Smith's Away

 Got up to discover little Alice in Darwin had broken her leg. She fell from the monkey bars. Needless to say Giulia was beside herself with worry but her Mum has arrived and lots of friends  stepped into help. I rang and had a short chat to Alice. After this Marianne and I headed to the stables where Kabita keeps her horse, Pixi. She has bought Pixi with a friend who also loves riding horses. It's a lot of work but Kabita loves it and it's a good outlet away from her stressful job as a social worker.  It was beautiful out in the fields with the horses and dogs. Home for lunch and a quiet afternoon.  Kabita and Andreas called before heading to a party and Marianne,  JO and I headed into town for dinner at the Bishop Arms. M and I had shrimps, but I had to rip their little heads off. Then we walked through town in the sun despite it being after 9pm. We went to the 13th floor of a hotel for a cocktail.  I had a brandy Alexandria!!! Home again now and still bright light at 10.30pm

 What a beautiful  place. The cottage is sooo comfortable and except for the mozzies at night its idyllic. Marianne and JO worked on this place to make it the cottage it us now. The other bigger house was Marianne's family home and they                used it as the cottage for quite sometime until they finished the new cottage. After breakfast and packing up we drove up to where they ski in the winter. JO pointed out the expanse of forest and land that belongs to M and her family. It's a huge area and they would like to sell it but need the agreement of everyone!!! They own their cottage and land alone so won't be selling it. Up to the slopes where they ski and Tim snowboarded. We then went to the bottom to see the lifts and slopes. It's a great area and not super commercialised at all. Very family oriented with a caravan park as well. We then drove on past more rivers and lakes, no lack of water here. The use hydro and lots of wind farms. We stopped at a camp run by a

 A leisurely  start to the day and after Marianne returned from walking Otto the dog we packed and headed to the cottage. This is very far north and in winter would be frozen lakes and snow everywhere.  The Hogberg come here for winter sports and brought Tim here for days of snow boarding. Marianne lived up here in her  childhood and we visited the original house. It requires  lots of work and instead they have done up a smaller one. I'd been led to believe it was all very rustic and in the original house it probably was but not now. Marianne  inherited lots of land and buildings with other family members.   It's very isolated and quiet with little cottages around and a bigger town close by. It's so hard to imagine it all frozen in winter. Along the way we stopped  for reindeer.... really what a trip!! The cottage has heating, running water, power and loo ans shower. It's beautiful.  We've had a lovely dinner, played Rummikub and we all won a game.  Happy Swedish da

 A leisurely start to the day and then off to Pitea to do some shopping. I can't get over how different  it all is without snow. The skies are blue, the temperature is perfect and slight cool breeze. Just beautiful summer weather. Whenever I've walked the streets of Pitea I've been rugged up, and snow and ice abound and then sun barely makes a smudge on the horizon.  Needless to say the Swedes are looking very white after their winter. We went to the special place to get the grog for tonight's meal, then to the museum for a postcard for Kaz. Then to tourist info for some great souvenirs.  JO then drove us around to the church  they were married in and we'd been to a Christmas service there years ago. Home unpacked groceries and Marianne started preparations for dinner with Kim, Kabita and her boyfriend Andreas. I cut up the  coleslaw.  Jo grilled the meat to perfection, Kabita prepared the Aperols and we sat outside for our meal. After dinner I taught them the monop

 A lovely sleep in and it didn't get dark all night!! A leisurely start to the day and then off to the waterfall, the largest ones in Sweden. A beautiful drive through green forests and ploughed fields, getting ready for growing potatoes. And then the waterfalls. Huge and alot of water coming down from the mountains as the snow melts. The weather is divine and we walked up beside the Falls. When we came back we had lunch at the hotel overlooking the Falls. A smorgasbord!!! Very Swedish. It's lovely  being with Marianne and JO, sharing our many memories and once home Kabita called in to take her dog Otto for a walk. She is staying with her boyfriend in town so that I can stay downstairs and her parents can return to their home too. Tomorrow we will all get together for a meal.