Mid Summer / Winter

In the middle of winter, to me it seems very logical to celebrate midsummer. Since I don't have a garden, or the willpower to pull off such an event, we headed down to the Swedish Church in Toorak to partake in some Swedish festivities.
The day started really well with fika (kanelbullar och sommartårta), raffle tickets where Will and I both won lollies, a service where we got to hear (and hum along to) Den Blomstertid nu Kommer and I denna ljuva sommartid. Despite all this, I have to say that the grand finale did belong to the Maypole and the dancing around it. The picture shows what Swedes get up to during this important day. (I also have a couple of cracking video clips, but to see those, please email me as I can only seem to be able to post pictures here).

Glad midsommar/vinter!

Stay indoors - gunman!!!

Good thing I have Mondays off... My friend Gab sent me a textmessage a while ago to say don't go into the city and that thay're not allowed out of the building where she works!!
www.theage.com.au

Queen's birthday

My lovely friend Sab has been struck down with meningitis and is in hospital. She has had a lumbar puncture and an MRI but the doctor's are still unsure of exactly what kind of meningitis she has. I saw her yesterday and she was much better than when I visited on Saturday. Unfortunately she had a difficult night so I can't see her today as she must sleep through the day. Hopefully it won't be too long before she can go home (although she was very impressed by the hospital food - you get to choose from a menu!!!)

Apart from poor Sab, everything else is fine here.

We caught up with some friends on Friday night for a couple of drinks and some food at the Townhall Hotel.
Saturday was Will's cousin Ed's 21st and the theme was tawdry. My look was Joan Collins from the Dynasty Era!!!
We had a look at the Archibald prize shortlist paintings today and they were fantastic! Check them out on www.thearchibaldprize.com.au
Today is a public holiday which means I have time to make lasagne from scratch! I bought a pasta machine yesterday and I am very excited about using it today. Wish me luck!

Lovely weekend

I went for after-work drinks on Friday evening with Liz and Greg from the CAE. Afterwards I tried to get home, although there were no trams in sight and the end result was that I ended up walking pretty much all the way home. When the tram finally caught up with me I got to go TWO whole stops!! Exhausted and starving Will and I went to the Metropolitan and had a yummy feed.

On Saturday Fish stopped by to fix up Gab's bike which he bought ages ago and which has been at our place waiting for Gab's birthday to come around. In the early afternoon we ventured out to Seddon where they now live (they have bought a great house) to congratulate Gab on her birthday. Headed back and slightly disoriented (Although it feels like 10pm, it's only 7 pm. What do we do now?) Will started watching Footy. I called my brother to say hi. We finally got our act together and headed to the Rrose bar and stayed for a few glasses of bubbly (Yum!)

Sunday came along in a spectacular fashion and treated us to a beautiful day. Sunny and quite warm; the perfect autumn day. Will went and played golf and I met up with Al for a coffee down in Balaclava. I went for a trip down memory lane. I can't believe I haven't been down there since 2002 as a Backpacker! Headed up to Fed Square and went for a little spin around as there was an Italian Market on. I really need to brush up on the language as I can't seem to string a sentence together anymore. To finish off the great weekend, and as it was Sunday, we had a lovely roast for dinner!

A Pinch and a Punch

The company I wrote about in my last entry is not Swedish in that it originated there. The owner of the company is Swedish but started the business here, hence you can't find it in Sweden. You can find companies like it, but not that particular one.

Tomorrow my Irish friend Gillian is getting married to Lee from Leeds. It would have been great to be there (Irish weddings are fun!), but the financial situation does not allow for such extravagance. Good luck you both and have a wonderful day.

Tack till mamma for paketet. Just nu har jag pa mig klanningen jag fick!

A pinch and a punch. Today is the first day of winter. It is 10-15 degrees, rainy and rather windy. It is like I never left the motherland.