It seems that I may have been a bit hasty in my prediction that ABBA were about to take over from Yasser Arafat in my last post. Despite the fact that it might be the best thing to happen in the region and, as an expat friend of mine living in Cairo quipped "They're at least a leader you can dance to", I read today in the Radio Sweden site that there was to be no ABBA reunion.

I guess that leaves Suha Arafat as the Dancing Queen.





Yesterday, all over the southern areas of Sweden, in the provinces of Skåne and Småland, people enjoyed Mårten Gås. As usual, the Swedes are out of synch with every other nation that celebrates this day on November 11th. But hey, it's not the first time they choose to stand out on their own. Known in other parts of Europe as St Martin's Day, it was originally in memory of St. Martin of Tours (ca 316–397). He was a French bishop, who rather than be made bishop, gave away all of his money to the poor and hid in a goosehouse. The geese's cackling gave him away and he was so angered by this that he decided they should be slaughtered annually on his name's day.

The festival has also come to be associated with Martin Luther, whose feast day is on the 10th. For centuries this date was important in farmers' calendars. Traditionally, the day marks the end of the autumn work and the beginning of winter activities. So, really it's the very last autumn celebration. And this is the time of year that the geese are at their fattest, so it's an ideal time for a goose feast (if you like that sort of thing).

In Skåne in particular, goose banquets are served in both homes and at restaurants. Such meals traditionally begin with a bowl of svartsoppa ("blacksoup"), which they describe as "a mellow bisque made of goose-blood and spices". Excuse me while I get a bucket. Honestly, the Swedes have some strange ideas about taste. I could only find an English version of the recipe on a Polish website and it didn't sound all that nice. But, you decide for yourself. I think Mother Goose would turn in her grave.

Me? No way! We are having vegetarian pizza for dinner.

I don't normally talk about local politics in this blog, but the latest actions of our mayor and deputy mayor are worth a mention. The characters you see pictured to the left are Swedish television's classic children's "stars" Humle and Dumle. They were two not so bright friends who lived in the cupboard. They are figures of fun and to call someone Humle or Dumle these days is a way of saying they are stupid beyond words.

And that is exactly what our local leaders are called here colloquially. No-one in Nynäshamn calls them by their names and is it any wonder. I sometimes think that B1 and B2 would do a better job. I won't bore you with the litany of reduced services and higher rates we experience while they vote themselves increases and luxury holidays. That's boring and all too common elsewhere.

But what floored me has been the ongoing dog's breakfast about the reward for information about the train vandals I talked about last month. The local authorities and the train company had announced a reward of $A10,000 for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for the damage. Well, two 13 year old boys came forward to the police and their statements led directly to those vandals being caught.

Of course, now that it's time to actually cough up the reward money, Humle and Dumle are suddenly putting conditions on it. They said that it wasn't meant as an the only reason to come forward. It seemed to them that if these kids knew who the vandals were, they should have told the police without needing a reward. WTF? When there was a community uproar over that, they then said that it was too much money to give a kid. Excuse me? You offered a reward to anybody with information, not "anybody who we think is old enough to get the money". People feel they are picking on the childen just because they're childen. I personally don't care how long they knew who the kids were - they came forward and now those vandals are being dealt with. Pay up!

This has been going on for weeks now. The latest version they are offering is that as the kids heard about it at school, they will give the reward money to the school! So, if they heard it at the local hamburger bar would you give the reward to the hamburger bar? Where is the logic in that? Humle and Dumle argue that then all the children would get a benefit - yeah, including those who did the vandalism in the first place!

