Sunday, July 23

 

 

This morning I got up early, switched the hot water on in the sauna house, waited half an hour and washed my hair. While I did this Irma had a cup of coffee and washed.

At 10:45 we drove to Soderby, to the second annual Byadagen. We looked at the various yard sales and then walked to Gärda’s house for the cake competition. The table contained twenty-three numbered cakes and everyone who came had to taste as many as they could and pick a winner.

Gärda’s kitchen table looks fantastic and everyone spends a long time choosing their first couple of slices. Choosing the wrong ones, or cutting the wrong sized slices, might fill you up and leave no room for anything else. Nobody can afford to underestimate the importance of a good strategy on an occasion like this.

I will manage seven large slices plus four smaller slivers. I then have to run a final to choose between my two favourites. This will inevitably involve two more large slices of cake and a final decision to vote for number 7.

As we drive home it will seem that the promised heatwave has finally arrived.

In the garden we will alternate between sitting in the hot sun getting red, and working in the garden. We will spend a couple of hours cutting down several trees and bushes, and then feeding the leaves and branches to the sheep in the field next to us.

Mika will tell Irma that they have started baling hay on one of the fields on another island so, as soon as we have finished our tree-cutting, we will drive over there to help them. I will throw bales onto the wagon at one end and then drive back to unload the wagon and stack the bales in the barn.

We will end up sitting around with beer, crisps and sandwiches with Ann-Sofie, Camilla, Johan, Kevin, Mikael, and Tanya. Kevin studies seamanship and will become a sea captain. Tanya studies nursing at Arcada.

Later we will see on Facebook that Sophia has won for the second year running. We will also, for reasons that we will forget as soon as they occur to us, begin playing around with Instagram for the first time in three or more years. We will add photos, trawl for friends, like other people’s photos, and so on.

This will keep us occupied until late in the evening.