Senaste inläggen
Av EvaLena Hallgren - 21 augusti 2013 20:13
It’s unbelievable how time flies when you’re having fun, it’s already Aug.21 and fall sure is in the air. Flowers are wilting and it’s much cooler. Leaves on trees haven’t changes color yet, but from what I see it’ll happen real soon.................so pretty soon we’ll prepare for our drive south.
Still it’s so gorgeous here, and last Saturday we went to visit Mom friends in their summer house.............we were driving forever on a small dirt road, I noticed Mom being nervous, and I didn’t like it all, as a matter of fact I threw up a little............At last her friend met up in his car to help her find the right road...................and OMG I thought he was kidding !!!! Mom and Adrienne is going to drive in there ???? ..............when I heard Mom revving the engine ..........................I laid down and closed my eyes...............they made it .........(the picture doesn't show what a steep hill it was )
after a big sigh of relief we both noticed an absolutely breathtakingly gorgeous place. Water on both sides and the cutest little house..............
This is Jean and Monicas summer house.......................awesome place
There was a lot of catching up and chatting about old times, and a delicious dinner was served............evening went very quickly and it soon got dark and time for bed
it rained a lot all night so the morning walk was wet and gross...............I was not a very happy camper
later in the day sun came out and everything dried up, so Jean and Monica took us for a ride around the lake...............I never knew there was so many trees...........and a dining place by a lake in the middle of nowhere, no houses in sight ............looked like it has been here for awhile.
This was quite interesting ????? smelled good, but it was weird ? nothing like I smelled before ?..............It’s moose poop Mom said, Ohhh ............like meatballs at the stable ?.................judging by the size I thought it’ll be gourmet , but noooooooooo ............... what a disappointment.
I was told some industrial children made necklaces of it, and sold to tourists.............what about the smell ?? they varnished them ...hahaha
This is called the red gold of the forest......................it’s lingon berries and a very important jam to serve with Swedish meatballs. When Mom was a puppy she had to pick 2 liters to bring to the school kitchen..... and also 1 liter of blueberries. ( the wild ones that grows in the woods like lingon)
After this visit we continued to a small town called Fällfors, ............A place Mom often visited as a puppy. We stayed over night by the stream where the salmon grows, but I tell you more about that tomorrow, it’s now time for evening “fika”
Good Night and wet kisses to you all
Av EvaLena Hallgren - 20 augusti 2013 07:28
Good morning all, I’ve been out in the woods again,places with no connection and worse yet no real bathrooms, or showers. Not that I care much, since there’s lots of trees to choose from. Mom is less thrilled to use Adrienne since she needs to be emptied. Anyway it is gorgeous and you soon forget the little disadvantages.
One day we spent looking for trolls...................stoned trolls........ 
We found so many it was hard to choose which ones to show you, they all had different expressions.........
We found so many it was hard to choose which ones to show you, they all had different expressions.........
That kid Oskar also came along, and he had made a 10 crown bet with Mom that there are no Trolls in the woods, he lost and made his grandma pay up ..........
supposedly there was Santa's in the woods too, we walked and looked, but only found a tiny little one.
Santa's don’t stay around here in the summer, they go to the North Pole I heard..................
on our way back we stopped at Oskar's cousins house, and he showed us his chickens...............
The bigger ones were real funny looking. They had huge feathery “socks” on their feet, and when they walked they waddled .................I wasn’t allowed to chase or go near them since they got nervous as soon as they saw me...................shheeeees ............can’t I ever have a little fun ?
After all this running around Oskar needed a short rest in the hammock, and to count his fingers to make sure they were still all there..................you never know about these trolls, OR chickens
meanwhile Mom was taking pictures of some real lazy bumblebees.............guess they're gettig cold, because it's fall up here now.....................brrrrrr
seedpods
it's now 8 am, and I'm still in bed, don't feel like getting up yet, even though Mom finished my blog, had her coffee, and are ready to go............I noticed my friend Lizze left for work hours ago..............he should have taken me along ...............Mom says I have to get up, it's time for my morning toilet she says ............. bullsh%%..................I know when it's time for that ..........so read your book I'll let you know when I'm ready ....OK .............and Vanja isn't up yet so .............shhhhhhhh
Wet kisses to all
Av EvaLena Hallgren - 16 augusti 2013 08:49
Yes I managed to get Mom to update my blog even though not too much has been happening around here, but I do have a few pictures I like to share.