The sad thing is that people will now be less likely to come forward again after seeing how this whole thing has been mishandled. The community leaders had a chance to reward a couple of local childen for doing something to help out their community. Now they are trying to make them sound as bad as the vandals. It is still being furiously debated around the town with most people being of the opinion that the childen should get this reward money - no strings attached. Whatever they do, it will be a lost opportunity. If they pay out, it will look like they bowed to public pressure. If they don't it will only confirm the town's opinion of them as deserving the title Humle och Dumle

And keeping on the politics, but this time a very lighthearted picture I was sent by a friend, along with the caption Abbas eyed as possible Arafat successor



I've circulated the picture to a few expat friends here in Sweden and we've had a good laugh at the thought of Agnetha, Benny, Björn and Annifrid in charge of the PLO. It has resulted in a few terrible puns from a couple of my friends who wondered if that meant the winner takes it all or hoped that it wasn't going to be their Waterloo after they said I do, I do, I do, I do, I do. I have some very strange friends!

Another sent me this picture as a suggestion for a winter coat for Lambi. I thought it was quite cute - well at least on those dogs. She could be our own little hot dog. But Lars-Göran was less enthusiastic. He figures that I already stand out in Nynäshamn and we don't need to do anything else to add to that.

I wonder what he means?

We are about to watch a program on Discovery called City Taxis - we read the blurb that went with the program which said that the presenter was travelling to Stockholm - a beautiful and well organised city in a wonderful country. Lars-Göran has just quipped that he didn't recognise that description - maybe the word Stockholm was a misprint. Not very patriotic, is he?

Till next time

The first Saturday in November in Sweden is Alla helgons dag or All Saint's Day. In fact, the day is more like a combination of the two days - All Saints and All Souls that many Catholic countries celebrate on November 1st and 2nd.

It is one of the most beautiful memorial days I've ever experienced. The Swedes remember their dead family members, by placing candles and fir wreaths on their graves. As darkness comes very early this time of year, the glimmering candles create a moving and sombre sight in the cemetery.

There is something very peaceful and serene about cemeteries in Sweden. I recall those I visited in Australia. They were well kept, with manicured lawns and gardens but somehow still a bit depressing with the row upon row of gravestones. I always felt very exposed when I went there and there seemed little incentive to linger or contemplate in such surroundings. By contrast, those in Sweden are kept very natural and set out like a woodland.



We took this photo earlier in the year when we visited the Skogskyrkogården, an enormous, world famous cemetery just south of Stockholm and burial place of Greta Garbo. It was like an oasis of tranquility and very representative of the feel of others in Sweden.

One of the nicest features is what they call a minneslunden (a memorial grove). These vary, but in general consist of a circular grove of trees enclosing a small pool of water, usually surrounded with rocks, moss and small plants. A place to sit, think and feel.

We visited the small local cemetary yesterday to see what it was like on Alla helgons dag. We had observed in the days preceding it, that several places around town were doing a brisk trade in wreaths, candles and lanterns.



This is a fairly representative example of the sort of things people use in Sweden to decorate graves. It is quite a contrast to the floral wreaths and sheaths that are commonly used in Australia. While the wreaths have been used for centuries, the idea of using candles is a very recent custom, dating back to the mid 1950's and borrowed from the Spanish and Italian traditions.

It was only 4.30pm when we came to the cemetery, but it was already quite dark and looking across the field of lights it was hard to pick out the people, even though there was a huge crowd there.



It was so beautiful, that I was quite speechless. It is really hard to capture the mood and the sight of the place. It was literally a sea of candlelight - there were hundreds of pools of light glowing as far as the eye could see. Every grave had at least one and more often several candles burning in the late afternoon gloom. We did get a more close up view of one grave to give you a little more detail.



We visited the little chapel there and walked along the paths feeling our way carefully. The sky was dark, the moon hidden by clouds and the only light available was the candles. Add to that, the rising mist and creeping cold and you can see that it is a surreal and touching scene.



You can see why in medieval times, this day was considered the first day of winter. The darkness seems to have a personality of its own and its influence will now dictate our lives for the next few months. I know my husband is dearly waiting for the first sign of spring already! I feel that it's going to be a LONG winter.

