Thursday, November 25, 2010

This and That

Many years ago when we visited Fredrik and Annika in Göteborg and were out on a shopping round, we went to a Björn Borg store.  It was our introduction to this "upscale" shop.  Filled with sport ware, underclothes, bags and swim wear.  Some pretty "pricey" stuff.  Fredrik told us that he really liked the under ware.  Under wear is under wear I recall thinking, "pooh poohing" the high price.  So, years later after we moved here and I was at a loss as to what to get for David for some occasion, I surprised him with a pair.  David thought those were the most comfortable things he had ever worn, Freddy was right, there actually is a BIG difference from a pair of Heinz jockey shorts.

Kellie brought some back to California for Chris and for herself! Same thing, they "love" them, if you can say that about under wear.

For me, I must say that the most remarkable thing about this little story is about how strange life is.  Who would have thought that in the end, Björn Borg, this most amazing Swedish tennis player who grew up in Södertälje and came to be one of the WORLDS  BEST, would be remembered for his under wear!  In the beginning of his venture into the fashion world, his line was much wider.  Today it primarily consists of under garments, bags  and swim fashion.  Strange, how unpredictable  life is?  Sure can take some weird turns.  But  back to the under ware,if you wear those you end up having a gait like Clint Eastwood or Henry Fonda.... I swear, or why not George Clooney for good measure !

Wild dramatic weather here.  Sort of like in New Mexico.  If you don't like it just wait ten minutes.... we have sunshine, rain, sunshine,  hail then more sunshine.  We still have some Calendula blooming as well as  some Sweet Peas in the yard.  Nice.  The Aster roots have been dug up and put in storage until spring.  Yea, yea you Californians, just keep bragging about those eighty degree  days. It is not quite that warm here but beautiful none the less in the + fifties as I write this, almost Mediterranean!


On that note I want to include  a comment about Nordic Cuisine sent to us from my cousin in response to my Blog about Moster Helmi who dried rose hip for soup and tea.  Yes, she took us out to gather mushrooms and berries as well.   He is so right about how healthy Scandinavian food can be with it's inclusion of herring in so many forms, as well as salmon.  Fish with all the right Omega fats.  The root vegetables that would be harvested in the fall and could be kept in a cellar all winter are loaded with vitamins as is the cabbage.  The rutabaga also called "Swede" so full of vitamin C that sailors would bring it along, on their ships at sea and it kept them from getting scurvy!  Something I did not know until Jan-Otto told me.  "Limey's" I had heard of , all the while wondering, where did the Britts get the limes from ? Surely they  did not grow them on the island.  The back side of todays  common Swedish fare however is all it's cream, cream sauce this and cream sauce that, yummy for sure, but.......... sort of like Paula Dean and her   "everything tastes better with butter" philosophy !  "Sweden, the Land of Brown Sauce" was a recent  program on T V here, exploring  the traditional common everyday food culture.                                                                                                                                


Here is Jan-Otto's reply to  "Water and Wild Roses"    

Red the story about the rose hips and how to dry them and make good soup and tea.
Why do buy them manufactured by Ekströms when they are out there waiting for you.
Containing a lot of, I mean much, c-vitamins. In older times necessary to collect to survive long winters to avoid getting “skörbjugg”. And also all “rotfrukter” as carrots, swedes and potatoes. Able to save all the winters in cellars. Don’t forget the lingon berry. Also a lifeline in winters for people living I the north when there was not freezes and such.

Eating this kind of food including also marinated herring and other fat fishes with good fats for the heart is as healthy as the Mediterranean type of food some scientists says.

In modern culinary cousin it is very popular to use a small pink/orangecollored berry called “havtorn”. Contains more c-vitamins than kiwi I have heard.

There also are “ slånbär” which are good making liquor, aquavit and saft on when they are getting a little bit frozen after a cold autumn night. Not so easy to pick as the bush has shape “taggar”.


We are always so thrilled to hear your comments.  Thank you for your participation!   We are glad every time.                                                                                                          

Monica and Richard still pick berries and mushrooms in the forest that surrounds  their house. We all were out there, gathering chanterelle  mushrooms as well as blueberries and wild strawberries when Linnea, Ryan, Maud and I were visiting Uppsala together last.


Piles of chanterelles  at the out door market on Hötorget in Stockholm !

Sunday, November 7, 2010

No slow flow !

We had a couple of great guys here changing our super old septic system.  It would have been nice to know how inefficient that old antique non approved handmade tiny little hole in the ground was when we purchased this place.

Could have been useful as we negotiated the price.  But we did not investigate that part fully ourselves and the professional inspector we had hired, did not even think of looking at it.  In California one must provide a certificate to the new buyer assuring them the septic is in great shape. Had we not purchased this house first we would have been aware.......... Que Sera !    But that is not what I wanted to talk about.  Rather what nice professionals these guys were.  What a machine they had to do the digging and trenching!  We want one of those!  After less than two days we had our new cleaning, filtering newfangled system installed and can flush, shower, wash clothes and take baths to our hearts content.  Great we say.  Now THAT is done.









While you guys "over there" brag about 80 degrees F and then some, you should be aware that the snow indicator poles along our road are in place and that the cars are being prepped for winter and equipped with  snow tires today.  Jealous?  Strangely, I actually like this weather with all the dramatic changes.  It is not supposed to be NICE all the time, or......?

Kellie is gone. Boohoo.
Gary is doing great at New Mexico Tech, is happy and might still have some chocolate.
Ryan has a big Swedish flag in his room at Redlands.
Linnea is thinking about packing her bags and glad that she is done running.
Saga, Pumpkin Nr. 1 was dressed as Bat Girl for Halloween.
Elliott, Pumpkin Nr. 2 was dressed as Bat Man.  Annika is being asked if they are twins.
Kevin is happy at school in Arizona and is in love.
C J is going to Jr. College one semester early.

Charlotte has a cousin Carina, who lives near Göteborg.  She creates a Blog called "Infing Funderar".  It is beautiful.  Can be viewed in English too of course.  Her pictures are so beautiful.  I am hooked!  You might want to look too.   You will better understand why we like it here!

We also read a Blog written by Hilary's Dad, Tom Hurley called "Musings of a slowly rotting mind...". He keeps us informed about what goes on at Bailey Flats,  in Oakhurst, Florence Lake, Muir Trail and about Benjamin!   Among other things.  Always interesting, fun, and filled with information and surprises and we constantly look for new chapters.