NEW YEARS EVE!

It's snowing as we get up for our New Years Eve in Sweden. We did not sleep very well and there is no good reason for it. We are in a wonderful room with great beds and flat screen TV on the wall, what more could you ask for? Karli is sleeping in the living room on a sectional couch. The apartment is totally decorated in black and white. It is a one bedroom, one bath apartment but is very spacious.

Arvid woke up at 3 AM and went into the kitchen to read. After he reads for a while, he comes back to bed. He has gotten more reading done on this trip than he does in an entire year at home. At home he reads in bed and falls asleep quickly. Here, he wakes up at 3:00, 4:00, 5:00 and with no lodge business to accomplish, he reads.

We wake him up after we have finished getting ready. Hope he got enough sleep since tonight we will definitely be awake until after midnight! We eat breakfast and go to town to try to find the book that Karli needs. She stays back at the apartment to get some work done.

The book store we go to does not have the book. I hear a cell phone ringing. I do not recognize the ring so, oh well, must be someone else. Wait, there is no one else but us in the store. Uh, my pocket is ringing! I forgot that I took Karli's cell so Sten could get in touch with us. (I turned off all incoming calls while we are in Sweden on my cell) I try to answer it but there is something in Swedish on the screen. I show it to the store clerk and he is just about to tell me what it says and Sten walks up. It was him calling. ha ha. I didn't answer but he recognized the ring, so he followed the sound of the ring and found us in the store. He knew the ring because Karli's phone was his phone first. He gave her his old cell phone while she is in Sweden. Long story, but it was so funny when it all happened...

We go out to the walking street and make our way to the other bookstore. Berit and Lina are shopping here too for Hanna's birthday. (tomorrow is her birthday) The stores are all closing around us. Most never opened since they consider New Years Eve a holiday. But the ones that were open are now closing. Sten and us go on to the bookstore across from McDonalds. Bokia. We have stopped in every Bokia since we left Solveigs. Hooray! Success! Karli will be happy.

We then walk to a cafe for fika. I have a smörgås torta. It is beautiful. It is a slice like a very tall piece of cake. It has 4 layers of thinly sliced breads with different cream (savory) fillings, with lax, shrimp, dill and cucumber with egg and tomato on top for garnish. It was amazing. Sten tells me they are known for their special smörgås torta. We all have coffee and they have sweet pastries.

The coffee bar is amazing. It has a tiled wall with 2 spigots in it, one for coffee and one for tea water. They have several types of cream and milk in pitchers, sugar cubes, etc. on the bar. There is a tall wood pillar that looks like it could be a fancy espresso machine or something. It has cold water in it. You feel like you are really getting something special when it is presented this way. I must say, Swedes are big on presentation.

We find our car and drive to the apartment. Karli is so happy to get the book. We have a couple of hours to "hang out" until we go to their house for dinner. It is fun to explore TV stations. We read and discuss Karli's paper a bit.

We find the Jennervalls both in the kitchen cooking together. The table is set for 5 people. We talk and watch TV. Sten and Karli pay her internet bill. She is not able to pay it online, they don't accept her card. Sten comes through once again! We have appetizers that are little round cream/tomato/basil sauce with shrimp on top. Very tasty! Then we have this pork dish with tomato sauce, but not like any kind of tomato based sauce we have tasted. The potatoes are thinly sliced with light cream sauce and garlic. They drink wine, Arvid has a beer and Karli has wine. We save some for Lina who has to work and is coming later.

Bren texts me so after dinner we call him. I deposit $$ in his account. We decide to look at the email to see if there is anything pressing. We answer some, find out that it snowed at the beach and see photos of it and play the "throw shoes at Bush" game. Later we have coffee and tea and fruit. She has fixed a lovely fruit tray with pineapple, mango, grapes, star fruit and chryssalis with ice cream. Berit made gingerbread cookies too. It is about 11:30 so we watch TV again. New Years there is a special program at Skansen in Stockholm .

