New Year was spent in Porto, Portugal, visiting Verena.
The trip obviously included a visit to Croft port destillery...
The flat we stayed in was just down by the sea.
Back home, this was the morning view from my window. In January...
A knife taking shape
Weed or flower?
Snowdrops
WGA -08
BÄTTRE FÖRR! (We remember the good old days...)
Lo returned to Ekbacken after "winter break" in Kvibille.
He likes the work bench - with a fleece on it...
Spring gave a convincing performance as winter in mid-March...
... and I'm not sure the seeds and tender plants appreciated the show.
Did you say something?
Nex geared up for tackling the late snow
Easter decorations
Spring did return - eventually.
The kitchen garden; so full of promises... Planted with potatoes, onions, carrots, spinach and dill by mid April.
A cold-blooded creature (well, poikilothermic actually, I believe...) in yesteryear's leavings (...) - these hold no end of entertainemnt for Lo!
The apple tree behind the house had mainly died, and was ruthlessly reduced. (The excercise was almost as ruthless on me as on the tree, although my limbs only *felt* as if they'd fallen off afterwards...)
Spring making headway.
Malin introduced me (or re-introduced me, I should say) to the stables at Gunnorp, where she's been taking riding lessons for the last three years. Here on Aston Martin. (Lotta at Gunnorp took all the riding pictures here.)
And so I, too, spent wonderful Wednesdays riding horses. Preferrably the thoroughbred Chila, as above.
She frisks a bit, particularily when entering a canter...
... but generally, we get along just fine!
The company I work for took us on a conference trip...
.. guess where?
During the days there was culture...
...food...
... and sightseeing.
At night, there was food...
... drink...
... entertainment...
... and nightseeing!
At the end of May we had a project kick-off with a BBQ (here fellow consultants Helena, Susanna, Hanna and Fredrik at my table) ...
... games, as illustrated by colleague Thomas and project leader Peter, while fellow consultant Olle is documenting...
... the obligatory bag of Gripen souvenirs for production manager LP, who left the project the very next day...
... and finally, Fredrik provided some really spectaular entertainment!
When LP moved to Stockholm, he left his old kitchen sofa behind. With a little furniture rearrangement, I could *just* manage to squeeze it in...
As I left Sigma Kudos in June, most of the Linköping department gathered at Ekbacken for a final (for me) After Work. Here Erik, Linda, me, Gabriella, Mia, and Peter are posing. Helena is taking the picture.
And here we all are! Peter, Helena,Linda, Erik, Gabriella, and me and Mia looking stupid in the front row... (Sorry Mia) ;)
My tent at Lundskär, erected in preparation for Midsummer!
Midsummer guests at Lundskär.
Debating wether dressing the May-pole is male or female work... Lisa's eloquence is self-evident (and won the debate, of course...)!
Gathered for the traditional midsummer lunch...
...with the traditional rainy spells...
...then for the traditional singing and dancing...
...flags - and rain...
...and a glorious sunset!
Next outing went to the UK. First to Scotland, where I went cross-country to John o' Groats. Here passing Quinag - "the bucket" - north of Loch Assynt on my way up through the highlands.
The mission in JoG was to re-take the jet-boat ride Martina and I took in 2002 - the one I lost all my pictures from. And, as you can see, that mission was accomplished! (No!That's not me! But I had to be on the boat to take a photo of the skipper, didn't I?!)
And so I got new pictures of seals...
... and birds...
...and... oh dear... the cliff 'path' (=sheep's trail) Martina and I followed six years ago... This is at Duncansby Head.
Then (after a brief visit to Aberdeen, which seems to have been mostly spent in pubs...) I went south - to Cambridge!
Here, Julian and Martina took excellent care of me, punting me up and down the Cam...
... showing me the landscape gardening phenomenon as represented at the Hall of their own village, Madingley...
... as well as - of course - Cambridge itself, so full of its University... Here, King's College.
Back home again, I took up co-ridership of the beautiful Caesar over summer.
My aunts and Tora, contemplating developments around Karin's summer house.
It's so hard to get out of bed in the mornings - I don't know why!
"Snobben" - little brother of Nex...
The basket was a birthday present, and you can see I put it to good use!
Lunch being prepared...
Sizeable, eh?
The apple tree I cut back so cruelly still managed to bear fruit!
And here's this year's apple harvest... It was delicious, though!
Lo is taking advandage of the sun's rays on our main room table...
Amazingly, the sweet peas were still bluming in October. After frost nights!
In early October, me and Lo moved into our new winter home - the East Wing!
As part of the rental deal, I immediately set up a work table in one of the rooms.
Then I started fixing up the house. This meant both outdoors...
... and indoors...
... work - and is a continuing saga!
In November, I paid a by now annual visit to one of my brothers and his family - and with my visit came the snow!
Lussekatter ('Lucia cats') - the saffron buns of Swedish Lucia (13 December) tradition.
Well - *there's* a proper little lussekatt!
And winter eventually came to the East Gothian flatlands...
Pumpkin, Flip and Carisma.
15 December I fetched Cindy xx to have as my own over winter. It's slow work to convince Dick Tracy to let her join his herd, but she's a charming lady...
A guest *just* outside my kitchen window at noon!
By her second day with us, Cindy was making friends with Carisma :)
I brought a tiny wee tree from Ekbacken down to Mum's - my contribution to the Christmas decorations...
Mum and I spent the main part of Christmas in the Järpe-Danielsson household. Here was excellent food...
...traditional tree and presents...
... and very good children! My nephews, Daniel and Johannes, managed to play nicely almost the whole time... ;)
