Forced to take a break

Biryani has got the Chickenpox (Chicken spots she insists) which is called vattenkoppar in Swedish. When I explained this to her she was not impressed and said something along the lines that these would only be suitable cups of water for ants (which gives a clue to the literal meaning of the Swedish name). The big boys have already had it but Hz hasn't and so is banned (this sounds a bit harsh, but there are apparently some rules) from dagmamma until everyone's well. So far no spots on Hz and to be honest I'd rather get it over and done with, but there you go...

Anyhow the elderflower cordial was strained and diluted to what DH thought would be suitable for Swedish palates (after having being offered v strong glasses of squash on several occasions)

Now I know it looks more like something you have to produce for the midwife, but it actually tasted OK (but I needed about a third more water adding), and I set off with kids to try the hard sell. We knocked on all the doors of our block on the sweltering Sunday afternoon (which should be a perfect time to sell a cool, refreshing drink) In fact most people were out/ away or quite bluntly said 'No'. However not put off the children persisted while I was longing just to go home and drink it myself. It paid off and after a change of tactic asking if people wanted to taste the home made beverage we made a few sales and the last door that opened was a kind old lady who asked them all what their names were and after receiving her drink, carefully placed a 5 kronor piece in each of the childrens' palms (4 times the drink actual's price). This lady chats to me now and again, consoling with me the difficulties of having 5 children, having borne as many herself. They bought themselves an ice lolly with the profits and thankfully we could go home and recover from the heat.


and here is a half way grown lettuce I picked to accompany supper, I'm afraid to leave them all at the allotment as I suspect the slugs would like them.


and apologies for the blurry photo, it's just the mobile camera you see, but Biryani is really into these letters at the moment (sent by her grandmother) and even puts them away again afterwards (usually)


and some snaps from the balcony, Biryani really hates me to brush her hair. I hope inshaAllah she'll come round to having it brushed/ doing it properly herself more regularly.
Here she's watering the sunflower, the only one out of quite a few that actually survived. It has now grown taller than the cane supporting it, and is teasing us by not flowering.


and Hz deftly waters the plants/ the window with the water pistol. They've all been having much fun spraying each other to saturation point with their new water guns, helped along by the fact my allotment key also opens the tap outside our flats. The best game in this hot weather.

And finally some more pics of the balcony, it's nice to have a little oasis at home, even if compact.