Dance mats and fermented herring

Well, I recon it's about time to make another entry! Things are calming down now that the kids have returned to school. I have started chacing down a few jobs and doing some PR work. Of course I always have cleaning and dishes and laundry to do in case I get bored! That's to say nothing of the script for the instruction videos I am planning in swedish, making new stencils, and making an advertisment folder for the company. I think I need a nap just thinking about it all!
Our latest adventures have taken us to a "surströmmingsfest". Here is the translation. Strömming=herring (a kind of small fish), fest= party, and sur (in this case) means fermented. So I went to a party that had fermented herring served! Here is how it is eaten. First you take a large piece of very thin hard bread and (try to) spread butter on it. Then you take the herring (minus the bones and skin) and put the amount on the sandwich which you can (tolerate) eat. Here is where it gets interesting! I am still a bit green (inexperienced, not yet nautious) in eating this ... delicacy (?), so I usually smear a whole (tiny) fish over 4 sandwiches. Kris is a pro at this feast, so he usually takes 4 fish per sandwich!
After the fish are on their buttery bed of bread (hee hee- say that one fast if you can!) , you add raw onion, cooked fresh potatoes, and some sour cream. Eat either open faces or with a "lid"on it, and wash down with a clunk of beer. Most time is spent preparing the fish, all those little bones! And one more thing- it MUST be eaten outside, the cans must be opened outside as well. The reason for this is the umm.... fregrance.... (yeah, right!) of the fermented fish. Forget fermented- they smell ROTTON! THEY STINK! to high heaven! IT's so bad that the smell is detected blocks away, permiates into your clothes and even has a little laugh of it's own. It's not enough to have survived somehow getting the slimmy suckers past your teeth and into your stomache. The flavor comes to haunt you the next day in the form of the foulest burps you could ever imagine! It is worse than morning breath of the local swine! And, there is flavor added to it.I am not sure which is worse, the smell or the flavor left behind! But this is not the last laugh. Those sneeky little devils have one more trick to play. Sometime around 24 hours after the party (and 12 hours after the burp-a-thon) comes the other end of things. That's right, the "utfarts". Everything up till now was preperation for the real nasal challenge. Now, those fish had been "fermenting" in a can for 1½ years, plus the 24 hours in the digestive tract. Something happens to create a chemical (and aromic) inbalance. So, when the final release of the air bubbles is at hand, it might be a good idea to have a gas mask handy. The odor is unbelievable! If you are a farmer, or work in the forests or in absolute solotude (preferably outside), this stage is not that detrimental to the well being of your friends and loved ones. And if you are not fond of those you work with, than this stage is an advantage! (Be sure to have a cat or dog handy to blame it on!) But if you happen to work in an office building or anywhere that there are any living beings around, a forewarning is the minimum you can do, and practice up on the apologetic face and truely sorriful "excuse me"-s. Another option is to call in sick and say that it was something you ate. No lie there!! A few creative options could be to spray skunk perfume in your office, or have some "fart in a can" handy and say it is a new revised version- isn't it attrocious?! Then there is always the one where you walk to another persons desk, descretly fart (sorry mom. This one is not for you!!), and walk away. Return a few minutes later and comment on that discusting smell, what is it? Oh well, you get the point.
The whole ordeal is over when at last the funky fish make their exit and rest eternally in the sewer system, only to return again in 364 more days.
So, anyone coming over next year?

