Lantis Lani

Småland vacation, day 2: High Chaparral

2011-10-08T21:20:00.001+02:00

The reason we chose to come to this area was a theme park called High Chaparral. Instead of rides, it has skits, shows and activities based on wild west themes in general and a the Belgian comic/TV series Lucky Luke in particular. Carl was a huge Lucky Luke fan, but we'd never seen it before. We arrived just in time for the Lucky Luke show which was the headline performance of the day. As one who grew up with the orderly lines of Disneyland, I was shocked by the lack of crowd control. A mob gathered in front of the arena's only entrance. Then the train came and forced its way through the mob. When they finally opened the door, everyone forced their way in with much pushing and shoving. There were some bleachers, but not nearly enough, so a lot of people had to stand or sit on the ground.

Lucky Luke is the good guy, and he is always catching the same bumbling bad guys who always escape. No more explanation of the plot was necessary, which is a good thing because the sound system was so bad that we couldn't understand the dialog anyhow.

After the show, we explored the rest of the park. It was a bit of a let down for one expecting Disneyland-like excitement, but on the other hand, it was calm, relaxing, and a nice way to spend the day socializing with friends. We rode the steam boat, the steam train and the stage coach. We poked around an Indian village and a Mexican village, and we had Mexican food for lunch. Taco Bell would have been proud--but then again, it was as good as expected for here in Sweden. The kids tried shooting a bow and arrow, throwing an axe, and panning for gold. Of course we bought them toy guns too, as every kid there ran around shooting everything that moved.

We also saw genuine Mexican dancers (all the way from Tijuana, Mexico) and Native American dancers (from Canada). Lina and I really enjoyed the Indian dancers. We also saw the Wild West (stunt) show which was quite good.

Unfortunately, by this time Carl was getting frustrated with the language. When we visited Astrid Lindgren's World a couple of years ago, he had no problem understanding what was going on even though all the characters spoke Swedish. This time, he had a much harder time with it.

To complete the evening, we attended the interactive Lucky Luke dinner show. Oddly, this started an hour after the park closed, so we passed the time at the pub which had a more modern show.

Lina was really into the interactive program and enjoyed acting. Carl was, shall we say, done. We had expected this to be the highlight of his vacation, but instead he mostly sulked and watched shyly from the sidelines while his mom translated.

Vacation in Småland

2011-10-07T20:40:00.005+02:00

Well I'm embarrassed. I can't believe I haven't blogged here since August, and hardly at all over the whole summer. Besides working (which you can read about in my photography blog), I did have some fun too.

One of the highlights of the summer was a mini vacation in July where we went to Småland with our Danish friends. Småland is in Sweden about 3-4 hours north of where we live. While that might sound like it's quite close, the landscape is actually quite different. While we live in Skåne, Småland is both topographically and culturally Sweden proper.

Småland is hilly and dotted with lakes. Conifers dominate the forests, and even the architecture is different.

Since we were relatively late confirming our plans, and July is peak season, we had a hard time finding a house or cabin to rent, but as it turned out, the house we found was perfect! It was on a farm with cats, dogs, sheep and horses about 15 minutes away from the tourist areas. The scenery was gorgeous, and the landlord was really nice and helpful.

We didn't arrive at our destination until mid-afternoon, so we took it easy, getting settled in and going grocery shopping. The kids really enjoyed bottle feeding Pyrett the lamb. I think Erik and I were more amused by Frank, her rather grouchy companion.

S is for summer and swimming

2011-08-02T10:32:00.006+02:00

For the first month after school gets out, the kids have swimming lessons every day, rain or shine. This costs only about $30, and they go together with their after-school program so I don't even need to make a special trip.

Lina made a lot of progress this year, and quickly achieved her goals. On the Saturday after the swimming lessons ended (July 9), all the kids and their families gathered for the closing ceremony. This year, the weather was absolutely perfect! One by one, their names were called and they splashed or swam across the poos according to their ability. Those who swam well enough to be in the deep side of the pool could jump or dive from the diving board or the high dives. Lina chose to jump from the 3 meter platform.

The kids who had reached a certain level of proficiency were then awarded a wreath of willow or oak leaves to wear as they completed their lap around the pool.

After that, the instructors threw candy into the pool for the kids to dive after. (Imagine a frenzy of hungry piranha.)

The best birthday party ever! (part 3)

2011-07-21T20:42:00.003+02:00

Finally, here come some goofy pictures that Amy took with a really wide angle lens. What fun!

The best birthday party ever! (part 2)

2011-07-21T19:21:00.005+02:00

Lina said it was the best birthday party ever, so needless to say, I'm quite pleased. Here are some candid pictures of the party (also taken by Amy).

On Lina's request, I made an "Oreo Cookie" cake. I was happy to do this because this is also one of my favorite cakes, extra chocolaty and dense.

The pinata was also a big hit.

When not being photographed, the girls enjoyed dancing and working on a craft project.

The best birthday party ever!

2011-07-21T18:54:00.005+02:00

It's embarrassing how bad I've been about blogging. There have been so many other more pressing things to do. There still are, so I'll try to make this quick.

Lina's birthday was in May, while Erik and I were in Germany. After that there was all the end of the school year stuff and a 3 week visit from my mom and stepfather. Therefore we postponed the birthday party until July second.

The theme for the party was model of the day. I would have loved to be the photographer, but sometimes I don't have time to do that and be a mom too, so I asked my friend and fellow photographer Amy Archer to take the pictures. She brought her portable studio equipment and encouraged the girls to accessorize and pose.

Here are some of my favorite model shots.

Sweden's National Day

2011-06-07T21:35:00.004+02:00

June 6th is Sweden's national day, previously known as flag day. Sweden has never had to win their independence from anyone, so it isn't celebrated with the enthusiasm as independence day is celebrated in the US or Norway, but Swedes do at least get the day off. In our little town, the national day is celebrated with picnics, and incredibly informal parade, and a speech.

The parade is lead by the marching band and drill team. They are followed by the guest of honor in a horse drawn carriage.

Each of the local clubs (such as the chamber of commerce, soccer team, and volunteer firemen) gathers at the start of the parade, and one member from each club holds a flag. The other members walk behind the flag.

We walked through town, and people came out of their houses to watch and wave. Some people joined the parade, others tagged along afterward at a safe distance. We walked to the soccer field where we were lined up on the field according to our clubs. The band played, the drill team twirled their batons, and a giant flag was raised.

The guest speaker was the press secretary for the police department, and she's widely recognized as a very entertaining speaker. Much to the horror of my gravel-in-my-sandals feet, we had to stand there in the middle of the field for this entire process.

Finally, we sang the national anthem (for which it would appear few know the words), and exited with a half lap around the field.

After that, the soccer parents sold hot dogs, coffee, and cookies. I was impressed by how many had come to watch, and probably more importantly, picnic together.

Pictures from Bremen

2011-05-30T11:53:00.003+02:00

You know I have two blogs, right? The other one (www.norekefoto.wordpress.com) is more of a professional blog for showing pictures, so I've put highlights from my pictures from Bremen there.

Bremen: been there, done that, took a picture

2011-05-22T22:26:00.005+02:00

On Tuesday, it was still dumping rain, so I decided to go shopping. The Swedish krona is strong against the Euro, and I think I could spot a clearance rack anywhere in the world, so there were bargains to be had. I was impressed that there were so many book stores in Bremen. I'd say there were at least as many book stores as there were shoe stores, probably more if you count stores specializing in sheet music. Here in Sweden, shoe stores abound, but book stores are hard to find. I have never seen a store that sold sheet music.

Tuesday evening was the big conference dinner at the Ratskeller (the wine cellar under the town hall). The atmosphere was lovely. While the wine buffs were disappointed, I thought the food was quite good for a buffet for ~100 people. The cream of wild mushroom soup was particularly good. I found it odd to be one of only 5 women at this dinner. All of the conference participants were men, and only a few had brought their wives. It would appear that standardization is still a guy-thing.

On Wednesday, it was not raining, so I walked around taking pictures of everything I'd seen the previous days plus a couple more areas. On Wednesday evening we went out for dinner with a large group of guys. Many were tired of German food since they also got that for lunch at the hotel every day, so they chose a Tapas restaurant. Again, it was a bit disappointing.

Several of us had been looking forward to touring the Mercedes factory on Thursday, but it turned out that the only English tour was long since sold out. Thursday morning it rained again, so I went shopping again. It cleared up in the afternoon, so I expanded my walking radius in the direction of the train station. That turned out to be a pretty scary part of town, so I returned to the historical district and walked along the moat instead.

I had also been looking forward to some good workouts at the hotel gym. It turned out that the gym was tiny with only a few free weights and 4 stationary bikes. I biked for a half an hour on Monday, but after that I did not bother to go back. I much prefer an elliptical cross-trainer, a stair master, or even a treadmill. Our suite had a bathtub (we do not have a bathtub at home), so over the course of the week, I got quite good at reading a book while soaking in the tub.

Erik had a late meeting followed by dinner and drinks with the guys, so I opted to eat by myself. I had white asparagus with new potatoes and hollandaise sauce at an inexpensive cafe. Yum.

On Friday morning, I did the tour of the historic town hall. Erik and one of his friends finished up early on Friday afternoon, so we went walking and souvenir shopping. We listened for a bit to the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, who was giving a big speech in the town square (undoubtedly having a lot to do with the elections on Sunday). We walked to another part of town which had been described to us as "a normal area where people live," but we ended up at a beer garden for dinner. Again I had white asparagus with new potatoes and hollandaise sauce. It was more expensive but still quite good.

When I was in Germany in 1989, I remember seeing a poster for spaghetti ice cream. I was fascinated, but didn't understand what it was or have the opportunity to try it. Since then I've seen it a few more times (but only in Germany). Bremen has an abundance of ice cream shops, and it seemed like they all had spaghetti ice cream. I can now read enough German to know that it is made of vanilla ice cream, strawberry sauce, and shaved white chocolate. Not being a fan of strawberries, I still didn't try it. On Thursday night, I discovered that the cafe had a chocolate variant of spaghetti ice cream, but I was too full to try it then. On Friday night, knowing that our dinner companion was a big fan of chocolate desserts, I suggested that we try this. The spaghetti turned out to be extruded soft ice cream which quickly lost any resemblance to spaghetti as it melted. It would have been much better with a high-quality thick fudge sauce instead of the ordinary chocolate syrup, but all in all, it wasn't bad, and my curiosity was finally satisfied.

Back at the hotel we remembered that we had coupons for free cocktails and beer at the bar. I metabolize alcohol so poorly that I rarely bother drinking, but since this was our last night to use the coupons, I figured I'd give it a try. I wanted something sweet and fruity without too much alcohol, so they made me a Cosmopolitan. It was quite good. Erik and his buddies were all drinking free beer, so I decided to try a Mojito. That was not at all as tasty, and after about 3 sips, I decided it was time for bed.

I did take a bunch of pictures in Bremen, and I'll post them when I get the chance.

Bremen, Days 1 and 2

2011-05-16T17:52:00.006+02:00

Well this is embarrassing. I hadn't intended to stop blogging, I just didn't get around to it for a while. Luckily it would seem that the only person who noticed was my mother, and I have long since reassured here that I was still alive.

I'm currently in Bremen, Germany, where my husband is attending a conference. I tagged along hoping to have a bit of a vacation like I did last year in Budapest. Well my first impression of Bremen is that it's nowhere near as interesting as Budapest, but hopefully that will change as soon as it stops raining. In Budapest, it also rained the first days, so I went to a museum. I tried that here, but the museums are all closed on Mondays. I later found out that they are only in German anyhow, so it really didn't matter. The cathedrals were open, so I went there. The famous cathedral had a large exhibit, but the signs were only in German. The quiet cathedral mood was completely destroyed by the hammering of renovation work, so I didn't hang out very long. The church across the square, nearly as large but not as famous, had an exhibit about Tjernobyl, but again, it was only in German.

I was pleased to discovered that the town hall, a Unesco world heritage site, was open. I was promptly disappointed to find that the only open part was an art gallery. There was a sign saying there were guided tours every day, so I went to the nearby tourist office to buy my ticket. It turns out that this week they were only doing tours on Monday and Friday mornings. I was too late. I was surprised that the tourist office really didn't have any suggestions for what an English speaker might do in town on a rainy Monday. All she came up with was the science museum which is all the way across town, and I really wasn't in the mood. Thank goodness for the internet. I can at least look information on the places I visited today and get inspiration for where I might want to visit when it stops raining.

When Erik was done with his meeting, we went for a long walk in search for someplace to eat. We found plenty of restaurants, but nothing that inspired him. We eventually ended up at the same place where we ate yesterday. I had french onion soup and a chef salad. It hit the spot.

Yesterday we drove down from Sweden. There was a lot of construction on the autobahn, so Erik found the drive more tiring than fun. It took about 7 hours to get here. Erik promptly ran into some colleagues, so we went out to dinner with them. We went to a nice restaurant where I had steak and mushrooms. The flavors were delicious, but the meat was tough. At least it wasn't all that expensive for a fancy restaurant.

So if it keeps raining, I might get around to telling you what I've been up to the past couple of months. Otherwise, I've got plenty of exploring to do.

A new challenge

2011-02-19T08:26:00.004+01:00

On Thursday, I delivered a two-hour lecture on Internet Marketing for my network of small-business women.

The network's board had been looking for somebody to do a lecture on the subject, but the person who had been recommended to us was not interested. I'd been to a couple of similar lectures and figured I could do something like that myself. It's been years since I led trainings with the San Diego Tracking team, and I've never done much public speaking in Swedish, but I figured I could do it.

It's a subject that I'm interested in, and I spent quite a bit of time gathering information and putting together a PowerPoint presentation. The PowerPoint part took a lot longer than I thought, taking up pretty much all of my working hours for the week preceding the presentation.

I'd originally planned on practicing by giving the lecture to a friend on Wednesday. We had a hard time getting our schedules to sync, so we ended up calling it off. As it turned out, I didn't even have a complete draft of the presentation until noon on Thursday. I spent the afternoon making fine adjustments to the animation and graphics. An hour before I'd planned to leave the house, I made the final saves, and went to print out my notes. Much to my horror I discovered that there was no way to print the notes without printing them together with the slide, one per page. That would mean 74 pages! I probably didn't have time to print that many pages, and I was already getting a low ink warning on my printer, so that wasn't an option. So instead of eating dinner and fixing my hair, I copied and pasted my notes, one at a time, into Word so I could print them out on four pages. I packed my laptop, threw on my clothes and a little makeup, and I finally made it out the door 10 minutes late.

My lecture was at a school, and while our access was through the main door, it was far from obvious which door that was. I taped a flyer on the door, but there were already people wandering around. Because it was hard to find and there were people who had said they were coming who weren't there, we waited. Unfortunately there were several people who did not show up, so there were only 12 people. I'd been hoping for more, but considering turnout at out network's events over the past year, 12 wasn't bad, and it included 4 first-timers.

We started the lecture 15 minutes late. I felt like I was off to a slow start, and the first few slides felt awkward, but I soon got into the groove. The first half of the presentation took one hour, then we had a break for coffee. 20 minutes later, I started up again. People had a lot of questions, especially about Facebook, and soon we were about to get locked in when the automatic alarm came on. I had to breeze through the last 15 slides, but then we packed up and got out just in time.

The next day, I was thrilled to find e-mails and Facebook peppered with comments praising my presentation. One does not get rich delivering lectures like this, but after spending so much effort on preparation, I do hope to be able to deliver it a few more times for other groups.

Next month, I'll be giving a lecture, also for entrepreneurs, on the use of pictures in marketing. I'm also thinking about doing a photography workshop for the same demographic.

Bonus points for Beethoven

2011-02-09T20:36:00.004+01:00

We saw The King's Speech the other day--fantastic movie! Reviews of the movie abound, so I won't bother with another recap. I'd seen some trailers and thought it looked interesting, then I saw my friend Romy's review and absolutely had to see it.

I love that it's based on a true story, and Colin Firth was incredible. I can imagine that it's a lot easier to fake an exaggerated stutter than to portray the tension and exertion of one trying oh-so-hard not to stutter. Reviews of the movie abound, so I won't bother with another recap. For me, the icing on the cake was the exquisite use of Beethoven in this movie. Now the allegretto from Beethoven's seventh symphony is hardly obscure, but in the climactic scene of The King's Speech, it was absolutely perfect. It starts off quietly, carefully, but not tentative, yet with underlying strength and determination. Then it builds, gaining confidence until it soars in triumph, all the while perfectly timed with the speech.

I was tickled to find out that I was not the only one who was thoroughly moved by this scene's use of Beethoven. This article even contains a link to the music.

I also saw Eat, Pray, Love recently, another movie for which I had high hopes. Unfortunately this one did not quite live up to my expectations. I haven't exactly read the book, but I did the next best thing. I listened to it on CD, all 11 CD's of it, read by the author. Needless to say, this took quite some time because I listened only in my car, and only when I was alone for more than a few minutes. By the time I was done and returned it to the library, I felt like I was losing a friend.

Julia Roberts was good, as usual, and the photography was nice, but I was hoping it would be more like the book. I guess that's the price one pays for compressing it down into 133 minutes.

I've also been watching Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Or I should say, I've been trying to watch this. I think I've tried three times now, and I fell asleep every time. Some people might find this blasphemous, but I've been getting less and less into Harry Potter with each movie, and I think he's finally lost me. I think I like the idea of the Harry Potter stories more than I like the actual films.

M & B's Excellent Adventure

2011-02-01T22:16:00.005+01:00

Last week we sent to see a slide show hosted by the local church. Normally we don't attend church events, but we were invited by our neighbors to see pictures from their trip to South America. It was so cute to see this retired couple recount their great adventure. Being dairy farmers, they had not had much opportunity to travel. B's brother has lived in Ecuador for a long time, but they'd never been to visit. Speaking neither English nor Spanish, the idea of foreign travel was daunting to them. Luckily M&B's kids decided that they were going to visit their uncle. They'd bring their own kids and their parents too for a real, multi-generational family adventure.

M&B were skeptical at first , but they soon realized that they were unlikely to get a better opportunity. For months, I saw them in training with their walking sticks on our dirt roads, not knowing what had sparked their sudden enthusiasm for walking.

I'm not going to go into the details of their trip, but I'll say that it moved me to see them showing pictures of the huge airplane that took 400 passengers. How easy is it to take things like that for granted? For one who's been traveling internationally since before I can remember, I was touched to relive the experience through their eyes.

They went to the Galapagos Islands, a big city, small towns, and a resort in the Andes. They encountered weird and wonderful plants, wild animals that were not the least bit scared of humans, and extraordinary scenery. They stood on the equator where they experimented with balancing eggs and pouring water down drains. They ate things they'd never dreamed of tasting. And after a few weeks, they returned safely home with suitcases full of souvenirs and a whole new perspective on the world.

Slicker than snot

2011-01-15T14:48:00.004+01:00

"Slicker than snot," is the expression my husband used to describe our courtyard one day. I must be living under a rock that I've never heard that expression before, but it cracked me up. The worst thing was that it was totally true.

Since the new year, it's been all about ice here. Driving is challenging; walking is even worse. The temperature has been hovering near 0 C/32 F, so the snow is melting. Some days it melts quickly, and the ice is covered with water. Other days it doesn't melt much at all, and the water covering the ice refreezes. Every now and then, it snows a little to add some fresh slush to the situation.

The slush covered ice track is a lot of fun. In our case, this usually happens where there are walls of snow on either side, so driving is like riding a bobsled down a slush filled track. The tires get caught in the ruts, so steering isn't an option as one bounces back and forth between the snow walls.

The dirt roads are solid ice. With a coating of snow, they're not too bad to drive on, but when it melts and refreezes, it's almost totally impossible. Thank goodness the Jeep has 4 wheel drive with the right kind of differential and really good winter tires. One night we came home to find a small car blocking the dirt road. It had not made it up the little hill with the S-curve, and it slid backwards so that it completely blocked the road. Erik tried to help, but even with his rubber-soled shoes, he had difficulty standing still without sliding down the hill. He was not able to get the car unstuck, but he did straighten it out enough that we could get by. (We wouldn't have left her if she hadn't insisted that it was ok--her husband was on his way with a truck.)

The asphalt roads may or may not be better than the dirt ones. The larger roads usually get enough traffic and salt that they stay relatively clear as long as it's not snowing or blowing too much. The smaller asphalt roads can be trickier. Around here, a lot of the smaller roads have been three-track roads where the center track is shared by traffic in both directions. This works fine until there's oncoming traffic, then somebody will have to move. I feel like everyone's playing chicken all the time because nobody wants to take their chances on the ice. Since I'm the one driving the car that is almost always the one better able to handle the uncertainty of the ice or deeper snow, I'm the one who yields. Sometimes the snow and ice is soft and slushy (hard to steer), and sometimes it's solid (think catching an edge on skis). So far I haven't had any problems, but when Erik met a full sized truck on a very small road, he pulled too far to the side and discovered that the road had been plowed over a ditch. The truck stopped and pulled him out of the ditch in only a couple of minutes, but I'm so glad it wasn't me.

