Welcome to Anna’s Diary

Stockholm has tropical temperature, and I like that. No winter jacket. No gloves and no hat. Time for summer. After a cold and chilly winter it is well deserved to have summer with bright evenings. I went for training this afternoon. My last training before the running course on Wednesday. This exercise has actually helped me a lot to mourn my mother. Mourning takes time. My mother devoted her life to my brother and me. She also spent a lot of time with her sister who has been abroad several years. My aunt lived in Liberia for a few years where she worked at a local hospital. She worked for a Swedish company, and they helped relatives to travel to Liberia for reunion with family. My parents visited her. A whole plane was arranged for family members. This was in 1980s.

To remember, I have seen some photos of my mother. I found the above from Liberia. I will keep this photo in my mind during this week. There are still a couple of days left til blodomloppet. These days I will recover. Have good food, and also have a lot of water. I cannot really explain why, and I wonder why: I find it difficult to have only water. After sports water is good, but otherwise I always need some kind of taste. My favourite is lemon water and water with bubbles. Talk about first world problems.

Blodomloppet, the running course I am participating in, is on Wednesday. I have bought a mini pharmacy that I have at home, just in case I would start to feel any symptoms of a cold. Washing my hands helps me to prevent having a virus, but I still need to be careful. I did my last running this Thursday. It was warm, and very nice, and since it is that hot, I have a lot of water every day. Today I will go for some spinning and core training. For change, and also to let other muscles work. My last training will be tomorrow, and after that I will just relax and have a lot of water. SMHI, weather forecast, predicts cloudy and a little chilly weather. As long as it is not rainy I am happy. But it would be nice to have a lot of sunshine. Wish me good luck!

I have written about “fika” previously. Something that is inevitable in Sweden. This evening I had fika with my auntie and her previous colleague. They have worked together as anaesthesia nurses at intensive care. I invited them for cake, a pie with rhubarb and strawberries. Rhubarbs from the countryside, an early taste of Midsummer. This spring I have noticed that it is easier to find strawberries early in the season. Fresh, and also tasty.

Fika is a part of Swedish culture. You make a cake, cookies and/or cinnamon rolls. To go with that you often have a cup of coffee. We had tea this evening. What is your favourite fika?

This evening is almost tropical. Summertime is here to stay.

Finally.