on cinnamon bun day and world animal day 2025

On October 4 we celebrate Cinnamon Bun Day aka Kanelbullens Dag in Sweden. As I suppose most of you are aware of by now, right?

This year I baked my own vegan buns again. Slightly less fancy looking that usual, but just as delicious, and much less mess and cleaning up to do, so win-win.

As October 4th also is shared with World Animal Day having plantbased cinnamon bun is obvious. And baking your own is the most kind to your wallet, so that was also an obvious choice. 

Choose kindness. Choose vegan.

hello october 2025 - let’s change and evolve!

 

Welcome October, the most amazing month of the year since it is the month I landed on this planet once upon a time! 

Joke aside, it’s a special month for all us Scorpios with their birthday in October. I try to make it a joyful month as best I can. I will try this year too, even if given the current rough circumstances on a gazillion levels.

But let’s begin with the truly good stuff. Today, October 1, is also World Vegetarian Day, not as neat as World Vegan day on November 1, but a decent start. Peace begin on your plate. And if it’s one thing the world is in desperate need of now, it’s peace.

Far from everyone have the opportunity to be brave and committed to break the siege on Gaza by being on the Global Sumud Flotilla right now. (Still sailing but today/night is the time when anything Israhellish can happen. All eyes on them. And all eyes on Gaza.) 

Enough now, world. ENOUGH. This is a disgrace and stain on 2025, on us all. And yes I am well aware that there are too many other disgraceful conflicts in other parts of the world. But to let a violent ethnostate literally get away with murder and war crimes while world ”leaders” just look away. In 2025. That’s so well beyond mindboggling, infuriating, disgusting and heartbreaking.

There is a petition out there, urging UN take other measures that don’t involve the security council, I have signed it but I don’t have the link saved (silly me). Do search the internetz and I will see if I can update this post with it later.

But to begin a peace process here and now. Start with your plate. There’s an infinate well of vegetarian/vegan dishes out there of course. And tofu is my best protein friend. Takes a bit of effort and skills to bring out the the best of it of course (and admittedly we have not always been the best of friends) but it’s oh so versatile and delicious!

But a new favourite, and very quick to whip together with little effort is making a tortilla wrap with hummus, and fried beans, onion, garlic and whatever leftover veggies you have in the fridge/freezer. Drizzle with sweet chili sauce. Sprinkle seeds. It’s a wrap! Very moreish.

So choose kindly, choose peace on your plate.

I began my October month by snip snapping of ca 10 cm of hair. The hairdresser was very cheap. But the result wasn’t too shabby me thinks. Had planned to throw in the vegan Maria Nila pink colour refresher, but didn’t have the time. So will do that next time I wash hair. A little pink pocket of joy for October.

I have also begun working on a new Prosit website. (at least there is something to read when you follow the link prositordochbild.se - but it’s still a lot to do, tweaking, photos and SEO. And not least the English pages. But at least there is a structure to work from.)

Still trying to solve problems with short term solutions, it isn’t ideal, far from, but it is what it what it is currently. And have been on and off since M passed away.

Yup, I spend (too) much time mulling over previous life choices that seemed reasonable at the time. 20-30 years later, not so much. It’s a quite useless way to spend energy on, well aware of that, but a human can’t always help herself doing it. Overthinking galore.

Welcome October, let’s bring more joy into life, reinvent ourselves, change, grow, evolve, make progress, be kind and caring. Both for ourselves, for others, and nature. We are all earthlings and we share this one and only beautiful planet. Together.

💚

two thirds september 2025

 

Hey, quite shockingly we are now through 2/3 of September already. 

To sum the month up so far:

- the garden shed clean out finally begun. Way overdue as I have still not done one, almost 25 years after moving in. Yes there are moving boxes from the apartment I still haven’t gone through properly. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Had planned to  do it this summer. But it was just too hot, so saved it for September. Turned out September has been very generous with expected and unexpected heavy rains. 

