Swedish Murmurings

Winter Walks

2012-01-23T08:05:00.000+01:00

Gamla Gefle - the old town with its cobbles
and narrow streets

We have had lovely weather the last two weekends, including (relatively) lots of sun-filled hours!

Admittedly, we are still so short on snow that there is no cross country skiing, but on the flip-side, we have had great running and walking weather.

Last weekend I did my first long walk of the season and meandered around many of Gävle's neighborhoods, seeings things anew at a walking speed rather than at bicycle speed.

The school for teaching Swedish to newbie foreigners (SFI)
I am pretty sure I showed up for class some nights just to see the building.

Looking back towards town after hiking out towards the Baltic.
The leftmost of the yellow buildings (seen way back in the centre of the shot) is just across the river from where we live.

Three podcasts (and nearly three hours) later, I happily made my way home for a good bowl of hot soup, quite content after taking in the lovely surroundings.

This weekend there was slightly more snow, and I had company for my outing! I was quite grateful to be meeting someone at a designated time as it forced me out of bed despite the rather heavy legs that followed Saturday's bout of hill training: 11 times up the local ski hill chasing after Richard and two very speedy friends we met up with for the event. There are no photos. I don't think either of us could breath enough to think to take a photo ;)

This week we hiked out to the woods behind the university and enjoyed a few gorgeous sunny hours, taking it all in.

I love winter light.

Thanks, Klara - you are way better than a podcast ;)

Walking partner extraordinaire - and at 5 months pregnant, to boot!

God fortsättning

2012-01-12T20:45:00.001+01:00

Greetings, happy new year, and 'good continuing' - a lovely expression used in Sweden to great people into the new year.

As Richard has already alluded, there were some big goals and plans tabled by we two Jacksons from a lovely hotel nestled into the French Alps on the first day of the year; perhaps our biggest round of dreaming yet! It has certainly made for an exciting start to things, and has really left me filled with energy and motivation for the coming months. Hurra!

Of course, one can't put all the cards on the table right off the bat, but I am quite excited to begin by sharing a nearly crazy athletic goal I have marked on the calendar.

To celebrate my birthday this year I will be attempting the Åre Extreme Challenge! In short, we are talking about 25 km of river/white water kayaking, 15 km running up and over Åre mountain, and 35 km mountain biking back around said mountain!

It seems this is the premier multisport race in Sweden ... so heck, why not give it a try, right?!? I will be tackling this fine event with my amazing race partner, Ulrica, from the Uppsala Raid Multisport extravaganza we tackled in September. Fortunately for us, ÅEC requires a lot less orienteering ;)

I have a small bit of nervousness regarding this race ... making it to the finish being my big goal. Oh Catherine, why aren't you here this year to whip me into paddling shape and maybe teach me a thing or two about kayaking as well?!? I clearly did not plan this very well: Catherine is a former Canadian National Kayaking team member and former coworker here ... and she moved back to Canada from Gävle last August.

To try and meet this goal, I have set up quite an extensive training schedule! I am nearly through week one and have made it through every work out so far. Only 5 3/4 months to go :) To get my arms and trunk into paddling shape I have joined the Gävle masters swim team. It is such a delight to be back in the pool on a regular basis and I am thoroughly enjoying this new community.

To train for the hill running I have also introduced a hill training evening into the routine. Last night was my first outing, and I arrived at the local ski hill (bump) armed with nordic poles and a head-lamp. To be honest, I think last night might have been the first time I really questioned how crazy I had become in my sporting ventures. It was only about 3 degrees below zero but still, there I was out running around in a dark forest with a light strapped to my head, trying to track down a couple of girls I had arranged to meet so I could charge up a snow-covered ski hill. Of course, once I located them, it all seemed quite normal to join the cue of similarly clad people running (or briskly walking, as was the case for some of us) up, then running down the side of said snow-covered hill. I giggled a lot over the first ascent whilst contemplating the degree of crazy, then succumbed to the higher heart rate and just smiled and enjoyed the evening. Still ... there was that moment when I thought I really had joined the ranks of the outdoor natters! Funny how that has never struck me when racing my MTB in the pitch black forest in the middle of the night. Must have been the nordic poles ;)

In case any of you are interested in the nitty gritty, here are the deets of my current training plans. If you have any tips or alternate suggestions, feel free to send them along! Of course, I will also accept inspiring messages on a regular basis :)

Monday - 90 minute swim with the Gävle Simsällskap
Tuesday - 2 hours spinning or 1 hour spinning + 1 hour functional training at Friskis och Svettis (my gym)
Wednesday - 60 - 90 minutes hill training + running with the Gävle Multisport Klubb
Thursday - 60 minutes weight training early in the morning with my friend Stefan (Swedish class at night)
Friday - REST
Saturday - long walk or ski (2-4 hours) with anyone I can coerce into joining me (or a good book on my iPod)
Sunday - long run (60 - 90 minutes) with Richard
NB - inherent in the next six months is periodization, that is, changing of intensity and duration. This plan is predominately for base training and will hold for about the next 10 - 12 weeks.

One really good side effect of this training schedule is the large number of training hours that are spent training in Swedish! Yes, I can now prattle on (in my bad Swedish) even when in a rather hypoxic state! I swear that means I must be getting somewhere with this language learning :)

To balance out all this rather intense sounding training stuff, I though I would share my one and only new year's resolution.

I officially resolve to empty the tea leaves from my loose leaf tea diffuser immediately following every use! Yes, I will no longer leave the silly thing draining out onto the counter, thereby leaving a brown puddle and mess.

idag blir det en bra dag - today will be a good day
my new morning message in a mug

And finally, although it is not a resolution, I resolve to read at least two novels in Swedish. Real novels - not just lätt läst or 'light reads' like I have done so far. And not just because I have to for my Swedish course :)

First on deck: Grabben i Graven Bredvid (The guy in the grave next door). Thanks to Camilla for the recommendation!

And that, folks, is how 2012 looks so far.

Christopher Paolini, I owe you a coke.

2012-01-07T22:44:00.001+01:00

Okay, it's only a couple of days until class start back again and I still haven't talked at all about teaching or what I've been reading. Let me try and remedy both in one handy post (or ironically considering a lot of what I'm about to say, maybe two) ... "Richard Reads."

Our story begins: It was a few weeks before Christmas holidays when a couple of kids stopped me in the hall and asked if I'd a) heard that the newest/last book in the Eragon series had come out, and b) if I had read it yet. The answer to both questions was no, but I was still pretty pleased that they had asked.

the bookitsownself!

I was pleased because as they asked me, I remembered talking about the previous book in the cycle, "Brisingr", with these kids last year. Clearly they had remembered, and I'm glad that I took the time to chat it up with them about it. This isn't to suggest that it is really that much of an accomplishment for an English teacher to talk about a book with students, or that it took too much of an effort, seeing as how I love both teaching and fantasy/sci fi stuff, and thus talking with students about fantasy books we are both reading really should be something I do on a regular basis. But still; neither student is (or has been) in any of my classes, so to have made a connection with them outside of that, well ... it makes me happy. I'm doing my job.

Teaching in Sweden involves a lot more of what gets called "mentoring" here, and the best way I can think of describing what that means is that over here, being a teacher is a lot more similar to being a camp counselor than it is in North America. This familiarity and style of interaction is both expected and encouraged by the Swedish system, and for those of us coming from the more 'distanced' approach to teaching in Canada or the States (where in fact such familiarity is kind of discouraged, I think) it takes a while to get used to. It does make the balance between familiarity and respect a little harder to walk, but I can appreciate a system that encourages and requires a nuanced, often personalized approach to role modelling with the students, even though it requires a little more care and attention when you are deciding how to make that kind of relationship work for months and years, instead of a two-week camp session.

One of my former students who moved to the States with her family at the end of last year came back to visit, and surprised her class with tales of the differences in attitude and approach by the teachers there: "They treat us like kids!" she said, eyes rolling. I snickered only a little bit.

Anyway, back to Inheritance. "No!" I told the kids who had asked me if I had heard and read the tale in question. "And even though I was kind of annoyed at the last book - as you guys probably remember me saying - I'll definitely give it a read over the holidays, and we can talk about it in January." And now I have.

Book the First

So the Eragon series, if you are not aware, is the work of one Christopher Paolini who actually did what many of us merely wanted to do (or only did in the context of creative writing class assignments): he created and wrote his own Lord of the Rings-style saga, starting at the age of fifteen. For actually accomplishing what I (and probably a lot of others) only tinkered at or dreamed of doing, my hat is off to him.

Christopher Paolini - 'The Geek Who Could'

Why was I annoyed at his last book - or should I say, especially annoyed? Well, two reasons. First off, as happens so often in the fantasy genre, I felt as though the Eragon saga had gotten increasingly bogged down with what many fans seem to love, but has annoyed me more and more as time has gone on: pages upon pages upon pages of expositive "world building". Yes, Tolkien did it. But yes, it was annoying even then ... and it remains annoying, even when it is really well written.

Now, no offense to Chris, and goodness knows I should probably put my money where my mouth is about fiction writing before I start critiquing, but I'm still going to say it: Eragon and its sequels are not terribly well written, and this makes the expositive world building that much worse.

An example from book two: seriously? A twelve page segue about the history of the particular dwarves who carved this tunnel that our hero is about to walk down? What in the name of Jonathan Taylor Thomas, man! Just walk your hero down the freaking tunnel!

Book the Second

This was hardly an isolated incident in the series, particularly as the series moved on ... so much so that it led to the second reason for my annoyance: what was supposed to be a trilogy became, out of necessity of length, four books. Hey, I like spending time in the worlds authors create with the characters they have created (if perhaps not quite as much as some other nerds), but I also like to have things move along and see what turns out in the end. So when I've waited a couple of years for a book that I'm expecting will bring things to their exciting conclusion, only to find out I'm going to have to wait some more ... well, I get annoyed. I was annoyed. Stupid dwarf tunnels in book two, stupid prolonged sword-forging sequence in book three ... too much "it doesn't really contribute to the plot" stuff going on to the point of needing another book! Argh! Keep things moving along!

Book the Third (but not the last) of the 'Trilogy' ... grrr

So: why, you might ask (if you can remember all the way back to the title of this post) is it that I owe Christopher Paolini a coke (in the fine tradition of Smithers and Mr. Burns)? The reason is this ... hailed for various reasons as the fantasy world and book "of the year 2011" by various dedicated and nerdy sources:

A Dance with Dragons ... the long-awaited fifth book in a series that even the non-fantasy nerdy amongst you have probably heard of by now, thanks to HBO:

... Oh, Game of Thrones. (Richard shakes his head while dealing with his decidedly mixed feelings).

Being a big nerd, I had heard news of this series for about a year and a half before it actually premiered last April - yes, the buzz has been brewing for a long time. Yes, we watched the show. Yes, I mostly enjoyed the show. But also yes, as I hear accolade upon accolade heaped upon the literary series, I must object.

prepare yourself, for my verbal winter is coming, dear Ned

There are not too many tv or movie adaptations that I think are superior to their novel originals, but they do exist. And when I find this to be so, it is usually for the same reasons: in being adapted for the large or small screens, the tales in question are more likely to be a little more 'watered down' and palatable than their dark and nasty originators. Game of Thrones; Trainspotting; American Psycho; off the top of my head, these are the adaptations that I feel are far better and more enjoyable than their literary progenitors. And no, it's not as if any of them are particularly soft and cuddly in their 'moving picture' versions, but have you read the original books?! Eeek.

So right - a lot of the positive press the Game of Thrones series is getting is due to the HBO show. No, the show would not exist without the books. But allow me to explain what happened in my brain as I followed the buzz about the HBO program, leading up to it's premier last April:

(Inside Richard's brain): "The series is based upon the best selling series of novels by George R. R. Martin ... really? 'R. R. Martin?' That's seriously unsubtle. But the books sound familiar ... and a 'best selling fantasy series'? I can't remember reading them, but there's no way that I haven't. No 'best selling fantasy series' gets past me.

(Later on, Richard and Jennie watch the first few episodes): "Oh yeah! I remember this story now. Dark, gritty, plays on the usual genre conventions and expectations to surprise us - seems like good stuff! But now that I can recall: I read the first book, but quit partway through the second novel, and that was that. Why did I do that?"

And so this past summer, as A Dance with Dragons came out in print and on the heels of the wildly successful first series of the tv show, I decided to read all of the books, back to back, in a row. Why was it that I had stopped reading them all those many years ago? Kids can make some silly choices sometimes.

Thus I read. And read. And as a result, I now have only one question left on my mind - and it isn't why I stopped reading these novels partway through the second book more than a decade go. Instead, my question is: for how many thousands of not-so-greatly written pages would you like to read about people doing truly horrible things to other people, in between long periods of expository world building? Two thousand pages? Four thousand? Five? If you want to make it to the end of A Dance with Dragons ... well, you've got a few more thousand to go on top of that. And three more novels to come, theoretically, before this story wraps up to its exciting (?) conclusion.

Also? Playing off genre conventions and expectations to surprise your audience with gritty twists and the killing off of main characters is only fresh for the first thousand pages ... by the end of the second thousand, it becomes clear that you've simply established your own pattern and set of conventions from which you aren't going to deviate ... in fact, in keeping with another issue I have with sequels, thanks to your new pattern, your grit is simply going to get grittier, your dark will become darker still, and eventually all of it will become gratuitous to the point of being purely a kind of horrible expositive world building that no longer remotely serves to advance the story as (at least?) it initially did (more on this phenomenon in a subsequent blog post).

Yes, I know, you must build tension and anxiety before you bring resolution ... things are going to get worse before they get better (at least following usual plot conventions) ... but it's become clear that Martin has just locked on to things getting worse, and worse, and worse, and quite frankly by the time I finally finished the fifth book (it began requiring effort to read on after book three) I realized that the series was so bloated with worse (and characters, and subplots, and subcharacters) that I simply did not care any more. I can't see myself reading any more of the books - if I want to see what new and surprising (read irony here) gritty twists and deaths occur, I'll hit the ol' wiki page and read the summary write up. Because it's just too much - and I just don't care, and can't be arsed to read about such miserableness. It's certainly not as if Martin is at all a better writer than Paolini.

Eragon, while by no means delivering the complex (and deeply convoluted, though kind of involving at first) plot structure of Thrones is thoughtful, and reflects on its action (and violence) with a kind and humane perspective sadly lacking from the writing of Martin. The overarching plot and plan of Eragon might clearly be adolescent in its conception, but at least the the story is contemplative, and actually asks interesting moral questions, and is kind of sweet.

Conversely, I just don't buy the idea of equating Martin's 'gritty' tale with some sort of desirable 'realism' that some readers do ... I'm reading about magic, and dragons, and people with unintentionally embarrassing names. Realism is waking up, eating my yoghurt, teaching my classes, talking and laughing with my students. Realism is not necessarily dark, pessimistic, misogynist, and grim. Don't use the excuse that such things are any more 'realistic' than compassion or happy endings (or happy anything, of which Thrones has none), nor can these devices be at all novel in their ability to surprise Martin's readers any more.

A Game of Thrones is just too much of everything that it is, none of which is nice, or compassionate, or sweet. Sound trite? Hey, forgive me for wanting anything remotely not dark and horrible to happen through tome after tome after tome of writing. Speaking of which, Thrones is also likely going to stretch on a book longer than expected ... and while Inheritance followed Brisingr in a reasonably timely manner, the monster manuscript that needed to be split into the already-too-long-by-themselves A Feast For Crows and A Dance with Dragons took far, far longer to come out ... and for far more annoying, expositive world building passages than anything Paolini got hung up on ... and there's still three more books still to bloat. There are literally several hundred pages in the aforementioned fourth Thrones novel, A Feast for Crows, that could be summarized with this sentence: "She searched fruitlessly for weeks." And the plot would have suffered absolutely nothing for it.

Christopher Paolini, the thoughtful conclusion to your saga came out and I hadn't heard a peep about it from any of my sci fi/fantasy sources ... and yes, I regularly check a lot of sci fi and fantasy sources. Meanwhile, A Game of Thrones became ever longer, slower, bloated, and bogged down in nastiness and all it gets is tons of press ... and reviews that praise its "unmatched scope as a political treatise" in the same vein by which rich crazy people get called "eccentric" instead of just plain old crazy.

I owe you a coke. Grit and grim are overrated. Your story ultimately far more enjoyable to read. And when I share a coke with you, I won't even wax poetic about the history of the plant it was bottled in, or the lineage of the line workers who toil there, or anything like that.