Music and dancing

I finally recovered from Saturday! I was at Starkesmark musikfest from 12 noon till 2:30 am. (14½ hours) The musicians were great, and my fet couldn't keep still. I even went down to the front of the stage to dance a while. I only survived through two songs. Being up late is fun every now and again. This is really strange for me, as I normally do not stay awake past 9 in the evening. To be up so late is really rare! And to keep my wits about me enough to work is even more amazing! But I did feel the effects of it on Sunday. When Bjorn woke me up at 7, I was not a happy camper. Nor was I extatic when Jackie woke me at 8, and even less thrilled at Katrina's wake up at 9. So, when Kris came down at 10:30 and was all cheery and nice, he was a little surprised to kiss me awake and get a big growl out of me! The poor man was only trying to be nice, and got a very negative responce instead of kisses and hugs.
Of course, the house was in a bit of disorder till I got home- no one to tell if things were "forgotten" or left out. And Sunday I was just too tired to do anything about it either. So, today it is time to be the big nag again. I am finding out quickly who the most forgetful in the family is. But I won't embarass the person by writing it here. (No it is NOT me!!)
On sunday Jackie, Katrina and I went to the puppy course. We had a surprise visit from our former neighbors, and I lost track of time. We got to the class a little late, but had a fun time anyway. We discovered that Jackie seems to have a real nack for tracking. So, I am going to have her do more hide and seek when the kids are out walking with us. Maybe even a few more walks in the woods would be in order.
Today I don't have much planned. I need to take the money I made on saturday to the bank, and do some grocery shoping. Maybe I will try to paint the last bit around the kids windows today- just to get the job completed. Kris put a second coat of paint on a few places yesterday, so I will need to go touch up a few blue places where he slopped.
Kris is on call Wedn. eve, and has a lot of paper work to take care of. I expect him to be late every night this week, and away overnight on Wedn. night. He will be going to Övik on Sunday, and working there for a week. What his schedule will be like after that I have no idea- and he doesn't either!
This is the last week of summer vacation for the kids. (Yaaaaaa!!!) Katrina needs a few supplies. Bjorn and Katrina both need new back packs. Here in Sweden, the school supplies the students with paper, pencils, note books, ring binders, and everything they need. It sure makes it easier on the budget. So, I guess we will go to town this afternoon.
Have a good one, everyone.

Chocolate soup, skin head and super pooch

Summer is winding down, and soon the kids will be returning to school. The yard work is mostly complete, the house is painted. We have had a number of adventures this summer- Boda Borg, picnics, rock climbing, swimming and sun bathing. Books and magazines have been read, movies watched. We got new neighbors and have enjoyed a few barbques with them, and are looking forward to a "surströmming"(fermented herring) fest next weekend. I've driven my motorcycle to Norway and back, had a stand at the local market, and repainte our kitchen table. Bjorn cut off all his hair and shaved his hair. Katrina took up cooking- especially with chocolate. Jackie became a teen, and had her first heat. Kris did the bulk of repainting the house, has woorked out in the weight room, and has taken to reading a lot lately. It's been a nice, warm summer- sometimes even hot!

Tomorrow I will be doing t-shirts and tattoos at a music festival in Stärkesmark from noon till midnight. It is the last big thing if the summer. Knowing my luck, it will rain tomorrow. But that isn't as unpleasant as it sounds. It hasn't rained in weeks here, so it is needed. It would just be nice if it would wait till Sunday.
Thanks for the comments on the Norway pictures. It was fun to check up on the rest of the family as well. Hope you all have had as nice a summer as I have had. Have a nice weekend y'all.