And as the shed is brimming with stuff (imagine 25 years of boxes not being unboxed after the move and more stuff being added over the years. Not to mention the garden tools and machinery M thought was a great idea to store after his parents house move, ”because they can be useful to have here” - of which I’m now clueless of what 80% of them are useful for) it’s impossible to clean the shed out w/out first move things out blocking the door, and put outside, just to reach the very back of the shed and its oldest boxes.

With the plethora of expected and unexpected rain showers, as well as limited daylight, this is a VERY slow job done. 

But at least slowly slowly getting somewhere.

Next step is figuring out what to sell. What to give away. What to keep. As well as figuring out transport of 1 + 2.

Decisions made and things bought/given/inherited that once felt a must/reasonable turn out to be quite a burden some years down the life line… 

Hard work. Emotions galore. And it feels far away from a labour of love. But in the end it will be a relief. 

Yes, the earlier cut down tree is still waiting to be cut into smaller, more managable pieces to be transported away. But somehow seeing that heap of branches in the still give me an immense feeling of gratitude for the help I got. And all the autumnal windy days we’ve hade lately is easier to cope with since that tree was cut down.

- I see several posts on various social media platforms about being gaslit by recruiters. Haven’t had the ”pleasure” of being on the recieving end of recruiter gaslighting before. But now I too have been. It makes it extra annoying since he basicallt chased me over different platforms to get my attention and CV, including adding me on LinkedIn. It was far from a dreamy make a real difference job, but it was a reasonable pay the bills job. And life is what it is these days so…

But then everything went quiet. So apparently I wasn’t very interesting after all, despite the chase.

Old blog readers might remember the recruitment scam I wrote about a couple of summers ago? Since then that has not happened again. Until very recently. As most of them end up naturally in the spam folder they havn’t been much of a bother to deal with though. But apparently Coca Cola (ugh) and Meta are very much fake recruiters are making big business claiming to reach out from. Both companies I would never ever EVER contemplating working for.

Licking the rear end of facists, genocidal terror states, being the world’s largest plastic polluter and selling nasty unhealthy products as well as lining the pockets of billionaires have never been on my bucket list of things to willingly contribute my time and energy to.

- Other simple pleasures these days are things like deciding to wear that clean linen dress hanging in the wardrobe on the last shivering days of summer weather. Instead of the other wearable and aired dresses I’ve already had worn. 

I’m a big fan and practicioner of making the most of every garment before I put it in the wash again. Generally people do wash their clothes too often, when airing and freshing up with steaming and/or refreshing spray is well enough. At least if you aren’t particularly dirty or sweaty. To care for your clothes with less frequent washes is also an important step to make them last longer. 

So deciding on a fresh dress so late in the season felt a bit indulgent and daring. I had straightened it out good after the last  wash so didn’t even had to iron it. (The most boring Sisyphean house task thing to spend time on?)

The dress looks better with its belt, but is more liberating and care-free to wear w/out. Accompanied little mum to the eye doctor appointment and obligatory loo mirror selfie ootd was taken. In Swedish we call it a ”dassfie” (aka loofie). 

Which once again shows the awkward crease on my left wrist due to the broken arm in 2018. Even if the healing didn’t leave any major pains it didn’t heal quite properly and left wrist part of the arm a few cm shorter and less able for things that I once took for granted, like heavy lifting and daily simple tasks. 

So be warned, do not slip on cat vomit, fall on limb of choice and have a complicated break of said limb.

It also shows a good hair day. One of too few. But worth cheering a bit about when they do make a rare appearance.

After the summer heat the vegan cooking bug has finally returned. Here are the three most memorable dishes of September so far.

I make my own falafel from scratch too rarely, although it’s always very rewarding (despite being a bit lengthy to prepare). So in support of Free Palestine I made this last week. The Tarator sauce wasn’t a success though, so I don’t feel the urge to make it again. I never deep fry falafel, but simply fry it with plenty of rapeseed oil in a pan. The result is great.

Baked a crunchy toffee rhubarb and raspberry pie, with the last rhubarbs of summer 2025. It was lovely. Served with Oatly’s dairyfree custard. Perfection.