The white Christmas continues

2011-01-14T14:37:00.011+01:00

The days between Christmas and New Years were all about snow and whether or not one was snowed in. There were a couple of times that snow drifts blocked the front door, so we had to send Lina out the window to go around and shovel the snow from the door. Unfortunately the snow was very heavy and she couldn't quite manage, so Erik had to jump out the window and help her.

Snow drifts also blocked the satellite dish which is mounted on the roof of the barn. We had to clear a lot of snow before the dish had a clear line of sight again. Quite a few buildings in the area had problems with roofs collapsing under the weight of the snow. Fortunately we have sturdy old fashioned construction with steep roofs, so it wasn't a problem for us.

My mother in law was supposed to come celebrate Christmas with us on Tuesday, but by the time she was done packing, she was no longer feeling up to it. She tried to come on Wednesday, but then her car died. We ended up bringing Christmas to her on Thursday.

We were all invited to a friend's house on New Year's Eve. We were there last year also, and I remember it being so cold out that the champagne froze in people's glasses as they made their toasts. This year, we must have run out of cold. The snow was melting and dripping off the roof, and the ground was covered in a good layer of ice with a good layer of water on top. It was also super windy, so drifts of heavy, wet snow blocked the roads. I baked a chocolate layer cake and a sherry bunt cake for the party. I also made some jello shooters. Our hosts are big fans of jello, but I don't think the other guests were so impressed. We shot off some fireworks at midnight, but fireworks really don't do so well when it's that windy. The rockets blew over the house and exploded lower than usual. Instead of cascading down, the sparks seemed to be blown out almost immediately. The wind chill also made it very cold, so most of us didn't mind the quicker than usual fireworks display.

January first was spent cleaning. January second was our annual neighborhood gift exchange party. Only four people came this year which I found quite disappointing. However, that meant there were lots of yummy things left over from my holiday baking.

As they say in Swedish, "Good continuation!" (of the holiday season).

Snow, snow, and more snow

2011-01-02T08:33:00.004+01:00

Erik finally got home from his two week speaking engagement in Beijing, Tokyo, and Seoul on December 20. There were a lot of things to do and not much time to do them. One of the things we skipped this year was the Christmas tree. I was afraid my daughter would be crushed, but she took it quite well.

December has been all about the snow. On December 23, we had a full on blizzard. We heard that even major roads were closed not too far from here, but we have a 4 wheel drive jeep, and my husband was determined to get out. After the neighbor came by with the plow, we were able to make it to a friend's house to celebrate his 40th birthday. He had been prepared for a lot of guests, but we were pretty much the only ones who made it. That must have been so disappointing.

On the 24th we were to visit friends in Denmark. We budgeted an extra hour for driving time, but that was nowhere near enough. It took my husband 3.5 hours with the backhoe to dig 100 meters to the neighbor's mailbox. We then tried driving out but promptly got stuck about 1 car length beyond where he had dug. While he was pulling the car out of a drift with the backhoe, the neighbor came with his big loader and started digging out the road from the other end. The drifts were far too deep and heavy to plow, so he had to take the snow one scoop at a time. It took about half an hour before both my husband and neighbor got that last stretch of road cleared, but then we were off. The neighbor recommended which route was likely the clearest, and while the road was at best one lane wide, we made it the 20 km into town. From there, it was like there was no snow problem at all. The roads heading west were nearly clear. (East was another story entirely, but fortunately not our problem.)

We arrived three hours late, but our friends were understanding and happy to see us. The weather conditions in this part of Sweden had even made the news in Denmark. They had saved some home made rice porridge for our lunch. Yum! We played a board game before dinner. The kids chose Monopoly, so we put a time limit on it.

Dinner featured roast duck, caramelized potatoes, boiled potatoes, gravy, red cabbage (both mine and the kind from a jar that her husband likes), and the fruit that had been stuffed in the duck. I am a huge fan of Danish caramelized potatoes, but I've always found it a bit odd that potato chips are served as part of the holiday meal. Dessert was rice pudding with almonds and cherry sauce. As usual, amongst all the coarsely chopped almonds was one whole one. The person who got the whole almond got a special present.

After dinner, we sang Christmas carols and danced around the Christmas tree. I'm always impressed that our friends have real candles on the tree. This year, they had electric lights for the first time as well, but the electric lights were not used until after the dancing was over and the candles extinguished. Next we opened presents, and finally we ate the cookies that I'd brought (pecan butterballs, spritz cookies, peppermint meringues, caramel popcorn, and fudge) with coffee and tea.

On the 25th, we took it easy, played with our presents, and enjoyed each others company. I think this has become as important a tradition for us as the meal and the presents. We ate leftovers and soup. We went for a walk, we played Monopoly again, and we did a puzzle.

It was so nice to relax after all the holiday preparations and stress. We'd originally planned on going home in the evening, but after calling the neighbor to check on the road conditions, we decided to stay an extra night. We drove home on the morning of the 26th, and by then the neighbor had plowed so it was no problem. We were a little concerned about how the cats had handled being left alone, but they did just fine. The only damage was that Lina's gingerbread house was a bit nibbled.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

2010-12-17T11:06:00.006+01:00

Yup, I might as well get used to it and make the best of it, because it looks like it will be a long and snowy winter. Since my last post in November, it has continued to snow. We got as much as an 18 inch base, then it blew around, and for all of one day, it started to melt. As of a couple of days ago, we were down to about a 6 inch base on top of a good layer of ice. Yesterday it started snowing again, and it's still snowing. This time it's a wetter snow, so it's compacting, but I'd say we've got another 8 inches.

My days have been all about chopping and carrying firewood and keeping the fire going in the fireplace. Despite that, it's still been cold in the house. But enough complaining.

On Monday, kids all over Sweden dressed up in white dresses, santa suits, or as gingerbread people. According to tradition, they wake their parents up in the morning by singing and delivering saffron buns. That has never happened in my household, but at my daughter's school, the do the Saint Lucia thing at the church.

A bit chilly

2010-11-27T07:20:00.005+01:00

It's been a while since I've blogged. I could say that while trying not to complain about the weather, I haven't been left with much else to say. However, the rain and sleet finally went over to snow a few days ago. We have about 6 inches of snow now, which is just fine with me. It's enough that everything is beautiful and white but not so much that it's really in the way. The roads are slick, but driving is still quite possible and the drifts are not enough to block the roads.

While it's not unusual that it snows here in November, it is unusual that the snow sticks for any length of time. It now seems obvious to everyone that we're in for a long and cold winter. According to US websites, they've been aware of the North Atlantic Oscillation (the same weather pattern we had which made for a rough winter last year) for a month already. I'm surprised that that didn't make the news here. Perhaps it would make the Swedish weather service look bad were anyone to mistrust them enough to look for a second opinion. Or perhaps it's news that Swedes just don't want to hear.

Electricity prices are sky high, so we're trying not to resort to the electric space heaters yet. The heat exchange system we installed a few years ago is dimensioned for having in-floor heating. Unfortunately our remodeling project has only come so long that we have this in two rooms. The rest of the house still has the old fashioned radiators, thus there is not enough heat to go around. Without supplemental heat, the heat exchanger keeps the house at about 15 C (59 F). Brrrrrrr! Thank goodness for the wood burning stove! At least it gets one end of the house nice and warm.

So why are electricity prices so high? Apparently water reserves are low in the major reservoirs because Sweden sold a lot of water based electricity to Norway over the summer. Norway of course has their own water power plants, but they were refilling their reserves so they'd have plenty for the winter. Sweden's not entirely dependent on water power; there are also some nuclear power plants. Last year, it was a big scandal that just in time for the hard winter, the plants were at only 50% output because they were down for maintenance. Did they learn anything from this? Apparently they learned that they can make a lot of money by jacking up the electricity prices when demand is high and the supply is low, because this year they are at only 40% output due to scheduled maintenance. Don't even suggest doing maintenance during the summer, because everyone's on vacation then. The worst thing about getting screwed by the power company is that it is government owned!

Österlen Lyser

2010-11-10T09:05:00.006+01:00

In 2005 an idea was hatched for extending the tourist season around here. November is generally miserable in this part of the world, so that wasn't easy. It's cold and dark and wet. The fall colors are off the trees, but it's not cold enough for snow to stick. What they came up with is Österlen Lyser. Österlen is the name of the area; lyser means shines or glows. Pretty much every little town in the area comes up with their own way to light up the night during the first weekend in November. Some have performance artists or artwork or fire or light. In the little town of Lövestad, it has become tradition to launch Asian paper lanterns then parade around town with torches. In short, it's a pyromaniac's dream!

I was impressed that over a hundred people showed up in Lövestad where the event was organized by the town chamber of commerce. Besides the usual chamber of commerce people, there were a lot of families with kids and even some people from the old folks home. They've been doing this for a few years now, so they've gotten pretty good at it. There were lighting stations set up for those who didn't want to kneel on the ground, and there were plenty of people who could show you how to do it.

My husband sold lanterns, and I ran around taking pictures, but we felt perfectly comfortable letting our daughter roam around. People were more than happy to help her light her lanterns.

We were lucky that it had stopped raining and it wasn't very windy. A steady stream of lanterns floated over town.

Eventually the wind started picking up making it more difficult to launch the lanterns. If the wind blew the lantern on it's side before it the flame had warmed the air enough for it to take flight, the warm air would escape. There was also a chance that if could burn a hole in the paper lantern. If this happened, it wouldn't take flight. Some of these damaged lanterns hovered near ground level and got blown into trees. Amazingly enough, nothing caught fire.

When the lantern launching started winding down, torches were distributed, and people formed a parade through town.

They stopped at the new sculpture park where some fireworks were lit, then they proceeded through town.

The final destination was a barn where a mystery guitarist performed. The kids were intrigued and tried to peek and see who it was. Eventually the screen was removed, but it wasn't anyone I recognized.

By this point, it had been over an hour since I could feel my frozen feet, so I was glad to get home and have a bit bowl of homemade chili.

Dismayed by democracy

2010-11-06T11:47:00.003+01:00

After a week of relatively mild but rainy weather, today is crisp and clear. I probably won't spend much time blogging before I go out for some manual labor.

It was election time again in the US, and once again I find myself disappointed and dismayed: disappointed that it will now be even harder for President Obama to accomplish anything, and dismayed by the impatience of the American voters. President Obama failed to perform miracles, thus we can turn our backs on him and leave his hands tied. This article (American Public Gets Exactly What it Deserves) seems to sum it up nicely. Yes, I realize that the Onion is satire, and it's not true in a literal sense, but I do believe there is a lot of truth in it. We do want instant gratification. Show me the money, and do it now!

I am also dismayed, no downright shocked, that Californians would once again elect Jerry Brown as governor. He ran the state into a financial crisis the first time. How on earth could people believe he could dig the state out of one? On a more positive note, I'm encouraged that the city of Westminster (near where I grew up in California) has voted to lift the ban on fireworks.

Closer to home, I recently spoke with a friend who was running for city council. "How'd it go," I asked, of course. It's been weeks since the election, so they had finally figured out the results. "Both good and bad," was his reply. There are 49 seats on the city/county council (complete overkill for a county of only about 18,000 people, in my opinion) and he's a member of the traditionally dominant party, so one might expect him to have a chance.

So here's where democracy totally breaks down. In Sweden, one votes for a party. Within that party, candidates are listed in order, and one has the option of checking a box for an individual candidate. These checked boxes can move people up on the list, or that's at least what they're for in a theoretical sense. My friend was in the middle of the list, so he would have to pass some people up in order to make it into the city council for his party. Exactly how many spots his party would have on the council depended on their percentage of the total vote.

It turned out that once again, his party dominated and got quite a few seats. Within the party, he got the second most votes. I started congratulating him, for certainly that meant he would get seat number two, right? Wrong! It turned out he didn't get a seat at all. Apparently all the people who had seats in the previous term got to keep their seats. Only if one of them decided not to continue would a new person have a chance of getting in. It didn't matter at all if anyone had voted for these people in years! Needless to say, they're all old white men, and many of them don't do anything to contribute to the city council except for warming a chair and collecting a paycheck.

Meanwhile, all over the country on all different levels, unholy alliances are being forged in order to keep the newly elected right wing/anti-immigration Sweden Democrats out of power. I'll try to put this into a context that my American readers might relate to. Imagine a system where conservative republicans were on the right, ultra-liberal democrats were on the left, and there were 5 or more other parties in between. Now shift this entire scale so that moderate democrats are on the right, and communists are on the left. Now none of these 7 major parties gets enough votes to lead on its own, so they have traditionally divided themselves up so that 4 are on the right and 3 are on the left. While these parties can change alliances, it's not likely to happen. What happened this year was an eighth party with unpopular and politically incorrect ideas got voted into power not only on the national level but also in quite a few local districts. The election was close enough that neither the right or left alliance got a majority nationally or in a lot of districts, so this eighth party suddenly gets the swing vote. We don't know yet how this is going to work out on a national level. They'll probably have to try to negotiate new alliances for every issue that comes up. However, some local districts have solved this problem in a different way. The largest party on the right and the largest party on the left have formed an alliance and completely shut out all of the other parties. Needless to say, the other parties aren't too happy about this. The worst thing is, many of the people who voted to these two parties aren't too happy about it either. Clearly a lot of compromise will be needed in order for an alliance between conservative republicans and liberal democrats to be able to generate anything. Most likely, the result will be a whole lot of nothing.

Is the sky falling?

2010-10-20T21:32:00.005+02:00

Not wanting to complain about the weather, which has actually been relatively nice if a bit cold, I haven't had that much to say. Keeping busy as usual, I guess.

My husband's been in China for the last week together with a friend. They went to the world's largest tool show.

My daughter had a friend sleep over for the first time last weekend, and it went surprisingly well. I suppose it helps that I pointed out to her that if she misbehaved, it would be a long time before she'd get to have a friend spend the night again. I was particularly impressed that as soon as the Disney movie they were watching ended at 8:15, they promptly got ready and went to bed. At 8:45 I pointed out to them that if they wanted me to think they were sleeping, they should at least whisper instead of laughing at full volume. It got quieter, and I was totally shocked that at 9:00 it was actually quiet for real. They slept until 7 AM.

On Sunday, none of her friends were available to play, so we ended up baking first blueberry muffins for breakfast then cupcakes for dessert. In between, we made a quick visit to friends who showed us some meteorites that they had collected.

On Tuesday morning, my daughter showed me a "meteorite" that she'd found at school. At first I was very skeptical, expecting an ordinary rock with a dose of imagination. Then I realized that the rock was unusually heavy, and magnets stuck to it. What were the odds of a child finding a meteorite in the grass at school? About the same as getting struck by lightning, I figured. It was much more likely that a meteorite had found its way into her pocket when we were at our friend's house, and that thought made me sick to my stomach.

When I picked her up from school, I explained to her my views on the situation and gave her several opportunities to take back her story, but she stuck to it. We called our friends and they agreed to take a look at it the next day (and check if anything was missing.)

It turns out that the stone really did look like a meteorite, but not one of our friends' meteorites. They did some tests on it and determined that it was some iron slag, perhaps as much as 2000 years old but not from outer space. I guess we'll have to find an archeologist to show it to, but best of all, I'm so relieved to find out that my daughter was telling the truth after all. I feel pretty bad for not trusting her, and I hope that doesn't leave her scarred for life.

Fall has fallen

2010-10-04T20:21:00.003+02:00

The weekend of the election was the last of the "summer" weather. After that, somebody threw a switch and the temperatures dropped from around 18 C/64 F to 12 C/54 F pretty much over night. (OK, summer ended for me already when we came home from California at the beginning of August because I really don't consider 18 C/64 F to be summer weather, but I'm spoiled.) I awoke Monday morning to fall colors and fog. Since then, I've been freezing. However, I did hold out until October before breaking down and putting on my long underwear or starting a fire in the fireplace.

Last Saturday, we were invited to a party on an old London bus. It was hilarious watching people come out of their houses to stare and even take pictures as the enormous double decked bus bounced and lurched its way through the narrow streets of residential neighborhoods picking up other guests. The kids thought this was loads of fun. The traffic that was eventually stuck behind us was probably less than thrilled.

The bus was eventually parked beside a lake and the bus driver got a ride home. The bus wasn't heated, so we were all bundled up. The kids ran around and played, and the adults settled in at the dining table upstairs. From there, we had a nice view of the lake, the sunset, and the enormous flock of birds or bats that circled the lake after sunset. We had each brought our own food and beverages, but there was plenty of sharing going on. Several people, including our host, brought crayfish. That was good for my husband, because I never cook those stinky little bugs. I brought s'mores brownies. Yum!

Unfortunately, every time somebody moved around on the bus (which was pretty much continuously considering the kids were downstairs), the whole bus swayed a little. As people drank more, they would make the bus rock on purpose too. For me, this was just enough that I was on the verge of being motion sick the whole time. I wasn't sick enough that I wanted to go sit outside by myself in the dark, but it was enough that I wasn't having that much fun. I took some Dramamine, and I think that made me a bit sleepy. I would occasionally close my eyes and go into the "sleep through the turbulence" mode that has pretty much become instinctive for me. I know this is really rude, but I couldn't help it. I was pretty embarrassed.

The kids were begging to go home by the time they finally called the driver to come take us back to town, and it was midnight by the time we got home. I know that's really not late, but I was mighty glad to get home.

Election Drama

2010-09-21T19:13:00.002+02:00

It turns out that the "racist" party got 330,000 votes which is more than either the Christian Democrats or the Leftists (two of the seven established parties.) The thing is that even with the multi-party system, it really comes down to the ruling coalition and the opposition coalition, and they are expected to always vote together. It would appear that everyone's very obedient and votes according to their party and their party's alliance. While one may vote for individuals within the party, the individuals do not behave as individuals, so I and doubtful how much it matters.

Anyway, it would appear that neither the moderate alliance nor the socialist alliance has the majority, and the racist party is given the extremely powerful position of the swing vote. Or they would be, but all of the other parties have refused to cooperate with them. The winning Moderate party is embarrassing themselves by trying to court the Green party, who are in turn laughing at them.

I won't go into a lot of detail here, so for more background information here's articles from CNN and Fox News.

What bugs me is that everyone is so caught up with distancing themselves from the evil racists, that they may be overlooking the more important stuff. First of all, I don't think it's really a matter of racism; at least for most people, I think they're capable of looking beyond skin color. It may be more of a cultural racism based on religion or a general xenophobia, but I suspect it's more than that. What I really think it is, is a backlash after years of being unable to even discuss the issues of immigration and integration. If anyone even dared to suggest that integration policies were ineffective or that immigration policies should be changed, they were automatically labeled racists and shunned by all. In the meanwhile, ever increasing numbers of immigrants were pouring into ghettos where they had little or no reason to learn the Swedish language or culture, unemployment was rampant, and crime was on the rise. In the rest of Sweden, tough economic times and cuts in welfare and social services effected everyone. I would be more surprised if people weren't resentful.

The last time a xenophobic party held seats in parliament in the 1990's, 70 % of Swedes felt immigration was a problem. This year, the number was only 40%. ONLY! Had the others really changed their minds, or had they learned to keep quiet? And what does it say about the state of democracy when an opinion held by 40% can't even be discussed? Perhaps the established parties should consider themselves fortunate that the unmentionable got less than 6% of the seats in parliament.

Democracy in action?

2010-09-19T17:07:00.003+02:00

Today is election day in Sweden. Since I had time, I voted yesterday. One thing I'll say in favor of the Swedish election system: it's very convenient. About a month before the election, you get your voter ID in the mail. You don't need to register to vote; if you're eligible you get one. Just don't lose it! With the ID, you could vote by mail, or you could go by one of the designated early voting places, or you could bring it to the polls on election day. There are 3 early voting places in the county, and one of them just happens to be the local post office/lottery ticket outlet/florist that I drive by every day.

For a country that prides itself on being democratic, high-tech and environmentally friendly, I find it odd that the process of voting is none of these. To vote, you stick a little piece of paper in an envelope. We only get to vote for 3 things: city/county council, the regional governing body (Skåne in this case), and the national congress. There are seven major political parties and several more minor and local ones. For each of the three election categories, each party gets a pile of little pieces of paper with their candidates on them. To cut down on the confusion, these are color coded: white, yellow, and blue. Before the election, almost all of the political parties send a few sets of these pieces of paper along with their propaganda to each household. You can bring them when you vote, or you can take them at the poll or early voting location. There are racks of these papers out in the open, so everyone can see which party's papers you take. If you want some semblance of privacy, you could take one of each then throw out the unused ones, but that's a lot of wasted paper! For added amusement, rival political parties like to accuse each other of throwing out their papers.