A friend posted this today and it perfectly describes the mood of this month in northern Europe:

No sun - no moon!
No morn - no noon -
No dawn - no dusk - no proper time of day.
No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,
No comfortable feel in any member –

No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds! -
November!

by Thomas Hood

Many Swedes try and escape to warmer climates for November. Several of our friends have already left for places like the Canary Islands and Thailand to escape the gloom. I, on the other hand, would love to travel further north, to see the späckhuggare. And who or what are they? Well, you've all seen the movie Free Willy, now I'd like to travel to Björkliden to see these killer whales in the wild. I've seen posters advertising these safaris while I was wandering through Stockholm's central railway station. I think it would be a wonderful experience to see these magnificent animals up really close. But I doubt I'll ever get to do it. Apart from the cost, I'm sure Lars-Göran would thoroughly disapprove of it as something "touristy" and trite. And he HATES the cold. I've been trying to convince him to take me far enough north to see the aurora, but he says it's far more comfortable to look at pictures of them on the internet. Somehow, I think the whales will have to do without me.

Today was something of a poet's day, where you can slink off work early as tomorrow is a holiday. This often happens here in Sweden, where they not only take off the actual holiday, but also shut up shop early the day before as well. As it was also a reasonable day, Lars-Göran decided to leave off the sanding and instead we went to Södertälje for a post-lunch stroll. This town is easily reached from Stockholm by suburban train and as luck would have it, by bus from Nynäshamn.

As it was Friday, the market was in full swing in the town square. The most popular stalls seemed to be those selling pine wreaths, as tomorrow is the day that Swedes traditionally visit the graves of loved ones.



Most of the stalls were pretty uninteresting - cheap, nasty clothing like the rubbish you buy at Asian markets back home and a few selling costume jewellery. We did find a bakery stall and I bought some blåbärsknyten to have with our afternoon coffee.

We then wandered down the main mall and my eyes caught sight of another shop with a strange name:



I mean where did that name come from? It's a clothing shop not a shop full of wacko stuff. Although the tasty guy out the front looks like a bit of a wacko. Some of his mates were nearby, sitting on benches drinking vodka from bottles while the cops, wearing their cute little thunderbird hats were writing them out tickets (it's illegal to drink in some designated public places here). So maybe the name just reflects the potential pool of local customers.

After that bit of entertainment, we made our way to the beautiful medieval church of St Ragnhild.



It sits in the central part of the old town, opposite the town hall. The oldest parts of the building pre-dare the Norman conquest of Britain. Now that's what I call history. The interior of the church is also quite impressive.



We were lucky in that they had an art exhibition on there today, consisting of twenty three Orthodox Byzantine Icons. You can read about exactly what icons are here. It was really interesting to see them close up and there were explanations about why certain colours and figures were used and what they represented. This exhibition will be on here until November 14th and features the work of Bishop Johannes Makarioupolis, Stefan Jaerpenberg and Gabriel Briones.

Later we wandered along the canal area that is looking quite forlorn and empty this time of the year.



The sky gradually darkened, so we made our way back to centrum and home to Nynäshamn. I see the forecast is for clouds, rain and wind tomorrow. A perfect excuse to veg out on the couch.

I was thinking this when Lars-Göran showed me this picture that he had snapped earlier today. I mean where is the common sense? Surely there must come a time when you pack away the paddle for winter. I'm just freezing looking at her!



That's very shallow water she is in, going under the bridge to Trehörningen in Nynäshamn. Brrr....

Even the ducks at the park are feeling the effects of the autumn chill as they huddle together.



As you can guess, the gorgeous weather of Tuesday was short-lived and we are back to the usual northern European autumn weather - cold and damp. There is a mist hanging low to the ground outside and frost covers the grass.

