Cold and Blue

Cold and Blue, originally uploaded by Let Ideas Compete.

I took a bike ride this weekend and rode in the snow. It was under freezing but a beautiful day otherwise.

I ride a mail train, mamma -- Bob Dylan

I ride a mail train, mamma -- Bob Dylan, originally uploaded by Let Ideas Compete.

We've had snow the past week. It's been the coldest of the entire winter season. In fact Easter day was the coldest since last summer.

Stockholm is deserted this Easter weekend because many Swedes have gone skiing or elsewhere. Most businesses in Stockholm are either closed or on shortened hours.

The photo above is of the train yard just outside the main (I think) post office receiving and distribution center. If you send me mail or a package, there's a good chance it goes through here.

This week...Like a Rolling Stone

Is it wrong to enhance?, originally uploaded by Let Ideas Compete.

This week J and I joined the American Women's Club (spouses were invited) to see the new movie "I'm Not There." It's the new movie about Bob Dylan, my all time favorite music person, with Kate Blanchett playing Dylan in much of the movie. The showing was at a small theater in Östermalm - a funky little place that oddly did not sell pop corn (so I ate a bag of chocolate balls like it was pop corn).

The movie was bizarre. I know a lot about Bob Dylan and know a lot of his songs (not just the hits). The movie pulled from events in his life and the dialog wove in phrases from his songs, interviews, etc. If you don't know much about Dylan the movie will be very weird. Many people in the theater walked out. If you do know a fair amount about Dylan, the movie will still be bizarre and weird but you'll see the creativeness of the director and want to watch it again: there is so much symbolism you miss a lot.

J and I met at the movie since I was coming from work. While waiting on me, she saw a man enter the theater with a large trench coat and two electrical wires coming up out of his collar into his hair. The wires were scotched taped to his neck. She called me wondering if she'd just seen a terrorist. Hmmmm. She saw the guard and told him. He basically reacted with a roll of the eyes and a hmmm. I suspect he thought "you Americans think everybody is a terrorist." Must have been some sort of medical device....




This week also provided a few cracks in the pewter sky so we could see some blue sky and white clouds. The photo above was taken from the Tranebergsbron (bron means bridge in Swedish) on one of those nice days. These boats are interesting to me and you can find multiple shots of them on my Flickr account.

Tree line

Tree line, originally uploaded by Let Ideas Compete.

One more from photo from the France trip, then I'll resume Sweden photos. This photo was taken on the approximate 1 mile hike from St. Benoit to the Loire river. There were graveled trails between the agricultural fields, often along irrigation ditches throughout th area. I generally think mountainous areas are the prettiest but the flat Loire vlley had a special beauty, too.

Quiet street in Saint Benoit

Quiet street in Saint Benoit, originally uploaded by Let Ideas Compete.

This photo really captures St. Benoit. It's quiet. It's old. Colorful shutters are common. Many folks use bikes like the one in the photo to run errands.

I'll diet tomorrow or the day after...

, originally uploaded by Let Ideas Compete.

I took my bike shoes and lycra outfit with hopes of finding a bike rental place in the land of the Tour de France so I could ride like a racer (only a lot slower) though the French country side. I didn't find a place to rent in the the small village (population 1200). Instead, France tested all my weaknesses (well maybe not ALL of them): pastries and coffee, wine, crepes, and other food in sauces. Now I urgently need to do some exercise...

Gray Pari!

, originally uploaded by Let Ideas Compete.

J and I took a short vacation to France this past week. We stayed in Paris for two gray days and then took a train to Orleans where a friend of a friend picked us up by car. J has an old friend, actaully a priest that used to be the campus priest at her college, who has a house in the small town of Saint Benoit in the south Loire valley. St. Benoit's population is 1200 and it's the home of the Benedictine monks. WE were able to take day trips to nearby cities like Sully Chateaunef, Bourges, and Gien. This part of France is agricultural but it is very quaint and rustic. It is not the spectacular French alps or the Pyrennes.

This trip only made me want to visit France again...perhaps Provence.

It is noteworthy that we not even once experienced any rudeness from any of the French. Based on stories I've heard, I expected complet rudeness. Instead we experienced very friendly and polite people.

There are plenty of pictures on Flickr - enough to bore anybody - but check out some of them.....

We did have a few days of nice blue skies but mostly we saw gray. The trees were bare and pruned down to stubs. The vines and flowers were dormant. We can only imagine the spring and summer must be beautiful (except for all those pesky tourists). I have a suspicion that France would collapse without the tourists, though.