Summer and Ice cream

Emma and I went for a lovely walk along the sea this evening and stopped for an ice cream along the way!  What a beautiful place Bjärred is in the summer!

 Bjärred's famous ice cream place!

 There's a beautiful restaurant at the very end of the pier

Midsummer!

We've been in Bjärred at my parents place for a couple of days so the traditional Midsummer celebrations took place here this year.

To celebrate Midsummer's Eve is an old tradition that existed before Christianity.  It was then held to welcome summertime and the season of fertility.  When it eventually became a Christian holiday, it was held to commemorate John the Baptist. Today it's probably considered by many Swedes as the most traditional Swedish festivity of the year, and the celebrations are probably a mixture of really old and not so old traditions. To raise leafy maypoles or midsummer trees to dance around is believed to go back as far as the 16th century.  Because the day always falls somewhere between the 20th and 25th off June, it's at the height of summer with long days and very short nights.  Nights that used to be considered a magical night and a good night to tell people's fortune.  It's still believed today that you will dream of your future spouse if you pick 7 different types of wild flowers and put them under your pillow at night!

None of us picked any flowers, but we did go to the midsummer dance with William (who was a little bit overwhelmed by it all) and we did eat our herring, sour cream and strawberries and drank our snaps!

An update from Gothenburg

I'm still in Gothenburg and we've had some nice busy days since my last post.  Linnéa had her christening last Saturday which meant all Öystein's family from Norway and my family from Skåne came to visit.  Very nice to meet some people I haven't seen since last year.  It was a nice ceremony in a beautiful church and Linnéa wore the same christening gown that my sister and I wore to our christenings back in the days. My grandmother made in the 60's  for my oldest cousin and it's been used ever since by most children in our family! 

 Proud parents and great grandmother

 William had fun playing with his new car!

 

 Both grandma's

My best friend from University has a little summer cottage an hour from Gothenburg so I went for a visit the other day and it's one of the most beautiful, peaceful places I have ever seen.  Located by a lake and surrounded by forest it's so quite and calming and it doesn't get more Swedish with a red timber house with white window frames... 

 

Stunning views

Happiness!

After a long long wait, I'm now finally in Gothenburg.  I'm enjoying myself so much and to finally meet Linnéa and William is fantastic.  Linneá is a beautiful little girl who smiles and try to "talk" a lot and William doesn't stop to amaze me.  He talks and sings and laughs and is such a charming little guy.  He seams like so much older and every morning I wake up William calling me, "var e moster Hanna" (where is auntie Hanna). It doesn't matter if it's early morning, I'm wide awake the minute he comes out to me!

To be able to sit down and talk to Emma and Öystein without delays and a bad Internet connection makes such a difference.

William loves to sing, so here's a clip of the two of us.  He's not as keen when the camera comes out however, so unfortunately I'm doing most of the singing and I'm not very good! For those of you who don't speak Swedish, we're singing about being naked and farting on top of a mountain:)

 

My boring life being a bachelor

Lets see here, its rainy and cold by Australian standards (10-15 degrees) and I am bored out of my mind. Apparently the rainfall we are receiving at the moment is from some circling tropical storm off the coast of New South Wales. Over the past 2 days we have been smashed by over 200mm and there is more flooding, mostly in the north of the state. Briefly, it will let up, such as it did at work for 5 mins to show a brilliant rainbow only to disappear at the next lights 1km away. My poor little car is getting blown off the highway when the 100km winds hit, not a pleasant drive to work (60km away) especially with the idiots speeding and overtaking (nearly rolled the car last night).

My weekends are quite dull now that Jo has left for Sweden, it mainly includes catching fringe tribute bands such as FABBA, who i am not sure who they are trying to mimic...any ideas?? Either way it was free entry at the RSL (return to service..a war vets club), and thankfully so because i nearly threw up the cheap pints after hearing some of the hits that came out of their mouths. Imagne your job dressing up in karate outfits, keeping your hair long and singing for the masses of deaf, drunk, senior citizens...lol

As far as Jo being missing in action, i am happy she is with her family and friends, seeing her happy makes me the same. As for me, i am colder in bed at night, bored on my days off, and definately eating more poorly. Jo is a wonderful cook even if it is just a hobby. Last night i decided to try out some local cuisine, BBQ Kangaroo! I marinated it for 2 days and i have to say it was pretty tasty, kind of like deer meat if you have ever tried that. Anyhow, miss you/love JO... 

Lomma Beach

Lomma, a town 5km north of Bjärred was on the agenda this afternoon.  Lomma has changed quite a bit lately with a lot of new development, new restaurants, streets, apartment complexes etc.  We used to go there quite a lot when I was younger since Lomma Beach is the closest "proper" beach to home.  We had a lovely stroll in the sun and a nice ice cream before we headed back, and I have to say the beach is pretty nice, maybe not as nice as Nobby's beach in Newcastle but still pretty impressive! (and very reasonable waves..)

The surf school!!

Beautiful location

The Marina

Johanna's Birthday party!

So much fun last night, I'm lucky to have such great friends! Thanks Johanna for a great evening!

Best musician ever!

I saw the coolest ever street musician in Lund yesterday.  He played 4 instruments at the same time.  The drumsticks were attached to his feet by strings so he played the drums by walking.  What a funny guy, the video doesn't do him justice but I had to post it!

 

Some more catching up

I've been busy in the last few days, but good busy! A couple of days ago, I met up with some more of my beautiful friends, had some great food and went to visit my grandmother in the old medieval city of Ystad for a couple of days.  Life is good but the one thing missing is Wyatt. If only he was here to share some of this with me....

I'm looking forward to some more socialising tomorrow when my dearest friend Johanna has invited us all to a birthday garden party!  Her actual birthday is today (the date on the blog is Aussie time so a bit confusing...) so Grattis fina Johanna på din dag!!

Sofie and the cutest Mr Charming, Melker!

 

 

 Sofie and Camilla!

Some pictures from Ystad, one of the best kept medieval cities in Scandinavia 

 The old Monastery and St Peter's Church from the 13th century that nearly got destroyed in the 19th century....

 The Pottery

 My grandfather lived in an apartment in this house when he was a teenager in the 1930's.  They were 10 siblings, 9 boys and 1 girl... His father had passed away so his mother probably had her hands full.

Malmö and Elsa!

Yesterday I finally got to meet baby Elsa, my best friends little daughter who arrived 4 months ago! As a bonus her parents were there as well:)

The weather has continued to be very nice, so we spent a relaxed afternoon in one of Malmö's many parks and had a lovely picnic.  It was so nice to catch up with them, and despite 9 long months since I last saw them it feels like I haven't been away at all.  Looking forward to meeting everyone else over here in the next few weeks!  I've been talking to my little nephew William a few time over Skype since I arrived and I can't wait to spend some time with him and his little sister Linnèa soon!

Here are some pictures from our afternoon in Malmö!