Today's Lars-Göran's birthday. We woke up to a lovely blanket of sparkling, white snow which made him groan. Whatever is wrong with the man? It's a landscape to make you smile. But not one of which he is fond. He said he wished he was in Australia at the moment, where it is summer, but between you and me, I think he'd die in an Adelaide summer.




As is the tradition in Sweden, we served him breakfast in bed. Well... not exactly breakfast, because he doesn't want to eat alone. But I made him coffee and heated one of the lovely marzipan-filled saffron buns I made the other day. We brought out the breakfast tray, complete with gifts and a symbolic candle, because if we lit the right number of candles (even in dog years) we may have set off the fire alarm.




So, what did I get him? You can see above that I bought him a new mobile phone. His battery on his other phone is starting to lose power constantly and cut out at the most inopportune moments. So I went for the same brand (so he can find all of the buttons) - just a simple phone to make and receive calls and text messages. He does not want or need one with all the bells and whistles. The first person to call him on the phone this morning was his eldest son, so that was nice.

You can also see that I bought him a pair of lovely lined leather gloves. He has been wearing these old, quite ragged gloves for a while. When I came to Sweden, he laughed at the pathetic acrylic gloves I had with me and marched me to the shop and selected a pair of leather gloves, lined with Thinsulate. They are as good today as they were when he bought them. Yet he persists in "making do" with his old, broken gloves - until today!

And Lambi gave him not one, not two, but TEN 200g blocks of white chocolate! That ought to last him until at least the weekend, I should think.




I hope you will all join me in wishing him an incredibly happy birthday. Without his love, support, guidance and strength, I just wouldn't be here. Sometimes, it seems that we take for granted the people we love the most. Those who are so important to our daily lives. It doesn’t mean we don’t care, it's just that sometimes, life gets crazy and there isn’t time to do it all, or say it all.

So, especially today, I want you to know how much I appreciate all the loving things he does. And how much I admire him for being the kind and giving person he is. Happy Birthday to the perfect husband - the one who shares my obsessions with books and cheesy puns and Led Zeppelin, to the man who makes me feel young again.

If you gain the impression on this blog that Lars-Göran is a gentle, softly spoken Swede who has had his life turned upside down after getting involved with a loud mouthed foreigner for whom he has to keep going around and apologising, then I'd say that's a pretty accurate assessment. How he survives with such good humour is a mystery to me, but I know I'm lucky to have him.

Happy birthday to the best husband, friend, lover and soul mate that I could ever wish for!