Baggy britches and flat fannys

Wednesday morning we awoke to the earitating sound of my alarm. I usually don't have a hard time getting up in the morning, but this was one of those occasions. My back was hurting, legs must have been injected with lead, elbows were bent backwards (or felt like it) and there was a really annoying fly buzzing around my head. (Bugs, I hate bugs!) My innards felt like they were sat on by and elephant Which also probably caused the back pain. My brain was replaced with cotton dipped in green nail polish, which was half hardened-semi hard and semi sticky. My eyes must have played in the sand box all night, and some of that brain cotton had leaked down to my mouth. My throuat felt like a pin cussion- pins included. If this is how Kris feels every morning ,then I understand why he hits the snooze a gazillion times before he finally rolls out of bed!
I grabbed the saline and rehydrated my contacts. (I sleep with them in because otherwise I wouldn't be able to find my contacts to put them in, thus creating a very interesting catch 22.) Then I rolled over, looked at Eitz eyeballing me as if she had just done the same inventory of her aches and pains. Neither of us seemed super alert, but knew we needed to get out of bed. After 4 (somewhat pathetic) attempts to awaken my bones I succeeded in sitting up. Then with a major exertion of my quickly depleting energy stores, I swung my legs out of the bed and onto the floor-COOOOOOOLD!! A quick retraction back under the saftey of the blanket! (What was Eitz laughing at? ME? WHY?) Then TB helped me. A Sudden urgent message to my nail polished cotten brain finally registered that we were hitting the critical stage and needed to move it or lose it! The green nailpolish turned vibrant red and I braved the cold floor not wanting to wet the bed. (Though I actually did consider it for a few seconds.) After that it went much better. I blew my nose, forcing all that colorful cotton from my head, took care of TB, washed the fly snot from my face and arms, and went for some breakfast to reinflate my squished innards.
After breakfast we packed the bike and went through the long procedure of dressing up. No, we didn't put on nylons, heels, skirts and blouses! We put on (over our shorts and t-shirts) leather pants, riding boots, leather coat, leather gloves, MP3, earphones, sunglasses and helmet. Why don't we just ask God to make us into cool cows instead? Now there would be an interesting Far Side! Two cows with shades and MP3s riding on a bog Harley down twisting winding roads! There would probably have to be a warning sine for people x-ing!
Next comes mounting the bike. I am not the most adgile person in the world- about as nimble as a newborn puppy with rollorskates on a frozen pond. Add to this the fact that there was still residue of the green nail polish and cotton in my head, and that there was some dew on the seats, well, it was an interesting sight! Somehow we both managed to get on. Then I remembered that I forgot to hand in the key. We rolled off, handed in the key and started over again. (After a long search through all 256 pockets to find the huffen key)So, with a wink of my eye and a swish of my hair, we were on our way home.

We had decided to drive the whole way home in one day. We would stop often both for gas and for leg stretching. We hit the road by 7 am and were on our way. There was not much traffic, and the rising sun hit the dew creating some really spectacular sights. The sun was just coming up over the tree line, illuminating the river and lakes in the valley in the distance. Even the snow dotted mountian seemed to have a hard time waking up this morning. I think it was Gods way of saying (in a sugary sweet honey coated voive- high and peepy) GOOD MORNING; Y'ALL!
So, we were on the road again. We stopped every now and again for photos, gas (for the bike), or to try to reinflate our oh, so flat bottoms. The ride went well, and we made good time. The traffic fre roads were nice, and I could sneek a few more looks at the mountians and rivers than before.
While still in Norway, we came across a very peculiar warning sign. I chuckeled when I saw it, thinking that someone probably put it there as a joke. I had seen a few cows along the way, greeting them with a big "MOOOOOOO" each time, and had seen a flock of sheep a few times as well ("BAAAAH"). But they were in fenced off areas, like I was used to seeing. Well, sure enough, we went around a corner and right in the middle of the road- 2 sheep were taking a morning walk. I slowed down and stopped and they turned their heads to look at me. So there we were- them looking at us and us looking at them. They were probably thinking- "dumb tourists again! " and I was thinking- "stupid sheep". For some reason the picture didn't come out (I forgot to take off the lense cap) so you will have to take my word for it that there really were sheep on the road!
We drove to Tärnaby, where we gassed up the bike, and took a break. I need to explain that Eitz had borrowed my husbands leathers. My hubby is quite a few sizes larger than Eitz, resulting in a quite comical apperance. Not only was the jacket big enough for 4 people, but the pants were super baggy. In some fasion circles, this is not a problem. But when ridin on a motorcycle, baggy means that there is lots of extra material to flap in the wind. Now, when I got off the bike, I get a bit of a floppy fanny just because everything gets mushed into oblivion when sittin so long on my prosterior regions. But add to that an excess amount of cow hide- well, I guess we were both in baggy britches!To add to the comedy, the person that rides on the back of the bike is sometimes refered to as the bitch. So, we have us a flat fannied, baggy brithched bitch! (Say that 5 times fast if you can!!)That is an interesting title for a youth leader, don't ya think?
Anyways, on with the trip. We had this beautiful view as we rested out fannies and bones. Most of the green polished cotton has been replaced with grey matter now, and after prying my fat flat fanny from the plastic chair I was sitting in, we went through the clothing routine. (After a trip to the toilet of course) We decided to stop in Storuman for lunch and a longer break. We said goodbye to Tärnaby, and traveled on. We rested about an hour in Storuman before going on. We were getting closer to home, so it was easier to ignore the screamings of our bodies to quit torturing them. We gassed up in Lycksele, and made only one more rest after that to have and afternoon fika of bananas and peanut butter. We drank some water and started on the last leg of the journey. Our next stop would be in Vännäs, where I dropped Eitz off at home. We racked up 1285 kilometers on our trip! Then it was home to see my indians and the pooch. Hubby was on call, and wouldn't be home till 8. Did I feel like cooking? Hmmmmmm... I sent the kis to go get food from the local pizza shop! That was the yummiest kabab roll I ever ate! I unpacked and told the tales of my trip to an awestrukc audience. I showed the pictures on the camera, and relaxed with the pooch in my lap. Hubby was surprised to see me- I hadn't told him that I was coming home. He greeted me with a big old hug, a slobbery wet smooch, and a....well, I recon you can figure it all out on your own. I slept soundly in his arms. It was good to be home again. Now I just have to figure out where I am going on my next trip!

