Ireland

Hey my peeps,

Well, a month has gone by since I was on the beautiful island of Ireland with my "bästis" Liz (as in bestest friend). Enough of the Swedish lesson.
As you can see there are no pictures. I am not quite clever enough to figure out how to get a picture from Liz's album to my blog, but I will send a link to the album and you will see Ireland 2007. There are 500 pictures for 10 days of travel, and that is the edited version. Lucky for me Liz has a clicky finger since I generally forget to take photos at all.

Here is the link: http://picasaweb.google.com/lilywilde

Let me know if you have problems. I will in the meantime beg Mathias to help me with my love/hate relationship with computers(mostly hate when they don't do what I want them to) and get some highlight pics up with a little explanation.

But a quick run through, we met in Dublin and took a train up to Northern Ireland, which is actually part of Great Brittan and uses the £. The rest of Ireland, or Republic of Ireland, uses the €.
It was gray and very windy but we only got light showers or drizzle. We went out to see the Giants Causeway which are all those hexagonal stones on the coast. We opted for the low road since it was so windy and were afraid we could be blown off a cliff, literally. We met a man later that day that nearly was.
Liz thought we should go to Bally Castle, but it turns out it was just the name of a town, bummer no castle. Pretty funny though and as we waited for the bus back to our B&B we had a pint of Guinness and listened to some locals talk. It was English, but nearly impossible to understand.
Then we headed back to Dublin, went to the Irish Museum of Modern Art, took a stroll up to James Joyce's tower, and Forty Foot-a famous (formerly gentlemen only) bathing place.
We saw Feist in concert in a small venue. Highly recommended to those who like their music. I do remember though it was so hot my little toes felt like boiled sausages.
We waffled about renting a car. I was kinda excited to drive on the "wrong side", but in the end we took a bus tour. It was nice to not have to do the driving, but as with a tour you perhaps can't stay as long as you want or stop randomly. The good thing is we got a lot of history and information we otherwise wouldn't have known.
First stop, 10am Whiskey brewery with a complimentary drink at the end. I hadn't actually eaten breakfast yet, so you can imagine. . . I felt pretty happy.
We stayed in a small town and checked out a spooky little graveyard just after sunset. There was an Irish ensemble that played that night. Very nice, not as lively as I had expected but beautiful.
We saw numerous ruins and castles, thousands of sheep, endless stones(seems everything is built of them), Dingle Peninsula (that's right Klinger-Dingle), Cliffs of Moher, Celtic Crosses, tonnes of stuff.
The weather was wonderful, even warm. Seems like they got all their rain in the summer. Quite some luck for us.
Eventually we ended back in Dublin. Took it easy, ate some sushi, did a little shopping. We had a sweet hotel room for the last couple days.
Oh, nearly forgot, I ate bacon and eggs nearly every morning until I thought I may cease up my heart. And the tea, like a train hitting my taste buds!!
The last stop before having to leave was Christ Church Cathedral. Very old, very very old, with hundreds of hand worked tiles and sculpture. Something to see if you're ever in Dublin.

So, there is the short version. What can I say?!

yer gonna be jealous of me

I know this is rubbing it in BUT I am going to Ireland AND see my best friend at the same time. Just the two of us ladies getting a little raucous in the pubs. I am glowing. Imagine this a ticket to Ireland that cost only 70 bucks. Ok, I'll stop, right after I tell those of you who like Feist, we are going to a concert in Dublin. I am leaving on Sat. the 22nd of Sept and coming back the 3rd of Oct. So keep your eyes peeled for a blog with real pictures coming up in Oct.
I apologize for the rather boring pics. Mathias has a phone that takes pretty good pics and he is on a business trip so I can't get at them. This is incredible, we were in a snow storm last weekend while helping his brother move. You will have to wait for pictorial documentation later.
Speaking of Mati, poor guy picked up a wicked nasty cold from work. He had his face in a tissue all Sunday while we moved his brother, we were in the car from 7:30 am-10:30 pm, plus he couldn't miss any work because he had some guests coming from Norway and this morning at 4:15 am he got up so he could catch a plane to Copenhagen to meet some Turkish suppliers, plus he will be coming back today around midnight. He has meetings on Friday, we are going to Oslo on Saturday, and his boss is going to buy him lunch and have a meeting because they didn't have time during the week. Seems to be taking it like a champ.
As for my school situation I finally proved myself to the teachers that I am ready to take the high school level Swedish class(Swedish A) plus I am going to take a communications class which focuses on speaking and body language. I will be reading three novels in 12 weeks, real novels, and it turns out I chose a 600 page book. I am considering returning it for something slightly more conservative, like 200 pages. It does feel a lot like going from jr. high to high school!
I am not absolutely sure about continuing with a garden education after talking with my former boss. At this point I am not interested in educating myself further without the distinct possibility of employment. Volvo, I heard, is looking for more women to work in the factory. It is very close to where we live now, an advantage to working where Mathias is at. Nothing will come into focus until next year after I finish my Swedish studies.
Couple weeks ago I got myself a real artist desk as you can sort of see under the puzzle. I got the puzzle around the same time, 1000 pieces. I am excited to get some creative ideas flowing out. The artist co-op has started to come around as well so we work a little every week to get the studio finished.
Hope I haven't written so much you're bored. Feel free to comment, maybe?

