Swedish Summer

David has an aunt and uncle who told us about a yearly tradition their family has.  Towards the end of each summer, they and their two kids get dressed up and go out to eat somewhere nice as a family.  The purpose of the dinner is to talk about what they did that summer and how they think the next year is going to go for them.  I think it’s a lovely tradition!  So, here’s a brief look back at some of my Swedish summer.

I’m so glad I got to be here this particular summer.  Everyone keeps commenting that this has been an unusually pleasant one for Sweden.  We have been soaking it up, drinking it in, and gobbling it up as much as possible! 

Swedish summer is all about taking lots of time to visit and reconnect with friends.  I haven’t even remotely kept up with photos of all the friends and family we’ve had the chance to be with.  Obviously, since we are in Sweden, we are mostly spending time with dear ones from David’s past, but I managed to have a little time with some special old friends of my own!




There’s been berries and currants to pick and clean and eat

There’s been many days spent at David’s cabin on Ejen Lake. 




There’s been lots and lots of jumps into lakes and the ocean

      
  
There’s even been a bit of fishing


(For the record, I did not catch the pike I’m holding here.  We were fishing in the archipelago near Stockholm with David’s friend, Richard, who is basically a fish magnet.  He got the fish on the line and then kindly let me have the experience of reeling it in)

We were in Darlana during their yearly Classic Car week, so there was a lot of “oohing” and “aahing” at really sweet rides.  During certain days if you are out driving around, almost one out of every three cars was an oldie. 



And speaking of classics, we got to be there to celebrate David’s Morfar’s (grandfather on the mother’s side) 90th birthday.



At David’s family’s summer house, the big change this summer was the installation of a new energy system that relies on geothermal energy.  It was fascinating to watch the process up close as they drilled down 130 meters.  I know that the process we watched was small potatoes compared to a lot of things, but I couldn’t help but think over and over again, “Whoa. Engineering is cool!” 



There’s been crayfish to crack and slurp and eat



So that’s been a bit of my Swedish summer so far.  As for the year a head. . . the only thing I’m sure of is that I’m not sure of much!