You then take your little pieces of paper to a tiny triangular desk behind a screen, and stuff one of each color into an envelope. If you wish to vote for a specific person within the party, you may check their name on the list on the little piece of paper, and that moves that name to the top of the list. The number of votes a party gets determines the number of seats they get, and they take the those people in order from the list. There are no primary elections to sort out the candidates, so this isn't so good if you don't like the people on the top of the list. Do you risk trying to elect an individual who you do like in a party that otherwise doesn't impress, or do you play it safe? Of course, this isn't usually much of a problem since I haven't actually heard of most of the people on these lists. We don't actually get to vote for important posts like the prime minister. We vote for the party, and the party chooses the leader.

I was thinking about how Sweden could get away with such a low-tech system with envelopes, and I realized it's because people only get to vote for three positions. Even though there are 49 councilmen for the local city/county council, we only get to vote for one. And one at the state/regional level, and done regional representative at the national level. We do not vote for sheriff, or attorney general, or controller, or school boards, or judges, or even dog catcher. In some ways, that's kind of a relief not to have to care about such, but I suppose the result of that is the incredibly rigid bureaucracy.

I find that I actually miss all the referendums and propositions. We don't get to vote on the issues at all. We're supposed to select a person or party to represent us, yet we often have no idea what they stand for when it comes to the specific issues. At the national level, the party leaders have debates, but we don't get to hear what the people that we actually could vote for think. Everything is very ideological with a phenomenal lace of concrete solutions. This becomes even more frustrating at the local level where even the ideologies seem to break down. At the local level, at least I know what the issues are, which is more than I could say for the regional level.

I've noticed some other things about democracy in Sweden that I find rather alarming. First of all, you can't be conservative without everyone calling you a racist. The worst thing is that the parties that come closest to being conservative actually are racist (or at least openly anti-islam). But just because their opinion makes some people angry, it appalls me that they aren't allowed to voice it. TV and radio stations censored or pulled their ads. Even mailmen refused to deliver their ads. Left wing parties organize protests to shout down anything that they try to say in pubic. They refer to these parties as anti-democratic, yet it seems to me that the reaction to them is what's anti-democratic.

Tragedy on the road

2010-09-07T10:53:00.003+02:00

Sunday was a busy day for us. I had volunteered to sell coffee and lottery tickets for the local Chamber of Commerce at the town fair. The weather was beautiful and sunny, so . It was very hectic, and even though we were two people at the booth, we couldn't keep up. One person was often off buying more or something, and we had the world's slowest coffee maker. To make matters worse, the filters were the wrong size so the grounds escaped, and it didn't turn off when you removed the pot, so one person had to hold a cup to catch the drips while the other poured coffee. We were directly across from the stage where a reggae band was performing, so we couldn't here what people were ordering or ourselves think. After two hours, I was totally exhausted.

I had exactly 7 minutes to look around the fair, but when I wanted to get something, I realized I didn't have enough cash left after the morning's visit by the ice-cream truck. I didn't have time to run to the ATM, so I just ran back to the car where my husband and daughter were waiting.

We were on our way to look at a new car. My husband had very specific ideas about which car we should get so I would have something to drive in the winter which wouldn't get stuck in the snow all the time, and there were very few for sale in the entire country. We'd looked at a couple, but they were very rusty. My husband was ready to drive over 3 hours to look at one last week, but it sold too fast. This one was less than an hour away. I had a headache and a sore throat (on top of the cold I've had for the past several days), so I was looking forward to a relaxing car ride.

We were driving through the forest about half way there, when a fallow deer bolted into the car in front of us. I saw the whole thing, and it didn't feel like slow motion. The woman who was driving didn't have a chance to avoid it. It was so close that if she'd had enough time to hit the breaks (which she didn't) the deer would have hit the side of her car. The poor creature's neck was probably broken immediately, but seeing it tumble and roll quite some distance along the side of the road, I knew there was no hope for it. We both pulled over immediately.

My first reaction was to call our good friend who hunts in and takes care of our forest. He was also a hunter for the county, so he'd know what to do, and he lives nearby. He'd also would know what to do with the venison. Unfortunately, he was busy, so he told us to call the police. A police report would probably be necessary for the driver's insurance to cover the damage from the accident. The people in the other car were quite shaken up, so they were appreciative of our help. Two more cars stopped, both probably wanting the venison. They both left when they heard we'd called the police.

The worst thing was that my daughter was in the car. I don't know how much she saw, but she did get out and look at the dead deer. She was really sad and cried several times. The worst thing was that this deer was a mother. Her youngster almost followed her onto the road, but it turned in time and disappeared into the forest. We could see that she'd still been nursing, and there was no way that the orphan could survive the winter.

If the system was working correctly, the police would figure out who had the hunting rights for the forest from which the deer had run, and contact them. They if they chose not to collect the dead deer and hunt down the orphan, the county hunter should be contacted to take care of it.

We ended up buying the car, so we drove by the same place on Monday night. The carcass was still there and beginning to bloat. What a terrible waste of venison. And somewhere out there, there's a very lonely little deer.

Kingman, Barstow, San Bernardino...

2010-09-04T10:41:00.004+02:00

Before leaving Kingman on Sunday morning, we went to the Route 66 museum there. It was interesting to learn how the road started off as a trading trail for the Native Americans, was used by the pioneers, became the path for the railroad, and eventually paved because of the logistics requirements of World War II. Route 66's demise was also related to WWII as Eisenhower built the interstate highway system based on the German autobahn which Hitler built.

West of Kingman, Route 66 went from a relatively straight road following the contours of the desert to a winding mountain road through a mining area. We stopped at Oatman, an old mining town which has evolved into a tourist destination. Besides the giftshops, Oatman is known for it's donkeys.

Donkeys were used as beasts of burden in the mining industry. Some were released into the wild when they were no longer needed (and I imagine some escaped), forming a wild population of donkeys in the Oatman area. Lacking a true wild animal's fear of humans, the donkeys come into town looking for handouts, and both the tourists and locals are happy to oblige. There's a stand that sells carrots for the tourists to feed to the donkeys, and the tourists buy more than just carrots.

After Oatman, we followed Route 66 to the Colorado River. As much as we would have liked to take Route 66 as much as possible, we needed to get back also. Vacation was over, and my husband needed to work the next day. We got back on the interstate for the long drive through the desert. In Barstow we took a brief detour to take the historic Route 66 through town where we stopped for ice cream. This is when we noticed that our daughter was not well. It was late, and we were all tired by the time we got to San Bernardino, so we did not stop there.

Get your kicks...

2010-09-02T14:08:00.005+02:00

On Route 66! Yes, I had the Manhattan Transfer version of this great song stuck in my head the entire time we drove along Route 66. Or course, we have that song to thank that I even thought of doing Route 66 on this vacation. I was looking at a map trying to see what is about halfway between Lake Powell and Santa Ana in order to break up the very long drive, when I saw Kingman. Immediately the lyrics, "Kingman, Barstow, San Bernardino..." popped into my head and I suddenly had a plan.

Being interested in anything having to do with automotive history, I knew my husband would be into this. One of our all time favorite kids movies is Cars. We must have seen it a hundred times. This is essentially a movie about Route 66, so I knew there would be a hook to interest my daughter also.

We got on Route 66 just west of Ash Fork Arizona. I love that part of the country which really has that wild west wide-open-spaces feel to it.

We stopped shortly thereafter at Seligman, a town which clearly was well studied by the creators of Cars. We later found out that while this town nearly dried up and blew away, it was saved by the passion of one man who revived interest in the historical Route 66. While nearly everything was closed by the time we got there, and we eventually met our craving for ice-cream from the freezer box at a gas station, there was still one gift shop open. Since my husband collects license plates and such, he got a souvenir sign for his garage.

While most people get off the highway only to visit Seligman, we continued on Route 66 all the way to Kingman. It was a beautiful drive!

At home...

2010-09-02T09:14:00.002+02:00

It's been a while since I've written about what's actually happening now. I guess that's because there isn't much happening now. School started a couple of weeks ago. My daughter's in the second grade now and loving it. She's still playing the violin, and she's taking a dance class too. Soccer is a bit up in the air since she's age-wise between teams. She's at least two years older than the kids in the younger team, but she's not ready to compete with the older team. I've asked if she can practice with the older team (but not compete), and we're waiting for their response. She has quit the piano since she had a hard time getting along with the teacher.

I'm still involved with my network for female small business owners and also with a group helping with integration for immigrants, and both of these groups have started up again after the summer.

I'd been hoping for some late summer weather, but that hasn't really panned out. There are some beautiful days like today, in between all the rain, but it's not warm. I've been faked out a couple of times and went out in short sleeves only to regret it later. The nights are downright cold, and the leaves are beginning to turn yellow.

My husband's been in the US again--gone 2 week, then home 2 weeks, then gone again. He's home now, but it still feels like I'm doing the single-parent thing.

Now I've got a cold now too. Bummer.

The World's Biggest Hole in the Ground

2010-08-31T21:48:00.006+02:00

Having been to the Grand Canyon (south rim) several times now, I really have a feeling of "been there, done that." However, it's definitely something that's worth seeing once, and I wanted my daughter to experience it. Sure, it's beautiful, but what really gets me is the challenge to ones sense of scale. It's just so big!

It was cloudy the day we were there, so the light was a bit flat and not the best for photography. We drove around and stopped at quite a few of the viewpoints.

We also stopped at an archeological site and had a quick look in the museum. It just so happened that we were just in time for a ranger-led activity. There were tons of people around, but surprisingly only one other couple participated. The ranger talked about the animal figurines made from willow bark that have been found in nearly inaccessible caves in the canyon. While they look like toys at first glance, their locations suggest that they were ceremonial. The ranger showed us how to make the figurines using giant twist ties. I teased her a little about the "traditional" materials, but they were apparently donated by a sponsor, and who has time to gather and soak willow bark these days anyhow?

The sun finally peaked through as we were getting ready to go, but by this point we were too hungry to take advantage of it. Our visit to the Grand Canyon was short, but worth it as my daughter was duly impressed.

Cameron Trading Post

2010-08-27T18:38:00.005+02:00

On Saturday, we said farewell to Page and headed to the Grand Canyon (south rim). We'd previously been planning to go to the North Rim, but it was just so out of the way. A swing by the South Rim would increase our driving time by less than an hour (not counting all the stops, of course) so we decided to do that. We knew it would be crowded and lack the intimate experience, but it would still be worthwhile to show our daughter.

At the Blair Trading Post in Page, they'd mentioned the Cameron Trading post, so we stopped there to look around. Part of it is a gigantic gift shop with all the usual trinkets. The other part was a gallery with museum quality Native American art and artifacts. That was definitely worth the stop. I marveled at the baskets, rugs, flutes, sand paintings, and jewelry. There was even some photography printed on canvas. I was pleasantly surprised that they allowed me to take pictures.

There were traditional baskets as well as more colorful ones with modern patterns like horses and butterflies. They even tiny little baskets made of horse hair.

Lee's Ferry

2010-08-26T21:19:00.004+02:00

On Friday we opted to beat the heat by spending much of the day in the car and taking a road trip down to Lee's Ferry. Because of the deep canyons, Lee's Ferry was once the only place to cross the Colorado River in all of Arizona.

Near Lee's Ferry is the modern way to cross the river, the Navajo Bridge. On the bridge, perched three California Condors. Seeing Condors in the wild was one of the highlights of our trip.

There were some interesting geological formations, including balancing rocks.

Upstream of Lee's Ferry, the Colorado River is a beautiful green; downstream it is brown. Where the Paria River joins the Colorado, it is brown on the left and green on the right.

There's also all sorts of historical remains. We did a one mile hike along the river and historical sites. The heat and humidity made this all we could handle.

Twilight in Page

2010-08-24T20:57:00.006+02:00

I'd been looking forward to doing a bit of Page's rim trail after our pretty good Mexican dinner, but our daughter was having such a good time playing with kids at the park that we got a late start.

It was already after sunset when we got to the trail head, so we didn't go far. The light over Glen Canyon and Lake Powell was fantastic.

When it got too dark to take more pictures, we went back to the scenic overlook. We'd learned from the Hummer tours owner that the locals referred to it as the white house because of the way the dam was lit at night. He liked to go there at night because it was so quiet that one could hear the river and the turbines in the dam. We got there as twilight was fading, but our eyes adjusted quickly to the dark. There were bats flying around and an entirely different mood to the place--quiet, peaceful, mysterious.

Off the beaten path

2010-08-23T20:35:00.003+02:00

For more of the stories behind these pictures, please see my previous entry: Too Hot to Blog, Part 2.

The Hummer tour we'd booked got canceled due to flash flood warnings, so instead of the "Secret" slot canyon, we asked them to just take us off-roading. My husband and daughter love off-roading. We used to do quite a bit in the Anza Borrego Desert in San Diego. I've always had a thing for thunderstorms in the desert, so getting to experience one up close was quite a treat for me. And of course, the scenery wasn't bad either.

It was particularly interesting to watch as the water accumulated in a dry wash and formed a river right before our eyes.

Blair's Trading Post

2010-08-22T12:21:00.004+02:00

For more of the stories behind these pictures, please see my previous entry: Too Hot to Blog, Part 2.

The private collection at Blair's Trading post has to be the hidden treasure of Page, Arizona. The trading post itself looks like just another shop in a strip-mall, except it has a pawn-shop section in back. There were no signs advertising the collection, and they didn't charge admission, but the owner was happy to show us her father's treasures when we asked. Over the years, he'd kept the best of the things for which he traded. Not only were there beautiful and valuable pieces, but there was also a historical context.

The majority of the things were Navajo, who are well known for their weaving and jewelry, but there was also Hopi and Zuni.

I'm a fan of Native American baskets. I even took a workshop where I learned the basics, so someday when I have time, I hope to give it a try again. This magnificent basket was Hopi.

Lake Powell

2010-08-20T20:55:00.005+02:00

For more of the stories behind these pictures, please see my previous entry: Too Hot to Blog, Part 2.

After Antelope Canyon, we drove down to the marina at Antelope Point. We hoped to rent a kayak and explore the flooded part of Antelope Canyon that way, but it was too windy.

There were no jet skis available there, so we went up to Waheap Marina. No luck their either, so we went to the beach near Waheap.

From the viewpoints near Waheap, we could see great views of the dam, Navajo Mountain, and the Navajo Generating Station. Considering that the dam is a source of hydroelectric power, I wonder how necessary the coal powered Navajo plant is. I imagine it's a good source of income for the Navajos, but it seems so contradictory that a tribe with such close cultural connections to the environment would run such an environmentally unfriendly facility.

Later that afternoon we walked out to a scenic viewpoint overlooking the Glen Canyon Dam.

Antelope Canyon

2010-08-17T22:00:00.008+02:00

For more of the stories behind these pictures, please see my previous entry: Too Hot to Blog, Part 2.

These are pictures from lower Antelope Canyon. The entrance to the canyon is an unassuming narrow crack in the ground that would be easy to ignore, but once we squeezed through, there were stairs to help us negotiate the steep parts.

Upper Antelope Canyon is apparently more popular, and this time of year, it's described as a human conveyor belt. Since I had a photographer's pass and didn't have to keep up with the tour, I got to enjoy a bit of solitude as my fellow photographers and I spread out through the quarter-mile long canyon. The experience was absolutely magical. Because of the angles of the canyon walls, beams of light reach the floor of the canyon at certain times of day in the upper canyon, but not the lower canyon. Since it was cloudy the day we visited, this wasn't an issue.

The solitude was broken briefly when a group of Japanese tourists hurried by, giggling and snapping pictures literally on the run. I can imagine that their experience of those few minutes in the canyon was not very similar to mine.

The mood was heightened by the music that our guide played on his flute.

I can't wait to go back and see the upper canyon and it's sun beams, but I'll try to do that in the off season.

For more of my pictures from Antelope Canyon, see my other blog.

Glen Canyon & the Glen Canyon Dam

2010-08-12T09:33:00.006+02:00

For more of the stories behind these pictures, please see my previous entry: Too Hot to Blog, Part 2.

A great place to view the Colorado River in Glen Canyon is Horseshoe Bend. Because of shadows, it is best seen around the middle of the day. We went out there a little after 10 AM, and it was already oppressively hot and humid with thunderstorms in the distance. Despite our discomfort with the short (1.5 mile round trip) hike, it was well worth it.

From here we could admire the magnificence of Glen Canyon and wonder what the rest of it was like before it was filled with water. I remember reading things by or about Edward Abbey and David Brower and wondered how it was that even the Sierra Club made only a halfhearted attempt to save Glen Canyon. I guess it was its isolation which was its undoing; because so few people had been there, their voices were easily ignored. I wonder, will we let the same thing happen again with the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge?

Normally I'm very happy with my camera equipment, but this was one occasion where I was frustrated by my insufficiently wide angle lens. 28 mm was just not enough.

My daughter and husband really struggled with the heat (103 F/39 C), so we chose to cool off by visiting the Glen Canyon Dam. They had a very interesting and informative tour of the dam which had the added benefit of being naturally cool.

The tour included a lot about how the dam was built and the engineering marvel that it is, and I was able to appreciate it on that level. In 1956 when they started building the dam, it was the most remote location in the country with no roads and no way to cross the Colorado River anywhere in the vicinity. The town of Page came into existence as a place for the workers to live.

During construction of the dam, a layer of sandstone was unearthed which contained dinosaur tracks. A piece of this was displayed in front of the visitor center.

From Las Vegas to Page

2010-08-11T10:28:00.005+02:00

For more of the stories behind these pictures, please see my previous entry: Too Hot to Blog, Part 2.

The view from our hotel room in Las Vegas.

Pipe Spring National Monument, and the main building of the Tithing Ranch, Windsor Castle.

I love the landscape of southern Utah, and the area around Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument was particularly stunning. These pictures are taken through the not particularly clean windows of a moving vehicle, but they give you the idea. I'd love to go back to the area some time when it's cool enough to go hiking.

Despite my numerous trips to this part of the country, I've never been to Lake Powell before. This is probably because I've always felt it shouldn't be there in the first place. Of course the decision to build a dam in Glen Canyon was made long before I was even born, but I guess I've considered it an abomination and held a grudge anyhow. However, when planning a trip to the desert with a child in the middle of the summer, proximity to water based recreation was suddenly more appealing.

When we drove down the hill and caught our first glimpses of the blue waters of Lake Powell against the red Navajo Sandstone, it was breathtaking. However wrong it was to fill a natural wonder with water in the middle of the desert, the result was spectacular.

Home Again

2010-08-03T14:18:00.002+02:00

We got home yesterday after three weeks in the States. It's always a long travel day, but Lufthansa seemed to do everything possible to make it seem longer. The airplane was old and uncomfortable. There was no audio for the movies, and the monitors were green.

Frankfurt was even more chaotic than usual. We knew our flight was connecting from one of the B gates, but they didn't post which one until 45 minutes before the flight was supposed to leave, and since they are divided up into several different security areas, we couldn't even line up for the security check until the last minute. We tried to ask at the transfer desk, but there was only one person working there, so that line hardly moved. Of course the line at security was really long, and not all the scanners were open, so it took 40 minutes to get through. Fortunately SAS held the flight, so we and one other person made it. However, our luggage did not. In fact, we don't even know if our luggage made it to Frankfurt at all. It's really weird coming home and not having anything to unpack or laundry to wash.

I'll continue soon with posts about our vacation.

Too Hot to Blog, part 2

2010-07-29T05:43:00.007+02:00

When when we left the hotel in Las Vegas, it was like somebody was pointing a hair dryer at us. It was a hot and dry wind, and indeed, my hair was dry before we reached the car. The drive through Nevada was pretty dull, but it improved drastically when we got to the Virgin River Gorge in Arizona. Before we knew it, we were in St. George, Utah. My husband was having a Starbucks craving, so we stopped at a visitor's center to get directions. They also gave us some good tips on where to stop and stretch our legs along our drive.

I really enjoyed the beauty of the landscape, but I haven't dealt with my pictures yet, so I'll have to catch up with that later.

We stopped at Pipe Spring National Monument where we were just in time for a ranger-led tour. After that, we were rather in the mood for ice cream, but nobody seemed to be selling it. Now it's possible that there was a freezer case in one of the gas stations we passed, but I felt that the signs and flags which advertise ice cream all over Sweden were strangely absent.

We also drove through a bit of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. It was really gorgeous, and I'd love to go back sometime when it was cool enough to go hiking there. It was around 5 PM when we arrived at our motel in Page, Arizona. After so much driving, my daughter was really glad to take a dip in the pool. We walked around to see what our dinner options were, and we ended up at an Italian Restaurant, Stromboli's. I had an excellent calzone that was easily enough for three meals.

