, with the super bonus of joint-birthday girl Margaret and Janne, who were back visiting.

We took the Wednesday afternoon boat to Aspö, which gave us an unusually leisurely amount of time to shop in Gustavsberg. On Thursday, we had a visit from Willie who helped me seal up some window leaks. It was great to see him! We also made plans to do a bit more work on the windows next year.

Friday was the actual birthday itself. I had arranged a little champagne toast that evening with Annika, Olle, Peter and Jeanette. We were also surprised by Rutger, Marcia, Camille and Archie on the evening boat as well! So we had a full house on Friday night.

The fun wasn’t over, as Saturday night was Oktoberfest at Johan and Sofia’s barn! Lots of singing (and drinking) late into the night. Let’s just say that Sunday was mostly used for recovery. At least I was able to get photos posted.

We closed up the house and headed back to Rutger and Marcia’s on Monday to a birthday dinner for Camille, whose birthday was the next day (and is the same day as Olle’s). A long flight home Tuesday arrived just in time to pick up Ollie that night (in 95° heat!!)

So you can see why we’ve been quiet. The past few days have been all about recovery.

We won’t be back at the house until next Spring, I don’t think. However, there are lots of things to post about, so stay tuned, dear readers.

Deep in the heart of Texas

Back home. All is well but I'm still behind. More info coming soon. In the meantime, talk among yourselves...

We're in Sweden...

... safely at Marcia & Rutger's on a beautiful afternoon after a whirlwind weekend in London. We had a great birthday celebration for Sooz at our favourite restaurant, along with special guest Grant (all the way from Boston), and lots of our good friends.

We have another celebration tonight in Stockholm, and then off to Aspö tomorrow. We'll also be seeing Willie on Thursday, and there's yet another party on Saturday night.

What a fun life we lead!

We're on our way!

I've avoided giving much advance notice of this trip, because it's all come together fairly late.

As the picture infers, we'll be stopping over in London for a bit. A certain young lady has a birthday we'll be celebrating.

We have a few other plans in Stockholm, and then we'll be out on Aspö for only a week or so. I have a few house-related tasks to finish, but mostly we'll be hanging out, I think.

Stay tuned of lots of pictures, though. It's going to be a fun couple of weeks!

Penblwydd Hapus i ti, anwyl Ollie!

Ollie after an early-morning swim today

For my readers who don't speak Welsh, the title of this post is "Happy Birthday, dear Ollie."

Today our boy turns 11 years old. Depending on how one measures these things, he's between 60 and 75 years in people terms. It's now safe to say that he's older than either of us, no matter how you measure it.

It is also 5½ years since his back surgery. From today, Ollie will have lived longer on his new back than his original one. I've written over the years about Ollie; I enjoyed looking back on the older posts, although, maybe in hindsight, I came across as a bit negative. The bottom line is that Ollie remains a happy dog who has had great love and care. He's doing really well for his age.

Ollie's surgeon, Dr. Noel Fitzpatrick, obviously does fine work, as evidenced by our boy's continued good health, but he's also become a bit of a celebrity in the UK. Sooz has her radio in the kitchen tuned to BBC 2. I was startled to hear his instantly-recognizable Irish accent one recent morning. It turns out he has his own TV show now!

Tonight, Sooz is grilling lamb chops. We bought three, so Ollie will be in for a special treat. And if one would like to sing Ollie a birthday wish in his native language, Episode 8 of "Learning Welsh with Will" gives a perfect lesson.

It's my birthday!

Since my birthday is right around the midsummer holiday, I usually post about it each year. My 50th birthday was a huge milestone, this one is less so. But it's still my birthday and it's my blog so I get to write about it!

I have recently found out that I share a birthday not only with Gerrit Rietveld, but Micah Richards, Mick Fleetwood, and Brigitte Mohnhaupt as well. As Sooz says, that explains a lot.

Grattis på födelsedagen, Ollie!

My furry boy turns 10 today. Ollie has had an eventful journey from his puppyhood in Aberystwyth, to London, France, Belgium, Holland, and the island of Aspö, to the suburbs of Texas. According to the internet, he is about 56 in human years, which puts his age neatly between me and Sooz.

He has slowed down a bit, which is natural I suppose. Given his big surgery 4½ years ago, I'm thrilled he's still with us today at all, a happy, handsome, and charming dog we all love very much.

The happy birthday song in Sweden is called "Ja må du leva", which translates to "may you live a hundred years". It's a song that even I can sing fairly well. I'll spare you my rendition, but here's a link with a bit more info (and an example) of the well-known Swedish birthday song.

