Friday, June 30, 2017

Frames & Paint & ART

Good morning all! Today I'm finally thinking ART!  It's been a super busy year (not very lagom at all) so what is a tired teacher to do? Wait until the summer, natch, to break out those paintbrushes and get to work. On today's agenda is buy some big *** canvases. Yes, I'm going to break out the big guns because I have a show next May in a large venue, see above.  Last year's art show was in my house so my existing work worked nicely. Here are some landscapes and a portrait that I painted in typical smaller sizes (most are for sale by the way).





Next year I'm showing in that huge space with three other artists and I want to go big or go home. :) So, I'm popping a link into here on how to make large frames inexpensively because the size I'll be using is 36 x 48 or 36 x 36. The motif is horses.  Do you like these studies? I'll be working more on other studies next week.  Should be interesting. That's it for now! Ha det så gott.


Thursday, June 22, 2017

Happy Midsummer! Glad Midsommar!

Midsummer at my house, 2015
Hello lovely readers, it finally is the last day of school and I'm celebrating!! It's finally nice weather, I have a beautiful lunch to attend, and a fun movie with a good friend will cap off my night. Tomorrow is "Midsommar" the day when Swedes of all ages wear flower crowns in their hair and jump around like frogs.  Ha, ha!  There's singing, dancing and drinking to be had and it's a lot of fun.  I miss it but I wish all my Swedish friends the best time ever and good weather! Glad Midsommar! More information on the festivities here.

Here are some pictures of the beautiful Swedish summer for those of you who have never been. And if you've never been, go!  The prices are right.  Norwegian Air has entered the market for the Americans would like to go to their "homeland" and WOW! and Icelandair are competing by lowering their prices. Plus the dollar is strong. Let me know if you need advice.  I love playing travel agent, and if I can help you out I'm happy to do so.  I just think more people need to see Sweden for themselves.  Enough of that, here are the pictures - enjoy! (Photo credits below). Thank you I Love Sweden for many of them.
Heart shaped Stockholm archipelago, Sweden
Photo credit: aberrantbeauty

Fjällbacka, Sweden
Photo credit: Nordism

Lappland, the Northern Lights

Lund, Sweden

Malmö, Sweden   Photo credit: foursquare

Mölle, Helsingborg, Sweden
Photo credit: plus.google

Stockholm at night, Sweden
Photo credit: flickr

Friday, June 16, 2017

CO2 Neutral

Hello everyone!  Hope you're all well and looking forward to your weekend.  While I should be blogging about Midsommar which will be held on Friday, June 23rd this weather has gotten me down.  Rain, rain go away already!!  How much rain do we really need?  And then it's hot, and then it's rain.  Ugh!  What I wouldn't give for another day like the one we spent recently in Boston?  Glorious sun and 70 degrees Fahrenheit = perfection!  Check out the pics.  We love Boston!

May was a wash, June is turning into one, but global warming?  "Nix" says our new president who wants to "preserve the coal industry". Huh?  No one said it made any sense but that was the promise he made, and without understanding the implications of the Paris Agreement he pulled the USA out. Makes me want to scream.  Sweden on the other hand recently voted to net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions by 2045.  “With Donald Trump planning to pull out of the Paris agreement, now more than ever do we need the rest of the world to up its game in combating climate change,” Gareth Redmond-King, head of climate and energy at WWF, told Climate Home. “It is an important victory, not only for Sweden, but for everyone who cares about the future of our environment.”

Monday, June 5, 2017

How to be more Scandinavian

I'm getting ready for a trip to Scandinavia this summer so I thought I'd brush up on my "skills". My son and I are speaking Swedish, the clogs have come out (and they're not going back into the closet until there's snow on the ground) and I'm using my "osthyvel" more frequently.  I found this article on Scandikitchen and I think it's pretty spot on.  Mmmm, toast and jam. :)  And I really do want a "Fjällräven" backpack!  Thanks for the laugh Scandikitchen.

How to be more Scandinavian in your everyday life

Posted by Bronte Aurell | CommunityFun stuffInside ScandiKitchenScandi Life
Also known as: Quirky traits of the Scandinavian people.
We asked on Facebook and Twitter for your help on this. Thanks to everybody who came up with some awesome suggestions:
cheesecrimes
The slicing of cheese
It’s a thing. A big thing (especially in Sweden). Do not cut the end of the cheese if it’s a triangle, always use a cheese slicer (never a knife, sacré bleu!) – and if you make a ski-slope (i.e cutting too much of one side without correcting it) you risk being outlawed.

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Using the right cheese slicer

What, you didn’t think there were rules for this? Of course there are rules. This is Scandinavia. The metal cheese slicer is for harder cheeses, such as Cheddar and Västerbotten. The plastic slicer is for cheese that are slightly softer, like Havarti (aka Åseda Gräddost), Herrgårdsost, Grevé – and some brown cheeses, too. And the cheese slicer with a wire on is for Danish cheeses such as Riberhus and Gamle Ole.
Look, we know its sounds complicated, but if you use the wrong one, your cheese will be cut wrong. See ‘The slicing of cheese’.

Speaking as you breathe in

Sometimes we say things while breathing in. Like ‘ja’. Try it, you will find it most peculiar.  A point to note, however, is that it is usually done when you agree on something – affirming the point by breathing in and saying ’ja’ at the same time. The further North, the less sound is needed More here
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Friday night is for tacos.