On Tuesday, we started the day at the local Visitor's center, where we got lots of ideas. We started by driving out to Lower Antelope Canyon, but half the canyon was closed after the previous day's rain. The tour was still full price, and there was over an hour's wait, so we decided to try something else. We drove out to Horseshoe bend and did that hike. It was only 1.5 miles round trip, but it was 103 F (39 C) and humid, so it really wiped us out. We went back to cool off in the air conditioning of our motel room.

After a quick lunch at Subway, we took the tour of the Glen Canyon Dam. We all found that really interesting. My husband had to hurry back to the hotel for an important phone call, so my daughter and I went to the beach at Lake Powell. The water was relatively warm, and the view was spectacular, but there was quite a bit of noise from the boats. For dinner, we ate leftovers at the motel.

On Wednesday, we started the day at Lower Antelope Canyon, and this time the whole thing was open with only a half-hour wait. The canyon is on the Navajo reservation, and they only allow access with their guides. They do give special passes to photographers (normally defined as anyone carrying a tripod) which allow them to lag behind the tour at no extra charge. Since I have an ISO 3200 camera and an image stabilizer lens, I rarely bother to lug around my tripod anymore, but I was able to beg a pass. I remained within earshot for part of the tour, and it was really interesting, but the time spent with just me and my camera was really magical. Not wanting my family to have to wait too long, I nearly had to run to catch up. Near the end of the tour, the guide played his flute, and I was really glad to experience that. The acoustics in the slot canyon were incredible, and the music was haunting.

Our next stop was the Antelope Point marina where we inquired about renting kayaks or a jet ski. Unfortunately the jet skis were fully booked, and it was too windy to kayak. We had lunch on what they called the world's largest floating restaurant. I don't know how they define that, but clearly they have not seen the floating restaurants in Hong Kong. We then drove to Waheap marina where they were not only fully booked but much more expensive. We ended up spending the afternoon at the beach.

Thursday morning had been left open because my husband had another call, but that was canceled at the last moment. However, he wasn't feeling well and feared it might be heat or sun stroke from the day before. We later concluded that he was also coming down with a cold. Since it was too late to book either the boat tour to Rainbow Bridge or the Colorado River float, and it was too hot to go hiking, our options were limited. We decided on a Hummer tour to a different "Secret" slot canyon. At least off-roading in a Hummer would be air conditioned. We had a couple of hours to kill before that started, so we asked for advice on what to do. They told us about Blair's trading post and the special private collection that they have upstairs. This was the collection of Navajo treasures and other antiques accumulated since the family opened the trading post in the 1930s. It was really interesting, and we were glad for the opportunity to see it. They don't advertise or anything, and one would still not know about it even if you wandered into their shop. But when we asked about it, they were happy to show it to us. We almost lost track of time there and had to hurry through lunch to make it back to the Hummer tour.

We showed up for our Hummer tour just in time only to find out it had been canceled due to flash flood warnings. We could reschedule for the next day or get a refund. We were very disappointed and asked if there was anyplace else they could take us. After all, we'd already been to Antelope Canyon, and after a while, slot canyons start looking pretty similar. If we skipped the secret canyon, could we just go off-roading? They thought about this for a few minutes and decided they could. So we watched the thunder storms from the safety of the vehicle, jumping out occasionally to take some pictures. My husband and daughter really enjoyed the off-roading. I thought it was fascinating to watch the water fill up a previously dry wash and start moving down the valley. It happened right in front of our eyes. Fortunately, our guide knew the area well and kept us away from the flood-prone areas.

That evening we went for Mexican for dinner. From the restaurant, our daughter could see kids at the playground, so after dinner we took here there to play. She played so well, that we stayed a bit too long and had to cut short our after-dinner walk when it got dark on us. On the advice of the Hummer tours guys, we went back to the scenic viewpoint after dark to see the dam at night. The trail was tricky by starlight, but it was a really nice experience.

Following a tip from the lady at the Visitor's Center, we drove down to Lee's Ferry on Friday. The drive was very scenic, and it was nice to walk around there. We saw where the green Colorado river is joined by the brown Paria river and the colors mix, a bunch of interesting rock formations, and the historic area which was once the only place in 600 miles where people could cross the Colorado river. As an extra treat, we got to see three endangered California Condors in the wild. It would be great to go back to that area when it is cool enough to do some hiking.

In the evening, we attended a program at the Navajo Cultural Heritage Village in Page. As we left for this, I realized that I'd left my backup camera battery in the motel room, but since we were running late, I figured I'd take my chances with the battery rather than being late. Big mistake! With the first picture I attempted to take there, my camera died. I was heartbroken, but everything they were saying was so interesting that I didn't want to miss 20 minutes or more by going back to get the battery. I tried taking some pictures with my phone, but it's battery soon died too. They ended the evening with a dinner of Navajo tacos (pretty much the same as all the other Indian fry breads that I've tried over the years) and dancers. The dancers were very good, but they were from other tribes. I was a little disappointed that they did not do traditional Navajo dances. Those are used in religious ceremonies, thus it would be inappropriate to use them for entertainment, but it still would have been nice if they'd been able to show some sort of watered down version.

We left Page on Saturday morning and drove to the south rim of the Grand Canyon. I'd originally planned to visit the north rim on this trip, but it was just too far out of the way. The detour by the south rim increased our driving time by less than an hour, but of course that didn't include all the stops at Navajo jewelry stands and overlooks for the mandatory oohing and ahing. My husband is quite uncomfortable with heights, and the last time we were at the Grand Canyon he did not approach the railings. I used to tease him that the Grand Canyon's not that impressive from the parking lot. This time, he did much better. In fact, a casual observer would not have noticed that he was uncomfortable. Our daughter was impressed by the overwhelming vastness of the hole in the ground, so I guess the detour was worth while.

Our next stop was Kingman, and on the way there, we took Route 66. My husband really enjoyed the historical context of this, and thanks to the movie Cars, so did our daughter. We hoped to stop of an ice cream, but almost everything was closed at 5 PM on a Saturday. We eventually settled for ice cream bars from the freezer box at a gas station. Being accustomed to the Swedish obsession with ice cream, I was surprised by the scarcity of ice cream in Arizona.

We spent the night in Kingman, and in the morning, we visited the Route 66 museum there. We then took Route 66 via Oatman to the California border. Oatman is an old mining town/tourist trap. Besides the T-shirt shops, they had staged gunfights in the middle of town and wild donkeys wandering everywhere. A vendor sold carrots for the tourists to feed to the donkeys, and our daughter really got a kick out of that. The baby donkeys that were still nursing had stickers on their foreheads with a carrot and a line through it. This was to remind the tourists that they are not old enough for solid food and could choke. While I didn't get a picture of this (didn't want to chase and scare baby donkeys), this really cracked me up.

We got back on the interstate at the Colorado River. In Barstow, we once again tried to find ice cream on Route 66, and we were lucky enough to find Fosters Freeze. Our daughter, who had complained a couple of times about being cold and asked us to turn down the A/C, was not well. She was feverish and wouldn't even drink her root beer float. It was rather late by the time we got back to our hotel, and she threw up twice: once on each bed. So the next week's plans were scrapped and catering to the sick kid dominated. While it was definitely a bummer to have both a sick husband and sick kid on vacation, we were lucky that the kid didn't get sick in Arizona. At least now I could park her in front of the Disney Channel and my mom and stepfather could help take care of her.

(Of course I took a ton of pictures, but it will take me a while to sort them, so I'll try to post them soon.)

Too Hot to Blog

2010-07-21T05:54:00.003+02:00

Our daughter really wanted to see Sea World. That was at the top of her list, so we did that on Saturday. Traffic was terrible, and I think they were all going to Sea World too. It was supposed to be the hottest day so far this summer in San Diego, so Sea World would be a relatively cool place to be. We were over an hour late to meet our friends by the time we finally got our tickets and got in. Fortunately, they'd grabbed the wrist bands necessary to see the new dolphin show, so we didn't miss out. We saw dolphins, seals, sea lions, sea otters, bat rays, moray eels, an assortment of fish, sea turtles, sharks, beluga whales, and a sleeping polar bear. We ate overpriced, mediocre food. We enjoyed the company of good friends.

The new dolphin show was pretty good, pretty much a cross between the traditional show and a little Cirque du Soleil with divers, dancers, and acrobats. There were also some trained birds, but really all they did was fly over, so that was a bit underwhelming. The Sea Lion show was just as silly as it's ever been, but my daughter thought it was funny. For me, the highlight was the Shamu Rocks show. They only do this in the evening. It was just music, dancing, and the four orcas--no hokey narration.

San Diego was pretty much full, so we spent the night "on the way out" in Escondido. The Econo Lodge was pretty much your standard budget motel. Unfortunately the people in the room next door decided to throw a party at 3 AM. At 3:30 I called the office and complained, clearly waking the guy up. He didn't seem to take me seriously until I mentioned the music with the bass which was literally shaking things in our room. He must have gone to talk to them, because it got quite for a few minutes, but not for long. At 4:30 my husband threatened to call the cops, and that seemed to be a bit more effective.

We got a later start than I'd anticipated, but we made good time getting to Las Vegas. We got gas in Barstow where it was 112 F (44 C). We had lunch in Baker where it was 116 F (47 C). We got to Las Vegas and parked in the shade in a parking structure while we checked in to the Hilton. When we returned to the car about an hour later, it was 120 F (49 C). I think this was a new record for me. It felt like walking into a convection oven. My husband wanted to walk to Circus Circus, about a mile away, but I didn't think that was safe. We didn't have enough time to do the car show at the Imperial Palace, and the pool was just too hot and crowded, so Circus Circus was the only other kid-friendly thing we could think of. It was incredibly crowded, noisy, and rather hot, but our daughter enjoyed it, and it passed the time. After dinner there, we drove a lap on the strip, then it was off to bed.

Time Flies in California

2010-07-13T06:51:00.007+02:00

In a rather last-minute development, my daughter and I decided to accompany my husband on one of his trips to Southern California. So we're here now for what will be two weeks in Orange County and one week in Arizona. My husband has an assignment here in OC so he's working every day, but we're only 15 minutes from my mom's house. This means my daughter also gets to spend some quality grandparent time.

We arrived late Friday night. Our flight was an hour late leaving Copenhagen after an aborted take-off. That was a first for me, but luckily they were able to get the problem fixed quickly. We arrived an hour late in Toronto which made for a very hectic connection. Everyone connecting to the US had to pick up their bags, go through customs, and recheck their bags. This was quite a challenge because there was only half a baggage carousel in a very small room and all the forms were in French. I can't really imagine how they expect Americans to do paperwork in French without perjuring themselves. The personnel at the airport were quite helpful, so we somehow made the connection in time. They then held the flight for half an hour to wait for the other 30 people who were trying to make the same connection.

Saturday was spent with my mom. In the afternoon, the two of us did a little shopping at Target. I think Target is the store that I miss the most. Sunday was spent with my dad. He was only available in the evening, so my husband went junkyarding in the morning. They didn't allow kids under 16 years into the junkyard, so my daughter and I spent the day at the mall. My daughter didn't really need much by the way of clothes, but there were so many bargains that were hard to resist. I think the fantastic sales are a sign of the economy. Even with the deals, the parking lot at the mall was half empty on a Sunday afternoon. We had a nice dinner at the West Buffet in Oceanside, a huge Chinese buffet.

On Monday, I spent two hours at the DMV getting my drivers license renewed. Everyone tells horror stories about the DMV, especially after the budget cuts in California, but I thought it was actually quite impressive, especially considering how many people were also there. I also met with some old friends that I hadn't seen in years. How did we get so old on the outside and yet there still is so much on the inside that I recognize from the dear friends of 20+ years ago.

On Tuesday, I went down to San Diego to visit another dear friend, and we went shopping. I got several of the things I was looking for, and we had a great time catching up.

By Wednesday, I really needed to get some work done, and I did some laundry at my mom's house. In the afternoon, I picked up my brother-in-law who flew in from Denver to visit with us. Unfortunately my husband was working all day and had a business dinner too.

On Thursday, I went to Disneyland with my brother-in-law and daughter. She'd been to Disneyland a couple of years ago with her grandmother, but it was a completely different experience this time. Instead of Small World and Princesses, it was roller coasters. I worried that she might find large indoor (in the dark) roller coasters upsetting, but not at all. We eased into it with Pirates of the Caribbean, and she wasn't scared at all. Next was the Matterhorn. She screamed her head off, but the screams ended in giggles. "That was awesome, can we do it again?" Then we did the Toy Story ride and Autopia. We did a lot of walking to take advantage of the Fast Passes. We also did the Jungle Boats and Big Thunder Mountain, then it was back to Space Mountain. I haven't been to Disneyland in almost 20 years, and Space Mountain is one of the things that has changed. It's much smoother now, but also darker so you can't see the tracks at all. I got rather motion sick, and so did my brother-in-law. No matter how much my daughter begged, we were not inclined to take her on that one again. By lunchtime it was quite hot, so we ate in one of the air conditioned cafeteria style restaurants. It was expensive, but it was a real meal and a welcome break from the heat. After lunch we did Splash Mountain. This was the only time we stood in an hour-long line. By now, it was 98 F (37 C) and relatively humid for California. I was impressed that my daughter managed to keep her mood up. We had a good time and got thoroughly soaked. The Haunted Mansion was the only thing that my daughter found scary. She even liked the Indiana Jones ride (which also made me sick). It was too hot to stand in the sun and watch the parade, so we went for ice cream instead. In all, we were there for 9 hours.

On Friday we took it relatively easy and did a little shopping, then in the afternoon, my husband could finally stop working, so he and his brother took our daughter to Disney's California Adventure. I've never been there, but I figured it was good for him to do something fun. I was also a little apprehensive about doing a bunch of roller coasters. Would I get motion sick again? I used to love roller coasters, and only got sick from spinning rides. It's a bummer that roller coasters don't feel that fun anymore.

Tomorrow: Sea World with more friends from San Diego. Then it's off to Lake Powell (Arizona) via Las Vegas.

Summer for Midsummer

2010-06-30T18:41:00.006+02:00

Last weekend was Midsummer, a long weekend and the big summer holiday in Sweden. We spent all day Friday with some friends. In the morning we went down to the fishing village of Kåseberga. The weather was absolutely perfect: mostly sunny with highs in the 70s and a slight breeze. Wildflowers bloomed on the hillside. A group of accordion players performed traditional music, and we ate fresh fish for lunch.

After lunch, we had ice cream then we walked up to Ales Stenar. I've always enjoyed that place--the view and the history. I like to imagine how the place has been used over the centuries, and undoubtedly the summer solstice was an important occasion. This time I particularly enjoyed the variety of activities going on there. There were para-sailers, a group preparing for a wedding, tourists from a variety of countries, and cows. Yup, they use cows to keep the grass low, but cows always seem to introduce a bit of whimsy to the situation, especially since some of the tourists were scared of them.

From here, we drove to a traditional Midsummer celebration. We were running a bit late, so we stopped instead in Skillinge. Here there was live music and some of the traditional dancing, but it was just audience participation (no folk dancers). Most people chose to just watch, and the participants were mostly children (and sometimes their mothers).

This didn't last long, then we went across the street to the Baltic Sea. It was a rocky beach, and the water was cold, but my daughter and the two other girls went in. The older kids (all boys) and men engrossed themselves with skipping stones.

We went back to our friends' house where we ate the traditional dinner: beer, snaps, several varieties of pickled herring, boiled new potatoes with sour cream and chives, meatballs, small sausages, bread, strawberries, and whipped cream. Considering that I don't eat strawberries or herring, it's a good thing that I really liked the potatoes.

The girls played in the hot tub, and the boys went in and played computer games. Later we had the peanut butter brownies I made with coffee and tea. For me, this was the highlight of the menu, and I think most of the others really enjoyed them too. When it was well past the girls' bedtimes, we sent them in to watch TV, and the adults got a turn in the hot tub. I think this was the first time in ages that I got truly warm all the way through. At first my feet tingled painfully. Eventually even I got so warm that I had to stand up. We had a lovely end to a lovely day and got home around 1 AM.

Budapest, day 9: Berlin on the way home

2010-06-28T19:51:00.005+02:00

It was a shame to have to leave Prague so soon. We'll definitely have to go back some day.

Road construction had forced us unto a detour through a rather scenic canyon area in the Czech Republic, and I was looking forward to going through there again on the way home. However, the detour in this direction took us through a different mountainous region. It was also very scenic and a nice drive. I found it interesting that the landscape was mixed industrial and agricultural even quite far from any towns. On the German side of the border what we saw was either agricultural or urban.

We decided to go into Berlin for a late lunch since my husband had never been there. I'd been there with a friend last December, but we took a bus there and paid no attention to highway navigation. I had a map book which was excellent for navigating the highways between towns, but showed Berlin only as a yellow blob. Following the signs for "zentrum" didn't work too well. I thought I was aiming for the former west-Berlin as we exited the freeway, but we passed an airport with clearly Eastern European architecture, so I must have been wrong. The worst thing was that there was some sort of street fair going on there, and most of the streets were closed without any warning. The streets were lined with cafes, but there was no chance of parking. None of the other cars seemed to know how to get around this either, so we eventually went back to the freeway.

This time I decided to try for Charlottenburg. I didn't make it there in December, but I thought it might be a nice place to find lunch and be able to park the car. This time I was right. We found a lovely cafe on a quiet tree-lined street. We were also thrilled to discover that they even had a special asparagus menu. Based on what I'd eaten in the US, I thought I wasn't particularly fond of asparagus, but the Germans have wonderful white asparagus that they know how to prepare so that it isn't the least bit stringy. Yum!

After lunch we took a quick look around the outside of Charlottenburg palace, but we didn't stay long since we didn't want to risk missing the ferry which goes once every other hour from Rostock. As it turned out, we got to the ferry about an hour early, but especially considering that we didn't have reservations, it's good that we didn't take any chances. We finally got home in Sweden around midnight.

The media frenzy reaches its culmination

2010-06-19T22:36:00.003+02:00

After many months of hype, I had completely lost interest in the Royal Wedding, yet when it came down to it, I found myself in front of the TV anyhow. My daughter is obsessed with Crown-Princess Victoria because they share the name, and since she's with her grandmother today who's TV doesn't work, I agreed to record the Royal Wedding for her. I could have just started the recording and turned off the TV, but I found myself strangely entranced.

Victoria's dress was incredible, and she and her Daniel looked so happy. The gowns, the jewels, the tiaras... I didn't think I cared, but I was impressed. (Link to pictures--obviously not taken by me.)

They say 500,000 people packed the streets of Stockholm to catch a glimpse of the happy couple. Around the country, people were having wedding watching parties. I imagine they ate their official royal wedding chocolates, with the official royal wedding cake and official royal wedding pastries. They probably also burned the official royal wedding candles and cleaned up with the official royal wedding dish soap. Between the marketing and the media hype, it will be a relief when all this is over.

There's been a lot of debate in Sweden about the continued existence of the Royal Family. Is there a place for royalty in modern society? Clearly this wedding cost a fortune, and there's plenty of other causes worthy of the taxpayer's money. I think the monarchy is a lovely celebration of the nation's history, and they do well representing Sweden to the world. They also free up the prime minister to do his job instead of attending events all over the world.

In a perfect world, the royal family would be self supporting instead of taxpayer financed. They have a lot of properties, some of which generate some tourist income. I do wonder if it isn't time for them to put more effort into generating income and possibly sell some of their assets and invest the proceeds. But even if they don't, I do think Sweden benefits from the Royal Family, and that these benefits outweigh the costs.

Budapest, day 8: on to Prague

2010-06-18T20:35:00.010+02:00

Now we were really on our way home from Hungary. We left the same way we had come, but this time it was sunny instead of dumping rain, so we got to see a bit more even though we didn't leave the highway. However, as we drove through Slovakia, the clouds got darker and darker. Soon we were driving through a series of some of the heaviest cloudbursts I've ever encountered. Fields were flooded and rivers were almost up to their bridges.

This continued on an off until we neared Prague. Amazingly, they had very appropriate signs.

We'd booked a room at a Best Western on the outskirts of town. It was surprisingly cheap for a "four star" hotel. We'd stayed at a three star hotel in Dresden which was really nice, but this was more like a motel. That didn't matter, because we weren't there for long. We took a bus to the metro and into town.

We hopped off the metro briefly at the Museum district for a quick look around, then we took the subway the rest of the way to the river. We walked across the bridge and up the hill to the castle.

The view was incredible, but what really impressed was the gothic cathedral. I'm totally into gargoyles, and this cathedral had the best gargoyles I'd ever seen. There were all possible species: wolves, cats, wild boars, dragons, birds, and even humanoids. I'd love to go back and photograph them all.

We walked back across a different bridge in search of dinner, and ended up at the old town square where we had some absolutely wonderful goulash in bread bowls.