The creamy chickpea and tofu pot with green curry was something that just happened due to not having red curry at home. I used about 1/5 tsp of green curry instead of the 2 tbsp of red curry, so it wasn’t as hot as green curry usually makes dishes. It was a long time since I ate anything green curry, so this was a simple delight.

Still haven’t created the new Prosit or Pia K Stockholm websites, but at least I ponder what they, or rather the Prosit company website as Pia K is my old hobby one, need in a quick update to serve its purpose: getting new business in.

My ever present worries remain alas, despite my efforts to remove them. So now I just trust the Universe to have my back and the process. And manifestating as best I can.

Fingers and paws crossed, good vibes sent are much appreciated. 

💚

blogoversary 2025 ~ 20 years

 

It’s impossible to grasp really, but today is this blog’s 20th blogoversary. 

More than well done me for keeping up the writing work through all the ups and downs, highlights and incredible lowlights, through joys and through pains, these 20 years have brought.

Sometimes daily words, sometimes once per month. It would’ve been good to write a lengthier recap and bake a fancy vegan cake to mark the very special occasion. But that will most likely not happen. 

There is just too too  much of the lowlights going on currently, which makes both good thinking and decent writing a struggle. And not least, the inclination to bake.

But if I could I would treat you fine long term readers to a big piece of plantbased cream cake delight and a glass of bubbly or a cup of tea in the messy garden of mine.

Thanks for following along and letting me rant, being happy, sad, joyful, angry, silly, in despair, fuming, tearful, numb, emotional, sharing and then starting over and over and over again ad infinitum in this maddening beautiful world we all share, but too few really care for.

Happy 20 years blogoversary, sweet blog of mine, hopefully there will be a few more years of sharing and caring! 

🩷💚💛❤️🩵🩶🧡💙🤍🖤💛💜🤎

(Blood red fullmoon - eclipse of September 7, 2025. Very bright shining but not the least bit visibly red over my garden alas.)

hello september, hello autumn 2025

 

Autumn is here. September 1, hello and welcome.

As a child I remember I always loved coming back to the city, the apartment and another school year. As a grown up the end of summer has mainly been very melancholic and wistful.

With our global warming climate emergency summers post 2018 the beginning of September has been a mix of relief and sadness for another summer lost due to heatwaves. Our Swedish summers used to be pure bliss weatherwise, a perfect mix of sun, warmth and summer rains. 

Oh how I loved that time of the year! And how easy it was to love. Current times the seasons aren’t as distinct as they used to be, and not as easy to look forward to. This will forever be a source of sadness for me. And worry.

How our lifestyles have wrecked havoc on our planet. It makes me both angry and sad. So so angry.

With warmer seasons come lower energy prices. But also water scarcity and higher wildfire risk. On our Scandinavian latitudes.The seasons and days are riddled with angst and worries. At least for thinking people.

The start of my September has been somewhat disappointing. Turned out that the promised restoration of my websites couldn’t be done, as they were only stored for 28 days. And the webhosting company didn’t share that information with me when I changed my subscription plan in June. 

Something I was bluntly matter of fact told today. So now I need to start from scratch and create something new. Which is a mix of nuiscance (I wanted to make tweaks based on my old website, but I didn’t take any screen dumps) and an opportunity to make a new start.

Which I suppose could be just what is needed. But also a lot of extra work I hadn’t planned for. But there you are. 🤷🏻‍♀️

So until that’s sorted neither prositordochbild.se nor piakstockholm.se are visible online.

And I will most likely change the services I offer. Communication is key, and copywriting. But I’m moving away from social media, and I have zero interest in AI (I prefer we put our limited water resources and green energy on more important matters) or working with big companies.

My thoughts and hopes are now with the Sumud Flotilla, currently on their way to the shores of Gaza. May they reach their destination and break the ongoing legally definition of genocide. 

So many daily tears shedded over this horrific manmade situation. That the majority of world ”leaders” would be silent and complicit with a 2025 genocide, who would’ve thought. Or maybe most of us have been too naïve?

