Category: Culture
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Valborgsmässoafton Walpurgis
Lund is employing multiple strategies to stop large gatherings in local parks tonight. Saint Walpurgis night, originally a pagan, equinox (Beltane) festival turned folk fest, with singing and bonfires has in recent decades become a huge party for students who have just completed their Spring exams. Lund has possibly the largest (unsanctioned) party in the…
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On the mend
Lily and I rode the train to Malmö for her Handkirurgi appointment. The hand specialist said the cast could come off- she can use a velcro wrap for a few weeks until it stops hurting and moves easily.Then we stopped in our old Hyllie neighborhood to have lunch at her favorite place from those weeks…
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Greenhouse at City Park
International Citizen’s Hub (just a French lady named Carole) has been hosting a weekly walk around Stadsparken, a little over half a mile from our house. This is where I take most of my pond pictures. I like the view from the top of the rampart walking path. We’ve had fairly low turn out for…
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Arctic Spring
We decided the risk of traveling within Sweden was minor and booked a trip to Kiruna, the northern most city in Swedish Lapland. It’s north of the Arctic Circle in Sàpmi (Sami cultural region) taiga forestland with long winters. Traditional Sami foods, cooked over the fire in a làvvu reindeer, moose, lingon and cloudberries prepared…
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Bornholm
A Danish island in the Baltic Sea off the coast of Sweden, Bornholm is still closed to tourism. It used to be a fishing community, but in recent times it is known for biking, hiking and culinary culture. My great-grandfather, Fred, was born there in 1880 Fred’s mother’s family lived there for generations. His father,…
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Face Mask Machinations
There is one issue in Sweden that has annoyed me from day 1. Sverige seems like a country that would put the public good ahead of individual freedoms. The leaders claimed they were following the science on all issues related to covid 19 so why are they ignoring the data on mask effectiveness? We’ve been…
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Påskkäring, Easter Witch
My friend, Brandie, suggested we get out of town for a bit since her husband and daughters are working from home this week due to Swedish guidelines regarding the new covid variant. We drove to the southern most point, Smyghuk but it was under construction so we went to Vellinge Blommar, a huge garden center…
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Shame in the Grocery Store
Lily and I went to the Stora Coop (Big Co-op) last weekend for a stock-up. Saw this in the store. I have many conflicted feels about it. This is the American section. Next to the Asian and Eastern European food sections. This might have been the store’s entire stock of partially hydrogenated soybean oil.
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Kings Park
Spent the day in Malmö while Bryant took his driving hazards test. He’ll post about that interesting experience sometime! Cloudy but warm, 53 degrees. A nice day to roam around, but the kids stayed home to clean their rooms Malmö castle as it used to be… And how it is today, with restorations “Diana” sculpture…
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Kulturen
This open-air museum (the White House) in the heart of historic Lund is a collection of Swedish architecture from all eras. Some structures remain on their original sites while others were relocated and restored using authentic materials and techniques. The project began in 1882 at a time when the City was modernizing sewers etc, and…