Tomorrow I'll see for how many expositive, world-building paragraphs I can talk about my issues with plot development in sequels ... focusing on Eragon, Game of Thrones, and the YA series The Maze Runner which I am working through right now. And yes, here again Eragon comes out ahead. Perhaps two cokes then.

back on the trail

2012-01-06T17:58:00.002+01:00

the sun at its zenith ... barely peaking (peeking?) through the trees at Hemlingby

I'm not sure why I have a bit of a mental stutter when it comes to getting back into running after some time off. There's just something about being in routine; when I'm running five or six days a week, I can't wait to get back out again. When I've been off, for whatever reason, that first run back is always a bit of a push.

Of course, weather like this makes it less of a push. A touch chillier than it has been - and it will hit double digit negatives for the first time on Sunday - but it was pretty much as perfect as weather could get for this latitude of Sweden today.

I think I have my winter layering worked out a little better ... essentially this means I am colder for longer to start things off, and I still finish the run with my jacket dampened from the inside out, but hey, I am approaching a happy medium.

how sweet is that?!

One of the things I did during my two days off between ski trip and running again today was to calculate exactly how many kilometers I had on each of my pairs of running shoes ... the result: I kicked off the new year in running with my new pair of Wildcats. I ended up running a lot more than I had thought I might post-Sörmland this autumn, so it was time to change it up. Fresh shoes feel so nice ... 21km today, and my feet feel great (though legs are going to need a stretching out tonight).

Now I just need to repeat that on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and so on ... Jennie and I didn't really do any new year's resolutions, seeing as how we are setting and re-setting goals as part of our routines naturally, but even within that cycle I have a particularly ambitious Easter holiday penciled in at the moment. If things go according to plan, we will spend Easter weekend proper doing some backcountry skiing back in Jämtland, and then about three days later I'm still wanting to do the 80km of the Täby Extreme Challenge. As I realized that TEC can earn me the 'running CV points' I need to get into some of the more popular ultras here in Europe ... maybe the shortest (94km) of the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc week of races in Cham? Hmmm.

Connecting fresh shoes with Cham and running, Jennie discovered these babies whilst we were cavorting about town. She was looking for some trail shoes for the Åre Extreme Challenge multisport race she's aiming for in June, and she was quite excited about how they felt.

my model; Jennie's are a nice shade of blue

I, of course, need little encouragement to at least try on new shoes, so the next day I came back with a pair of running socks and tried them on for myself: Lafuma Moon Racers. They are not minimalist. They are not light. They have a gimmicky lacing system that I think might actually work ... and, dare I hope, around the haus and up and down stairs they feel remarkably similar to the Montrail Odysseys I loved so dearly.

Will they fit the bill? Well, now that I know my feet are still in running shape, it's time to try them out tomorrow, and see how they do. Seeing as how my list of running events for the year are all between 56 and 80km, a little extra beef is probably (definitely) the right side to err on. Sneer all you like, minimalist shoe evangelists ... I'd rather keep my 'artificial' cushion and 10mm toe drop and stay injury free.

New shoes to try tomorrow! Yeah! Plus hopefully I'll get to posting a little bit about what I've been reading over the holidays, as a change of pace to our posting genres of late.

Just another great ski vacation

2012-01-04T19:01:00.000+01:00

First, let me wish everyone a happy 2012. Here's wishing you another year of fun and adventures ... however status quo such a life may have become for you.

Yes, a new year and yet my tongue (Richard) remains firmly in my cheek. You see, when we got back from Chamonix on Monday night I was eager and anxious to get a blog post up about our trip. I had thought that after her rededication to blogging the days of our advent calendar, Jennie would agree, and yet when I brought up the topic that evening she responded to my suggestion of immediately getting down to blogging about our trip with: "How are we going to write this up differently than last year's trip to Cham? We did the same things; we had a great time ..."

lunch on the slopes - first, perfect, day

... and yeah, I guess she has a point. We went to UCPA in Chamonix - again. We met some interesting and fun people - again. And the skiing was amazing (again) and we both very happy with how we skiied - again.

Sigh. How horribly, horribly repetitive and predictable we've become!

So I decided to approach this post, about our trip, from the perspective of the merest taste of my observations regarding real-life human behaviour resulting from varying degrees of dissatisfaction upon being placed into performance-based cohorts ... in other words, I speak of the "how good a skier are you" Sorting Hat process that accompanies off-piste skiing at UCPA.


the original Sorting Hat - as worn by some dorky-looking kid

Yes, the sorting process. It makes perfect sense; at UCPA there are usually two or more off-piste skiing groups: confirmed (aka, intermediate), advanced/expert, and then further extensions like beginners or the more extreme chutes and couloir-specific group (who, for my own mma-themed amusement, I call the "Chute Boxers").

the view from the advanced group, about to drop into Vallorcine, Switzerland

Of course, just because you might think you're an expert skier doesn't necessarily mean that you are (last week I had several discussions regarding the topic of being a "British-good" skier vs. a "Good-good" skier, for instance), which is why the morning of day one is all about a sorting process. The instructors find some interesting pitches and conditions, evaluate skiers as they come down one at a time, and divide you up into the groups.

As you can imagine, sometimes people are not pleased with the results.

Jennie - if she's free to roam the slopes, she's pleased with the results

It was my friend Vokey who said to me once, as we were talking about the way people behave: "Really, do most people act all that differently than they did when they were sixteen?" It is times like the UCPA skiing Sorting Hat that I think he is the most correct.

In the interest of trying not to behave entirely like a sixteen-year-old, as I have only one week left before I am (for the most part happily) plunged back into that world, let me focus on my own feeling and reactions, even though they might not be as salacious as observations I have made regarding others through the two sessions that I have now had a chance to watch other people react.

This year when I was (initially) sorted into the intermediate group - Jennie, as you no doubt guessed, went straight to the front of the line of the advanced skiers - I was (and am) comfortable and confident enough with myself as a person that yes, my feeling was mostly one of relief. Mostly. My skiing has improved a lot over the past year, I have a better grasp of the fundamentals and what I need to do to improve, and I was generally excited to know that I would be able to focus more on my skiing in the intermediate group. This as opposed to the possibility of being pushed to keep up and be on the edge of my comfort level has I ended up in the advanced group.

I thougth of it in terms of running training; last year was a big build year for me. Everything was huge, and steep, and the snow conditions were a whole different ballgame (or bunch of ballgames) than the corduroy groom of on-piste. Yes, I loved it - off-piste is the mountain biking of skiing. But I still had (and have) a lot of improving to do before I reach the upper echelon of all things ski.

So it was going to be nice to have another 'cycle' at that level before moving up another building step. Mostly. At the end of the sorting process, when the instructors pointed out that I was in a different group from Jennie, and publically asked if we want to be together, I was a little embarassed, but I knew I was making the right call for me at that point when I shook my head and said that I was content to stay in my intermediate group ... and that Jennie should stay with the advanced skiers. Sometimes marriage doesn't have to be about individual compromise - and yes, it can even work out better for your collective happiness in the greater scheme of things.

everybody pitching in when our bus got stuck in the freshie

I came home comfortable and happy; Jennie came home fulfilled and happy. We could be happy together.

Jennie after a long day tearing it up in the pow

I was pretty darn excited when my instructor - as it fortunately turned out, both Jennie and I had the same awesome guys we had last year - suggested that it would be all right for me to join Jennie's group and give it a try. Yes, it would be nice to ski with Jennie and have the chance to watch my lady do her thing. Also yes, it felt good to know that an instructor that I knew and trusted observed that I was improving. I was similarly delighted at the end of the week assessments to hear that I could probably ski with the advanced group next time ... and I shall preserve Jennie's modesty by telling you on her behalf that she all she heard at the end of the week from her guide, again, is what a top-notch skier she is. Having spent a day watching her in the context of the most challenging group at UCPA - off-piste advanced - I can assure you that even relatively speaking, she is an awesome skier.

floating lanterns at new years!

The half-day I ended up spending with Jennie's group was pretty ideal for me; it was deep and light powder, which besides being my favourite conditions also plays nicely to being a big and strong person whose skiing weakness are finesse and incremental changes to body position and timing ... deep slow powder can cover a multitude of technique-related ills, I openly confess. I had great fun, and I did very well within the group all morning.

In the afternoon I was a little tired and distracted and, after struggling to clear the snow from one of my boots and snap into my ski, found that the advanced group had only started away but had in fact vanished from my view completely; I had lost focus, and I had been dropped. It was my own fault ... and it was why I was a-okay to call up Jennie and let her know that the group should continue on without me, and that I would ski back with my intermediate group the following day (which also happened to be the last day).

above the cloud cover over the valley

Everybody wants to be in the advanced group of ... well, probably everything that people do. And that's good; ambition and goals are good. But patience and critical self-reflection are also good. So are recognizing that improvement might be required to meet your goals. So is realizing that there are a lot of factors that go into being in the advanced group, like how much certain terrain fatigues you, or how quickly you can get yourself strapped in and going, and that the people who ski and guide for a living probably have a better grasp of who is at which level than most of us might individually have.

sandwich face

sun trying to beat the bruillard at Grand Montet

We both had a great time. Jennie skiied brilliantly, and I did very well. Plus we met a bunch of cool folks which always makes for a good time. We are headed back at the end of February to Argentiere and there, a new UCPA base with a couple different off-piste options for us both to try our hands at. I will have the chance to move up a group. I feel ready for the challenge of moving up another group. But if I don't, I hope I have the humility to recognize that the misjudgments in the situation are probably mine own - as is the agency to improve my lot - and not a fault of the guides.

moon and the Aiguille de Midi ... apres midi

Happy trails in 2012, everybody! We are both rocking pretty ambitious sports schedules this year, and I'm looking forward to sharing those predictable, repetitive adventures with my lady. And this blog. So until next time, then.

tjugofyra!

2011-12-24T22:36:00.001+01:00

Well, we made it ... twenty-four (tjugofyra) days and twenty-four blog posts!

Ok, ok, some were slightly lack luster, but we managed to break a very long dry spell with our longest ever continual run of blogging!

And behind door number twenty-four ...

While we have opened the door to some pretty sweet little Body Shop items, in the end, we most enjoyed the blogging and sharing little pieces of our daily living with you. So thanks for reading along and letting us know you were out there.

Today we celebrated Christmas, including some very exciting little bits around the 'tree'. We promise to send more info later, but for now, we need to throw the last few items into our suitcases and ready ourselves for an early morning departure to snowy Chamonix! Yes, that's right -- it is SNOWY in Cham: more snow to date this year than in the entire previous season (live webcams here). I couldn't have asked for anything better.

Merry Christmas and our love and very best wishes for a safe and happy holiday to you, friends.

Catch you in 2012. j+r

Wait! I have to make good on two little promises:

For those of you who knew about the little secret I had up my sleeve for my dear love ... here is his smiling mug:

And Eva, here is what your sonny looks like, in his fancy new ski pants (and assorted hi tech jackets):

tjugotre -- traditions

2011-12-23T23:11:00.001+01:00

We have learned a lot of new traditions over the last year and a half. But we have not forgotten the ones we grew up on either.

Today was my last day of work. And after work I decided I needed to do one last bit of baking - a tradition from my history: a loaf we would often have Christmas morning to go alongside clementines and classical music and time round the Christmas tree with my family before setting out for a snowy walk.

So I thought of you, my Nicholls family, as I rose the dough and rolled it out and the smell filled the house. Not sure it turned out quite as sweet as mum's (we might have sneaked a little taste tonight), but it was certainly a sufficiently good replica for me!

Mum's Christmas morning loaf

Another tradition I grew up with was the annual Christmas ornament. Even better - the 'annual ornament book' mum kept for us over the first ten or so years of Duncan's and my lives. These little red and green construction paper bound books have stories from our first ten years, and an explanation of why each ornament was selected. The books are stored with the ornaments and a card containing tinsel for the tree - the same tinsel mum and dad have been using for 44 years - in old cardboard boxes in the basement. I have missed flipping through those books these last few years, but it is fun to think back on all the ornaments mum has picked out for us. I also must confess I prefer a real tree to the artificial kind, but I am remarkably content with our strange Christmas tree substitutions and single box of assorted red ornaments this year!

Somewhere in the middle of this advent calendar blogging extravaganza we asked for you to share some Christmas memories with us. Since it seems we have strong food and ornament kind, it seemed fitting to ask you for the food and the ornament kind of memories - and it was great to read your notes! Thanks. In the same way some of you have commented that you feel closer to us for hearing about the events of the last month, so have we been transported closer to you.

So, here's what you had to say was best on the tree:
- The lights

- Röda glaskulor (red glass balls)

- I love them all! We try and buy at least one special one per year. Lastyear's - a Christmas pickle!

- The favourite this year may be the tiny Mora horse, reminding us of afun weekend with you in 2010.

- Handmade ones that Graham's mom makes. They hold candy!

- My first ornament, which is one of those engraved 'baby's firstchristmas' ornaments.

- Hand made glass icicles, other glass icicles and real tinsel
- Not the favourite,but the most memorable is the one that has a horrible picture of me in grade 6on it, that my family insists on placing front and center on our tree (highenough that i can't reach it, but is still very visible)

I love the range of things that adorn your trees, friends! I also appreciate that there were lots of good stories to go with your choices. Nice to know I am not the only sentimental one out there ;)

This resonated through many of the favourite food choices too -- guess mummies the world over are good at imprinting their culinary talents on their offsprings' tummies!

- my mom's panneforte

- Vin d'orange

- Julskinka och lutfisk (Christmas ham and rehydrated salted fish in awhite sauce)

- My mom's candied almonds. My dad's homemade eggnog is a close second. Ialso quite enjoy almond snowball cookies

- Almond paste icing,on anything, or just on a spoon

- Christmas cake

- mandarin oranges

- Baked brie and other fun party finger food

- Pretty much anything homemade and chocolate

I had to think a long time before I could come up with my answers to the questions. in the end, I decided that I most liked the blue lights on the tree. I am open to white lights, or even a mix of the two (when push comes to shove), but I love the shadows from pine needles in front of tiny bulbs, and I love the hue of the blue lights illuminating a room. As a Swedish alternative, I love the lights in the windows - especially the advent specific ones - and how they light up the streets through the dark winter days and nights.

adventsljusstakar

As for my favourite thing to eat ... I finally decided that mum's Christmas cake was my real 'must-have' item. Not only do we eat this at Christmas, but we also had it for our wedding cake, as did my parents. A big thanks to my parents who baked Christmas cake in July so we could bring one back with us this summer!

I am also really fond of Christmas ham. And I especially love Swedish Christmas ham! I tried my hand at it last year, and it was the best ham either of us had ever eaten (thanks to the fine cooking lesson I had from Camilla, who was out cross country skiing when I rang her slightly perplexed over what to do with the massive thing). Yesterday Richard did the first stage (a long simmer) and then we finished it together. Yet again, we ended up with one yummy ham.

Since we are heading to France in the wee hours of the 25th, we bumped our Christmas dinner to last night so we could enjoy the left overs today and tomorrow. Works for us! We had some definite blending of traditions for the dinner, pairing the Swedish julskinka (Christmas ham) with squash (much more a Canadian item - not too many veggies to the julbord here), several other veggies (again, a Canadian thing, all those veggies), fresh bread, and then an Israeli couscous warm salad with squashes and lemons (definitely not a traditional item for any Christmas celebrating country, I'd hazard a guess). All the same, a delicious plate to celebrate with!

Well, this is becoming quite a tome. Guess that is what happens after hardly being able to speak for a week!

So, now on with the second to last door from the advent calendar (yes, Tim - that is what all the crazy product shots are from!).

Here is Richard getting ready to open today's door ... (and complaining about how light the calendar has become!)

And here is Richard modeling the miraculous effects of the 'Deep Sleep' mist spray. Wouldn't that be great if it delivered as much!!

One more door tomorrow, and one more blog entry. We will be celebrating Christmas on the 24th as per Swedish tradition (that means gift opening tomorrow morning!) and are looking forward to talking with many of you tomorrow round your respective Christmas trees tomorrow (three cheers for wifi and portable electronic devices and Skype!).We will keep logged into Skype for most of the day, so feel free to give us a shout if you want to chat or show off your tree :)

tjugotvå

2011-12-22T23:53:00.000+01:00

Puree. What the heck is body puree? I don't know. We'll just plop in on somewhere.

