This time last week, it was our last day in Stockholm. We'd been there since late on Wednesday night, the second "instalment" of our family holidays which we decided this year to split into two city breaks. (Our first was Granada in May.) It's very different to Granada, as you'd expect. We were in a capital city, after all, so in lots of ways it was much more like London with it's public transport system, banking district and shopping areas.
In hindsight, it wasn't the best place to go for a restful week in August, especially as when there's something to be seen then we like to see it, but Stockholm has been on our list of places to visit for a long time so we knew that we wanted to go when we were planning our holidays at the beginning of the year. We went on the sightseeing bus tour on our first morning - always our first port of call in a new city as it gives us a good overview of what's there and what we want to go back to see.
Small daughter came back from a week at an international Scout and Guide camp on Saturday, and I seem to have been washing and ironing ever since. She only took one rucksack but I think we must have managed to stuff enough clothes into it for a six month backpacking trip! I've been a bit worried that this week would seem boring after her camp full of pirate-themed activities including scuba diving, quad biking, crafting, socialising and full-on festival-ing, but to be honest, I think she's been glad of the rest. What we have noticed is that the house is noisier, messier, the fridge is constantly empty and that the WiFi access in the house has slowed right down again, but we're still very glad to have her back :) Popping out the greenhouse to "check" on the tomatoes has been a favourite activity ...
It's usually easier for my schedule to walk the dog earlier in the day but recently we've been heading out in the evening instead. I'd forgotten just how nice it is to see the sun setting across the fields and through the trees, and as the days have been a little cooler it's been more pleasant for the dog as well. We've had the rain recently; heavy heavy showers that have filled up the water barrels to overflowing and made the grass green again. It's still warm though, and we're appreciating not having to take extra layers out with us in the evenings. Slow summer days and long summer evenings. We've been very spoilt this year.