Tunnel terror and a good laugh!

After our fika (coffee break or snack) we set off to drive out to the coast to see the ocean. It wasn't that far as we looked on the map, so we hopped on the bike and took off. The roads were all I hoped- windy, twisting, turning, up and down! Then we came to the tunnel... I was aware that there were some tunnels along the way, but I was not prepared for this! The roads were narrow to start with, but right before the tunnel, it got even smaller! The tunnels were not very high and had an arch on the top. The first one was looooooooonnnnnnggggg, dark, damp, clammy, cramped and very cold. It was really creepy driving through it, and I had a real hard time seeing where the sides of the road were. There were no pavement markings, no lights and because it was curved, you couldn't see the end of the tunnel.
Then the truck came! A huge tractor trailor came straight at us, driving in the middle of the road. He had to drive in the middle, so he didn't crash with the arch on the side. But this left me in a comprimising position. I had to drive off to the side of the road and let him pass. This was real fun because I couldn't see the road, the walls, the roof, or the side of the road! The only thing I could see were the lights on the truck. (Is this a John Deer moment?) We survived without a trace. I realised that I had been so scared that I didn't even toot my horn- though I almost wet myself! The next tunnel was not quite so long, and there was almost no oncoming traffic. When I the third tunnel came I had a thought. I might actually be able to see a little better if I would pull down my sunglasses! It is amazing how much better you can see when the blinders are removed!
Well, the last 3 tunnels were not at all as scary, though they were still cold and damp. It was like watching a scary movie with no sound. all the suspence is taken away.
We drove on for about an hour until TB gave me a hard time again. We found a place to stop, and I (quickly) ran into the forest to water a tree. Now, men of course have the advantage over us women in this life necessity. But add to the normal torments of clothing, positioning, and the need for paper, when there are multiple layers to be taken off to get into the right position, it can be a bit time consuming. This was the position I was in. First the gloves, then the helmet, MP3 player turned off, earpluggs out, and dismount from bike. Next it is off with the jacket, then run into the woods. (Nervous blatter makes it all the more fun!! My bladder has ADD,DAMP and a whole library of problems!!) While running, pull down zipper on leather pants, pull off suspenders. Find a place. Then I am finally at the place of most females in the same need. The only thing to remember is that the suspenders have a high back and need to be pulled out of the way. (Learned from experience!) Once relieved of the burdens of life, all that stuff needs to be put back on. More than once I was putting on my helmet only to realize that I had forgotten to pull up my suspenders. So the only thing to do was take everything off to get to the suspenders and put them on. (I admit that on occasion I didn't think it was worth it and left the suspenders off. The only problem is that when you get off the bike, the leather pants fall to the ground)
We decided that it was getting late enough to return to the room. We never did make it out to the ocean, and the last tunnel was still a bit scary, but we did have fun riding. On the way back we stopped for a meal at a resteraunt. It was nice to not do dishes or cook. We hit the sack a little early after a walk and a shower. We will be riding hard and long the next day, driving the whole way from Norway home.

