magic meet cute and other tiny stories of the day

Remember the three TBE shots I took last year? They needed to be topped up this year and after that it's every fifth year - whether or not the planet will exist in a state that calls for TBE-refill-shots in five years, that's another story... So as things are, I was very grateful there are several mobile vaccination centers doing the rounds over the summer here.



So today I took a walk to Lidl's parking lot, which was the vaccination bus's stop for the day. When I was getting closer I saw something that, in my vivid imagination, looked like a guy who'd lay down on his back in the tall grass and was taking pictures of the trees and the sky. (I know, that's such a weird thought...).



Then suddenly a roe deer appeared on the path and stood looking at me. I was so worried she might turned back to the road instead of heading in to the woods, but she crossed the road. Moments later a little fawn appeared, and also stood looking at me for a while, before s/he followed the mama.

Pure magic. And as I was the only human around on the walking path this moment was truly mine alone, with a roe deer and her baby. Three is a magic number.

As you can only do so much with the iPhone camera, if you're not close enough - and I wouldn't dream of zooming because heavily pixelated photos are awful -, this is what I got. And with a smartphone camera the distance to the photo-object gets significantly prolonged compared to the reality, so the meet cute was quite a lot closer. You'll have to squint and imagine the beautiful sight. (Or click on the image and zoom on Flickr.)



I got the vaccination, so now I at least don't have to worry about tick-borne encephalitis - I have enough to worry about, thank you very much -, quite common in these part of Sweden. One of the judges at my previous work, 20 years ago, got it. And that man, so full of joie de vivre before, never was the same again. Living with cats and dogs also obviously makes it more likely you might get it. I love most animals (as opposed to humans, they're impossible to love as a species), I can coexist with the others, but ticks, they're just evil and only cause pain and destruction. Like too many humans I suppose.



Then I got this vegan nicecream from Danish plantbased company Naturli, at Lidl. To be honest I haven't been a fan of the brand since I first tried their vegan butter spread, awful thing that completely destroys a pleasant sandwich experience. But the flavours sounded delicious and it is palmoil-free, so we decided to try a couple of them. Little Mum and I.



Happy to report they are both absolutely delicious, so much flavour and great creamy texture with crunchy bits. I'll just have to go back and get some more tubs and also try the liquorice flavour. It's good to find new favourite products, when old ones break your heart.

As this evening also held the very last (forever? Which if so is sad, since I thought the last season definitely picked up in quality plot-wise) episode of Midsomer Murders, the dairy-free icecream was a perfect treat for that too. The Swedish summer season generally both starts and ends with MM (would be a pity if it ended in late July already, but nothing is given with global warming, the seasons just aren't what they used to be...), so maybe this treat also was a a farewell to the summer of 2020. Hope not. Fingers crossed it will be with us until early September, as the summer it once was.

With the smaller, more restricted lives most of us are currently living, most things that used to feel nonsensical and just one of those everyday things you see, do, experience without really noticing, are suddenly very meaningful, rich enough to be savoured, to feel gratitude over - or deep irritation for that matter - and write a little blog post about. 

Today was a good day. And I'm grateful, for every little bit of it. But most of all that magical meet cute, that crossed my path. Thank you, Universe, for a new treasured experience and loved memory.

the purrfect dress that wasn't meant to be and other weekly snippets

counting down to plaster comes off day - 10 now.

and before that there's a day to "celebrate" i've become yet another year older. and a year wiser, that's more celebratory in my world. 3 days to that.

for years i used to get myself a pair of shoes for my birthday. but since i do shy away from buying leather for some years now that's not an option.

- not counting the fact that i don't really need more shoes. other than a pair of icebugs for what i dread will be another winter of crazy icy streets in stockholm. but that's of course an investment in my safety and health, not a fashion/consumerism thing. -



i didn't get myself anything last year, if a leaky roof and the costs and worry that held counts. but this year i wanted to gift myself a special dress. and as you can see this one meowed my name loud and clear. pink. cats. om my gosh.



as it was impossible to try it on properly in the changing room due to plaster inconvenience, but it looked like it would fit, i got it to be returned if it didn't.

it didn't. if it wasn't such a disappointment for a not so crazy cat lady with a penchant for pink, it would be laughable. clearly the dress was made for flatchested cat women. myself i showed the infamous, unflattering loaf bosom instead. so back it went. got myself a little scarf in the same fabric. i'm hoping i'll be able to use it for some fine, literally pussy bows with it on other dresses and blouses.



