Sommarlov is almost over

I took a look at the calendar and realized that the girls have only 2 weeks left before school starts and I have 3 weeks. Wow! This summer went by quickly that is for sure. We have had some warm and sunny Swedish weather (probaby 80 plus degrees) for about 3 weeks and now a respite with the usual mixed up weather (sunny sometimes and rain the next but a nice 70 plus degrees). During the heat of things we enjoyed going to a different beach every day. I liked the private ones that you only know about by living here. You can either get to them by foot if you live close enough, or park your car and walk some distance. We parked and walked past a private observatory run by a university; past the Chairman of Volvo's home; past a traditional Swedish farm house painted falu red with white trim; past a forest and wheat field and thru a forest. We got to this secluded beach with rocks and little grass but nice swimming for the kids. So after several days of checking out new locations with hours spent at the beach I kind of was all sunned out. We bought a pool instead for a change of pace. A pool bigger than our back yard. I tried to fill it myself and did a poor job so it was pretty lopsided but the girls loved it. Today with summer winding down we borrowed a pump and emptied it.
Today I took a walk in the forest just 3 houses down from us. There is a wonderful walking trail that is lit for darkness. It was very calming to be on my own while the girls were with Mattias on the boat. I have also been weeding the garden a bit more. I wasn't sure what was a weed and what are meant to be there but as I've looked more have figured it out I hope. Liv spotted something red in the garden which turned out to be a potato. Well, we had several plants that were ready for digging so the girls and I enjoyed a the surprise treasures we found today. They are called mandelpotatis here. A different variety and size. We cooked them and at them and they were delicious. Now we are waiting for the blackberries to ripen. We get maybe 5 a day but the bush is wrapped clear around a wood shed so we are expecting hordes! We hope to freeze them for future use.
With so little time left before school we will quick have to get some visiting in and do little things around town. We will go to Mattias' family farm and then to visit some Minnesota friends who have a summer house here in Sweden. Mattias will have to work a couple days in Uppsala so we can decide if myself and the girls will travel there as well for a first time visit or hang at the farm.
This week we will continue to work on our house. Our kitchen is not finished yet but functional. We have not spent days slaving on it but pick at it when we feel like it. I would like to get moving on it more before the school starts again.

More later,
Carrie

The Boat Comes Home to Sweden

 

 

 

 

Mattias got the call that the boat would be arriving on the ship from Florida to Kalundborg, Denmark. He quickly arranged for his crew of family and friends to assist in sailing Windfall home to Sweden. Brother Jens, and old friends, Mats, Magnus and another Mats decided they would like to take the trip too. So, one way by train they traveled almost a full day to get to Denmark. It turned out to be a magnificent week weather wise which meant every one and their brother were on their sailboats at this time of the week. You see pictures of Windfall being loaded from the ship into the water. Other pictures are of the guys just enjoying the calm of the sea. They spent two nights on various islands and the first one had at least 500 sailboats docked. Windfall was tied up for the night against 7 other boats. It was perfect conditions, maybe too calm but a great time for the 5 friends to be together.

Minnesota Visitors

 

 

Our friends from Minnesota, Mike and Mary, made a two night stop at our place during a trip including picking up their new Volvo. A good deal to remember for those who want to buy a new car....free plane tickets, hotel for two nights, limo pick up and delivery of passengers, factory tour with lunch, dog and pony show included! Aside from trying to sell you a trip to Gothenburg on your next purchase, you can also spend time with us as bonus! We treated our friends to a crayfish (from the sea) dinner. Poor Mike got a nice hole in his finger from the pincers of the crayfish! Next day we went touring the quaint fishing villages in the Bohuslan region. The last day, Mary, Hanna and I had a chance to get out shopping while Mike and Mattias took the boat out to the islands around where we live for a photo safari by boat. So happy to see them both!

