Aug
18

Please forgive me… a little lesson learned in life

by Sofia   -   in Random

I´m sure we all have those moments we are not too proud of as parents. We do the cuddling and we do the comforting. We do the teaching and raising as best as we can. But then there are those days or quite simply those moments when we just do not manage. And believe me I know there are good reason for snapping at your kids. Sometimes even the most angelic ones turn in to little “Damiens” really. They get cheeky and do not listen to a word you are saying. You snap. Fine. I´m pretty sure that happened to you too. But I´m not talking about those moments. I´m talking about the moments when you really should be the adult in the house. When you know you are wrong and they are just little people who need our love and understanding. And yet you snap. Let me give you an example and my little life lesson learned…

I was alone on the island with the girls. It was one of those amazingly gorgeous nights when you just hold your breath and count your blessings. Mr Espresso had to pop in to the city to do something at work. So the girls and I decided we would eat dinner al fresco. I know people think that many bloggers or “Instagram affeccionados” just make things look pretty to look good in their photos. Well I for once grew up in a house where there were linen napkins on the table at weeknights and water was served from a pretty jug. My mom would never put out cold cuts or cheese in their wrappings. So I do like things to look pretty, but I liked them so even before Instagram times. So we set the table nicely with my lovely clay bowls I really really love to use at the country house. The girls love these too as they are mostly pink!

Aug
13

Saltkråkan

by Sofia   -   in Random

Well not quite…

Saltkråkan or Seacrow Island is a children´s book by a Swedish author Astrid Lindgren that was originally a script for a tv series in the 60´s. It has been running again this summer and a reader asked if our life on the island is anything similar to the life on Saltkråkan where a family goes to spend a summer on an island and get to know all the people living there and the lifestyle. It is and it isn´t. There are many many similarities really starting with the scenery, orange life vests, hammocks and the red and white summer villas. We don´t have our neighbours that close by though so we are just a bit more isolated I guess. But there is a bigger island close to ours where people actually live all year round and it reminds me a lot of Seacrow Island. 

I feel like I have shared a lot of our life on the island here on the blog and what we do there but if you feel like reading more  about it here goes…

We often wake up in the morning to the sound of silence. No alarms and no city noise. Think cars, neighbours, construction… none of that. There are morning dips to the sea. We bring towels and soap too as there is no shower. It´s the most refreshing start for the day! Beats a cold shower any day! On beautiful mornings we might have breakfast outside on the terrace and if it´s grey and rainy or windy we eat inside. We might even light the fireplace and toast our bread in there with a halster on a specifically dreary morning. If the weather is pretty we head outside to lounge on the rocks and swim in the sea. If it´s windy we put on a jumper and head outside to explore and beach comb to find treasures the sea might have brought our way. If it rains we put on our rain gear and wellies and head outside to explore… You get the drill. There is no bad weather on the island. We do have a tv but who wants to watch tv if you could be outside finding squirrels and ladybugs and sea glass. If the wether is really dreadful, windy and rainy and stormy we might just opt to stay inside to read books and draw and watch some movies. If the girl´s cousins are there ( we all have summer houses on the same island) they might come by or the girls go to their house. So we either have a house full of kids or no kids at all. When that happens I take out my book and enjoy the moment. The girls get to play outside by themselves but they are not allowed on the cliffs alone ( for safety reasons you probably understand). We often skip lunch as we have late breakfast but we do tend to have some afternoon coffee together with either some sandwiches or a sweet thing like cake or buns. Or we snack on fruit and berries. 

Aug
3

What we were up to

by Sofia   -   in Random

Ennen kuin palaan takaisin tavallisten blogimerkintöjen pariin kaupungista, haluaisin jakaa pari kuvaa puhelimestani viimeisiltä muutamalta viikolta. Suurin osa heinäkuusta kului saaressa, mutta silloin tällöin piipahdimme kaupungissa päivän tai kahden ajan tekemässä vähän töitä. Saaressa aamut alkoivat vilpoisalla aamupesulla ja uinnilla meressä. Merivesi ei tänä kesänä oikein missään vaiheessa lämmennyt kovinkaan paljoa, joten aamuherätys oli aina taattu. Saaristokokemukseen kuuluu myös illalliset ulkona ilta-auringossa. Näissä kuvissa kauden ensimmäinen kanttarellikastike joka oli aivan taivaallista! Kun lapset oli laitettu nukkumaan niin söin vaniljajätskiä ja mansikoita sängyssä ja katselin Hercule Poirot elokuvia Yle Areenasta ( voisiko tämä olla se niin sanottu ” quilty pleasure”? ). Saarikokemukseen kuuluu myös silloin tällöin vohvelit aamiaiseksi. Leikimme Marikkia ja Liisaa ja joimme vohveleiden kanssa vielä kaakaotakin. Välillä aamut olivat niin viileitä, että kuuma kaakao aamu-uinnin päälle oli melkeinpä pakollinen. Myös luonnon kukat ja kumisaappaat kuuluivat läheisesti meidän saaristoelämäämme! Olin myös ensimmäistä kertaa saaressa ihan yksin lasten kanssa tänä kesänä muutaman päivän jaksoja. En kyllä päässyt oikein leikkimään Myrskyluodon Maijaa, koska myrskyt olivat kaukana niistä päivistä ja saimme nauttia kesän kauneimmista illoista tanssien kallioilla kolmistaan.

Before I return to my regular posts from our city life I wanted to share some photos from the past weeks from my phone…

We spent the majority of July on the island. Morning swims took the place of taking a morning shower. The water never really warmed up this summer so it was about 18 degrees at best. Talk about a wake up!  Eating dinner al fresco, waffles for breakfast and vanilla ice-cream with strawberries for dessert are part of the experience. Bubble Gum´s doll was dressed accordingly for island living too and carried around in the Nina Bobo baby(doll) carrier. Flowers from the nature and wellies were also a big part of our summer. And stripes! So many stripes!