To the allotment

we went, H and I (who was off school, sick, but was so enthusiastic about what we were to do that he wanted to come) and made the first fire of the year. He was not impressed in the end "Fail, fail" (too much newspaper and dried, old weeds and not enough big sticks) but it went better than last time's when everything was so damp.
I planted out the red onions which have been sitting on a windowsill, in their toilet roll pots of compost, growing unspeakably fast as if they needed to reach the sun by Easter. In between the rows, I planted carrot seed, as advised by YouTube star, Claire's allotments. The carrot flies hate the smell of onions and vice versa is the reasoning behind it. There's not going to be any flies though if the rain doesn't arrive and nothing has moisture in its stalks in order to poke up through the soil. I just had a bit of water left in some buckets that had  melted snow in to water the seeds; the water doesn't get switched on until sometime in mid-late April. The council assumes it'll rain before then, well this ain't Sheffield, it rains as often as it snows: very occasionally!
S's work experience has been a positive thing. He's not had to make tea for everyone nor clean the loos and best of all, not been left to twiddle his thumbs as they have had lots of relevant things for his abilities. Who wouldn't like to press those beepy scanners and announce you owe 26 kronor in fines? I think a major 'learning attainment' is an increase in confidence. They had to arrange everything themselves, and S, mashaAllah did all the approaching and talking. Many of his friends ended up in relative's businesses. He would've liked something relevant to his possible future as a Doctor, but Hospitals couldn't provide anything, nor the Chemists, but this is understandable. Funnily, shops have restrictions on under 18's handling payments at the tills, but this doesn't seem to be an issue at the library. I suppose £50 fines or £25 on photocopies would just not happen!
He has his last work experience day tomorrow. It's zoomed past. In fact he was ill on Monday, the day his teacher had come to 'inspect'. S had diligently tried to inform the library staff of his illness, and they finally answered the phone by about 1:30 pm. I was considering walking down there and telling them. Somehow perversely, it's reminding me of the time I was in the doctor's trying to book an appointment, and was told I had to phone their booking line. I would've phoned them, there and then, glaring at them in front of me as they answered my call, if I'd have enough money on my mobile phone.
Anyhow, they're quite laid-back down the library, and S would like to work there as a summer job. Abundant computers (plus, maybe, the presence of books) does make it an attractive workplace for a teenage boy.
He served our neighbour yesterday and now we know he's the man to ask about Apple computers as he purchased all the back issues of the relevant magazine.

Sweden still surprises me

The dark, grey days are upon us, and I'm telling myself "It's not time to hibernate, you don't need sunlight, you don't need sunlight. . ."
The working day in Sweden often starts at 8 a.m. and the fact that the sun rises after this meant my 'all things garden-related- tuned' ears brought me to take a look out the window when I heard the whir of a lawn-mower. It's hum was steadily getting louder and then quieter as it was going up and down, clipping the last blades of growth of 2011. I was amazed at the punctuality of the gardener and the feeling of just-getting-on-with-it even before I'd got myself properly dressed. I was particularly amazed that anyone mows lawns with the headlights on on their grass-cutting tractor in the semi-darkness! But then most of Sweden would look a bit rough around the edges come Autumn time, and that would just not do!

It's half-term hols now, although I've got more than usual to do on the writing front. The elder two went to the archive centre today where they had detective activities for kids. I'd forgotten all about micro-fiches which DH had tried in vain to explain to the older ladies working there that they should be replaced with something digital!
H is still ill, with a chest infection. The doctor described it as bronchial pnenomia which sounds much more serious. H turned out to be allergic to the penicillin he was prescribed (about 7 quid, doesn't it cost 50 p to make or something?) and another 10 quid on the new antibiotics. Rant over.
 Alhamdulillah we have cures like these.
Hz has been adamntly refusing to go to the childminder-- it makes it harder when the boys are off school. But how people with 3 year olds hold down even a a part-time job is beyond me. But that is what the majority of Swedish women do--Hz, despite his Swedish citizenship, is not going to bow to these societal pressures!

Summer hols- still lots to do locally

Biryani and M help out making the potato salad- made totally (save mayonnaise and black pepper) of allotment harvest- new potatoes, chives, and onion.

Here is where they get to cool off when we don't get to the beach/ pool/ water playground; a cheapo, tincy pool. Admittedly, the hose plus attachment, usually reserved for watering the plants, was the most entertaining. Well, who doesn't like making rainbows, or your sister scream by spraying her back with cold water?!

