All week, I’ve been thinking that I must post something on the blog so that it doesn’t get to July 5th, otherwise I’ll have to admit that I’ve gone a whole month without posting. And I just made it!

It’s been a busy month. On top of a lot of work commitments, my Dad arrived from NZ and we travelled up north to Falun for a few days. We celebrated midsummer’s eve in Leksand, had a special trip to the top of a wind turbine, and visited the home of the artist Carl Larsson.

After a few days back home, we were then off to the UK for a quick visit to the family in Cheshire. Dad and Linus went to the superbike race at Donnington and I got to spend some quality time with my aunt, uncle, cousins and a roast dinner. Wonderful!

Back in Sweden again and we are in the middle of a heatwave of 30 degrees-plus days. The garden had exploded in a frenzy of growth while we were in England.

The rose bush is in full bloom:

The peas are flowering:

The broad beans are flowering, and lots of tiny pods have appeared:

And the pumpkins are trying to take over the world – they had approximately quadrupled in size in the 5 days we were away and have many tiny flowers lurking under the leaves:

We also have a big jasmine bush that is flowering, and when the wind blows uphill we can smell it from inside the house. Part of the fun with this garden is when things appear that we weren’t expecting, since we have no idea what has been grown here before. I didn’t know that jasmine was a jasmine, so I’m really glad I didn’t let Linus chop bits off it in the winter.