After dinner we walked until we were exhausted. The metro station wouldn't take Euros or plastic, so we eventually resorted to taking a cab back to the hotel.

Budapest, day 8: Communist Park

2010-06-10T09:12:00.004+02:00

One last thing that I'd wanted to see in Budapest was the park to which all the communist era statues had been exiled. I'd read that it took 4 different buses to get there, and the guide confirmed that it would be an all day outing. I'd asked the concierge about driving there (since we did have a car after all), but he said it was hard to find, and if you missed a turn, you'd end up on the highway and have to go 60 km before you could turn around. He recommended that I take a taxi. I'd already concluded that the concierge and taxi drivers were working together, so I put this thought on hold.

Now that we were actually leaving Budapest, I decided to find out if this place was on our way out of town. As luck would have it, a different guy was on concierge duty, and he was very helpful. The place was indeed on our way, and he copied his map book to show us how to get there and how to get on the highway again afterward. He also gave us excellent specific instructions about what lane to be in at what point to not accidentally end up on the highway. I'd already learned that the signs were totally insufficient, so it was really good to have the instructions.

As we were loading up our car, a man came out from the shop that we'd parked in front of. I was afraid he'd chew us out for having parked in front of his store for a week (as far as we could tell that was legal, and we certainly weren't the only car parked there). Instead, he said in a broken mixture of English and German, "Sorry. House fell on car. I cleaned up." I thought we'd parked in front of one of the few buildings in Budapest that didn't have bits of plaster falling off of it, but I guess the storm blew loose some debris. The antenna was broken, but otherwise it didn't look that bad at the time. Later when the sun was on the car, we could see a bunch of scratches.

We made it to the Momento Park without difficulty, and it was really interesting. It would have been even better if there had been text explaining the statues and perhaps the context of their original placement, but I think a lot was self-explanatory. They also had a small but informative exhibit on the history of the fall of communism in Hungary.

One of the things that my communist walking tour guide had told about from her childhood was frustration that even the flowers had to support the party. These red star flowerbeds were apparently everywhere at the time, and I was glad to see one here.

Budapest, day 7: my turn as guide

2010-06-09T16:08:00.006+02:00

My husband and a couple of his friends were free after lunch, so we decided to do some sightseeing together. The weather was lovely, and after all the eating and sitting they'd done all week, they were ready to walk. Earlier in the week I'd asked the concierge how to walk or take public transportation to the Citadel. I could see it on the next hill, so I figured it couldn't take more than an hour to walk there. Unfortunately he said it would take 3 buses to get there, and when I suggested walking, he responded like I was crazy. He said it would take hours and suggested I take a taxi. After waiting a few minutes for the taxi in miserable weather, I'd decided to postpone the trip, but now was the perfect occasion. With four of us, splitting a taxi was reasonable.

The reason I wanted to go to the Citadel was to see the series of photos showing Budapest every decade between 1850 and 1950. These were interesting, and the view was fantastic. For guys who hadn't seen much of Budapest during the daylight, this was a good place for them to start. This place had been a fortress in one form or another since Roman times, and they had some anti-aircraft guns on display. Also at the Citadel was the Lady Liberty statue which was given to the people of Budapest by the Soviets to celebrate their liberation from the Germans. When the communist era ended, the statue was wrapped in a white sheet, splashed with red paint, and thus re-purposed.

One of the guys had to go back to the hotel, but we had plenty of time, so we walked back from the Citadel. It took only 35 minutes to walk to the base of the Castle District, and even with all those stairs, it couldn't have taken him more than 15 minutes more to get back to the hotel. The rest of us crossed the chain bridge (the guys admiring the engineering) to Pest.

We were thirsty, and it was getting to be snack time, so I suggested finding the famous Cafe Gerbeaud. Most of the many coffee houses in Budapest had been closed during the communist era since coffee houses were where people went to conspire, but this one remained for the benefit of the tourists from Germany and the rest of Eastern Europe. This one truly was amazing. The ambiance was fantastic, and the cake was to die for. The thing that drove me crazy was the water. I don't particularly like mineral water, and the stuff in Budapest really tasted like wet rocks even if it didn't have bubbles, so I ordered ordinary water. Once again, it was served in a shot glass! I asked for more water, and I was given another shot glass of water with a dirty look from the waitress.

I took the guys for a walk around Pest, recapping much of what I'd seen on my walking tours. My husband noticed some interesting architectural details that I hadn't paid much attention to. The neoclassical relief images on the sides of buildings all glorified the hard-working proletariat instead of Greek or Roman decadence. After a light dinner at an outdoor cafe in front of the cathedral, we headed back to the hotel. They guys walked, but since I still had my transit pass, I took the metro and a bus. I was surprised that the guys made it back to the hotel only 10 minutes after me.

Studenten!

2010-06-09T14:12:00.004+02:00

I'll take a break from my vacation recap to catch up on what's been happening here at home.

The day after we got home from our Budapest trip, my mother and stepfather arrived for their three-week long visit. They've done this several times, and it's a wonderful way for them to spend some time with their granddaughter. They've rented a house in a nearby town, so it's pretty low key. We've done some sightseeing and eaten plenty of "fika."

On Friday we were invited to our neighbor's daughter's graduation. I've never been to a Swedish "studenten" before, so this was an interesting experience. My daughter especially enjoyed hanging out with the big girls: the guest of honor and her sisters. They babysit for her every now and then, and she idolizes them.

Studenten was not at all like an American high school graduation with its endless speeches and people getting their names called one by one. Families and friends gathered outside of the school in groups under signs with embarrassing pictures of each student when they were little. We could hear faint singing from inside the building, then suddenly the graduates ran out and filled the stage. They did this as a pack, so only the few students in front were visible.

They sang a few drinking-type songs, and that was it. They dispersed to be congratulated. People hang stuffed animals, bottles of champagne, or bouquets of flowers around the graduate's neck. In order to protect their clothes from all this, they wear a special plastic apron.

After this, they divided up into their classes and piled into hay trailers behind tractors. There was more singing as they drove laps around the school. It was an absolutely lovely sunny day, so we got quite warm before they were done with this. More hugs and congratulations, and the graduates each got into fancy vehicles for the ride to their family parties.

We stayed at the neighbor's party until about 10 PM. At some point after that, she left to rejoin her classmates at their party.

Budapest, day 7: Last Chance

2010-06-06T21:34:00.004+02:00

Friday was our last day in Budapest. My husband would be free from his meetings after lunch, so I only had the morning to get to as much as I could of what remained on my list.

I took the subway to the city park and hero's square which were recommended by the guide from the communist tour. Hero's square was very impressive, but what really caught my eye was the castle in the park. It was originally built for Budapest's millennium celebration in 1896 as a tourist attraction. Each tower of the castle was built in a different style, each from famous building somewhere in what was then Hungary (including Transylvania, which is now in Romania).

Perhaps even more interesting than the architecture was the fact that they were preparing a bunch of market stands for what seemed to be a children's day. I had to wait while they got set up, but I was eventually able to buy some interesting candies. There was even an entire stand devoted to marzipan. Needless to say, I bought some of those too.

From there I planned to go to the House of Horrors, a museum about the Nazi and Communist periods. The guide had also told me about this, and thought I would find it interesting. Based on the name alone, I hadn't even considered going to this place, but now I really wanted to see it. It was just a few stops away on the metro, but for some reason, I couldn't find the metro station. In retrospect, I should have gone back to the park and the metro station that I came from, but I was sure I was closer to this other station. I followed some locals through a series of underpasses and ended up at a trolley station. An older woman saw me studying my map and said something in Hungarian. I pointed to the metro station, so she got out her glasses, studied the map, said something and pointed to where people were waiting for the trolley. The trolley arrived momentarily, so I got on, thinking it would take me to the metro station. It didn't. I took another trolley back to where I first got on the trolley. I went through the underpasses again, expecting to come up where I left the park except on the other side of a busy street. Wrong again. I tried to orient myself above ground and eventually ended up at a trolley station again. By this time I figured out that the trolley line was perpendicular to the metro line, but which side was I on now? I asked a teenage girl who looked at the map and pointed. Back at the start again, I asked a man who had also just gotten off the trolley. Again, he didn't speak, but it turned out he was going the same way, so he pointed the way, and I finally found it. There were no signs at all. I noticed that once one gets out of the tourist areas, signs are scarce.

By this time, I realized that I would only have half an hour at the museum, so I decided to go back to the hotel and eat lunch with the guys. Next time I'm in Budapest, I'll have to make sure to make it to the House of Horrors, and maybe the underground labyrinth in the castle district too.

Budapest, day 6: Budapest by Night

2010-06-02T16:38:00.005+02:00

While I've tagged along with my husband to these standardization conferences before (Montreal and Miami), this was the first time that I was invited to a couple of the dinners. The deal was that I'd take some pictures for them. Sure, I'll work for gourmet food!

On Tuesday, there was a big dinner for everyone with a buffet at the hotel. It was quite good. Of course I was particularly enchanted by the enormous selection of desserts, and I did my best to try as many as possible.

On Thursday night, there was a more exclusive dinner at a fancy restaurant. The main course was duck, which I'm not that thrilled with, but the salad was good, and the soup was excellent. It was a cream of wild mushroom soup with toasted hazelnuts. Normally I'm not that big on nuts, but this was a wonderful combination. The dessert was also very good--something I'm beginning to expect with Budapest.

After dinner, we were to have drinks on the terrace overlooking the city. Much to the restaurant manager's horror, someone had put up a fence blocking off the area with the view. There was a sign on the fence, but it didn't make any sense in English or Hungarian. After quickly downing their drinks, all the guys with cameras squeezed around the fence to take pictures. Seeing that they were still alive, I joined them.

Budapest, day 6: Ancient Budapest

2010-05-30T20:26:00.004+02:00

The Buda side of Budapest was once a major outpost of the Roman Empire. Though I was still quite tired from all the walking the day before, I was determined to see the Roman ruins. The girlfriend of one of my husband's colleagues also wanted to see this, so we went together. It was nice to have some company.

Aquincum is outside of the usual tourist areas, so we took a commuter train to get there. Right by the train stop were the ruins of an amphitheater. There were also remains on an aqueduct along the street.

The big thing was the ruins of a commercial center and several houses which were all now part of the museum. While these ruins were easy to find, the entrance to the museum was much trickier. The sign by the street, only in Hungarian, might lead one to believe the place was only open certain weekends (in retrospect it probably referred to some special event, but it was all that could be seen from the street.) We did eventually find our way in, though the entrance was cleverly disguised as an abandoned car dealership. We didn't find any place to pay admission, so we just wandered in. There were plenty of people working there, but they didn't seem to pay any attention to us.

The ruins were mostly about knee high and not particularly impressive. Signs pointed out what the buildings had been used for, but it somehow failed to spark my interest. I wondered what was original and what had been restored. The remains of a mosaic floor in a bath house were kind of impressive, but the statues which had been gathered up and placed under a roof for protection, didn't do much for me.

On our way out, someone stopped us and told us we needed to buy tickets. They pointed to the first building which had been closed, but this time to the back side. This turned out to be the entrance to the museum. As far as artifacts go, I think they were better and better explained at the historical museum at Buda palace. There was a large exhibit on what had been found while building a highway in the area. It would appear that this highway was built on a connect-the-dots of ancient graveyards from different periods. If so much was under the highway, it makes one wonder what's under everything else.

I was pretty walked out by the time we were done here, so we headed back towards the hotel. While we'd taken a more circuitous path to the train station, we stumbled on a stairway on the way home which would take us right back to the castle district. It turned out to be a whole lot of stairs, and since we didn't find anyplace that inspired us for lunch, we decided to go for cake at my favorite coffee and cake restaurant. For the first time this trip, I was rather warm, so I tried ice cream this time. It was pretty good, but the cake was probably the better choice.

After that, I had a couple hours at the hotel to rest before joining my husband and his colleagues for a fancy dinner.

Budapest, day 5: Communist Budapest

2010-05-29T20:15:00.008+02:00

When I was young, I read a lot of spy novels. I loved Tom Clancy, Fredrick Forsyth, Robert Ludlum and such, and I thought it would be really cool to be a spy. (I also thought it would be really cool to be nuclear physicist, but that's another story.) I was practical enough to realize that I lacked the people skills and linguistic talent necessary to be a good field agent, but I did have a talent for going unnoticed. So while I prepared for the practical career of biochemist/molecular biologist, I also took classes in modern history (WWII and after), comparative government, and international relations--just in case. This was the 80's, so it was all about the Cold War. When the cold war suddenly ended, my interest in spies was relegated to the occasional Tom Clancy novel.

This trip to Eastern Europe did dust off my interest in the Cold War, and I hoped to meet somebody who remembered those times (and who spoke English and was willing to talk about it). When I discovered on the internet that there was a free walking tour dedicated to Communist Budapest, I knew that would be just my thing. The majority of participants on the tour were students, too young to remember the Cold War, but the guide was only 3 years younger than me. She had even lived in Sweden for a couple of years as a child, so she had a perspective on life in Budapest that may have been lacking in others her age.

As we walked through Budapest, she talked a lot about history, told some amusing anecdotes , and pointed out examples of communist era architecture. She showed us the former police headquarters, now a luxury hotel. We visited the last Soviet monument in Budapest, dedicated to the Soviets who died while "liberating" Budapest from the Germans. There were once many communist monuments and statues in Budapest, but many were destroyed with the fall of communism, and the others were exiled to a park outside of town.

In short, Hungarian history is all about being occupied. They sided with the Germans in WWI and lost 70% of their territory. They sided with the Germans again in WWII because they believed they would regain that territory. When things started going poorly for the Germans, they tired to break the alliance, and ended up occupied by the Germans instead. At the end of the war, the Germans retreated, trashing Budapest's infrastructure (most notably destroying all the bridges between Buda and Pest) to hinder the advance of the Red Army.

The Soviet occupiers promptly set up a puppet government in Budapest, and Hungary became a communist state. Those out of work after the war were quickly put to work rebuilding, so damage from WWII is not apparent. Housing was in short supply, so large buildings with small apartments were thrown together as fast as they could, but after the initial building boom, the financial realities kicked in, and maintenance was lacking.

The 1950s was all about Totalitarianism in Hungary. When Stalin died in 1953, people hoped things would lighten up a bit, and in 1956 the people of Budapest revolted. The revolt was crushed with Soviet tanks. Our guide's grandfather survived by hiding under the bodies of fellow protesters. Her father was able to sprint to safety as he saw a tank taking aim. Most families in Budapest have similar stories. In some parts of town, bullet holes from 1956 are still visible.

The national debt increased steadily over the years. In an attempt to raise money, Hungary became a tourist destination for the rest of Eastern Europe. In the 60s, East and West German families could reunite for vacations in Hungary.

Things were still very strict in the 1960s. "If you're not with us, you're against us," was the motto, and no dissent was tolerated, even in private. Neighbors spied on neighbors, and possible troublemakers were jailed. In the 1970's things began to loosen up a bit, and it was more, "If you're not with us, just don't be against us." Public dissent was not tolerated, but they were less concerned with what people did in the privacy of their own homes. Things became even more open in the 1980's. People did things like going to church and refusing to learn Russian in order to make political statements. People were still jailed for protesting, but there were music videos on TV and both Coca Cola and Pepsi (no McDonalds). Our guide had a bold English teacher who taught them George Orwell's Animal Farm and 1984 which previously had been banned.

Our guide was a Pioneer (like a Scout) as a child, and while this was once a precursor to being a Young Communist and then an adult member of the Communist Party, only two members of her class went on to join the Party. She modeled the red scarf of the Young Communists and showed the books that one had as a Pioneer and a Party member where one collected stamps through participation in Party activities. A full book showed your loyalty and could be advantageous in many ways.

In 1990, the communist regime fell. A new system was established based on the Swedish model, but the transition was far from painless. State owned assets were sold off, but corruption was rampant. People with the right connections got rich, but the State remained poor. Unemployment was and still is high. The average monthly income (after taxes) is only 500 Euros (~$400).

Before WWII, this building was the stock exchange. Communists, not having any need for a stock exchange, used this building for the government run TV station. As with much in Budapest, it is now in poor repair, but investors have stepped in, and it will soon be redone as a luxury hotel.

Our tour ended in a "ruin bar." Our guide explained that young people were allowed to run businesses or clubs in buildings which were awaiting renovation. While this doesn't seem very safe, I guess there are other advantages.

Budapest, day 5: Walking in Pest

2010-05-26T12:10:00.005+02:00

After spending the past two days near the hotel because of the terrible weather, I was now determined to see the rest of the city, regardless of the weather. Luckily for me, the weather cooperated. It didn't rain, it was less windy, and it was even a little warmer.

I started my day by walking to the nearest Metro station and buying a 3 day pass which was good for all forms of public transportation within Budapest. This cost considerably less than the one-day hop-on-hop-off bus tour that I'd been contemplating, and it gave me a lot more freedom.

It didn't tell me anything about what I'd see, so I decided to join a free walking tour. About 30 people showed up, and I'd guess that they were about evenly divided between students and retirees. There were two guides who took turns shouting to be heard over the traffic and other city noises, which wasn't easy with such a large group, but they did a good job of it.

I found the tour very informative, with useful bits about the different parts of town, history, and culture mixed with amusing anecdotes. Unfortunately it didn't cover a lot of ground on the Pest side. About half way through, the group crossed the bridge to the Buda side where I'd already seen what they were going to cover, so I headed off on my own.

I saw the parliament building, the last Soviet monument in Budapest, the cathedral, the opera house, and the Jewish quarter. I really admired the variety and complexity of the architecture, and while a lot of it had clearly been renovated, a lot was still in quite poor condition. I wondered how often people were hurt by chunks of stuff falling off buildings.

I was hoping to find someplace that served langos, so went down several small side streets as well as the main streets, but no luck. Eventually I was pretty hungry, so I stopped for a piece of cake.

Still searching for langos, I took a round about way to the high-priced tourist area where the next walking tour was meeting. I got back to the meeting place in plenty of time for the 3:00 walking tour. I sat there on a fountain and reading a book and resting my feet. As 3:00 approached, I realized that I was getting hungry again, and there was nobody else gathered for the tour. I checked my notes and realized it was 3:30, so I went to get something to eat as I walked. Burger King and McDonalds were not appealing, and I didn't have time for a sit-down meal, so I chose Subway. I like Subway, but I later found out that I'd been sitting just a few steps from the most amazing coffee shop in Budapest. Luckily I did get a chance to try it too, but I get ahead of myself. This particular walking tour had the theme of Communist Budapest which particularly interested me. In fact, it was so interesting, that I'll give it its own post.

Budapest, day 4: A good day to spend in a museum

2010-05-20T09:57:00.004+02:00

The weather was still miserable on Tuesday, so I did some work and went to the gym. I brought a better book this time, so I was able to spend 45 minutes on the elliptical/cross-trainer.

After lunch, I went out despite the wind and rain and walked to the southern end of the castle district where the palace is. The palace was completely bombed out in WWII, and the interior was modernized. It would appear that most of it is offices, but there is an art museum and a historical museum.

I was soaking wet by the time I made it to the historical museum, and the wind was gusting and swirling so hard in the courtyard that I struggled to stay on my feet. I was thrilled to discover that it was "international free admission day" at the museum, but probably because of the weather, there were very few people there. As far as I was concerned, it was perfect museum weather. There were dehumidifiers in nearly every room, so I was completely dry long before I was done.

The ground floor was dedicated to the middle ages and an exhibit of gothic statues, all from here in Budapest's castle district. Archeologically, I guess this was a really exciting find, but it wasn't my thing. The basement was actually part of the castle from the medieval period, and I found that a lot more interesting. I suspect that some parts have been renovated over the years, and it wasn't so clear what was done when. The first floor showed the changes in the castle from medieval to modern times, and this was really interesting. Much of the text was only in Hungarian, but there was enough in English that I could follow their point. In fact, it was just about right because it would have taken hours to read and examine everything. The top floor was about Budapest from prehistoric through the Roman and Avar periods. This was a lot of stuff from grave excavations, but it was interesting too.

When I was done in the museum, the rain had let up, so I could do my usual thing of taking a few pictures then stuffing my camera back in my purse. The view from the castle was spectacular.

I decided that I would go to the Pest side of the city the next day regardless of the weather.

Budapest, day 3: What's with the weather?

2010-05-19T06:12:00.004+02:00

It was so windy last night that we hardly slept. As usual, the first thing my husband does when arriving in a hotel room is open the window. Unfortunately, when he closed it, it didn't seal quite right. With the wind gusting over 100 kph (62 mph, 27 mps), it slowly opened this gap until it was roaring like a freight train. Re-closing the window at 4 AM helped, but it was still hard to sleep.

