175 days and 9 hours to go!...

Time seems to fly me by particularly fast... I've opened this page several times with the intention of writing something, but I always end up feeling a bit guilty. I guess that I've fallen yet again in the swamp of intending on doing something and barely ever finding either time or mood (or both) to pursue it until it's completed. Still, my friends, I'm not quite done with myself yet! I battle on! :-)

I confess that I haven't really been touching my Swedish text book and my efforts on this goal of mine can barely be called efforts. But if it excuses me in any way, I'm ploughing through a Swedish book and somehow amazing myself at each turn of page of how understandable things are getting for me.

On the other hand, what I should be focusing my energy on should be on the pronunciation, which, I'm afraid to say (and pardon my "French") truly sucks! :-S I'm quite sure that no native Swede would even start to understand what I'd be attempting to say, even though Mr. B. sometimes says otherwise. I guess he's just trying to be nice... and nice doesn't always help! :-P

So, Mr. B., with the weekend almost at our door, don't forget to help me out, will you? Some reading exercises would surely help a lot if we manage to devote the time to them. :-)

Happy weekend everyone!... :-)

226 days and 10 hours to go!...

Though it might feel like I've fallen through the eventual cracks on the earth's surface, I'm still pretty much here, though quite silent these days. Right now, a major cold seems to have striken me with mighty force and, though the sun shines on outside and invites everyone to still make use of their t-shirts, I've already put my pet wool coat to use.

Time seems to fly me by... and, for the moment, all I can focus on is on emptying the content of my tea pot in the hope of calming the fire that seems to have started on my throat. Skål!

276 days and 11 hours to go!...

Another weekend that flew us by and another week that has started...

We had a lovely time last Friday evening. I packed up our bags and we all headed for a late afternoon on the beach – my favourite time of the day. You get there as people are already packing up to go home and so it slowly gets more and more deserted and you get more and more privacy. It's still sunny and warm enough for a swim, without burning you senseless and it also has the advantage of imposing a certain limit to the amount of time you spend there, just in case you have grumpy children like I do, that never want to leave.

This particular time we had a few interesting experiences, starting from the possibility we had of finally putting one of Miss B.'s kites flying, as she has been longing to do, but she also had a possibility to interact with a smaller girl, as they both dug away at the sand. The girl didn't speak a word of Portuguese and so, after a while, Miss B.'s panic button is hit and she runs to me to ask for a solution to the problem. The good thing is that some of that French lessons in school seem to be somewhat glued to the back of my mind and, occasionally, the right words or sentences pop, so I can whisper them to her hear and help her world make sense again. :-)

Saturday was a rather lazy day, that ended with some critical shopping... After I heard all about the new computer models out there and the problems Mr. B.'s computer was giving, I caved in and we got him a new computer (a brand new red computer, at that). A rather deserved one, I should say, though I must confess that I'm starting to feel a little uncomfortable with the growing piles of computers in this house, both old and new, and with the fact that for the past 5 years in a row a new one has been making its way into my home. :-S Hopefully, now that I have more computers and gadgets than I can possibly use at the same time, some time soon, when our anniversary comes, I'll be able to get something other than an electronic gadget! :-) And, yes, that new photographic camera for my birthday does count as a gadget, Mr. B.! ;-)

One who's awfully happy is Miss B., who now has acquired her dad's old computer and has blinged it up a notch... ;-)

Sunday started in a rather akward manner, with an unknown before excited Mr. B. hopping off the bed and waking up everyone based on the fact that, apparently, I had mumbled something the previous day about a possibility of hitting the beach first thing Sunday morning.

And yesterday – well, yesterday – I had a bit of a surreal day... I finally managed to get my suspicions supported by the experient mind of a rheumathologist and so now it's more and more obvious that this nightmare that has been hunting me for the past 3 months is a auto-immune disease called rheumatoid arthritis. I think that I have had my bouts of crying and wondering what my life will be like with this, I've gone through the “why me?” phase and I've hurt in a different billion ways. Right now, under medication that finally helps and with a perspective of keeping this under control, life seems to move on, with baby steps. I guess that only the future will tell... but, at least, there's the vision of one and a lesson that seems to have been learnt – there's no point in stressing. The past should stay where it is – in the past – if there's nothing you can do to change it; make your present worth living anf life fulfilling; and do dream of the future, because as António Gedeão's poem goes (in a rough translation) “it's only when a man dreams that the world jumps and moves forward as a colourful ball in the hands of a child”.

