Saturday we arrived at Moms Aunts house and they sit around and talk and talk and talk both with their knittings, Aunt making socks that she donates, and what Mom is making I'm not sure.

It's very beautiful here, and yesterday we went for a very long walk, almost 5 miles, and Mom was so surprised I made it all the way. Once I laid down to rest so Mom carried me for a little while, but she says I'm too heavy so I continued on my own.

It was a very nice walk the view was amazing, and I met this herd of sheep that was so curious checking me out. Mom said the fence was electric so she held me back from going to visit.

People here decorate their mailboxes, some very different and fun looking

I'm wondering if this is an Evil Knievel in training place? you have to start early if you're going to be any good Mom says.

We were walking on a trail for training dogs, and here was a bar to jump up on  and balance, easy peasy I say, but it was way to tall for me to jump up on. 

Weather is nice and sunny, but it's freezing with temperatures between 40 and 50. but as long as it isn't raining there's always more sweaters, and in Lucy we have the heater on in the evenings. 

Mom's peppers froze in the fridge, and so did all her veggies. Guess when it's cold outside she better turn it down a tad.

This morning aunt and Mom once again went for a long walk, but I was put on Lucy watch wich I didn't mind at all since my paws still were exhausted from yesterday. Mom thought I was limping a tad, but I was just stiff and are feeling much better now. I am risking getting a bath later on because I've been running around in the woods, and Mom says I'm better than Hoover vacuum to suck up all the branches and dirt there is.

Today is Swedens national day, but you hardly notice, because it's not celebrated as we do it in the USA on July 4th. Swedes have not celebrated this day for very long, so I guess people don't know what to do. Prior to 1983, the day was celebrated as the Swedish flag day. At that time, the day was renamed to the national day by the Riksdag.
The tradition of celebrating this date began 1916 at the Stockholm Olympic Stadium, in honor of the election of King Gustav Vasa in 1523, as this was considered the foundation of modern Sweden.

Some question the validity of this as a national holiday, as it was not observed as a holiday until decades later. However this event does signify the end of the Danish-ruled Kalmar Union, so in a sense it is a marking of Swedish independence, though the event occurred so long ago that it does not have as strong of a presence in the social consciousness as does, for example, Norway's 17 May

In 2005 it became an official Swedish public holiday, replacing Whit Monday. This change led to fewer days off from work (more working days) as 6 June will periodically fall on the weekend, unlike Whit Monday, which was always celebrated on a Monday. This has in turn, led to complaints from some Swedish unions.

Wonder if Dad and Lilly knows to haul the Swedish flag today ? 

ALL IS WELL

BUTTONS

Early morning and I really don't feel like getting out of bed, but as usual Mom gets up and make coffee and are always in such a hurry to make the bed, so I have to get up. Good thing I can go back to sleep after my morning whizz. For the first night, we're staying at a campsite so Mom could take care of the laundry and we have free WiFi, that works like a charm despite the fact we're now far into the mountain forests. 

We're in a small town nice and quiet and mountains all around, not like the kind we saw last year in Norway, but still pretty. Amazingly enough, they do have traffic lights here, and people wait for the green light before crossing the streets, despite no cars coming.

This is supposed to look like a bear but not quite sure ? It's all made of planks, but I think the artist made some miss calculations and had to prop up his head after he finished.

Driving along I could tell Mom was happy when she saw the snowcapped mountains like she's really at home. She says this is pretty but under no circumstances would she be smiling if she was here in the cold and dark winter. There was nowhere to pull over for pictures of that, but we did stop at a stream in a place called Noppikoski, a name that sounds funny to Mom so she kept repeating it for me .....ha

This river is about 70 miles long, and in the old times they used to send the logs down to the coast by 
floating them down stream.
 Here at Noppikoski is a narrow passage and a waterfall, so there was a battle in this section and it caused 
some concern about logs getting stuck.There are many stories about the timber getting stuck and forming big stacks here during the 
floating operations . Once, in the early 1900s ther was a hughe stack of more than two hundred thousand 
logs here. A man with the nickname "The Beak", was summoned . He was a specialist in how to 
blow timber stacks apart.
 Just when he was at the bottom of the river channel and loading the dynaminte, the timber began to move.
 All except "the Beak" made it to saftey. He was hit with a large stone and disappeared in the stream.
 He got up again , but a log hit him in the back and everybody thought that it was the end of him. 
A moment later, however, the spectators see how "the Beak" crawled up on the shore, bruised and wet.
 He went to the hut , changed clothes and went back to work as if nothing had happened .Don't know the truth about this story , but it's a little amusing.

   
Driving along in a slow pace taking in all what nature offers, hoping to see a moose or a bear or
or something wild..........but no such luck
Here's a swamp, but no gators here.......

   

This is a spot where you can take a break, fish and cook the catch on the fire. It's so peaceful and the best part
no mosquitos yet. There's plenty of pollen though, makes it a little tough on Mom, but she'll 
have to choke it up.

  
   

    

   

After we set up camp, and Mom loaded the washing machine we went for a walk along the river,
it was a gorgeous evening.

    

   

in this little town, they have a charge station for cars, looks like something from a sience fiction movie
but soon a reality in many parts of Sweden.

        

    
Now I'm caught up in my story, and it all happened while I was taking a nap. Later today
we'll continue the drive north, to visit with Moms aunt.
All is well, miss you all.
Buttons

Once again Mom is giving me the excuse of no WiFi where we have been and yes I know her modem does not work well at Lotta's house. There's a lot of nice little birds at her house.This guy lives where we park Lucy, and it's very difficult to get a picture since they are such quick flyers

We stayed there waiting for the mailman hoping he'll bring the letter from the bank Mom needed and he did, so with the new card in hand we waved goodbye to Lotta and Morre and continued north.

Of course, we had to stop to see if "our"filly was running around outside yet.Hard to tell who is who now

Driving in the country there is a shortage of manned gas station, so you need to use a card with a pin code, so with the new card in hand, there was no anticipation of a problem as we pulled into a pump. There was, pin don't work. Lamp showing low fuel level turned yellow, and we're in the middle of F&^#% woods. Mom waved down a guy on a moped asking him where the closest manned station was, ca.18 miles away was the answer, but not in the direction we were going. Mom expressed her disappointment over and over with words I can't repeat here, it would upset my Buddy Max. We did this detour, Mom driving very gently, and sitting very light in the seat hoping there'll be enough fuel. It was.

Stopped to take a nap at the big horse

Mom's uncle had one of these exactly the same color, so she got a  little nostalgic

Bank issue have to be resolved, so we must head to next big city, which we did. I watched Lucy while Mom went to the bank, and the problem was an easily fixable misunderstanding. Knowing Mom she probably ripped into the bank lady anyway so I'm glad I was put on Lucy watch.
In the evening, we visited a place who had 2 cats, neither interested in making friends so I took a nap while Mom was eating strawberries drinking champagne and chatting with friends. She had forgotten her camera again.

While we were gone somebody forgot the meaning of mine or yours, but Mom didn't notice so we aren't really sure..........but highly suspicious.

Following day, Elvy came with us for a ride in Lucy. I gave her my seat, and we had some nice relaxing time at her summer place.

Mom didn't really cut grass with this thing, it's mostly a pose showing off .....

Elvy digging in the garden

When Mom sees this, she's daydreaming about being a kid again 

All is well