A WEEKEND FULL OF GOOD THINGS

It’s a super busy weekend! On Friday, I got together with my best friends, Debbie and Camilla. We hadn’t seen each other in just over a month, because Debbie was in Canada with her family for 4 weeks, and every time Camilla and I tried to get together, one of us was busy. So, we had a lot to catch up on. We met at Camilla’s apartment and ate the takeaway dinner I had picked up on the way. At one point, I remember thinking, “good grief, we are so loud” but it was because we had so much to talk about and were laughing so much and we just kept getting more and more excited. We are making lots of plans for get-togethers for the rest of the summer and for when my mom and sister are here. I didn’t get home until nearly 1 am.

Yesterday, Anders and I got to Mats & Annelott’s at 1:30 in the afternoon. It had rained quite hard in the morning, but the day cleared up and it was lovely by the time we arrived. We had fika and then split up to do fun things: the guys went mountain biking and Annelott and I went antique and flea-market hopping. I found the COOLEST old wooden folding card-table with an EMBROIDERED top and slide out corner shelves for drinks. I didn’t buy it. I am thinking I might have to go back and get it. I did buy 4 small soy bowls at a ceramics shop, and a blue flower pot for Camilla, and 3 very cool iron plant stands.

Then we went back to their place and sat in the garden, on the covered swing, one of which I badly want for myself, and snacked and chatted. Then the guys went and showered and had a gin & tonic, and then we left for Anders’ secret surprise present, which turned out to be dinner at Norrehus in Klippan, followed by an outdoor concert with the band Balthazaar performing a “hyllning till Peps*”. It was the perfect gift from Mats to Anders, as they have both loved Peps Persson’s music forever. Anders played Peps for me on our second date in Chicago, so he also holds a special place in my heart. 😀

Peps died last year at the age of 74. He was quite a character and his music, which was a mix of reggae and blues, was very special, and mostly upbeat. He was considered a left-wing progressive and social critic. We went and saw him in concert some 10 years ago or so, with my brother and Simone at a club in Malmö. Looking around at all of the older people that had joined us at the concert, I thought, “goodness, Peps fans are old!” and then I remembered. 😀 Usually, I think of us as bringing the median age down, but I don’t think we did it by much last night!

The sky was clear blue and it was quite nice with the sun on us, even though it was late in the evening. The band started around 8 and they played for 3 hours with 2 very short breaks. It did get quite cold after the sun went down, which we were a little under-prepared for, but Annelott had thankfully brought an extra blanket for me, so it was manageable. Everyone was in such a good mood, and people were dancing and singing along for the entire show. There were swallows zipping around overhead and I saw a couple of bats as well, in the waning sunlight. Something else I thought about was how nice it was that literally NO one was smoking. It’s so unusual nowadays to see anyone smoking cigarettes, and nice that no matter where you go in Sweden, there is almost never cigarette smoke blowing in your face, even when you are outdoors.

We didn’t get home until well after midnight again last night, and I was really beat by the time I went to bed, since I drove home. I slept in this morning and then lazed about a bit before getting up and getting some things done around the house. Karin came over after lunch and is hanging out and doing laundry. She helped me get the net off the cherry tree…we had a grand total of 22 cherries this year! A big difference from last year and the year before when we had 7-8 huge bowls of them. We also pulled all the carrots, some of which were still quite small, to have for dinner some night this week. We are going to Maria and Mikael’s for dinner tonight (with Karin) but it won’t be a late night since we have to work tomorrow. And Karin is leaving for a week in Greece with her girlfriend tomorrow afternoon.

And tomorrow, Anders and I are going with Camilla to see Top Gun Maverick in Lund after work. So busy start to the week as well! I need another weekend to relax in!

*a tribute to Peps

Mood: productive
Music: Vienna Teng—Flyweight Love