Tagged: obiterphotos

16
Jul
2023

TIP-TO-TIP: JOKKMOKK, JUKKASJÄRVI, AND THE ICE HOTEL

We got up early at the Treehotel, walked over to the shower facilities in the early morning, giving the mosquitoes their breakfast, before getting ours at the main building, which was delicious. Then we drove to Jokkmokk. I’ve always wanted to visit Jokkmokk, which is right on the Arctic Circle, because it’s where my first Swedish friend, from SEVENTH grade (in The Netherlands) was from. I’m still FB friends with her, but I haven’t seen her since we were 14. Jokkmokk was lovely, and we saw all the sights: the old church (actually a replica, because the original burned down...

15
Jul
2023

TIP-TO-TIP: UMEÅ, LULEÅ, AND THE TREEHOTEL!

We got up a bit later and enjoyed the hotel breakfast before heading on north again. We stopped in Umeå for lunch and to walk around the city center and riverfront a bit. They were hosting SM-vecka, which is the national championships week for all the little sports that don’t have their own world championships. We watched several games of 3×3 basketball, which I’d never seen before, but most of the events were scattered around the city and some were in venues you had to pay admission to. Fountain by Renmark’s square in Umeå, designed by Stig Lindberg Anders looked...

14
Jul
2023

TIP-TO-TIP: SUNDBORN, GÄVLE, HÖGA KUSTEN

After a delicious breakfast on the terrace in the sun, we said goodbye to Trollnäs and headed over to Sundborn for a tour of Carl and Karin Larsson’s home and gardens. It’s one of the most visited homes in Sweden and Carl Larsson one of the most beloved artists. His wife Karin was an artist as well, painting and textiles, but was very much overshadowed by her more famous husband during their lifetimes. The gardens and water were lovely, and the house super interesting, but we were not allowed to take photos inside, which was a pity because the house...

13
Jul
2023

TIP-TO-TIP: SMYGEHUK TO FALUN

We started our trip on Tuesday, June 27, by spending the night at Debbie and Ola’s AirBNB, which is a little 1-room apartment at the back of their garage extension. Debbie wasn’t home but we had a nice couple of hours chatting with Ola. This meant we were already down south for the start of our trip: at the southernmost tip of Sweden: Smygehuk. I’ve actually been there once before, but it was before we moved here, when we were on an apartment-hunting trip. This was the third attempt on Anders’ part to do this trip. He was stymied several...

01
Jun
2023

27 YEARS AND COUNTING

It’s our wedding anniversary today. We’ve been married since June 1, 1996. That’s 27 years. Pretty crazy to think about! We aren’t doing anything today, celebrating, or having dinner, or anything, because Anders is away all week up north in Kumla. He comes home tomorrow, but I already have plans for dinner and a show with Debbie and Camilla. It’s also Debbie’s birthday today. Her husband is ALSO traveling, and I just sent her a text asking her why the two of us didn’t get together and do something, which she laughed at. We don’t usually do much for our...

18
May
2023

COUNTER PRODUCTIVE

It all started with the chairs. When the old IKEA chairs we’d had for ages kept collapsing, it was time. Anders and I did some online searching, which wasn’t fun because I couldn’t find anything I liked, and then we couldn’t find anything we agreed upon. We went to IKEA, MIO, Leander & Persson, and finally, Svenska Hem, where we found the ones we ended up with, almost exactly a year ago. They are a sort of smooth lovely avocado-ey green. And getting the chairs kickstarted the kitchen renovation project. Over the course of the year that followed, we got...

11
Feb
2023

MERRY CRATESMAS!

The crate arrived yesterday! It was a big event here, but I haven’t written all that much about it. We ordered a crate kit from UPakWeShip, and doing so was inspired by a conversation I had with Annelott about getting stuff for Martin, and stuff from my mom’s to me, over here. I had been thinking that shipping household goods would be so crazy expensive that I hadn’t even looked into it, but she said, it can’t be that bad…people and businesses ship stuff all the time. I had extra savings due to the stimulus checks that we got from...

07
Feb
2023

GOTCHA FOR KARIN

Last weekend, when I was on a Facetime call with my brother, he was talking about his job and the issues he was having with some of the places that he picks up skis from. He works for a small company that prepares skis for the customers of various dealers and ski shops. They pick up skis and service them (cleaning, sharpening, waxing) and then they take them back in time for people to get their skis before they go skiing. In the course of the conversation, he mentioned that one of the places he goes to weekly is St....

23
Dec
2022

EK FAMILY CHRISTMAS LETTER 2022

This was the first year that started to feel like the pandemic might, just might, be over. Until Anders tested positive for COVID…twice (!) in the space of 2 months. He had no symptoms at all the first time, and nearly none the second. Karin also managed to get it twice, and Liz is pretty sure she also had it the second go-round. Good thing we all got our boosters! In between bouts of COVID, Anders and Karin managed to fit in a week of skiing, up north in Sweden, and Karin went up again a couple of times to...

31
Oct
2022

HALLOWEENIES

It was either a very quiet year for trick-or-treating, or I bought too much candy. 😛 It’s super foggy out tonight, and I know lots of families were very excited about Halloween this year, judging by the chatter on the village FB group. We’ve had lots of kids, actually, but it doesn’t feel like we had THAT many, if you know what I mean. They’re still trickling in as I write this, and maybe I feel like it wasn’t so many because Karin took turns with me answering the door and handing out candy. I guess I’ll be bringing lots...

May 2024
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