365 Day 78-84

As you know by now Fridays are my so called day off. Ehem, they're probably the busiest day of the week for me. Aside from working on blog related things (I save what can wait until Friday) I also want to get the house in shape before the weekend. I do a mad cleaning dash in the morning and throw stuff in the wash as I go along. Last friday the armchair covers and tomorrow the sofa. Covers mind you, not the whole thing!


So the weather improved somewhat. Bonus approves. Wille called out excitely when he saw that the cat cabin was once again occupied. Bonus spent most of sunny Saturday there. Sunday brought more snow and the rest of the week has been pretty grey but it looks promising.


You know all about our little craft session already but I felt I had to include Don in this or my week wouldn't be complete. We loved your feedback btw, thank you!


I try to remember to take a photo every day and for 80 days I did. On day 81 I went to bed and realized there was something wrong. Eeeek! Get camera out and pointed it to whatever's somewhat lit.
 

Still some snow. See those tracks with paw prints? When the snow kept coming and nothing ever melted away back in January and February we wanted to help Mini and Bonus out so they could enjoy the outdoors a little bit. Martin and Wille shoveled a cat run on the lawn and around the whole house. It was so cute, you could barely see them on it because the snow was so deep. This is what's left. As you can see they still use it.

What can I say other than beauty cute!


Easter's only a week away! Not that we celebrate it that much aside from stuffing our faces with candy but still. I remember posting our "påskris" = Easter tree last year and the year before on Flickr and was surprised that not many other countries have them. I got mine (birch twigs) at the flower market yesterday so I haven't decorated it yet but I will this weekend. Do any of you have them? What do you decorate them with? Tradition is  brightly colored feathers over here.

Comments

[Josefine]

jep we have an easter tree, because I (my nose..) can't stand birch or hazelnut we have "Korkenzieherweide" (corkscrew willow?) and I barely decorate it because I love the small leaves and the fresh green. 5years ago I put some small glass flowers and felt bunnies in the tree.. not my style anymore ;)
btw love your cuper cute easter egg craft!

have a nice weekend!

Josefine

[Marieke]

Here in the Netherlands we have them too.
At my parent we only had a 'paastak' when we were little.
We also had curly/corkscrew willow branches like Josefine
with wooden Easter eggs with ribbons as decorations
and I remember lots of yellow woolen baby chickens around the vase.

have a nice weekend

[Leena]

Don't know if you are interested in Finnish habbits, since you have some heritage from here and you might allready know everything from Finland. But anyway Finland has quite the same habbits as Sweden in many thigs. Many people in here do have somesort of easter tree (though it is not called a tree, it is just bunch of twigs). People decorate it with colourful eggs and feathers and ribbons. Also on the palmsöndagen (palm tree sunday, don't know the english name) kids go around from house to house dressed as witches, with willow branches they have decorated also with feathers and ribbons. The kids give you the willow branch and you are supposed to give them candy. Atleast in my family those willows are always added to the vase where the "easter tree" is.
Is there a habbit like this "trick or treat" in Sweden?

[Benita ~ Chez Larsson]

I'm not very familiar with Finnish customs as I moved away from there when I was four.

Over he we have Easter witches too! They go from house to house on Skärtorsdagen (Maundy Thursday/Holy Thursday) and pass out little notes ususally with a little drawing of a chicken or egg on it saying Glad Påsk = Happy Easter and get some candy in return :). How funny that it's thte same where you are but still a little different :)

Reminds me I need to stock up on candy! One year we forgot and hid inside so the witches would think we weren't at home because we had nothing to give them in return for their "art".

[Sanna]

I don't get them, even though I'm all Swedish and stuff. I'd just sneeze my head off when the buds open. ;)

[quinn]

I just love that your clock says "Moretime." Mine usually gives me the exact opposite message!

[norma]

We don't put up an Easter tree in our household. We celebrate Easter for the religion aspect of it so any decor at this time of year is just light and springy. I thought your banner one was great!!!