People are singing and they must be famous in Sweden. I think some are from ABBA? A man comes on and speaks about in with the new year and out with the old year. I can't understand of course. Then comes the countdown! There are fireworks on TV and all over the neighborhood. It is fun to see them all over. It is like 4th of July at home. The fireworks have been going off since it has been dark! We drink and take photos. It is so fun. Tajson even gets into it playing with his toys.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

(Ha ha. You at home have to wait 9 hours to say that!

We go home and fall into bed at 2 AM.

Visit with Marianne then on to Östersund

We leave at 10:12 AM. Not bad for us! We drive to Hudiksvall to see Marianne. She looks good but seems down. Her back problem causes a lot of pain and they have not been able to find any medication that works for her. She is frustrated and wants to go home. They have delayed her release a couple of times. It is so sad to see her in the hospital. I know she wants to be a part of life again. She has great support from everyone in Trönö and they visit her often. She seemed confident that she may go home this week. Lets hope so. Her lunch tray is brought to her room so it is a perfect time for us to be on our way. We say good bye and wish her the best. She seems so strong and full of color, so I think she will go home soon too. If they could just find the right medication to manage the pain while she is getting better.

There is a moose statue with a rabbit riding on it at the entrance of the hospital. Hmmmmmmm.

What significance is that??? It is very icy in the parking lot and cold of course. Once again the sun is out!

We stop by the centrum on our way out of town and eat at a cafe. Karli is also looking for that Selma Lagerlöff book so we inquire at the 2 book stores in town. In the center of town there is usually a kind of a shopping center indoors. Usually, they have big buildings broken up into stores. Like in the U.S. there are store logos on the side of the building indicating what is inside. We eat at a little cafe in one building. Not so good food really. It is just frozen items that they microwave. But we are hungry and in a hurry. They do serve fresh green salad with it which is nice. No luck at the bookstore by the way. The clerk gives us the phone number of a major bookstore, Bokia, in Sundsvall, the next large town on our way.

Total travel time we estimate 4 to 5 hours to get to Östersund. We hope to get there in the daylight but that is impossible. Östersund is farther north so it will get dark sooner, not later. It is a long snowy drive and we call 2 bookstores on the way. One says no. The other says it is in their computer that they have one but will call us when they actually see it on the shelf. Five minutes later Karlis phone rings and no, they do not have it.

Wee see many mountains and a lot of snow on the roads and trees. It is a winter wonderland. I keep my eyes on the look out for a moose. Sten has told us to watch out for moose. Moose in the road is a common cause of accidents up here. It never gets above freezing up here. Again, we are taken with the sparkly snow. Maybe a video camera could capture it.

We get to the town of Bräcke and call Sten. He is in Brunflo at his work. Berit is in Southern Sweden visiting her parents, Greta and Verner. Greta is Arvids 1st cousin? Berit is coming in on the train tonight, well, night train so she will be here early tomorrow morning. Karli took that night train to Östersund and booked a bed on the train. You are in a train berth with 6 beds. She was in a womens berth. She said it was nice but hard to sleep with all the noise and being jostled about.

We find his building. Sten and Hampus are there and Tajson! When we were here 3 years ago, he had just bought the building. We saw it then, briefly. He has since sold the dry cleaners in Östersund and gone to all commercial business. He launders hotels bedding, rugs, etc. now. He has a contract for many hotels mostly in Östersund but also in towns in the area. Actually his drivers have a large area in which to deliver and pick up. He buys the sheets, towels and robes and the hotel buys them from him along with a contract to launder them.

He gives us a tour. The machines are absolutely huge. They each have a specific job. Some do sheets and some do towels, some press, some fold. He demonstrated it. A new machine folds towels of varying sizes. It is amazing to see it all. There are large racks everywhere with sheets and towels in them. They deliver clean bedding to a hotel in a rack. They send back to him the same rack filled with items to be laundered. Seems very efficient. He has an environmental rating for his business. Swedes are big on keeping high standards for the environment. Tajson is their new dog. They did not have Tajson 3 years ago. He is a Scotish terrier I think and oh, so cute. He bounces around and follows Sten. He seems so happy being there. We all leave together.

