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!!!

We've arrived!

And I'm happy to report excellent weather so far. The island is ablaze with flowers and greenery and it looks superb. Our transportation and logistics worked perfectly; we've become experts at this! It hasn't been that long since our last visit so everything was in good order. I got the posts for the deck railing mounted, and brought along some poly-hemp rope for the railing itself. We experimented with the right height for the rope before drilling any holes.

The highlight so far was joining Annika & Olle and Gun & Bosse for a lighthouse cruise on Sunday/Monday. We went back into town on Sunday afternoon and set sail around 4PM. The boat cruised through the archipelago and stopped briefly in Mariehamn, which has the bonus of making the shopping onboard duty-free!

We had a fantastic time, the weather was good, the food was great, the scenery was wonderful, and the company was the best. I took a whole bunch of photos for the Midsummer flickr page.

We got a taxi boat back from Slussen late last night. Tomorrow, we take our little boat to Nämdö for a bit of shopping at Guns Livs. We ordered some wine and beer through the Systembolaget for pickup at Guns. If it all works out, this will make it a lot easier to order and transport our drinks in the future. Hauling boxes of wine on the bus gets to be a drag...literally!

May's Weather

As expected, May showed a warming trend. We got lucky with the weather on our weekend visit; they were the warmest days of the month! We even avoided the rain perfectly.

We could use more rain, though. It's been quite dry on Aspö. In fact, all of southern Sweden is dealing with a growing water shortage. Since our water comes from a well, that's a worry.

I left in the readings from the sound meter. It's pretty easy to see the days we were at the house.

We're less than two weeks away from our next visit. Can't wait!

Happy Birthday, Ollie!

My furry boy has become an old man! He is 14 today. He's darned slow these days, but he still remains as happy and handsome as ever.

I've made a little slideshow of his birthdays over the years:



Who would've thought what the future had in store for us when we brought our little puppy home all those years ago?