Tagged: holidaze

19
Jun
2026

GLAD MIDSOMMAR!

It’s midsummer eve and a public holiday here in Sweden. Midsummer is celebrated across Northern Europe and the Baltic countries, but I think Sweden is the only one that celebrates the eve of it, per typical Swedish custom of celebrating holidays the day before. The actual solstice isn’t until Sunday. After weeks of pretty cold temperatures and lots of rain last week, today arrived HOT and sunny, nearly 30C, which is too hot for me, given that there isn’t much of a breeze either. I slept in, while Anders went early to a fish store in Landskrona where he got...

18
Jun
2026

AND BACK AGAIN

We left The Netherlands behind and drove on the autobahn most of the day through Northern Germany to Lübeck. The autobahn is both scary and thrilling. For most of it there is no speed limit (it slows down to 120 kph near the cities and sometimes slower in construction zones, of which there are many). Anders set the cruise control and was clipping along at 130 kph most of the time, and there were still cars constantly whipping past us in the left lane. They must have been going well over 200. CRAZY. At one point, as we were nearing...

17
Jun
2026

CRUISING TO THE NETHERLANDS

We left Arromanches in the morning of June 6 (the 82nd anniversary of the D-Day landings) and headed north. Our plan was to swing over to Étretat on the coast. I had read about a place with lovely gardens on the cliffside above the town. However, due to the tiny country roads that led up the coast, it was nearly a 2.5 hour side trip that we couldn’t really afford as we needed to be in Bladel, The Netherlands latest by 9 pm. When we got to Étretat, it was sunny and beautiful, and while parking the car near the...

16
Jun
2026

GOLD BEACH, MULBERRY HARBORS, AND LESSONS IN HISTORY

I was a military brat, and as such, most of what I learned about WW2 in high school was from an American perspective. I knew the name of Omaha Beach, but very little else about the D-Day landings or the military operations of the war. I read a lot of books about the resistance, the holocaust, and the lives of ordinary people living through the war, and as an adult have educated myself much further with movies, books, documentaries, and other sources of historical information. I’ve been to Berlin when it was still behind the wall, and I’ve been to...

15
Jun
2026

NORTH TO NORMANDY

The day we left Saint-Malo and headed north to Mont-Saint-Michel was quite cloudy, but no rain was forecast. We arrived at the parking lot on the mainland just before noon, which was later than I would have liked, but we weren’t in any hurry. We knew there would be a lot of people on the island, but were hoping that because it was off-season that it wouldn’t be TOO crowded. You can either walk across the bridge that leads from the tourist center and the parking lots or take the free shuttle that runs every 12 minutes. It takes about...

14
Jun
2026

ROADTRIPPING TO BRITTANY

Brittany and Normandy, or more specifically, Saint-Malo and Mont-Saint-Michel, have been on my travel wishlist for a very long time. I first heard and fell in love with wartime Saint-Malo in the book All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. If you haven’t read it, you’re missing out, it’s amazing. Mont-Saint-Michel has been on my list even longer. Having had not so great experiences traveling in France when I was young, however, meant that the Normandy coast was always pushed aside in favor of other destinations. I also wasn’t super interested in visiting the D-Day beaches and all...

29
May
2026

WHIRLWIND WEEK

Well, that went fast! John and family arrived just in time for dinner on Saturday and we were going full throttle ever since. We had absolutely perfect weather the entire week as well; Sweden showing off its best side. The lilacs are in full bloom and our yard is looking beautiful thanks to Anders. We played lots of games including Yardtzee (coined by Karin), 0-100, Uno, City-Country-Idiot, and lots of Trivial Pursuit questions. The kids were great, and Lola was the most well-behaved dog ever. We went to Lund’s Pinball Academy, and the Moose tour, and played mini-golf. We had...

01
May
2026

DOUBLE RABBIT RABBIT RABBITS!

Two days in a row where I’ve had occasion to say “Rabbit rabbit rabbit” …that only happens once a year, if at all. Today is May 1st, a holiday here in Europe (it’s Labor Day) and yesterday was Valborgsmässoafton, or Walpurgis Eve in English, which isn’t a day off, but is cause for a traditional celebration here in Sweden regardless. That makes today a double holiday as it is also the feast day for Saint Walpurgia, who would probably be astonished and gratified to learn that her name is still a part of the calendar and that many parts of...

04
Jan
2026

JINGLE JINGLE, PART THE SECOND*

As usual, I was living in the moment and didn’t take nearly enough photos of our time in the States, but I was apparently better than the rest of my family. Martin says he only took 2 photos the entire time, haha. Here’s the photo dump from our holidays! Essie, Danely, and Karin decorating cookies Karin and Martin decorating cookies Karin outdoes herself with a cookie too pretty to eat! Anders, Essie, Karin, Grandma Linda, and Martin – ready to open presents Danely is also ready to open presents The elusive Mr Bryce Me and my mom (who is not...

03
Jan
2026

RESOLUTIONS, RELAXING, AND REMINISCING

I’ve been musing about new year’s resolutions and trying to decide if I want to do something. I really enjoyed the years that I had done a once-a-month resolution (5Ks, art, poetry), but I don’t really have any good ideas. I supposed I could do art every month again, since it’s been a few years. Or maybe I will do write a letter every month this year! That’s a good idea, I think! I might even make it write-at-least-1-letter every month for 2026. We got home from North Carolina yesterday after a long day of traveling. We got up a...

June 2026
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