We go to Frida and Dans apartment and Lina is there. Surprise! The apartment is beautiful. Arvid and Lina go to the store because we are hungry and because we want to get some breakfast food. Sten gave us bedding sacks from the laundry. We make up our beds and set out our towels. We cook up some frozen entrees. Really good! Things like curry chicken, Asian chicken with many veggies. We eat some mandarin oranges that are so good in the winter.

We go to their home on Hallonvägen. We talk and talk. Lina fixes some fika. We have tea and coffee and other yummy things. Lina gives us some presents: Swedish napkins, smör knives, and candy and for Karli she gives her some Christmas curtains, towels and a book. She is so sweet. She is living in Göteborg now going to school. She is studying Italian. She is in love with Italy and has been there many times. She is great speaking English but thinks that she is really more fluent in Italian than in English! Amazing. Her dream is to live and work in Italy. She has many friends there. We go back to the apartment.

Note the brick behind the sink. They were renovating the apartment before they moved in. They tore off the existing wall to put in tile but found the brick back there. So they kept the brick and put special glass on top. It is so beautiful and adds so much to the kitchen. Berits idea I am sure; she is so artistic in her decorating.

Lina lives in the same apartment complex as does Hanna. It is late and we fall into bed. Peaceful sleep

Our visit with ELLA!

Weather report: Minus 8 degrees C. Clear and sunny as usual for us as we travel.

We wake up late today. We sleep so well here. Smörgås and off to take Karli to the library to work. We go to Hemköp to get some candy for Ella. She likes to have candy to give to people when they come to visit. It is fun shopping in Hemköp.

We go to the Hantverk shop in Söderhamn that we went to on Saturday. We meet Annika Jonsson who is the wife of the man we met. She makes the pottery. We buy 2 more things. One for Kennon and one for Berit. http://www.krukis.se/ They love to talk with us and we feel the same. we stay for 1 hour at least.

We go back to Solveig and she has a wonderful dinner for us. Salmon, fish, potatis and delicious mushroom sauce. We get ready to go to Ellas. She lives in a home about 20 minutes away. We go the back roads through the snow. Not sure how we would ever negociate this without Solveig. But we are enjoying the glistening snow and little houses with smoke coming out the chimneys.

The place is wonderful

We have coffee, tea, and treats that Solveig has brought for the occasion. We sing a little and Ella tells stories. Where is that tape recorder? Karli will have to come back to talk with her so she can get all the stories on tape. The room is so nice with furniture from Hå and her apartment. There is a bed, 2 cabinets, kitchen table, small kitchen, bath and entry way. There are photos of the family here and pictures on the wall we recognise. She seems happy here. The staff is so nice too. There is a dining room for them that is across from Ellas room.

We have a hard time saying good bye. At least I do. It will be a long time until we see Ella again. I can not express how special she is to us.

We go back to Ljusne and have risgryngrött and smörgås. We watch TV after. Solveig takes us to see all her sewing or knitting. She has made those triangular scarves that are so popular here, socks, and 2 other items I do not know what to name. They are beautiful. She tells us to chose for ourselves. It is amazing. Is there anything Solveig cannot do???

Karli chooses a lavender scarf. Arvid socks. Me the wrist gloves. They are wonderful and we are so amazed at Solveigs talents.

Tomorrow we leave and go to Östersund. We are coming back from Östersund and stay here one more night on Jan 3rd. January 4th in Linköping. January 5th Stockholm. Then we hope to take a trip to Helsinki maybe before we leave Sweden.

Trönö

The days run together. Sunday. At home we would be having coffee with Meet the Press, Face the Nation and George Stephanopolis. Here, we have coffee with sugar cubes, muesli and fil and smiles with Solveig and Birger.

