I get some great email feedback from people through this blog. Many people stumble upon it while doing a search for some topic to do with Sweden. For example, you have no idea how many recipes I've had to send to people who ask about Swedish dishes that I mention. Someone else (an American guy living in Germany with his Swedish wife) was searching for things about her home town (Nynäshamn) and found this. He wrote a lovely long letter about the blog, his views of Nynäshamn and the fact that he was glad I thought a few Swedish things were a bit quirky - it made him feel less alone.

Another letter came from a Swedish guy who lives in Melbourne. His first question was to ask if I was mad as I had left the paradise of Australia for Sweden (I get told this a lot!) He found my page You know you've been in Sweden too long when... from this article in the National Review. Isn't it a small world? I'm always amazed by the way people get to a page just by stumbling around the net.

But the question I am asked the most is how I came up with the name for my blog. I'd like to say that I was clever and original enough to come up with it myself, however that isn't true. It's actually based on the title of this article by Douglas Adams (yes, the Douglas Adams of the Hitchiker Guide to the Galaxy fame). I came across the article a few years ago and really liked it and it's memorable title.

To give it a more Swedish flavour, I substituted the ubiquitous Swedish herring for the word internet. I discarded several other "things" before deciding on herring. These included aquavit (this is a family site after all and I didn't want to look like an alcoholic), moose (I already liked them and they are not unique to Sweden), swedish meatballs (I hate them!), gravadlax (which I love, but would anyone outside of Sweden understand). Nope - only herring would do! So now you know.

It's been a cold, autumn day and we've been out walking. Well, some of us were carried:



She's so cute, that I can't resist. And anyway, it's her birthday tomorrow so I'm getting her ready for her birthday parade. She'll be 11 years old and we are lucky that she is still full of life and energy. People are often really surprised that she is so old. Small dogs live until at least 15-17 years, so she will be with us a while yet.

I hope.

Not that I like dogs, or anything.

*quickly changes subject*

The autumn colours are really vibrant at the moment. And the leaves are madly falling to the ground, making a soft mat underfoot. Luckily it's not raining or that mat would be a slushy mess.



I think the seasons are more exotic for Australians, Kiwis and South Africans than for a lot of other native English speakers who emigrate here. Several of my American, Canadian and British friends are non-plussed by it all. There are the same trees and weather in many parts of their countries and they can't understand my wonder at the colours of autumn or the deep snows of winter. In fact a couple of my Canadian friends scoff at what the Swedes call "cold". I shudder at the temperatures they talk about as normal in winter. How can people live in those climates?

But I do love the strong seasonal changes.

On Tuesday evening, I'm off to see the opening of a new exhibition from the Tiwi Islands in Stockholm. I'm looking forward to both seeing the artwork and catching up with some friends.

A Swedish friend in Stockholm, sent me this fun Hoax Photo Test. She wondered how gullible I was. I got 5 wrong. Guess I'm terrible at this... lol! I wanted to share it as it's a fun time waster and there are some interesting links. The answers are at the bottom of each page. And I thought that this picture was particularly cool:



Till next time!