Welcome to the weekend coffee share! Can I get you a cup of coffee? Would you like to step outside, and sit at the balcony? How are you?
If we were having coffee today I would tell you that even though it is only Saturday morning I feel well rested after having both Thursday and Friday all to myself. Thursday was a holiday in Sweden, and I took Friday off, making it a four day weekend.
It’s been raining all week, which is something we badly needed. I am aware that Sweden have a lot of water compared to other regions, but compared to how it usually is here it’s been a dry year. Spring is usually a time when it rains frequently, but this year we haven’t had much rain at all. I know some farmers are worried. The rain this week is a blessing.
We are not going camping this weekend due to the rain, which is fine, we’ll have plenty of time to do that this summer. I am going to have seven weeks of freedom before starting my new job.
My daughter and I took a long walk yesterday, after a while we got completely soaked by the rain, despite wearing rain clothes. It was so much fun though, and I took the photos in this post during our walk.
Everything is so green outside. May is a beautiful month, and all the rain this week surely helped to kickstart summer. All the different types of leafy salad greens in my container garden keeps producing a rich bounty every day. Speaking of green and salads, a few months ago I switched to a completely vegetarian diet. I’ve always been eating a lot of vegetarian/vegan food, but a while back I decided to skip meat completely. I feel energetic and lighter. It’s right for me. I cook meat for my kids from time to time. They are not vegetarians and I would not dream of trying to convince them to change their diets. I think it should be a personal choice.
You may have noticed that I’ve played around with my blog a little. What do you think of my new design?
Thank you Natalie for hosting the Weekend Coffee Share. I hope you are enjoying a fabulous weekend!
Love,
Maria
GreenDreams 
Hi Maria, I like your new design from what I can see on the iPad. Your photos are stunning, your part of Sweden is wonderful this time of the year and your photos made me want to go to Orsa finnmark so now I’ve sent a message to my mother asking if my stepfather still is fit to drive up there. The only thing, nature-wise, I miss in Ireland are real forests, although I know there’s more up in Wicklow or even around Glengarriff which is quite close to us, it’s not the same.
I didn’t realise you had a new job! I know you’ve mentioned looking for something but didn’t know it happened! I hope you’ll be happy there. Enjoy your weekend!
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Thank you Susanne! I actually choose this design to make the photos pop a little. I do like it, but like some of our blogging friends mentioned, it is a little dark. I agree with them, I feel that it is a little dark as well. I’ll probably stick to something similar, shorten up the bio in the beginning and choose a lighter background colour. I’ll work on that these coming weeks 🙂
I hope you get to go to Orsa Finnmark. Is your trip approaching quickly? It has to be very exciting! When was the last time you visited Sweden?
I have a list of nature preserve areas/national parks that I would like to visit this spring/summer/fall. I enjoyed seeing photos from your recent road trip.
Right after the not so successful negotiation with the company I currently work for I heard of an opportunity at another school, and after a few meetings (that felt very good) with that principal I decided to make the move. It’s going to be a challenge, but a very interesting one and I am looking forward to it. Have a great rest of your weekend!
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I don’t mind it being dark, I think it depends on how the design elements interact, but I know some people think it’s more difficult to read white text towards a dark background.
I’m going to Sweden next Monday the 6th of June so quite soon! I haven’t there since May 2019 and I’m really looking forward to seeing my family again. If all goes well we’re going to Orsa finnmark, my stepfather seemed to think it was a stupid question whether he could drive up there! I’m going to take a ton of photos and will do some blogging during the trip, probably. I’ll definitely put some on Instagram at the very least.
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That is awesome! Enjoy!
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The blog changes are lovely.
We have finally reached the time of year where I can enjoy a coffee outside. So, I like to have a second cup around 10 and sip it on my front porch with the sunshine dancing around me and making me smile.
Great pictures. Thanks for sharing.
Have a great weekend Maria.
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Awe, thank you so much! I love having coffee outside, it always taste better outside 🙂 How lovely to have a front porch. I hope your weekend is wonderful !
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It’s a pretty small porch and my table and chair are equally small, but I make due. It’s usually just me sitting there anyway. My husband isn’t a coffee drinker (what was I thinking, haha), so he has a different morning routine then me. When he does join me, we are knee to knee or he sits on the stairs. It’s cozy.
Have a great week Maria.
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That sounds lovely anyways 🙂 Any outdoor space makes a difference.
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Your town is very lovely, Maria, I would like to visit! Have a great weekend. ❤️
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Thank you so much John! I’ve grown to love this place very much. I can see myself staying in the area. Have a great rest of the weekend. It is Mother’s Day here in Sweden. That’s the good thing when you are living with two cultures, you get to celebrate days like this twice. LOL.
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That’s great, enjoy! I’m sure it’s a very different life there compared to Vegas.
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Indeed! I know you love the heat, and I bet you’ll get a lot of that coming up these next coming months.
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June, July, August and September are the scorcher months which you have experienced!
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Indeed!
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I like your blog changes. My own could use a refresh, but I keep kicking that can down the road, ha!
Glad you are getting some welcome rain. It is showery today here as well. Gives me a day to rest from gardening, even though there is A LOT to do– weeds are getting ahead of me and seedlings need thinning desperately. One never gets it all done, but I still try!
Your photos are lovely, exuding peace and tranquility.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
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Thank you so much! Like some of our fellow bloggers pointed out, it is a little dark, and eventually I’ll probably switch to a lighter background.
I see some gardening in your week to come 🙂 Enjoy!
