New Year on an island

On New Year's Eve we were eight of us (us two, Olle's parents and an uncle and an aunt with companies) who took a boat taxi to the cottage house off the coast of Östergötland. It wasn't warmer than -10 C in the houses when we arrived, but later in the evening we managed to get around 25 C in the larger cabin and about 18-20 C where we slept for the night. The water in the faucet was frozen so we had to connect directly on top of the water pump in order to get fresh water. You have to put up with some more work if you want to stay at the cottage even off season.

We had a nice dinner with champagne shaped ice cream as dessert.

During the next evening the snow started to fall, so the morning of January 2nd we had to shovel for easier access between the houses.

On Sunday the 3rd we drove back north again. This time the roads was more winter like. Not much of cars in our direction, it seemed more like most people were driving south from a trip to the Swedish mountains. Sometimes it is good to live in this part of the country :-).

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.

Time for vacation at the coast

Monday morning we packed for the third week of vacation, which we had decided to spend at the cottage house of Olle’s parents. Some food shopping on the way and then we met Maria’s parents and the two children of her sister, before taking the short boat ride to the island in the outer archipelago in Östergötland. We spent almost three days together, enjoying the outdoor life a lot. We had barbecue one evening, the next we went for swimming since the sun was shining so nicely. Not so warm in the water (17C anyway), but some stayed in the water for a longer time (read: Maria is usually late into the water, but even more late up).
During the days we went picking blueberries to lunch (the other lunch we had raspberries) and took a rowing tour to a neighboring island, when the weather was on the better half. The days were partly sunny and partly cloudy, with some rain as well – just standard Swedish summer weather.
Each evening we went to a nearby small hill to look at the three light houses visible from there, a relaxing end of the day before going to bed. We and the children slept in the same small house (more of a lot of smaller buildings there, then a big house with several rooms), and fell asleep at the same time as the kids.

On Wednesday our guests went home and we had a few hours (to clean up) before Olle’s parents came.

Thursday lunch we joined some friends to take a boat tour to the light house Häradskär. It took over an hour to go there since they had an open fishing boat not going so fast. We walked around on the island and had lunch on the cliffs. Before we went home our friend asked one of the few year-round locals if there was possible to enter the closed lighthouse – he was on a good mood and toured us. During an hour he told a lot of old stories both about the light house and how it was to grow up on an island in the outer archipelago. Except being really warm in the light house with the lamp on, it was really nice. A rare opportunity. The boat ride back home was dramatic, with over meter high waves, as well as more and more clouds.







Friday evening we went to the mainland to listen to the singer Lill Lindfors together with musicians.

Saturday showed up with really nice weather, so Maria would get a good ending of her vacation. Unfortunately, the wind had changed to west, so all warmer surface water disappeared from our normal swimming place (cold 13C) and you more washed yourself than took a swim tour.



Sunday afternoon we drove to the train station an hour away, since it was time for Maria to go back to Umeå. She took the night train to the north, this time in a sleeping car. Olle will stay for a while longer on the island.

Family reunion

Later on Saturday Olle’s sister with family also arrived to stay over night. Nice to see them since we didn’t have time meet in March, as they live several hours away.
Sunday morning was a relaxing one, with breakfast sitting outside. One advantage with living in a house, instead of an apartment.
Around lunch we all went to celebrate Olle’s grandfather’s 90-year birthday. All the uncles and cousins (except one) was there, so a real family reunion. You had a lot to talk about while enjoying the birthday cakes and later in the evening dinner, all prepared by the sisters-in-law. Good the house and the lawn are big, and the weather mostly nice.

To the South again

During last Saturday we drove to the southern parts of Sweden. It took around twelve hours, with just over nine hours driving time. We stopped after every hour and a half to switch driver, and every other stop we also had a longer food break. A little scary to realize how much we filled the trunk with our bags, but being away from home for three weeks means different kinds of clothes will be needed (rain or shine). Not to mention how full the car will be when driving up north again, when we probably will bring some stuff more.
The drive wasn’t too bad, but it took the whole day.