We've (okej, I've) had a pretty relaxing day around here. We made julskinka (Christmas Ham - but I don't even know how I'd begin to transcribe the pronunciation of skinka into English characters) and spent a nice evening chatting with Tim, a friend/colleague of Jennie's from the Netherlands.

As such, we have neglected a proper post for the jour .

So enjoy a few pictures of what we ate last week at Högbobruk's julbord. It was all delicious. And then we'll chat again tomorrow.

... now wash it down, and sleep well. Of course, on a stomach that full? Not bloody likely.

We are sadly on track to hit 6 degrees here tomorrow afternoon, and it will be above freezing to some degree the whole day... get ready for some slush. Here's hoping the lovely white layer holds on through this thaw

tjugoett and lynxes

2011-12-21T20:57:00.002+01:00

How excited was I to see these tracks today. Yes, the lack of question mark is because this is a rhetorical question. I was very excited. Among my various nerderies is a great love of wildlife, and yes, I especially know cat tracks when I see them. These belong to a Swedish lodjur, or lokatt, if you prefer:


picture stolen from the vast ether of the internet

Yes, a lynx.

Lynxes are not common critters here, and so the idea that there is at least one prowling my local trails is incredibly cool to me. Some estimations say there are only about 1500 lynxes in all of Sweden. I recognize that my chances of ever seeing a lynx itself, and not just its prints, is really really slim ... I don't think anything sneaks up on a lynx, least of all me. But still - so cool, and you never know. It almost makes me want to run the 10km loop again this week, even though the trail is pretty snowed over and it kind of kicked my butt today.

Seeing the lynx tracks on the 10km spår also and almost makes up for the fact that I subsequently and inexplicably decided not to take the camera with me when I set out on the 6km track, thus missing prime photo opportunities involving both deers and my friendly, neighbourhood, always-seems-to-be-hunting-on-the-six-km-track owl. In retrospect, I will never assume that "well, I've clearly filled my cool photo quota for the day" is a wise perspective to take. Ah well. Hopefully everybody will be out again soon. Back to some pics.

There were a lot of trees doubled over by the snow - and there had been one other person (and their dog) through on the trail since it had snowed last Friday for the first part of the 10km track. It was beautiful.

In the forest and under the canopy, in some places there was no snow at all ... then I'd come into a clearing, and double wow. One wow for the loveliness, and another for the deep drifts that I would be slugging through. Good fun ... for a few kms, at least!

I hit the halfway point feeling pretty good. Even with the deeper wading sections of snow and stopping for pictures, I was only about five or six minutes behind my usual pace.


awesome watch from Jennie; awesome gloves also from Jennie; awesome jacket from Jennie ... "Awesome by Jennie" ... and hint of banana by my hungry self

Considering I'd been feeling sick at the end of last week, I probably should not have banked on feeling as great on the back five kms as I had on the way out, but hey, I've developed some confidence in my conditioning. And with the exception of say, today, usually that confidence has been well-placed.

the skinnies across the swamp, just past the 5km point

Underneath the snow, things were really pretty wet. There was definitely some melting going on before it dropped down to the -1 or -2C we are sitting at currently ... and there was enough water sitting around that it hadn't succumbed to freezing yet. Even taking the skinny bridges, my feet were soaked and squelchy for the rest of my run.

It was about a kilometer after the bridges - at the point where the trail is furthest from Hemlingby and civilization - that I saw the lynx tracks, in amongst deer tracks, small dog tracks, some rodent tracks ... which as all of those animals = lynx food, it does make sense that one of the pretty kitties would also be in the vicinity.

again, thank you Google 'bilder'

It was also about this time that I realized being sick for a week, being a wee bit tired at the end of term, and running through some reasonably challenging conditions with soaking feet was beginning to catch up with me. I grew zonked.

Still, by the time you hit the 7km point it isn't too bad all the way back in ... especially when you can't help but hope that there might be a lynx around every corner ... and you realize for the billionth time how incredibly lucky you are to have a place like this just a few km from your haus. Jennie looked at the picture of this stream and asked me where it was today; she has passed it on the trail dozens of times, but as it is right at the bottom of a tricky hill descent that shoots you right into a rugged rocky section, your attention can turn from one of those to the other without pausing to look at the stream in between. It is a nice stream, though.

All in all, I had a really good day.

And after stretching and some food I feel good, so I'll definitely be back out there again tomorrow. Nice. I've been experimenting with the number and weight of layers that I run in, and while I'm pleased with some changes I've made on the bottom half, I've been drenching myself on the upper half too often ... there's just such a balance between starting cold enough, and starting so cold that you just go from cold, to cold and slight wet, to really freezing. Today I just went waaay over into soaking and freezing territory, so I need to work on that. I'll try lighter top clothes morgon.

Oh yes, before we go: miracle oil behind door nummer tjugoett:

I have no idea what this miracle oil is supposed to do. Guess I'll start lathering and find out.

tjugo

2011-12-20T20:21:00.003+01:00

So, we've hit the twenty digits, as it were. In bad Swenglish you would say it "shoe-go", or sometimes "shoe-gi", especially if it is twenty-one through twenty-nine. Said properly it is another sound/shape that doesn't exist in English, but it's still an easier action than trying to say seven. Seven is a killer.

Today's gift is peppermint foot rub. It isn't exactly a product that either of us are jumping at, but hey, now that we've got it, we'll put it to good use. As Jennie expressed to me this evening, really the best part of the calendar has been that we're writing again ... but that was before she used the new bodywashes this evening. Yes, she tried both kinds.

Sadly, Jennie's voice is still fluctuating between a whisper and sounding like this guy:

"WHERE have they hidden the lime and coconut body wash?!"

Very soon now she needs to be healthy for Chamonix, so it will be another early night for her here. Our Saturday morning departure is coming up quickly!

And speaking of holidays, as of this afternoon I was officially done school until January 9th. Nice.

'tis the season for teacher gifts. A nice live flower collection, and some schnazzy cholkads! Quality over quantity, baby!

It feels good to have a term in the new position under the utility belt, as it were. I am quite happy with how things have gone, and generally feel that the 'success rate' with my ideas/activities has been at the percentage I could have optimistically-yet-realistically hoped for. Sure, I still have (already have?) something of a laundry list for my "wishes for next year", as the category was called at my review meeting last week, but I'm pleased. Certainly it is nice to be through the "I can actually do this" feelings and first times. Because this has been such a big part of what I have been up to, at Jennie's suggestion I will do another post about some of the stuff I've been doing with teaching. In the spirit of being "in for a pound", I've decided on a slightly more in-depth write up on what teaching is like over here, the differences from Canada, and what kinds of things I've been up to than I feel like whipping off tonight. So that will wait for another day.

For now, let's just share a little more of what's really important at this time of year: gifts and presents. Heh.

Just in time to go into storage for some months - we are finally holding below-freezing temperatures with snow on the ground, and besides, 'tis Icebug weather - I can stash away a couple new pairs of runners. On the left are Montrail Fairhavens, which are billed as a hybrid road/trail shoe, and as that's pretty much what most long runs tend to be around here they are my go-to shoe. Their size 10.5 converts to "44 and change" in Euro sizing (which is what I usually trust for fit), yet I find they are a snug fit on my usually size 44 (and no change) feets, especially once you've been on the move for four hours or more. They have a nice level of cushion, and do more than okej on the technical stuff - pretty ideal shoe for me. On the right are some La Sportiva Wildcats, which are much more of a rugged shoe - less cush, stiffer ... a lot like my beloved, yet departed and discontinued Montrail Odysseys. When I know that a run is going to be mostly tough technical terrain, or say in snow, when I appreciate a little extra stiffness from a shoe, they are awesome. Thus the Wildcats will probably see action before the Fairhavens, but from the course description of the TEC I still think the Fairhavens will be the way to go when the time comes. I enjoy debating these issues with myself ... often for hours on the trail. Good times!

Of course, Christmas is also about family and friends ... and sadly, the time has come to retire a friend. Rob, it's time to call it a day.

The Rob I am speaking of, naturally, is my laptop Rob. Laptop Rob was generously bartered to me when we moved to Sweden by actual Rob, our excellent friend who was featured in a photo series last week by Jennie.

Laptop Rob has been my primary home and work computer for almost two years now, and he has served me well. When I was taking him to school on a daily basis last year, some of my kids asked why my laptop said "Rob" on the bottom of it (actual Rob is a very thorough and responsible individual, and had labelled everything), to which I replied that Rob was the name of my computer. Replete with interesting stickers - some of which I am quite glad the kids don't recognize or understand - Laptop Rob has been popular with students and muchos beloved by me ... but sadly, Rob's time is coming to an end.

some Rob on Rob action!

He wasn't a spring chicken when our time together began (the kids adored my "vintage" laptop), and not for the first time tonight, when Jennie croaked about "that noise" and wondering where on earth it could be coming from, the answer was Rob. He has become loud. He lags through movie trailers on me. Last week his sound capabilities spontaneously died for several days, and then came back as randomly as they had disappeared. Virus checks have all come back negative, and while I've cleared out this and defragged that, slowly but surely Laptop Rob is telling me it is time.

As it turns out, I had begun planning for this eventuality a little while ago now, and it seems that the timing of my scheme has worked out perfectly. I will say no more of it until Christmas, but here is a wee teaser photo of 'the plan':

Heh heh heh.

All right - as the slightly less tired and sick party in our apartment right now, I am off to do some dishes and then get ready for some sleeping. Jennie is already there.

I have a busy day of sleeping and running and then lots of wonderful nothing planned for tomorrow, so it might be a good day for the teaching run down. We'll see. In any case, you know we'll be back again so long as the calendar lasts.

Later, gators!

nitton

2011-12-19T20:53:00.000+01:00

I may have to battle the Jennie for this one. Girly? Maybe. But it looks and smells delicious.

There have been a few fruity jokes leveled at me over the years, and to the parties who don't mean it in good fun, I say to you that I do not care. I still remember getting back from a six day canoe trip and getting to use the vaunted "Senior Staff" showers (individual stalls - and rooms! Not just a dozen hoses draped over the walls!) for some reason or another. The counsellors who had led the girl's trip which was out simultaneously were also there, and one of those fine ladies lent me her Body Shop shower stuff because ... well, I don't really remember why.

But I do remember thinking that it smelled and felt incredible. To that point, Irish Spring has been the lap of bath product luxury for me. And it wasn't bad. But it couldn't hold a candle to the fruity stuff.

In other news, as I was preparing ye (me?) old army bike for winter commuting purposes, I was reminded of a simple fact: Nokian (summer) tire, made in Finland, carbon offset, etc - mounts and unmounts awesomely. Lousy Golden Boy tire, made who knows where? Difficult, pain the rump to unmount. Plus, Nokian tubes (despite costing twice the price of the cheap crap) hold air waaay better, and just generally kick arse. So worth the price. Don't buy crap. It just isn't worth it, on so many levels.

I also finally got my "iRunFar" bumper sticker mounted up; a wee bit o' cutting and pasting (you know, the actual kind - not the computer kind) and I found a way to display it nicely on top of my pump and storage box, and still keep everything functional. All that remains now is to, you know, keep working on the whole running far thing!

Check it out, and happy nineteen to you. As is usual for her, Jennie's head cold has dropped into her chest, and taken her voice along with it just for fun. I had hoped to run today, but was waaay too tired to give it a serious go. Napping was good instead. Let's hope tomorrow I feel up for a lap or two around the Hemlingby; it should be interesting footing as the snow continues to melt down.

Toodles!

arton

2011-12-18T18:25:00.001+01:00

This is where things get complicated; eighteen is arton. But eight is åtta. It's tricksy.

I (Richard) failed my Swedish speaking exam on Thursday. This was not even remotely unexpected, but I am still not happy about it. I did okay on the reading, and I did well on the listening ... but the writing and the speaking components were inte so bra. Not so good.

There are plenty of reasons why this happened, but at some point, it's not about the reasons. I made lots of other stuff happen this term; I have been really pleased with my training, I have been really pleased with how being department head has gone. But I just couldn't make the Swedish (and the Swedish classes) happen on the level that I wanted to ... I just ran out of time and space for something, and this was it.

I have until mid-January to figure out how to remedy that situation, because I really do want to get better with the language. I want to make my Swedish happen. Ah well. For now I just need to finish up getting better health-wise, and then there's one and a half days left at school, and then it's break time. Fruit salad helps with everything:

... delicious.

It isn't particularly late here, and yes, I have taken advantage of feeling sub-par by doing a whole lot of movie watching over the past three days, but it is time to get a couple things done before we head to bed early over here. The observant reader might have noticed a certain beloved old army bike inverted between the artton ... yes, a little bike work is required tonight. For the first time in a long, long, long time, it didn't rain when the weather reports had called for it:

... it actually snowed. Now, it is still 2C outside, so who knows what this is going to look like tomorrow, but no matter what it's finally time to get the snow tires on my bike. Jennie's been hooked up for a few weeks now (a conveniently-timed flat made that an easy decision). Last year I could only find one snow tire to fit my bike; this year I visited the shop across town, and he had no fewer than six Nokians in my size sitting around and ready to go. Yes, six tires for a 70's wheel diameter that I don't think anyone uses any more ... but when you have dozens of 70's era bikes still all over town, it makes sense.

Snowy trails to you! Last day of classes tomorrow for me. To give you an idea of what it's like teaching here, I am going to disappoint my one class of year nines (that would be grade ten to you North Americans) because I don't have my "terrible author names" ceremony ready to go with the unusual writing competition I am going to hold with them first thing back in the new year; terrible author names to go with their terrible first sentences. They are so keen. They are great kids, and I love teaching them.

Okej. To my Nokians. Jennie croaks her hellos also. Snowy trails to yous!

sjutton

2011-12-17T19:02:00.001+01:00

Yes, that is seventeen in Svenska: the nearest (but still butchered) anglocized pronunciation would be "shoe-tawn", although neither sound is made in a way that your mouth would operate whilst speaking English. Ah well. Gift of the day:

Thai lemongrass massage oil; handy for romantic evenings, and chicken dishes with glass noodles. Excellent.

As you can see, around here it really is beginning to look a lot like ... nothing even remotely close to Christmas.

Snow was falling fast and furious for a brief time yesterday, but it was still between two and four degrees C for the last twenty-four hours, so none remains. This matching the none showing on the forecast for the next week. None snow. Richard does not mind so much; this kind of 'winter' weather is novel to him. Jennie on the other hand misses her white stuff.

Sadly, one thing we do have in common this weekend are some colds. Jennie never quite kicked that stomach thing she got last weekend, and Richard ... well, schools are germy at the best of times. It is the kind of weekend to do a quick town run to the favourite bakery for a few essentials:

... make up one's preferred hot beverage to enjoy with the finest kardemumsbulle in town (and beyond), and then settle in for some long winter's napping and movie watching. Last year several people asked Richard if he had bought some of the special Christmas coffee blend offered by one Swedish brand (but not our local one). The answer last year was no.

He made sure to grab some to try this year ... and after trying it, he went out and bought more. It really is fantastic coffee, and even from what little each of us can smell, it fills our apartment with a most splendid aroma. Three cheers for simple comforts, and here's hoping that another big sleep will leave the both of us feeling better.

sexton!

2011-12-16T20:04:00.000+01:00

With the addition of body lotion, we are all set for some traveling at Jullov!

After posting about goodbyes on day fourteen, I must have been thinking about some friendly faces (or at least friends' faces!) and remembered some portrait type pics I had taken over the last year.

I am still learning how to capture people on 'film', but it is something I like to work at every now and then. And, sometimes, if I am lucky, the essence of the person or situation seems to make it into the shot. Now the trick: how to make this happen more often. Good thing there are so many days in a year and in a lifetime for learning!

Of course, the other problem is that I need to keep carrying my camera with me -- and not always just a point and shoot number. Our friend Rob has been getting back in touch with his camera the last year and is good at reminding me that taking the camera with me is half the battle. I'm getting there, Rob! ;)

playing with a wide angle lense in Narvik, Norway - love the hand distortion

Juliette hates being photographed and was most patient with me this day.
I love her expression and the play of her dress and the wallpaper.

The above pics were taken with our Nikon D90 digital SLR, but our little Canon PowerShot SD1200 has also captured a few goodies.

Thanks for sharing your mugs with me, friends.

j

femton

2011-12-15T22:09:00.000+01:00

Today was the second julbord of the season - this time for our faculty Christmas outing to one of the best local fish restaurants, Furuviks Brygga.

