The Bestest Blipfoto Buddies

When I started to post a daily picture on Blipfoto, little did I know that 4 years later I would have such good blipfriends here in Sweden and would be sitting here in the snow having a winter picnic!!  But here I am - on my third visit to Sweden in just over 18 months -visiting Alice and her mum Elisabet.

The first two visits were during summer months and I also still had Dolly with me. We drove there the first two times, first in the car in 2016 and then in the campervan in 2017. This visit I decided to go the quicker way by plane!  I’m very thankful for such precious friends who make me feel so welcome. All thanks to Blipfoto!  

Today was the warmest day since I got here - it actually went above freezing!  I’ve learned from Alice and Elisabet to enjoy winter picnics, and so today we packed up our lunch and went to the bird lake in the nearby Nature Reserve, one of my favourite outings in my summer visits (2016 & 2017). It was equally enjoyable in the winter too!  Hot soup in a flask, boiled eggs, cheese, fruit, and coffee to finish. The sun even came out for a few minutes!

You can see the beautiful setting a bit better in the first Extra photo - the picnic spot is a bench and a table against a big rock. We get there by walking through a small forest and crossing a bridge with the frozen lake on both sides. When the sun comes out it’s the perfect sheltered sunny spot.

The second Extra photo shows something else I love to see in the Nature Reserve - there are sheltered spots with a barbecue, and wood is even provided by the council, which always amazes me! We’ve not done a barbecue ourselves, but when we were walking back after our picnic we saw a family who had cycled in and were cooking lunch! We were tempted to gatecrash - the sausages smelled so good!

Today I’m also remembering my dear blipfriend Emmy and her boys from Denmark, who I met on the way back from Sweden the last two summers. They all arrived in England today after a long drive and ferry trip. Emmy and Hero will be competing in Crufts on Saturday the 10th at about 1.10pm!  Click here for live streaming from Crufts. We are very excited to watch them!  We wish you well!  Good luck!

In other news - it was another skiing day today! We got home in time to watch cross-country sprint city races from Drammen in Norway. The women’s was particularly exciting as our favourites got the silver (Stina Nilsson from Sweden) and the bronze (Jessie Diggins from the US).
All the races can be watched here.

For Alice’s version of today, click here.