Come To My Window (Melissa Etheridge)

A few Saturday nights ago Lars and I were sitting there watching tv when we heard an all too familiar, sickening sound. THUMP! It was the sound of something hitting one of the windows. I like birds so I wasn't in any hurry to go and find the lastest victim. It isn't very nice to see beautiful little birds lying dead from flying into the windows. The last being a beautiful woodpecker.
My husband found the bird...a little owl. Thankfully it was still alive, just a little shocked. Lars put some gloves on and we went outside to check it. He pet him and spoke to the owl. He took a couple of photos and he tested him with the flashlight like a good bird doctor. lol In less than an hour the little owl flew away.
Later Lars pointed out the mark on the window where the owl hit. You can very clearly see the outline of the face, wings and feet of where it hit, like something out of cartoon. It was kind of comical in my warped-sense-of-humor way. But the ending was a happy one.

Raspberry Beret (Prince)

Pet Advice: Never take your raspberry eating dog raspberry picking.
Yesterday I decided to try and pick some of the last of the wild raspberries that grow along the roads where we walk the dogs. Big mistake! Princess Kyra Fay (aka Sunny Butt, Stinkerbell) tried to eat whatever she could pull off the bushes while Lars and I tried to pick them. She's also pretty good at looking sad while you throw them in the bag instead of giving them to her. I tried to make her feel better by telling her she will get to taste them after in whatever I make with them. Needless to say I think Ky ate close to what we put in the bag.
Last weekend I picked rödvinbär (Red Current). This was such a good berry year! I didn't pick any svartvinbär (Black Current) but I know where there is a large bush and will ask my neighbor if I can pick some. There was a mushroom explosion this week. I will probably be out getting some mushrooms tomorrow to cook and freeze. They grew so quickly that there are stones on the caps of them.
Next week I think the lingon will be ready for picking. I am experimenting with different berries to use with cakes. There is something really nice about using ingredients you have grown or handpicked yourself.

Strawberry Fields Forever (The Beatles)

It is summertime here finally. Even though it was "technically" summer in June, we actually had snowfall and hail at Midsommar (June 21). It didn't accumulate but just the idea of snow falling in June was enough. We have had a lot of rain this summer as well. Hopefully the rain will make for a good berry and mushroom season. Right now the local growers are selling their strawberries everywhere. Fresh strawberry tårta is a delight. I will be going to a local farm to pick my own soon to freeze them for use later in the year. The small, wild strawberries *smultron* are ripe and our dog Ky enjoys eating them. At first I thought she was sniffing around and eating things *I didn't want to know what* off the ground. But once I got closer to see, I saw she was gently eating wild strawberries off the plants! I have only seen her reject one food. Blueberries. Other that, anything is up for grabs. We have strawberries planted in the yard and I watch that Ky doesn't eat them. The other day I took the dogs out and pointed out some smultron to Ky. She ate them and then jumped into a hallon (raspberry) bush that was above it and started eating them! She even ate a few wild blueberries Lars fed her. So I guess we can now say she does eat anything.

Funny How Time Slips Away (Bryan Ferry)

It is hard to believe that it has been *gasp* two years since I last posted to this blog. Yeah, I have been busy but that isn't a very good excuse. So with good intentions I have changed the layout and will start posting fresh stuff this week along with photos. Lots of stuff has been going on in the last 2 years so there is plenty to post.

One Morning In May (James Taylor)