Earlier this week I was instructed one should have three shots of snapps and seven courses to a proper Swedish julbord. I failed on both counts, but I think I still held my own sufficiently. And believe me, there is no more space left in this tummy right now. Even after the bike ride home.

Swedes have a really lovely tradition of mixing song with drinking and festive occasions, and thanks to a deck of 'snapsvisor' (drinking songs) and a new iPhone app, we managed to get a few out between mouthfuls! Definitely something I need to work on still :) Wonder why they aren't teaching us these important things at night school?!?

CBF julbord (l to r) Tim Bosch (visiting researcher from the Netherlands), Camilla, Eva, Thomas, David, me and Hasse.

And, last but not least, the perfect little treat to accompany the evening's festive dress up occasion:

fjorton -- goodbyes

2011-12-14T22:09:00.001+01:00

Flashback
In August, we said goodbye to Catherine, who moved back Canada to take a position at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon (a slightly different feel from her native Vancouver) after two years at CBF. Catherine has been greatly missed these last few months - and not only because of her excellent baking skills (and incredibly generous spirit in sharing said delicious baking)!

I spent copious amounts of time last winter working with Catherine on the flight loader project, as well as skiing as much as we could in preparation for HalvVassan - the 45 km ski race we both did. We also spent stacks of time training together, both at the gym (where she would regularly whip me at chin ups) and at Hemlingby, where we had an excellent Sunday morning running or skiing tradition, chasing each other up and down the hills. Catherine is one tough gal, but at the same time is one of the kindest people I have ever met.

We had a little picnic as a final farewell, complete with several rounds of kub (a quintessentially Swedish game involving wooden blocks, dowels and a King!) and several grainy photographs - sorry about that!

Still, I always like to picture Catherine in snowy weather - something not exactly familiar to her on a day-to-day basis from November to April, but something to which she adapted to beautifully, and dare I say, even grew to love.

Now back to today ...

Today was yet another round of goodbyes - this time to David and Becca, our delightful friends who arrived in August from Australia (via Italy) as a stopping point en route to their native British homeland (we'll see how long they can stay away from Sweden!)

Richard - having just learned that Becca and David were not staying in Gävle forever (or having just taken a bite of the spiciest food we have found in Sweden to date - so yummy that Östersund Thai restaurant!)

We knew from our first encounter these two would be good to have around - they arrived with bicycles in tow, after all! It was such a delight to share rides, workouts and many a fine meal with these two characters.


I think the short days were starting to take a toll on our fine friends!

Oh wait, this looks more like them! Note Becca's athletic stance as she prepares to be bowled over by hubby, following his slide down the icy hill - all that training has paid off!

Arriving at the time of year when the days shrink all too quickly, these two injected an energy and enthusiasm that brightened CBF every day. And while only around for a few months, it feels like we have known them for a far longer time.

All the same, after a whirlwind last few weeks for these two, including final stops in with their fave gym instructor (she's all mine now, kids!) ...

... today they packed themselves up into their rental car (several bags heavier than upon arrival) and headed for the airport. Here's hoping it all fits in the mini British rental they have reserved at the other end!

Sniff, sniff.

Goodbyes are never fun. Thank goodness that goodbyes are never for all that long with good friends!

The door is always open, Catherine, Becca and David, as it is to you, our friends on the other end of this post (especially if you come with home baked goods) :)

Speaking of doors (cheesy segue time) ... door # 14!

Both a travel sized candied ginger body wash, and the cutout in the form of a the same item explaining that 25,000 food packets will be handed out as a result of the proceeds from the sale of Body Shop advent calendars. Cool.

Public Service Announcement

2011-12-14T00:01:00.000+01:00

We interrupt your 24 days of advent reading with a quick reminder of our first ever Swedish-murmurings poll!

We've been sharing lots of our Christmas traditions and activities with you: won't you please share some back?!?

Here is the link to the original post. And, to make it even easier, here are the poll questions:

What is your favourite ...
1) Christmas treat? (anything eaten over the Christmas season)
2) Christmas tree decoration? (you can tell us why or where it came from or any other salient details)
3) Item from our advent calendar so far?

Drop us a comment by December 15th and we will tabulate (somehow) your fine answers and weave them into an upcoming post.

tretton -- Lucia

2011-12-13T23:36:00.003+01:00

Lucia day! We made it. As you might remember from last year December 13th is particularly important in Sweden. It is a day to celebrate light in the midst of darkness, and to do so in excellent Swedish fashion, encorporating song, baked treats and candles aplenty.

We'd be lying if we said it isn't dark here these days. There is little to no snow, and little daylight as well. Case in point: today sunrise was 8:52 and sunset 14:58. A few weeks ago I coined the term 'greylight' - as in, the greyish colour that comes at the brightest point of the day when it is too cloudy for the sun to poke through. We have had plenty of opportunities of late to use this new vocab.

At this point last year I felt like a wind up toy that had wound down. And the tradition of Lucia picked me up, filled me with an energy and warmth I desperately needed and helped me make it to Christmas. This year has, despite the lack of snow, been a lot easier. All the same, we have really been feeling the darkness the last week - not helped by a nasty bout of stomach unpleasantness that knocked me down hard over the weekend (think it was something I ate) - incidentally, my apologies for a rather un-inspired blog effort yesterday, but what can you expect from a girl who has been in bed for two days straight!

But I digress.

I have looked forward to Luciadag (Lucia day) since being completely captivated by it last year. And today did not disappoint.

I added a few new items to the docket of Lucia celebrations (I missed two days being in bed, after all). And so, today's post: snapshots from an extremely full Luciadag for this Canadian gal.

07:45 - Riding through downtown en route to meet Becca and David - the old City hall building is in the background

Someone lit the bike path with a lovely train of marschaller - large outdoor tealights

Downtown Gävle - pretty quiet this morning!

07:50 - Stop Number One

Épi bakery - glögg and lussekatter (the saffron flavoured bun for the day)
with Becca and David at our gorgeous sourdough bakery. The staff all dressed for the event.

Next up: the University Library


8:45 - Gävle's Luciatåg comes to Högskolan i Gävle (bad photo quality courtesy of your forgetful blogmaster who left behind her camera and was forced to rely on her iPhone)

Then there was a full day's work (un-photographed), before heading off to the big cathedral in town for Luciatåg round II. This time I had my camera in hand and tried to capture a bit of the magic of the train of singing girls in white ...

17:45 - Heliga Trefaldighets Kyrka - Gävles Luciatåg

Finally, as my stomach was still holding up and I was still on my feet, I tried to make good on a missed treat from the weekend and we headed to Högbo Bruk for a julboard extravaganza. This was not exactly how we had planned it, but our delightful plans to go with Camilla + Urban + kids along with Becca and David last Sunday kind of got canned in the midst of the stomach trauma. This was to be Richard's only Christmas buffet (julbord), and he stayed home to look after me. But tonight there was space and I was game, so off we went!

19:30 - Julbord extravaganza begins.

The julbord is really worth an entire post to itself, so I shall only give a few teasers.

smoked fishes - after the herring course

hand made sweets ...

10:30 - Home sweet home for advent calendar opening and blogging

intense conditioner - excellent!

And now, dear reader, it is time for bed!

Glad Lucia to all. And may you come into some light to help you through the final darkening days: soon, soon, the light will grow again!

tolv

2011-12-12T21:25:00.000+01:00

Today's photos are a flashback to late August/early September when I was working out of Uppsala for five weeks while taking a course.

Uppsala Castle

Uppsala is about 100 Km south of Gävle, and home to Uppsala University - arguably the oldest uni in Sweden (depending on how you count - the other contender is Lund University), and certainly one of the most prestigious. It is the university from which I will receive my doctorate.

the cathedral

The 'campus' is in spread throughout the town, and I really like what that does both for the feel of the city and of the uni.

Just another building with an arched tunnel

While I found the daily commute a bit tough given amount of time it took (about 4 hours all up), it was also a delight (especially on the bright and sunny days) to make the 25 - 30 minute walk from the station up to my building (or in reverse later in the day) - both while wandering through the streets ...

... and coming through the gardens.

And now ... door number twelve!

Richard's fave to date: pomegranate and raspberry room and linen spray. That's my fruity-aroma loving man ;)

Elva!

2011-12-11T19:56:00.001+01:00

Today's post is brought to you by the number 11, and the letter C:

... C, of course, stands for hand cream.

Why isn't this post being brought to you by the letter H, you ask? Don't be ridiculous. That wouldn't make a lick of sense. I don't even know why I bother writing for you people ... oh wait, I hardly ever do. Ha!

... Ha?

... see, that's funny (or not funny), because it's true. But sadly enough, today the Jennie has been felled by some sort of evil stomach bug, and it out of blogging (and Julbord-ing) commission. So you're stuck with me. Plus, I admire this whole every day kick she's started, and the response that many of you (or even just some of you) actually enjoy hearing about what we're doing on a regular basis, and feel closer to us for it, even if that stuff is repetitive and not the kind of thrilling things I usually reserve getting myself into action to write aboot. In any case, where was I?

Yes, right. In tragic fashion, after she had arranged a lovely Julbord (Swedish Christmas buffet) gathering with friends weeks ago, and had then also planned a variety of athletic pursuits in the three hours leading up to the feasting in order to enhance our appreciation of the meal, Jennie took ill. She did make it out to concert last night with Hasse and Elja and me, which was great fun - Veronica Maggio, Svenska pop artiste:

Veronica: typical, plain-looking Swedish person

... but this morning she was not up for much of anything, and especially not sampling a dozen different kinds of herring fishes. You know it must be pretty bad when Jennie's stomach goes off, because that thing is made of cast iron. She could eat a beehive and not break a sweat.

"Fredagsmys" a la Jennie

In fact, she was sick enough that I felt it was probably a good idea for me to stay reasonably close to home and make sure my lady was okay (it looks like she is). But this meant my plan of running the ~28km to Högbobruk and Julbord was also canned, which was unfortunate as I was excited about a point to point run for a change. It used to be that I could only get excited for long runs if they were big loops, or one long out and back; these days, I have grown used to loops upon loops. But really, I am used to the loops upon loops enough that I wasn't exactly put out by the change in the day's plans. Hemlingby is never a drag to run at, especially when the day looks like this!

For the record, these days the hours for enjoying daylight are between 9.00 and 14.30 ... or a little less, as those times are for sunrise and sunset. There ain't much of it - that there is the sun at it's zenith, just above the tress, circa 11.00 or so. So nice to see it!

We had some snow last week ... and then we had some rain ... and some temperatures up around plus four ... and then today it was back down below freezing again. This mean ice, as you can see from my perspective shot taken at the world's strongest man workout center at the Hemlingby trail head. After school on Friday I had gone out for a quick jaunt before our staff party started, and I had made it about two hundred meters from our building when I began to lament not having some sort of awesome, amazing Swedish winter running shoes that laugh at sheer ice surfaces the way Jennie's stomach laughs at hornet's nests.

Oh wait! I do have those. Why I didn't wear them on Friday I have no idea. I did not make that mistake again today. I can't remember if I talked about my Icebugs last year or not - but I figure if I can't remember, then probably you can't either. These are them.

The box says: "Developed and tested in Sweden; Fit to go Anywhere". They are not messing around.

my shoe model

seventeen carbide steel (steel carbide?) teeths per shoe

Yes: as with most Swedish-designed things, Icebugs means business. Yes, they stick to anything. Yes, they are also pretty performance-oriented running shoes. Yes, I think even with the spikes they are lighter than either of my summer shoe models, the La Sportiva Wildcat or my beloved Montrail Fairhavens. Yes. They are light, waterproof, fast, expensive, but worth it, winter shoes. I love 'em. The lack of suspension which keeps them light takes a little getting used to (my feet are feeling sore tonight) but considering I cranked out a pretty quick (for me) 18 km in them, and that takes me over 90 km for the week - an all outdoor, subzero, pitch-black-and-snowing-and/or-raining-kilometers-besides-today-kind-of-week - sore isn't entirely unexpected.

sunlight through the frost on the wild Christmas trees

I am currently in the top five people on the waiting list to try my hand at this race in April - the 80km, not the 160 - and I am super pumped. I had been deeply disappointed when the race had sold out in less than two days and I had missed getting in outright, but the organizers have said that in past years everyone on the waiting list has gotten the chance to run it, and hey, I'm in the top five, so that seems promising. I get a little giddy just thinking about the possibility of running 80km in one go; it sure keeps me excited to rack up some serious miles through the winter.

It's also amazing how things like wet and cold and dark don't actually matter so much any more ... so long as I can get myself started, I'm good. If it means telling myself I can stop after six km, that's okay. If it means telling myself I can grab a burger (or ten) at Max on the way home, that's also okay ... I honestly give myself permission, but after a few km of running I don't want to follow through with those plans any more. I just pit stop every lap, grab some banana or kanellbulle and slurp some Nuun, and I'm off again. I really like to run. And I'm really excited that I can put in three 20km runs on school nights and still come home functional, ready to mark and plan and launder and all of that other good stuff.

the festive horse-drawn wagon that does loops for families at Hemlingby - it's pretty heartwarming and sweet

And even though Julbord will have to wait for another time this Jul season, I still got to finish off my run with my favourite meal on earth; bacon and eggs with toast.

Today's toasts were topped by hjortronsylt (cloudberry jam) and local honey. Throw in some coffee and juice, and you've got it made. So delicious.

Anyhoo, we'll see if Jennie is back up and functioning tomorrow. And then Tuesday is Lucia, which is a pretty cool event over here. You know a day is big when it gets its own bulle.

Take care all! In all seriousness, I'll try and talk with you again soon.

- Richard.

tio / these are a few of my favourite things

2011-12-10T16:38:00.001+01:00

Door number ten ...

In the last week we have had some really nice comments about the blog - guess it helps when you post more regularly :) It has been great to hear your positive feedback - we never know who is reading along! Inspired, day ten seemed like the perfect time to take stock of our advent calendar offerings (to date!) and to work on a little reader input... yes, we are going to try our first ever Swedish Murmurings Poll!

Of course we want to know what you think of the items that have been popping out of the calendar, but we didn't want you to think we were just doing market research for the Body Shop, so decided to ask a few other seasonal questions that we would love to know your answers to as well :)

And so, allow me to introduce our 'These are a few of my favourite things' poll!

What is your favourite ...
1) Christmas treat? (anything eaten over the Christmas season)
2) Christmas tree decoration? (you can tell us why or where it came from or any other salient details)
3) Item from our advent calendar so far?

To submit your answers, click on the word 'comments' below (it will have a number beside the word), type in your answers, and post your comment (we will take answers in English, Swedish or French)! You can enter a mail account or post as a guest. If you opt for the later, you may want to add you name to your comment so we know who you are :) (if you are very anti blog commenting, you can also send top secret answers to one of us by email)

Comments will be tabulated, summerated and reporterated on day 15, so don't wait too long!

Now before we go ... today's photo update! Given my aforementioned dreaming of snow, this seemed rather fitting (and LONG overdue).

Last April we headed to Abisko and Riksgränsen in northern Sweden with our friends Rob and Juliette for some off-piste ski adventures! And, whilst at Riksgränsen, we fulfilled a long standing dream for both Rob and me ...

Hello heli-skiing!!!

We had gorgeous blue skies and sunshine which followed a snow storm, so pretty decent snow on the slopes :)

And making for two pretty happy fellows.

And the icing on the cake: I got to fly the helicopter on the way home!

snowy bliss.

nio

2011-12-09T23:26:00.001+01:00

Today's weather reminded me of a funny little ride last August in the French Alps with Krista and Richard.

A good start - sun and t-shirt weather setting out ... go go Krista!

Jackets on part way up (note the incoming clouds) ...

And then ...

mid-way pause + acknowledgement of meteorological change

Preparing for a wet and chilly descent ... and laughing a bit at ourselves

Guess sometimes you just have to laugh at how the weather can change. I tried to think that way today as big flakes turned to slushy snow/rain turned to rain and washed away our lovely snow cover. Still, I am longing a bit for the white stuff. Come on snow!!!

Of course, it makes it much easier to keep smiling in the company of good friends. I am just in from a delightful dinner with Becca and David, Camilla and Urban, where we could get out of the rain and into the cosy candle light of Matilda's - a very yummy restaurant in town - and forget about everything outside the glow of our little table. Perfect.

And, with 15 minutes to spare before I am no longer on time with my day's posting, here is the excitement behind door #9!