We rush off to Elisabeths for Internet and work for Karli. Hans will go back today to Gävle. We have been watching on the news about the BIG goat they have erected for the holidays there. As tradition, they burn it. I doubt if it will make the news back home, but it definitely is all over the airwaves and newspapers here.

While Karli is working, we go to this local shopping center, Coop, ICA and Lindex, etc. We shop around just to see the Swedish products. There are so many interesting items. For instance, they sell sparks here! And a little appliance that is a countertop appliance that is a combination of a convection oven and a 2 burner stove. There is one whole aisle just for birdhouses. Candy and cereal aisles dominate as well.

We find it difficult to use our credit card everywhere in Sweden. Smaller shops do not seem to have the ability to process our card. In Sweden you use a code word, much like our pin numbers. But our pin numbers do not work in the system so we always instruct the clerk that we must sign for that reason. Showing your ID is always required. Most places are set up so we sign for the transaction. Larger stores like, ICA, IKEA, Hemköp, Hand M, and most restaurants, are able to let you sign and all is OK. However, if the store only has the system set up for the pin numbers only and not for signing, you are stuck. In that case, you go find an ATM and get money out. ATMs accept our pin numbers. ATMs are plentiful so we were never without a solution.

We have coffee at the cafe within the center. Since the custom of Fika is a tradition for all of Sweden, we can always count on a cafe close by that serve wonderful pastries, cafeteria style with self serve coffee. Often they serve a daily special for hot food. Hot food begins at the noontime meal. You always see a rolling tray rack at the side. Swedes clean their tables and put their trays of dishes on the rack. Oh, one more thing, if you order from a server rather than the cafeteria style, you have to ask for the bill. They do not bring it automatically, like here in the U.S. I do not think they tip here either. We have asked several relatives and they say no tipping.

We pick up Karli from her study time at Elisabeths and head for Trönö. It is further than we think. We follow the signs to Trönö and then Tygsta. We think we have without a doubt gone too far and once again, find ourselves at Gösta and Astrids road!

Besides Gösta and Astrid, Stig and Sonja, and Inger and Ungve are there. Janne and Eva come later. Janne comes in with ice crystals on his hair, they walked from their house in minus 7 degree weather!

Creme Fraiche and lax paj for appetizer.

Dinner is fabulous, just like the company. Moose, potatoes, peas and carrots, cabbage salad, green salad and persimmons are the meal. We eat at 2 tables. Karli of course socializes then goes to their study to work on her paper. It is sad that she has a major assignment that is the culminating project of her class due after the vacation! Reading a classic Swedish novel is hard enough but writing an analytical paper with a thesis in SWEDISH seems incredibly difficult! She has such high standards for herself in the U. S. and those standards are just as high for her studies here.

We have glass with hallon (ice cream and raspberries) and cookies and coffee. Since we have arrived the conversation has been of politics, Obama, social issues, woodpiles and rock walls. I can pick up the main ideas of the dialog and of course, Arvids part of the whole thing. It is great fun. We take a photo of all of us.

Forgot to say that we were missing Marianne tonight. She has back problem that started on Christmas. She is in the hospital in Hudiksvall. We will drive to see her on our way to Östersund. We of course, are missing Lennart as well, who passed away this year. What dear people these are. This was a special evening with special people. The Trönö relatives and so great. We could never come to Sweden without visiting in Hälsingland for this reason. If McCain had been elected, Hälsingland would have gained 2 more inhabitants, namely us! The people here and the way of life is just about perfect. Thank you Gösta and Astrid for your wonderful get together. Looking forward to some of you coming our way again. Marta and Ray hope so too! I will send the photo of all of us together to them.

We snatch Karli from her studies and head home. The snow is absolutely glistening. It is uncanny how much it sparkles. I wish we could capture it on film.