I forgot to post the funniest picture we took in Stockholm on Tuesday. We had left Gallerian and were heading down to central station along Klara Tvärgränd and I insisted on taking a photo of this restaurant:



Lars-Göran had no idea why I found the name so funny and why I said it wasn't an incentive for me to eat there. He thought Pong was an okay name. So I had to enlighten him, didn't I? As soon as I showed him the dictionary meaning of pong, he could only agree that it would be the source of much amusement in Australia. It's funny how a word in one language can mean something totally different in another language. Now I just have to remember where in Stockholm I saw the Phucken Chinese restaurant...

I joked with my Canadian friends here that I'd been to Kanada (no, it's not a typo. It IS spelt with a K here) for the day yesterday. Well, it WAS true - but there was not a mountie or maple leaf in sight. It was in fact Kanada on the island of Muskö, just north of Nynäshamn. It was a sunny day and I was home and not busy, so we thought a day out walking would be nice. It clouded over later and became very chilly, but we had a fun day regardless of the vagaries of the weather.

Muskö is where we saw that James Bond type of submarine base when we were sailing here in the summer. That base, home of the Swedish fleet since 1969, is due to close and the subbies are being relocated to Karlskrona next year. This will have a drastic effect on the local area. About 1500 local people stand to lose their jobs due to that closure. And that is something a regional community like ours can ill afford. I know several people employed by the naval base at Muskö - in the kitchens, workshops and offices and they are really concerned for their future.

When you visit the island, you can see that it is still very rural and possibilities for re-employment in another industry is hard to imagine.

The view from Kanada across the waters is beautiful.



Soon after we took this picture, the clouds moved in and the wind picked up. It was decidedly chilly, but we still walked along the shore-line for another hour before sitting down on a winch platform to have a snack.



I love the dog's body language. She looks like she's smiling, but in fact her food radar has just detected dog goodies in my hand and she's pretty keen to relieve me of them. We sat in the wind shelter and looked across the piers towards the distant island of Utö.



We also had a "discussion" about the name of the island closest to us. No doubt when he reads this he'll be reminded and haul out the charts to try and prove he was right. But I'm feeling confident that he'll be wrong. Again.

Afterwards we wandered back to pick up the bus back to Nynäshamn. As you can see, it's not exactly a booming metropolis here, is it?



I was scanning the news and came across the startling fact that we are hosting our very own Olympics here in Sweden this month. See, Sue, it's not just Greece who can host an Olympic spectacle. So if any of you are hanging around in Gällivare, you can go along to the Santa Olympics!

Dashing through the snow
In a one-horse open sleigh
Through the fields we go
Laughing all the way.

Ho Ho Ho!

Well, at least my guy. He looks like something from another planet or an extra from the X-Files. No, it's not his Halloween costume, though I bet people would be too scared not to hand over the goodies. In fact, he's working at sanding the hull of the boat. The epoxi filler comes off as a fine powder that gets in everywhere, so protective clothing and mask is essential.

It's quite a slow, laborious job, made worse by the fact that his hands have still not recovered fully, so he can only work in short stints of a day or two. Added to that is the shorter hours of daylight and the rapidly sinking temperatures, so it's harder and harder to motivate himself to go out and work at it. However, he's been fantastic - spurred on by the thought that if the hull dries out quicker, we can maybe have her in the water in spring.

And I did finally find an link in English at The Local to the story I mentioned last time about a guy who baked a dope cake for his workmates. My favourite quote from the whole story was:

Of the thirteen who were taken to Danderyd and Karolinska hospitals on Friday, seven were released after a few hours including one who apparently didn't eat any cake but felt a bit odd nevertheless.

It reminded me of a case in Adelaide in 1999, when an employee of The Cheesecake Shop, baked a special Mudcake at work, laced with dope for his birthday. Unfortunately, someone accidentally sold the cake to an elderly customer and she and her friends had an "interesting" afternoon. Well, I didn't have too much sympathy as I think mudcakes are revolting and I can't imagine why anyone would willingly eat one.

Moving right along....

On Tuesday, it was a beautiful, crisp and sunny autumn day so Lars-Göran decided to forget about sanding and instead headed into Stockholm to take a lunchtime stroll with me along the banks of Djurgårdsbrunnsviken. It was the perfect day to be out and about there.