åtta

2011-12-08T22:19:00.001+01:00

Yesterday we finally got some snow in Gävle! It wasn't all that much, but enough to coat the ground and roof tops and line the branches of the trees.

Well coordinated headware.

Becca, Camilla, Thomas and I got out for a little walk in the middle of the day - part way through the snow fall - for a lovely walk. Fortunately there was an iPhone along to capture the first real winter walk of the season - thanks Becca!

It is hard to believe that by this time last year we had had a solid month of snow on the ground and a good long spell at around -20. This year I am still wearing my autumn coat most days. Here's hoping that it just means we shall have a great big drop of snow soon, making the skiing all the better!

While I drift away into that dream, allow me to share the secret behind door #8 ...

Total energy ... sounds like just what we need in the morning!

Actually, even though we have not had nearly the snow we had last year, we have both been handling the dark much better this year. And we are almost to Lucia day (Dec. 13) so I feel quite certain now that we shall make it! Last year, it was the Lucia winter celebration of light amid the darkness that got me through to Christmas: in the early days of last December I became like a wind up toy that was all wound down. Still, while it may not be quite as essential this year, I can say I am really looking forward to the celebration again this year! Stay tuned ...

sju

2011-12-07T22:29:00.001+01:00

Sju is a tough word to say in Swedish. The 'sj' sound is made by blowing lots of air out of your mouth while getting just the right breathy toned syllable overlying the sound of the air. Easy, right? Ha! And, of course, it appears in lots of useful words, like, hospital (sjukhuset), nurse (sjuksköterska), sick (sjuk), lake (sjö) ... the list goes on.

Fortunately this sound is starting to come out much more easily, and I no longer have a ban on taking trains at 17:27, since I can now say that time :)

It was all too fitting that a rather tough-to-identify item arrived behind door sju:

Do you have any idea what this body shop product is? We had to look it up. Amazingly, we had made it all these years without having ever used a facial brush with lid. Shocking really. Something tells me I know what is behind door number 8 --- guess we will soon be able to report whether the facial brush with lid experience is one we really should not have been without!

In the spirit of hard work, I present to you one heck of an effort's worth of pepparkakshus or ginger bread house:

They may have burned down the town goat, but the town's famous pepparkakshus, standing about 2 m tall, is still going strong!

sex ...

2011-12-06T22:02:00.001+01:00

Today's post: Richard in his natural habitat, Hemlingby, where he does the vast bulk of his run training, a wee bit o' weight lifting from time to time, and makes himself very happy. What a handsome fellow!

I also thought I would share some photos from my tripup to Sundsvall: boy did I get lucky last night! A broken heater in the tiny room I was first assigned resulted in an upgrade to this fine suite.

Turned out to be just the space we needed for a little 'after party' following a full day's discussion of publication prognoses and impact factors and other such items.

Kicking back with Eva, Svend Erik, Camilla, Per, Hasse (in the window) and Fredrik

And last but not least ... ett, två tre, fyra, fem ... sex (what else did you think this blog was about):

Day 6: travel conditioner to go with the travel shampoo of day 1

fem

2011-12-04T22:22:00.001+01:00

In case you haven't noticed, we are slowly starting to slip some Swedish words into your vocabulary ... looking back the last few days, you will see you can now count to five! Ok, ok - we skipped #1: ett. Now you are fully equipped: ett, två, tre, fyra, fem! Amazing the things you can learn by reading along ;)

This morning I am off to Sundsvall - a town about 200 km due north of Gävle (yes, for you geography-savvy readers, that does mean I am headed right back the way I came last night on the way home from Östersund), for our annual two-day research planning days for the CBF researchers staff. During this time we will evaluate our publication prognoses from last year, hear presentations from all researchers who have applied for external funding for the next 12 months, get an update on the different research programmes within our institution, evaluate and discuss the research programme plans constructively, and give our individual prognoses for publication numbers for the coming year. I am excited to have a few papers in the pipeline to put on the list, and about the things I hope to accomplish, research wise, over the next 12 months. I also look forward to hearing the updates and knowing more about where the different strains will be moving/focusing in the coming months. I really enjoy the communication that is built into our research institute and I learn a lot from the different research areas throughout the year.

I am also looking forward to seeing Sundsvall for the first time! Over the last six months I have had the chance to visit several new places in Sweden as a result of either meetings or work, and enjoy these excursions - which brings me to today's pictures and post...

In August, I spent 4 days collecting data at the airport just outside Göteborg on the west coast of Sweden. This was a follow up to the Arlanda flight loader data collections and is part of my friend Eva's thesis research (and was also my first trip to the west coast of Sweden!). Eva and I then stayed on for a really fun weekend.

Göteborg is famous (within Sweden) for it's street cars. Not the red rocket look of the TTC, but otherwise quite similar.

Like so many things in Sweden, these are run on the honour system - you can buy a ticket with your phone before boarding the bus (or on the bus), and so you just hop on. There are, allegedly, ticket checks every now and then, but none that we saw. Still, I suspect nearly everyone had purchased the appropriate ticket. I like that.

The city has a fabulous public transit app so getting around was really easy.

Göteborg felt younger and more Americanized than Stockholm - more American brand shops and restaurants, and more English signage around town - yet still had a really lovely charm to it. All the same, I think I may just be more of a Stockholm-girl than Göteborg-girl, however I feel quite sure that several more trips are in order before I can really make that decision :) I suppose, to be fair, I should also mention that while we had several amazing days of blue skies and sunshine on our trip, Göteborg is quite similar to Vancouver weather-wise, which no doubt clouded my judgement (pun intended).

While out wandering I found one of, if not the, best chai latté I have ever had! Well done G'borg.

In addition to some good city walking and shoe shopping (two thumbs up for Göteborg shoe shops!), Eva and I also headed to Way Out West - one of Sweden's premiere festivals, and nominee for this year's MTV O Music Awards 'most innovative festival'.

Three stages, three days, good artwork and a great line up! Some highlights for me included: Fleet Foxes, Noah and the Whale, Junip (with José González) and a Swedish band called, Säkert, who were a new and exciting find for me (they made an English language release in September, På Engelska, which doesn't quite have the intensity of the Swedish release, Facit, but is still pretty good). We also saw Robyn, Prince and Kanye West. It was quite a mixed bag to say the least, but really well organised and super fun!

And finally, door number five:

Perfect timing - I have some seriously dry skin after weekend of being out so much in some true wintery weather!

fyra

2011-12-04T19:35:00.001+01:00

Happy second Sunday in advent to all.

Today’s pics come from the fun weekend we just spent in Östersundwatching the world cup biathlon opener with Thomas, Becca and David!

We had the chance to take in both the women's 7.5 km sprint (Saturday) and the men's and women's pursuit races (Sunday). It was quite an amazing spectator sport with lots to see at all times: heck - sometimes it was hard to know where to focus attention. On one side we would have skiiers climbing up a hill, getting round a tight hair-pin turn, then shooting back down, and if we turned around, we would see the skiers coming into the shooting range or down the finishing stretch.

From the Grand Stand: the finishing stetch (front of pic) - the shooting range (back of pic)

Two Canadians started in the top 15 today for the pursuit race (Brendan Green and Zina Kocher) but alas, no top15 finishes. Still fun to be there, red mittens on, to cheer on the Canadian athletes. Oh, and maybe a few Swedish ones too!

Being a shooting event and all, we simply had to try our hand at a little shooting (sponsored by the Swedish railway ... with a 500 kr prize for anyone who could make all 5 shots standing).

Sadly, we failed to pocket any cash winnings. All the same, Richard thinks the rifle look suits me ... not quite sure how I should take that!

As you can see - we got some snow over the weekend up in Östersund! Alas, there was no snow one the ground to great we four upon our arrival back in Gävle. Here's hoping we get some this week ... and that they start getting some in the French Alps, too ... come on snow!!!!!

Last but not least, here is what was hidden behind doorsthree and four:

tre

2011-12-03T09:00:00.000+01:00

We have gradually been making this little apartment our own.

One of the most recent upgrades is a stylized tree in the entrance hall. The installation is built of a dozen plastic pieces that one can assemble in about a million ways: this is our take on the puzzle!

And all the better that it can sub-in as a Christmas tree of sorts ...

We're in Östersund for the weekend watching the opener of the IBU World Cup Biathlon season!
That means you (and we) will have to wait till tomorrow to see what's behind door #3.

två

2011-12-02T17:00:00.000+01:00

***** Warning: graphic images below *****

Sunday marked the first Sunday in Advent, and the official opening ceremony for our town's famous goat - Gävlebocken.

Alas, it would seem that all the good planning in place on Sunday ...

... was no match for the flames set to the poor fellow early this morning.

Smoke and charred goat feet en route to the office today

Poor fellow! Seems much to short a time to have had him around, but at least I was mentally prepared for such an eventuality this year. Still ... I will miss him on my daily commute!

blue morning light - 08:20

Some years they have replaced the goat following an early exit in a fiery blaze, but the town has vowed there will be no such replacement this year. Silly arsonists -- next time, please wait a few more weeks!

On a happier note: here is today's excitement from the advent calendar:

Happy weekend to all - and please keep your fingers crossed that the snow storm they keep 'threatening' might actually come to fruition and deliver some snow to Sweden!

adventskalender / advent calendar

2011-12-01T21:36:00.001+01:00

Greetings, and happy 1st of December to all!

We realise things have been a bit quiet here on the blogging front. It happens. But we are hoping to make ammends over the next few days ... or 24 days to be exact!

I have been inspired by this luxe advent calendar we picked up at the Body Shop. I love the excitement of wondering what is behind each door, and having a little treat each day in December! Now, I can't say it will be as good as my Body Shop advent calendar, but we will have a little blog offering of our own: a photo a day and, at very least, a descriptive caption to go with! Yes, Swedish-murmurings will be back in business for the month of December, trying to catch up on many of the events we have missed over the last few months!

So, to start us off, I shall offer a photo from our start to the advent season: julkakor aplenty!

Last weekend, to celebrate the first Sunday in Advent and the official opening of the Gävle goat (read more here), we threw a little open-house party, complete with glögg (think mulled and fortified wine) and Christmas cookies aplenty!

This pic shows the efforts of multiple cooks from multiple lands... from top centre (going clockwise): * Swedish pepparkakor (recipe from my co-worker Per - it came from his grandmother - these were baked with our friends Becca and David, and Anna and Magnus)
* florentiner (made by Richard and his mum in early November (and we didn't eat them all in advance!), my mum's Christmas cake (made in July and sent home with us!)
* shortbreads (my gran's recipe - they don't get much better)
* chocolate sandwich cookes (again, Richard and Eva's doing)
* German stollen bread (the only non home-made item, but something I buy every year and love all the same - this one came from Hötorgets hällen in Stockholm)
* chocolate-ginger snaps (made by me and Divya)
* mint Nanaimo bars (a Nicholls tradition - from the 1978 Canadian Living Christmas Cookie magazine).

At the peak, I think we had 35 people crammed in our little apartment, but after having been soaked in the rain storm that accompanied the fireworks to celebrate the goat, it was probably for the best that we were a bit cosy inside!

Funny how last year it was 30 degrees colder ... and this year, rainboots and brollies were the proper attire.

While Richard lacked such acoutrements, he had fortunately embraced the movember spirit and had grown some natural protection from the elements:

We will also try to share the excitement of the aforementioned Body Shop calendar...

drum roll please ....

and here is the offering behind door #1: Rainforest Volume Shampoo. It smells nice and fruity. And will be the perfect size for travel or taking to the gym! A fine start to the advent calendar.

Happy start of the Christmas season to all. Stay tuned for door #2 tomorrow ...

Happy Feet (and the rest of me, too)

2011-10-23T21:22:00.024+02:00

Me dirty tootsies, post Sörmland 50k

So! Long time, no writing from me (Richard) around these parts. I would apologize, but to be entirely honest, I have been insanely busy the last few months focusing on a couple of things that I really love: teaching, and running trails.

I think most folks have heard that as of this year, I am head of the English department at school. This would normally mean a lot more work, but considering this year in Sweden we have a new curriculum and marking scheme, and considering that this year at my school we have a new Principal (with excellent expectations) and that our English department is me and three folks new to the school, two of whom are new to the country as well, well ... it has meant a lot lot to do for everybody.

The weather outside was perfection. Including the five-minute deluge at 40km, which was exactly what I wanted at that point. Cool and refreshing.

I am not even remotely complaining about this. I simply have been having too much fun to bother blogging about how much fun I am having. It is great. My dad, who is an excellent person to listen to about pretty much everything, quoted at his retirement party (aka, his break before the next exciting venture) that if you do something you really enjoy you won't work a day in your life. I have been very busy since August, but I haven't had to do too much work. Good call on that, dad.

my secret weapon was actually a lack thereof ...

But enough about work. So, my dear Jennie has long observed that when it comes to me and time management, I seem to do my best when forced to 'rise to the occasion.' I have been busy. But I have also been running a lot - well, for me, at least, a lot lot. When want to read up on some running and get some inspiration, I read the blogs of people who do simply otherworldly things with their running.

http://akrunning.blogspot.com/
http://notallergictoadventure.blogspot.com/
http://www.irunfar.com/
http://www.kristaduchenerunning.blogspot.com/
... some good running reading. Yes, Krista and her husband Jon are friends of ours from university.

I ran 100km weeks back to back in training for my 50k for the first time ever - I'd only ever run a 100km week once before in my life - and it felt amazing. I was very proud. And at the same time, I loved the fact that wouldn't even be a three day week at the office for most/any of those folks. I love seeing multiple perspectives on things like that. Love it. It just gives you so much to think about and consider - and admire.

What I also have been loving for about six months now is that scar on my abdomen. I have felt so much better since the damned appendix came out. I haven't been sick (no colds or anything), I have run strong, and I have recovered so easily afterwards. Jennie has been busy commuting back and forth to Uppsala for her phD, and the topic happened to come up with a surgeon who was taking the same course she was; apparently, the idea of a 'slow burn' case of appendicitis where the cursed thing can ooze a low-grade infection into your body for months before things reach a head has some precedent. Stupid vestigial organs.

welcome to your Richard's eye view of the race - here from 5 and 15 km in, roughly

Suffice to say that appendix-free training has been great. I also decided to adapt my training program to something that better suited my personality. Yes, I said personality. The fact of the matter is: I don't really care about running fast ... convenient, considering I am not that fast a runner, I know. Over the summer I read a really interesting article by one of those runners I linked to above, and he talked about how he didn't feel that speed training was particularly helpful for ultra running. Now, he runs further and over harder stuff than I, but I really like his approach and personality with running, so I figured hey, why not give that idea a shot?

thankfully, the run never looked this way to me - only my phone camera. funky!

So instead of worry about pace I focused on distances - and hills. A 50k run really isn't that much farther than a marathon, but in terms of terrain (despite the path pictures I've shared from my run so far) you are pretty much guaranteed a lot of tricky footing and a whole lot more ups than most marathons will throw at you. There is no way to train for running up hills other than running up hills. So that's what I did. One or two dedicated hill repeat runs at the local ski bump every week ... plus a trip up every 7-10 loop around the local trail network on every other run, including my long ones. There is just no substitute.

Yes, my overall pace still picked up over the course of my training, but not by much. My goal was to limit my leg fatigue and fade over the course of running 50 rolling, and as it turned out, very wet and muddy and tricksy kilometers. And that worked out to perfection. Your body is very good at learning things - you just need to train it to do exactly what you want.

In return, of course, you learn a lot about your body as you train. Here are a couple of things I learned about myself over the eight weeks leading up to Sörmland:

1) High fat foods really do it for me on long runs. A kanelbulle (and a gel) every hour is good; a croissant stuffed with nutella (and a gel) every hour works out muchos better, for my legs and my head. I'm not entirely sure why, though I do have some interest in finding out the particulars of how that works. Certainly I find it delicious, which is always a good deal. Delicious and effective is pretty hard to beat. There weren't nutella-stuffed croissants en route at the race, but there were kanelbullar - and three cups of coke at the 42 km mark got my head back from being slightly foggy on the home stretch. Good stuff.

2) If I don't go out pushing it, something pretty fantastic 'turns on' at about the three hour mark. No matter how good I've felt to that point, if I moderate it right (and eat the good stuff) I just start to feel incredible, and I can just go ... further, faster, the whole deal. This lead to me conceiving of my race as being a 30km warm up, and then a 20 km race.

