In the middle of all these renovations, we had a surprise visit from Madde, who is home unexpectedly from Africa for a couple of weeks. We warned her that the place was not really ready yet, but I guess after living in a Masai village, this place would seem quite civilised by comparison, so she said she'd slum it with us for a couple of days. And I know one small, white, furry member of the household was beside herself with joy as Madde stepped off the bus in Mjölby. It's been fabulous to have her to stay and the big, satisfied grin on Lars-Göran's face was wonderful to see.

We took some time out from our work to show Madde around our town, but also took a trip out into the countryside to see the region. One day we spent the day at a nearby national park called Omberg. We had no idea what to expect at all, but we were entranced with the place and I know this will become a favourite picnic spot for us.

Since 2003, a great deal of the Omberg region has been made an ecopark, developed by Sveaskog. An ecopark is a large, continuous forest landscape that has been deemed to be of great biological and ecological value. The Omberg Ecopark contains a varied landscape of deciduous forests, enclosed pasture land, groves of great oaks, natural spruce and old beech and elm forests plus a limestone marsh area rich with orchids. I can't wait to see this place in autumn - it ought to be stunning.

Our first stop was at a place appropriately called Hjässan (meaning the crown as in the crown of your head). It was a mere 800m walk from the car park, which sounds quite close, but was a sheer, vertical climb that nearly killed me. Am I really that unfit?

It was a clear, if very windy day and from this summit, 264 metres above sea level we were rewarded with a magnificent view of the surrounding countryside. From here you can see for literally miles around – with the plains of Östergötland to the east and Lake Vättern to the west. I counted no fewer than eighteen churches in just this small scene in front of me.




Looking westwards, we could see Lake Vättern and the tiny hamlet of Hästholmen (The horse isle). It is a very old settlement and I read that in 2000, it had celebrated its 700th anniversary. In the 14th century, this community was a town with a thriving trade and shipping industry. In 1918, the steamship Per Brahe sank outside of Hästholmen. This peaked my interest as I knew that one of the drowned passengers n that accident had been the illustrator and artist John Bauer, an icon in Swedish art and one of my favourite illustrators. You can see samples of his evocative pictures here. That will be another place I have to visit.




We all enjoyed climbing the observation tower, looking at the countryside and walking around the area. There are benches and picnic tables set up, so I was kicking myself that we had left fika in the car. What a perfect spot to sit and contemplate life. And there was also the thought that I might need sustenance to allow me to make the return journey to the car!




We continued along the narrow, winding road that skirted the shore of the lake, marvelling at the sheer limestone cliffs and the startling views which reminded me so much of sections of the Great Ocean Road along Victoria's south west coast. Below us were the great elms and cattle grazing on the rich grasslands, framed by the brilliant, clear blue waters of the lake.




At one stage we rounded a bend and glimpsed a view northwards towards the tiny hamlet of Borghamn. You can see the waves just rolling in as it was blowing at around 30 knots out on the lake. I had to blink twice to see if I was dreaming, as the wild waters look more like a sea than a lake. We decided to take a slight detour and check out the little harbour we could see in the distance.




Borghamn has been here since the early Middle Ages. This area has been home to a limestone quarry, which supplied building material for Alvastra Abbey and many of the local churches. The quarry is still in operation today and we saw limestone slabs ready to be loaded onto boats for shipping. Though maybe not today as it was awfully rough, even inside the breakwater. Only the sea gulls seemed to be out today braving the rough weather.




We watched in awe and amazement as wave after wave crashed into the piers and at times even over the pier, sending the gulls wheeling into the air in a perfect formation. How they can all rise simultaneously and not bump into each other is incredible. I suppose I've observed this many times before but never really thought about the fact that the group seems to turn and manoeuvre as a single unit, changing direction almost instantaneously. I could have watched them all day.




I was also thinking about the awesome power of the waves and I wondered what it would be like to be caught out in strong westerly winds like this. I made a mental note to always check the forecast thoroughly before venturing out onto these waters.

We had afternoon tea back in Vadstena and walked along the foreshore. It's a beautiful sunny day, the view was fabulous and I could see that even here the water had managed to creep over the seawall. I wonder why there is nobody sitting at that bench enjoying the view?




One of the reasons that we were happy to have Madde with us is that it is my mother-in-law's eightieth birthday and we can travel up to Stockholm together for her party. While Lars-Göran's brother and cousin are organising the food, it is our job to collect money from everybody and to arrange the floral bouquet from the family as well as the family present. Madde knows her granny's taste really well and as Lars-Göran hates to buy presents and gets so stressed at the thought of shopping in general, it's wonderful to have a friendly ally on hand to help me out. We wandered through town, browsing here and there, discussing and studying various possibilities, judging the kind of thing Evy would like and going to the card shop for card and paper, the jeweller for the gift (a glittery Swarovski crystal necklace and matching ear rings) and the florist to select a huge bouquet to be made up for us to collect in the morning. We drove the following day up to Stockholm, where Evy was having an open house to celebrate her big day (August 29th).




