Cosycactus

morning frost

We have had a streak of fantastic weather around here. Cold nights which give us frosty mornings and then lots of sunshine. Blue skies against a frost background. The snow level has not gone down but I feel the warmth of the Sun getting stronger each day. In about two months we will have the midnight sun with us again and hopefully some green grass.

I have been so very busy these weeks. I am trying to tie all the loose ends I have at work before starting my maternity leave which I officially start this friday but which I wont really enjoy until I get this manuscript sent to the journal for review. I have set myself easter as a limit. I will not work anymore during or after easter, so whatever is accomplished by then I will be happy with. My due date is in mid april so I only have a few weeks left before the baby arrives and I still need to prepare things at home. I am already getting very tired during the day and are reaching the stage when I am looking forward to get rid of this big pregnant belly and meet the new and fresh little babe.

I have also been leaving my computer at work which means I keep forgetting to upload my photos to the it, and so, posting here and checking out blogs turns out to be done more seldomly than I would like to. I am also way back in uploading my 366 photos but as long as I take a photo everyday, I will upload them when I have more time!

Happy first day of Spring!

 

weekending

The weather was so fantastic this weekend we spent most of our mornings outside in the snow. Don't be fooled by the shining sun since it was about -20 degrees Celsius while we were outside, but the absence of wind makes it totally bearable to be outside for some hours.

We drank hot chocolate fast fast since it becomes stone cold after only a couple of minutes. We (well, read the boys since this mamma and her belly just sit while the fun is going on) also made snow angels, sledged down hills and tried to run as fast as we could on the pristine and untouched snow. It is not possible to build snow men or any kind of structure where we live due to the very low temperatures we have. The snow is just like powder and does not stick together at all. We also managed to clean snow from the veranda at the back of the house leaving a nice and sunny spot to sit and knit (with many layers of clothes on of course!), to sit and drink coffee or just to sit and play with buckets and spades.

Have a great start of the week!

 

weekending

Ah, the weekend! Our weekends usually stretch fromThursdays to Sundays since the boys are only at the kindergarden three days a week. Its so nice to have a stretch of many days together just hanging about and doing what we want.

We enjoyed the outdoors a little less these days since it has been very cold, close to -20 degrees and so we are only out a for bit while taking trucks for a walk and to see the Sun once again.

Otherwise lots of indoor time but now that the light is back we do not feel it as heavy as when the darkness was constant. Crafting, painting, building and even some football camps in our long living room.

I am leaving next Wednesday to Tromsø for a course and will be away for ten days. The Mr. will be in charge of house and children. It will be strange to be away for so long but I must take this course before I go on maternity leave. I must admit it will also be nice to be alone for some days in spite of the course going on every day from 9 am to 4 pm. I am hoping on catching up on some needed sleep and to shop some clothes for the boys in the "big" city. In our town there is only one shop to buy clothes and it is not very good.

Not sure I will pop in here until I am back, I don't think I will have anything exciting to report during my trip except hopefully lots of knitting and boring new concepts on the philosophy of ethics in science.

Until the next time....

halloween

What a lovely lovely halloween evening we had! The boys were very fascinated by the pumpkins and how they glowed in the evening. We spent the afternoon with friends. We at dinner together and then gathered around the fire with face paints to try to make some simple face art.

It was raining for some part of the afternoon but stopped right in time for us to go outside trick or treating in the dark.

At the end of the evening we sat on the floor enjoying the treats collected from our neighbours. The boys ate some sweets (and then mamma and pappa ate some too!), but they were so exhausted that it was easy to put them to bed in spite of all the excitement. 

I apologize for the terrible photo quality. The light is really not the best and my small point and shoot camera is starting to struggle already. I am hoping Santa will bring me a new SLR this Christmas cause I really miss it!

Anyway, today we woke up to snow! Finally! Not sure how long it will last but the temperatures are pretty low already so I am hoping the rainy days are over.

four!

My boy turned four this weekend! I made him a football inspired cake and we had a party on Saturday with his friends. It is the first time he has an official birthday party with guests. He was very excited.

We still have no snow. We are getting a little anxious since the daylight is quickly dissapearing. The sun sets at about 2 p.m. and it is pitch black by 3 p.m. The snow makes everything lighter, even in the absence of sun. We are getting prepared to celebrate halloween today. We were a little ambitious this weekend and wanted to bake and carv pumkins on Sunday. In the end we made some cookies and it was mamma who ended up carving the pumkins after the boys went to bed. Its the first time we are going trick or treating and we are keeping costumes to the minimal. Basically no outdoor costumes since we need so many layers of clothes when we leave the house! We will however paint their faces and gather at a friends house to eat dinner before going out to the few neighboring houses to ask for sweets. I am excited about incorporating some celebration in this dark time of the year for us living so far north. Pictures to come!

frost

I just wanted to share some pictures from our weekend. The temperatures seem to be a little confused these days. One day we are below 0 degrees Celsius and the next day it is +7 degrees.

