Happy summer solstice! Glad midsommar! What a difference a couple of weeks, good medical care, a definite diagnosis, and wonder drugs makes. I’m still easily tired, which isn’t surprising considering I’ve been so housebound and sedentary. I hope to start walking again soon. We’ve had a full week of the most beautiful weather: sunny, blue skies, a little breeze, perfect temperatures, cool evenings. If the whole summer was like this, I’d be perfectly happy.
Yesterday was midsummer in Sweden, a day off, and one of the biggest holidays of the year. I was up early as has been the case for a few weeks (can’t get back to sleep after I get up at 5 or 6 to go to the bathroom). Anders was up soon after me (he’s almost always first), and I had, of course, a to-do list for the rest of the things that needed to be done before our guests arrived at 5 pm. It was a very low-key dinner party, and a potluck as well. Mats and Annelott, and Maria (Anders’ sister) and Mikael came. My friend Camilla was also supposed to come but she came down with a cold a couple of days ago, and was still not feeling well yesterday.
I set up the porch, set the table, tidied up the house, vacuumed, wiped down deck furniture and put out all the cushions. And I finally got the shower curtain liners hung up and switched out as well. Anders finished mowing the lawn, and then he weeded EVERYTHING. He took the hard top off the porch, and dug up 3 plants of our new potatoes for dinner. Then he picked our first cucumber and pickled it as well. Our yard and garden look so beautiful right now: the honeysuckle is blooming, there are geraniums in all the pots, the allium in the front is tall and beautiful, and our vegetable garden is going gangbusters. We have one rose so far on the little bush under the trellis, and the rosebush in front is about to explode. I love this time of year.
I went shopping to get strawberries (which Camilla had been supposed to bring) and eggs, and then had to run to Eslöv to get a new canister for the SodaStream machine as they were out at our store. I bought WAY too many strawberries. Oops. When I was waiting in line outside the Flyinge Automat for strawberries, a man came up from the other side of the street to get in line as well, and he had a HUGE, beautiful, very talkative parrot in a harness on his shoulder. Too funny to go walking about with your parrot, in Flyinge, of all places.
After I got home and had lunch, I baked a sugar-free brownie cake (kladdkaka) which turned out really well. Since both Mikael and I have diabetes, I thought it would be good to have something besides strawberries just to be on the safe side. I had also found really good sugar-free ice cream to go with it, so we were all set for dessert. I actually ended up taking a nap for an hour right before everyone came, which was much needed.
Anders had divided up the food list, so everyone was responsible for bringing/preparing part of the buffet. Midsummer in Sweden, like most of the Swedish holidays, has a fairly specific menu. It’s usually the dessert that changes depending on the holiday. We had 5 kinds of herring, warm smoked salmon with romsås, gravlax with hovmästaresås, hardboiled eggs, boiled potatoes, sour cream and chives, a delicious salad with cucumber, feta, and tomatoes; breads and cheeses, onion sausage, meatballs, prinskorv sausages, and Maria’s taco quiche. WOW! Dessert as mentioned was the brownie cake, strawberries, whipped cream, and 2 flavors of ice cream. I was so full I thought I was going to explode, and I was so uncomfortable sitting after we ate that I kept getting up and dealing with dishes and things. 😀
Instead of the usual snapsvisor (drinking songs), Anders had written a bunch of limericks, one for each of us (though he didn’t do one for himself). Limericks are one of his hidden talents. He knows tons of them, most of them filthy, and even his sister didn’t know about this. It was really funny. I’m including them here for posterity. First in Swedish, then (with help of ChatGPT, an English translation keeping the rhyme scheme). Enjoy!
CAMILLA (even though she wasn’t there)
En hjärtlig vän från Malmö stad
Vill gärna snapsa och vara glad
Hjärtat är stort
Men slår lite fort
Hon får nöja sig med avkok på maskrosblad
A warm-hearted friend from Malmö town
Loves taking shots and has never a frown
Her heart is quite wide
But beats like a ride
So dandelion tea must calm her down
ANNELOTT
En landsbyggdsutvecklare från Skåne
Tittade upp och fick syn på vår måne
Ett par snapsar till
Så kanske hon vill
Fix EU-bidrag för att anställa en byfåne
A rural dev from southern Skåne
Looked up and caught sight of the moon, eh?
With a few more shots in
She might just begin
To fund a town fool with EU pay
MATS
En skogshuggare från Ljungbyhed
Började bli törstig med besked
Hit med dricka
Att i halsen skicka
Och mjuka upp artosen i min armbågsled
A lumberjack out Ljungbyhed way
Felt a powerful thirst one fine day
“Bring me a drink
That’s gone in a blink—
To soothe my elbow’s arthritic dismay!”
MARIA
Vår farmaceut tyckte att det var knäppt
När någon skrek SNAPS PÅ RECEPT!
Kanske var hon brydd
För vårt högkostnadsskydd
Men detta kan bli apotekets nya koncept
Our pharmacist found it absurd
When “SNAPS ON PRESCRIPTION!” was heard.
She might have been vexed
By the cost-saving text,
But it could be the new pharmacy’s word!
MIKAEL
EN stilig elektriker från Österlen
Tyckte min syster hade snygga ben
Lite mera sill
Och snaps därtill
Så kanske alla får njuta av spirorna sen
An electrician from fair Österlen
Found my sister’s fine legs quite a scene.
With some snaps and some fish,
He made one cheeky wish—
That those legs would again be seen!
and finally, ME!
Min älskade hustru från över-där
Observerar med tilltagande besvär
Mina försök att rimma
I denna sena timma
Att få äta i lugn och ro är allt vi begär
My wife from across yonder way
Sees me rhyming at night — not okay.
With a roll of her eyes
She just sighs at my tries,
“Can we please eat in peace, come what may?”
😀 hahaha! This morning, I woke up at FOUR AM (geez louise) to go to the bathroom and of course, OF COURSE, could not get back to sleep as it was so light already. I got up at 5, carefully closed the bedroom door, and then proceeded to empty and refill the dishwasher and wash the shower curtains and liners, before sitting down to write this. It’s now 7:30 and I’ll eat a little breakfast and take my million pills at 8, and then we’ll see what the day brings. We have no plans for the weekend, which is both nice and boring. I might go buy a new kitchen tablecloth. I might go take my watch in for repair (finally). Or I might do absolutely nothing but read and maybe, probably, almost certainly, take a nap later. It’s another gorgeous day!
Mood: really good
Music: Lisa Ekdahl—Vem Vet?