Both, as it turned out, went exactly according to plans when it came time (a couple weeks ago now). So good, in fact, that I decided to do something that I've wanted to do since I started trying these kinds of runs back in 2008, in Iceland: I decided to photo-document the run. Well, the warm-up 30km, at least.

good hills up; good hills down ... all the way to the finish.

Why? Because when a long run - be it in event, or not - is going well, it is just an incredible feeling, and a metric tonne of fun, and I want to try and share that ... however inadequate my snapshots may be. Yeah, the stopping for photos put me about five minutes behind where I had predicted to be at the halfway point. And yeah, my negative split on the back half of the run wasn't quite as big as I might have hoped. But again, I'm not complaining, and despite how tired I look here, I can promise you that I wasn't really ever working over the five hours (and one minutes, fifty two seconds I went over that - ah well) I wasn't ever really working:

What's next? Well, I definitely want more. And I still don't care about going faster, so that only leaves farther ... and more often. Both of which I am excited about.

Okej - time to get ready for what is going to be a busy week; two nights of parent-teacher interviews, one three-hour evening Swedish language lesson, one school-wide running event day (imagine!) at my favourite local trails on Friday, before an all-night video game party at the school on Friday night ... one last big frickin' hill before the autumn holiday week - Höstlov - begins on Saturday. Good times. I'll try to check in more often, but in the mean time, life is short - so enjoy your warm-ups:

Autumn Cycling

2011-09-26T18:07:00.000+02:00

We have been on an amazing roll of weekends with good weather and have been doing our level best to take in as many hours of sunshine as possible.

This weekend I had two fantastic rides, and Richard (no surprise) was out for two glorious runs. Saturday he got in his final long training run before the upcoming ultra-marathon (October 8th = race day), and whipped of 32 km at the local trails. Meanwhile, I hooked up with Becca and David and headed south on a road ride.

We took a little stop at Richard's and my fave beach spot, then rolled along to a town called Älvkarleby, and a very cool hydrostation and dam.

Post photo stop, we partook of some fika at a lovely outdoor café and thoroughly enjoyed the sunshine (and treats).

Becca and David

Fika treats!
I think David picked best as his apple cake came warmed and with vanilla custard.

Just as we were about to roll out, another cyclist heading past noticed us and stopped to chat. Although he was not quite the size of the viking from my last post, he was damn close (I had serious calf envy, to say the least), and both David and I were delighted when he decided to bike back to Gävle with us, and was keen to pull! Funny, the headwind we were facing was not nearly as tough as we had been anticipating ;)

Today I met up with some women I had been introduced to (via a Swedish text message) by another woman I met last weekend at the race, and then road with earlier this week. Yes, my habit of picking up women at sporting events is on in full force and has been quite successful of late! Anyway, this morning I found myself out with five other women on MTBs!!! This was a pretty major change from any MTB outings to date: as some of you will know, I have really struggled to find women to ride with, and I really miss the strong masters class group of women on the OCup circuit that I was so accustomed to riding with. And so today was a real delight. Ok, we road a lot of double track, but we did get some single track, and I am sure we can work on expanding the ratio of single to double track. And there was a fabulous lunch at the end: one of the many perks of riding with a group of gals, I think! The other neat thing: I managed 5 hours in Swedish! (ok, ok, there were a few breaks on my part where I lapsed into English to get across a particular point, but they kept on going strong in Swedish!). It really feels like I have made some leaps and bounds the last 6 - 8 weeks with my language comprehension and sentence composition, and I am so excited!

Anyway, here we are in all our post-ride glory:

That's me on the left ...

Not only are all these gals cycling enthusiasts, but there are loads of other sports intersts amongst the group - long distance running, white water kayaking, orienteering, multi-sport racing, climbing, skiing, swimming, ... you get the picture! Anyway, by the end of our lunch we had formed the all new Gävle Cykeltjejer Facebook group, creating a forum for ladies in the area to post workout invites to connect with others. I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am to have a date to meet some folks at the pool tomorrow night, let along the potential for upcoming training dates! Don't get me wrong - I have been really lucky at finding great people to work out with so far, but it really felt like a turning point in my community ties and involvement in Gävle!

Ah, the power of a bright and sunny Sunday.

Two weeks of Oz

2011-09-25T15:26:00.002+02:00

The last two weeks we have had three Aussies on hand. Well, more specifically, 2 Brits who have been living Down Under for the last 13 years, and one bonefide 'shrimp on the barbie' mate. The regular arrival of guest researchers to us at CBF is something I really enjoy about my workplace, and this round was no different.

Svend Erik invited Leon Straker to come to Gävle for two weeks to layout the frame work for a collaboration on a set of papers, and Becca Abbott will stay on at CBF for an additional two (or so) months to bring to fruition said papers. It has been great to learn about the research areas of both these scholars and to see how they will be blending fields for their upcoming papers. For those of you biomech nerds out there who are reading along, stay tuned for some very cool EVA papers in the near future!

Ok, enough shop talk.

As luck would have it, not only are all three visitors delightful conversationalists and really interesting people in the research environment, all three are also a delight after hours and are quite into cycling! In fact, Becca and her hubby David arrived to Gävle with road bikes in tow: it was a good first sign that we would get along quite well :)

Add to that the perfect timing of the Gastrike Loppet - a road race starting and ending in downtown Gävle - and we had the makings of a perfect Saturday last week!

Before the ride: Leon, the Jacksons, and David (photo credit: Becca)

Becca (with the massive smile) and David lining up for the 100 km race.
[ Note the massive viking in the foreground. He managed to inflict quite some pain on David, and the other race hopefuls, en route to the finish line. You should have seen the calves on this guy ... ]

The International English School (IES) were involved with the race organisation and entered both a team of teachers and one of students to the 50 km race. At the last minute, the teacher team lost a member so I ended up riding with them, rather than with Becca. While it would have been lovely to share the ride with her, the plus side was that we got to share the ride with Leon, and I also met some new folks that Richard works with (Ida and Magnus). The other bonus: I suspect I suffered far less than poor Becca who stuck it out in a group with 3 Swedish men for the entire 100 km, never once uttering a word or explaining that she couldn't understand a word they were saying, and dutifully pulling her share through each and every rotation. She and David both had really impressive races and clearly laid it all down on the course given their finish line expressions. Well done you two!

For our part, the race went out a lot faster than Richard had anticipated for our little IES group: Ida proved to be one heck of a tough and speedy cyclist, so we kept a rather blistering pace through the course. And Leon, to his absolute credit, did an amazing job of holding the group for quite some time despite being out on a hefty mountain bike. At the end of the day, the net time for the teacher team was faster than that of the students, giving the teachers an early advantage in the year long 'teacher vs student' battle of outdoor pursuits. Here's hoping none of the kids mention the rather unfamiliar looking teacher that competed that day ;)

As you can tell from the pics, the weather was stunning - really, we were just delighted to be out riding! The fact that we ended up getting to test out our legs and push it a bit was just the icing on the cake!

Richard's mascot and tool bag wearing the post-race pendant. Trike, the triceratops, always steals the show, even when adorning Richard's fabulous lugged touring bike.

Since it was Leon's last weekend in town, and it had been such a good start to the day, we suggested a celebratory dinner for the group! We loaded up Smultronik (it really is amazing how well five adults fit into this tiny car) and headed out to a restaurant in Högbo Bruk restaurang, about 25 km from Gävle, that makes particular good food ... and has a dessert buffet!

All pics courtesy of Becca

It was probably good that we had all ridden a few klicks earlier in the day!

This week we also were lucky and Leon shared his birthday with us. After a busy day's work we squeezed in a quick sushi dinner, then headed to the Konserthus (concert house) to hear the Gävle Symphony Orchestra take on two contemporary pieces featuring an electric basson (complete with 4 effects pedals - harmonizer, loop, distortion and delay pedals), which I found quite interesting, and mainly enjoyable, followed by Mozart's 40th, which was spectacular. To top it all off, we headed back to casa Jackson for some birthday cake!

Kudos to Dave on his first ever cake

We bid Leon adieu on Friday, but hopefully we will meet again some day... and who knows, with an open offer of a bed in Perth, we might just end up cycling together on another continent one of these days!

Something tells me there won't be nearly as much cake in my upcoming week, but perhaps if I work hard enough, I can remedy that :)

svenska ren

2011-09-24T21:40:00.002+02:00

As promised, a few more reindeer pics from the hiking trip.

Richard is usually the one who is out snapping shots of the wildlife, but there is something about these creatures that really draws me in. Hmm ... I wonder why he has never asked if we could have a reindeer rather than a cat? Surely these guys are hypoallergenic and perfectly suited for apartment living, no?

Autumn hiking in Jämtland

2011-09-19T20:55:00.000+02:00

Two weeks ago I had a chance to join a hiking tour run by the Swedish Tourist Organisation (STF). The trip involved 5 days of hiking in the mountains along the Swedish-Norway border where Richard and I did our first ski top-touring trip shortly after our arrival to Sweden. Slightly different scenery this time ... but lovely all the same!

Just think of how your knowledge of Swedish geography has grown over
the months of reading our blogging ramblings!

It was quite a luxe trip as all the food was provided and we didn't have to carry any of it in! Ok, we had to carry our lunch with us each day, but that doesn't really count. This definitely made the trip much easier - 12 - 13 kg is plenty enough to carry on the back!

It was also really fun to pick up some Swedish hiking tips ... let me say that the packing list I was given included a 1L thermos, a sit-upon, and a cup for mixing hot soup and drinks on the trail! Talk about civilized. The first day I made tea directly in my thermos and did not take any of the soup powders offered to me (options included blueberry and rosehip soups in addition to potatoe leek and chicken noodle) - silly Jennie! True, I enjoyed my tea that day, but I will admit to feeling a bit envious of the spread of hot dishes others were enjoying. I quickly learned to fill my thermos with hot water and then mix up treats one cup at a time, permitting tea in addition to soups!

The weather forecast was incredibly grim going into the trip (five days of cold rain), but we ended up with three glorious sunny days, and only two incredibly foggy and rather damp days which made the trip all the better, to be sure.

I think I shall let the photos do the talking.

Day 1: Storulvån to Sylarna

Looking back towards Storulvån through the birch forest - the leaves had turned to a strong yellow but have come out rather flat here. I shall have to work on my autumn photographing skills!

First reindeer sighting of the trip ... stay tuned for a reindeer-intensive post, coming soon!

First glimpse of the mountains - Syl Massif, the highest peak in the area at 1752 m, is hidden in the clouds on the right side of the pic. I figured it was better to lead with this post than the one I am behind on from our trip to the French Alps so these might actually look like mountains and not the flatlands!

Sylarna Mountain Station

Day 2: Attempt one at reaching the summit of Syl Massif

Half way up the fog really started to block out our view.

This shot was taken about 30 minutes later. Note the ice on the rocks.

I failed to capture any pics from our fika (coffee) that we took amidst the snow and howling winds. I am sure you can appreciate why. It was, however, a great experience to be introduced to the wind sack, a light weight bag-like structure that you pull over a group of 2 - 4 people (depending on the size of said wind sack), and which does an amazing job of breaking the wind so some rest and nourishment can be enjoyed. We will definitely be investing in one of those before our next ski tour!

Day 3: Sylarna (Sweden) to Nedelshytta (Norway), via Syl Massif!

The next morning we awoke to MUCH better weather. And, after a wee bit of encouragement from yours truly, the guide and group decided to change the days hiking plans from going around Syl Massif to get to our end goal of Nedelshytta, to going up and over Syl Massif to get to Nedelshytta. But look at the day we had - can you blame me from wanting to hit the summit?!?

The final ridge to the top!

Looking down from the top over to the Norwegian side

And from the Norwegian side, looking back up.

I loved the colours and patterns of the greens and browns reflecting in the water. It reminded me a lot of hiking in Iceland.

2008 - Landmannalaugar trail, Iceland.

And one last shot of the first stretch of hiking on the Norwegian side.

This was a good, long day, and after 18,5 km we were glad to make it to our home for the night!

Note the thirsty hikers taking in a few cold ones and enjoying the late afternoon sunshine!

We stayed in the little cabin on the right. Had I had a bit more spring left in my legs I might have been tempted to scamper onto the roof and pick some lingon berries! It was a most lovely living roof.

Day 4: Back to Sylarna ...
It was so foggy I didn't take a single photo. Our guide did an excellent job trying to describe the lovely vistas that were surrouding us, but we could hardly see 10 m ahead at times. What was cool was the use of GPS and some excellent orienteering skills to get us back on the path when we managed to wander astray part way through the day. After lunch the winds were blowing us all over the place, and I guess we managed to loose the path as we fought just to stay upright and move forward. I am quite keen on improving my orienteering and GPS usage, so this was a great learning experience for me! And there is the silver lining from that day :)

Day 5: Sylarna back to Storulvån

Breakfast buffet and sandwhich making.

They had two pots of porridge each morning - one straight up, regular, oatmeal porridge, and one 'experiemental' pot. This morning pictured above happened to be a quinoa porridge with raisins and sunflower seeds and some excellent spices: a definite hit with me! I wonder if they would be willing to share some recipes with the chefs at the UCPA kitchen in Chamonix?? When we were there over Christmas they (the UCPA chefs) attempted to make porridge to 'appease the Swedes' (as we were told), but routinely turned out some pretty grim gruel! Thank goodness we live in a country where they know there hot breakfast cereals!

Last morning looking out and up ...

... then down and around the corner to find a lovely surprise! Look carefully, then stay tuned for the next fur-intensive post!

Such graceful creatures

It really was such a lovely time of year up there and I thoroughly enjoyed thechanging colours and the crisp air. Autumn has definitely arrived! Heck, whilst sitting in a wind sack 3/4 of the way up a mountain trying to wait out a snow storm, I guess I can say I even got my first taste of winter. But, believe it or not, this winter loving gal had an underlying longing for snow on the trails and slopes: I am so looking forward to returning to these trails come winter for another round of top touring!

What everyone else saw ... (note the green 'kåsa' cup acquired mid-trip and thermos)

What I was dreaming about ...

kantareller

2011-09-04T22:50:00.002+02:00

We have had absolutely lovely weather this weekend! Today it hit +25 and was brilliantly sunny.

While Richard headed to the local wood to wrap up his 100 km run training week, I spent the morning biking and hiking through the woods west of Gävle with Camilla and Urban while gathering chantarelles (kantareller i svenska), which made for an absolutely scrumptious first real 'autumnal dinner' of the season. Now here's hoping there are a few more 'autumnal' days like today!

Cabbage with thyme and baccon, fresh baby potatoes with chives, pork tenderloin with chantarelle and whole grain mustard sauce; un-oaked chardonnay, and 'home made' carbonated water (thank you Soda Streamer).

through my eyes: Weslemkoon

2011-09-01T22:39:00.001+02:00

    My folks have a cottage on Lake Weslemkoon in nothern Ontario. It is about 300 km north east of Toronto and just below Algonquin Park - one of Ontario's best known provincial parks. This part of Ontario is located on the Canadian shield, that is to say, there is a huge amount of rock, a thin layer of soil in parts, and some amazing pine trees that hold on despite it all! Lots of people might go in for ground up rock (aka sand) when it comes to cottages or lake time, but I am far more partial to a great big rock on which I can spread my body, partake of some heat and stare up at the clouds, by day, and the stars, by night.This is my grounding.

   There is something about this lake that calls to me. Every summer I get a longing in my body to be there: to meld my bones with the rocks and my cells with the lake. I can't really explain it, but it just feels like a part of me comes from that nature. And even after all our travels, I still think this is one of the most beautiful places in the world.

    This summer I tried to capture the cottage and the lake as I see them; to try and show just what it is about the place that draws me there.

the main cottage

the bunkie

Originally there was just one building on the site - the main cottage. It was/is quite rustic with two small bedrooms, a kitchen, sitting room and dining area. It became a passion and retirement project for my dad to add a second building, the 'bunkie', which is now nearly complete and is really quite gorgeous on the inside while keeping in the same modest style of the main cottage on the outside.

At the end of the day, however, it is the clear water, the form of the trees, the shapes of the rocks reflecting up, and the open expanse of sky that hold my attention.

Good night cottage. From three separate splendid evenings' sunset.

face lift

2011-09-01T22:19:00.000+02:00

In the midst of doing all this summer blog catch up I felt like a little blog-land face lift might just be in order.

I have played a bit with the width of the text area and side bar layout: what do you think?!? Does this work on your monitor?

Are you out there??