The colours were amazing and the whole area was full of people taking advantage of the sunshine - office workers on their lunch break, pensioners out for a stroll, mums with babies in prams, joggers, fishermen, tourists and lots of dogs. I was amazed to see so many of them being walked without a leash. Bear in mind that this was in the same area that Prince Carl Philip was caught with his unleashed dog. I think that must have been a set up as only our dog had a leash (I don't really trust her not to run off). All the other dogs were running free.

We started our walk at Nobelparken, just across the water from that fairy-tale looking palace that houses Nordiska Museet. It is one of my favourite buildings in Stockholm and houses a wonderful collection of Nordic cultural objects.



It was such a lovely day and we felt in a touristy mood, so we decided to make our way along the canal area and head towards the open spaces of Ladugårdsgärdet with the 155m "Cookie Isthmus Tower" as our goal. I've never been up there and feel that today might just be the day to try it out. As you can see, it towers above the surroundings and I'm sure the views are panoramic.



So, with that as our destination, we set off. The sky was bright blue and the gentle breeze was just enough to make the leaves on the trees shudder. This alder tree was particularly lovely. The leaves were a dark green on one side and a silvery grey on the underside. When they moved, it looked as though it was a canopy of silver pieces shimmering in the sunshine.



We were also rather intrigued by the traditional red house just beyond the tree. We could see what appeared to be a sculpture of seagulls peeping just above the hedge, so of course we had to detour and have a sticky beak. We were not really expecting to see this:



It was K/O Nacka Strand, one of the exhibits in the recent Cow Parade. It was quite striking to view what looked like a flock of squabbling seagulls from a distance, then realise it was a sculpture, then be tempted to take a closer look.

We stopped by Djurgårdsbrunnsbron for a quick coffee and to enjoy watching the fishermen and to take in the crisp, fresh air - yes, despite the subshine, you will note the heavy winter jackets we are both wearing. It is hard to believe that we are in the middle of a large city here, as the area has a real countryside feel to it.



We then turned off the pathway and headed up Mörka Kroken (literally the dark bend - who thinks of these street names?) to Kaknästornet. It is not unlike those other telecommunication towers in other cities (eg Sydney Tower). You get to pay a fee (here it was only $A5.50 rather than the staggering $A22 I had to pay in Sydney) and go up 30 levels at lightning speed to the viewing platform. There was one level with glassed in viewing windows, then a staircase to the outside area (well fenced in to stop those with a death wish). There is also a restaurant on the level below, but as we had Lambi with us, we had to forego that today.

The views were great. It's so unusual to get such a bird's eye view of the city. My favourite views were these:



This view is looking across to Gamla Stan (the old town). The waterfront buildings in the lower right foreground are mostly embassies and across the water in the centre of the picture is the royal palace. When you see it from this height, you can see why Stockholm is often compared to Venice. Water is such a feature of the whole place - after all, it is built on 14 islands, connected by a series of bridges and tunnels.

The next view I liked was looking in the opposite direction:



Yes, this is still Stockholm - but much less built up. This area of Lilla Värten is salt water and stretches out all of the way to the archipelago. There are suburbs dotted everywhere and plenty of green space, which is one feature of Swedish town planning that I really like. They cluster communities together, each with its own green belt, making it most unlike the miles and miles of sprawling suburbia that you see in other countries.

And for something completely different:



This is the ferry terminal at Frihamnen, with the bridge over to the island of Lidingö in the background and beyond to Vaxholm. It shows a more industrial side to the city, contrasting with the historic inner town but still with water, greenery and space as a feature.

Is it any wonder that a friend recently wrote and said I think Sweden is one of the most beautifully picturesque places I have ever seen, what a wonderful place to live.

I can't help but agree.