[Jo Powers]

Here in the US (at least where I've lived in the MidWestern states of Illinois and Indiana), we celebrate Easter with baskets of treats for the little ones. The baskets are brought by the Easter Bunny, who is also something of a trickster as he hides hardboiled colored eggs around where children might find them. (You may have seen pictures of this because the White House residents usually have an egg hunt about this time of the year.) Also, there is usually a big dinner with a baked ham for the visiting relatives. Schools are generally on holiday either before or after Easter, so there is a lot of family visiting. The Sunday before Easter is called Palm Sunday here. It is a religious celebration, with palm branches being handed out at the churches and blessings by the priest, minister or whatever you might have at your church. (Good Friday through Holy Saturday's church service are often a time of fasting, or eating just small amounts of food.) Though I've never heard of an Easter tree, I do like the idea and I think I'll try to incorporate this into my decorating scheme this year. Benita, I love your site for the international information! And, of course, for the organizational skills that I've observed and begun to use as my own. THANK YOU!

[Benita ~ Chez Larsson]

We do egg hunts too but I'm not sure if they're that common in Sweden or if it's something I picked up from my German mom's side. We don't hide real eggs but cardboard ones with candy inside. I also always make at least one basket with chocolate bunnies and other goodies. Not sure Wille's up for a hunt this year being almost 16 but I'm hoping I can pull it off one more time :). Or hey, he can hide them and I go looking!

[jja]

This armchair looks so cushy!Bonus looks so cute with in his weekend cottage :-)))

[Alex in DC]

I remember many neighbors with branches or a tree decorated with eggs. I grew up in the northern midwest, with a good mix of Swedish, German, Polish immigrants - which might explain it. Of course we did the typical easter baskets and egg hunts (indoors as there was usually snow on the ground!) but the trees really stand out in my memory.
Some people would use wooden eggs which were typically the size of quail's eggs painted in bright easter colors. Others would hand-blow eggs and decorate - often in more traditional European designs - adding new ones every year. They were beautiful. Just thinking about it makes me want to run out for branches this weekend and start painting! What a great memory.

[blake]

Awww. I have to mention that my heart warms whenever you mention the love and care the whole Larsson family lavishes on those lucky kitties. Meow.

[Jennifer S.]

I had an Easter tree once. My daughters and I blew eggs out, painted them, and hung them on twigs in a vase. Then their baby brother pulled the whole thing down and broke the eggs. Sadness all around. Now we still paint eggs but put them in a bowl for safety and hang colored plastic eggs on a tree outside.

[Natalie]

That chair is fabulous! Hope you get a lot accomplished today :)

P.S. Be sure to enter my first GIVEAWAY!

[anne]

We have egg-hunt in our family too, so I don't think its a German tradition. I do a word puzzle that they have to solve to get a sentence that is a clue to where they're hidden. Every year I think that it's time to give it up since they are getting to old - but Märtha and August's firmly declares at easter (and Christmas too) that they are still very small children. Never too old for easter eggs or christmas presents :D

[Meredith from Penelope Loves Lists]

Your Fridays sound like mine. In the last quarter of the year, I try to take each Friday off and I end up working like a maniac on those days, both on my blog and on the house.

Feels so great to know I'm not the only one who does this.

[Sirkka]

Love the cats, and the cathouse. ;o)

[Tarsila Krüse]

Hello Benita! Just because I am a big fan I nominated you for the Beautiful Blogger Awards. :)

http://yescute.blogspot.com/2010/03/beautiful-blogger-award.html

XoXo

[Justine]

Love the photos, especially the cats. My little girl made her own Easter tree this year, for a 6 year old she did it very well, got herself a heap of tree twigs and a bucket of sand from her sandpit, stuck them all in it and she made some pictures on paper and put lots of finger puppets on the tree and set up our coffee table with all her soft bunny toys - its so cute.