And on that happy/sad note, I'd like to announce that I have now finished reading “Populärmusik från Vittula”, by Mikael Niemi. It was my first book ever read in Swedish (though I also had an English translation to help me through it and Mr. B.'s priceless help, mainly with all the obscure slang that he has never even dreamt of uttering :-)) and it has taken me a little less than 3 months to read (though I confess that I haven't been such an active reader either).

It was an incredibly funny book and it still amazes me how popular it became considering its topic and where it originates from – the far far far North. By now, I'm all melancholic, as it always happens every time I finish a book I'm enjoying reading. Even more so, as I know it's a personal tale and so the characters themselves acquire an all new depth.

I do seem to enjoy these sorts of books terribly... Personal charicatural stories, things that make you blush, think, laugh out loud, recall your own personal experiences... All of a sudden, the world becomes a small small place and I realize how much we're made of the same flesh and soul.

Right now, though, I'm all curious about the movie and, most of all, how to come across it.:-)

I had this goal of reading a Swedish book a month, but with this slow pace I haven't managed to keep it up. Hopefully, the days that lay ahead will be calmer and so it'll be easier to continue my quest, started 3 months ago to this date! :-) But, I guess that I can add to my lists those books I've managed to read through the years, in English or Portuguese, by Swedish authors...

“Anna, Hanna och Johanna” (1994) (or “Hanna's Daughters”), by Marianne Fredriksson. A nice book, though sad somehow and even raw at times, about life as a female through three (almost four) generations. Worth the read.

For more on the author: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marianne_Fredriksson

“Sprängaren” (1998) (or “The Bomber”), by Liza Marklund. An unimpressive crime novel, with many many technical flaws, by another author coming from the far far far North of Sweden, but who's currently settled in the kingdom's capital. It wasn't the kind of book that makes you curious about the author, but I guess I won't say no to a new opportunity to read Liza if it presents itself.

More on the author: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liza_Marklund

More on the movie based on the book that I haven't had the opportunity to see (2001):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprängaren

“Den Vita Lejoninnan” (1993) (or “The White Lioness”), by Henning Mankell. Interesting, but a bit off from the usual criminal novel, as it's so much about world-wide politics affecting the life of the common citizen. One of the books in the Kurt Wallender series and worth the read.

More on the author: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henning_Mankell

The charismatic Wallender also has made it to the screen, both in the cinemas and tv:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallander_(film_series)

“Kejsarn av Portugallien” (1914) (or, in Portuguese, “O Imperador de Portugal”), by Selma Lagerlöf. Well, obviously, it's title caught my attention from the start, but it was also interesting to know that 3 years back or so we started seeing on the shelfs of some bookstores a few of Selma's books that have actually been translated to Portuguese. Despite the fact that some point her out as having had a dark and sad writing style, I style liked it very much.

More on the author, the first female winner of the Nobel Prize who features on the 20 sek bills:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selma_Lagerlöf

“The Selected Poems of Gustav Fröding” (1993) - (trans. by Henrik Aspán, in collaboration with Martin Allwood)

More on the author: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustaf_Fröding

Back to my morning, the day started off with a never seen ritual – Carla cooked some porridge for breakfast! :-O And it went quite well... (so here goes a bit of commercial for Mr. B.-senior sake... ;-))

279 days and 10 hours to go!...

The following day, the 4th of June, was the mythical day - Carla finally turned the all-so-dreaded 30!... After an eventful previous day, I was exhausted and all I could think of was having a long night's sleep... which eventually ended some time around 9 a.m.. Around that time, hubby and mother-in-law enter the room singing "Happy Birthday to You", as I jump up in bed, all puffed up in the face. Apparently, everyone was awake long before they decided to wake me up and breakfast to be served in bed was prepared.