The coming days we spent at Olle’s parents’ house. All of last Sunday rained away, more of a socializing day. Monday we spent outside instead, i.e. cutting some brushes on the house lot and a long walk.
In the afternoon Maria went to pick blueberries for dessert. Together with the taste of strawberries with milk, as well as the gooseberry (“krusbär”) pie we had another day, these are true summer tastes.
A sauna can be enjoyable even in the summer, especially if there is a lake nearby. We went swimming a couple of times during our stay, even if it’s not only nice that the water lilies (“näckros”) like the lake as well, hard to find some area to swim.
We also meet some old friends, who we hadn’t seen for some years (not time for all friends during March).

Today we passed IKEA and Biltema, neither of which are present in Umeå, on the way to Maria’s parents’ house. In their attic we found two bags with hangers, which we missed to bring with us in March (we do need them).
When you opened the door, you have to be careful so the (outdoor) cats didn't slipped through the door. Anyway a welcoming view, and during our stay the cats got less afraid of us.

East coast island nature

Just after she woke up, Maria took some pictures of the island. If you compare with the landscape on the west coast a month ago, you will notice a big difference in the amount of vegetation. Much more grass and brushes on the east side of the country, while the other side is more rugged.

Why is it always sunny the day you have to leave? No one knows, but it was the case this weekend too. We left the island before lunch since we had to catch the early afternoon train and flight back to Umeå.

In the evening we went to bed earlier than usual, since we were so tired. Can somebody tell why it is so tiring to be outdoors for a couple of days?

Midsummer Day

Today we had even more rain than yesterday, but there were occasions when you could be outside now and then. Some work was done, we unpacked the small pool that was bought a while ago and filled it with water. Telephony installations was also performed.

Mostly we just enjoyed the time together with the family and relaxed. In the afternoon we all went for a walk. The well-known rocks is a welcome and peaceful sight.

Olle's brother started up the fish smoking equipment, that has just been waiting to be used for many years. Herring was smoked and the taste was really good.

In the evening we enjoyed the sunset, both from outside and from the dinner table through the window.

Typical Swedish Midsummer Eve weather

Midsummer Eve has more of traditional celebration than the National day here in Sweden. It's also a day off from work, so everyone can enjoy being outside. For some reason this day most often isn't a nice/warm summerday, rather colder temperatures and some rain is the standard. And so also this year...

Some campers found their own island to celebrate midsummer on.







After breakfast we and Olle's brother took a three hour long boat trip along the coast, in a traditional wooden boat. The goal was Olle's parent's summer house on a small island. We relaxed and enjoyed the landscape, which was more comfortable the moments when the sun didn't hide behind the clouds.

When we arrived it was time for the traditional Midsummer lunch, newly-harvested potatoes ("nypotatis") and herring. A snaps (herb seasoned vodka) was optional, but the songs obligatory.

Thereafter it was time to collect flowers for the Midsummer pole, arranged together on a small meadow. We met all summer neighbors again, as well as some new ones. We can admit it felt good to be back.

Before going to bed Maria went to look at the flashes from the lighthouses. Three are in sight from the island. It is so relaxing just sitting there and watching, it is quite except for the sound of waves. Even down here the summer night is not totally dark, even if it is lighter up north.

Even more boxes...

The next week we spent in northern Östergötland, where Olle's parents live. It's also here in their attic we have stored most of our belongings during our abroad-time. Both furniture and a lot of boxes, we will have no problem to fill a 2-bedroom apartment (3 rooms) of the same size as we lived in before in Sweden. To our disappointment not all the boxes was nicely packed, the last minute packing resulted in some half-full boxes as well as paper bags. We had better just do the work with getting everything into boxes, which will be nicer for the moving company (don't think they will move anything to the moving truck that is just lying around).

Maria showed up not to be resistant to the Swedish viruses, as she caught a cold and had a runny nose for several days (weeks).

During these days we transferred the hours we've filmed in the States from bands to external hard disk. Our laptop doesn't have the required connections, but now we can edit it later.