And who would’ve thought the traditional media would become a PR-agency for a facist terror state, I am so deeply disappointed of Swedish TV news now. Both the so called neutral state media and the commercial one. Ridiculous, infuriating and heartbreaking times we are living in.

I finally wrote a post on LinkedIn about my shadowbanning since April - care to read it, follow the link below https://www.linkedin.com/posts/piaktw_i-started-my-linkedin-account-in-september-activity-7366348774647975937-VIcR?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios&rcm=ACoAAAHaI0sBUzy2nD3QiHykPuORr9jYt-OyKVk

In a few days this blog will turn 20 years old. And next month I will turn 20 years older than I was when I started writing it. Mindboggling.

At that time in life I was quite a different Pia. I am ashamed to say I had a penchant for expensive handbags, and the opportunity to buy a few of them. Not money well spent. And in animal leather too, ugh, nasty. 

Of the selected ones I got, I ended up well-using a few of them. And now is the time to sell these extremely well-made classics, they’re really not in sync with the person I am today.

First out is my beautiful Mulberry Bayswater - and the ad can be found here: https://www.tradera.com/item/689913587 (of course can sell it through other channels too, advance payment only).

Now, can you bring joy, solutions, peace, compassion and a multitude of kindness, please September! 

We are many who are counting on you for relief and positive news.

august 2025 reflections

 

Hello. August is here. 

After July being a miserable, climate emergency heatwave. Torn with the livestreamed Gaza genocide (and with more genocides that get so much less publicity…), facism on the rise, the continued invasion war in Ukraine and a mindboggingly stupid, narcissistic toddler president on the other side of the pond. Life is heavy, for far too many reasons.

At least the temperatures have dropped (to soon for what used to be a regular Nordic summer of course, but here we are) and it is again possible to breath and get a decent night’s sleep. Which has lifted my spirits somewhat.

Earlier this week I even had a pretty decent day, running little errands and treating myself to a soy latte to go. Having a fairly good hair day and feeling pretty spiffy in outfit per diem. 

Maybe I should document it with a selfie? 

Got a sweet comment ’Looks spectacular!’ to which I replied ’Thank you kindly! Feeling anything but though, a case of unintentional fake it til you make it, perhaps.’

And that pretty much sums up me and my life currently. And have for quite some time now. It is impossible to feel motivated, worthy my dreams, capable, strong and overall awesome. I’m. just. so. tired. 

And yes, admittedly I loath AI, it drains us and will be our downfall. 

So in awaiting that. Here are a few other good things August have brought me so far -

After using the Swedish Skinome fresh skincare daily for 15 + months I still didn’t feel it brought the positive change to my dry rosacea skin I had hoped for and expected. It may not be the priciest of skincare regimes, but when their cleansing cream I added to my skincare regime gave me the most horrific rosacea flair up I’ve ever experienced I decided to look elsewhere for relief.

Ended up stumbling over the classic Swedish pharmacist brand ACO, which has been around since I was a kid. And just because I saw that this particular cream for sensitive and dry skin happened to be vegan my decision was a quick one. 

It also didn’t hurt that I got two of this large tub for 10% of the price I paid for the Skinome bottles. I’ve been using it twice per day for 3 weeks now and if not perfect my skin feels more supple and soft.

I’m still wanting to find a cream that actually lessen the rosacea redness, but just getting rid of the dry patches and getting a softer skin means so so much.

Consistent cat cuddles always means so so much. 

This tree has been one of my big worries this year. Inherited from the previous house owner, M cut it down many years ago because it became so unruly and grew to close to the fence I share with the neighbour. 

Over the years since it began to grow again. I have always been able to trim it myself. Until this year when it’s branches became to thick for my weak wrists and my tools. And the more the tree grew the more it stretched over the fence into the neighbours’ and with the harsh winds we have had this summer the higher risk the swaying against the fence would cause harm. 

I asked my next door neighbour (the one that helped me with the overgrown shrubs on the front of my house last autumn) to help and he kindly agreed to. So last week the tree was cut down.

