have a colourful weekend ~

Weekend at last, myself I'm hoping to collect my thoughts about the week that was - the good, the bad, the in-between - do a lot of writing, crafting (not that the hand/thumb is all better, but I signed up for an art-project that I neither want to miss out on, nor want to let down, so here goes...), sleeping. Plus at least one flower-colour-café-excursion would be nice.

I hope you all well-deserving souls have a good weekend ~


PS. All fabulous bobbaloos are made by most talented needlefelter Kit Lane and available in her Etsy shop now and then. I, I'm just a very happy and grateful addict owner host of 16 wee ones here in their Swedish settlement.

the bobbaloo saab scania magical mystery tour

Rutger: "For your safety, please keep all hands and ears inside the bus at all times. I will now be checking to make sure all of your safety belts are secure before we begin our tour." (these perfect descriptive words I do credit completely to kind blog reader and fellow bobbaloo addict D.S., you know who you are!)

Got an old Scania bus tin from my mother. Perfect for a bobbaloo adventure tour - do note that I'm so so so no fan of Saab cars, never have, never will be, feel free to disagree - this tin bus is delightful. Bus 54 to S:t Eriksplan - a square which happens to be one of my favourite parts of Stockholm - all aboard.

Top floor is full, eight bobbaloos have climbed aboard. The littlest fellas are riding front seat - this is where I always adamantly wanted to sit when I was a kid too. When there was still double-decker buses around in Stockholm, nowadays only our tourist coaches are double-deckers - Leonard and Seth.

First there's a pretty steep downhill. Calvin is as excited as only one Calvin can be.

Really, it is terribly hard to keep all ears inside the bus at all times.

Then it's a slow uphill.

And, endpoint of today's tour. What they spied with their little bobbaloo eyes, for that you have to use your imagination. It was after all, a magical mystery tour galore.

the story of mademoiselle oiseau

I've been ogling this pretty Rörstrand coffee set illustrated by Swedish fashion illustrator and designer Lovisa Burfitt for a while now. I've always really enjoyed her personal, quirky, restless, squidgy way of illustrating.

And at my latest root-filling dentist appointment - which sadly was not to be the last... - this espresso cup and saucer was my treat to poor self. I don't drink espresso, but even if I did it's kind of too pretty to use for such mundane things like drinkable matters. I prefer to enjoy it with eyes only. Cup and saucer is now sitting on the red buffet looking sweet and perfect.

The Mademoiselle Oiseau-set consists of five parts, if you buy them all you apparently get to know the whole story of the eccentric mademoiselle. Myself I'm not really into the mademoiselle herself, but more the cat and the birds depicted. Which possibly makes me look like an eccentric cat and bird lady too. Which doesn't bother me the least bit of course. Add to that eccentric bobbaloo lady and all is well.

the ways of p

If you're a P you can apparently go right or left. This P will however simply go have a very early night. Tomorrow she'll dazzle with brilliance (yeah right), today she'll only dazzle herself to bed and sleep about seven quarters per hour. Hopefully. If the chirpy twittering summer birds allow.

the pippi kettle-holder

Remember that on that pleasing Pippi pattern day I spotted a kettle-holder I felt an urge to make myself? As luck would have it, when we did a little post-afternoon-tea-walk-around in Söderköping I stumbled over a yarn shop that had both the pattern and the yarn for it.

It's a super-easy pattern and I think the result is quite fetching. But as my hand is still sore - I'm still hoping I will be able to rest it away, but it's now on its third week of soreness so I'm guessing that a doctor's visit might be a thing for next week if it's not better by the weekend. Although I have to say, a bit of whining in blog has been known to miraculously heal all sorts of ailments... - it took *forever* to finish.

When hand is better I'm thinking it would be a nice thing to make another kettle-holder like this and have a little summer give-away here in blog. Not now, not in this post, but a real give-away-post when hand is able to crochet properly again. Would that be of any interest to an blog-reader I wonder?

strawberry fields forever

Surely a weekend containing lotsa strawberries must be considered a great one? With the help of darlin' stem gem we have feasted on them by mouth, I have feasted on them in shirt.

When a gal can't have those looked forward to red shoes, a gal can have her herself a strawberry shirt instead. I didn't know my wardrobe lacked one until I saw it. I'm thinking that if every wardrobe had one (or something equally fruity) the world would be a better place.

Now, all I have to do is wait for cooler summer weather to be able to inaugurate this beauty. Which also give me time to think of what one agreeable lower part for strawberry shirt would be. And no, I don't consider these shorts to be agreeable with this particular shirt. A shirt that I love even more for its pockets. Huzzah for blue skies, fluffy white clouds and strawberries, in life, in shirt, in pockets!

crunchy red currant cake

This may be a pie of sorts, this may be a cake, whatever it is it turned out delicious (and that's all that bobbaloos and me alike care about) with a perfect levelling between sweet and sour. I'm not a fan of red currants in general - the reasons for that are probably a blend of too many hours picking them shrubs at our summer house when a child (for a measly monetary compensation, that has left me scarred for life I fear) and too sour, sharp, unpleasant flavour for my palate -

but I had a couple of boxes of them in the freezer (playing in a very similar league to those vintage cherries) and I wanted to use them for something edible, something nice. Something summery. Hence this cake-pie-thing. I'm in the mood for a recipe, here goes;

Crunchy red currant cake


Preheat oven to 200 degrees C.

4,5 dl white flour
1 dl caster sugar
1 tsp baking powder
150 g liquid butter/oil
1 egg

Mix well together and then spread the mixture in a roasting pan of approx. 20 x 30 cm (200 x 300 mm) size.

