GOTT NYTT ÅR!

We wish you all happiness and joy. Happy New Year!

Boxing Day in Småland

On Boxing Day Maria's siblings with families came to her parents' house and we celebrated Christmas together. Traditional Christmas dinner again, but now with a Finnish touch, as well as a few more presents. Three days of Christmas is a good Swedish tradition, which means you don't have to travel so often, but instead have time to be whole days with the families.
The picture features one of the meadows outside Maria's parents seen through a frozen window.

On Monday we picked up Maria's sister-kids from "fritids" (after school child care). Several different games were played during the evening, even if the nephew liked the car racing game on the computer most.

Tuesday evening we enjoyed together with Maria's brother with family. Sledge downhill and some rink skating before the kids went to bed.

The next day it was time to end the time in Småland and fill the car to go to Olle's parents again.

GOD JUL!

Merry Christmas to all brave ones that follows this blog!

Early Christmas and an active rest

On Saturday we drove south to Olle's parents. During a few hours we had the sun shining into our eyes, not a bad idea to bring the sunglasses. It felt as joining a light therapy when so active noticing the day light, compared to other days sitting in an office most of the daylight hours. We noticed most of Sweden seems to have winter with snow, but the roads weren't so bad anyway. About two hours south of Umeå we passed the Ångermanälven river on the High Coast Bridge, which has a total length of about 1.9 km.

Already Sunday we celebrated Christmas, since this was the day Olle's both siblings could join. All the families (except one nephew) and grandfather were there. After a traditional dinner, we shared our Christmas presents. As usual it's the smaller kids who are most excited.

In the beginning of this week we shoveled the ice on the nearby lake, on Wednesday that meant several cm of snow. We arranged so we had a round trip of 400-500 m on the lake where we could enjoy skating. We hoped for some sun to melt the surface and get a nice glassy surface, but this wasn't the case. Finally you could question if it was worth the efforts, since we used almost more time to remove snow than to skate. Anyway it felt good to do some exercise.

On Wednesday evening we enjoyed sauna with refreshing dip in the hole in the ice. You have to be clean for Christmas :-)

Christmas Eve was a relaxed day, except some more skating.
On Christmas Day we went to an old friend of Olle, before driving to Maria's parents.

Short winter days

Olle took a walk to Nydalasjön today. The sun does not rise that much above the horizon this time of the year.
The pictures are taken about 11:30.

Group meeting of the year

Today all of Maria's research group went to Baggböle Herrgård. There everyone had a 15-min presentation about the research plans for the coming year. Interesting to hear about all the persons' work, even if in a short version, including the directions for our bosses (our group meetings are combined for two research groups).
For lunch we had a Christmas plate, that showed up to be a three-meal-course with inspirations from traditional Christmas food.


We could notice it was a nice sunny day outside, much more daylight than normal. Good thing that the daylight time is longer than the time the sun rises above the tree line. At 10.30 am we enjoyed the "sunrise" and at lunch time 1 pm it was gone again.


In the afternoon back at work again, we learned more about ribosomes and antibiotics listening to the Nobelprize winner Ada Yonath.

Education also need recovery

During two days UPSC (Maria's workplace) has been to Kronlund outside Vindeln. A lot of seminars from younger scientists at the departments were interesting, as well as to hear more about the new big plant project here in Umeå; sequencing of Norway spruce, the plant of biggest economical importance in Sweden.
Thursday evening we relaxed in the sauna for a while and had nice relaxing chats. When some people had had enough there finally were space in the hot tubs. Maria ended up drinking a few beers and not leaving the hot tub until 1.30 am. Why leave earlier? You can sleep some other time, and breakfast wasn't until 8 am next morning.

For Friday lunch we had traditional Swedish Christmas smorgasbord (=smörgåsbord, "julbord"). There were a lot of different fishes for the first plate/meal. As usual you eat until your stomach is overfull. No need for more food this day.

Before taking the bus back, we had time for a short walk. We were surprised to find Vindelälven frozen, but it wasn't that much more snow over all than in Umeå.

Christmas concert and potluck

1:30 pm the last rehearsal with Olle's choir before the real Christmas concert began downtown at "Kafé Station". At 3 pm the guests arrived, including Maria and Olle's uncle with wife.
The performance took about 75 minutes, 21 songs including talks in between.
The audience seemed to enjoy it, and the choir too. It is always much more fun to perform in front of an audience than just practicing. Olle had only had about three weeks to practice the different songs (the main part of the choir have performed most of the songs earlier years), but taking that into the account, it went quite good. A couple of songs were harder to sing, during these he leaned back a bit on the more experienced tenors.