Life here is pretty uneventful at the time, The ladies are knitting and chatting, while I’m napping and begging.
I got quite a few people around her wrapped around my paw, and the latest is a little boy. It’s true I don’t really care for kids, but this one is real sweet and he doesn’t scream with that high pitched voice. He loves to play soccer with me, and I wish he had control of the fridge, but the grown ups keep telling him it’s no good for me .................and bla bla bla
He's one of Birgitttas puppies puppy and his name is Oskar, he's 9 years old just like me.................
Couple of days ago the ladies went out to celebrate pretty Vanjas birthday, and again I stayed at home, but this time I hade company napping on the couch, and that's better than boring shopping
I do not understand why they drove to a nearby city up North ? city is called Piteå and was the first city to make a no car shopping street. (nowadays most cities have that) Maybe Mom wanted to see how things have changed since her puppy times ? or maybe they didn’t want to look at this ugly fountain in this town ?
This town is called the Riviera of the North, and the beach is really crowded in the summer. It’s the Baltic sea and cold as hell according to Mom, but to her ALL outdoor swimming is cold. It’s also very shallow here so you have to walk forever to get water over your knees...........
On the way home they wanted “fika” and stopped at a promising place that looked pretty, but they only had food so after a few pictures of the light house the search went on
Next stop became the Fish Camp, a very rustic place in the woods where it’s very easy to catch fish because there’s plenty of Artic Char , sea trout and salmon. For the fish you catch you pay by the kilo, so it can get quite expensive.
a link for you who's interested in reading more about this place
These two siblings got to catch one fish each........................parents ready with their wallets
The place is quite rustic, and it’s now off season, so there was no “fika” here either.....................but they each had an ice cream which the seagulls took an interest in
is it possible to build anything more rustic than this ?
Next weekend would be the last day for keeping anything open here, so they are celebrating it with a pig roast.................(who celebrate end of summer ? ) than it’ll open again for ice fishing in the winter
Do you think it's it's possible to get CNN on this antenna ?
a little owl had her own house
There was a lot of old interesting farming tools laying around, and Mom is challenging city Dad to tell what this equipment is used for ...............hehehehe
This tractor was hooked up to make tiles for building roofs, but maybe now used as plates for the pig roast
all in all it was a great day, ladies shopping, me napping, great company, great weather, (just a few short showers) ...............let’s do it again .
Today I heard it’s Aunt visiting on the schedule..................a new one we never met before, hope her fridge is well stuffed.
wet kisses to ALL
Av EvaLena Hallgren - 15 augusti 2013 21:59
It’s Thursday and we’re still at cousins house, wonder how long we can stay without getting into trouble ?
The view is so gorgeous from the house, and it seems like it changes every day
Last night it was so foggy you couldn’t see the lake, it was almost spooky, but still very pretty.........It’s already fall and it’s getting very dark at night..................summer sure is short up here......time to drive south I think....
it’s getting pretty chilly at nights, but days are still beautiful and warm .................The other day we went out to pick mushrooms in the forest. Birgitta’s youngest puppy and friend drove us, and they had already located where they grew, so it was no challenge to get them at all.
we picked enough chanterelles for a soup and delicious sandwiches
there's a lot of these anthills in the forest, and they are quite interesting to stop and study. The little ants are working so fast and carrying 10 times their weight into the hill..........
we also found time to visit Aunt Ingegerd who lives in a place where old people lives. She loved the "fika" we brought, and the long walk we made..........
these are fall flowers that have grown humungous in Birgittas garden.
life is still great, and napping in Adrienne wonderful. ...................as a matter of fact it's time for bed now, so I'll continue my story tomorrow.........
wet kisses to all as usual.
