I hope you’re in the mood for a strong cup of coffee! The french press has a strong brew ready for you. There is still some hot water in the kettle, in case you’d rather have a cup of tea? How are you? How is this week treating you?
Before this month even started I knew it was going to be a busy month, and it’s been busy so far. Not too busy, but definitely more busy than last month. Busy at work, busy at school, and then there is the business of moving to a new apartment by the end of the month. I think I mentioned it to some of you, but never wrote about it properly in a post. Since moving back to Sweden in 2019 I’ve moved several times within the region I live in (the same region I was born in .) At this time of my life I do not want to purchase a home, it might be in the cards at some future point, but not now. I do dream of a little house in the countryside, with a big garden, but I don’t actually want to act on that dream now. I am happy with my little allotment garden and my daughter likes her school very much (in our city,) I like my job and it just makes sense to stay in our little city for now. We have a good life here.
However, the apartment we’ve been leasing for the past (almost) two years is in need of some major work. It is plain ugly and run-down. A year ago I signed up to move into a new block that is being built, it’s a 15 min walk from where we live now. Six months ago we found out that we got an apartment in the size we signed up for. This week my daughter and I got to see it in real life for the first time. We had high expectations after seeing the virtual video tour of the apartment, but it was even more beautiful. The light was amazing, and the wooden floor more beautiful than any photo or video could do justice. The houses are built with wood from our Swedish forests. It is in a great location close to the center of the city, close to my daughter’s school (she cut her way to school in half,) close to my work (not as close as now but within walking distance,) close to one big grocery store (3min walk,) two garden centers (3-5 min walk,) and close to the region’s main hospital (less than ten min walk.) The location makes it possible for people to choose if they want to own a car, or if they can manage without (like we do.) It is possible to walk and/or ride your bike and have a very good life. For longer trips there’s a bus stop very close (two houses away,) and the train station is nearby as well (not annoyingly close, but walking distance.) I’d say that our region makes great effort to reach national policies and global initiatives like the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). One major reason that I choose to live here. My allotment garden is going to be about 1km/0.6mi closer, compared to now :) My plan is for us to stay in this apartment for a long time.
Since I’ve known about our move for some time now I’ve been able to make preparations a little bit at a time, but naturally there’s some things that I couldn’t do until this month. I’d say that everything is in control and hopefully the move will go rather smooth. I’ve done everything in my power to be on top of the preparations.
That said, I have not spent that much time at the allotment garden this week. I took my bike up there yesterday.
When I arrived the super-tall Jerusalem artichokes that I wrote about last week had fallen over the walking path between me and my neighbour. I tried to reinforce the support I have for them on both sides.
They are very tall, but I think they’ll be fine until I can cut them down. I’d prefer to wait a bit with that if possible. No-one has ever complained about my garden being too messy, so I think it’ll be fine.
I was able to pick some Victoria plums at the allotment to my daughter’s delight. She LOVES plums and she was the one planting this plum tree, so it is rather special. It’s one of those little things that makes a big difference. I enjoy having cucumber slices on my breakfast sandwich and I got to enjoy that this morning. What are some of those little things that are the big things in your life? I like to dedicate a few minutes every day to think about those things.
Well this quickly became a much longer post than I intended. I hope I didn’t bore you. Thanks for dropping in, I so enjoy our coffees! And thank you Natalie for hosting the weekend coffee share!
Maria
GreenDreamsSweden 
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