We find Solveig and Birger in the living room in front of their big screen T.V. We watch a movie this time: First Wives Club with Swedish subtitles. Solves the language barrier! Tomorrow we go to Ellas!

Elisabeth and Bengt in Bergvik

We get up and eat breakfast. We head off to the library in Söderhamn for Karli to work. She found out they had Internet in the cafe next door. The cafe is always so crowded, you hover just to get a table. There is a room connected to it where people can go if there is no room in the main part. It turns out that the room is also connected to the library. People go there to read, have fika, whatever.

We leave Karli there and we go shopping.This time we buy flowers for Elisabeth and Bengt since we are going there for dinner. We also go to this handmade shop. We meet the man there who owns the shop. There are many artists that sell their works there like the shop in Malung. His wife does the pottery. We are very impressed with the shop and the amazing art. The man talks with us a lot and is interested in our life. We decide to buy some salad tongs with wooden handles for Art. We buy some pottery that his wife has made, candle holders. We want Karli to come back so she can see the silver jewelry there. It is beautiful.

A little girl comes in. She is Asian. She goes in the back and comes out front again with a dog on a leash. She like to come once, twice a day, to walk their dog. I think many people take their dogs to work. When it is 2 PM, Arvid goes to get Karli and they walk back to the shop. She decides to buy some jewelry for Hanna, Frida, and Lina.

We go to Elisabeth and Bengts now. We meet Bengt at a grocery store and we follow him to the house. It is the most beautiful house I have ever seen. Every room is like a magazine. This is the living room

For dinner we have chicken curry, rice and nice green salad. For dessert we have fruit salad with cream. We have coffee too.

Karli goes into the study and works on her paper. We enjoy our talk with Elizabeth and Bengt. Of course it is heavily focused on politics and social issues. Elisabeth has very bad back problems. She is in a lot of pain. I hope we did not add to the situation. Elisabeth talks about the relatives and the family tree comes into the discussion. Karli is very interested in the family tree. She brings out a book of the family tree that was done for Elisabeths side of the family. Bengt is kind enough to copy some pages off for us so we can piece together some of the questions we have about our ancestors in Sweden.

We think that Elizabeth is going to go lay down. Bengt goes up to check on her later after we talk some more. She is up in the study helping Karli! Such a wonderful person.

The Dining Room

We take a tour of the house. She is so amazing at her decorating abilities. They have beautiful art work hanging everywhere. Some are featured with lights above them. She has an amazing use of color.

We leave Elisabeths and Bengts and make our way back to Ljusne. This was an absolutely lovely evening that we will remember for a long time. Thank you both for your hospitality and the memories.

We make it back to Solveigs in time for part 2 of Selma Lagerlöff. Karli remains upstairs working on her paper. But we enjoy it. Tomorrow we will take Karli to Elisabeth and Tommies to work on her paper in the morning. Then we will go to Trönö!

Elisabeth and Tommie

Today the plan is to go to Elisabeths at 2 pm.

We need to get Karli to the library in Söderhamn so she can work on her paper. She mistakenly turned in the Selma Lagerlöff book so we check out the bookstore and they do not have it. The clock store is closed for the holidays so we cannot get a watch battery either. Hmmm. Hope we have better luck with the rest of the day. We leave Karli at the library. We go get flowers to bring to Elisabeth. At least the flower shop is open. It is minus 7 degrees C. It is clear and beautiful. On the walking street there is this large barrel looking thing by the sidewalk. It is lit and offers some warmth for the hands. There are more candles outside shops. We go have coffee and soon Karli comes out of the library. The library and the coffee shop are connected.

We get to Elisabeths and it is all warm and wonderful. They live in an old farmhouse I guess you would say. We meet Niklas and Sabine. Niklas is Tommies son and Sabine is his girlfriend. Sabine has read the book that Karli is doing the paper on and in fact, wrote a paper on it herself at the university. That is amazing. Karli is so worried about the paper.