Half past six it was time for the annual Christmas potluck for the choir. Most of the members showed up, some of them with their partners. We brought home baked bread. Even though it was a Christmas potluck, there were not that many typical Christmas dishes. Olle had some interesting discussions about choir life with one of the conductors.

Dissertation Dinner

An Australian guy had been pursuing his PhD for six years in the lab.
Today it was time for his dissertation, which he managed with great success during the morning.
In the evening there was a dinner with the title "Wild meats and great southern wines". The title was revealed as kangaroo and moose with roasted potatoes and chanterelle sauce. It was the first time we tried Kangaroo, it reminded us of rabbit/hare.
There was also a wine tasting with three different red wines from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
During the evening a spex (=amateur comedy theatre) about the life of the PhD student was performed. Maria was one of the actors.
We went back home about 1.45 am, but the party was far from over at that time.

First of Advent

We started yesterday with bringing the Christmas decoration box from the storage. Today we spread them in the apartment. All windows (except the bathroom) have now electrical advent wreaths and three of four rooms also got Christmas curtains, as long as four years ago we used them last time.
Unfortunately, we don't have snow for Advent. With some luck though, we at least have frost on the ground (after two weeks above freezing point). So some wintry feeling you could get at least.

In the afternoon we went to a office friend of Maria, to have mulled wine ("glögg") and cookies. Some Czech cookies on the plate as well, since we have a guest student in the lab right now.
Another way of getting Christmas feeling is to add cinnamon and cardamom to the coffee, at least something for Olle.

A hard work week

This week Maria started to analyze the huge amount of samples on the GC-MS. Since the 350 samples also needed to be modified before analysis, this meant Maria has been sitting pipetting for three hours a day this week - a hard time for her thumb.
Except some adjustments of the instrument during day two, the GC-MS instrument was running for 105 hours in a row starting Tuesday lunch. To be sure the instrument didn't stop working or a samples missed to be injected, a late check in the evening is a advantage. So around 10 pm Maria and Olle (thanks for the company!) biked to work, just to notice everything worked as it should. Saturday evening/night we both were glad the GC-MS run was over - it had been long days and not much of spare time this week (but time for exercise at IKSU in between working hours).
As usual the data analysis will take longer time then the data collecting. So Maria knows what she's doing the next month(s) or so. Doesn't help when you should use new programs and are not familiar with statistical analysis.

Campus Culture

During lunchtime today Maria went to listen to Stockholm Jazz Orchestra, one of the best big bands in the country. They were really good music players and and had a nice guest singer as well.

The fire(wo)man

Also this morning was for early birds, with moving out of the barracks and breakfast before 8 am.
Today's session contained more practical moments, out in the light rain. We had time for several accident scenes, where a few persons acted hurt (often unconscious) and three others were the first persons to arrive at the scene of the accident. What do you do with the hurt persons? Who do you prioritize? The person most severe hurt is usually quiet, while the chocked person without life threatening injuries screams most. Good learning moments to watch when you weren't participating yourself.

Another fun moment before lunch was when the fire engine came to the backyard. We all tried the fire hose, quite fun. Just before lunch time we took a ride with the fire engine. We all felt like excited kids.
After lunch there was time to conclude the course and then the sad good bye. When you finally start to know the others in the group, it's time to go back home to normal life. Of course we had the obligatory group photo in front of a fire engine.



Maria then had over an hour to wait for the small airplane to Stockholm. There she had another two hours before the flight back to Umeå.

(Maria thanks her friends for the photos)

What/How to do in emergency

Next morning arrived early with breakfast back at the fire station already 7.20 am.

Before lunch we focused on First Aid, learning how to handle different wounds.. We carefully went through the L-ABCDE steps: Life threatening situation - airways - breathing - circulation - disability - expose. The theory was mixed up with several practical moments, including how to do CPR ("HLR = hjärt-lung-räddning") and applying bandages. Everything is so different when you have tested to do the moment once before.







After lunch we watched some videos of fires/fire accidents, as well as discussing what to do/not to do. Then we all tested how to use a fire extinguisher on burning petrol. The teacher/fireman seemed to have fun starting fires all the time, of course in a controlled manner.





To the left you see what happen to a small fire when the hairspray bottle get warm - imaging it would be your bathroom (an excuse not to use hairspray :-).

Extinguish one of the three necessary components for a fire - fuel, warmth or oxygen.






The fireman also showed us why not to try put out boiling/burning oil with water - here it was only a small amount of water added to the pot. We all could see the use of a soucepan lid, baking tin or fire blanket instead.



Passing a maze in a smoke-filled room was another practical moment. Just to test how easily you get disoriented when you don't can trust your sight.

