During a very hot summer day, we decided to go with W on his first canoe-trip in southern Halland (read about it here, in English).
The teams: Grand-dad and Tara in one canoe and Dad and W in the other.
We stopped for lunch after a few hours and as we started to paddle out on the lake again, we were suprised by rain and thunder. It literally soaked us in
less than 30 seconds. Tara and Grand-dad made landfall on the starboard
shore and Kim and W on the opposite one. After 15 minutes the weather
changed, the intense rain stopped, and we had to get back into the
canoes again to go back to camp for some dry clothes. (There would have
been dry clothes for us in a backpack, if it had not been for "Someone"
tipping that canoe over once they tried to step out of it. That incident
also sent Grand-dad flying into the water! Nice job, Mom!)
Nothing spells sibling tenderness better than to blast your brother with a fully automatic water gun, and a stock of magazine clips to replace for more ammo.
A glimpse of our new arsenal.
It's called a Super Soaker Switch Shot Blaster. There is a reason for that. With its pump-action feature it will either give a direct hit with a strong stream, or spread water around to hit everything at close range.
It is mid-May in Sweden and L is enjoying her favorite outdoor activity. Dress style in Sweden in May: Wellies (rainboots), rain jacket, waterproof pants, fleece sweater, wool long-sleeve shirt, wool long-johns and a hat. It's called "pre-summer" in Sweden...
Yeeeeeees!!! Notre Dame defeated USC to make this a 12-0 season! And
they are headed for Florida to the BCS National Championship Game on
January 7 2013 against Alabama Crimson Tide.
You only need one TD is your defense is strong enough! Theo Riddick (RB-6) rushed for more than 100 yds!
Coach Brian Kelly and linebacker Manti Te'o.
Notre Dame Stadium - Home of the Fighting Irish - 12-0 this season!
They say your heart is where your love is but mine is in a different place it's not that I don't love you I'm so sorry, but I'm happier somewhere else You should know I do my best Here in the West, here in ...
(South Again, by Maia Hirasawa)
Farmor and WC and Linnéa enjoying a brisk fall afternoon by Hellasgården in the Nacka National Reserve.
Dad preparing goulash for main course, and vanilla cream and raspberries for dessert.
Today we went hiking for approximately 6 km (~4 miles) in the Nacka National Reserve (map) with Grandmom and Grandpop. We finished our day with a nice meal by the lakes, cooked on our Trangia kitchen.
In this post we will upload a collection of stories about Sweden or Swedish culture. First off we have a few IKEA commercials, like the one above... playing with the stereotypes of Swedes. And here is another, highly "inappropriate" IKEA commercial. But it is funnyyyyyyyy!
SURSTRÖMMING - A CLASSIC SWEDISH DISH!
If you really want to try out something very Swedish, then you will have to eat fermented herring. Here are some videos diving into the subject. (Yes, opening a can of fermented, raw herring - you eat it raw - is like taking a dive into the sewers of any city.)
Jamie Oliver sings his praises for the Swedish kitchen - and the beauty of Stockholm by the water:
Comedy take on Sweden and the Swedish way of life, signed Family Guy and The Simpsons:
Wow… out of all the women in the US, I was able to stumble across someone as great as my wife. And chances of finding a good-looking American woman as genuine and sensible as Tara are pretty slim. At least if we use the line-up of Miss America as the litmus test for what American women aspire to become…which can be summed up in one word: stupid.
Only 8 out of the 51 supposedly most beautiful women in the US say that they support evolution to be taught in schools. The rest… 43 women in all (!) say things ranging from a straight “no” to “it is just a theory” or “well, it could be taught if other theories are presented as well” and then add statements along the line of “personally, I am a Christian, so I don’t believe in evolution”. Miss WV, Miss SD, Miss CT, Miss DE and Miss DC seem to get it right. In the entire line there are in fact only three women (Miss Vermont, Miss California and Miss Washington) who seem to be ardent supporters of science. Miss Washington is also not afraid to criticize the anti-science crowd (although she gets confused over the difference between “a theory” and “a fact” but this might just be an ill-phrased attempt to dismiss bogus creationist claims). Miss Vermont’s answer is more to the point, when she makes the distinction between science (that can be tested) and religious beliefs (that cannot undergo scientific scrutiny).
I really dislike beauty pageants. So many cute little faces. So little brain inside.
Let’s just assume that we changed the question, and asked them what they think about other theories being presented in schools… like, say… the theory of gravity? Anyone? Anyone? Oh… yeah… and the year is 2011.
/Kim
Warren C and Dad are pretty good at keeping up the pace on the trails in the nearby forests by singing the old Swedish tribal song "Vi gå över daggstänkta berg - fallera!". (Tribal songs are songs proclaimed to be of national interest "to instill patriotic duty in our youth in accordance with His Majesty's will", as it says in the Swedish public school ordinance from 1943.) Regardless of hiking pace, it is now getting colder. So our choice of clothing has changed. The top three images are from our hike in mid-September. The bottom pictures are from today's little journey. We're using double layers of wool (underwear and wool sweater, wool turtleneck and thick wool socks to keep warm. And of course - some hot chocolate in the thermos!
