We set off for Stockholm to pick up the car. There is still a ton of snow around, though the forecast is for warmer conditions, so I guess it won't hang around much longer. Still, I guess we won't be using the outdoor table for a while.



We had to pick up a few items before we left for home and still, during my fifth winter here in Sweden, I'm fascinated to see a dark sky and the moon already high in the sky at 3pm.



We had a lovely weekend away, though it was a long and tiring drive and we would not ever consider doing it again in winter. So much of the journey was spent in dark, fog, sleet and snow which wasn't funny. How much nicer it would have been on a lovely summery day. I wonder if they will consider moving Thanksgiving to summer? If you look at the map, you can see Stockholm on the east coast, and we drove from there to the southern coast near Malmö.

Our friends live in a little town just north of there. The town is very small, but still within easy commuting distance from the city. Their home is on the edge of town and the view out of the windows was of farmland - very peaceful and green. This area of Sweden is called Skåne and is quite unlike the area where we live. It is very a flat landscape and reminded me a lot of the time I spent in Holland. One thing that Lars-Göran loved was that there was no snow. It's quite a bit warmer here than in Stockholm and apparently rarely snows.

We went to take a look at the Stork Project just down the road.



Aren't they great? This scheme involves breeding of storks in order to release them into the wild to replenish the dwindling population.

I've never seen a stork before and nothing makes me feel more that I'm living in Europe than the sight of birds such as these. There is something very Hans Christian Andersen about it all. They made these funny clicking sounds with their beaks that made me laugh. And look at those dangly legs when they fly.



Lars-Göran firmly believes that the stork dropped him in the wrong place and that he really belongs in Australia. He thinks the stork was too lazy to fly that far, so he was delivered to Vasa instead. He looked very carefully at them trying to work out if one of them was responsible, but they ignored him. It was great to see the wild ones out flying about and nesting on the tops of the buildings.



These buildings are part of the royal stud breeding stables that are located nearby. The Flyinge Kungsgård are where the Swedish olympic team horses are kept, along with a huge riding school, veterinary study school and has been here since 1681. The buildings are so beautiful (complete with a stork nest, of course)



But now we have to hurry back for Thanksgiving dinner!