I got to have morning tea in the B.'s clan birthday cup (and that was a first...) and was also served wienerbröd (what seems to be a typical pastry from Vienna, but highly popular in Denmark and its neighbouring countries), which I didn't manage to eat though, as mornings are a particularly though period of the day eating-wise for me.

What awaited me that day was about 18 hours of totally unexpected twists and turns... All had apparently been planned out, but I was left in the dark - and that's something quite hard for me to handle. :-S

After some facial-depuffing, I was all ready to get out of the house and head to the train station, as we were seemingly headed for Stockholm.

Having arrived in Stockholm, mother-in-law decides we should take the subway to wherever-else we are headed to, but hubby disagrees, as it's... just around the corner.

Many many many steps later, we bump into father-in-law, who's just finished work for the day and... as we were already late for whatever it was we would be doing... we took a well deserved coffee break.

Coffee levels restored, we set again, on foot, through the city...

... headed for the boats! Hm!

After a bit of a wait, we step on board of a small boat, headed for Fjäderholmarna (http://beta.stockholmtown.com/en/To-Do/Excursions/fjäderholmarna/1078).

With Miss B. having spotted a couple of Rottweilers on board, there was no rest for the remainder of the traveling group. In the lack of other volunteers, I headed with her to the uncovered part of the boat, to pat the "small" things, who happened to be the sweetest dogs ever.

Many pats later... we set foot ashore, soon to learn that our destination was a restaurant that was full full full, so we had to search for an alternative place to get ourselves fed.

And that's how we had burgers and fries, with this magnificent view right in front of us. But that wasn't all... there was also a happily swimming female Rottweiler named Tisha, that was entertaining us terribly with the occasional showers she'd provide her owner and whoever happened to be around her every time she got out of the water.

A walk around the island was in order... So, along with the really cute handcraft stores, with had so much of nature to enjoy. There seemed to be canadian geese everywhere, with their fluffy offspring in tow.

After the walk and some shopping, it was time to do it all over again... get on the boat, get water sprayed as Miss B. pats the dogs, jump off the boat, walk around the city, get on a train, get on the subway, arrive at the final destination - time for dinner!

The place had a wonderful view...

... was rather calm ...

... and served great food.

What else is there to ask for? :-)

Funny enough, we had dinner at Göteborg in Stockholm... ;-)

And afterwards, what awaited us was some more of those train/subway/car trips back "home"...

Miss B. went crazy with the camera at this point and we have an enormous assortment of images of anything that passed her window... but some of them are actually cute, like this one. :-)

Back home, it was then time for cake - princess cake! :-) And - despite my anti-monarchic ideals ;-) - it was a GREAT cake.

Thanks everyone - all who were able to be present and those who, despite not being so, were there in spirit - for a wonderful day. And, hey!, I'm now admittedly 30 years old! And I'm now taking the official vow of making this decade the best EVER! :-D

280 days and 11 hours to go!...

Back to the 3rd of June... Well, that was the day we were supposed to head up to Södertälje, in order to celebrate my mother-in-law's birthday. It was settled that we were supposed to be there in time for dinner at 19:00 and my newly acquired optimistic self was not a little bit worried with either the length or the time the trip would take. Old Carly was on top of the world! :-)

We started off in the morning, not as early as Mr. B. was wanting, but then again, we thought it to be a good idea to give a clean to the house before setting off. So, there I was at it, dusting and vacuum cleaning, and even refilling the wood logs on the heavy iron cauldron by the fireplace, when everyone was up. I guess the most marking part of all that cleaning was the one when I slipped and threw myself on the floor, making a ghastly mess of wood bits and soil all over the newly clean surfaces. Yay me! :-S

To compensate myself from my newly acquired injury to both knees, I was treated to a cappuccino at the gas station, which wasn't so bad and had the cleanest and best taken care of WC I have ever seen in a gas station. It even had fresh flowers by the sink! Amazing! :-)

So, out on the road we go and, after a bit of convincing, I got Mr. B. to take a picture to every sign we passed, which was both a fun and challenging thing. :-) The most challenging part was that I had to wake him up every time!... He really sucks at being a proper co-pilot, with his car fits of narcolepsy. :-P And so, that first picture was taken when we were entering Vaggeryds kommun. :-)

And then... Jönköpings kommun. As for the city of Jönköping, we didn't get an opportunity to get much visiting done - just passing through. But we did stop there for lunch and seemingly there's much to tell about the city. :-) It's located in the South of Sweden's second biggest lake - Vättern - and seems to be the 9th biggest city in Sweden (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jönköping). As its name indicates, it used to be one of the old trading centers of the country.