Stay tuned for more interactive blogging and lots more pics!

over and out. j

plus one more ... a very young Normandeau

2011-08-22T22:04:00.000+02:00

Avery Grace, 6 months - Lake Weslemkoon, Canada

When we left Boston in 2005, I left behind a small piece of my heart and some terrifically good friends. Fortunately, distance is not the end for good friendships.

Last summer, I travelled back to Boston for the wedding of one such friend. Although born a half a world apart, it would appear we are something akin to sisters, and so I am quite sure that Doc Young and I will continue to get ourselves into troubles together for years to come.

This summer Amanda and Dave travelled up to the cottage with their newest addition, Avery (Grace) Young Normandeau or, 'a very young Normandeau', if you enjoy word games!

Since I seem to be in dotting aunt mode, it seems ever so appropriate to introduce you to this little one whilst I am in a slew of kiddie-blogging. So, please allow me to introduce my lovely god-daughter!

Given Amanda's love of the water, it was no surprise how relaxed and happy Avery was in the lake.

Avery was 6 months when we finally met this summer and was already demonstrating some serious personality:

I particularly enjoyed the look of distain she offered David upon seeing his choice of dessert one night:

Apparently we also did our best to recreate some fine 1970's French Canadian cookbook shots (give or take the pink Bumbo) ...

If we lived a tad closer, I suspect she might grow up thinking she had two mums, but alas, she shall mainly know me as a two dimensional figure for the immediate future (at least I can still watch her grow, thank you Skype). Still, there will be many years for spoiling my dear Avery, and I shall do my best to provide her with some strong moral and spiritual guidance in addition with a sparkly magic wand or two as the years unfold (as per the job description provided for the role of god-mother)

First and foremost, however, I have made it my mission to ensure her noggin is always protected in fine style!

Sleep tight, Avery Grace, then come and visit Sweden soon!

Two!

2011-08-18T17:16:00.002+02:00

There were several birthdays to celebrate over the summer whilst in Canada, including the second birthday of our nephew Kieran.

Kieran is big-time into trucks and heavy machinery so there was definitely a 'röd tröd' or common thread running though many of the boxes and bags that were opened.

In preparation for the arrival of Clara, Kieran was preparing to move out of the nursery and into a 'big boy room' - a room we sensed might be in need of some decorations - so picked up some truck-centric wall art/hooks we found at one of our fave Swedish design stores. To be honest, I am pretty sure both Richard and I were expecting rather little immediate interest from the little one, but sufficient excitement from his mom and dad, however we learned a very important lesson: truck shaped, shiny and not stuck in an impossible-to-open package = very exciting gift! It made me giggle a little to see his little mittens clenching onto the red digger and pusher wall hooks while countless other bags and boxs were opened ...

Nice work Design Torget for manufacturing something that was as appealing to Richard and me as it was to the little one. Of course, the shinny little red things were quickly forgotten once the big toys came along, but that's more than understandable!

Kieran masters the new digger with Richard's dad, Allan, 'overseeing' the action

And then came the piece de resistance of the party: a cement-mixer shaped birthday cake courtesy of Oma (Richard's mom, Eva)!

Speaking of cakes, I simply had to post a photo of the beautiful buttercream cake Eva made for me just a few weeks later - yum yum yum! (NB - it says 33 NOT 35, please!).

It was great to be around to celebrate this milestone, and we are sure to aim for a repeat next year if Kieran's wished-for special guest star arrives: mid-Tour de France Kieran announced Andy Schleck (Team leader for Leopard Trek) would be coming to his third birthday party!

Before I wrap up the photos of my ever so cute and terribly clever nephew (you can tell how smart he is from the photos, can't you?!?), here are two lovely shots from our trip to the Toronto Zoo.

water park fun

meeting the penguins

Summer - round I

2011-08-17T12:05:00.002+02:00

After our July whirlwind tour through Canada I am not exactly sure where to begin but I suspect it is best to take this in stages.

As I flip back through the pics we did take, I am amazed at the things we didn't capture. Guess we better come back for another visit, eh?? Appologies to those who escaped our lens (Dunc and Jill, Dunk and Drew, Crabby and Steve-o, ...), and cheers to all who shared the time with us! It was great to see as many of you as we did, and to those we missed, hopefully we will catch you the next time.

Ok, round I: MTB weekend in Elicottville --

Let it be known that knitting is an incredibly important part of a mountain biking weekend!

Also, for the record, there is a Canadian flag on the near side of the porch :)

Hot new ride!!!

There was actually some riding involved in the weekends' shinanagans, however apparently we felt it unworthy of the camera. That, or we were breathing too hard to think straight :) Fortunately Richard did manage to snap a shot of my lovely new True North hard tail bicycle, complete with S&S couplers so it packs up neatly into a backpack that travels as regular luggage!! Thanks Hugh - she is absolutely lovely! There are some much more artsy (and cleaner!) shots of my lovely bike on the TN website if you are in need of more deets :)

the bike in transit mode

And, as per any outing with the Prouse Pair and the Beer Evanses, we ate, and ate well!


David (dare I say Darius?!?) demonstrating some fine beer can chicken cuisine

Tecla at the start of a rather fun birthday celebration ... three cheers for Swedish snapps!

The delightful Ms Evans sporting her fabulous glo-stick halo (thank you, Swedish snapps!)

super delicious birthday cake!

Post-snapps birthday dance party out on the lawn.

If all birthdays could be this well fêted, I dare say even the toughest of birthday critics could be convinced of their goodness. Thanks friends!

plus one

2011-08-16T20:02:00.002+02:00

So, mid-August is upon us. Richard is back at work (no students yet, but soon), and I am back in the classroom taking the one mandatory course I am required to complete in order to receive my degree from Uppsala Universitet. And there has been no blogging since June! Terrible. Yep, things have been busy the last month or two, and are (in another sort of a way) busy again now – but things are well and we shall work hard to catch up here.

I am currently commuting back and forth to Uppsala and have vowed to try and get in some regular posting during the 2+ hours of train riding each day ... it will depend a bit on the wifi connection, but hopefully I can bring things a bit more up to date before we get too far into the next round of adventures!

However ...before I delve into any summer pics, I have far more important news to share ... on Sunday Richard's sister had a little girl --

Clara Ocean Solaris Jackson

mum and bubs

the Jackson four (plus truck, I hear Kieran was a tad more into the truck than the little sister!)

There are definitely some things that make living abroad a bit tougher. Not being there to see our neice in her early days is certainly one of them. I suppose we shall simply have to make up for it by spoiling her rotten down the road a few months when we do get to see her! Still ...

If you see our niece, please give her a tiny squeeze from her uncle leroy and auntie jennie.

Staples, paint brushes and wooded trails

2011-06-06T22:27:00.000+02:00

Thanks to a great alignment in 'red days' we ended up with a really long long-weekend the last few days! It came at a pretty good time as we recently had a little exploration of the Swedish medical system and were both feeling a bit wiped ...

11 days post emergency appendectomy

Alas, this meant we had to forgo the MTBing and kayaking trip on the Höga Kusten (the high coast) with our friends Per and Frida, but it turned out a loooong weekend in Gävle really hit the spot.

We checked out the new X-Men film, had some nice dinners with friends, enjoyed the amazing summer weather and Richard even humoured my desires for a small home reno project! I have been dying to brighten our entrance/hallway since we moved in ...

So Wednesday I picked up a big bucket of paint and some wallpaper (it's all the rage in Sweden) and went to town ...

I got the paint finished on Saturday and Richard was up for helping so we did the wallpaper together today. I think we were both pleasantly surprised at how smoothly and relatively un-messily it came together. And it is MUCH nicer and brighter to come into our apartment now.

Of course there was still time for some outdoor adventures. Richard managed a little run yesterday - about 2.5 km - and felt great afterwards! At least the appendix ordeal meant his ankle had some good healing time!

I also managed some biking this weekend - both on and off road! The weekend before Richard's appendix checked out he and I had found some sweet biking trails!

MTB trails ... even labelled ones! SO excited.

What a relief to have finally found trails again! And since then I have been out with local riders in two other locations that we can easily access by bike ... although smultronik has proven quite effective for transporting both of our bikes with lots of room to spare!

In any case, I think we are going to be able to re-claim our 'mountain biker' status again soon ... we will got a bit nervous there last year, but turns out we just needed to follow the right people into the woods ... and the 4 new wheels don't hurt either. Now we just need to get rid of a few staples in someone's gut so he doesn't tear his spandex :)

Twenty degrees, twenty-one kilometers

2011-05-08T20:44:00.000+02:00

First, let me say we are working on getting a post-ski holiday blog post together ... and hopefully it will be worth the wait! Here is a little teaser

But today it was +20 and brilliantly sunny and skiing seemed a long time ago, and there were some other events to report!

After our trip north got cut short a few days (more on that later), Richard and I were even more committed to a little idea we had been batting around since the end of HalvVasan, namely, doing a long running race this weekend. We hadn't had many weeks for run training, but we had gotten in a couple of longer runs in the weeks before the Easter ski-travaganza, so felt it was within the realm of possible.

Richard had been eyeing an ultra marathon on the island of Lidingö, just outside Stockholm. The cool thing: one could also do a ½ distance, and the 26 km and 50 km courses shared the same course! This meant I could actually keep Richard company and participate (at least for a while) in one of Richard's crazy running adventures. He did a darn good job selling the merits and encouraging me to join and even managed to talk me into it. Everything seemed set ... until, that is, a mid-week game of volley ball led to an elephant sized problem:

Yes, check out that cankle! I think these are sufficiently gross in small format that I shan't increase their size any more!

Oddly, Richard felt nearly no pain, however the swelling and bruising have been rather incredible. So rather than prepping for the ultra, Richard has spent the last 12 days icing and elevating and icing the darn thing. And, despite his very best effort to be back on track for the weekend, he is still swollen round the joint:

Sunday, May 8 - has toes again, but is still missing a malleolus or two

This left me wondering what to do: I felt able for a longer race, not really interested in keeping up run training (since the last two weeks have involved no biking as a sacrifice for the run training) so felt like it was now or not again for a while, and my interest towards a longer running race had actually been piqued.

Friday night we made the call that the Stockholm race just wasn't a good idea fit for us anymore, but in lieu, we were lucky to have a slightly shorter and much closer to home race: enter the Gävle Halvmarathon!

So Saturday I rested and tried to recuperate a bit from the last two rather intense weeks of work with Laura Punnett, visiting scholar from U Mass Lowell ...

Oodles of data dispersion curves from some simulations I ran on a very cool data set of Laura's

... and this morning I joined our friend Hasse at the start line for the ½ marathon!

we might have been a bit nervous ...

I haven't run a ½ since 2005 when I ran my first ½ in Boston (2:03.33 -- uhh, slow), but I have now completed a lot more endurance type events, so even without a lot of run training going into today, I was only a bit nervous about how much it would hurt. Besides, it was WAY nicer weather than the cold, windy, snow-laiden-course day I experienced in Boston, so I was pretty excited just to spend a few hours outside!

Hasse (288) and me (193) sharing a patch of the route

At the end of the race, I am delighted to report I am getting faster in my 'old age', with an un-official time of 1:54 (official results up tomorrow). And I even enjoyed the vast majority of the experience, with only a few tougher bits to mentally conquer on the way! Actually, I think the bike ride home followed by the climbing of 48 stairs up to our flat might have been the toughest part of the whole experience! Hmm ... I just might try this distance again some time soon, especially if someone promises to carry me to our door at the end of it all :)

Look I am even smiling at the end!

Although I wasn't quite flying along those last 100 m like Hasse!

All the same, it was a bit of a bittersweet day as I was running without Richard, who took on the support role today and provided me and Hasse with water and encouragement at regular intervals which were much appreciated: it really was hot compared to recent weather and fluids were in high demand! [As a funny aside, Richard said runners behind me and Hasse picked up our discarded water bottles on several occasions and Richard had to chase them down to get our bottles back! Guess we weren't the only thirsty ones!] A big thanks also to Catherine and her brother David for coming out and cheering us on and providing fluid at a critical location!

So, here's hoping the ankle continues on its healing path, and does so pronto: I am not too sure how much longer Richard's patience can last, especially with this kind of weather! And maybe we will find another suitable ultra race (with non ultra option) to try out together: any suggestions?!?

1 Day. 24 Hours. 34 Million Lives.

2011-05-01T21:15:00.000+02:00

I stumbled upon this cool CBC initiative over the weekend, just in time to grab the camera on our way out for the evening. I took a bit of footage at our first Swedish Walpurgis (Valborgsmössoafton) celebration which I have now uploaded to the project. Who knows - maybe our Saturday night blaze will make it into the records of what Canadians did on April 30, 2011!

Easy as one, two, three, four ...

2011-05-01T21:04:00.000+02:00

On April 11th, I cast my vote using this super schnazzy voting package I received in the post that day:

Thank you Elections Canada for this super easy to follow, time relevant process!

Easy, that is, if you enjoy myriad envelopes and ill-tasting envelope paste and are able to locate (unassisted) the names of the constituents in your riding (no web link was included in any of the instructions included in the voting package) and can get it all back to Ottawa for either April 26th or May 2nd, depending on which of the instruction sets you opt to follow: no sir, there is none of that there in-ter-net or digital age stuff in our votin' process in Canada!

The paper system also ensures that one must post one's vote in plenty of time - long before the final opinion polls have been conducted and the final election issues have unfolded. Given the time it seems to take letters to arrive to Canada, I turned this bad boy around within 24 hours and sure hope it has made its way to Ottawa.

I will confess to feeling a bit ripped off in having had to cast my vote so far in advance, but still, I am grateful to have had the chance to vote. Now here's hoping there is some serious voter turnout tomorrow, Canada (hint hint!).

Prep time

2011-04-11T19:58:00.003+02:00

Since returning from France it has been a time for head-down and hard work. It has been great to crank through some thesis data analysis, and also to have several good meetings with two of my supervisory committee to talk about what comes next. I also have an abstract (almost) together for submission this week to the International Ergonomics Association conference which will be held next year in Brazil (here's hoping that goes through)!

In addition to some good work hours last weekend, we managed to get in a great long run yesterday (enjoying our lovely warm spring weather - about +10) which will be our last before a potential race weekend in early May (depending on how our legs feel) and also started the packing for our upcoming Easter extravaganza (where we may destroy our legs a little bit and thus negate racing the week after returning from said trip ... we'll see!).

Thursday we are meeting Rob and Juliette (two Canadian friends) at the airport in Stockholm and heading north to the arctic circle for the last round of spring skiing! This trip has involved some rather complex planning and booking (1 flight, 1 car hire, 3 trains, 1 carpool, 1 'snow weasel', hotels/hostels in three locations, equipment rentals, ... ), but it should lead to an awful lot of skinning up and then skiing down and I suspect it will be more than worth it in the end!

Here is a rough idea of where we are going:

First, we will be joining a Swedish freeride camp in Abisko, then doing some off-piste skiing at Riksgränsen (the northernmost ski resort in the world) and then wrapping things up with some top-touring at Sylarna in the Jämtlandstriangeln, where Richard and I spent our Easter holidays last year! And this year we have even get a room just for our group rather than sleeping on the ground with 35 of our new best friends!

Last night we got together most of our gear and began the packing ... good grief is there ever a lot of equipment involved!

I also cut my first pair of skins so my AT gear is all ready to go! It was actually much easier than I thought it was going to be, which was good because the evening sped by!

So, now it is just a matter of completing that abstract, writing a computer programme and crunching through some data to send off to a visiting scholar, finishing a few weeks of Swedish homework and making sure that at least the essentials are packed in our rucsacks and are onto the train with us come Thursday night! Hmmm ... I had better get at it!

Spring skiing ... of a steeper sort

2011-03-28T22:26:00.003+02:00

This spring is shaping up to be a total spoiled-rotten ski fest ... and I, for one, am extremely excited! To kick things off, I headed back to Chamonix for a week to shred it up with my friend Krista. This all came about rather recently after she decided to take a bit of time away from the rat race following some pretty crazy years of work, and I ended up with a stack of overtime hours to take after all those crazy cold mornings and evenings out at the ramp at Arlanda. So, it was a girls week in the mountains, sampling the ski bum lifestyle!

Grand Montets - Day 1 - check out that sun!

We were treated to amazing blue skies and brilliant sunshine for six days straight - a pretty big treat after the dark winter months!

ski bum (in) heaven

With the warm temps the snow line is quickly retreating and the conditions were quite varied - we definitely skied a lot of hard packed bumps and had to pick through the rocks from time to time - but with dark blue skies and gorgeous rays, it was pretty hard to complain about a darn thing! We alternated skiing in the Valley Blanche at Grand Montets (it had the best snow around Chamonix) with trips to Courmayeur, Italy (two trips), and to Verbier, Switzerland.

