181

A little like the Parting of the Red Sea...;D

(delad/split)

180

I'm starting to feel it...maybe it's finally here!?  I'm almost too scared to hope...

(sommar/summer)

179

Aren't these just about the prettiest weeds you've ever seen??!

(ogräs/weeds)

177 and 178

Feelin' pretty good to have gotten a couple of the (in my opinion) harder themes completed! :D

(mekanisk/mechanical)

(ordningsmakten/security forces)

176

This is what we were up to today...

(fyra/four)

yeah...crazy busy!

I just want to apologize for not having been able to come by to visit each of you 'at your place' lately...things have moved into the 'insane' realm of busy here, but should be calming down again on Sunday.  Thank you to all of you that still come by to visit, and especially to those of you that leave such kind comments!  I'll do my best to get caught up on your happenings next week...

Take care, my friends :D
-Tezzie

175

Some old Swedish customs and traditions still live on, in this little corner of SSRF (Swedish Speaking Rural Finland).

Glad midsommar! / Happy Midsummer!

(midsommar/Midsummer)

174

Well...now that summer is officially here, we should be expecting lots of this kind of stuff going on...

(vägarbete/road construction)

173

The kids love discovering new games on the internet...

(upptäcka/discover)

172

Everything about this pic just screams "3" to me...

(tre/three)

171

Ok, so maybe it wasn't the Royal Wedding...but she looked like a princess to us!

(ring)

***note:  I would've liked to have had the ring in focus...and I tried, I really did, but I couldn't get a good enough zoom...but I like this shot, too;  something about their rapt attention to the blessing of the ring speaks to me.

170

This is what the kids' playroom looks like right now...

(rörigt/messy)

A look back...

I received this fun 'challenge', passed onto me by Wannabe, to repost the 10th photo published on this blog.  Great to look back and to see one's improvements since then!

So, this was my 10th photo, under the 'Monster' theme:

I pass this challenge onto Staci and Barb!

169

A funny FB friend of mine commented that this pic makes him want to pee everytime he sees it...so, naturally I had to comment back a few times, just to 'force' him to look at it again ;D

(fontän/fountain)

168

Just getting some of the more 'boring' themes over and done with ;D

(information)

167

"Spring cleaning and organizing" has officially started here at our house...yup, I realize I'm pretty late...but if you've been following at all, you'll know how busy it's been!  Mommo and Mofffa are arriving next week, so now it's down to the crunch to get things done.  It feels really good to throw stuff out...is that healthy, do you think?...or just environmentally unfriendly??!***

(sopor/garbage)

*** please note:  I DO recycle, I just sold a whole bunch of stuff at a fleamarket, and I give things away...I just throw out the broken stuff or things I figure people don't want...

166

I met up with my closest friend (living in Finland) today.  We met 'in the middle', both having a long drive of close to 3 hours (give or take...), and spent the afternoon at IKEA.  It's always wonderful to see her.

This is how I imagine we'll be in 40 years, or so...2 friends getting together for some shopping, while chatting about life and helping each other get around.

(vänner/friends)

165

Hubby's sister got married yesterday...wasn't she a gorgeous bride?  There's something so incredibly special about a newly wedded couple, even if they've been living together for a while.  They just radiate love, optimism, and hope for the future, that brings me to tears every time.

I'm so happy for them, and wish them all the best that life can bring, as they start this new phase of their lives.

(början/beginning)

164

Say "cheeeese" ;D

(ost/cheese)

163

I've waited quite a while to finally be able to try my hand at taking a picture of these...I just couldn't decide which one I like best, so I figured I'll post all 5 of them and let you decide :D

(maskros/dandelion)

162

I felt a little like a Peeping Tom taking this one...but since I'm not about to ask my OWN hairdresser to take her photo while I'm getting my haircut... and since I'm the hairdresser for the rest of the family, I wasn't about to do a self portrait, either! LOL

(frisör/hairdresser)

161

I went into the city today to do some shopping...and a photoshoot :)

I'd been wanting to capture this place for a long time, and was disappointed that the lighting was wrong when I got there...but now (I have to admit), I kinda like the effect it gave!

(bibliotek/library)

Staci, here's the original, straight-out-of-the-camera shot
You'll notice that in addition to playing with the colours, lighting, and contrast, I also flipped the pic to put the reflection in a more visually pleasing place, and then cropped away the 'dead space'.  And then added the 'action' I mention in the comments section, of course!

I felt the shot had good things going for it, in that it was pretty sharp and I liked the reflection which added interest to a plain library photo...so I edited this one pretty heavily! LOL

160

Staci, over at 3 Monkeys Jumping had a great tip for getting kids to enjoy bathtime...here's mine;

  bubbles!!!

(bad/bath)

159

June arrived without me noticing...which means I totally forgot to take a shot of  'the spot' in May.  So, my May picture is simply one I took that I feel celebrates what May was to me...the coming of colour and return of life in my garden!

(Maj/May)

158

Good to be prepared...in case vampires attack ;D

(vitlök/garlic)

157

A lovely spot for our picnic...a little pond in the middle of the forest, where Hubby used to spend countless hours as a kid :D

(damm/pond)

156

If it wasn't for the mosquitos (and the poisonous snakes, of course), the forest would be heaven on earth :D

(skog/forest)

155

We went for a picnic lunch today!

(smörgås/sandwich)

154

Another scented favourite...

(rosor/roses)

153

One of my absolute favourite scents...lilacs!

(doft/scent)

151 and 152

Well, here's another double post...hope this doesn't get to be a bad habit!

Today, I'll be sitting with my feet up in the air...letting the remaining 9 enjoy the sunshine ;D

(nio/nine)

I loved seeing the kids playing so nicely together the other day...one of their favourite cartoons, called "Supertrio" in Swedish is about a turtle, duck and a guinea pig that solve problems and help others in need by using teamwork...My kids were singing the theme song while they were playing on the swings: "VAD funkar bäst?  Teamwork!"

(teamwork)