30 Years in a flash

Today we (D & J, that is) celebrated our 30'th anniversary. Actually, although we'd been talking about it for weeks, it was mid-day before either of us remembered. I won't mention which one of us remembered...

We'd hoped to celebrate early last weekend on the island of Utö but decided the weather wasn't warm enough. Hopefully we'll do that sometime soon (and write a blog about it).

I went on a kayak trip today. The trip started at the Pampas Marina. Point 65 North has a kayak rental place there. The trip started around 1:00. I headed along the north shore of Ulvsundajön till I past the Carlsberg brewery. That's a good 30 minutes of constant paddling. I passed a nice looking Swedish woman on the shoreline sunning topless. She was sitting in a chair reading a book. I tried to read the title of the book but was close enough. She was still there on the return trip. AN was still there .... just kidding.


I then headed toward Kristineberg among some large boats and large wakes. At first I was afraid of capsizing in the cold water but soon felt very confident. I saw a few people swimming but they could stay in long.


Next I paddled completely around the Kungsholmen island and saw several other stunning topless young women sunbathing - actually sitting up with the headlights pointed right at me. I underestimated how long it would take and was hurting by the time I got back to the rental place. About mid-way around the island, one of us remembered the anniversary and called the other....


J stayed at he apartment today and caught up on some reading and emails, did a little watercolor painting, and corrected some of my spelling errors on one of the other blogs.

She also collected her photos from the previous evening's party.


Tonight we'll have a small celebration but reward ourselves for putting up with each other for 30 years next weekend (probably) with two nights on Utö. The accomplishment of 30 years of marriage is dwarfed by the accomplishment of raising three wonderful kids that somehow managed to succeed despite us!

BBQ at the Apartment

(Folks, I'm going to switch to first person in the post, third person was sounding silly.)

We decided to have a little BBQ at the apartment. We invited two American families also on assignment in Sweden and also one of our dearest Swedish family (although the husband was on business travel). We had 5 adults plus us, plus 7 kids from 18 mos. old to (I'm guessing) 13. J did most of the planning but because we're in an apartment for 2, we had to supplement our plates, cups, utensils, etc. with disposable ones. We aso had to buy some additional bowls, etc. and also the grill.....all without a car. J and I went to the grocery store with our roller suitcases to buy everything. In fact we went three times: she the day before as well. We also went to IKEA to find some miscelleaneous kitchen items (and just to find the place because we may be making some large purchaes when we move to an unfurnished place in October).


This being our first BBQ here with a new grill, we had a few glitches. But the guests were patient, gracious, polite, fun conversationalists, and helped overcome any problems. One glitch was my management of the BBQ. I bought some charcoal but it was a type I'd never seen so the quantity and the timing was wrong. It turns out, they sell two types here: the one I'm used to with the small bricqettes and the kind I bought which are not compressed. So the grilling took an unusually long time and several repairs to the charcoal bed (which included extra lighter fluid and fanning the embers). Thanks to some of the guests for helping lift the grill loaded with meat up so we could revive the dying coals....over and over until we got it right.

In the end and after testing the patience of the hungry guests, the meat and other food was good. The long wait was tempered by good Australian wine and some really great homemade salsa and guacamole. After dinner we also had a sampling of some yummie Swedish candies and ice cream with strawberries. Yum! We will work out extra hard next week...this is not a usual occurance!

In the photo, you can see the brand new grill all by itself in the apartment back yard. The kids played back there and also in a nearby park. I think the kids had a great time too. The older kids were amazingly mature: sweet and patient in helping out with the smaller ones. These are the good things in life.....ah...a nice evening in Sweden with food, wine, friends and making new ones! Well worth all the effort for the wonderful memories of a good Saturday night in Svierge.

Norrviken, Frog Stains, BBQ, and Woodworking

Last weekend, a Swedish colleague and his family invited D & J over for a barbecue at his home in Norrviken. Norrviken is just north of Kista and is a clean small community that developed on a thousand year old trade route next to a shallow swampy lake. In recent years the lake has dried up so that it's now about 3 kilometers in diameter. It's still a great spot for summer swimming and winter skating. Norrviken also borders a large forested park which is a favorite mountain biking area.

The most interesting thing about Norrviken, however, is the annual 2 week period of frogs. They emerge from the swampy areas of the lake and overwhelm the streets and neighborhoods. The city puts up signs to warn motorists of the road hazard (both to protects the motorist from sliding on squished frogs and to protect the frogs from death by Volvo tires, I suppose). The mass migration of frogs reminds me of the Mormon crickets in Utah. D & J once encountered them on a desert road in Utah and the wheel wells were full of blended cricket parts - it couldn't be helped.

The hosting family showed extreme hospitality, like all our other Swedish friends. They had a nice large yard with fruit trees, many flowers and a vegetable garden. The houses in the neighborhood were built in the 60's during some boom years for Sweden. The houses are brick which most Americans would prefer over wood, but in Sweden, wood or stucco is usually preferred. The gutters are made of copper! Imagine that today. The interiors, like most Swedish homes and buildings, have a special warmth and feeling of wood.

The hosts have an interesting life story that includes many foreign sojourns, notably in Ohio and Japan. They also own a 27 meter long freighter boat, which they spent 10 years refurbishing and actually lived on in a Stockholm marina for several years before buying the house. They take a 2 week trip in the boat each year into the interior of Sweden via a series of lakes, canals, and locks. The trip is with a group of other small freighters, all joining as a community.

