If things don’t look up soon in the geranium department, I’m going to start thinking that my green thumb is turning brown. I’ve lost at least ten plants in the last two or three weeks, one to what I’m pretty sure was bacterial leaf blight (I’m so hoping that it didn’t spread), and the others to various unexplained maladies that caused their leaves to dry up and wither. As if that weren’t enough to make me feel like an inadequate plant tender, when we were all over at Debbie’s week before last, I saw that the seedlings I gave her a couple of months ago were huge, full-blown plants, whereas mine are still tiny, spindly things with only a few leaves (thanks, doubtless, to Tage and Moa). At least she’s agreed to give me cuttings from them so I may still come away something from those seeds.

Moving right along …

Lydia has lately discovered the Eva och Adam series of books and asked me to start reading one as our next chapter book. We’re only a couple of short chapters in, but already I’m not sure I approve. These kids are supposed to be in the 10-12 age range, and their primary concern in life appears to be finding a boyfriend or girlfriend, and it doesn’t seem like we’re talking “puppy love,” either. In the first chapter, Eva tells us that her friend Annika hasn’t had a boyfriend in two years and even then their only kisses were sans tongue, so they “didn’t count.”

Excuse me, but WHAT THE HELL?!

I guess this is just more proof that I’m a prudish American after all, but I hardly think this is appropriate reading material for kids in this age group. I know that the books and movies are popular here, though, and if this stuff is generally considered acceptable in Swedish society, it’s no wonder that it’s not uncommon for kids to start having parent-sanctioned sleepovers with their boyfriends and girlfriends at the tender age of fifteen (the legal age of consent here). The mind boggles, truly.