Yes! Biryani can now swing (without needing to be pushed). She happily swings back and forth for ages, and so trips to the park are much more entertaining for her nowadays.(The same cannot be said for indoor activities. The phrase 'I'm bored!' pops out almost every ten minutes.)
She wants to play a game with me (as she has no sisters, she complains, and I am a more worthy subsitute than any of the brothers). But it cannot be just any old game; it has to be one she's never played before. The same goes for computer games, which means the computer is not such an easy thing to keep her occupied while I make a phone call/ cook dinner/ have a shower etc! We must head to the main library which has board games you can borrow...(books, they're old hat, you know)

and the boys jump about in the forest playground, found in the middle of suburbia- fun!
So only 6 weeks of hols left- we've had 3 and a half already- what shall we do?

The allotment and it's produce

These photos are about a month old, and needless to say, it's a lot greener now. I'll try to do some more up to date ones soon. It does really show how things grow so fast, much like baby photos. I was thinking how plants (i.e. weeds) and  children have something in common: the untidiness they incessantly create. We love them though don't we? (the children, I mean!).

Spring memories

 This is not my allotment. The owner either has forgotten to come and weed or actually likes dandelions. I am trying not to feel smug, as I seem to have overcome the worst of these 'lions-teeth' this year.
In fact, although they are considered a weed and hinder the growth of  plants you really want, they are an amazing creation. The fluffy seeds make such a perfect shape:

and out in our park, the young ones decide to make a pretend fire

 and there's been a fair bit of tree climbing, and cherry blossom confetti-making, accompanied by a neighbour's son.

That's my phone photos, next up, next up fathoming out the camera leads etc.

I know it's a been a while..

but the quest to obtain the appropriate wire to upload my photos from the camera, or to install the right driver to get photos off my new phone is dragging on. I am not good at writing blog posts without some visual reminders of what's been going on in this neck of the woods. So here is a photo sent to me by email from DH's phone, showing the progress of the work he's currently doing trying to make the allotment 'rabbit-proof'.
One side was easy to dig but this has lots of roots so needed a pick axe. Next some wood has to be placed in the trench so the lil' bunnies can't burrow under the fence. Well I hope this works, otherwise the other allotment holders recommend just planting extra so that you have some left after the rabbits have had their fill.
Last year they came in but didn't appear to eat anything, but then it was mostly weeds and I have heard before that they don't go for lettuces, which was the most successful crop. However I want to grow Kale and other brassicas this year so a fort knox approach is needed methinks.
Today harvested the first of the baby spinach which was as good as shop bought, and at about £2.50 a box made me feel it was worthwhile. Spinach is to be added to the 'gardening-for-dummies' list, along with radishes, mint, chives and lettuces. We also picked a few radishes although they were a little small. The potatoes are looking healthy so I hope to have some new potatoes with mint by midsummer inshaAllah. This is where photos would have been a plus..
Yesterday we had the annual 'KalvinKnatet' running race where hundreds of kids in Skåne run approximately 1500m, all receiving a medal, T-Shirt and chocolate milk (this is sponsored mainly by the region's dairy). H and M did their best and came somewhere in the middle. One of H's friends came around number 7 which is very impressive, mashaAllah.
Hz almost potty trained- just no.2's to go- he insists on having a new nappy on for this-aargh.
S is a teenager soon- aah teenagers and a two year old within the same four walls. Having a chuckle at this!

Get your jam and cream ready- it's a waffle!

Things are moving on and I haven't really been so much into blogging recently for one reason or another. My original motivation for blogging was as a record of how the kids grew up and developed, and true, it has been fun to re-read things and feel reassured that the 'bad' times pass. What seems like a problem that will never be resolved actually has it's place for that point in time, and is not actually going to last forever. Where the past is reassuring and the future so much an unknown, I'm trying to concentrate more on the present moment, as really that is all you can be in control of to a certain extent.
Anyhow, nowadays it seems like S is all grown up, out the door before I even get up and even the older 2 are getting themselves ready, only needing the odd reminder to get their P.E. kit ready. They now go on the bus in the mornings too, as the little ones (especialy Hz) are usually reluctant to go to the childminder's and so it all gets a bit stressful to have to be at school at a specific time. As it happens the school bus can only come at quite a late time and they usually miss the first lesson, but they seem to manage.
I have a separate post on Biryani that I started a while back, if only I can get my photos sorted out- the gadget for my phone to upload them to the computer has gone missing, and our 'new' camera- well I haven't got round to figuring that out yet-of course.
S is into origami ninja stars at the moment- I can't remember the proper name just now- but it's amazing what they can learn from YouTube!
And the garden, oh Spring, where are you? It snowed/ hailed/ sleeted today and really the poor grass is anything but green. My leek seeds are growing well and do have a fresh, almost fluorescent green colour. Let's hope they avoid destruction by young'uns. One has already been 'pruned' by Biryani's curious fingers, and M looked like he was compelled and could not resist touching them!
M, H and Biryani are now having a 'fest' - party, well it is Friday- Jumaah- and really it's just an excuse to eat too much junk. They wrote and illustrated invitations for each other - very sweet.
Today was the first proper day of potty training for Hz- he did quite well really- but had the familiar problem of not wanting to do no.2's in the pot- demanding to have a nappy on. He likes to go somewhere out of sight to empty the ol' bowels - don't we all?! Now I shall try and find some posts on Biryani's endeavours to become nappy-free. Although it doesn't seem so long since we were going through it, I can never remember the details (some sort of survival mechanism for mother's of more than one child?!).