After an intensive day with a lot to learn, we had dinner together. The food was Swedish contemporary delivered to the fire station. It tasted really good after being active most of the day.
In the evening a few of us went to a local pub to have a beer. Maria were afterward known as the one with most glasses on the table, due to the three small beer tasting glasses next to the ordinary beer.

(Maria thanks her friends for the photos)

A first look at the fire station

Instead of having lunch Maria took the bus to the airport. Entertaining herself with a nice book she flew to Stockholm. There she just had time to change terminal before the next flight to Halmstad.
She was the first person to arrive to the fire station, where she together with 24 others from "the Swedish Blue Star" will join a two-day course in "risk and safety".
Introduction, a tour inside the fire station and dinner where the plans for the evening.
We then went to our "hotel" for the next two nights - within some military barracks. Bunk beds with six beds in each room and a common bathroom in the corridor. Nothing fancy, but we anyway won't spend much time there (went to bed short after arrival).

Winter equipped bike

Yesterday we bought a studded tire for Maria's bike and today we placed it on the front wheel. A new experience for us to have winter tire also for the bike, but several of Maria's friends praise it. Olle biked all winters in Lkg without any special tires. The winters in northern Sweden are longer though, so Maria feels it might be worth the investment. A comment will come further on...

Winter for a short while

This morning Maria woke up right in time for the sunrise (around 7.30). Not complete cloud cover for once. Relaxing reading time before breakfast.








In the evening there was a mysterious feeling outside, with the city light reflected in the clouds as well as in the snow. Not much darker than during daytime this time of the year.
Unfortunately, the snow may melt tomorrow when it will be normal November rain.

Tourist in Stockholm for a day

Maria's friend had to leave early today, so Maria had the day for herself. She decided to walk to Djurgården and spent a few hours at the Vasa museum (see post below).
The Nordic Museum ("Nordiska museet", established 1873) is dedicated to the cultural history and ethnography of Sweden from the Early Modern age (which for purposes of Swedish history is said to begin in 1520) until the contemporary period.

Some hours later Maria walked downtown. Stockholm is a pretty town to walk in, a many nice old buildings next to a lot of water.






On the way she passed the Royal Dramatic Theatre ("Kungl. Dramatiska Teatern"), which recently celebrated 100 years, as well as the Royal Opera ("Kungliga Operan") where the first performance was given already in 1773.








Stockholm City Hall ("Stadshuset", completed 1923) is the venue of the Nobel Prize banquet and one of Stockholm's major tourist attractions.
The House of Parliament ("Riksdagshuset") is located on Helgeandsholmen in Stockholm. The building was erected between 1897 and 1905.





The Stockholm Palace ("Stockholms slott") is the official residence and major royal palace of the Swedish monarch. (The private residence of the royal family is Drottningholm Palace). Stockholm Palace is located on Stadsholmen ("city island"), in Gamla Stan (the old town) in the capital, Stockholm. Completed 1760

The impressing Vasa warship

Already on the outside of the Vasa museum you see the height of the warship (52,5 m). In the large ship hall stands the impressing warship Vasa - the only remaining, intact 17th century ship in the world.
To get to know the history you could watch a video, as well as join a guided tour.
In front of you are a more or less intact 69 meter long ship made mainly of oak.



Sunday August 10th was the day of the Vasa's maiden voyage. The Vasa ship set sail and fired a salute. But only after a few minutes of sailing the ship began to heel over. She righted herself slightly - and heeled over again. Water started to gush in through the open gun ports. And the glorious and mighty warship suddenly sank!
A third of the 150 seamen was not found afterward, and the 300 soldiers were planed to go on board later.







The main reason for the Vasa capsizing was that the ballast was not enough (obvious from the cross section model) as counterweight to the 64 heavy guns, the upper hull, masts and sails of the ship .




When the Vasa set sail in 1628 she was one of the mightiest warship in the world. At most it could set 10 sails of a total 1,275 square metres. Around 700 sculptures and ornaments decorate the warship, an art treasure. Most of them relate, in a symbolic way, how the Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus wished the world to see him and Sweden. Strong, clear colours, in some places supplemented with gilding, were characteristic of the Vasa’s colouring.
(A 1:10 scale model of the ship shows how it probably looked like on its maiden voyage)


Most impressive is the sculpture -filled stern. Only a few parts are reconstructed and can easily be distinguished by the lighter tree against the blackened oak.









In 1961, the 69 meter long warship Vasa broke the surface of Stockholm´s harbour after 333 years on the sea bottom. The ship was sprayed with the chemical substance polyethylenglycol (PEG) during 17 years. It replaces water in wooden objects to prevent them from shrinking when dried, a way to conserve the tree for the future. Afterward it was slowly dried for another 9 years, and today a special air condition helps to keep all the tree intact.