Gearing up for a hike in September. WC gets hydrated with a Mer fruit drink.
Piggy-back riding, dressed in a sun hat, jeans and some Wellies to keep dry.
Ready to go! Dad in his lumberjack plaid shirt.
"Hiding" behind a tree in the woods!
Keeping warm on the trail. The fall wind made the hike fairly chilly.
If you want to learn about the difference between the United States and Sweden – please take a few minutes to watch the following videos. First off is PBS (video above), and their show ”Free or Equal”. They do a follow-up to a survey about wealth distribution where Americans seem to have little understanding of how the US really works. In order to demonstrate this, they present people in the streets with different pie charts of wealth distribution in Sweden and the US. And here are the stats: The richest 20% of Americans hold 84 percent of the nation’s wealth, whereas the financial assets of the bottom 40 percent of the population equal 0.3 percent of the entire wealth in the United States. In Sweden,on the other hand, the wealthiest 20% of the country hold 36 percent of the wealth, the top 40 % of the population hold 57 percent of the wealth. A no doubt stark difference to the US. Even more so - the bottom 40 % of Swedish households actually own 36 percent of the nation’s entire wealth! (Compared to 0.3 percent in the US!) It is obvious that Sweden has a much more equal distribution of wealth … and Americans who are asked about it just LOVE this kind of society – at least when they see the pie chart. In fact – they love it so much that they actually think that the pie chart that represents Sweden will have to be a representation of the wealth distribution in the United States. (This brings in a lot of questions about The Myth of the Rational Voter - and why democracies choose bad policies.)
What the PBS documentary does NOT say, is how a society like Sweden (which is obviously doing well today in the midst of financial turmoil) has been hampered by tough government interventions. In fact, it is only until quite recently (the past 20 years), that Sweden liberalized its economy and gained some economic traction. Still, the taxes in Sweden are very high. The municipality income tax is around 30%. The marginal tax rate is 50%, and anyone making more than $55 000 a year pays 20% in income tax on everything above that level, and another 5% taxation is placed on incomes above $78 000 (people that are referred to as the "super rich" in Sweden...). Some income taxes are hidden in the system of Swedish payroll taxes as well (at around 32%). This means that the highest possible income tax today stands at around 87% in Sweden. But Swedes who make less than $55K a year "only" pay 62% of their gross salary ... And out of your remaining net salary you still have to pay 25% in sales tax on anything you buy.
Sweden is a much more equal society than the United States, but equal does not mean better. And whatever your view is on financial redistribution and equality - bearing in mind the Swedish tax brackets, you would have to wonder how many Americans would be willing to move to Sweden if they got the whole truth behind the pie charts.
An altogether different view is the "Free to Choose" idea, that has been championed by Milton Friedman - a free market might not give us equality in distribution of income, but will let people be free to create their own future:
Of course, since Sweden has not been increasing its national debt and while some Swedish industries are outsourcing their jobs to places like... the United States (!) - some Americans are waking up to what it means to have to work for their money, as opposed to just putting every expense on a credit card. The Daily Show has a great video on what IKEA is doing for American jobs:
And here are two more "insights" into what it means to have Swedish "socialism". Clearly, the old "Swedish socialism" stereotype (drummed up by Fox News) is not up-to-date with how Sweden functions today, which The Daily Show clearly demonstrates. Whether you like tall blond women or not...
And, to add some more positive views on Sweden, regardless of what you may think of Al Gore, his assessment of Sweden's ability to deal with cap and trade, recycling and other environmental programs, makes the United States look like a polluter country from the developing world.
Miro's Bleu III, a reproduction of which we soon hope to have on our wall.
A print poster of Jackson Pollock's Alchemy is now proudly placed in our bedroom. Yes, it is a "conversation piece"!
Mark Rothko's "No 3" adds wonderful color to our hallway.
A poster of Joan Miro's May 1968 painting, full off drip painting technique, is our son's favorite.
Robert Motherwell's Blue painting - a great example of American 20th century art
Franz Kline and his brutal paint strokes...
Our apartment has been missing a few things. After re-decorating and putting white wallpaper all over we have been searching for great paintings to add a certain je-ne-sais-quoi. And what better way to do just that than to use prints and canvas reproductions of great abstract expressionism. The last two paintings (by Motherwell and Kline) are presently not on our walls. We will have to wait and see once we put up our new nursery room. Inside the nursery, we will leave the decision making to our son, who without a doubt will choose posters from any print collection with the label "Cars" on it...
We stopped for lunch after a few hours and as we started to paddle out on the lake again, we were suprised by rain and thunder. It literally soaked us in
less than 30 seconds. Tara and Grand-dad made landfall on the starboard
shore and Kim and W on the opposite one. After 15 minutes the weather
changed, the intense rain stopped, and we had to get back into the
canoes again to go back to camp for some dry clothes. (There would have
been dry clothes for us in a backpack, if it had not been for "Someone"
tipping that canoe over once they tried to step out of it. That incident
also sent Grand-dad flying into the water! Nice job, Mom!)
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