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Thanks! 🙂
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❤
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Hi Maria,
This note is just a test. You can dump it if it reaches you.
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Well – this is interesting and perhaps useful to us both.
My initial attempt to reply failed with that odd message.
On a whim, I wet to another window and turned off my VPN.
If you don’t know what that is, it stands for Virtual Private Network and helps with on line privacy.
Without it, my second attempt went right through with no problem.
On the other hand, sometimes, just trying again clears the problem so either my 1st or 2nd attempt may have been either a false positive or negative – so we still don’t know for sure.
Anyway – I love your photos. You have a great eye for composition and Sweden is gorgeous this time of year..
You new look is odd and dark – which is unexpected for you. I don’t want to be that stick in the mud that just can’t do change, but I think I liked your previous theme better. It was lighter and more airy.
Does this theme give you the ability to select a color for the background? I could see you in light, foggy lime green with a dark brown font. Just my opinion.
I can totally see you thriving with a vegetarian diet. We had a peer home school mom of 5 kids who was a vegetarian, but she did her best to keep the kids on the same diet and don’t think it went well. It was well known that whenever they could, they’d grab almost any meat snack or meal and while it never rose to the degree of being contentious, they were not at peace about the whole thing.
I think again, you’ve made a wise call in this regards,
And 7 weeks of freedom from work – that sounds like heaven to me. . .
Blessings.
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Hi Gary, I hope your weekend is treating you nice. I do agree that the new design is a little dark. I wanted to try something that makes my photos pop (I do think they do that with this design,) but I’ll likely change to something much lighter soon. Like you pointed out, that is more my style.
I am going to enjoy seven weeks off. At first I’ll be relaxing, because there is a marathon getting there. The last weeks of a semester is always super busy. I am hoping for many new experiences in amazing nature during my time off. I am planning on staying in Sweden, even though there are no travel restrictions anymore. The last 2-3 weeks of my vacation will be partly dedicated to prepare myself for the new job. I like being on top of my game. LOL. The new job is going to be a challenge. I am very excited about it. I hope you’ll get some relaxing time to enjoy beautiful Northern California. (…and no fires of course…)
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Thank you Maria for your weekend coffee share and beautiful photos. I’m glad your area received the much needed rain and the green landscape reflected that. I used to have a dark background for my blog a few years ago then switched to a light background when I wanted a change. From what I read, most blog readers prefer light background. It’s a personal choice and the good news is we can change it anytime. I don’t know if you want to and whether your new design would accommodate a sidebar or widgets to make it easy for readers to follow your blog or see recent or other posts or search, etc. It’s your blog, your choice :). Have a great weekend!
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Thank you Natalie! I do agree that the new design feels slightly dark, but it’s fun to play a little 🙂 I hope your weekend is great!
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The new blog layout looks great, though having the bio so prominent when you open the page is a little confusing. Is this the coffee share? i had to scroll a bit to find it. Beyond that, I am glad I did – the photos are great. Sweden is so pretty! I’ve had family visit, actually quite a few times, but their photos didn’t do it justice as much as yours!
Glad you are getting the rain, even if it did push back camping and you got wet while out and about.
I do eat meat about once a week. I could get by with once every two weeks or so. But I use cream in my coffee and eat cheese, so could never go vegan. Well, I LOVE honey, so, no, vegan is right out for me! I think it is great that you give your kids a choice, particularly with your daughter since she is young enough that it would be easy for her to just follow her mother.
Anyway, sounds like a good week. I hope you are havign a great weekend and have a wonderful week ahead. Oh, when does your break start? A seven week break sounds lovely 🙂
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Thank you Trent! I am going to play around a little more with the blog design, this is how it landed for now, but I’m not done. Does one ever get completely done? Probably not? LOL.
The weekend is great, I hope yours is too. My summer break starts in three weeks, my kids start their break in two weeks. We are so ready for summer! Do you have any fun plans for the summer?
Enjoy your week to come!
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I gave up blog design a while ago… but I will get sick of it at some point and start again.
I am going to travel with my family to Scotland in August. Should be fun 🙂
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Scotland sounds like a lot of fun! I bet you’ll experience some amazing vistas there.
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I’m sure there will be some scenic vistas – the photos are all gorgeous 🙂
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It is always a huge delight for me to come visit your blog and spend a little time (virtually) in Sweden again. You mentioned that you have had little rain, and I think I know where your Spring rain went! We have been inundated with huge amounts of rain down in Australia. The whole month of May it has practically rained every day. This is highly unusual for where I live. We have mould growing in the older houses and the grassy lawn look more like something you find in a bog! Haha. But today the sun is out and the winter is finally starting to be felt. My favourite time of year here.
Love the banner photo! Is it in Dalarna? I could certainly sit on that park bench for hours gazing over that lake.
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So you stole the rain ? 🙂 LOL. Perhaps you needed it more than us. It was nice to finally get some rain though. I am very happy that you enjoy my photos. The banner photo is a few minutes walk from my house, so yes in Dalarna. I hope your weekend is lovely. Have a great new week!
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Thanks so much. Finally winter has arrived here. So hoping the other end of the earth where you are, gets warmth.
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Your photos are so peaceful and calming. My lilacs are all done blooming. I. miss them. I like the new blog look.
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Thank you Kristin, I am so happy to share with you. I hope you are enjoying a great week!
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I like the new design. I love the contrasts. For me, I’m not a vegetarian but we don’t eat meat everyday. It’s getting too expensive. What makes it easier is my 1.5-year-old is not interested in any meat, not that I would push her to.
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