The breakfast buffet at the hotel was wonderful and even included a dessert section in addition to the pastry section, the bread, cheese, cold cuts, cereals, yogurts, bacon, sausages, eggs, and local specialties. Because it was raining as well as cold and windy, I went to the gym and spent half an hour on the elliptical (cross-trainer) while trying to read my guidebook. I brought along plenty of work to do, so I stayed in the room working until I got too hungry. It was still super windy and a little rainy, but I walked around the southern half of the castle district and ate some lasagna in a little cafe.

In this picture, you can see the hotel at the end of the street with the white building and the odd modern tower. The other picture is the view from the gym which shows both the church ruins and the modern building.

I believe this structure, right by the hotel, was built for the world's fair in 1896 as a tourist attraction. I find that kind of amusing, but it's definitely cool looking, and the view is amazing.

The wind was bitter cold, so I came in to thaw out for a while before venturing out again for "dinner" at my favorite cake shop. I got there right before they closed, so I ended up eating back in my room. There are a lot of channels on the TV, but the only ones in English are CNN, BBC, and CNBC. It seemed like everyone was reporting the same news, but I did eventually learn that all of Eastern Europe was being pummeled by a huge rotating storm (like a hurricane, but over land) with record winds and flooding. Yes, I'd checked the weather forecast before we left Sweden, but it had predicted rain only for the first day, so I was still optimistic.

Budapest, day 2: Dresden to Budapest

2010-05-16T22:28:00.007+02:00

We tried to get an early start, but the breakfast buffet at the hotel was so good, that we couldn't rush through it. They even had trays of assorted desserts which included something that at first glance appeared to be a brownie. There was only one of these, and I was reminded of a bumper sticker I'd seen long ago: Life in uncertain--eat dessert first. That seemed particularly applicable at this moment, so I had this square of dense chocolate/cherry cake with a cup of hot chocolate as well as a reasonable breakfast of scrambled eggs, a multigrain roll with cheese and liver paté, cantaloupe, a yogurt drink, and tea. Knowing that my husband does not like to stop for food when driving, I figured it was okay to stuff myself. It turned out that was a wise decision.

We drove through central Dresden again on our way out. Road construction soon after the Czech border took us on a very scenic detour. Here the city was much more industrial looking. On the hillside overlooking the river, there were again lovely huge Victorian manor houses, but these looked like they could use some renovation. Some looked like they urgently needed a lot of renovation, and interspersed were boring modern houses. The landscape was beautiful, and there was a lot of potential, but the impression was sad. I think this was more of what I was expecting from Eastern Europe.

We got to Prague around 10 AM. Since it was too early for lunch, we drove around a little before returning to the highway. It was gorgeous, as I'd expected, and I definitely want to go back. The roads in the Czech Republic were nowhere near as good as they were in Germany, and they seemed to get worse as our drive progressed.

Our route took us through Bratislava, Slovakia, which looked very much like what I'd expected for Eastern Europe, except instead of cement gray, the buildings had been painted a variety of bright colors. A few historic buildings punctuated the scene which was otherwise mostly industrial or agricultural.

The roads were just as bad when we crossed the border into Hungary. Map reading was pretty much impossible in those conditions, and Budapest is not a car-friendly city. The signs are in Hungarian, and left turns are pretty much impossible. I was really glad I wasn't driving. With the help of a fold-out map in my Swedish library book on Budapest, we eventually found our hotel.

It turns out that the Budapest Hilton is quite a landmark since it's partially a modern building and partially built into the ruins of an ancient church. It's on the top of a hill overlooking the Danube in the historic walled palace district. It was 4 PM by the time we got in, and we hadn't eaten lunch, so I was starving. We found a place just a block from the hotel that had the most incredible cakes and coffees, so once again I had hot chocolate and a piece of chocolate (mousse) cake. Yum. I'll have to see how many of these cakes I can try during this trip.

We were invited out to dinner with my husband's colleagues a few hours later, but there's no way I would have made it without eating something. Since it was dumping rain and very windy, we returned to the hotel without much sightseeing. Dinner was excellent. I had white asparagus with hollandaise sauce, lamb, and risotto. Dessert was included: a sponge cake with cream filling and chocolate sauce. It was incredible, but I am now so full I can hardly breathe. For those keeping score, that would be two hot chocolates and three chocolate desserts in one day. I might have to make a visit to the hotel gym tomorrow if my clothes are still going to fit me by the end of the week.

Budapest, day 1: Sweden to Dresden

2010-05-16T18:50:00.007+02:00

With our daughter in her grandmother's care for the week, my husband and I left Saturday morning for Budapest. Since it's a 14 hour drive, we decided to take it over 2 days. We left home at 9 AM, which gave me about 4.5 hours sleep after photographing a wedding the day before. We drove through Denmark and took the ferry from Gedser to Rostock (Germany) then drove via Berlin to Dresden. We had estimated that we'd make it hopefully as far as Berlin, possibly as far as Prague, and Dresden was in between, so that was pretty good. It was raining the whole way, sometimes so hard we could hardly see the car in front of us. This made for rather limited sightseeing, but I'd seen the part as far as Berlin just last December. My husband was also a bit disappointed since the rain dampened his autobahn experience. If it hadn't been for the rain, we would have made it to Prague.

My only experience with Eastern Europe was Berlin, both in 1989 and 2009, so I was really looking forward to seeing more of it on this trip.

It stopped raining shortly before we arrived in Dresden around 6 PM. We drove around for a while before we eventually found a vacant room at the Holiday Inn in the Bohemian part of town. The room was expensive but very nice, and at least parking and breakfast were included. We walked to the area where there are a lot of restaurants and finally settled on Italian. I ordered pasta with fresh asparagus and salmon, and my husband ordered lasagna. He inadvertently got the spinach lasagna, and while he was able to eat it despite hating spinach, I traded with him half way through. I thought both dinners were absolutely delicious!

Dresden was a lovely city, and I'd like to go back. I'd thought Dresden had pretty much been destroyed during WWII, so I was very much surprised by the fantastic architecture. Could all of this been rebuilt since 1989, or did the East Germans have better taste than I'd given them credit for? I'd rather imagined a city dominated by soulless cement high-rises (kind of like Malmö), and while some of the city was modern, it reminded me pleasantly of a cross between Wurtzburg and Berlin. There were many gorgeous huge homes, probably from the turn of the century, and most had been or were being restored to their former glory. Some had been replaced by modern structures, but the character of the neighborhood remained.

Where's spring?

2010-05-13T06:22:00.003+02:00

I've been trying not to complain about the weather, but without that, one doesn't seem to have much to talk about these days. It's beautiful and green, and the trees are getting their leaves, but it's still cold. So cold that everyone's asking, "Where's spring?"

After the bonfires of Valborg, I did as I usually do which was wash and put away our winter coats. They weren't away for more than a couple days before I had to bring them back.

Last week there were a couple of days that were so windy that our daughter's trampoline blew into the forest. This was the first time that it's blown in the year that we've had it, so while it's often very windy here, it hasn't been THIS windy. We discovered this as I was driving my daughter to school, and she was absolutely distraught. We're talking sobbing so hard she was gasping for air. I felt bad dropping her off at school in this condition, but what could I do? The trampoline had the net around it, so it was very heavy. We had to dismantle it to get it out of the forest. The part that holds up the net took some damage, so we might not bother to put that back. Luckily the rest of it was easily repaired with just a little welding, so it's back in place and usable again. Yesterday it was super windy again. Without the extra weight of the net, I was afraid it would blow away again, so we weighed down the legs with logs. Besides the wind, it also dumped rain sideways. It was as if someone was squirting us with a fire hose.

Last weekend was the long awaited start of the car season with cruising in Ystad. We took the Cadillac with the top down even though it was only 43 F/6 C and drizzling. There weren't as many cars as in previous years. They estimate 450 instead of 700, but it was nice anyhow. Our daughter really enjoyed waving to the spectators and people in the other cars.

This weekend is a long one, starting today with "Christ's Journey to Heaven Day." Fortunately the wind and rain have died down, since we're helping my mother in law take stuff to the dump. Tomorrow I'll be photographing a big wedding at a lovely castle, then on Saturday my husband and I leave for Budapest where he'll be attending a conference. We'll be driving there, which costs about what it does for one person to fly, and without the hassles of volcanic ash. It's an estimated 14 hour drive, but I'm looking forward to seeing Eastern Europe. Besides Berlin, I really haven't been there at all.

Black Cats and White Flowers

2010-05-04T13:07:00.007+02:00

It wouldn't be spring here without the white anemones (vitsippor) that carpet the forest floors, and while the relatively chilly temperatures (50-59 F/10-15 C) have kept me indoors more than most years, I still couldn't resist taking some pictures one afternoon when the wind died down.

My cats have certainly been enjoying spring, and I don't think they're as bothered by the cold. They like to lurk in the vegetation, and if they hunker down, they can almost disappear in the anemones.

My husband still can't tell them apart, but as you can see here, there really are two, and the size difference is substantial. Teddy (on the left) is much bigger than his sister, Dora. Teddy is in the picture at the top of this post, and Dora is in the other two.

I think Dora is more photogenic. She got her name because as a kitten, she was the adventurous one. But as she grew up, she became less Dora the Explorer and more Dora 'Dorable. She's a real sweety, though she's not quite as affectionate as her brother, and she's more reserved around strangers.

Teddy has been a total love-cat since the beginning. He was as cuddly as a Teddy bear. He has a bit of an oral fixation which results in him sucking his toes if you pet him too much. After their mother was given away (she was psycho!), he started sucking on his sister's thumb. She eventually tired of that, and it's been his own hind toes ever since.

Out with the old...

2010-05-02T14:48:00.004+02:00

The last evening in April is traditionally celebrated with bonfires all over Sweden. This tradition dates back to long before Christian times. The purpose was to dispose of the old to make room for the new. When the Christians adopted the tradition, it became in honor of Saint Valborg, famous for persecuting witches. The religious aspects of this occasion have disappeared now, and it's all about burning the debris from your garden in the biggest, baddest bonfire you can manage (and getting drunk).

Some may argue that getting drunk is an integral part of any Swedish social occasion, but this particular night is widely known as the start of the public drunk and disorderly season for Swedish youth. Honestly, I never knew it had seasons, but I heard this on the news.

We were invited to celebrate Valborg with the same people with whom we'd spent New Year's and Halloween. We contributed a huge pile of branches--the result of removing about a half dozen dead or diseased ash trees this winter. It was a bad winter for forestry because of all the snow, but my husband and our forest caretaker did get in a few days of tree removal. This pile would have been quite sufficient for a large bonfire on its own, but we loaded it into a truck and added it to the giant pile.

It rained much of the day, so the guys put up a party tent. I've already learned that with enough lighter fluid and beer, men can set fire to anything, so it was not a problem that the wood was wet. We lit the fire around sunset. The bonfire promptly got too hot for anyone to get near it, so everyone grilled the hot dogs or hamburgers that they'd brought with them on a separate grill. This particular evening was super windy, but after the snowy winter, the risk for the fire spreading was low. They did have a garden hose at the ready just in case. Now a garden hose seems dreadfully inadequate with a fire the size of a house and strong winds, but what would I know. They never did need the garden hose. This type of thing still makes the Californian in me quite nervous, so I was glad that this year the bonfire wasn't at our place.

I brought marshmallows, so I showed the kids the finer points of grilling marshmallows and made S'mores for the adults. I was shocked to see an 8 year old who didn't know that you could blow out a marshmallow that caught on fire, or eat the cooked part off of it and put the center back over the fire. He was so thrilled to learn this that he proudly demonstrated it several times.

When it got too late for the kids, the wives took them home, and some of the men stayed to make sure the fire burned down safely. Now it will probably take days for the thing to burn out entirely, but they spent the wee hours drinking beer and watching the fire from a wood-fired hot tub.

April Showers and April Flowers

2010-04-23T10:42:00.005+02:00

Spring has come slowly this year. The pile of snow that we've plowed off the courtyard, which was once 4 meters high, finally disappeared on April 11. We've had a few snow flurries this week, so it there was snow on the ground for a while, but not enough for complete coverage, and it melted the next day. We had one day in March with really lovely spring weather and temperatures in the teens/60s F (and I finally posted the pictures that went with that post), but since then, it's gone back to being rather cold and windy. I remember lying in the grass and basking in the sun while photographing spring flowers last year. So even though it's been at least intermittently sunny, I've chosen to bring my daffodils in to photograph this year.

There are some normal/modern daffodils in the garden just outside the kitchen window that have been here since we moved in, but in the forest by our house, there is a sea of seemingly wild daffodils. We heard from someone who grew up in this house, that when her parents were getting older and no longer wished to maintain the back yard, in the 70s, they put the bull in the yard. It ate most everything, but her mother rescued some of the daffodils and replanted them in the forest. It seems like every year there are more and more of them, and they are appearing all around the edge of the back yard now too.

These fluffy, double daffodils are now an unusual antique variety. A few years ago, a botanist from Lund came and dug some up for a collection of antique plants.

Despite the chilly temperature, the deer and elk are out nearly every evening. Last Sunday there were 12 elk that were particularly near the house. One of them even came into the back yard. I was happy that it didn't eat my daffodils, because then I might have had to scare them off, and I really don't want to do that. I have so many pictures of these creatures that I've made an effort not to photograph them every time I see them any more, but this time I couldn't resist.

Easter Recap

2010-04-23T10:05:00.007+02:00

This spring we all got colds: first my daughter, then my husband, then me. Then we all got a gastro-intestinal bug: first my husband, then my daughter, then me. Just in time for Easter, my husband was sick as a dog. We'd planned on celebrating Easter with our friends in Denmark, but he spent the weekend moaning on the sofa and watching several seasons of The West Wing. So I dyed eggs with my daughter (one of our favorite traditions) and drove the two of us to Denmark.

The kids had a great time with an American style egg hunt (72 small plastic eggs filled with candy and stickers).

Later that weekend we had a Swedish style egg hunt which involved a series of clues leading to one large egg full of candy. In Sweden the Easter bunny is a hare which is very appropriate here. This time of year, before the grass grows tall enough to hide them, the field is full of hares.

Learning to Read Again

2010-04-12T21:43:00.004+02:00

At some point since my daughter was born, I forgot that I loved to read. I remember that before moving to Sweden, I used to read a lot. In high school and college, I fed my habit by working in bookstores. I'm sorry that I've been neglecting my blog recently, but I've been learning to read again. I've discovered that with the help of a rechargeable LED flashlight, I can read in bed during that time between when my husband gets up and when my daughter gets up. This was the time that I often spent blogging, so I'll have to rethink my schedule a bit.

Last summer, my Danish friend brought along a pile of books for our vacation on the island of Aeroe, Denmark. Among them was the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, and she just raved about what a wonderful book it was. In recent years, it seems like most of my reading has been done on vacations (airplanes in particular). It's also been dominated by books about self-help or parenting. Needless to say, these have not been much fun to read, and with months passing between chapters sometimes, my motivation was minimal.

For our trip to Florida, my Danish friend loaned me The Friendship Test. She said it was light reading, good for the airplane, and since I didn't have any other novel saved up for the occasion, I gave it a try. It was indeed a pleasure to read. I sat by the pool and read. I lay on the beach and read, and somewhere there in the sun, I remembered that I loved to read. When it became clear that I would finish this book before I made it home, I got myself a copy of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society. This book really was lovely, and I was hooked.

I think part of the reason I stopped reading was because I'd tried so hard to read in Swedish. One would think that it's not that difficult for me these days, after all, I do read the newspaper every day. But somehow that extra effort might have been the straw that broke the camel's back. It would also seem that I haven't liked any of the books I've read in Swedish. It's probably blasphemous to say this, especially when one lives in these parts, but I don't particularly enjoy the Wallander mysteries. I've read several of them, and they're just so frustratingly low-tech. I really want to call in the characters from CSI, NCIS, or Bones, and they'd have it all cleared up in 45 minutes.

Anyway, now craving to feed my new book habit, I discovered that a library near here has a shelf of novels in English. I picked a couple of these, nearly at random, and was a bit disappointed. For Easter, we visited our Danish friends again, and I asked to borrow more books. This time she recommended Water for Elephants, and again, I totally loved it. I won't go into details here, but you can see more with the GoodReads link. Perhaps we have the beginnings of a book club here.

So, anyone read any good books lately? I'd love to hear your recommendations.

Molly the Media Phenomenon

2010-03-29T07:41:00.004+02:00

In case I don't have enough wildlife around here to watch, I've become hooked on Molly the barn owl. That's right, my name is Lani, and I'm an owlcoholic.

Live Streaming by Ustream.TV

Through a friend in Florida, I found about about this web cam in an owl box in San Marcos (about 20 minutes from where we used to live in San Diego). I've learned a bit about barn owls, for example that they screech, but they don't hoot. The fourth chick hatched last night, and there's one egg left. The mother owl is Molly, the dad McGee, and the owlets Max, Pattison, Austin, and Wesley. The eggs hatch in the order they were laid, so there's a noticeable difference in size. How do I know all this? Because of the media phenomenon surrounding these owls which I fine more interesting than the owls themselves.

When I checked in last night, to discover I'd just missed the fourth hatching, there were nearly 18000 viewers. Now it's the middle of the night in California, so there are only 7000 viewers. More than 3 million people have tuned in to watch this owl. She's on facebook, twitter, and numerous blogs. You can chat about her in two different online forums. You can watch her on YouTube, on your iPhone, or download her voice as a ring signal. You can order a mug, mousepad, t-shirt, or e-book.

Reality TV--it's for the birds!

Spring is here!

2010-03-26T18:04:00.004+01:00

This morning I saw a herd of 9 elk (kronhjort) in the field by our house. They were rather thin, but relaxed and unhurried. A couple of them were trying out their partially grown antlers. Previously sightings this year had been of only one or two elk, and they did not linger.

On the doorstep this morning was a dead mole in a pool of blood. Good kitties, I guess. Whenever Teddy catches something, he likes to meow at the door until we come and praise him. Once we've told him what a good little predator he is, then he can eat it. Unfortunately he doesn't like to eat moles or shrews, so I have to carry those away.

For the first time this year, I went out without my overcoat, and even without it, I was a bit warm. I had to go into Lund today, and there everyone was in the spring mood. The cafes had already set out tables, and these were all full. In the shops, people were buying sunglasses. There were easily twice as many people out and about as there had been a few weeks or months ago. As is normal with Lund, these people wandered or bicycled through the streets without the slightest regard to cars. Since I was driving, this was really bad for my nerves, and I couldn't wait to get out of the city again.

In the backyard, small patches of snowdrops and crocuses are now blooming. Yipee! The flowers are so lovely here in the spring.

Spring is on the ground

2010-03-25T09:37:00.005+01:00

Suddenly the ground is green. Normally it's muddy brown for most of the winter, but this year it was brown for only a day or so before it started to get tinged in green, and already green is dominant. When the snow receded, we could see the moles' winter handiwork which had been hidden. Silly me, I thought they were hibernating.

The moles aren't the only creatures which have been exposed. Other rodents also appear to be abundant. My cats have also been enjoying more time outdoors, sometimes even staying out all night. Yesterday morning I was greeted with parts from three rodents on the doorstep. I'll spare you the picture of that.

No flowers here yet, but it feels like it shouldn't be long now.

What a Difference a Day Makes

2010-03-23T11:34:00.002+01:00

When I got up Saturday morning and looked out the window, the ground was 90% covered with snow. Saturday just happened to be the vernal equinox, and it was also a relatively warm and bright day. By Saturday evening, I saw only 50% snow. Sunday was also a relatively warm but rainy day, and by Sunday evening I'd estimate there was only 10% snow coverage. The ground was still frozen, so instead of being absorbed, enormous puddles formed everywhere. Rivers literally ran down the edges of the roads. The ground is starting to thaw now, so the water is receding. As long as it doesn't rain too much, things should be okay, just rather muddy.

The drainage projects that we've done and redone around the house seem to be working, so we're not having any problems with flooding.

Snow, snow, go away!

2010-03-14T13:08:00.008+01:00

After months of my life being dominated by snow, it finally feels like that is coming to an end. It is sunny, and the snow is melting. This morning, it snowed, but not so much. This thawing started a couple of weeks ago, but with temperatures only barely above freezing during the day (if at all), it's been a slow process. It's thawed a bit during the day, but then it freezes again at night. The bare spot in the backyard which has been about 2 square meters for the last couple of weeks, has suddenly doubled in size and been joined by some smaller spots. Otherwise, the fields are still covered in snow.

The fields have been covered with snow all year. It started snowing in December, which is pretty normal. Then it started melting around Christmas, which is also normal, so the snow coverage got down to about 50% around here. And then it started snowing again, and it's been snow covered ever since. This is really hard on the wildlife, and while it certainly is beautiful, everybody is long since tired of it. My daughter, who's so fond of playing in snow, is sick of it. Even my husband finally admitted yesterday that he'd had enough.