More later,
Carrie

Gotland Vacation

 

 

 

 

We enjoyed a wonderful time on Gotland with Mattias extended family visiting Carl-Axel and Åsa. Our week was complete with many activities----biking, beaches, eating lamb fresh from the neighbors farm, treating the Swedish folk to their first taste of S'mores to celebrate 4th of July, we drove past several Viking gravesites on the way back from a girl's afternoon out, visited a medieval museum just down the road from Carl Axel's farm; celebrated Eliane's 80th birthday with champagne and a nice meal, relaxing in the sun, playing board games with the girls and their cousins..etc. etc. We really took time to smell the roses, (pun intended as roses were certainly plentiful on the farm and all around the island).

Carrie

Sommarlov

Well, sommarlov, or summer break, really began a few weeks ago when the kids were finished with school but since I've been back in Sweden after my trip to the U.S., the weather has only today felt like summer. Finally, sunshine and blue skies so the girls and I took a trip to the beach. It was still a bit fresh in the water so only Liv went swimming as she loves cooler water. The girls did some crabbing and the usual sand digging before we came back home again. Mattias is suffering from a cold or flu type thing. He picked up some bug from his trip to Florida and has not been well since returning so he did not join us today. After we got back home, Liv was relaxing watching a Hanna Montana video and came to tell us a bird had flown in the house. Sure enough... I wasn't going to touch it so Mattias tried to coax it out. Finally, after banging the windows a few times, the bird found the door. Poor thing sat on the ledge heart just beating wildly and beak open wide--scared to death. Then if flew off. I'd hate to see it collapse on the patio! We don't have window screens in Sweden unless you fashion some up yourself so that is why the bird got in the house in the first place.
We are getting ready for our annual trip to Gotland. This time we'll be joined by brother Jens and family and Grandma Ingrid. We'll take the 5 hour car ride across the country to the East coast and then take the speed ferry for about 3 hours before arriving in Visby. Then we'll hop back in the cars and drive about an hour to south of Hemse. It will be a long day but the girls will have cousins to play with on the ferry so time should go fast. We'll stay on the island for a week which is just perfect. I just checked the weather report (I'm all about weather these days.) and it looks like rain for the first two days at least. Well, there are plenty of things to do on Gotland and since we'll be staying at Mattias' Great Uncle's place, plenty of exploring just around the farm. I'll take pictures!
So it's July and most Swedes are beginning their 4-6 weeks of summer vacation-- Mattias one of them. We are looking forward to many activities on the time off and are looking forward to house guests after we return from Gotland.

More later,
Carrie

Windfall is Coming to Sweden!

We had toyed with the idea of keeping Windfall in Northern WI but decided to ship her back to her original home, Sweden. Mattias finally got the shipping company nailed down and a confirmed shipping schedule. He flew to Ft. Pierce and met Windfall at the marina where he left her in January '08. The first picture shows her being lifted from storage on the way to being set back into water. Lucky for Mattias he was able to get her back in the ICW a couple of days earlier than planned. The marina lift operators were in training and used Windfall as their guinea pig! No catastrophes and Mattias was able to push off on Saturday. The first night he docked in Nettles Island, FL. The weather was beastly hot in the 90's and similar percentage humid, with afternoon storms everyday. Standing at the marina dock in Nettles Island, Mattias and others spotted this twister some ways out in the water. Most everyone stood watching and then wondered if they should seek shelter---like under the tiki hut! It was 5 o'clock somewhere--there--- and the boaters must have been one or two too many Mai Tai's not to get the heck out. But the storm passed and Mattias got a nice photo.

The next several nights Mattias was joined by buddy Ted from MN. He flew down to lend a hand and offer company. They travelled from Sunday-Tuesday night and landed in Dania Beach close to Port Everglades as a final stopping point. Tuesday alone they had 20 bridges to get through. Other than that, pretty uneventful with close to zero sailboats out and some rude powerboaters making huge wakes, knocking Windfall with Ted and Mattias aside. Both guys had their share of heat and humidity with drenched clothes during the day and decided to skip the last two nights aboard in favor of a/c, a cool shower and a hotel. Next day Mattias got her ready for shipment in July. On Thursday, both Ted and Mattias headed their separate ways after a fun journey.

A local FL captain will see that Windfall gets aboard in July for her shipment to Kalundborg, Denmark. The boat will arrive there the end of July and Mattias and friends will sail her over to us.

