Tage took this picture through the rainy windshield yesterday afternoon when we were on our way to his orchestra practice. There was actually a double rainbow, but the outer one didn’t make it into the shot.

You guys, I had the best day yesterday. On the surface of it, it didn’t look like it would be much — I had to get up early in the rain and gloom to get the older kids off to school, then spent the day with the two littlest girls, who are in the thick… Read More High life

Lydia came in just now and said that she’d seen “a thousand frogs” in the park on her way home. When I pressed her for details, she admitted that there’d been only three, but that was enough for me. I grabbed my phone and rushed out to see if I could find them. It being… Read More Camouflaged

Today my mother-in-law, Eivor — whom I adore unequivocally — turns 70. It’s an especially big deal in Sweden to fylla jämnt, an expression that doesn’t translate at all well to English. It means to “achieve an even number,” more or less, and it refers to the “big” birthdays such as 30, 40, 50, and… Read More Big day

Today was the first day in a long time that everyone who was supposed to go to school did so. This cold is stubborn and a lingerer — even I ended up getting sick, something that rarely happens (overactive immune system for the win!). I only really had a sore throat and I’m feeling mostly… Read More Thursday

Today was supposed to be a work day for me, but instead I had a houseful of sick kids. The youngest four currently range from being on the edge of faking all the way through to well and truly miserable. It’s nothing more than a back-to-school cold, but it’s enough to put a damper on… Read More This week

I just cannot seem to get myself back into the swing of regular (or even regular-ish) posting. I think part of it is down to what I said to a friend today over coffee: things have been busy but not a lot is happening that feels worth writing about. I suppose that’s really the trick… Read More Nothing to see here

The four younger kids went back to school this morning (in Yrsa’s case, of course, there was no “back” about it — today was her first orientation day at pre-school). This was the scene while we were waiting for the first bell to ring — despite the terrible picture quality, I am inordinately pleased with… Read More Gang of four

For the past couple of weeks, I’d been keeping my eye out for a kitten that seemed a good fit to join our family, every day checking the classified ad sites and the local animal rescue’s website. I saw a few that interested me, but nothing that really made me sit up and take notice… Read More Introduction

Today is Brynja’s name day (well, not officially, but when she was born I assigned her the date with the name closest to hers, Brynolf, which actually has the word brynja as part of its root. We had the requisite cupcakes, of course, and I figured this is as good a day as any to… Read More Another day, another cupcake