This week finished off really well. What an adventure it has been. Beautiful weather, great friends and a time to remember. Thursday started with finishing up packing for the weekend, getting things in order for the apartment showing and getting myself on the train to meet the estate agent to leave my key. Then up to Säffle to meet my 2nd cousin twice removed Jan and his wife Anita.

In Säffle I was treated like royalty. Jan picked me up, carried my bag, fed and housed me for the night. They truly made me feel welcome! The company was amazing, food was delicious and I learned alot about my family tree and them. He has done a lot of work oj genealogy and look forward to exchanging information, learning more and meeting again. A beautiful start to midsommar!

From there Jan and Anita kindly drove me up to Karlstad (about 40 min) to my friend Mia. She and I took a nice walk, and then we just caught up on life. It had been since New Years since we were together so we had many things to talk about. Always love spending time with her. She lifts my spirits and we can have deep conversations.

After a lovely dinner with Mia, she drove me to Susanne’s, where I spent the night. It was so good to see her again too. She has been very busy with painting and lots of other things. She always has a lot going on but makes time to have fun. She and I were going to the province of Dalarna and we had some things to get ready. She had most of it prepared already.

We drove the 2 1/4 hours to Gävunda and dropped off our things with Kerstin and had a fika together. What a wonderful and entertaining person. She is helping Susanne with a place to sell her amazing Dalmålning paintings the middle of July. More on that later.

We set out for a midsummer pole raising event and got lucky with a front row seat to the event. It was a perfect day with sunny clear skies which there hadn’t been for 50 years. It was well timed with dancing and the pole raising. Susanne and I danced to the traditional songs around the pole with others and små grödorna (small frogs) was my favorite dance. Felt like a little kid dancing around in Sweden! What a fun experience.

After the festivities Susanne surprised Kerstin with a picnic she had prepared for a summer afternoon. We had herring and potato salad on thin bread. YUM! After we laid on the blankets and relaxed and ate princess tårta for dessert the light danced through the leaves of the Björk tree and watched the clouds float by like days gone by. The lake glistened below with an interesting red cast from the sand. It was delightful.

As if this was not fun enough we drove through small villages, saw poles set up and some being put up. We ended up at the top of a mountain with fantastic views of the lake. We ate a very nice 3 course meal in a local hotel with a wonderful midsummer menu of herring, potatoes, hard bread and more.

And still the day was not over! I took a walk around the village which was quaint. I made the most of it. Picturesque small place which once used to have dances which drew people from all around. There will be an event in town the middle of July where Susanne will display and sell her wares.

Our next day was spent cleaning the space and preparing for the event as much as we could. Thankfully there was a nice breeze that day as it was uncharacteristically warm. That evening we enjoyed a well deserved dip in the nearby lake and sat outside until the bugs started biting and moved inside. It was too warm too sleep so I was awake until 4:30 am which was tough since we had to get up early and finish some things.

Sunday we packed up for the drive home. We were both tired from the heat. We did some pre-planning of where the paintings might hang and then put them in a safe place until the event. Super excited for Susanne. She is very talented.

The evenings are cool but the house is warm which makes sleeping difficult. We were downstairs and outside alot until the bugs started biting. What amazing luck we had with the weather. We even got to bathe in the local lake.

Sunday we packed up, did some final preparation for the sale and headed off to Karlstad. We were both tired and warm. We stopped to get a fan which lasted 3 hours until I knocked it over and broke the knob to turn it on and off which probably would have been fine had I not just turned it off. All of our brains couldn’t make it work again so no fan for the night. 🥵

We were so busy I did not have time to write but on the train home now to Malmö. Looking forward to some cooler temperatures as well. I am thankful for air conditioning on the train for the next 7 hours.