Sorry, no pics..

I mean to blog and then the tedious bit of uploading photos just gets in the way. Plus my new phone's camera is actually not much good so I often have no photo- shooting apparatus to hand.
So try and use your imagination as much as you can, although for the next paragraph I'd give it a miss.

Illness strikes

Well, it's been rather like a scene from a Florence Nightingale movie around here, with much measuring of medicine and rushing around with sick buckets. M and Hz are well but the cries of 'I feel hot' and 'I feel cold' are oft-repeated by the others, and 'I'm hungry' - but every suggestion of food is not what they feel like. So such is life in early February...

Soil Obsession

On a positive note the weather warmed up enough to get one trench dug in the allotment for the runner beans, and I managed to aquire some well-rotted manure through some contacts, although they didn't have so much spare. It has covered one bed so either one crop is going to have to be prioritised or I'll have to make a trip to another contact (this stuff seems to be like gold-dust here. Most of the stables have only the fresh, smelly stuff before sending it off in a container to the dump), or lastly, buy some.

Social Skills- 2 year-old style

Hz has started being v reluctant to go to the childminder's, saying 'I want to go home'. He's probably been thinking it much of the time but can finally enunciate it clearly enough for us to understand. He's quite a chatterbox, the other day looking out the window at some neighbours and tried desperately to communicate with them:
'Hej, Hej, HEJ! HELLO! HELLOOOO!'
I don't think they were ignoring him, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt, we have double glazing.
And today he sat down next to poor, ill Biryani and suggested they read a story. But the book?:
'Can't find it anywhere!' was his next conclusion. I'm not sure where that came from as he hadn't moved an inch to try and find it.

Point of no Return

This being child number 5 you would think I'd learnt a thing or two along the way, especially about sleep. However there is a special time of day, sometime between 4 and 6.30 p.m which all of my children have found to be a good time for a nap, and a resulting in a negative result for the parents' sanity. At this time they are so tired that trying to stop them sleep can be futile, it has got past the point of no return. But it is too early obviously for starting the sleep for the night. I came across a mother when I was working who had her children all ready for bed at 4.30 p.m but this was extremely early and I dread to think what time they woke up. This doesn't happen every day but on a regular enough basis to make quiet evenings seem like a luxury. But I try not to stress too much about it, it's a stage, like everything.

This is a long Winter

Activities outside are still limited. I know the childminder takes them out most days but the sultry, grey skies and chilly wind hardly beckon me outside. Biryani decided to measure many things , including Mr Teddy, with my tape measure, the other day. Her feet are only a little longer than Hz's despite there being 2 years between them.

However the temperature outside has been veering upwards to a heady 4 or 5 degrees recently which got me thinking that digging trenches for the runner beans might be possible. The temperature, however, went back down to around zero by the time I got organised to go up to the allotment so I was only able to tidy up a bit and mend a bit of the fence - digging is impossible. I had spotted some rabbit droppings so this was just as well, especially as inshaAllah I'll attempt to grow some Brassicas this year (Brussel Sprouts).
I also took the opportunity to take some 'before' pictures. Here's hoping the 'after' pictures are not showing how well my weeds have progressed!

and finally an equally sombre-coloured picture, showing the numerous, large piles of dirty snow, collected and dumped around the city. There's just so much of the stuff that they are to be found all over the place.
I'm feeling like Spring should be here already, having had snow since November, but I do have to remember that we still have at least 2 more months of Winter, and that gardening (or not being able to do it) can be a test of patience.

It was blog or clean the kitchen floor, guess which won!

I had to document the amazing ability of a 12 year old boy to clean up the living room. The only thing missing is the 'before' picture. I recall the reward for this was some computer time.