The electric chain saw was of such poor quality so he ended up using my useless tools, that turned out to not be so useless with more strength behind the tools. I felt like the stereotypical feeble, weak woman. 

Still the most important thing got done. And I’m so grateful for the much needed help. It’s sad the tree had to be cut down, it was so lush and green, and appreciated by insects. But now it also feels like such a relief, and one less thing to worry about.

The work isn’t fully done of course, the tree needs to be cut down in smaller pieces and lugged to the recycling, but that’s not so urgent.

I am so very ready for THRIVING again not just SURVIVING.

Planting goals ✅ Harvesting dreams welcome!

I also baked vegan bagels last week. As I couldn’t remember the bagel recipe I used earlier I ended up using the first (seemingly good) I found online. The dough turned out to be much much softer than doughs usually are. I let it prove 3 hours insted 1,5 that the recipe called for, and it felt like a reasonable dough at first.

It was impossible to turn the dough into bagel shape, or reasonable size, so ended up with very small rolls instead. The taste and texture was perfect though! Will not use that recipe next time, but the end result was quite satisfying anyway. Bagels are great but bagel rolls are rather good too.

Hey Universe, I truly need your help now, please. More positive changes. More joy. More long term solutions (although as dire as things are at the moment, I would be ever so grateful for satisfying short term ones too). 

More kindness and compassion for all. More justice. High time for fresh new impactful beginnings. What will be the next step?

farewell vera, farewell june 2025

 

Tonight the very last episode of the very last season of Vera was aired on Swedish television. Having watched this grand series from the very start 14 or is it 10 (?) years ago, it has been and remained one of my favourite detective series.

Brenda Blethyn is fantastic, the wild, ruggedness of Northumberland nature too.

It’s actually quite 💔 to say goodbye. 

In a superficial way of course. Given the horrific times we’re living in right now. I don’t know what else to say anymore. Every day offers a new nightmare timeline. Because obviously it can always get worse.

My personal June month wasn’t very impressive or uplifting. Quite blah without shining exceptions. Short term solutions. Trying my best to be mindful and treasure the little things in my small world. Trusting the Universe. And doing my best keeping my overwhelming worries for September/October at bay.

Thank you for nature bliss, June.

Hello July, I don’t ask much, but pretty please can we please please please focus on positive new beginnings with purpose and meaning. Moving forward.

the price of strawberries & other musings

 

I’ve never had a particular fancy for Swedish strawberries. It’s nice if they are organic AND local. 

But organic is ALWAYS better than local from a sustainability point of view (unless they’re transported by plane of course). 

These beauties are from a Spanish, organic strawberry farm. There seasons are obviously very different from our Nordic, so I think I bought then in Feb/March a few years back. And not transported by air.

The texture was very different from our Swedish summer ones (June-August), but lovely in their very own way. Great to add to sallads with tofu for example.

Anyway, my aim was to write a few words on the fact that this regular box of 1 L strawberries have had a price of ca 35-55 SEK (depending on early/late in season) for as long as I can remember during my adult life.

It has practically been a basic human right for Swedes, to be able to have strawberries for Midsummer.

And although I’ve always much prefer raspberries and cherries over strawberries I do enjoy eating them in a bowl with oat milk and whipped oat cream at least a few times every summer. And not least enjoy fresh for cream cake toppings.

This year something has drastically changed. It may be the climate change weather and droughts. Or perhaps the overall chaotic world situation, with import/export not being as straight forward as it once was.

Because now the price is *drum-roll*…

175 SEK per box. 🥵😱

Hopefully this was a really horrid anomaly, but this super-market chain (which happens to be my favourite) made a big deal they had strawberries and cherries at a great price (cherries were 117 SEK, with average price usually 29-49 SEK).

As clearly visible only a couple of boxes were sold. 

These ridiculous prices (which is well-know to be seriously jacked up by the Swedish supermarket giants, and have been ever since post-pandemic) will certainly see a serious rise in food waste. 

The cost of living in Sweden (in combination with a difficult labour market) has seriously created a tough situation for many.