As for the lake Vättern, you can read more about it in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vättern, but the thing I'd really want to point out is that, allegedly, it also has its own monster. :-) There are some recorded sightings of the frightening beast and you can read about it in this link - http://cryptozoo-oscity.blogspot.com/2010/04/creature-in-lake-vattern.html. Unfortunately, the poor "little" thing doesn't have a name, which is certainly not something suitable for a lake monster that has been about for over 200 years, so I decided to name her (because I'm almost sure it's a "she"...) Gunilla! :-)

We weren't so lucky as to see Gunilla out and about, but there's a very cute sculpture of her, by the side of the road, that we just managed to take a quick picture to as we were driving by. :-)

After a quick pit stop for lunch, with Pytt i Panna in the menu, and a stroll through the gift shop of the restaurant, we were refilled and ready to face all those kilometers that were still missing... or so we thought. :-S

Just a bit up North, we decided to make another quick stop to visit the ruins of Brahehus, in Gränna, that was built in the 1640's for Count Per Brahe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahehus).

From there, you have the most magnificent view of the lake, but also a clear view of the lake's island, Visingsö. The interesting about this island, is that it also comes with a tale. Apparently, it's said that it was created by a giant, that threw a bit of soil into the lake, so his wife could step on it while crossing the lake. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visingsö) And as you drive by, right after Gunilla :-), you can see a big sculpture of the giant Vist, that did the deed. :-) Unfortunately, we didn't manage to get a good picture of him.

Miss B., always wide-eyed at these tales, decided that she knew better than the fragmented story her father was produced and stated that what really happened was that this giant ripped off the top of Brahehus, with a princess in it, and threw it in the lake, creating the island and a beautiful one story palace, where the princess was happy and safe from all the mean guys that seemingly wanted to marry her... :-S Hmm... So, this trip of ours wasn't only a trip through Sweden, but more of a trip in which we reinvented Sweden's traditional history. :-)

And soon enough we were back on the road... and the trouble started. There just seemed to be something wrong with the car, as it started kind of hick-cupping and threatening not to work. And that was also when Carla, the realist, struck her inner panic button! We'd be stranded in mid-Sweden, 280 kms from "home". :-S Not to mention that, all of a sudden, the "speaking to the car" mode was turned up in full volume and so there I was, convincing the car to take us to our destination, with the promise that if he did that good deed we'd pay him a spa stay at the mechanic. :-S

And that's how we entered Östergötlands län and Ödeshögs kommun - in sheer panic. And with a car threatening to die on us, we entered Linköpings kommun, only to face 45 minutes of traffic lines, in which we managed to occasionally drive at 10 kms per hour. Pain pain pain!

But, at least, we had time to photograph the planes... :-P

Linköping is the 5th biggest Swedish city and a important mark in the country since medieval times. The planes you can see by the side of the road are SAAB productions. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linköping)

Then, the traffic started flowing and we could happily be upset at the workers that were gladly putting asphalt on the road and had cost us 45 minutes! And, soon enough, we were entering Norrköpings kommun.

Then we entered a new län, Södermanland and the kommun of Nyköping.

Closing in on our destination, we passed the kommun of Trosa...

Until we entered Stockholms län and the kommun of Södertälje, much to everyone's relief... :-)

And there would be plenty I could tell you about Södertälje, I guess - or maybe not... :-) I'll leave you with a Wikipedia link on the city and maybe I'll be able to later on have someone do a post on it... ;-) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Södertälje

Safe and sound... with a problematic car... I step out of it, give it a pat (such a good boy managing to take us home!) and hand over the keys to my mother-in-law with a not so excited "Happy Birthday! Here... and as a present, you've got your car to be fixed!"...