A thousand posts!

This is a momentous occasion: my 1000th post. From a humble introduction in August 2007, my blog has exploded over the past half-decade into the internet's go-to source for information on building kit homes, Swedish archipelago life, the Eurovision song contest, and incinerating toilets. Especially incinerating toilets. Google tells me Cinderella is the most commonly-visited subject here by a wide margin. (Google also reveals my blog has been viewed by 60,000 people! Wow!)

I have made 4 introductory posts; I suppose I can add to the canon with a fifth. Sooz, Ollie, and I are happily back into the swing of Texas life. People ask us if we miss living in the UK, and we truthfully answer "yes", but that doesn't mean we are unhappy here; it's not a binary choice. Let's face it, life in the USA is pretty easy and we enjoy that ease. Grant is still in college in North Carolina, a junior now, and doing well at school, both academically and socially. Ollie is also doing fine, a bit slower of course, but since the dark days of his back surgery, every day that he is still happy and healthy with us is a joy.

We're still adjusting to being 5000 miles away from our little stuga. But we've settled into a pattern of being there three times a year- all the seasons except winter! Given the Texas heat, Sooz plans to be away longer in July/August, and I will join her, for two weeks if I can. A one week visit is OK, but the jetlag makes a 7-day visit less desirable.

It's a good thing the house is done. Maintaining it and bringing small things out is do-able from so far away. I sure couldn't have built it from the other side of the world! Fortunately, we have great neighbors in Olle and Annika who keep an eye on our home for us, which is a great relief.

The internet also makes it a lot easier to keep in touch. Olle and Annika send us photos when they're on Aspö. I can see the hourly weather and the Systembolaget specials on my iPhone, as well as the local news, and Rutger is always a FaceTime call away for advice!

It's around this time of year that I really pine for Aspö. The weather is starting to get nice; March here reminds me of June there. So I start itching to go. But we will be there soon enough for our spring visit. And longer-term, I will admit the thought of retirement is starting to creep around the borders of my thinking. Sooz and I know we couldn't live there year-round, but the thought of an April-October residence is appealing. And all that time would lend itself to a great deal of blogging!

Who knows, my next thousand posts may come much more quickly.