For me, the worst part about the snow was trying to drive in it. BMW's have the reputation of being bad in the winter, and while I've had this car since 2006, I'd never had any winter related problems until this year. This year, I've been stuck in the snow 4 times. The first time was on February 2 as I drove home from my daughter's soccer practice. The dirt road has an uphill S-curve that can be a bit tricky. It had only been snowing for a couple of hours at the time, but it was snowing hard and windy too. The loose snow was too deep, and my car rode up on it then slid sideways into a drift. I called our neighbor, the farmer who's in charge of plowing this road, and he set out with the tractor to rescue me. In the meanwhile, two guys from the home health-care service came behind me. I was blocking the road, so they took their shovels and attempted to dig and push me out, but to no avail. Then someone came from the other direction and blocked the tractor. A spot was plowed for this car to pull over, then the tractor came and pulled me loose. We backed my car down the hill, the tractor plowed the hill, then with a running start I was just barely able to follow the tractor as it plowed a path for me all the way home.

A few days later, when it was time for me to pick my daughter up from a play date, I got stuck on a drift again. Again, I blocked traffic from both directions, but the only other vehicles out and about were 4 wheel drive. Again, I called my neighbor, and even though I wasn't on the road that was his responsibility, he came and pulled me out. At the same time, another snow plow came from the other direction, so I was able to make it to my destination and home again, but the whole time I feared getting stuck.

Every time I left the house, I feared getting stuck. Even if the roads were plowed, and the snow wasn't blowing around, I was still managed to get stuck. A parking lot with 6 inches (15 cm) of loose snow was enough to do it. I had to be pushed out of my spot.

The fourth time I got stuck, I was miles from home, and there was no tractor available. As usual, I was blocking the road for someone else. He couldn't figure out why I was stuck, but he called three of his friends, and with them pushing, he was able to get me unstuck. Thank goodness for the kindness of strangers.

Besides being thoroughly embarrassing, this has totally shaken my confidence. Not only do I lack the skills for driving in snow, but I lack the judgment to know when not to try. I resorted to calling my neighbor and asking him about road conditions before venturing out. I've also been collecting advice on driving techniques (not all contradictory). My husband's idea of a solution is to buy me a proper winter car before next year (something like a Jeep Grand Cherokee) and I'm inclined to agree.

Besides my frustrations driving in the snow, I've also come to the conclusion not to do Konstrundan (the Easter art show) this year. Even if the snow were to melt by Easter, it would still be a terrible mud hole here. The dirt road is so muddy that people would probably get stuck. While I generally look forward to Konstrundan, it's a relief this time not to have to do it.

I've spent too long writing this, and it's snowed again, about 3 inches/7 cm. The bare spots in the yard are gone. Spring is coming, but when?

So the Economic Crisis is Over?

2010-03-04T14:31:00.003+01:00

Politicians and the media seem happy to tell us that the economic crisis is over, but I have my doubts. At least here in southern Sweden, it seems to be in full swing. Just a few days ago a large pharmaceutical company announced that it was shutting down its facilities in Lund. 900 people would be out of work. Other large telecom companies have been announcing round after round of lay-offs. My husband’s a consultant at one of these companies.

While we’ve seen it coming for months, it still shook us a bit yesterday when my husband found out that his position had been eliminated. They didn’t say if he would be reassigned again, and the odds of that are slim. They also didn’t say when this would go into effect, which means he has at least a month left there.

Before Christmas, the company announced that several hundred positions would be eliminated. Last week, they said they’d be announcing which positions this week. Then on Monday, they said they’d have to wait at least another week because the union wasn’t ready to deal with all the phone calls. I guess they decided to tell some people anyhow. Don’t people understand that uncertainty is not good for productivity? For the past year, the product pipeline has been clogged by indecisiveness caused by people not knowing which projects would survive the next round of cuts.

So if the economic crisis is over, why does it feel like it's just getting warmed up?

Florida, day 13: Last day in the Keys

2010-02-26T10:18:00.006+01:00

We were sad to leave our little bungalow at the marina and head back towards civilization today. It had been so lovely in the Keys that I really wanted to stay longer. However, we had all day to enjoy the Keys on our way out.

Our first stop was Bahia Honda State Park. I'd read about this, and I'm glad we got to see it. The visitor center had interesting information about the old railroad bridge which was completed 1912 and destroyed by a hurricane in 1935. The trail out to the bridge went through the native vegetation which was also nice to see up close.

We then walked along the beach where my daughter collected shells and bits of coral.

Eventually we had to tear ourselves away and hit the road again. We'd heard there may be a place that rented sailboats on Islamorada, so we stopped at the visitor's center there. It was true! My husband rented a Hobie-cat and took our daughter sailing. There was no way I was attempting another boat, so I enjoyed my book on the beach. This was the first time my daughter had been sailing, and she loved it.

We left the keys and stayed at a motel in Florida City/Homestead since our flight was the next morning, and we didn't want to be more than an hour from the airport. I repacked and weighed our suitcases, then we headed out for a final round of shopping at our favorite stores: Harbor Freight Tools and Target.

Florida, day 12: Key West Ultimate Adventure

2010-02-22T13:55:00.010+01:00

We arrived at the dock in Key West armed with bathing suits, SPF 50+ sunscreen, Dramamine, Swedish motion sickness medicine, warm clothes, bottled water, straps for our sunglasses, and everything else we could think of. We were greeted with a mountain of disclaimers and release forms the likes of which I'd never seen. One would have thought we were buying a house. There's no way we could have read half of it in the time we had before departure, so it was just to sign and initial as fast as we could and hope for the best.

It was a beautiful sunny day, and the water was the most fantastic turquoise color. Onboard, we were fed breakfast of fruit, yogurt, and pastries. The Dramamine was working, and I did okay until it was time to get into our wetsuits. Then I made the mistake of going to the restroom. That was more than the Dramamine could handle, and the wetsuit was so confusing. I couldn't figure out how to put it on and eventually had to ask for help. My husband and daughter went ahead of me to go snorkeling, and I hoped to catch up. Unfortunately, every time I moved, I almost threw up.

All day on a boat? What was I thinking? I've always had a problem with seasickness, and I've been careful to keep my boat trips to a minimum, but I'd done okay on ferry trips the last few years, so I was optimistic. I really wanted to try snorkeling, para-sailing, and jet-skiing, so I pretended I could. Oh, what was I thinking?!!!

The boat had stairs going down to the water so one did not have to jump over the side, but my daughter got scared when the waves threw her back against the stairs, and she came up crying. My husband continued without her. After everyone else had gotten into the water, my daughter was ready to try again. I really wanted to go snorkeling and see the reef, and I really tried, but when I put my mask on, I threw up. From then on, every time I moved at all, I threw up again. I'd heard that once you throw up, you feel better and can get on with things. Oh how I wish that was true. I begged the staff to help my daughter, so they called my husband back. He tried again to get her into the water, but once again she got clobbered by a wave and freaked out. We'd never taken her into the surf in California, and the minuscule waves we encounter in Sweden (or so far on this vacation) were nothing to prepare her for this.

When the snorkeling part of this adventure was over, my half-dead corpse was in the way, so the staff helped drag me to the back of the boat where they claimed it was stiller. They then sailed around from the reef side to the gulf side of the island for the rest of the day's activities. On the way there, they saw a sea turtle bobbing in the waves as if it was injured. The came around and fished it up, but it turned out the poor thing was dead. Everyone on the boat thought it was really interesting anyhow.

I got up to photograph the turtle, and while I managed to do that without throwing up, all I wanted to do was lie down again. Lunch of cold cuts and sandwiches was served, but I just lay still. It was cold and windy, and I lay there for what felt like an eternity. As long as I kept my eyes closed and didn't move a muscle, I was pretty much okay.

When we got to our destination, we were divided in groups, and our group was first up for para-sailing. My daughter really wanted to do this, and there was no way my husband was going to do this, so I got up. I didn't fall over or throw up, so I climbed into the smaller boat and off we went. They commented that I must be pretty uncomfortable with my wetsuit on backwards, but that was really the least of my problems.

I was surprised that para-sailing was so easy. They just hooked us up, and off we went. The view from up there was amazing, but I hadn't dared to bring my camera. Instead, I left it with my husband who took a few shots then handed it off to the para-sail guy. So these really are pictures of me, not by me. I'm not bothered by heights, and being up there flying around was no problem. My daughter thought it was a little bit scary, but she enjoyed it. Everything was fine until they were bringing us down. As soon as we started bobbing and jerking, I threw up. It must have looked pretty impressive, but I don't have any pictures of that.

As the para-sailing boat returned us to the main boat, I begged the guys to give me a lift back to shore, and they agreed. I'm sure they felt sorry for me. The whole ride back, I concentrated on chewing my anti-nausea gum and not throwing up, and somehow I made it. Unfortunately, I didn't remember in time to tip the guys, and they left as soon as they helped me off the boat. I hope some good karma catches up with them.

My husband and daughter spent the rest of the afternoon kayaking and jet-skiing. There was a water park with inflatable icebergs for climbing and such, but the water was quite cold, so they chose not to swim out there. My husband was impressed how well my daughter paddled, and they enjoyed the kayaking, but jet-skiing turned out to be the highlight of the day.

I walked around Key West window shopping while I waited for the boat to return. One thing (chocolate covered frozen key lime pie on a stick) kept catching my eye, but I didn't dare eat anything. We met up and walked around some more, picking up a few souvenirs. We eventually found a restaurant that didn't have anyone standing out front trying to lure us in. The smell of fish didn't appeal to me, so we enjoyed gourmet salads for dinner, and I felt fine.

Florida, day 11: The Keys

2010-02-21T16:51:00.003+01:00

We ate our Pop-tarts, cleaned our cabin, and got off to a relatively early start. I was a bit surprised that my daughter, the sugar addict, was not all that fond of the Pop-tarts. For me, they were as good as I remembered, but I certainly wouldn't want them for breakfast more than once per year. Did I really live on those things when I was in college?

We drove back through the greater Miami area and down to the Keys. Key Largo was in no way glamorous or beautiful which I'd expected from the internet, and I'm glad I took my friend's advice to focus on Key West. As we got to the middle keys, the scenery improved, and the view from the bridges was spectacular.

For lunch, we went to the No Name Bar on No Name Key (Big Pine Key) which involved driving through the Key Deer preserve. As we parked the car, a deer ran across the road! It looked like a small California mule deer. There was a long wait to get seated for lunch, but the food was worth the wait. My husband and I shared a grouper sandwich and a Cuban sandwich, both of which were excellent. The pizza also looked really good, reminiscent of my favorite, Carinos in La Jolla, but we'd already ordered by the time I saw this.

Instead of the relatively expensive motels, hotels, and resorts, we chose to rent a suite at the Dolphin Marina on Little Torch Key. We had two rooms, a screened-in patio, and a kitchenette (fridge, microwave, but no stove) for not much more than the really cheesy motels we'd passed. The staff at the marina was incredibly helpful. They didn't have the little sailboat my husband wanted to rent, but they'd try to get one or find out where else we could find one. I asked about manatees, but they hadn't seen any around recently. My daughter asked where she could drink coconut juice. She'd been admiring the coconuts lying around all over Florida, but we had no way to open one. The next thing we knew, a guy had grabbed a machete and was hacking one open for her. This looked pretty dangerous, but he handled it with ease. It turned out to be a bit sour, but this was a great experience for her.

After settling in, we continued on to Key West. We walked around the historic district but chose not to go into any of the museums. After our rather late lunch, we weren't particularly hungry either. Instead of dinner, I picked up some key-lime pie for later. (It was divine!) All over Key West were kiosks for booking activities. We asked about renting a kayak or jetski and were talked into an "ultimate adventure." I was wary of spending 6 hours on a boat, but the guy insisted it was rare that anyone got sick because we'd be so busy with all the activities: snorkeling, kayaking, jet-skiing, para-sailing, and the water fun-park.

Florida, day 10: Billie Swamp Safari

2010-02-14T12:16:00.005+01:00

While planning our trip to Florida, I did a lot of research on the internet. One of the things that I came across which really stood out to me was an eco-tourism package on the Seminole Indian reservation. This package included an airboat tour, both day and night swamp buggy tours, a reptile or small animal show, native-american storytelling, and the option of spending the night in a traditional hut. At the time I was looking into this, Florida was experiencing record cold temperatures, so the idea of spending the night in a hut with no electricity or plumbing was even less appealing than usual--thus the RV park solution. I booked this package thinking it would be the highlight of our trip. I'd had wonderful experiences with tours on the Navajo reservations in Monument Valley and Canyon de Chelly, so I had high expectations. I was really looking forward to learning about the Seminole culture and local ecosystem.

When we arrived at Billie Swamp Safari, it was dumping rain. This turned out to be a good thing, because when I went to pay for our full day package, they said the airboats weren't running because of the rain, and we were given the option of buying our activities individually instead. We were disappointed because we really wanted to do the airboats. We decided to have a leisurely lunch and booked the 1 PM swamp buggy tour and the following reptile show.

The restaurant had an extensive menu including both "normal" food and local specialties: frog legs, catfish, alligator, and indian fry-bread. I considered trying the alligator, but it was expensive, and I really wasn't in the mood for chicken (which is what everyone says alligator tastes like). I chose normal food, but the fry-bread got me thinking. Do all native-americans eat fry-bread, or is it a gimmick for the tourists that they've all picked up. I've eaten Navajo fry-bread in Arizona, and as far as I recall, it was the same as Kumeyaay fry-bread in San Diego. Did the Seminole in Florida really have the same food culture as the southwest?

As we ate, the rain let up. While we were on the swamp buggy tour, the weather cleared up entirely. The first animals we saw on the tour were cows and pigs. I was not impressed, but they explained that these were descendants of livestock originally imported by the Spaniards. Next they pointed out a nilgai (yup, African!) and later later an eland (also African). I was pissed. This wasn't an eco-tour, it was a zoo, and not even a good one! If I wanted to see African animals, I'd go to the San Diego Wild Animal Park. Then came Asian water buffalo and North American bison (though I doubt they're native to South Florida). They had had a Scottish red deer (very similar to the elk we have in Sweden), but it was eaten by a crocodile which escaped from their enclosure. The poor deer must have really suffered in the Florida summers. I saw some poetic justice in that since crocodiles aren't native to the area either. They have not been able to recapture the crocodile, but they keep tabs on where it is by what it eats.

In between non-natives, the driver did mention a couple different habitat types and some plants and birds. We even happened to stumble upon a white-tailed deer. We also passed a "traditional" Seminole residence, complete with sheet-metal roofing and a fiberglass canoe. What were they thinking!?? We did learn that Seminole buildings were constructed not with a single opening in the roof to let the smoke out but with a solid roof and open gables on both ends. This diffused the smoke and allowed it to spread horizontally, instead of vertically where it would be easily visible to enemies. Unfortunately, this was the only bit of Seminole culture presented.

After the swamp buggy tour, we looked at the monitor lizards on display while waiting for the reptile show. They were climbing their cages in order to be in the sunlight. This was quite impressive, but we noticed a small wild lizard on the outside of the cage. We pointed out to our daughter that it was almost ready to shed. On cue, it pulled off it's skin and walked away from it, leaving the fragile skin for us to examine.

Disappointed in the swamp buggy tour, I was expecting the worst from the reptile show. I really didn't want to see some idiot sticking his head in an alligator's mouth. Fortunately, it wasn't like that at all. The young man doing the show was both knowledgeable and respectful of the snakes he handled. He showed an talked about a tiny pygmy rattlesnake, a cottonmouth, and a water moccasin, all natives to the area. For comparison, he also showed a rattlesnake from northern Florida. He talked about the Southern tradition of rattlesnake roundups where people would catch and exterminate rattlesnakes. This selective pressure on the rattlesnake population has lead to the occurrence of rattlesnakes that do not rattle audibly (they still shake their tales) being more and more common. No reptile show would be complete without an alligator, and indeed, he ended the show with a small one. He even allowed audience members to pose for pictures with it (mouth rubber-banded shut). My daughter was very proud to have held an alligator.

By now, the airboats were running again, so we sent and bought tickets for that. Our driver seemed quite bored with his job and not the most personable, but this turned out to be the highlight of the day. My husband and daughter enjoyed the high speed part of the ride. (My daughter had even enjoyed the bouncing of the swamp buggy.)

I really liked it when he slowed it down and went into the cypress mangrove. I'd finally gotten my chance to take a better look at this habitat. Alligators posed on logs, and Spanish moss hung from the trees. Then we saw a pair of raccoons--they were just too cute! One stood as if posing for the camera, and I was in heaven!

After the airboat, we walked around the rest of the park, including the boardwalk nature trail. Clearly the boardwalk was not used by many of the visitors, and that was a shame. A few narrative signs would have made it even better. A row of raccoon droppings on the railing showed that they had been eating berries, crayfish, and dog or cat food. We also got a close look at the lichen, bromeliads, parasitic plants, and grasses all growing in the trees.

There was still a few hours before the storytelling and nighttime swamp buggy tour, and we were not inclined to wait. I was happy that we had not paid for these activities. We went back to the RV park where my daughter enjoyed the pool. For dinner we went into "town." What we thought was a restaurant turned out to be a combination fast food/convenience store/gift shop, but the fajitas were really good. I was feeling nostalgic looking at the shelves full of American sweets, so I picked up some pop-tarts for breakfast.

An era has come to an end

2010-02-13T07:45:00.006+01:00

(We interrupt my vacation summary for this breaking news....)

It's finally over. Our house in San Diego is finally sold. I'm relieved that this hellish process of selling the house, which has dragged on since August, is finally over. But I'm sad too. I feel bridges have been burned. The option of someday moving back to San Diego is more remote. It's not like we were planning on moving back, but when we left for the second time in 2006, we wanted to keep that option open.

Here's the recap: In 1998, we sold our house in the Clairemont area of San Diego and moved to Sweden. My husband had been working for a defense sub-contractor in SD and continued to do so remotely. He'd been with this company since they were only seven people, so it was kind of like family. In early 2003, his boss (the president of the company) was killed by terrorists in Kuwait. Several extended trips to SD followed, and my husband was encouraged to move back to fill the gap. A lot of effort went into finding the right house in SD, but when we found this one in the Poway area, we were sure it was the one we wanted. It was already in escrow, but they buyer was having problems coming up with the money, so we made a back-up offer at the asking price. The seller made an ultimatum that the first buyer couldn't meet, and the house was ours.

I loved that house--the floor plan with a guest suite downstairs, the convenient location, the view to both east and west, the nice neighborhood, the friendly neighbors, the good school district. It was a bargain because it had been a rental for years, but everything it needed, we could do ourselves. (That we never got around to doing a lot of these things is another story.)

We moved in fall 2003, and lived there until fall 2006 when we moved back to Sweden. During these years, we spent the summers (May through August) in Sweden. It was the best of both worlds in many ways. Unfortunately things didn't develop with my husband's career the way we'd expected. He worked incredibly long hours under stressful conditions until he burned out. It was then we decided to move back to Sweden full time. He didn't have a job in Sweden yet, and we weren't sure if he'd ever be able to find something as well-paying as he could in SD, so we decided to rent out the house instead of selling it. In retrospect, this was our second mistake.

Our first mistake was refinancing the house in the way that we did. The original purchase price of just under a half million dollars was a good price for the house, but we didn't qualify for a traditional loan (consultants based outside the US). This wasn't a problem because we had a mortgage broker who came highly recommended by several friends. This guy specialized in creative financing. We took two loans which we new were bad long term, with the plan of refinancing after a year or two. And so we did, and everything worked out fine. Our house had increased in value 20% the first year, so when we refinanced, we took out some funds to upgrade (exterior paint, insulated windows, new heater and air-conditioner). Unfortunately, we were talked into another bad loan--not quite as bad as the first, but we knew it would get ugly if we didn't refinance within a few years. Nobody expected the housing market to take a downturn. At worse, prices might level off. Seriously, who wouldn't want to live in San Diego?

Then the market did make that downturn, and it went from not being a good time to refinance, to being impossible to refinance. Our mortgage broker stopped returning calls and eventually disappeared entirely. In 2008, we tried to renegotiate our loan, but the bank was not interested. By the beginning of 2009, our income from rent covered only half of the mortgage payment. We wanted to sell, but for us to break even, the house would have to be priced considerably above market value. The tenants were uncooperative. The bank was uncooperative. The property manager was uncommunicative (turns out his wife had just miscarried their twins and was having serious medical problems, so I'll cut him some slack).