Nobody is sure when it happened, but we only eat tacos on Fridays. Don’t ask, just do.

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Sweets are for Saturdays

It’s called Saturday Sweets. It’s also a thing. If you have them on Friday, then only in the evening and they its called CozyFriday. But on Saturdays, it’s Lørdagsslik or Lördagsgodis.
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Our obsession with coffee breaks

You will find very few Scandi work places that don’t have the fika/kaffepause at 11am and again in the afternoon (before we leave work at 16.30, because that’s also a thing – and nobody stays late). Usually with some sort of cake. The only acceptable drink is super-strength filter coffee – so strong that it hurts your nostrils and makes all the caffeine receptors in your brain think you’re back clubbing in a field in 1993.

I’m off on holiday in week 29…

We don’t count months, we count weeks. Nobody else does, which makes for interesting conversations. First week of January is week 1 – and so it goes. Forget months and days, it is all about weeks in Scandinavia. Easter is in week 14 this year. Now you know. We have no idea when that is, either. 
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Cheese & jam

It’s most certainly a thing. Toast, cheese and jam. Any kind. Even marmalade. Just embrace it. Cheddar and Strawberry jam is a thing.

skulls

Salty, strong liquorice

Most Nordic people embrace salty liquorice. The stronger and saltier, the better. We just do not understand that you don’t like it. How can you not? It’s strong, makes your mouth feel like its on fire and gives you a tummy ache when you over do it. We start training our children when they are young so we are sure they develop a taste for it. For Scandi ex-pats, it’s a rite of passage to make sure their overseas-born children develop the taste too (we see them at the cafe, tempting little Ingrid with salty liquorice lollipops).
The top ones are Tyrkisk Peber, Djungelvrål, and chocolate with salty liquorice centres.
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Eurovision

Eurovision is huge. Huge. Especially in Sweden, where they have six regional heats just to find a representative winner. Even those who say they never watch it probably still do in secret. Eating tacos and Saturday sweets.
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Our home style

The first time you walk into a Danish apartment, you will think the owner is an interior decorator. Second time, you wonder if the owner of the first and second flat know each other. Third time, you realise every single apartment looks the same. White walls, white doors, Arne Jacobsen dining chairs, an Eames chair in the corner with a casually thrown sheepskin, Eva Solo or Blue Flute crockery.  We all have the same cutlery and, curiously, we seem to leave the stickers on them.
In Sweden, it’s the same except it’s a lot more IKEA mixed with stuff from our country cottages by the lake.

We really do eat a lot of meatballs

But the Swedish ones are not the same as the Danish ones, and the Norwegian ones are different too. Don’t confuse things. Learn the difference or get found out.

We have rules for the Smörgåsbord

There is a strict set of rules about when you eat herring and what bread you use for prawns and salmon. And at what point you start singing and cheering with aquavit. Eat open sandwiches with your hands and be forever excluded. No, we don’t write down the rules: You just need to know them.
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Look me in the eye…

When you cheer with Scandi folk, it is very impolite not to look everybody around the table in the eye before you take a sip. Skål!
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How you butter your bread.

Crispbreads usually have a bubbly side and a flat side. The flat side is for every day, the bubbly side is for Sundays. Some people disagree, so there are no hard rules, for once. Rye bread that has too much butter is called ‘tandsmør’ – literally, tooth butter. Meaning the indent of your teeth can be seen.
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The queuing system

In most shops – especially in Sweden – there are little ticket machines. Brits may remember these from supermarket deli counters in the 80s before they disappeared. Take a number as you enter and wait your turn. You never ever cheat. We like orderly queues, but are not very good at them, so this helps us. At bus stops there are no ticket machines, so it is your job to remember at what point you turned up. This is stressful. You know the other people will remember, so don’t mess it up.
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The Scandi look

So, you want to look like one of us? Then you need to decide which one of us you want to look like. You see all us Scandis as the same, but we have very clear differences between us (as illustrated here by the brilliant Jenny Blake).
A general rule of thumb:
Danish: If you own anything not black, get rid of it. You’ll probably never need it again. Buy oversized scarves, dye your hair very blond and wear it in a messy bun if a girl – or bed-head style if you’re a guy. Viking Beard optional.
More info about looking like a Dane here from this blog.
Swedish: Very blond hair. If you’re a guy, we recommend the ‘Stockholm Stureplan Brats’ look. Maybe. Well, try it and see if it fits you. Otherwise, just grow a beard and speak with a funny accent. If you’re a girl, get yourself some skinny white jeans and white converse all stars.
Norway: Beard. Definitely eat brown cheese, have a backpack stuffed with Kvikklunsj and oranges. Buy a sheep. Bring it with you to places*.
*(Okay, the sheep comment was added by a disgruntled Swede who has since been punished and sent on a long vacation to Finland. Norwegians don’t really have pet sheep). 
scandidress
But no matter who you choose to style yourself on, don’t forget to get a Fjällräven backpack.
Now, go forth and be a bit more genuinely Scandi.
If you like reading random bits about Scandinavia, sign up for our (sometimes slightly amusing) newsletter on our homepage (down at the bottom to the left) www.scandikitchen.co.uk
Love, The Kitchen People

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