i also got myself some lovely rooibos tea in a moomin tin. one odd and annoying little thing with a broken arm is that it's impossible to fill loose tea in bags and strainers. the angle is just too painful. so when not someone is around to help i've had to have tea bags only. it's a rare treat when i get to fill a bag of my own with help. and when the plaster comes off it will be a standard again, hooray!



this week's special coffee was a cococcino at johan & nyström, coconut oil and oat milk, new on their autumn menu. it was nice, but i do prefer their excellent oat latte. best thing was meeting this chocolate coloured sweetheart named laika. i even got a friendly little cuddle. cafes that allow dog guests are just so much better than any other cafes.





as ben & jerry's wonderful, palmoil free, vegan nicecream costs the equivalent of gold in sweden, it was excitement when i realised coop stores sold it at 50% discount this week. i may have stocked up. a bit. my absolute favourite is peanutbutter & cookies, unfortunately everyone else seem to think so too. i don't like chunky monkey much. but chocolate fudge brownie ain't half bad either.



stockholm has been pretty in october.



i've also re-discovered the joys of the library. i still do prefer to own books from my favourite authors and such. just because i love to write in them, take notes, re-read passages and so forth. but with books and writers i'm uncertain of it's perfect to take them for a test read i e borrow them at the library.

right now i need a lot of feel-good books, to stop brooding and rest the brain. not a genre i like to buy, if not from charity shops. so that's where library books come handy too. currently devouring the 'mad about the boy' in the bridget jones-series. as she's now meant to be around my age it's interesting to see how it's partly easy to relate to parts of her life after mark darcy passed away (sob) partly i'm feeling like a very proper grown-up (even with my fondness for bobbaloos and sonny angels). she's still such a crazy immature character. which i suppose is part of the entertainment of the book, of course.



my hand has been pretty sore regularly this week. like in growing pains or muscle soreness. not unbearable, touch wood. but i get a bit panicky because i just want to rip the plaster off and flex, exercise it in a much less restricted way. counting the days indeed.

i'm glad i have the muppets - even if one of them obviously also is the cause of all this... - that try their very best to keep me occupied. or use me to their advantage, that cast is the perfect rest for a cat head...

but mostly they're just cute overload. and much much much better than any cat dress.





cheers (in a ginger shot) to another october week, 
may it be special, colourful and joyous ~

the vegan icecream season has begun

Remember I wrote about the lovely Yelp ice cream testing a few years ago? Well the tiny organic icecream parlour 18 smaker (18 flavours) how now moved to new fresh digs. Just around the corner from their old ones. Room for more guests. And more icecream flavours.



The drawback is that you now have to enjoy the excellent icecream with a less than excellent view - the heavy traffic of Hornsgatan. But I suppose that's a small price to pay for being able to enjoy the best (vegan) icecream in Stockholm! Because it truly is the best, even if you don't chose the vegan options - even if you should - they're all organic, flavourful and less sweet than your regular icecream. Which is great, less sugar, more flavour, winwin.



They had at least 12 different vegan options when I had my first icecream of the season the other week. And it was über-tricky to chose the perfect two flavours. I do love their chocolate soy icecream though, so I pretty much always chose that. And then I had to have the saffron rice icecream. First time for rice icecream for me. It was very fresh, the consistency a blend of icecream and sorbet. My friend chose the raspberry sorbet to go with the chocolate. Flavour thumbs up!



One thing that makes 18 smaker so great is that their flavours are so Swedish, not overly complicated and not overloaded with sugar, thus all the flavours come through. Apart from the usual flavours like vanilla, chocolate, strawberry and such they can be forrest berries, liquorice, strawberry cheesecake, saffron, cardamom, apple-cinnamon, rhum raisin, hazelnut, pecan, coconut, earl grey and mint sorbet, kiwi sorbet, pear and ginger sorbet, lemon sorbet, blueberry sorbet, orange, banana, apple sorbet, polka. Every day different flavours, so you're never sure what you'll get.



I'm thinking icecream made of coconut milk would be perfect for making a very creamy vegan icecream. Perhaps they'll have that one day too. Or I could try and make some myself.

What's your favourite vegan icecream?