In May, I stopped making mortgage payments. In July, someone at the bank decided to return one of my calls, and I was sent paperwork to apply for a short sale. [In a short sale, the house is sold and the bank accepts that as payment in full, forgiving the rest of the debt. This generally gets the bank a lot more money than if the house was sold at auction, and it saves them the trouble of the foreclosure.] It took weeks for me to fill out all that paperwork, but I sent it back in August, along with several questions. We put the house on the market at market value. Because of our uncooperative tenants, we had no choice other than to use the property manager as the selling agent. He's a nice guy and all, but unfortunately not the best person for the job. In September, we got a form letter from the bank saying they'd put our application on hold because it was incomplete. They did not answer any of our questions or even say what they were missing. I finally found someone at the bank whom I could call, but it turned out she was clueless. I'd send in more and more papers, trying to guess what it was they wanted. We got offers on the house, and the property manager sent them to the bank, but the bank did not respond. Eventually the offers were withdrawn, and new offers were submitted, but still no response.

Finally, in the beginning of December, the property manager got a hold of somebody at the bank who wanted to make this work, and they accepted an offer. This person told me what information they were missing, and I was able to e-mail it to her within minutes. The bank wanted a quick escrow, and that was fine with me. We would have less of a tax penalty if we could get the deal done in 2009. And then, nothing for a couple weeks. I'd fooled myself into believing that people were doing their jobs and everything was moving along as it should.

Suddenly we were up against the foreclosure deadline,December 21, and the house was about to be auctioned off. The buyer had to fork over $10,000 to stop it, and they did. No worries, they said, this should all be done before Christmas. Except the escrow officer went on vacation, and nobody seemed to have anticipated this. Everything just stopped. Over Christmas, the bank got bought by another bank which now could force us to start over with everything if the deal in progress was not fulfilled. New deadline for the house being auctioned off, January 19th. On January 14th, we were told we needed to wire transfer $4000 immediately and get a bunch of papers notarized and sent back.

The money shouldn't have been a problem since I had enough in my bank in SD. But then it turned out that Wells Fargo was incapable of electronically transferring money to another bank within the US. They have an online-bill-pay thing, but with that, they generate a paper check and mail it. It also doesn't work if your bank account don't have a US address. Luckily my mom was able to come to the rescue and wire the money from her bank, and I would pay her back. Now notarization is something that is no longer done in Sweden, and for a US notary, I'd have to go to the embassy. That's expensive and a major pain, but luckily we were leaving for Miami on the 16th and took the papers with us. It turned out that finding a notary and FedEx on a Sunday in Miami was not all that difficult (see vacation day two for the story).

So now I actually got my hopes up and believed we would soon close escrow. What I didn't know was that the buyer's agent was a total idiot. He was supposed to have an appraisal done in the beginning of December. Somehow he'd forgotten to look at it or send it along. Now it turns out that the appraisal came in $15,000 under the offer. This means the buyer's loan would be $15,000 short, but he didn't understand that. There was not time to redo the appraisal, and the buyers couldn't scrape together another $15,000 in cash. My bank was not about to budge. After all this work, the only solution was for the agents to reduce their commissions or the whole deal would fall through. Apparently this took some time to negotiate. The January 19th deadline got extended to the 29th, and I expected to come home from Florida to news that escrow had closed. Silly me.

Somewhere along the line, someone had forgotten to mention that the buyer expected to be reimbursed for the $10,000 that they'd put up to stop the first auction. This didn't really surprise me. There had been reference to a $10,000 seller's contribution in the paperwork since mid-December, so I was kine of prepared for this. I thought I'd gotten lucky with having to pay only $4000. I'd assumed that we'd end up splitting the sum, but since nobody mentioned it, I'd hoped they were okay with it. So now it came down to me wiring $10,000 immediately or the whole thing would fall through. This was too much for me to ask my mom or anyone else for, and I new I wouldn't be able to get it out of Wells Fargo account. I had to skip an online meeting in order to drive to the bank in a snowstorm, but I was able to wire the money from Sweden. The original (clueless) contact person from the bank is involved again and threatening not to extend anymore. She'd rather let the whole thing fall apart than give people the time they need. I guess the only incompetence she tolerates is her own. Fortunately the other bank person outranks her, and cooler heads prevail. Then the buyer had to deliver a cashier's check, but it wasn't enough. So the buyer had to wire money, but they missed the deadline at their bank, so it took an extra day. Then there was some delay in their lender funding. I can no longer imagine what. I believe everything that could possibly be screwed up has already been screwed up at least twice. Does anybody know what they're doing?

Finally, last night, they told me that the sale had been recorded. It's over. I'm relieved, but yet it's not all good. My bridges are burned. This transaction has ruined my good credit rating, and not living in the US, it will be difficult to improve it. Without good credit, moving back to the US would be much harder.

Florida, day 9-10: Big Cypress

2010-02-10T11:05:00.003+01:00

We wanted to get to the Big Cypress RV campground where we would be spending the night before they closed at 4, and we weren't certain how far away it was, so we didn't do any more sightseeing in Everglades National Park. There are very few places to stay near the Everglades, so I was excited to have found a cabin to rent on the Seminole Indian Reservation where our following day's activities were planned. Unfortunately we didn't know exactly where this place was, only which highway exit, and "follow the signs." Where we were in the Everglades was about 30 miles from this exit, as the crow flies, but it turned out to be about 80 miles to drive there. When doing my research, I'd mistaken a county line for a road. Oops.

We drove east through Big Cypress National Preserve, and this was spectacular. I really enjoyed the cypress mangroves with the bromeliads and Spanish moss hanging from the branches, and I wish we'd taken the time to stop at the Big Cypress visitor center.

Our daughter started counting alligators along the road as we drove, but there were so many she soon lost count. I'd estimate that we saw over a hundred.

The drive got less interesting when we turned north, and even less interesting when we turned east onto Alligator Alley. It was drier here, with the water only in one big man-made canal. There were no alligators to be seen, just flat, straight highway. We exited the highway at the designated intersection and drove through the Seminole Indian Reservation. Here it looked neither like the Everglades now like the Big Cypress preserve. It reminded me of the Argentine pampas, a flat grassland dotted with rather thin cattle. We found the campground about 30 miles from the turnoff (certainly further than I'd anticipated), and we it was after 4 by the time we got there. Luckily they left instructions, so that wasn't a problem.

The cabin was tiny, with two small bunks, a closet, a small sofa, a table with two chairs, a bathroom, and a small kitchen. Above the kitchen and bathroom was a small loft with three mattresses. My husband and I decided to sleep up there since the bunks weren't full length. The cabin was small compared to the ones we'd used in Norway, but it was clean and it met our needs.

Our neighbors seemed to be living much more luxuriously in their motorhomes. These things were enormous! Many people had supplemented their living space by setting up patios, gardens in pots, Christmas lights, or screened in tents. There were also plenty of expensive "toys" (like motorcycles or sports cars) around. Some of the RVs even had drive in garages. All were pulled by huge trucks that made my husband drool.

We went out to forage for food and found provisions for dinner and breakfast at the gas station. When we returned, most of our neighbors, who'd been out and about earlier, were nowhere to be seen. We did eventually find someone from whom we borrowed a lighter to light the gas stove. I made spaghetti, and we prepared to eat outside. Then we discovered the mosquitoes--that's why nobody was outside. This was the only time we were bothered by bugs, and it wasn't really a problem at all.

The next morning, we got off to a leisurely start. My daughter and I explored the RV park and played a round of mini-golf. We walked into the clubhouse where a few ladies were preparing for a birthday party. They were very friendly and invited us to the party, but we would be out for the day by then. Another group of ladies were doing water aerobics in the pool. These were active seniors enjoying their retirement, and I was impressed by the sense of community. I think I might enjoy retiring to a motor home and traveling around the US, following the good weather.

Florida, day 9: Everglades

2010-02-09T14:33:00.009+01:00

We said a reluctant goodbye to our fantastic suite at the Hilton and drove out to the Everglades. We took route 41, the Tamiami Highway. This was not "Alligator Alley" but we kept our eyes open anyhow, and soon after we left civilization, we started seeing them along the canal.

I've always been uncomfortable about alligators, crocodiles, and other large dinosaur-like carnivorous reptiles. One could say I have an irrational fear of dinosaurs. Normally this isn't much of a problem, except that movies like Jurasic Park give me nightmares. So I was a bit apprehensive about seeing alligators up close and personal. I kind of figured we'd see big alligators kind of like we saw bears in Kings Canyon. When there was a bear, there was usually a traffic jam and a mob of people photographing it from the side of the road. I think we saw 10 bears in 5 days, and we thought that was a lot.

We drove past several alligator farm type places offering alligator shows and airboat rides, and went directly to Everglades National Park. Shortly after we turned into the Shark Valley entrance, traffic came to a standstill. They were only letting cars in as other cars left. We waited for about 20 minutes, and during that time, we watched the birds and alligators in the small canal beside the road. There were plenty of long lenses pointed out car windows.

When we got in, we didn't have long to wait before our two-hour tram tour. I'd been under the impression that there would be at least a snack bar by the visitor's center, but there wasn't. Luckily we'd taken with us some snacks and plenty to drink. The tram tour was operated by a concession. We got seats in the first row to better hear the narration. Our guide was entertaining and informative, but clearly not a biologist.

He talked about the different habitats and seasonal variation, how fast the "river" flows, how the road was built, a bunch of different birds, and of course, alligators. He had a very interesting analogy. In the winter, water is scarce. The large alligators thrash around in the mud making pits where the water is deeper. These alligator pits become home not only to alligators of all sized but fish, turtles, and birds as well like a concentrated ecosystem. Because of the low temperature, the alligators only need to eat about once a month. So about once per month, he eats one of his neighbors, and the rent is paid. Everyone lives peacefully until next month when the rent comes due again.

Much to our surprise, our guide waded into the swamp to show us the blue-green algae. He wasn't worried about alligators, but the snakes could be a real problem.

At the end of the road was an old observation tower where they used to watch for fires. Since the park service realized that fires were a natural part of the ecosystem, they stopped doing this, but the tourists had a destination where they could walk up for a better view of an otherwise phenomenally flat landscape. I was amazed by the number of huge (>4 m/12 ft) alligators that we could see from here. Unlike crocodiles, alligators don't usually eat anything larger than their heads because their teeth don't fit together for cutting. Alligators are also mellow in contrast to their aggressive cousins, crocodiles. There was a 6 foot alligator right next to the trail, and people were walking right by it, but it didn't blink an eye.

Back at the visitor center, a ranger gave a talk about vultures, a very important part of the ecosystem. They were all very well fed because the cold weather a couple weeks before had killed a lot of fish. In some areas, there were still dead fish floating around.

(N)everlost

2010-02-09T13:46:00.002+01:00

Our Hertz rental car in Florida came with a GPS called Neverlost. After a couple of days, I wished for a black sharpie pen to get rid of the N. Everlost was a much better name for it. We came to think of it as the on-board entertainment system.

I drove to my step-sister's house nearly every day, and while I had the GPS on, I'm glad I googled driving instructions and wrote them down. As far as we could tell, Everlost thought she lives in the Everglades. Even when I was just a few blocks from her house, it would beg me to turn the opposite direction, yet when I was a few houses away, it smuggly announced "you have arrived at your destination" as if it could claim any credit for that accomplishment. Usually the directions it gave were the same, but one day it suddenly instructed me to get off the highway even though I was only half way there, and take surface streets. (No, it doesn't receive input on traffic, and there wasn't any.)

We asked it to find Harbor Freight Tools, and it tried to send us to Ohio. For something else, it suggested Alabama. It would frequently instruct us to make a U-turn a block from our destination, so we always needed a map and the street address to find our way. We were baffled that Hertz actually charges extra for this "service."

7 Tulips

2010-02-06T15:05:00.003+01:00

The other day when grocery shopping, I bought myself a bunch of lovely purple tulips. I rarely indulge in fresh flowers, but tulips are my favorite, and they were on sale. I put them in a nice glass pitcher on the kitchen table and felt quite pleased with myself.

My cats must have felt something different along the lines of, "Yum, my favorite treat!" As soon as I left the room, I heard a funny munching noise then the sound of cats scampering across the floor with such enthusiasm that they were losing traction. At first glance, the tulips looked okay, but when I looked more carefully, one stem had been decapitated. Under the table were a few small petals and some pollen (and some other stuff not related to this, but let's not go there).

After dinner, I moved the tulips to the living room where we were watching TV. As we were getting ready for bed, I heard the telltale sound again. The cats scattered when I entered the room, and the munching sound resumed from behind the sofa.

I locked the tulips in the pantry over night, and the next day put them on my desk while I was working. I took a break to shovel snow (the stairwell down to the basement was literally full, and I needed to do laundry), and when I came back, there were tulip "guts" on my desk.

I now have 7 tulips safely stashed in the pantry where nobody can enjoy them.

(More on Florida soon. I'm working on my pictures from the Everglades now.)

Florida, day 8: shopping day

2010-02-04T11:12:00.005+01:00

We started the day with breakfast together with our new friends, the general-manager of the hotel and his family. It was a shame we didn't have more time to get to know them better, and the kids really did play well together. It was especially fun to watch our daughter and their son on their "dates."

Since my husband's conference was over, we'd originally planned to leave Miami today, but we couldn't find anywhere to stay in the Everglades where we wanted to go. We would have to drive back to Miami or equally far on to Naples, so we stayed in Miami. We were considering changing to a cheaper hotel, but our new friends offered us a "comp." The mom thought that as a photographer, I'd appreciate a room with a better view. Being the perpetual bargain hunter, it doesn't get any better than a free night's stay in a nice hotel, so I was thrilled. We were to pack up our stuff and leave it in our room when we went out for the day. When we came back, our stuff would be in our new room.

There was another Harbor Freight Tools in the Miami area, and since the one we'd been to on Wednesday didn't have everything on my husband's list, we went there first. We foolishly trusted the car's GPS, so it took us a lot longer to get here than we'd expected. After that, we went to the Dolphin Outlet Mall in search of pants for my husband and shoes for my daughter (and me, but that was less urgent). My daughter found a good pair of shoes, but I never really got a chance for a proper look since the Sketchers outlet was crowded and a bit disorganized. We ate a late lunch at Johnny Rockets, a 50's style diner. That had been one of our favorite restaurants in San Diego, but they went out of business years ago, so this was a nice treat. I had a tuna melt and a chocolate malt. Yum! It was raining by the time we'd completed our pants mission, so we went back to the hotel.

Our new room was the Presidential Suite on the top (21st) floor, and it truly was sweet! The views of downtown and waterfront were incredible! The suite had a "normal" sized room as the bedroom, plus another room double that size with two sitting areas (one with a TV) and a dining area. Our previous room was nice, but this was really beautiful. I especially liked the bathroom. Let's just say, I could get used to this! I'm grateful we were given this opportunity, because it's probably something I never would have experienced otherwise.

Our daughter camped out on the king sized bed watching a "Wizards of Waverly Place" marathon on the Disney channel, and we watched "27 dresses" in the living room. We weren't hungry for dinner, so we just had a couple cookies instead.

Florida, day 7: Mother-Daughter day

2010-02-03T14:53:00.004+01:00

On Friday, my daughter and I were on our own. I considered renting roller skates and exploring South Beach, but I decided to go to a nice beach instead. I'd read that Key Biscayne has one of the top 10 beaches in the world, so we went there. At first it seemed like all beach access was closed there too, but we eventually found a lot that was open. As luck would have it, it was the lot nearest the playground. The playground held her attention for only a few minutes, after which we went in search of the "seahorse thing that squirts water" which I had read about and the parking attendant mentioned. We found something that resembled the outdoor showers that one rinses off with at the beach, and it had seahorses instead of shower heads, but the water to it had been turned off. That was completely underwhelming, so we continued to the beach itself.

The beach was lined with palm trees and absolutely beautiful! There were a few people around, but it was far from crowded. Once again, I found the water a bit cold, but my daughter played in the waves for quite some time before settling down to build a sand castle. Birds were fishing in the water behind her, but the wind was increasing, and I felt my camera was safer in the backpack. Soon sand was building dunes on my towel, and I felt uncomfortably like I was being sandblasted. I was helping to finish the sand castle when it started pouring rain. Everyone took shelter under the lifeguard building and debated stay or go.

We decided to change into dry clothes and go. At the restrooms, a flock of large white birds (ibises?) brazenly strutted past us and raided the trashcan. By the time we were ready to go, it had stopped raining. On the way to the parking lot, we saw a pair of wild iguanas (probably close to 1 m long, including tail). Unlike alligators, I love iguanas and other lizards, so we watched them for quite a while.

We drove into town on Key Biscayne in search of lunch, but much to my surprise, we did not find any fast food. I eventually found a parking spot at a strip mall, and we walked around to examine the restaurants more closely. They all had cloth tablecloths and napkins--not exactly where you want to take a 7 year old for a quick lunch. We decided to buy sandwiches at the supermarket which we ate on a bench out front.

My daughter wanted to go swimming in warm water, so we went back to the pool at the hotel. I was happy to sit by the pool with my book. There were a couple of kids there, and they all hit it off immediately. The little boy seemed quite taken by my daughter. They played for a couple of hours, but with the sun low in the sky it was time to go. The boy asked for our room number so that he could send up milk and cookies. I must have had a funny expression, because his mother quickly explained that the general manager of the hotel was his father. The whole family was at the hotel because they were going to see Cavalia (like Cirque du Soleil but with horses) that evening. The boy then asked if Lina could join them for drinks in the lounge. We needed to shower (especially after the beach), but I'd never seen Lina get ready so quickly. We let Lina go with her new friends, then my husband and I joined them a little later.

They took Lina to see the "ghost mall" under the hotel. Apparently the downturn in the economy has hit Miami hard. Besides entirely deserted shopping centers, there were abandoned development projects, and entire buildings of empty condos and apartments. The luxury condos along the waterfront were 75% unoccupied. Many old buildings were torn down to make room for new ones that have not materialized leaving downtown speckled with empty lots.

We enjoyed drinks and interesting conversation with our new friends, and we made plans to meet for breakfast. Before leaving for their show, they recommended a Mexican restaurant, so we decided to give that a try.

We took the free MetroMover monorail to get there, which made for interesting people watching. One man wore a hat woven from palm fronds with an amazing grasshopper in the same material. Lina must have been staring at the grasshopper also because he suddenly gave it to her, and he gave me a similar rose. We have carried these treasures all the way back to Sweden, and they somehow didn't get too mashed.

We were told that Rosa Mexicano had the best guacamole ever, and that was true! I wasn't a huge guacamole fan until I tried this, and it was paired with the perfect light and crispy tortilla chips. I was tempted to cancel my dinner order and have more guacamole and chips instead, but I didn't, and I wasn't disappointed. The carne asada soft tacos were wonderful too. Lina was so exhausted that she fell asleep at the table having hardly eaten a thing. We took a taxi back to the hotel.

When we got back to our room, we were surprised to find a room-service cart with a plate of giant chocolate chip cookies, a pitcher of milk and a bottle of wine (on ice). I had totally forgotten. We were too stuffed to eat much at the time, but it was a lovely treat and the perfect end to a fantastic day.

Florida, day 6: Riding

2010-02-03T12:50:00.003+01:00

Thursday was my mom's last day in the area, so we spent the day with her. When I arrived at my step-sister's house, my mom and daughter were getting ready to go swimming at the YMCA. I really don't like swimming anymore, so I chose to go to Walmart instead. I'd bought jeans at Walmart in Montreal and absolutely loved them, so I was hoping to find another pair. Unfortunately they did not carry that brand in Florida, but I found plenty of other good stuff.

Long after the designated time, we were still waiting for my mom to get back to the house. Finally a police officer called my mom's husband. My mom had gotten lost and forgotten her phone, but she found someone to ask for help. He was from the next town over and wasn't particularly helpful or familiar with the area, so we tried to give her directions. A while later, we got another such call. Finally she did make her way to the local supermarket, where we met her and led her home. That was a traumatic and time consuming experience, so she rested when we went out.

Before our trip, I'd asked Lina what she wanted to do in Florida. She'd answered swim and ride horses. Swimming was easy enough to arrange, and it just so happens that my step-sister has horses. She and I took the kids to go see Tess (the other was injured). Lina was thrilled to help with the grooming, and Tess was a beautiful and gentle full-sized horse. After a short warm-up, Lina got to ride for a little while, then it was Mitch's turn. I got to hold Chase while Kristin was busy with Tess, but even holding an adorable one-year-old did not trigger any maternal instincts in me. One kid is plenty for me.

Kristin said Lina had good balance and timing, and Lina was thrilled. Next, Kristin took Lina to get her nails done. As the mom of two boys, this was special for both her and Lina. I went along, but there was only one manicurist available, so Lina was the only one to get her nails done. I enjoyed visiting with Kristin. Our parents married when I was already away at college, so we have not spent much time together over the years. Lina chose a sparkly purple color and was unbelievably careful with her nails until they had dried completely. I was impressed how well Lina behaved. On the very rare occasion that I get a manicure, I always manage to mess it up before it dries.

Mitch had soccer practice, so Lina and I went out to dinner at a near by Italian restaurant with my mom. We had a nice time at dinner, and the food was good. It seemed like time had gone so quickly that our visit was already over.