Gay Mother Goose

WC got a collection of Mother Goose poems by MomMom and PopPop. And his father can't get enough of the funny adult versions of all the rhymes ...

Välling in a bottle

Ode to our son. No need to explain. (Well, just this one fact - "välling" translates into "gruel" in English, a grain soup for older infants and grown-ups alike. Like something in between grits and infant formula.) Just read the lyrics below and sing along with the music video by The Police.

Just a child today, less than 18 months, oh
Another hungry day, with no one here but momm--yyy
More starvation than an infant could bear
Rescue me before I fall into despair, oh

I'll send an S.O.S. to the world
I'll send an S.O.S. to the world
I hope that someone gets my
I hope that someone gets my
I hope that someone gets my
Välling in a bottle, yeah
Välling  in a bottle, yeah

A year has passed since I left the boobs
But I should have known this right from the start
Only formula can keep me together
Milk can mend your life but
Lactose can give you heart(-burn)

I'll send an S.O.S. to the world
I'll send an S.O.S. to the world
I hope that someone gets my
I hope that someone gets my
I hope that someone gets my
Välling in a bottle, yeah
Välling in a bottle, yeah
Välling in a bottle, yeah
Välling in a bottle, yeah

Walked out this morning, don't believe what I saw
Hundred billion bottles washed up on the shore
Seems I'm not alone looking for remains
Hundred billion infants here, hooked on  fluid grains

I'll send an S.O.S. to the world
I'll send an S.O.S. to the world
I hope that someone gets my
I hope that someone gets my
I hope that someone gets my
Välling in a bottle, yeah
Välling in a bottle, yeah
Välling in a bottle, yeah

Music of Faith and Devotion

A Pain That I'm Used To. It's no good. Black Celebration. Blasphemous Rumours. Barrel of a Gun. Enjoy the Silence. Personal Jesus. Strangelove. Master and Servant. Shake the Disease. Lie to Me. Useless. Photographic. Precious. Stripped. World Full of Nothing. A Question of Lust. Never Let Me Down Again. Policy of Truth. Judas. I Feel You. Comatose. Freelove. Shine. Suffer Well. Damaged People. John the Revelator. The Darkest Star. Lilian. Ice Machine. The Sinner in Me. In Chains. Corrupt. Wrong.

A music critic in a British tabloid once argued: "all your songs seem to be about the same thing - it is just pain and suffering". Martin Gore allegedly replied: "On the contrary; pain and suffering are not the same things - they are indeed very different from eachother."

February 26, 2006, almost four years ago, we were both singing along with the songs mentioned above at the Depeche Mode concert in the Scandinavium Arena, in Gothenburg. (We have all their albums and several obscure, re-mastered B-sides.) This upcoming Sunday, DM are set to play in The Globe Arena, Stockholm - less than half a mile from where we live. And we don't even have tickets. We are probably getting old...

The grabbing hands,
grab all they can
all for themselves
afterall
[...]
it's a competitive world

-

E V E R Y T H I N G   C O U N T S   in  L A R G E   A M O U N T S !

Winter in Stockholm

The lakes and nearby bay frozen solid. (Picture of Järla lake.) Kim's old swimming place dressed in snow and ice. Travelling on the ice is nothing new to the Swedes. Sweden even won a a battle against neighboring Denmark by marching its entire army over the ice to capture Copenhagen in 1658.
WC in his pram next to the ski trail out on the lake. Open ice skiing and/or skating is a big thing here. But don't think that the Swedes stay away from safety measures. One of the most commonly seen safety gear here are the ice-prods (wooden or plastic prods with sharp steel points - used to grip the ice when climbing on to it from the water). Also - the open-ice skates are quite different from regular skates (see below).

"Feel the Zen in 2010"

Happy New Year!

WC and Tara enjoying the new year together, with WC sporting his new "Old Glory" outfit.

December 2009

God Jul och Gott Nytt År!

Several posts will come up soon as so much has happened! For now, though, we - Joakim, Tara, and Warren Christopher - want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

WC enjoying his toy

Here is our darling!

WC is born!

Today our son was born at Södersjukhuset in Stockholm, Sweden!

Michael Baryshnikov in Stockholm

Last week we went to see 59° North perform at the Dance Academy House in Stockholm.

Tonight we were able to get tickets to see Michael Baryshnikov - live at the Royal Theater (Dramaten) in Stockholm. It is hard to believe that we actually did see him, and that he is still full with such vigor, at the age of 61!

Here is an excerpt from his truly amazing performance of Le jeune homme et la mort.

Career plans II

Here are some other great vintage ads for Salem and Winston.

Salem softness freshens your taste:


Winston airplane ad:


A nice little tune for Winston:


Another nice little tune for Winston:


Yet another nice little tune for Winston:


A jazzy tune for Me and my Winston:


A nice little tune for Super King Size Winston - It's how you make it long!


Sponsoring the old tv-show The Beverly Hillbillies - Winston!


Beverly Hillbilly Jethro learns about Winston:

Career plans

Cross-country skiing in Dalarna

You really have to do some cross country skiing to be able to appreciate the Scandinavian heritage. We went to Orsa-Grönklitt in the central part of Sweden, in the region of Dalarna, also famous for the ski event Vasaloppet which is going on as this text is being typed.