summah time

Although it may appear pleasant in most of these pictures there has been a lot of rain this summer.
I have been pretty lazy, working here and there, but nothing this whole month. I am back in school studying Swedish again. My general aim now is to finish up a high school level of Swedish. I am pushing to do this as fast as possible. To help this along, Mathias and I have been speaking nothing but Swedish with each other for a few days. It is going well and it really helps because switching back and forth is confusing.
If all goes well I am looking into taking a distance class next fall, or even something as soon as February. Depends on which education I choose, but it will be with plants, trees, flowers etc. That is if I don't succum to the money monster and take a job just to make a buck. I am trying for a hopeful and enjoyable future. Money hasn't really been my goal in life, but it is nice to feel secure.
Speaking of that we will be looking at a house less than 10 minutes from Mathias' job. It's a sellers market here, but we will start looking and maybe something will happen next year. Unless ofcourse we find the dream find (which we can afford). Big dreams.....
There are some fairly random pictures, some from a recent visit from Jennifer and Marion, which was awesome and far too short. Mathias doesn't like to have his picture taken can you tell. And to balance that I thought you all might want a close up of my mug too.
Those who have been to Moxie, doesn't that last one look like looking down from Mosquito or maybe even out in Mount Desert Island.

early harvest

The chanterelles have come early this year and now we live in real mushroom country. This is the first tiny harvest. I am a bit proud to say it was I who found them, but it was only enough for one small omelet. Also there are vast fields of blueberries. They are a bit different here and take longer to pick because they don't grow in clusters, but on average they are a bit bigger.
The forests are really nice to meander through and I can really imagine I am up at Moxie.

Some of you have been asking about which glasses I chose. None. I actually found a kind of lens that works pretty well for me, so I am going with them for now.

The bike trip pictures never got taken, along with the entire outing. Our vacation was plagued with rain which makes for a rather uncomfortable biking and camping situation. I think we sat in front of computers for three days which thoroughly squished our brains to boredom.
I went back to work a few days before Mathias. During that time there was a festival which his younger brother and 4 of his friends came to and set up camp in our apartment. Whew! I am so not 21.

I am expecting Jennifer and Marion to arrive on the 8th of August, driving up from Rennes, France. I expect some more of you NARDs should be making a visit, and excuses like I just had a baby, or I have a pear orchard, or I'm Xandy and I never leave central Maine just don't cut it anymore.

Glasskogen, The Glass Forest

About a month ago Mathias and I packed up and hiked in the nature reserve not far from us. There are tons of trails and it will take us a long time to go through them all. It was the first really great weekend this spring. It was early enough that there weren't so many hikers out there with us. The day before we struck out I did a slew of new exercises all for gluts and I was paying for it during the hike. There is a huge difference carrying all goods on our backs compared to biking, and I was feeling a little less spry than I used to.
Friday we are headed out for another bike trip, 6 days. Next time I will post pictures from last weekends warm up bike trip.

Friends and (more) Flowers

In the last month I s'pose quite a lot has happened. Now that there is finally warm weather I guarantee all Sweds take full advantage. I have to say again, the amount of daylight is like nothing I have ever experienced, both amazing and confusing to my senses. And now we have just passed over the longest days, but it is not yet registering.
The big smiley face is Mathias best friend Erik. The poker game is at Erik's place. Sitting at the table is David, another of Mathias friends we always see when we visit Filipstad. Those three and another, Simpa, will be going to a Beastie Boys concert on the 4th of July. Soon after that Mathias and I will take a week long bike trip. This weekend we will take a one as well to start getting used to that feeling of sitting on a little hard bike saddle.
The girls are Roberta, from Brasil, and Sofia and we are enjoying the beginning of a lovely and long Midsummers party out in the countryside.
The rest are, well, Plants. I have a little jungle in our apartment. I must say I am a bit proud of the Cockelshell Orchid. The first one I bought had a long and slow death, which was especially painful because I spent about $60 on it. This one I got for $1.25. Sweet!!!
I have some awesome pics from a hiking trip that I will post next time, so keep an eye out!

