Wonderful with snow. The fact that I wobbled a little on my cross-country skis made me think of ice skating. Not ice hockey, but I remembered my figure skates. Either you went to the lake, or there was a hockey rink that you could go to. By chance, I happened to see this boat in the photo below one evening. The ice gives way to the archipelago boats in Stockholm. I love this chilly picture.

I couldn’t leave the thought of skates and looked for my old ones. Realized relatively quickly that they were probably outgrown a long time ago. Have now ordered skates which I am waiting for. Maybe it will premiere this week if the weather holds. I am waiting for – what can I say – women’s skates. They are so good with a brake on the tip of the toe. Need to take a course to be able to brake with the skate blades.

In the middle of winter, we must prepare even more for war. It is true, in Sweden, we have had peace for 210 years. We need to think and integrate ourselves with the outside world. At the same time, I wonder what the Swedish armed forces know that we ordinary citizens don’t.

It is a new year and new things are going on. I am enjoying winter because summer will soon be here.

We have a few busy months ahead of us before spring. I sincerely hope that there will be some snow left. It feels so fresh when you are outside when it is a few degrees below zero. I was very pleased to be able to start the new year with skiing. This time it was considerably steadier. My skiing memory is there somewhere. Molly, on the other hand, thought there was too much snow.

Lovely with a few Christmas days, and I celebrated my birthday which I hardly ever do. A few days before my birthday I was visited by a friend and her sister. Her birthday is in September so we got to celebrate a little together as we are the same age. I had intended to visit her in Sri Lanka, but she came to me instead.

We have known each other for 20 years and she also likes music. Starts the year with “Hate it or love it”. I then mostly think about turning a year older. Adding that I now like to celebrate birthdays. I feel gratitude.

Personally, the most spectacular this year was my birthday. Since it is between Christmas and New Year, I have never really celebrated it. This year I had to make up for previous non-celebrated birthdays. My first thought was to pull the covers over my head and pretend like it is nothing. Good with friends who remind you that you can, and mostly, should have a birthday party on the day itself.

A great leisure interest is cooking, making cakes, desserts, etc. Probably because I liked organic chemistry where temperature, ingredients, color, shape, etc. matter. A certain temperature is needed so that the food does not burn. Sauces that are reduced. Tomato puree or Chinese soy that adds color and salt. And so on.

Now I quickly realized that I couldn’t cook that day and I looked for alternatives. I found a restaurant that I liked, and that seemed to have about the same type of food that I prefere. Everything from lighter dishes to more advanced ones.

You always learn something new about yourself. It was a difficult feeling not to have control over the preparation of the food. However, I was very satisfied. Fine ingredients, prepared at the right time, and exciting compositions. I hope that everyone had a taste experience. However, the company is one of the greatest spices. I think this evening deserves two stars.

This was the small, local life. As usual, there is a lot of turbulence going on in the world. Therefore, it is nice to forget and relax for an evening. We must continue to be vigilant because there is still some concern in several parts of the world. Wishing you readers a good end to 2023. Especially all the friends I would have liked to join this evening. More birthdays are to come!

I got my dream Christmas Eve. The best of gifts. It was cold, with an unusual amount of snow and an overflow of sunshine. I better profit, I thought and started looking for my old boots and skis. Lots of memories were brought back to life, and I discovered that skiing is still just as wonderful as it used to be.

The dog Molly was with me. Usually, she runs a lot. Now there was so much snow that she chose to follow my tracks. I was a little wobbly on my skiis, and thought it would have been better with slalom boots. In the beginning, it felt more like standing on a pair of skates. However, soon I regained my skiing and balance memory.

We didn’t go fast, and maybe that is why we got a surprise on the way. When we crossed the field that you see above, roughly in the middle, a few meters in front of us, a winter hare suddenly jumped forward in the snow. About as fast as a wizard pulls a rabbit out of his hat. It quickly ran its way before Molly realized what she had missed. It seemed as if the hare had been sitting in the same place for several days and had become covered in snow. Poor winter hare, and so cute.

My shaky ride made me think of skates. I need to work on my balance. Maybe it will be a New Year’s resolution. Who lives will see.

See you next year!