Perfect conditions throughout the week: Fair weather (between 20 and 30 degrees F) and little or no wind, made it perfect for nice, long runs across a semi-open mountain landscape with plenty of snow and frozen lakes.
Tara, who has never before been standing on a pair of cross country skis, practiced her pedaling movement and pulling technique on the shorter tracks around the little hamlet of Grönklitt. Kim made some longer tours, and visited a secluded old farmstead in the middle of the woods. We did get some fresh snow falling during a few days but also had some clear and sunny days to enjoy the outdoors.

(On the left:) Tara is sporting her equipment at the end of the tracks, by the finish line in the center of the little community of Grönklitt.

(To the right:) Kim getting ready to go on a tour in the woods.










Below: Tara about to complete the "Junior Vasalopp" (about 200 yards long!)

Christmas cats

Wittgenstein and Nietzsche checking out the Christmas tree in their season bowties.

Christmas bath

Bathing in Sweden during Christmas is a somewhat chilly experience. Picture showing Kim after enjoying a short swim in the Hammarby bay area. Water temp: around 33 F (ice formations in the background, where the current is not so strong).

What you got cookin'?

Although Tara is reluctant to do any major cooking attempts in the kitchen, we hereby confirm that she has a bun in the oven.

The Padjelanta Trail

Two happy hikers after reaching the peak of the trail around Touttar on day 7.


A slideshow of photos from our hike on the Padjelanta trail in Laponia during July and August.

I'm gonna be...

A video dedicated to Tara after our two hiking trips this summer - 4 days on Sörmlandsleden in the middle of Sweden, and 14 days on the Padjelanta and the Nordkalottleden trails in the Laponia collection of Swedish national parks, somewhere above the Arctic circle...

Four days on Sörmlandsleden

Hiking on Sörmlandsleden (map overview), legs 13:1, 14, 15, (part of 15:2) and 15:1. This was our general rehearsal for our 14 day hiking tour in Padjelanta, the following month. Although southern Sweden does not have the massive mountains as up in the north, we still were able to find a nice part of the Sörmlandsleden trail with fairly tough elevations.

Top: Tara at the central lake area, after a strenuous hill climb.
Below right: Kim at the first lunch camp.
Below left: Our last camping ground, in a nature reserve with too many creepy snakes!











Below left: An old outhouse for the convenient hiker...
Below right: Kim in his mosquito net gear (yes, it is very necessary)!













Below: Enjoying the "almost"-midnight sun over our camp site at 11 PM.

Below: Easy travelled trail, deep in the woods.

Hiking in Tyresta National Park

Fall scenery at lake Stensjön. Today we traveled south of Stockholm to Tyresta National Park. A truly magnificent park that promises a great experience for advanced hikers as well as beginners. Tyresta consists of primeval forests and an impressive biotope - there is plenty of wildlife here; martens, deer, owls. Around dusk we encountered several deer families grazing nearby our trail.

View from one of the peaks at Fornborgsslingan. Some steep cliffs leading straight down to the lake. The trail around the lake presented hikers with a spectacular view over the southern part of the national park.

During primeval time, when the water level was higher, this land was part of peninsulas and islets used by early inhabitants of northern Europe.











Pictures from out camp site at lake Stensjön. Tara is keeping warm by the fire. Kim is boiling coffee. It was around 32 degrees Fahrenheit when we set out at 7.50 in the morning. We think it never reached above 40 degrees at noon, so the sunshine was much appreciated. Sunrise at 7.30, sunset at 5.24. Since we did not want to get caught in the middle of the park at nightfall we decided not to head for the coastline but instead come back some other time and try out the other trails. Read our hiking description below!


Map over hiking trails in Tyresta National Park. (Click on image to enlarge.) We hiked the southern path of Bylsjöslingan (white dots) and continued onto the trail marked as "Tyresta by - Stensjödal" on the map. At Stensjödal, just south of the lake system, we sat down by the camp fire and had lunch. After resting for an hour we walked up the hills on Fornborgsslingan (white dots east of the lake Stensjön) and then headed north on the trail marked by yellow-dots: "Stensjön-Årsjön". At the intersection north of Årsjön (which was pretty much located in the middle of a swamp where the trail only consisted of logs to walk on) we headed south on Sörmlandsleden (orange) to come back to our starting point at Tyresta by (read big dot). All-in-all a neat little hike of about 25 km (16 miles). Some of the paths were more difficult than we had expected. In some cases "the trail" was nothing more than a clearing made by a chainsaw. And the elevations in the area around Stensjön were quite demanding.

Recipe for something sweet

Kim is bored beyond belief. Kim wants something fun to do. Kim makes Tara some Swedish treats with a name that has stirred up a heated debate during the past years. A majority of Swedes still call this candy Negro balls. ("Negro" used to be considered a neutral word in Sweden - Read more about the controversy here.)
Recipe
1 1/2 c (0.4 L) quick-cooking oatmeal
1/4 c (59 ml) sugar
6 Tbsp (89 ml) butter, softened
2 Tbsp (30 ml) cocoa powder
1/2 Tbsp (7 ml) vanilla extract
1 Tbsp (15 ml) coffee (cold)
coconut or pearl sugar for rolling in

Combine butter, sugar, oats (mind you don't use the instant packets), cocoa powder, vanilla, and coffee until it makes a perfect dough. Roll into balls about the size of a meatball. For decoration: Roll balls in coconut/oatmeal flakes or pearl sugar. Refrigerate for an hour, or freeze the candy in order to create a harder consistency.