Morning seaside

We woke refreshed and ready for the day's adventure. OK It was not an early morning- we crawled out of bed sometime around 10 and ate breakfast. Then we decided to stay one more night for sure, checked with reception that it was OK and headed out to town. I had spied a few nice places last evening, and was eager to share them with Eitz. First we went to the bank to exchange money. (Their one crown piece has a hole in the middle and they have a 200 crown bill. Swedes don't) Then we went to a dock to sit and enjoy the view. It was an old wooden dock and the tide was low.(lower center in the picture) We didn't want to go down on the last couple of steps because they were slimey and slicker than snot on a door knob. We just sat there , mostly in silence, and enjoyed the beauty of God's creation. I think we both were also picking out a route to climb up the mountian at one time or another. We watched the fish in the water, and imagined how tough it must be to be a fish.
Here is the view we had while sitting on the dock looking out toward the fjords. We would later be riding motorcycle in the mountians in the background and beyond. The dock you see in the picture is where we had our morning fika before we walked around in the old town.



It is next to impossible to explain the feeling of sitting on the water and having a huge mountian rising up beside you. It is both intimidating and comforting, awsome and steadfast. (Kind of reminds me of God!) Those mountians have been there for centuries, and I suddenly felt small. That made all my worries and problems seem very insignificant! If those mountians can have that effect on me, how much more so should my God have an even larger effect on me, fact being that He has been around longer than the mountians, and think he is probably a bit bigger than those mountians as well.

We walked around the old shopping district, picked up a few presents for the family, and bought a few food stuffs (macadamian nuts, fruit, etc.) Then we went back to the docks to have an afternoon fika(coffee break or snack for those of us who don't drink coffee).



Here is the view upriver to the left
and down river to the right.


I will have to continue tomorrow. Have a good day everyone.

Majestic Mountians

We woke the next morning (Monday morning) feeling a little sore, but ready to hit the road. We ate breakfast that we took along (Actually, Eitz ate a normal breakfast and I ate left over spaghetti from the night before.) We cleaned up, packed the bike and were on the way- just had to pay for the room. At the reception, a man said that there was a lot of construction work on the road between Hemavan and Mo i Rana. There was a lot of large gravel on the road, making it difficult to keep control of motorcycles . He suggested that we drive 15 kilometers back to Tärnaby, and then drive in to Norway from there. We would end up a little south of Mo i Rana, but it would be a worthy ride. So we opted to take his advice. I called home to let the kids know of our change in plans, canceled our reservations in Mo i Rana, and we hit the road.
The new road was a bit bumpy, but compared to the gravel, it was just fine. We started seeing more and more lakes, and beautiful mountians behind them. We stopped at one rest area to take a few pictures and to rest our weary bottoms. (By now we both were feeling the effects of having riden a long time the day before and the bumps and hops inthe road we were on.) We had a quick break, took some pix and were on the road again.

It wasn't long till we got to the Norwegian boarder. Of course we had to stop for a foto or 12.

They had cut down the trees and cleared a path to mark the boarder the whole way down one mountian and up the side of the other mountian! There was a boom but it was up, allowing us to go right through without checking our passports or anything.