Sabine and Karli go into another room so Karli can work in peace. She and Sabine talk and discuss the book. She has a well developed outline and in trying to fine tune it. The structure for papers is different in Sweden than it is in the U.S. Sabine is so helpful.

We have glögg in the living room. Then go to the dining room. The dinner is wonderful. Solveig, Birger, Hans and Albin are there too. She has ham prepared 2 ways. One with cheese and cream sauce and one with a pineapple cream sauce. Tommie has made his special rice too. There is also applesauce, potatoes, bröd, cabbage salad, mango chutney, etc.

Tommie copies and article that Solveig has that interviews Arvids parents when they were here in 1952. We stay longer that Solveig, Albin, Birger and Hans. We want to give Karli a long time to work on her paper.

We leave and get to Solveigs just in time to see a T.V. special program on Selma Lagerlöff. It is in Swedish but we manage to understand it anyway. This is part 1, part 2 is tomorrow. Solveig sets out dates, figs, chocolate, and mandarin oranges on the table in the living room.

We had a wonderful day. We plan on going back to Elisabeths to let Karli work so more tomorrow. Thank you for everything Elisabeth and Tommie. We call home again. It is hard. Only bad news on the snow there. Arvid is very worried about it.

Trip to Anna in Sandviken

Merry Christmas! We will call everyone at home tonight at 6PM or after, when it is morning back home. Hope everyone is enjoying themselves. It is so strange not to have Santa visit or open gifts or have a Christmas tree or having a decorated house!

We have a nice breakfast with Solveig and Birger and Hans and Albin. We call Anna and see if she wants to have some visitors for coffee today. She says Yes! We watch CNN. Albin keeps us all entertained. He is so funny. Karli works on her paper a bit. She really needs the internet but does as much as she can without it.

We are ready to leave and Solveig says we need to eat! She has fixed potato pancakes with ham. Such a good meal.

We take off for Annas. It is about an hour drive. It is sunny but cold. We drive to Sandviken. We find her house and get there at 2 PM. The boys are so tall! Dan is 22, Anders is 21 and Patrick is 15. We sit and have doffee and a beautiful dessert that Anna has made. Cookies too. We talk politics mostly. Ulla is here too, from Dalarna. Anders seems the most interested in talking about politics and life in Sweden and U.S. Dan also joins in. What fun this is. The last time we saw them all were quite young. Dan is engaged!

We talk for so long. It is amazing. Another situation where you have to realize it will be a long time before the next visit. We are amazed on how knowledgeable the boys are about politics. We do seem to note that young people in Sweden are often able to talk world views. Ulla and Patrick sit on the stairs letting us have all the conversation.

Annas house is smaller than her last house for sure. She and Janne have fixed it up so nicely. The kitchen is beautiful. They have this special nook for the computers even. It has different levels. It is so perfect for them. I am very impressed. It is good to see Anna so happy and especially wonderful to see the whole family together. This is definitely an advantage of visiting in for Christmas. Families are together.

We say our good byes and hope that someone will come visit us so we can see them sooner. Maybe you Anders? Who will come visit us???

We go back to Solveigs when it is dark. We eat some smörgäs. She has some new meats out in addition to the ham. There are some things left over from the Jul dinner too.



We watch TV with Birger. There is a special show on the Olympics this last year in Bejing. At first it is highlights then it is a bloopers show. It was so funny. It was nice to be able to watch something without the language being a barrier. If it is CNN, Birger and Solveig cannot really follow the English. If it is Swedish news, we cannot understand it. Bloopers??? Fine for everyone.


We called home earlier. There is more snow than ever before. We call a neighbor to go over and check on Richard. The truck is stuck and we hope they can plow the driveway and get the truck out. They are going to make sure he has enough food and see if he needs anything. We get to talk to Katie and the kids. Merry Christmas Bren! Tammy is not home. Darn. Hi Siberts! Happy day to you Ziarell and Maddie! Merry Christmas Mark!