The Swedish love the sun and warmth that Spring and Summer provide. Spring is welcomed in with “Majbrasa”. Majbrasa is held the last day of April every year and according to Wikipedia, is also known as “Walpurgis Night”. Every community has some kind of celebration, which generally ends with a huge bonfire. Grimnäs celebrated with a dinner, fireworks and a bonfire.
Our village is divided into 3 sections. Each section takes turns hosting the different events throughout the year. We live in the western section, and it just so happened that it was our sections turn to host Majbrasa. Whoever hosts these celebrations is responsible for food, entertainment, raffle prizes, etc. We held a meeting to decide on the menu (pyttipanna, salad, bröd och torta), drinks (öl, silt, vin, te och kaffe), how much food would be needed, the raffles and who was going to organize the fireworks and bonfire. Since I like living on the edge, I threw in a suggestion for a game. “Gissa Vem” or in engelska, Guess Who? The object was to guess who was who from their child or baby photos and win a prize. It was well accepted, so Lars and I collected baby photos from the “Wild Westerners”, scanned and printed them out.
This was my first official village event. I was nervous. I wanted everyone to like the game and well, to like me too. We met up at the people house and set up the tables, make coffee, get everything in order. The food was pre-cooked by different members and brought in large thermoses. I set up the game and tried to not look as nervous as I was.
As more and more people arrived, we quickly realized we were running out of food. Lars started cooking more pyttipanna on the stove. People were starting to play Gissa Vem and it was comical when someone would go up to a Westerner and look them in the face closely trying to determine which photo was of them. Raffle tickets were being sold for prizes also provided by the hosts. After dinner it was clean up time, then bonfire and fireworks.
The bonfire was huge and very warm. I stayed close to it as I was cold, as usual. Everyone was gathering to see the fireworks display. In Florida, you can’t buy serious fireworks without having some kind of a pyro-tech’s license. In Sweden, we don’t need a stinking license! We had Johan. He was very good at lighting the wick and hauling ass! They have major fireworks here in comparison to the states. I was impressed.
No one was able to guess all the photos correctly, so we had to pick the 2 highest guesses. Then we had a tiebreaker. Afterwards, we taped our baby photo to our shirts and showed everyone who was who. There were a lot of laughs. I think everyone was having a good time.

Time In A Bottle (Jim Croce)

Boy, time flies when you aren’t blogging! I apologize for the lapse in writing. I am getting more comfortable with my new surroundings and try to venture out more. Spring came and apparently isn’t in any hurry to leave. To the natives, it is warm. To me, it is still a little too chilly. I have done some planting. I will see if I can grow some tomatoes, cucumbers, pumpkin, sugar snap peas, carrots, salad and herbs. I had a pretty nice garden when I lived in Pennsylvania and hopefully I will have the same here.Meanwhile, let me catch everyone up on my adventures in Sverige.

Easter Again (Leo Kotke)

I am learning about Easter now. I found the info below to share with you.
In Sweden long ago, Easter was thought to be the witches' time. In west Sweden, they lit Easter bonfires around which people would scream and yell to frighten away the witches. On Maundy Thursday the witches were said to fly off to "Blåkulla" and return again on the Saturday. Read more about the Easter traditions on the pages created by Luleå University.
Nowadays, children dress up as Easter witches on the Thursday before Easter and go from house to house and are given gifts or money - very similar to the North American Halloween.
After the long fast during Lent, eggs were eaten in celebrations, often taken from the nests of the spring birds and children would play games with eggs - such as rolling the egg. The older children in Skåne would assemble at a special celebration when they would dance, play games and eat eggs.
The Easter egg has a long history. In graves from B.C. in Gotland, colored clay eggs were found. They were painted in red and yellow as the eggs represented the sunrise and sunset - and even today the Swedes, like other Europeans, paint their eggs at Easter.
As a reminder of Christ's suffering, years ago young people would thrash each other with silver birch twigs on the morning of Good Friday. These silver birch branches, decorated with brightly colored feathers, were the originator of both the Lent and Easter decorated branches.
Semlor are special buns that used to be associated with Lent but now seems to be sold earlier and earlier in the year! They consists of a sweet bread bun when the middle is scooped out and filled with marzipan and whipped cream. Otherwise, lamb is often eaten at Easter as well as many of the dishes eaten at the Christmas Smörgåsbord.
Here is Grimnäs, as with many villages in the area, on "long Friday" we are having a fishing competition followed by a cookout where they will sell hamburgers and korv. The village pub will be opened to sell beer and spirits. On Easter Sunday, Lars and I are hosting the first "knyts kalas" Easter. I am introducing potluck to my Swedish family. I am looking forward to experiencing another Swedish tradition and starting a new one.
P.S. I have some bad news. The rabbit died. No, I am not pregnant...my snow bunny melted. *pout*

Too Much Time On My Hands (STYX)

Living in a rural area can be very peaceful and relaxing. It can also make you a little nutty - think Jack Nicholson in The Shining. I can always find something to do, like clean (arrggg!). But I wanted to do something creative and I wanted something fun for the kids to see when they come over. The weather is beautiful, not freezing. The snow was packing nicely. This is Easter (Påsk) week, so I looked out the window thinking, “What can I do with this snow?” At first I thought I would make Easter eggs out of snow and lay them around in the yard. Then I got a little ambitious. OK, she isn't perfect. I was going to put a basket in her paws but the snow stopped packing so I had to quit. Maybe this will start a new Påsk tradition in our little village. Even Lars made a snow egg. By the way, Glad Påsk!