orchids and million bells

I believe I am officially orchid crazy. A casualty of working at a garden center. 18 is the current count and I will leave it at this for a while. The care for them is beginning to resemble having a pet. The tomatoes and peppers are growing well and I decided after receiving my first salary to splurge on a balcony flower box. Generally I am more for perennials, but I will have to wait a bit with that until we have our own house. But when we do get our own place I have visions of grandeur! Chickens, bees, maybe a couple sheep or goats, and eventually a couple of red haired crumbcrushers. All this and an eco-built house with solar power and a composting privy (for summer). Oh, and an art studio off to the side with lots of light and a small wood stove for winter. These daydreams are like soft breezes and rocking in a hammock on a warm summer day, or a mug of chocolate after coming in from a cold winter day.
Enough with the dreaming. Back to reality! (Possibly the most hated phrase of my childhood, which often followed a trip to Florida or Myrtle Beach) Todays reality is that it has been raining off and on for the last three days. I am longing for those 70 temps that we had early on. Not working today or tomorrow and have only two weeks left at the garden center. I am going to take a little trip down to Lund and Malmö on the 15th of June and come back to Arvika for Midsummer. It is the most popular holiday here and on the 21st of June in Arvika the sun will set at 10:45pm and rise again at 3:53am.
On a final and more mundane note, this is my new hair cut. Not as exciting as I had hoped, but it will do for now. I bought some eyeliner to "make up" for the haircut.(I know how bad that joke was, please send hate mail via e-mail rather than openly insult me please.) So, yup, that about wraps it up. A special congrats to Brad, Trish and baby Hazel and a holla to those out on the west coast(esp. mi shizza)!

work and leisure

Here is a little peek at where I work. You can look online at www.Kalenius.com.

The other pictures are from our picnic walk we took, a 10-11km mini hike. Mathias walked right by that snake and it scared the daylights out of me. His mom told me they were posionous. I guess they aren't deadly and not terribly harmful unless you are allergic to the venom, or so Mathias says. I will just avoid them.
It was really pretty and no other people, no mosquitoes yet either. Another bonus, no black flies at all. You Mainers would love it. A couple other random things they don't have are skunks or sugar maples. Sometimes I really feel like I am up at Moxie. I miss Moxie the most about home, aside from people of course.

I would like to thank all of you who answered about the glasses. I actually like the middle pair best, Mathias hates all of them. C'est la vie...and my dear Jen and Marion, sorry to hear the election went as it did in France. Maybe you will move back stateside?

help me choose!

So, as it goes I haven't had any luck with contact lenses. I am gonna try one more kind before I accept that I have desert dry eyeballs. But just incase they don't work I decided to try a few pair of glasses out on my loyal readers. I think I have a favorite (which are also the most expensive) and I would like to know what you think. Send an email if you can't easily leave a post here.
I have also included a picture of the window/roof to show off my little tomato babies. Work has been full time, or even more than that. I will be working weekends for awhile I think. But fortunately most of those hours are double paid, and for this I love Sweden. Bummer because it is the opposite of Mathias' free time. But there are some nice trails in the area and today he will sneak off a little early so we can wander a bit in the forest and have a picnic supper.

Riga, Latvia

This is from my trip to Riga to visit Brian Bickford about a year ago. We had a nice tour around the city and took a train out to the beach. There happened to be a parade of clowns as we walked through the city center.
It was a nice spring weekend, a little chilly. We had a BBQ with his coworkers who turned out to be party animals from Australia. The feel of Riga is very different from Sweden both in architecture and people.

lingon

Well, the job is going great. We are done with the granite but we are on our feet all day. There are still new items coming in and today the perennials will be here. We will take out some more large plant pots and try to make everything look nice as we rapidly run out of room for all these new things. Seems like this job will go through 'til the end of June. I am hoping it is full time until then and even more that they will want me longer.
Today I think I will bike to work with my coworker who lives in the same building as I. It is very convenient to get rides with her and she and I speak Swedish all day.

job news and last years cycling

This picture is from last summer. We took a weekend trip and ended up on this beautiful peninsula. However when we got there we found a gate saying bulls could be penned in there. After a long day of biking we decided to take the chance. I didn't sleep so well. We are getting excited for another short trip this spring and something bigger this summer.

On Monday I got a call from a local greenhouse asking me if I could come in for an interview. Their busy season is early this year due to an unusually warm spring. They don't grow their own plants these days as they used to. This is the most physically demanding job I have had. We moved granite garden fountains all day and my body is feeling it today. Johnny's farm crew was lux in comparison. Hopefully after a couple weeks most of the new merchandise will be in and I can work at the registers as well. I am unbelieveably happy to have work, so I don't mind working so hard. Before this a hard day was doing the dishes. I can't be sure how long this job will continue. They may only need me during the high season, until June. Hopefully they will see my value and keep me on. They are open year round and have another greenhouse in Karlstad, 45min away.

hidden entropic environment or welcome to our apartment

Here you go, a virtual tour of our abode. I know it looks tidy, but it the camera tells a story I have perhaps embellished. It is actually very spacious for us and it is taking time to fill it. Hope you like the tour, if you would like to have a real one don't hesitate. See that empty room, it is yours to stay in or to practice a little yoga, as we do.
If you click on a picture you get a closer look.