'Summer' Firsts!

First dip in the sea, followed by first BBQ on the beach, alhamdulilah, and thanks to a great sister (moreover, her son) who got us to be a bit 'spontaneous'
Needless to say the weather is back to normal, rainy and cold, but Saturday afternoon/evening was a hint of the Summer to come, inshaAllah.

Lots of photos: outside

Looking at the glowing yellow of the labernum down in the park.

and if you now look the other way we have the cherry blossom, currently shedding it's flowers and looking as delicious as candy floss. M and his young friends who live nearby made some 'soup' in a big red bucket of which I think blossom was one of the ingredients. That and a big spoon of gravel.

It really is Spring now as temperatures are above 10 C and we don't need jackets on any longer just to pop down to the sandpit for a digging session.



and Biryani has her twirly skirt on (which today gave rise to Hz trying to twirl as he imitated her (and me). H ended up doing a very peculiar dance which was quite funny. By the end of the day he could actually spin round and now has experienced self-induced dizziness.)



'What are these flowers?' I was asked.
How can I have not taught her the name of these? so we did the classic daisy chain making. However, to make a chain long enough to adorn oneself requires more than the patience of a 4 year old, and I probably was off chasing Hz before I could even complete a bracelet.






and here he is chasing after Biryani, playing duck, duck, goose. This was the only way I could think of to distract him from escaping through the 'child-proof' gate to the car-park. Maybe I should bring this up at the next Housing Association meeting?


'Got you!' It was finally sandals weather, so the everlasting sock-location problem is minimized.


The beautiful colours of the flowers in our flats grounds, mashaAllah. Biryani proceeded to inform me of the different colours and then how many different colours there are. So often she talks as if she's the voice from a pre-school concepts computer game.



and the other half of the allotment, which not to my surprise has gone to seed. It would have been ideal to get these out before, but I've been a bit ill. We did our best to remove them, but I never want to see another dandelion again. I did find a few plants among them, which I think were balm, a sage bush, some reeds, some more chives and different sorts of mint.

Some photos, inside and out.

The beech trees on the way to the main library, aptly named 'bok' in Swedish which also means 'book'.




This is why I don't make many phone calls (although I want to stay more in touch.) The new play material, Weetabix.



Biryani, always willing to give the plants a water. The tomato plants are not doing too well this year. They got, according to my research, sunburn, or maybe they found it too cold at night, or just were in shock at being transplanted. The Spring this year has been particularly cold, normally it's like Summer by now, but you still need a coat on if you're outside for a while.







and Biryani's self-created art exhibition...

Some allotment photos

We spotted lots of dandelions by the edge of the roads as we drove to the allotment, and my heart sank, slightly. Lo and behold we are the owners of a field of dandelions, battling it out with the mint.
If anyone knows what the above plants are, please let me know.
We managed to get some parsnip seeds in, so hoping they'll start to grow.




The boys were not so interested in weeding today, and instead concentrated on creating a water feature.