When we walked in, Lars-Göran quipped "It looks like God's waiting room in there. I think the average age is around 450 years old". Evy was happily surrounded by old friends and family, some of who had travelled from Finland to be here.

Out on her sunny balcony, the younger generation of cousins were sitting and chatting, catching up on all of the family news. It's funny how much it resembled an Australian party, with three generations present dividing themselves into groups - the "oldies" in the lounge, the younger ones out of earshot and the youngest generation looking for a way to escape. And as usual, it was a couple of us women who were kept busy serving food and drink. Lars.Göran's cousin Karin was wonderful and the two of us were run off our feet keeping the cocktails, nibbles, smörgåstårta, drinks, cake and coffee circulating.




The guests were all having a good time and Evy herself was beaming. Among some of the happy guests I snapped these three lovely ladies eyeing off the fruit platter. From left to right, they are my sister-in-law Mille, a vaguely familiar poodle who funnily enough shares the same birthday as Mille (perhaps they ought to be together more permanently?) and completing the trio is my stepdaughter Madde.




The special guests who came all of the way from Malax in northern Finland for the day were Lars-Göran's 86 year old auntie Hjördis (his late father's sister) and her daughter Karin. It's really hard to believe that Hjördis is 86 - it must be all of that fresh country air that keeps her looking so youthful! She was bright and chatty and full of energy and both she and Karin worked hard all day and had even brought gifts of traditional Finnish food for us to try.




As the Finnish guests were staying with Evy, we opted to rent a small apartment in the same complex for the night and it was with swollen ankles and feeling dead beat that I gratefully fell into bed after the last plate had been dried and put away and Evy was safely tucked into bed. She was exhausted, but so happy - and that after all was the object of the exercise. More than the flowers, cards and gifts, she enjoyed seeing all of her children and grandchildren together for the day. With busy lifestyles and being spread out across Sweden, it does not always happen so often.

In the morning we went up after breakfast and set out the array of flowers she had got - it was a bright, sunny addition to her dining room. We stayed for a while, then left her to get some rest and set out to drive home again. But first there was another stop to make.




The road home from Stockholm takes us right past our friend Beth's home, so we had to go in and bring a small gift to welcome her new son and have a bit of a cuddle. Beth's mum was also over from Australia for a visit, so it was an opportunity to meet her as well. Lambi made herself right at home. When Beth opened the door, instead of wildly leaping all over her and barking like a lunatic, she sauntered right in, glancing briefly at Beth as though to say "Ciao. I'll be with you in a moment", then it was up the stairs, taking the first left, traversing the kitchen at a gallop and coming to a sliding stop in front of the cat's bowls, where she drank Lille's water and snacked on some of her cat biscuits! How cheeky - and to think that the little rat remembered all of this from our last visit here!

Fortunately Beth loves animals and she thought it was funny. I'm pretty sure that Lille did not share her amusement and Lars-Göran saw her later in the day sniffing around her bowl and turning up her nose at what she must have considered the "stench of a dog" surrounding everything. But the main purpose of the visit was to cuddle little baby Oscar - and what a sweetheart he is!




He's just so cuddly, clinging on like a little baby koala bear. He is so alert and strong that it's hard to remember that he is still a newborn. He certainly knows who mum is, though and it was very touching to see him follow her with his eyes, to react to her voice and give her a big, beaming heartwarming smile. I think Beth is hooked.




I had bought something from a gorgeous little baby shop in Vadstena called Krusbär (gooseberry). I'm still stunned by the variety and quality of the shops in such a tiny town. This is a pretty shop, the staff are really friendly and I'd been itching to go in and look around, so it was a labour of love to choose a little outfit for Mr Oscar. And what could be more appropriate for him than a little jumpsuit with pictures of lambs on it. Okay, I admit that it was Lambi's idea.




Isn't he handsome? I see a future as a lady killer ahead of him. After a couple of hours of laughing and cooing over the baby, Lars-Göran dragged me away, made me return Oscar to his mother and we made our way back home to continue working on the apartment. But of course I found another distraction, by suggesting that we go along and see the harvest fair at a nearby town (Borensberg). It's only a tiny place and one we had glimpsed from the Göta Canal, so we figured it would be some kind of small, low-key country fair.

Yeah, right! Think Royal Adelaide Show, just without the CWA scones the Sheep Dog Trials but with the crushing atmosphere of Sideshow Alley and Showbag Hall.




What a shock! We read in today's paper that there had been 40,000 people there and I well believe it. It was just crazy and we inched our way along openmouthed at the enormous number of stalls, craning our necks to get a better view at the wares on offer. I bought some more cute socks, some fresh licorice, locally produced honey, some delicious garlicky mettwurst, a new leather belt for Lars-Göran and a few bits and pieces. I would have bought more but I found the crush quite oppressive, so we escaped as soon as we could.




And now I can't put it off any longer, so I have to tackle the bathroom with my handy Tech7. It is starting to look better already and with the addition of some furniture and fittings, it will be great. If I get my behind off the couch, away from the computer and actually do some work, that is.