It honestly looked like the road went into the sky! I couldn't help but think of an old song- "On the highway to heaven" So, we started off again, and soon we were greeted with some absolutly majestic mountians! The mountians in sweden were ant hills compared to these monsters. Some of the mountians even had snow on them- in the middle of a very hot summer! It really was hard to concentrate on driving and I found myself drifting to the wrong side of the road on more than one occasion. The view was awsome! I felt a little jelous of Evelina being able to sit on the back and soak it all in. But soon the green eyes went away and I started laughing histericly.
Anyone that has riden a motorcycle for any length of time knows how boring it is on straight roads. After a while, you start wishing for winding, turning roads to be able to tip the bike, accelerate and brake.
One sight of the winding twisting roads of Norway had me almost jumping up and down with glee. I laughed out loud and started the fun ride to our youth hostile. The aches and pains of the trip thus far disappeared. We stopped at a gas station to rest, and have a snack. (I splurged a little and bought a large hot dog with bacon wrapped around it) We rested a little longer, talked with some other bikers from Sweden, then drove north to Sandvik, where we were hoping to be able to sleep. They had one room left, and we took it.We had arrived a lot sooner than we anticipated, so we took it easy, had a nap, ate some supper. I felt like taking an evening ride, but Eitz was a bit worn out. So, I drove back into town, gassed up the bike and checked out the town to see if there were any interesting sights. (There were) I decided to stop for a light beer before I headed back, and stopped at a resteraung. The waitress said that they could not serve me a beer because I was driving. They could serve an alchahol free beer... I ordered a diet coke. Then I returned to our room, still thirsty for a cold beer, but just not thirsty. Oh well! While I was away, Eitz had made an aquaintence with a fellow from Switzerland. We chatted while Eitz and I played rummy. Then he asked if we knew how to play poker. I said that I would not play for money, but that I knew how to play. So, the rest of the evening we played Texas Hold'em using another deck of cards as chips. Our friend had never been on a Harley before, so I offered to give him a ride. He really enjoyed it, and offered me a beer for the experience. FINALLY! I could only drink about half of it, but boy did that taste good!
It was a little after midnight till we finally got to bed. I said my evening prayers, solved a couple sudokos and fell asleep to Keith Green singing, "Oh Lord, my Lord. How majestic is Thy name in all the earth..."

Majestic mountians

I am back from Norway. What a great time I had too! Our original itinarary was slightly changed, but the length of the trip was the same. I spent the evening before departure packing my stuff in zip lock bags (keeps things dry in case of rain)and going over the road map. It's a little hard to check out the map when you are riding he bike, so I needed to be sure of where I was going.
Saturday eve Evelina was here to plan the rest of the trip and we went grocery shopping. We decided to take along some food to save a little money. We had heard that food was expensive in Norway. I had already made reservations at a couple Youth Hostiles, so it was just to get there.

We started out early on Sunday morning- I picked up Evelina 7am and we packed her things in the one saddlebag. We took it easy and stopped often, especially since my T.B. was agrivated by the vibrations. (Tiny Bladder) The trip to Tarnaby, Sweden was long, but nice. We enjoyed the wonderful weather and the beautiful mountian air. There are lots of lakes in Sweden, and we saw our fair share of them as well. We arrives at Tarnaby sometime around 2, checked in, and took a nap. Then Evelina and I went for a walk in the mountians.
















On the way up we found some beautiful flowers that look like cottonballs on a stem. Of course I just had to take a picture or 12. It was a perfect picture- blue skies, green fields, and an unusual object to photo. I admit that these are my favorite photos of the trip!

We were on the top of a mountian with a view on all sides.The view into the valley was marvelous. There was a waterfall and a path to be able to walk down right beside it. Where we were standing was a sheer cliff that went almost straight down. We wanted to be able to keep climbing, but needed to think of our long journey ahead and that I am an old woman ;P. Evelinas knee hurt a little too, so we opted to return to the camp and take it easy.
We talked a little while before hitting the sack. Because we were up so late we decided to sleep in the next morning and set the alarm for 9am. I solves a few sudokos and fell asleep sometime around 1am.
Thats it for now, campers! More tomorrow on the next day of our trip.