I've been sizzling in the sunshine these past seven days, and now that it's (finally) clouding I'm back in the city to write my report. My sinister sister flew back on Thursday, but my newphew's still here; my brother's coming up for a short weekend vacation. Days and nights have been an eternal loop of blue skies and sunshine, with hundreds of bucketfuls water carried to the garden from the lake, a dramatic increase in water temperature and each swimming session longer than pretty much all previous swims this summer combined. Plenty of cloudberries; blueberries have been stashed away in the freezer, the fields have been mowed, the hay has been rowed, the boats are afloat, the lake like a moat, red burns on my throat, on my neck, on my toes. When it's summer for real, that's how it goes. Time is running out, thus this unslenderly contendered overdose of prose. Later. Last week.

So we ventured to Kangos again, on Friday, on a whim, and now we're back... again. We arrived late one day, stayed one day and rode back home at four in the morning the next, passing by Gällivare to pick up a nephew and visit a few friends. It was a sleepless journey, but I've taken back time now with a good ten hours o sleep.

The lake's chilly, the wind's fierce, strawberries are ripe, we've started filling buckets with cloudberries and blueberries, red/black currents will be done soon, salad (etc) is on the rise, and I just bought a hundred old comics... amongst other useful items. My nephew's staying two weeks, my sister's leaving on Thursday this week (she arrived Thursday last week); I just booked my flight back to Stockholm - September the second.

We visited out Grandma twice, once at the hospital in Gällivare and again, the next day, at a rehabilitation center in Pajala. Right now she looks OK. Great! No time to write now, but all is alright, how? You ask. I afterlaugh, and just like that-

( Oh, here's last week. )

So I rode into Överkalix today on a squeaky bike, rainfall a heavy burden upon my fortunately coated shoulders. I made it, changed to dry apparel in a phone booth, and now I'm seated by a powered-up public graphical-interface apparatus with a link to the WWW, typing in my cryptic message of the week.

My birthday (the 10th) was a blast. After a celebratory morning with the obligatory and much appreciated opening of (a few) presents and cards, we ventured by car to a village not far away (due to a surprising lack of berries, for the cake, in the freezer: there were none), where I bargained a blazer and two axes, found a newly opened health café beside the local store (formerly the only store), stopped by a couple of sights we usually just drive past, as the tourists we aren't really, and spent the rest of the day mostly outside, in sun and summer.

The weather otherwise has been as unstable as wireless broadband in a remote village, but the potatoes (among the other plentiful of planted plants) are loving it. My grandma made it back home from the hospital toward the end of the week, but shortly suffered another (not-so-serious) heart attack and is now back at the hospital again. Apparently she might be getting pneumonia too, so the future is momentarily bleak, but considering it's her 7th heart attack we hope she'll stay strong and make it through this troublesome tide. In other news... nah, that's about it, it's been friends and buddies and zen and ... signing up late for studies. My time is running out now, so I will bid theee farewell for the moment, and until next blogpost. Have a great day! Last weeks.

So, July 4th was Independance Day!

I know because most of my email since my last public library visit was in tribute to this great occasion. It's been a flood of promotional campaigns and rebates like no other. What better way to celebrate a memorable moment than with a flood of commercial incentives? Hrrm... I would've at least made good use of GOGs 85% downpricing if I'd been here on the day it happened, but alas, I was not! Not on the previous one either. Maybe I will on the next one, whenever that is. If anyone (you?) bought a shitload of classy classics to gift one of those days, that yourealize you have no use for, and you feel like selling them to me for the (original, 85%) rebated prices, plus potential gratification in the form of small monetary additions... my contact form is open (also I'd be happy). ;)

Anyway, I spent week 26 in Kangos, and a few days extra. The plan was to celebrate my Grandma's 92nd birthday on the 4th (Independence Day! Hey!) and leave the next day, but she suffered a myocardial infarction (something like a heart attack, her 6th) on the 25th and was rushed to Gällivare Hospital, where she still resides until she's recovered enough to return home; where we ventured on the 4th (Independence Day! Hey!) with home-baked cake and a thermos full of strong coffee. We ate on paper plates, with metal spoons, and drank from plastic cups. I brought a card and a flashlight (present), all the other presents were left in her house to await her return. It wasn't the celebration anyone expected, but at least she's still alive. Hurrah! Hope we can celebrate her 93rd birthday at home.

Mom's sister flew in from England, one of her daughters + husband came by train; we left for our summerplace the same day, where the weather had been rainy and all the plants in the Greenhouse thus fortunaltely still alive. The weather was rainy in Kangos too, btw, and the mosquitoes were crazy (and in abundance), but that didn't stop us from... sitting indoors a lot! I had a few days of fun with a cousin who came by, finished building a ceiling, patched a leaking roof, mowed some lawns, ate too much good food aand... now I'm back at the place I was before I left.

The weather overall has been unsteary, sunshine and sporadic bursts of rain. IOW, summer! :D The lake's heating up at least, and the water levels are higher than they were when I arrived here. Usually they slowly sink all summer, but this year it's... different. Since Kangos I've spent one day with a headache, one day weeding our Strawberry patch... and that's about all the noteworthy tasks that have passed since I got back. Trip to Överkalix today, trip to Kalix tomorrow, trippy day the day after that. :)

I'll see you in... time. Last week.