(info mainly from The Vasa museum website)

The main congress day

Maria woke up earlier than planned and took a stroll in the neighborhood before breakfast. Several nice houses, probably hundred years old.





Next to these 'castles' were newer apartment houses, probably expensive condominiums ("bostadsrätter").

Thereafter the real congress sessions started. Quite intense discussions about the future policy document, now in the whole audience.
Nice two-meal lunch today as well, just hard to keep to the time schedule when so many of us should be served simultaneous.
After lunch there was time to elect a new board of the Union.

When the congress was over for this year, Maria took the metro to the north side of Stockholm. An old friend met her and she spent a nice evening and the night in their apartment.

The Naturvetarna congress

During the spring Maria was elected to be a representative for the Northern district of Sweden at the congress of the union Naturvetarna (Natural Science). Yesterday she took the plane down to Stockholm and a train to Saltsjöbaden. Arranging the travel early in the morning was not possible, so Maria stayed an extra night before the congress started at nine this morning. After registration it was time for a short introduction for all congress beginners, explaining the formal procedures during these two days.
At ten we started with the opening of the congress, followed by a speak given by the secretary of the Ministry of Education and Research. After a two-course lunch including nice views over the neighboring water, discussions in smaller groups filled the afternoon. Our group discussed future directions for the union regarding research and climate. Focus were around how can we improve the general attitude of natural science and get more people interested to teach/study the field.

We had time for a short walk in the neighborhood before we all gathered for the aperitif.
In the evening we were served a nice three-meal course. Our table was a nice mix of people, including a few insisting the dinner needed more songs. Some other seemed to think so too, since after our table (suddenly) sang loud, more songs were heard during the evening. The evening then continued in the bar, were live music entertained us all. Now knowing some more people Maria had a really nice evening. A strange situation though, when both Maria and a guy noticed each others faces, but didn't know where we had met before. Half an hour later the guy remembered that we attended the same German class in high school over 13 years ago.
The dancing/chatting continued until the bar closed, and after that a few of us had some small-talk before going to bed for a few hours of sleep.

New office tables

When two more girls arrived from maternity leave in September, we realized the office was not arranged for four persons in front of computers. Old crappy tables, not strong enough to hang the stationary computers as well as two of the girls hitting each others chair every time they moved a little bit. Not at all an acceptable situation. We argued for new tables to the room and finally these arrived today, after more than a month of delivery time. So now the office feels like a "new" office, with new tables together with the new office chairs we got a month ago. Both nice-looking and more functional.

Time for studded tires

Today we started the day with forgetting that it was no longer Daylight Saving Time. We would have been able to sleep one hour more than usual, but instead we started the day a little bit earlier. The main project of the day was switching tires on the car since winter road conditions is approaching. The studded tires have been laying around in the basement since May, but today we had to carry them up to ground level. It was quite easy to remove the ordinary tires, but the winter ones were a little bit harder to fasten because of short bolts. Eventually all four tires were exchanged and we took the car for a ride to see if the bolts were tightened enough (and also to get some food and other articles for the winter).

The bad thing with normal time is that it gets dark already before 4 pm, and it will get even worse as we get closer to the end of the year. Hopefully it will get better when we have some snow on the ground, but on the other hand I guess that we can try to avoid that for another month if possible.

First snow of the season

When we woke up this morning there was something white on the grass. Evidently, the first snow has arrived. It also seemed that most of the lake Maria is biking next to was covered, which means that it also had an ice cover. Perhaps not that thick, but still. Since it is still just October, most of the snow had melted away by noon.

Preparing for winter outdoor activities

Pretty soon, it will be cold and dark outside, most of the day. In order not to sit inside for the next five months also during daylight, you have to do something that takes advantage of the snow. Olle already has cross country skis, but Maria has not owned a pair for many years. Today it was time to change that. We went to the store, were she found a nice pair from last season (they were the same price with the discount as this year's simpler ones, which according to the sales person only would slow you down). You don't have to wax these, you can just hit the tracks whenever you feel like. We will pick up the skis (including boots and ski poles) tomorrow, since the bindings have to be attached to the skis.

New computer

One of our computers was sent in for reparation earlier this year. The screen on the laptop didn't function that well, among others the back light could shut down and be impossible to turn on quite often. The screen colors were not right either.
Today a replacement for that computer arrived. Evidently it was cheaper for the retailer to do this way than to repair it.
It is nice to also have a webcam again.