Today, Ollie and I are going to chill out (as best we can in the Texas heat) and I think we'll share a bit of Welsh lamb for dinner tonight.

Just about the perfect day

Firstly, it was sunny and warm. We gathered at the midsommar meadow to decorate and raise the stång, and to set up tables for the afternoon's celebrations.

Ole invited us onto his boat for the traditional procession of boats around the island, which was a scenic and fun ride.

Then we joined friends for cake and coffee on the meadow and enjoyed the youngsters dancing around the maypole, as it were.

The evening was capped off by an invite to Britt and Ronnie's house for a barbeque with friends and family. It really was a wonderful day- and to make it better (for me at least)- it was my birthday! Perfect.

Happy Birthday Ollie

My furry little boy is 8 today. The photo at the left was taken on Memorial Day. Although he is not enamored of the Texas heat (or its thunderstorms), he sure likes our pool cleaner, stalking it all day.

It struck me recently that Ollie is now about my age, (depending on the conversion formula one uses). I certainly share many of Ollie's symptoms of middle-age: we both really feel it the day after a lot of physical activity; we're less of a morning person than we used to be; our doctors are prescribing us more pills; and Sooz has had to cut back on our dinners to keep us trim.

On the plus side, he is still as handsome and charming as ever, another trait he shares with his owner!

The day after the day after

On yesterday's noon boat, everyone left except Grant and Ollie. Sooz had a long list of errands and shopping to do, and she also went to pick up Grant's friend Nick, who arrived from the USA.

That left us boys to do a few chores on Thursday afternoon/Friday morning and so we water-treated the bathroom floor, framed the windows on the little stuga, and oiled the teak furniture, among other tasks. Ollie was completely knackered from the day before and he snoozed heavily most of the day.

Nick, Sooz, and a whole lot of new stuff arrived successfuly today on the 3:30 taxibåt. The boys hauled some trash for me and then went swimming (!). Tomorrow is the big island trash pickup day, and it's also Janne's birthday. We'll have work in the morning and then hopefully a quiet afternoon.

FYI, both webgalleries have been updated today.

(In totally unrelated news, my favourite blog ever has restarted from a year's hiatus and I am completely thrilled. Check it out.)

What a great day!

Sorry for the long delay in posting, I was so occupied with celebrations I didn't have time to report! Anyways, here's what happened:

• Sooz and Grant arranged for everyone to write me a birthday card here on the island, so when I went to the dock to pick up mail, there were tons of cards from friends and family, many of whom are frequenters to this blog, over 60 at least. It took me a long time to open and read them all.
• Being a gadget man, I got a Kindle from my mother and sister and a iPod stereo for the house from Sooz and Grant.
• Sooz gathered us all up for a 11AM mystery boat, and we were joined by Marg, Janne, and her son Callan (who I haven't seen in a few years, and is now sporting a fetching bohemian look).
• The eleven of us went to the island of Sandham and had a fantastic lunch in absolutely perfect weather at the famous Sandhamns Värdshus. Some of us boys went swimming in the bracingly cold water, and we all perused the yachts and other sailing shops.
• Late in the day, our own boat took us straight to Marg and Janne's. We fortified ourselves with a gin & tonic, and then all trooped back to our place for birthday cake.
• The evening ended with a slapstick tick removal process as Tim found one on Ollie. I wish I had a movie of all of us chasing him around with the tick pluckers!

All in all, I cannot imagine a better way to spend my day. Much love to Sooz, Grant, and all my friends. Photos (way too many actually) are on a birthday webgallery now.

I'm 50!

Well... I made it to a half-century. Sitting now on the deck of another beautiful morning.

Marcia is in the sky chair, watching the birds, and Sooz is making my birthday cake. Life is good.

She and Grant are up to something today, but I don't have a clue what it is. Stay tuned!

Ollie's birthday

Ollie is 6 today, which makes him nearly 40 in human years (depending on the conversion method.)

It's also been 6 months since his surgery, and that's significant because his recovery is now officially over. Since my last post in March, he's continued to improve. Even in the past few weeks we've noticed the return of little behaviours that had been missing, like sleeping on his back, for instance.

(I've noticed improvements in my own behaviour, too, for example, I'm no longer worrying about him constantly!)

He still gets tired more easily, and his back legs remain a little wobbly, but he is 99% Ollie again. I'm tremendously thankful for that.