And with a right wing Minister of Finance who thinks it’s a great idea to suggest that people start to bargain at the grocery store chechout if they think the price is doesn’t fit 🤦🏻‍♀️ … 

The epitome of RICHSPLAINING.

- Yes she is grossly overpaid herself and as obviously incompetent and in lack of a spine as the rest of our government members, can’t wait to finally get rid of them in the September 2026 election! -

Also, can we just agree on one fact; that letting men rule the world has been humanity’s worst decision ever?

midsummer 2025

 

When you’re having daily miniature breakdowns of sorrow, anger, frustration over the current state if the world (basically caused by entitled old men) it’s hart impossible to say cheers and happy Midsummer!

The pretty flowers was delivered to little mum from an old co-worker of hers. Just because.

I love sweet just because actions. 

Couldn’t get any kitties to pose. Remember those days when there was a whole bunch of eager snoopervisors around to do that? The epitome of truly ’good ol’ days’.

The amount of the global warming caused prevalence of ticks in garden/nature doesn’t make the garden the happy place it once naturally was. I let Ztina out to eat her much enjoyed grass on very rare occasions. 

And myself to cut some branches, take photos, bring a bunch of lilacs indoors. It pains me how the once easiness of nature outside my doorstep have developed into something to fear and shy away from. 

We may be fully vaccinated against TBE, but the risk of borrelia is still there. And I’m not the least bit comfortable to give Ztina tick pills with all itsside effects. She has also always reacted against ticks when she has had them, and it took a while before I understood the connection.

Anyway, I hope you can have a reasonably happy-ish, peaceful and fine Midsummer.

Cheers of sorts from Scandinavia 💚

🌱🌸🌱🌼🌱🌺🌱🌸🌱🌼🌱🌺🌱🌸🌱🌼🌱🌺🌱

bye bye may, hello june 2025

 

It may be the prettiest time of the Swedish year when it comes to nature and all things growing. And the season this year has not disappointed.

However with the ongoing genocide by a zionist terror state is so so disturbing, that it is hard to not constantly feel desperately sad and infuriated. 

I know there are marches and protest against this deeply unjust occupation all over the world, including here of course. But the politicians and the states still turning a blind eye to the autrocities (including the ridiculously incompetent right wing government in Sweden) makes it… I’m lost for words.

And on top of that, the orange president joke and his minions on the other side of the pond, and how he still hasn’t been fully ostraziced (doesn’t any politician, government have a backbone?) is mindboggling.

Not to mention the little nasty dictator to the east, still doing his evil deeds.

All while the climate emergency doesn’t get the full focus it deserves from us all. Instead money are poured into the global war machinery.

So you see, and I suspect many (if not most) of you out there, feel a very similar angst and pain to what I’m feeling currently, it is hart impossible to focus on your very personal worries, trials and tribulations.

No, I didn’t take one little step every day in April, towards my goal/s, as I boldly declared at the beginning of the month. There were just too too much going on in the world for that.

I focus on solving my most pressing issues day by day, week by week, instead of falling down a rabbit hole of worries for things that need to be done in September, October.

Currently I can’t see further than that. Keeping it together and surviving another day, another week will have to be enough.

More than a sneaky suspicion I am being shadow banned by LinkedIn - most likely for having liked, shared and commented on insightful posts that mention the forbidden g-word. My reach has plumeted since April and is now so low it’s a joke.

So yeah, LinkedIn has grown into quite a useless, censoring platform, from being one of my favourite, informative social platforms. Dispiriting times on countless of levels indeed.

But tomorrow we will have a nice pick of lots of rhubarb in a neighbourhood dog lady’s garden! And I’m so excited there will be rhubarbs available this year too. I see the making of vegan pies cakes, buns, jams, cream… in a not too distant future.

Life is slow, and the worries are plenty, but nature is wonderful this time of the year.

Thank you May, for helping be solve some problems and for being so soul soothing pretty.

Hello June, can we please be kind and compassionate, inspiring and inviting new joyous adventures? That would be so very much appreciated!

💚☮️🩷