I completely failed to get posts up whilst in France - there way too much eating of delicious cheese and drinking of fine red wine, I guess - so I shall simply throw together a few pics now to try and capture the week.

Courmayeur -

Proof we hired a guide before heading off-piste (as promised, mum!)

And then into the back country we went!!

Krista finishing off the last chute

Our cozy Italian lunch spot (again, spot the guide)

The snow ran out about 30 m short of the car park

Verbier (or somewhere en route) -

If you look very closely you can see the Swiss flag

We were a bit nervous about the amount of brown around us as we pulled into the Verbier car park

And our skis were a bit confused by their surrounds as we travelled up the first gondola, but soon they were back in their element!

Yes, that is ALL bumps

A well earned lunch break after all those bumps

Almost down the bottom, gazing up at Mt. Fort

Dad, I know we didn't get skiing together this winter, but do know I was thinking about you as we headed back up after our bump skiing bonanza and lovely lunch - here's a little taste of the day.

The blue just took my breath away each day (or was that the altitude?!?)


End of day temperature check ... talk about spring skiing!

And back again at Grand Montets


The glacier was stunning but no skiing for us over there

Our fave lunch spot

Of course we also managed some fine aprés ski - often in the comfort of the gorgeous 'little' place Krista had let for the week! An enormous shout out to my fine hostess for making all these shenannigans possible :) Can't wait to be back to play in your lovely new backyard, my dear!

the view off the balcony - Mont Blanc with moon!

So, now it is head down and work work work for a few weeks so we will be all set for the next round of spring skiing adventures come Easter with the Prouses!! Look out arctic, here we come :)

Gimme that Old Fashioned Planetary Romance

2011-03-26T15:36:00.009+01:00

In a little while now Jennie will return from 'girls week' skiing at Chamonix and Courmayeur - must - control - jealousy - at which point you will be inundated with incredible photos of steep white mountain faces would give most mere mortals pause. Yes that means me, but Jennie told me she was skiing far better than she was during our trip at Christmas ... wowsers.

In the mean time here in Gävle I have been getting in some good running as the temperature gets warmer and the days grow ever longer. In fact, even mornings when I get up early to take a pre-teaching jaunt it is now quite sunny and warm.

Of course, as due punishment for my efforts I have now found myself waking up every morning at abysmal pre-6am hours. The ever-earlier sunlight isn't helping, but it's more than that. I have caught some sort of morning person blight. But still-snowy trails mean that most of my running is still on pavement, where I can definitely feel the kilometers in my joints a lot more, so I haven't been heading out the door each time the dark magic disturbs my rest . There's no reason to risk injury before I can return to the forgiving cushion of dirt. But I still get up in the mornings, having learned that there's no point in trying for that last 45 minutes of sleep any more, instead doing some schoolwork, or surfing last night's news from the North American timezones, or sometimes I bust out some fiction reading to start my day.

Now, I have never been ashamed of the fact that when it comes to books, I tend to be a little bit low brow (and proudly so). I don't like Margaret Atwood. I have a couple of literature degrees, but I am really not interested in novels with something 'important' to say. And yes, I like my fiction as escapist as possible; when I want plodding and ponderous real-life stuff? I'll become a more boring person and go live it. Until then, gimme monsters, aliens, magic, mad science, and make sure it all comes with a healthy serving of action to boot.

Well, in my research way back at Christmastime when I was mapping out my sci-fi elective course (yes, I get to teach a class in sci-fi. No, I don't talk about work too much on here), and in particular I was researching some of the important authors from the 19th and early 20th centuries and their work. Obviously I knew Edgar Rice Burroughs from Tarzan, but as I had never been a big fan of Tarzan (or apes), I hadn't ever given much mind to his pre-Tarzan early serial success, the Barsoom stories. But after reading a recommendo in Wired about the first book in the series, A Princess of Mars which could now be found free online, I decided to give it a look. This e-reading would also give me a chance to wow my lovely wife with my computer savvy by downloading it free to my oft-neglected iPod from Project Gutenberg. Win-win!

In the end Jennie only had to help me with the computer-savvy transferring part a little.

old-school, original or close to it, cover art

The result? I fracking loved it.

From the complete lack of moral ambiguity, to the rollicking non-stop action, to the crazy monsters and alien races, all of which gets described in the wonderfully hyperbolic language that also makes me a big Sherlock Holmes fan - I just loved it. Of course, part of me also feels obliged to point out the gender depictions and perspectives of the book as being incredibly dated, but then I just have to look at the claims that the newly released Sucker Punch is somehow empowering to women, and really? I can't honestly say that I think too much has changed in the ninety or so years since Princess was first published.

No really - I always feel super empowered when I forget my pants, too!

The plot of Princess is pretty straightforward: through a fortunate if unexplained means, southern gentleman soldier John Carter ends up teleported to Mars, where he has crazy adventures and pretty much ends up running the joint through his bravery, courageous fighting spirit, and the preternatural physical gifts that the reduced martian gravity avails to his typical, if athletic, earthly physique.

And yes, as it turns out Mars is replete with babes - pretty much all of whom are princesses to some race or kingdom or another - and definitely all of whom go through their eternally nubile lives stark naked except for some ornately described S&M harnesses. Of course, to be fair all the guys are naked also, and all of this fleshiness is made much more fun by the fact that Burroughs was writing in the twenties, and thus a lot of the juicy parts of the tale (like the nudity) are all about what isn't said or described, as opposed to what is.

Look familiar? A Princess of Mars was there first!

In a time when sci-fi action story girls are gussied up to the point of absurdity - I mean, those Sucker Punchers are waaay too ridiculous and obvious to be anything close to sexy - well, I can appreciate the old-fashioned chauvinism of Burroughs.

more Princess cover art - and yes, sometimes the big crazy green dudes are good guys

The thing is, I'm not actually kidding around here. No tongue in the cheek. While I have not seen Sucker Punch (yet - I'm sure I will eventually), I read all the reviews with the dedication of a good nerd, and I know from director Zack Synder's previous work that some good ol' rape is pretty much guaranteed to be included. And almost as tiresome to me as attempting to dress up the idea of having cute girls wear skimpy costumes as being "empowering" is the notion that including sexual violence grounds anything in 'gritty' dramatic realism. It just isn't entertaining. Ever.

you want empowering? This is empowering - she wore suits. Or scrubs underneath a lab coat. Like a professional. Pretty much always. And her mere ID tag is still far sexier than the entire cast of Sucker Punch combined.

Princess might bring up the threat of impropriety regarding Mars' beautiful maidens, but given the nature of the story you know it isn't ever going to happen. More interestingly to me, this lack of a 'real' threat never detract from the story - but still, the conceit works. You know Indiana Jones will escape; you know Wesley and Buttercup will make it through together; and you know that John Carter will end up so happy together with the martian apple of his eye, Deja Thoris.

"this one blew them all away"

It is with this 'other' Princess story that A Princess of Mars shares the most in common. Of course, the Barsoom saga was around decades before "As you wish" took on any special association for us, but obviously more people are familiar with Princess Bride than with Burrough's epic, so I am using a reverse-chronological comparison to match.

Let's face it; Buttercup doesn't actually do too much. When I was showing the film to my English classes for our film unit earlier this year, having not watched it myself for a number of years, there were definitely times (like in the Fire Swamp) where I found myself cringing just a little at the extent of her damsel in distressed-ness. Learn how to swing a stick, girl! Thankfully I use enough clips and examples from Buffy in all of my classes to feel okay about the message I am sending to my female students.

And like Buttercup, Princess Deja Thoris doesn't actually do a heck of a lot. Both princesses might be called 'spirited,' but in terms of participating in the action of the story, both are decorative for all intents and purposes. Yes, it is a pretty old fashioned relationship between the hero and his love.

conversely to that dated dynamic, you go, paper bag princess!

But therein also lies what makes the old-fashionedness of the stories most enjoyable to me: love. As with Wesley, John Carter's adventures on Mars are all motivated by love. Chivalrous, gentlemanly love. First he is trying to win the love of Deja Thoris, and then he spends the next two stories trying to rescue and reunite with her. He isn't looking for power, or (gag me with its overuse) some democratic ideal of freedom; John Carter is in love. And then as a gentleman, and he is compelled by chivalry to act.

Yes, I also dig the chivalry. Even when the princess who needs saving in a particular situation isn't Deja Thoris, John Carter never hesitates to do what any gentleman must do. And just as certain, when the gorgeous princess(es) falling in love with him aren't his true love, he humbly and honourably turns down their affections. As narrator he constantly describes himself as a simple soldier who has eyes for no other - even though the princesses who subsequently appear in his adventures are drawn as increasingly interesting and capable characters (which I think is pretty telling in and of itself, but that's a tome for another day). He is in love. He has eyes only for one princess of Mars.

In all fairness, I should also point out that the male ideal John Carter represents appears just as dated to contemporary eyes as does his female counterpart - he reminds me of another of my favourite characters, one who was already relegated from being the hero to a supporting figure in an ensemble setting more than twenty years ago now:

it isn't just female characters whom we want and expect more complexity from these days. But I still enjoy Worf's low (and rugged) brow-ness

John Carter might be a peerless warrior on Mars, but he could no more carry a modern tale as its leading man (at least, as he was written by Burroughs) any more than Deja Thoris would make for a satisfyingly 'active' heroine.

Still, the love remains. Earnest, unapologetic, not jaundiced or jaded or ever complicated by gritty dramatic realism. Does that make it entirely unrealistic? Sure, I've already 'confessed' that I enjoy and seek out fiction as a break from reality. But I see nothing wrong in believing in ideals, and to whatever degree the principles we hold can effect our lives and the reality around us, I'm pretty happy to stick with the idea of true love. I grow tired of every hero being an anti-hero, or character 'complexity' that consists of including a number of less savoury human traits. Perhaps at one time that was somehow fresh or different, but quite frankly that trend itself now feels very dated to me, and I don't think it has aged well at all.

So that's what I've been reading! Time to get out and jaunt in the cool sunshine for me.

Oh, and I should mention that the Barsoom saga will finally be reaching the big screen next year, in an adaptation called "John Carter of Mars" which will surely disapp - well, let's just say that maybe you should go and enjoy the story in written form, before it becomes too late.

Spring Skiing!

2011-03-19T19:08:00.001+01:00

Spring is starting to make its way to Sweden! The official definition here requires seven consecutive days with daily temperature lows above freezing and now southern Sweden has made it over this barrier. While we haven't quite made the cut, we have certainly enjoyed some amazing sunny and warm days of late and it is really starting to feel like Swedish early spring to me.

Tuesday and Wednesday I was back at Arlanda, and it was a much different story out on the ramp from the -22 and snow that I had had on the last visit! Thank goodness. It was an absolute delight to tag after some flight loaders Wednesday aft and snap shots for use in publications and presentations all the while soaking up the rays.

And today, we awoke to another amazing sunny day in Gävle! It was +4 in the shade when I headed down to test out how Smultronic would handle the skis, and to go pick up Catherine for a birthday ski outing (her birthday, not mine). True, the snow was a bit heavy and slushy and the skiing wasn't all that great, but it was just so nice to be out in the sun enjoying the day!

And, for the record, there is space a plenty for skis and up to three passengers! And boy did it feel luxurious to not hop on the bike after the ski today :)

Now here's hoping for some excellent sunshine AND excellent snow as I try out the spring skiing in Chamonix next week!

The Road Warrior

2011-03-13T17:51:00.016+01:00

...

I know, I know. The similarities are uncanny.

Yes, it's been a while since I put words and pictures together around these parts, but really, how can you miss me if I don't go away? So now just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, of how in celebration of one year of living in Sweden, this weekend we picked up for ourselves the last of the V8 interceptorrr- er, Yarises. Yarii? I don't know. But just like Max's moster Ford Falcon, this hellion on wheels ain't something you can find across the pond. Oh heck no.

Let us begin, however, with how important it was to us to NOT have a car when we first moved over here. We both definitely wanted to kick car culture. We wanted to take the train, and ride our townie bikes. And yes, that is still the plan.

But after twelve months, we were equally excited about the idea of having a car again. It had become apparent that there were some things we were just missing out on because we didn't have the right kind of wheels to get there. I am mostly speaking of mountain biking. And sometimes some skiing, too. And renting a car just ... well, it works, but it ain't cheap, plus you need to plan ahead, and ... okay, we just wanted our own car.

look at all that trunk space! We won't even need to dismember the bodies!

So as we geared (har!) up to celebrate a year in Sweden, we started looking around. Our criteria were fairly straightforward: it must be bulletproof (as in: it will always start - I wasn't trying to be funny), and it must be as small (and thus as frugal on bensin) as we could get away with while still being able to fit skis and bikes. After that, it simply a question of taking a short list and making it even shorter by sticking with that which served us so well in Canada: we were gonna buy a Toyota.

A quick jaunt (on our town bikes, against a strong wind, and over lots of ice, naturally) to the Gävle Toyota dealership last weekend confirmed our model of choice, and then the hunt for a vehicle could begin in earnest. As Jennie reflected during our test drive of a 2010 model with the new 1.33 litre engine (up from the previous 1.3), six speed transmission, etc, etc: "Yep; it's smooth, pretty quite ride, and boring; it's a Toyota."

And with that, it was official: we were going to become Yaris people.

slightly blurry, bad composition with the reflection; but you can't beat honest car-excitement emotion

As an aside: there is a level of trust inherent in Swedish culture that is quite foreign to we - well, I don't need to finish that pun - even when hailing from as 'friendly' a place as Canada. The sales rep asked us if we wanted a test drive the car, and only after Jennie inquired back if he would like to see them did he check that we had licenses. We didn't have to leave anything (or take anyone) with us: we just hopped in the car and left. It's great here.

After leaving our number in case anything in our ballpark showed up on their used lot (cars aren't cheap over here, and Yarises hold their value really well - we wouldn't be looking for too late a model), we went home and began to search Blocket.se - aka Swedish Craig's List - for a little car to call our own. And in pretty short order we found what we were looking for.

So here's the problem: once we had decided to buy a Yaris, I began to envision what shape this blog entry would take. Yes, I was planning to play the manly riffs of bad-assed-ness for irony against our choice of a tiny, gutless vehicle: stock Yarises over here in the model years we were looking at came with sub-litre engines that pumped out a heavy-breathing 68 horsepower.

I use "heavy breathing" because once, when I was buying a car magazine in university, the check out girl poked fun at the wording of the cover story which was "Heavy Breathing Hatchbacks" ... she was unimpressed by the sexual overtones themselves, not their connection with station wagons, by the way. See? Cars depictions in the media as being ripe for comically macho poking.

It's like an F1-rally-space shuttle of majesty.

But then a funny thing happened - up came an ad for a Toyota Yaris Sport 1.5T. What we cared about was the condition (looked great), the kms (pretty low for an '01), and yes, the colour - it was something other than the awesome gold tone which I love and Jennie hates. And Jennie hated my intention to name a car that colour "Nugget" even more. What the heck was a Yaris Sport T?

Jennie driving our anniversary present back to Gävle: "You! You can run, but you can't hide!"

What indeed.

Here now is my dilemma; on the one hand, yes, we still bought a Yaris. But on the other hand? And completely unexpectedly? Our little red beast is a lot more fun to drive than, well, a lot of other cars I've driven. Even some nice, sports-minded cars. I just don't really know if anyone is going to believe me enough to make it worth while talking about the upgraded suspension, the short-throw shifter and clutch, the stiffer body, the skirting, the completely silly spoiler, and yes, the upgraded 1.5 litre engine that puts out a heavy-breathing 105 horsepowers.

see? Not sport, or Sport, but SPORT

Honest to goodness, the little critter can go. And corner. And is more damned good fun to drive than it ought to be. Plus it's red, which made the naming part almost as easy as Nugget would have been. We give you:

Smultronik!

Now before you start making jokes about us calling our car a name that not-so-roughly translated to "robo-strawberry" just remember one thing: we're talking smultron here, not jordgubbar, which actually makes the not-so-rough translation "wild robo-strawberry." Which is way more than 105 horsepowers of awesomeness.

smultrons: fastest of the fast berries

And there you are.

One year plus in Sweden for us! We'll be seeing you Canucks again come the end of June for a visit of some weeks, but things are going really well over here. Good times, good times.