Happy Sailing!

Carrie

Midsommar Weekend

I had a terrific time in the U.S., first time without husband and kids. This gave me the devoted opportunity to spend time with family, a few friends, travel to Utah for Bev and David's wedding, return to MN to spend time for my nephew's college graduation and my sister's birthday and of course, little league games. It was very busy. Week two I spent with my sister who was now on vacation. I also had lots of time to shop and did so until money ran out! As things are generally more expensive in Sweden than in the U.S, I bought many clothes for myself and for Liv who has outgrown everything, and also lot's of birthday gifts for the girls to give to friends. Luckily I had those in my bag as when I came home, Mattias said Hanna had two parties the next day. He hadn't done any gift prep. What else did I buy...hmmm, dvd's (although the girls can't appreciate Jack Black's humor in Schoolhouse Rock--he was kind of frightening to them); kids workbooks; suncream although we don't need it as the weather is bad and various foodstuff like Ghirardelli chocolate chips, maple syrup; brown sugar; vanilla and salad dressing. So I was over the luggage weight limit but by being nice and friendly, plus a decent tip, I saved myself $150.00 with the nice curbside baggage check man.

So I came home to Sweden and the next morning, Mattias left for work on the other side of Sweden. A few nights later he came home for one night and left for Florida to travel with our sailboat, Windfall, and get her to Ft. Lauderdale to be prepped for shipment over to Denmark. He arrived in Florida on Thursday, spent one night in Ft. Pierce. Lucky for him it was the weekend. The marina crew was training so they could use our boat as an experiment and got Windfall into the water a couple days earlier than planned. She was dry inside and not a scratch outside. That really took the edge off Mattias and he was able to get a 2 day early head start down the IntraCoastal to Ft. Lauderdale. His buddy Ted is flying in to meet Mattias today and will assist and catch up with each other before Mattias flies home on Thursday. The weather in Florida has been bloody hot with afternoon/evening rain. Mattias said he caught a picture of a funnel cloud twisting some 1/2 mile from shore......Great!

It's summer in Sweden but you wouldn't know it by the weather...rain, rain, and more rain, plus kind of chilly by U.S. standards. The ground is really dry here so I guess I can suffer for the environment! It is also Midsommar weekend, the lightest time of the year in Sweden. With Mattias gone it has been a little quiet...we've been two ships in the night. The girls and I spent Midsommarafton at Mattias' dad's house. A delicious lunch with herring torta, different kinds of herrings; fresh potatoes; home smoked salmon and lax; sliced moose and ham with horseradish cream; little ham and cheese pies; chicken skewers marinated in homemade wine; schnapps; beer and of course, a strawberry and cream tort roll up with raspberry filling. The actual Midsommar day the girls and I went to a manor home for the annual festivities. It was very windy that day but we managed to hang on to our paper plates. Girls ate waffles with whipped cream and jam. We danced around the super tall maypole decorated with birch branches and watched a really good magic show. Back to Jan and Britt Marie's for leftovers!

Then today...it was raining the whole day. I tried to get our bedroom in order as clothes are piled to the ceiling. (With a smaller house we have double duty to keep it neat and tidy. I will have more organizing to do as I brought several more boxes over from Jan and Britt Marie's that we had in the small house there). We have a forest just a few houses away from us with a nice path that folks walk thru, ride or run. The horse trail runs right next to it. At night they light the path so it is a well used trail. We took a break and Hanna took my by the hand and said she knew the way as it was my first time. Sure enough, she led me right to the fire pit area where her dagis goes to during the weeks. We spent a good 2 hours walking and exploring. Came home to go to the grocery store and after I made some soup.

After some late nights up since it is so light out at night, the girls had to hit the hay earlier tonight. It is after 10 p.m. and still light out after all. Both have dagis or fritids tomorrow. I am into the Euro 2008 fotboll (soccer to you) championship. It has been fun to watch as underdogs have won several games. Tonight it is Spain vs. Italy. 78 minutes into the game and 0-0.

More later,
Carrie