4-5 dl red currants (it works well to mix with other berries, raspberries for example)
1,5 dl caster sugar (you might want a bit more or a bit less)

Blend carefully together. Then spread the red currants over the mixture in the pan.

3 dl rolled oats
1,5 dl caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla sugar
4 tsp cinnamon
100 g melted butter/oil

Melt the liquid butter/oil. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well together. Then spread on top of the red currants (it won't cover the berries completely but let them simmer).

Bake for about 20 minutes. Let the cake cool. Then cut into serving pieces (which also freeze well). Even more enjoyable served with whipped cream (or ice cream).

happy summer weekend

No special plans for the weekend, it's summer, it's hot, there are plenty of options for little outings and cool breezes.

But me and my 'magic green' fingers are hoping it will hold colours and flowers,



good cake and appreciation of those tiny blessings in life.

  ~ Have a lovely weekend ~

a little summer dream of open toe shoes

One might not think so, but something I actually do miss in my shoe collection is wearable open toe-shoes. Lovable clogs in all their comfortable, quirky glory, when it's hot, hot, hot it is nice to have airier feet. Plus showing a bit of perky, painted toenails is always nice. Really nice.

Four years ago I got this pair of red sandals. They were lovely to wear for a couple of summers. Then it was no, no, no, the soles of my feet hurt like hell after walking a day in them. Clearly not the most shock absorbing, anatomically-designed sandals.

So when I spotted that my favourite shoe shop in Stockholm did carry the El Naturalista Iggdrasil sandals. In red. I thought, oh oh, must try, will buy for a part of the tax refund.

Sadly today was a huge try-and-buy-disappointment. Turned out the Velcro tape lock around heel was way too short to fit when a foot was inside shoe. Which is kind of the point of a shoe, when you try on a suitable size it should fit around feet. The sole fit, the size was alright, the Velcro band was too too short. The weirdest thing. Such a flagrant design flaw.

But to be honest, sadly, even if they had fit I don't think I'd want them. They may look cute in photo, but on feet they looked frumpy. I don't like frumpy. I do quirky.

I haven't seen any other pleasing open toes/sandals - and my feet only like El Naturalista to cater for their comfort, and I do as my feet say, since they have to carry me all day - I'd like as I want them with thicker soles and the Iggdrasil is my favourite model for long, carefree city walks.

Still, even if I adore and lust after certain shoes because they are both pleasing to the eye and comfortable to wear I have constant battles with myself over wearing leather shoes. I wish they were all made of recycled leather. Then I wouldn't mind battle as much. 

For now, I will have to continue air my summer feet when I sit down for a rest or a wait I guess. Oh, I'm well aware that this may be a luxury problem, I have plenty of comfortable shoes to wear, but still, those luxury issues too can put a damp on one's hot, humid, summer life.

Care to tell me what your favourite summer foot gear is? And why?

the deadly dress and other short thoughts

:: This may look like a pretty and flattering for any shape dress - but labels that say "100% polyester" and "keep away from flame" are rather off-putting somehow.

:: When we visited what turned out to be the overblown-king's-meadow-lilies-field a few weeks back we passed this place for sale. I'm not really sure what made me want it. I think it was a combination of, how wonderful it would be to live in a forest with a large garden but with a bus-stop right outside the surrounding lilacs hedge. Not too far from neighbours but they're still not visible from your own plot. The hermit life but still not really. The size of the house is nice, even if it doesn't look fancy I was indeed smitten. I viewed the interior on the web, it was quite lovely and unpretentious.

Not at all a dream-house as such, and I'm not sure I'd like to live a country-life where you quite possibly wouldn't be able to live as 'anonymously' as you can do in a city/suburb. Who knows how often the bus runs, it was a plot honestly situated too close to an (what I presume is an unbusy, but still) road and being stuck in the forest during fierce Scandinavian snowfalls may not be fun. And the financial bit, plus the selling of current dwellings, moving etc etc.

Still, it looked very appealing. Tucked away in the forest, behind a lilacs hedge with its large garden.

:: Next to my dentist's office the newly open gift shop has painted the dull cement road-sows pink with white dots. A little paint, some dots equal smiley face.

:: Note to self: to get a new kind of dog food just because the old one wasn't available is bad for the environment. The indoors one. The flatulence tendencies in one little loaf can obviously reach new heights of interestingness. If you could bottle it as engine fuel I'd be a billionaire.

:: Will not write about bobbaloos, will not write about bobbaloos, will not...

:: Had this Innocent smoothie for the second time (as lunch) the other week. I don't know what has taken me so long to get around try it (may be that it seems scarcely available...). Think the blueberry-pomegranate-acai might be a runner-up to my mango-passionfruit favourite.

:: I've probably mention this before - yes I have - but every time I spot one of these cuties I feel it would be a most pleasant thing to have to get around on. Now and then.

:: I'm also in serious lust after these nifty, beautiful, perky garden LED lights. But as only one would look silly (and alone) at least two would be a must, though three is even better (and magic). I'm also thinking that the LED flowers are prettier with longer stems instead of the shortest ones. And hey, then it'll be a pretty expensive delight, albeit beautiful.

Can you imagine how cool it would be to have this old boat in your garden - and not be afraid of it to sink and you drowning - and have it as a philosophising / entertaining / creative summer room? I can.

:: The nature and we had a few spurts of rain today. It was wonderful - although during it all and still, the air remained as humid as ever - and brought out lots of snails in garden again. At the snails' garden party I found, what I presume, just might be the li'l fella from yesterday's picaroon meet. Still as sweet. And a living proof of how in mysterious ways nature moves ~