Av EvaLena Hallgren - 13 augusti 2013 08:37
On our way up North to Mom’s puppy town we stopped in a town called Umeå because there was the yearly giant exhibit of stuff to sell. There was everything from cars to yarn. Lucky me got to ride n the stroller, and that was a real good thing because I would have been stepped on many times in this crowd. I did get a lot of attention from people that never seen a dog in a stroller. A police lady was so impressed she even tried pushing me a little, others thought it was silly to have a dog in a stroller, but Mom told me they were just jealous since they don’t have them in Sweden
We were looking at some real fancy RVs but none of them had a better layout than Adrienne, and the prices was way way up there, so no shopping here
The hall with the crafts and clothes was of biggest interest to Mom .............no big surprise huh ? there was booths with gorgeous yarn, and some very nice jewelry. As usual there was no pictures allowed in this place, but Mom tried to memorize as much as possible for future creations for herself.
She did buy a gorgeous dress that she couldn’t resist................what do you think ?
in one booth they were selling makeup .................and this guy modeled some of it. We weren't very impressed, and he still had a big wad of snuff under his lip ..................Mom hates that stuff, and unfortunately it's very common here in Sweden. Both woman and men uses it, and some spits out the stinky stuff in the street. That’s another reason Mom prefers having me in the stroller when in cities.
We are now at cousin Birgitta’s house parked in her yard. She lives on a gorgeous piece of land by a lake 20 km. from the city. Every morning we hear thee rooster from the farm next door, and cows and sheep also makes themselves heard. She has all of her 4 puppies living with their puppies in houses nearby, I’ll tell you more about all that tomorrow..............now I’m ready for my morning toilet.............don’t need a lead here, I can run and run on big fields .................
wet kisses to all ..................
OH, I almost forgot, the other day there was a perfect smiley face in the clouds. Mom stopped Adrienne in the middle of the road to get the camera and take a picture, but it changed so fast .................still can see it a little though
Av EvaLena Hallgren - 11 augusti 2013 06:56
Oh well, another week has gone by before I received any help with updating my blog........and there is no excuse of having bad connection ?? ( only in the beginning of the week)
The God honest truth is, that Mom and Birgitta has been shopping at yarn stores...............and after that I’ve felt terribly rejected and alone. I’m listening to klickety klickety noise from needles all day long........I get a quick bathroom break and than back to click click ....................Yesterday I decided to pout all day to give Mom bad conscience..............so here’s my story for the week
Yarnshop busy fingers, closed for vacation ...................booo hoooo
Other yarnshop open .............whooppiieeee
and this is the result...............
They were in such a rush to get started with their needles so we stopped at the first best campsite, instead of driving to the famous High coast which is Northern Sweden's most gorgeous area. Not that it it was pretty here too, but it wasn’t the High coast..........
I entertained my self by looking out the door at people passing by..................
and taking long naps.....................which by the way isn't too bad.............
We continued our trip North and made a brief stop at a town named Sundsvall. The town was created around an iron mill and important harbor in 1642. It has a port by the Gulf of Bothnia, and is located 395 km north of Stockholm The city has burned down and been rebuilt four times.The first time, in 1721, it was set on fire by the Russian army during the war. The last fire, in 1888, was the largest in Sweden's history. It is presumed that the fire was caused by a spark from a steamship. After that fire, the city center was rebuilt only with stone buildings. Sundsvall's center is therefore nicknamed The stone city, and the old buildings are beautifully decorated with lots of ornaments and towers.
The main street was (like in most Swedish cities ) a no car shopping street.............
and of course there's a park with a fountain like most cities
After the last fire in 1888 a wealthy patron put up a weather vane in shape of a dragon on his rooftop to protect from further disasters. Many copied this and in later years the dragon became the symbol of the city. Now there’s a parade every spring and a new dragon is born and put up on display. Different companies hire artists to paint them as advertisement and children are encouraged to play on them.
This is a fad we noticed in many cities, and even in my puppy town Palm Beach where they had alligators painted.
