Happy New Year

Felling the tree on Christmas Eve had to be done quick as the the temperature was minus 30 c. One week later and it's 35 degrees warmer and the snow has all but gone. Weird weather, we had the same temperature on Midsummer's Eve as we do now on New Years Eve. 

It's not you it's me, sorry!

Sorry about the poor quality of the pictures, tried 2 different aps, but it didn't help, I guess it's what to expect on the shortest day of the year with very little light. But we're heading towards lighter days from today onwards. Which is good because I managed to drop a coin down the inside of my washing machine yesterday, shatter a big glass plate all over my freshly washed dishes and slip over on the way to the shops!

But it was still a good day, I discovered where my washing machine had hidden it's filter, the dinner plates are extra clean and I spent the evening ice-skating with the girls and didn't fall once :)

Love and seasons greetings to you all.

We're now off to the backwoods

xxxx

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Early starts

490 grades done! Got up at 4am every morning the last few days to finish them, but all done for now.

Tomorrow's Lucia, so I get to lie in till 5.30. Normally I get up at 5.45 as lessons start at 8am, but to prepare for Lucia we need a bit more time. Strawbs is taking part tomorrow, so we spent the evening ironing her dress... I didn't even know we had an iron. Fortunately she's not Lucia, just one of Lucia's followers. Poor Lucia has to wear real candles in her hair and not only are they very heavy, but the candle wax that drips down is hot. Fingers crossed no one gets burnt, just to be on the safe side there's always a few buckets of water close at hand. Fingers crossed we won't need them.

Untangling the trees

The man in charge of us lumberjacks, just so long as he remembers who's holding the axe.

Celebrating unity

Fish and chips, vindaloo and chicken tikka masala, topped off with fudge and a nice cup of free tea. The perfect Friday evening thanks to the international food fair that has taken over our little town for a few days. They were even selling Marmite!

Thank you Granny & Pa

and some of what was seen in between

Summer holiday

Sunrise heading south

Sunset heading north

Timber built

On the train south last week, stopped at Lightvalley.

Did the same coming back five days later.

But this time the woodpile's lower.

Another timber building a bit further north:

The other side of the mountains...

Trap!

When april with his sweet showers...

On the last day of April, Spring is traditionally "sung in", here in Sweden. A male voice choir stood on the steps of the old artillery regiment yesterday evening and braved the last of the April showers. It started with hail and then turned into heavy snowfall with a biting wind that caught up the black party tent to the left of the choir and blew it into them. None of which stopped these valiant Vikings from giving it their all from the first song below to the final song in the link.

http://www.svt.se/nyheter/regionalt/jamtlandsnytt/kylslagen-varsang

Valborg , Swedes welcoming the Spring

Down South

 

Happy Easter

The Great Lake on Easter Monday 2014

Half term 2

For the Autumn half term, at the end of October we headed south as far as we could. We needed a break after a long summer of sorting and clearing that was thrown to the wind when our house was broken into and trashed. Here are a couple of shots of the far south of Sweden.

Half term