And below are some of the various activities that go on, on our kitchen table, besides eating:







Some late pictures from Eid. I now realise that as long as it's pink, Biryani will be happy!





and now we have some hyacinths slowly growing, keeping the restless gardener calm(er). There's not much to do outside, what with the weather (snow being rather non-news I suppose in Sweden).



but these roses show the snow has come a bit earlier than usual

and here is a picture of one of the 'mobile nurseries' that they have in our city. I was on my way to order some new glasses. There is such a demand for childcare that they can't build enough premises and so bus the little ones around to different parks etc. It's quite a good idea, with on board tables/ facilities, but when I took this was maximum -7 C and they were all cosy inside the bus with the engine running. Not a soul in the playground nearby- I'm not surprised. As I was walking to the opticians I felt the rushing co-pedestrians thinking to themselves: 'Blimey, it's cold'. Waiting at the pedestrian crossing, I sneaked a quick 'dragon-smoke' breath, and then rapidly remembered I'm not 7 any more.

and now the shops have run out of sledges- well at least the reasonably priced ones- and we have only one intact, uh oh!
Anyway, now time to, er, ignore the kitchen floor a bit longer.......

The harvest still trickling in...

Don't get too excited, the pumpkins were not from our garden, but from a kind Canadian girl I met at a local harvest market/fest. However I was glad, even with my ailing memory, to recall that it's a good idea to stick them straight in the oven, and then cut them up as the skin is extremely tough. The flesh went into some soup which is the sort thing you need as the Autumn days move in.
The green leaves are New Zealand spinach, which have been a useful replacement for lettuce/ salad leaves and can be used as normal spinach. I try the to pick the leaves carefully so that the plants can continue to produce more leaves. Hz had other ideas and ripped a few plants from the ground. Admittedly this is a much more time-efficient method which I might adopt when my patience runs out.
The final photo is of H and M joining in (with a little coercion) in a cooperative game involving lots of various sized squash and bamboo canes at the harvest fest. The idea is each team member simultaneously uses his/her cane to pick up the squash and run up and down before the other team completes the task. The other team were mostly adults and they did manage to thrash our boys' team. It was quite painful to watch the shiny vegetables slipping between the canes every couple of minutes. However there was lots of concentration going on and I think they were happy with themselves just to complete the game, whether they won or not.

It's harvest time!

We had many tomatoes on the allotment, it looked like it was going to be a bumper crop. August's rain put a stop to that and many had rotten before even ripening, so I decided to cut my losses and pick all the green tomatoes and make them into chutney.

It is actually quite delicious, even better than Branston Pickle if I do say so myself!

The balcony tomatoes were also disappointing but some have ripened and can be eaten in salads.

However we managed to aquire quite a bit of 'food for free': plums, and apples,

and I have my eye on the elderberries (that managed to avoid being picked by some crazy muslim woman making drinks out of their blossom) which may make a lovely pair with the apples I have left. We shall see if the energy exists to do this or that I buy the usual strawberry squidgy stuff from the supermarket....

It's still the Summer holidays..

The sole surviving sunflower plant has now bloomed and below is a few days later.

and Biryani is ever willing to get cooking

and generally make good use of the kitchen table...

as did H and M who leap on my sewing machine when it comes out for carrying out a few, boring clothing repairs.
and so we made beanbags in the spare minutes while they were waiting for friends to turn up. I'd managed to aquire some free rice from the corner shop as I'd noticed it was past it's date stamp. They would have thrown it away otherwise, so that served well as filling for the beanbags.

and the chalks came out at the request of our visitor, and were enjoyed by all.

Charlie and Lola Butterflies

and what's been happening otherwise? Well the education bill went through at the end of June and has basically banned Home Education in Sweden. Here is a recent article showing how the phrase 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it' has not reached the Swedish government's ears.

We had a disappointing but not completely unsurprising experience when attempting to sort out some larger accomodation. A private landlord had a house for rent and agreed a time for us to have a look at the property. However as we drove up, gave us a quick scan and announced to us that it was already rented out, so we would not get a look in. This was possibly true that it could have been rented out within the space of 18 hours from booking the time, but I am surprised he managed to check their references and get contracts signed within that time. May aswell write on their adverts, instead of DSS, immigrants need not apply. Trying not to have a victim mentality here, just have to get on with it and hope and pray for something better, inshaAllah.

On a slightly happier note, Biryani and H began swimming classes today, although Biryani was not too happy in the water. She's been asking when her lesson is for the past few days, even waking me early this morning to ask again. She's been having to start learning the days of the week to get some idea of the time she has to wait. She's been all geared up with her new costume and shorts, beach dress and goggles- In the end it was all a bit scary and shivery I think, and I'm wondering if we'll be able to get her back in the water tommorrow at her next lesson. Otherwise she can just have a paddle in the kiddy pool, it's meant to be fun isn't it!?
Oh and Hz has now got chicken pox, so good job we didn't book any holidays away, alhamdulillah. It can seem like the holidays have to be full of excitement and fun, but having a real reason to take things easy takes off the pressure. I'm wondering if having this cloud of uncertainty drains the energy somewhat. However, of course, almost nothing is certain in this life...