I think there's no question what company this dragon is to represent .............
I liked this one a lot
but this one was my favorite by far..................giddyup ...................
one really perverse thing here was these window displays ?????????? not sure if this was done on purpose to get peoples attention, or if it was work in progress ?
Right now we are parked at Birgitta's house, but we made one more stop before we got here..................I'll tell you about that tomorrow, because it's now breakfast time...............
all is good here, Mom is almost done with her knitting project ..............hallelujaaaa , more time for me I hope.....................wet kisses to you all....
Av EvaLena Hallgren - 5 augusti 2013 08:19
yesterday was another day I had to watch Adrienne for a few hours again. I’m telling you if this keeps up, I’m going to demand a bigger salary, the one lousy little treat I get isn’t enough anymore. I’ll have to put my paw down for sure. Other than that I really do enjoy this kind of living, new places and new scents almost every day, and I have excellent view from my bed................
Another job of mine is to get everyone out of bed.......................
so much work demands plenty of naps, but don’t be fooled I’m up and alert in a second if need be
we are now camping at the foot of a world famous ski jumping place in Falun.They’re fixing it up to get ready for the WorldChampion-games this winter. Mom told me she has been up in a tower like that, and carefully climbed down. She told me once up there you can’t see the ground where you’re supposed to land........the jumpers must have ice in their bellies for sure
This entire town is built around a very old mine.For well over a thousand years, ore has been extracted from Falun Mine. The start of the mining can be securely dated to the eight century, and there are indications that the mine may be even older. According to one legend, it was a Billy goat that found the ore deposits.
The oldest documents about the mine are from 1288 and 1347.
this mine produced mostly copper and in 1650 the mine yielded over 3000 tons of crude copper.
In 1992 mining ceased, but the pigment for the red paint that is so common in Sweden is still extracted. The paint also function as a wood preserve.
inside the mine it was chilly and 600 + steps down Mom started to feel claustrophobic but managed to keep calm....................( I should have been with her)
Birgitta also looked worried.................
The Billy goat is the town mascot, and shows up everywhere
after a strenuous walk in the mine there was a well deserved “fika” and a train ride around the edge of the mine
There’s a lot of legends about the mine, and one of them is about Fat Mats, ( so nicknamed because he was tall and strong, not fat) who disappeared in to the mine and his body was found 42 years later completely preserved by the water in the mine. He was displayed in a glass case for years, and became a great tourist attraction.................but eventually he decomposed and is now buried in a regular grave.
If anyone is interested in reading more about this mine, here’s the link http://www.falugruva.se/en/?gclid=CN6oyr7k5bgCFfF2cAodcXgALw
When Mom got back she praised me for a job well done watching Adrienne, and after a walk and showers we all rested outside .....................weather still gorgeous.
in a few minutes we'll be ready to pack up and continue the road trip.................I've heard something about yarn shopping again .................... 
Thank You Falun for a greaat visit............................see ya again one day
Wet kisses to you all
Buttons
Av EvaLena Hallgren - 3 augusti 2013 21:22
Finally back to good connection and a city, not that I’m complaining I really liked the mountains and small villages, but my blog was suffering and I’m not to happy about that.
Truth is we have been in a civilization for a couple of days, but we were “wild camping” which meant we had no power, and twice I got Mom to write in my blog, and poofff the power was gone. She of course said a few really bad words, you know the kind that makes me run under the bed..................( no bed to run under in Adrienne) so I have to settle with the table.
It’s almost a week since I got to tell my story so this will be long.
First I want to explain how we can be camping out in the wild so often. Sweden is the only country in the world that’s called “all man right” loosely translated. That means you can put up camp everywhere in nature for 24 hours, regardless who owns the property. Of course that doesn’t mean you park in someone's backyard, or the city park. But if you see a nice place with room for a camp it’s ok to do so.
We have been camping in Mom’s Aunts backyard for several days, and she’s been taking us around to lots of nice historic places for “fika” and to look at beautiful crafts.