No, I'm not having a Fats Domino moment. My posts about blueberries from summer and the other day must be high on some search engines as I've received several requests for recipes to blueberry pie and blueberry cake. So I thought I might oblige.

The very best blueberry pie I've ever eaten was made by our friend Lennart. He made it one night when we shared guard duty at our old boat club and the three of us had a midnight feast of it. This pie is best made in a ceramic flan dish, as it is shallower than a traditional pie dish. I guess it's more like a tart than a pie. People sometimes put a lattice work of pastry strips on the top, but I prefer to use it as an edging to keep the very runny filling inside.

Blueberry Pie

Pastry
100g cold butter
100g (about 1 cup) plain flour
200g (about 1 cup) sugar
1 egg, beaten
6-7 tbsp milk

Filling
2 cups fresh blueberries
7-8 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp corn flour
1 tsp cinnamon
juice of half an orange

Extras
a little milk or cream for glazing
1 tbsp sugar mixed with 1/2 tbsp cinnamon
whipped cream or icecream (or both!) to serve

Pre-heat oven to 200C and grease a flan dish.

Mix flour and sugar together, then rub in butter until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Mix egg and milk in a small bowl, then add and combine quickly until it forms a ball. You may need to add a little more flour. The dough should be sticky and damp, but should not cling to your hands. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for one hour.

Meanwhile, put all the filling ingredients in a bowl and carefully fold them together. Set aside.

Remove the dough from the fridge and the dough set aside about a quatrter of it for the top edge. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface then press into the well buttered dish. Trim the edges, prick the bottom with a fork, then bake for about fifteen minutes.

Remove pie shell from the oven, spread with filling and add the pinches of the remainder of the dough around the edge, pressing it carefully into the edge. Sprinkle with the cinnamon/sugar mixture and brush with milk. Bake for a further fifteen minutes. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream.

Blueberry Cake

Ingredients

40 g brown sugar
200 g (about 2 cups) plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
115 g butter, at room temperature
200 g (about 1 cup) sugar
3 eggs
1 cup plain yogurt or sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
3 to 4 cups fresh blueberries

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C and grease a 9 inch cake tin.

Cream the butter and white sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and beat well between each. Stir in the yogurt and vanilla, then mix again. Combine the flour and baking powser and fold into the mix.

Pour half of the cake batter into the cake tin. Spoon half the blueberries over the surface. Cover with the rest of the batter, top with the remaining blueberries, and sprinkle evenly with brown sugar.

Bake for an hour, or until the top is golden and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for ten minutes, then turn out on a rack to cool completely.

Happy cooking!

Dark! Dark! Dark!

Well, the clocks were turned back yesterday and while it was nice to wake up to daylight streaming in the window, coming home from work in darkness is surely going to suck. This was yesterday at 5pm:



I saw an interesting story tday at the BBC site about seasonal affective disorder or SAD. It's certainly something to be aware of during these darker months in the northern hemisphere. I am rarely affected, though my poor man suffers terribly, so I know it's imoportant to do as much as you can to nip it in the bud before it takes hold.

The leaves are mostly on the ground now, with a brisk wind acting like a giant gardener collecting them into huge piles. Yesterday, they were piled up on the right hand footpath, while today they are now on the left hand footpath. And as it rained overnight, they are soggy and I think will stay put here.



Speaking of gardeners, on Friday, 13 gardening staff from the lovely Bergianska Gardens in Stockholm were rushed to hospital after one of their workmates served them a cheesecake doped with cannibis. Apparently it was meant as a bit of a joke, but it seems to have gone horribly wrong for him.

And another story I came across that made me smile was in The Local, about the prince getting into hot water over letting his dog run without a leash (shades of Princess Anne and her doggy). It wasn't the actual story that made me laugh, but the name of the investigating police officer - Anders Krook. What a classic name for a cop! Though of course, it's not funny in Swedish....

Remember the market we went to on Saturday, where the street looked like this? Well, the following day it was "business as usual"



Manhattan, eat your heart out!