Moose casserole

Around four thirty we went to Olle's uncle who lives in the city. Beside us, the two cousins with families also arrived. Tonight's dinner was moose casserole. The uncle is a hunter, and today he shot his first moose ever (but the one we ate was from the beginning of the season). It was a really long time since we had game meat and it tasted good. We brought some home baked sour dough bread (we bake that 4 times out of 5 these days).

Exercise Saturday

Today we went to the first group exercise since last December for Olle, and the first one on the floor for Maria since we arrived in Umeå. You could feel that it was a while since last time, but hopefully your body will adapt quite soon.

In the afternoon we passed a big sports equipment shop, where Maria bought a new floorball stick. The old stick broke last Thursday, but it had been used for over ten years so it was time for a new one anyway.

A rainy day

Sunday was rainy in more or less intense showers. Dressed top to toe in rain clothes we were outside for a while. The niece and a friend took two of the ponies for a ride. Unfortunately, one of the horses so badly wanted to get back into the stable, were the other horses were meanwhile, so the pony was hard to steer.
Playing some card games inside, as well as bringing the rabbits to the basement, were more tempting. In the middle of the day some rain showers were really strong, so being inside was excused.
In the afternoon we took the night train back to Umeå. Another night of sleep in the seats, but at least better than a few days earlier.

Birthday party

We woke up to some rain and didn't hurry out after breakfast. Instead we baked cinnamon rolls.
We had planned to watch Maria's nephew driving motocross, but the rainy day didn't inspired to a longer training, so we went back home instead of going watching after dropping the niece off at a birthday party.
Parts of the afternoon passed by while we prepared the dinner for the birthday party in the evening (a la family reunion). Maria's parents and uncle showed up, together with the brother with full family. Naturally the newborn (2½ weeks old) niece were in center for a while. Adorable how small the perfect fingers/nails are.

A trip to the south

Thursday evening we took the night train south. To keep the price down we had normal seat tickets all the way (not beds). Unfortunately, we got bad seats with no possibility to tilt backwards and short distance to the seats in front of us. It wasn't a beauty sleep, more a few necessary hours interrupted often.

Friday morning we arrived in Nässjö and Maria's sister picked us up. We tried to spend this sunny day outside, dressed according to the weather. In the afternoon we picked up the kids after school, while the sister prepared dinner. The niece trained some pony jumping.
In the evening we all went to Maria's uncle for a real sauna (= heated by firewood). Also Maria's brother with his two sons showed up, as well as the parents, so almost the whole family were there. The kids enjoyed playing with water, a useful trick for making them like being in the warm sauna.

Fall is here!

Or is it winter? Anyway, now the night frost is here, covering both the ground and roofs.
Just a week ago the first snow seemed far away during the warm (late-summer) days, but not mornings like today. The premier snow has arrived early October other years, but in my opinion it can wait like two months more.
Maria brought the fall coat from the storage this morning. Biking without gloves is not a possibility anymore, or you won't feel your finger at all.

Via Ferrata to the top of the Skuleberget mountain

Around eight in the morning (left photo from an hour earlier) we started our way back to the south entrance.











Instead of going straight home when we came back to the main highway (E4), we just crossed to the other side: Naturum (Nature Centre) at the foot of Skuleberget mountain. The center provides an introduction to the park´s human and natural history, as well as an exhibition about the post-ice-age isostatic recovery of the land surface.

After about one hour there, we decided to take ourselves to the top of the mountain. But, not the ordinary hiking path.
(notice some "hikers" in the middle of mountain picture? Clue; yellow helmet)




Instead we chose to take the high road; Via Ferrata, a road up the mountain equipped with a fixed steel cable and some steps to put your feet on on the way.
We were equipped with a harness which had two carabiners attached to it, that way you always were connected to the cable with at least one carabiner. That is, you wouldn't fall to a certain death if you lost your grip of the cable. We were also equipped with helmets.
The first part of the "iron road" was quite simple, but then you really had to figure out were to put your feet, and at some places it would have been totally impossible (at least if you were not a quite experienced climber) to continue without using the cable. Your arms worked as much as your legs, if not more. Luckily there were a lot of places to take a rest at.

After about two hours we reached the top. It is quite strange to imagine that the top of the mountain was the coastline after the last ice age, but now it is 286 m (ca 940 ft) above sea level. The distance between the highest shoreline in the High Coast and its present shoreline is only approximately 2 km. The High Coast in Sweden has the highest isostatic land uplift in the world after the latest glaciation!

The cable way was one way only, so we took the ordinary path down to the nature center.












Around Skuleberget is a mix of vegetation more common south as well as north. We don't see many maple trees around Umeå, we do miss their pretty fall colors.









On the way down we passed a cave.