One day we drove for hours up in the mountain to a small house to bake some bread in a special old fashion traditional way. Personally I didn’t get the idea, there’s plenty of bakeries around, but since I’m the easy going guy I went along, and laid on the steps watching for moose and bears. I didn’t see any, but I have a feeling they turned away when they noticed my vicious grin................
I didn't care much for the bread, but the cheese on top was good.
Both Mom and Birgitta sat around knitting and chatting for several days, Mom gave up on that complicated needle thing, with the excuse there’s no need for that kind of stuff in Florida...... Birgitta stuck with it, and got the hang of it..............she’s clever . We took daily loooong walks, much longer than I would have accepted at home, but there’s so many more new scents around here, and funny looking animals.
This is a real cool idea..................or is it ...............
Mom never grow up..........jjjeeesssh ..............at least she didn't buy this apron.............
When the aunt had enough of us, we countinued our trip south, and eventually we put up camp at a ski slope Mom used to ski at as a puppy. It's not far from the bear mountain. Here it smelled wonderful, and I had so much space to run but Mom kept a close watch scared to death I would go to far ................I didn’t.
Following day I was told I had to stay home and watch Adrienne, not my first choice, but I could do with a nap, and she parked in a nice shaded area.
The mother bear didn't want her cubs in the water so she pushed them out...........
bobcats came close to the fence because of feeding time................
A few tigers slept in different places, not sure why they are here were they don't belong _???
It's a very steep hill to climb in this park and from the top the view is awesome
Snowleopards was sleepy
Kodiak bears were bored I think
The polar bears aren't native to Sweden either, although we Swedes often lie about that to tourists
This is a great huge paw
like I said Mom never grows up..............
Birgitta is cooling off.............................well tryiing to
After the Bears Mom wanted to show Birgitta where the Swedish horses came from and off we went.
Every horse is carved by hand, and also hand painted. The history how this got started and became the biggest souvenir of Sweden can be read at this link in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalecarlian_horse case you’re interested.
every single horse is carved by hand and handpainted
Moms friend Helge came by on his motorcycle to help fix a small leak on Adrienne,...............great seeing him again
The rooster is a newer addition.................this is a true tourist place and extremely expensive.
Since Mom used to live here she knows the roads well, and wanted to drive to the lake and camp. It’s a very small narrow road,to get there, and we met lots and lots of bicycles racing ? nobody told us, no signs, until we got real close and there was a huge crowd of people. We were stuck and had to wait until the race was over. Once again Mom said a bad word, and a few more when she found out they were charging to stay because the of the race. .................(.not sure that was legal...........)
Anyway we kept going and stayed by a river, again not enough power, and Mom noticed her lens to the fancy camera broken. ..................this time I sure wish I had a bed to crawl under............but not under this one with a bad wolf knitting.
There's been a lot of American cars on the roadsall over, Swedes are very big fans of them, and have meetings in a new city almost evry week.
some good looking old Swedish ones too
Finally we ended up in a bigger city camping at a campground, I’m brushed, Mom got a new lens, ( don't tell Dad) and things are very good.
It's getting late and this became long, but I do have a little more to tell, so hopefulyy I can get Mom to help me again in the morning............
Good night from me ...............and wet kisses to all.
INLÄGG
- MONDAY 9/4/23
- THURSDAY8/24/23
- SUNDAY 8/20/23
- WEDNESDAY 8/16/23
- SUNDAY 8/13/23
- FRIDAY 8/11/23
- TUESDAY 8/8/23
- SUNDAY 8/6/23
- TUESDAY 8/1/23
- THURSDAY 7/27/23
- THURSDAY7/20/23
- MONDAY EVENING 7/17/23
- THURSDAY 7/13/23
- WEDNESDAY7-12-23
- MONDAY 7/10/23
ARKIV
KALENDER
| Må | Ti | On | To | Fr | Lö | Sö | |||
1 |
2 |
3 |
|||||||
| 4 | 5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
|||
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
|||
18 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
22 |
23 |
24 |
|||
25 |
26 |
27 |
28 |
29 |
30 |
||||
| |||||||||