The barbecue is very popular in Sweden, and is considered an American pastime that Sweden has imported. The host was a little nervous BBQ'ing for the "expert American." However, it was excellent and the American expert is not so expert. They BBQ'ed roast, wieners, and bratwurst. The dinner itself also included fresh cheeses (Sweden has great cheeses) and fresh breads. One of the delicious cheeses also had a sharp aroma. So sharp the Swedes call it balcony cheese because you should leave it on the balcony to keep it from smelling up the house. I tried it and liked it. Just goes to show you that you can't judge a cheese by it's odor... well not totally.

The dessert was glass (the Swedish words for ice cream) covered with fresh strawberries. So far every dinner D & J have had at a Swedish family's home has been excellent and this one maintained that standard. D & J worry that they can't come close to matching the culinary skills of the Swedish hosts, especially since D & J have a temporary kitchen and are less familiar with where to buy certain ingredients (all the ingredients are in Sweden but sometimes the Swedish words are not in our dictionary, especially spices).

The garage in the basement, like D's in the US, had been converted to a woodworking shop. Only this one had several industrial sized tools like an 18 inch joiner, a shaper, 20 inch bandsaw, and planer. He bought these from a Swedish tool maker for cash to get a really sweet deal. He also used German Festool routers, the brand D considers top-ot-the line. In the US, Festool's are about 70% higher than their competitors. But they are so much lighter and have higher precision than the other brands.

360 degrees at Karlsberg

I took a series of photos from the Karlsberg footbridge near our apartment which you can vie at Flickr.com by clicking here. It was a semi-cloudy day, unfortunately. Especially since there had been several absolutely beautiful days with nice blue skies and fluffy white cumulus clouds. The 360 degrees, taken in eight photos, shows some typical scenes from water to apartment buildings to just plain old city concrete.

Some Boats and Bridges

I want a boat and a house on the water. In fact, I want two boats, a kayak for physical explorations, a sail boat because they are just so elegant and somehow I can use the elements. Of course, I need two kayaks: one for me and one for J. We'd have to learn to sail but that's easy: just spend a little time in the Stockholm archipelago at sailing school. Lyle Lovett wanted a pony and a boat and to put his pony on his boat.

"If I had a boat
I'd go out on the ocean
And if I had a pony
I'd ride him on my boat
And we could all together
Go out on the ocean
Me upon my pony on my boat."

I'd replace the pony with a two bikes! My sail boat would be big enough for my bike and my sea kayak. Oh, and I want to be rich enough to not have to work.
J and I would have coffee in the early morning, kayak a little while, sail in the afternoon, bike around, sail back, watch the news, and read a book. Pardon my little fantasy.

The photos in this post are mostly in and around the island of Stora Essingen, where one of my American colleagues and his family live. They had us over for a nice dinner and tour of the island. The island has four thousand residents and is only a couple of kilometers in circumference. There's a French school there so all the French expatriates prefer to live there.



As the date for us to move from the furnished apartment to an unfurnished one approaches, we need to make many decisions and purchases. We'll have some furnishings shipped from Colorado (We're allowed 20 cubic meters) or about the volume of a regular sized bathroom. So let's see....gotta have the hobby stuff first. More bicycles, J's crafts, more warm clothes, more books (including my collections of Rick Steves and Lonely Planets), a couple of chairs, and a tv. Not much else will fit in the 20 cubic meters. So then it's off to IKEA.



The last photo in this post is of the spectacular Tranebergsbron Bridge. The photo is taken on a perfect day from right outside the light rail station.

Excursion to Ireland

Part of D's job requires a monthly trip to Dublin. J joined him on this trip. They added a Saturday and Sunday to be tourists before the workweek.

After arriving on a Friday to some of the best weather possible in Ireland, D & J sampled the obligatory Guinness and some "meat and potatoes." On Saturday morning, they took the LUAS train into Dublin, from the outlying hotel. The LUAS was a clean modern train and the stations were clean and safe. Perfect for tourists. Once in Dublin and St. Stephen's green specifically, the cameras were brought out. You can view some of the photos by clicking on over to flickr. Don't forget to come back here.


After strolling down around St. Stephan's Green and Grafton street, they took the DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit) to Malahide, a quaint seaside town north of Dublin by about 15 kilometers. Malahide is a treasure trove of photo opportunities. There's also a little bookshop: Village Books. Mary, the owner, is a most well-read owner. She has a "Bookshop Ladies Guide to a Good Read" with numerous new and good novels. Some samples are Brick Lane by Monica Ali, Oracle Night by Paul Auster, Lie in the Dark by Dan Ferperman, Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseni, The Grass is Singing by Doris Lessing, Atonement by Ian McEwan, anything by T. Coraghessan Boyle and anything by the Colorado writer Kent Haruf, and A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth. Of course, D bought enough reading for a year.


Sunday was used for an all day tour by bus into the Wicklow mountains. This scenic ride was punctuated with a couple of tourist traps. One of the most interesting stops on the tour was Glendalough, the location of an 1200 year old Celtic monastery. The Celtic traditions gradually absorbed Christianity, often blending some old traditions with the new (1200 years ago) Christianity thing....At one time, the monastery was a thriving place for students all over the world to visit.

Summary, Ireland is a great place for anyone to visit. We as former South Carolinians enjoyed it immensely because of the kinship we have with the Irish. The western parts of South Carolina were settled by the Irish and Scots. They're both so green and also have old music traditions: the fondness for bluegrass, which owes it's origins to the Irish folk music. It also explains the fervent adherence to property rights, since the Irish and the Scots have a long history of having their property seized and reallocated. We saw more similarities, but that's another blog!