We have had a lot of rain. Day after day of grey rainy days. There is nothing worse that +2 degrees and rain, no one feels like going out to cold rain! We are looking forward to the snow! The days are getting shorter, already pitch black by 5 p.m. Last years snow arrived on the 22nd of october. It does not seem it will be as early this year. Time will show I suppose.

And thank you all for your good wishes! We are excited about this new addition to our family!

crisp

Autumn is most certainly here up in the far north! We arrived home after two days of traveling to lots of yellow, orange and mostly bare trees.

We have been outside very much these past days enjoying the autumn sun together with the crisp air that comes with it. Nothing can beat a chilly sunny autumn morning. We have been exploring the surroundings and finding how the forest has changed since we left. We are finding lemmings everywhere these days as this is a peak lemming year, the boys are having great fun looking for them and the trying to catch them.

The woollens are out, hats, mittens and thick(er) coats. We had the first frost night of the season a couple of days ago. We were waiting for this time to come to harvest our potatoes. We wanted the potatoes to grow as big and strong as possible and so we left them in the ground until the aboveground green part withered away (by frost). And let me tell you we have alot of potatoes, seriously, a lot. Just try to make the math, we planted about 150 potatoes of which all of them made it through the summer. Each one of those plants has given between 5 and 8 potatoes each. That is a lot of potatoes!!

We are harvesting and harvesting, drying and storing in the cold cellar with hope that most of them will make it through the winter. I will not need to buy a single potato for the next months and that makes me very happy! Needless to say we are having everything with potatoes, mashed, boiled, fried.... you name it. I even had some mashed potatoes in my carrot and tomato soup today!

Anyway, the seasons change fast up here and by the time the rest of the world is celebrating autumn we will have winter upon us. Last year it snowed on the 22nd of october and the snow never left until may. I wonder when it will come this year. I have already been planning lots of warm meals, lots of soups (with potatoes of course!) and lots of yumi desserts with the red and black currants we have also harvested. I am eagerly waiting for the norwegian apples to appear in the market since I want to try to make apple sauce for the first time, and of course many many many apple pies and apple crumbles!

I will be spending some more time at work from next week working with my PhD. Erik will start some days in the kindergarden, Matias is looking forward to taking care of his little brother while they are at the kindergarden. It will be nice to get back to work knowing I will just be working three days a week.
 

nearly back

We have now been in Spain for about two weeks and will be leaving this saturday. Time has gone by really fast and we have enjoyed the sometimes too hot weather. When we get back home after 4 planes and two days traveling, autumn will be nearly over and winter will be on its way. I´m hoping to get a glimpse of the gorgeous autumn colors before they disappear. Last year the first snow arrived in october and did not leave until may.

Here are a few glimpses of our time here in the south.

We attended a beautiful wedding. My friend got married in a lovely and small wedding. It rained all day but we really did not notice. The last time I was together with my old time girlfriends was four years ago, it was about time to meet them again!

We visited a medieval market in town. Sheep, handspun wool, tea, spices, wooden items.... everything sold was handmade. I even found something I have been looking for for a while, a “vuelve tortillas” plate!

And of course we enjoyed once again the very (very!) many playgrounds that are found all over the place here. We have not a single playground were we live, only at the kindergarden, so the boys enjoyed really a lot all the slides, swings, see saw, climbing walls and strange bridges to cross.

On the knitting front, I have done a total of 4 rows on a hat for the last month. For some reason I am a little slow and it probably has to do with that I am completing all my half done projects and not starting anything new. I have however pre ordered this book with lots of yumi patterns waiting for some inspiration. I hope to show some of my finished projects soon, although they are not really new as most of them I started over a year ago!

I hope to post more often once I get back home and everyday life kicks inn. Until then, stay well!

 

august

The days are busy, the internet so slow and the patience to wait an hour for my photos to upload for a post is not here these days. I think we will soon get a little better internet connection through satellite. It will be good!

I can't believe we are already in August. Just yesterday we were commenting on how the air has changed in only a couple of days. Barefoot days are nearly gone! The midnight sun is officially over and the sun goes below the horizon, although we still have daylight all night. The mornings and evenings are usually cooler now. I am looking forward to dark evenings. The sunset advances at an amazing rate of 11 minutes every day for about a month, so very soon it will be dark at night. 

I'm off to make some cinnamon rolls with the boys.

since last week

~Matias is riding his bicycle with no side wheels anymore! It took him an hour to get going since we removed them until he was away. Not a single fall yet.

~We have had normal weather, good weather and super weather days. All good.

~We have been thinning the carrots and enjoying those that we pulled out of the ground. Not very big but really tasty!

~The slugs are not even looking at my beer traps but they are not causing too much harm to the plants.

~I have been at work all week during Erik's nap time which shows in my lack of posts! I usually post when he is napping. It feels good to get my mind back to work.

Happy weekend until the next time!