A little time for painting resulted in this portrait.
A poor photo of a painting of my darling 11 year old, who sat, so impatiently while I painted this quickly in the garden. I had my portrait painted when I was 11 so I thought I'd carry on the tradition. Special K will also get the "honor" of being painted at that age too, on the cusp of "tweendom". We had such a fun time together this vacation. It will be a nice memory of our trip to Sweden.
IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad is moving back to Sweden after many long years in tax paradise Switzerland, where he will be taxed "accordingly based on his income." Which I'm sure will be as close to null as he can get it as his son is now running the show. Oh, and interestingly enough there is no longer any inheritance tax in Sweden! You leave for just one lousy year and they go changing everything on you. (Just kidding, actually I just learned that they changed this already in 2004 to stop exodus of major corporations such as IKEA from Sweden.) Read more here, http://m.thelocal.se/48712/20130626
Speaking of packing, I have some major packing to do tomorrow myself... taking my "pick och pack" and heading back home. And I have lots of things, lots of luggage, and ideas plus a nice tan. It's been a beautiful four weeks in Sweden. I'm blessed to have such a great family here, and I will miss them, but I am so excited to see my handsome hubby again. I hope that he recognizes me. :-)
A beautiful flower from a darling shop - Botanica in Höllviken
So, I found on a shopping trip this pretty type of Hortensia, or Hydrangea, that I liked and a handprinted tablecloth by Bungalow at a nice little flower store. I love those stores that combine fresh flowers with candles,cloths, nice scents and other pretty things don't you? It becomes a total experience, especially if you add a nice coffee shop in the back. ;-)
Here is another picture of my new tablecloth. I need to stress new because I buy a lot of second-hand, but this time I sprung for this Indian print cloth with green and silver accents. Green is in, and it goes nicely with the turquoise demi-tasse cups I snagged at *loppis* (flea market) recently as well. I have a mint colored dress, freshly baked cookies, guests RSVP'ed and now I am really ready for my "I'll never turn 50" party to be held tomorrow!
Allsång literally means "everyone sing" and it's a huge summer tradition in Sweden. It seems practically every night there's one advertised, or on TV like "Allsång på Skansen" and "Lotta på Liseberg". See Lotta. It's a great way to promote Swedish acts and to have some fun singing together, but the funny thing to me (as an American) is how everyone claps in unison, or only sings when given the O.K. It's not like they're taking the chance to be on "Swedish Idol" or anything. Everyone just nicely waits their turn until the host brings the microphone over, and then shyly and often off-key, they sing a little in it. I could just see this tradition turning into a real diva festival in America. Someone grabs the mic, and starts going all gospel on it or something. Kinda want to do this myself. :-) Anton Ewald was on the other night, he's a real cutie. Insert "idol bild" (idol picture) here:
Maybe I'll become the only middle-aged American Anton fan!
I love this town
We also had so much fun going into Copenhagen as a kid and I wanted to bring that same kind of excitement to my children so off we went into the big city. As always we ended up on Ströget - the walking road in the middle of the old part of town - with its shops, restaurants, tourists, and attractions. This time it seems like gold and silver living statues are all the rage.
I think we saw about 7 people in different garb along the way including a fakir sitting on thin air, a silver magistrate of some sort, a gold dwarf (child?) dressed in colonial clothing, and more. Special K put a coin in one of their bowls and got a special high-five, and a picture. I'll attach that later once I get back home, and I am able to sift through my camera and all the shots. Copenhagen is definately one of the most picturesque places I know so I have lots of shots to share! Until then, take a look at these shots from the NY Times for an overview. slideshow
We only had enough time for a long walk, visiting Illums where the picture above was taken, stopping at the Lego store (of course), and a boat ride on the canals. It was a very fun and exhausting day. One piece of advice, know your credit card's PIN number before you go... but that's another story altogether... and for those of you traveling a little longer in Copenhagen this article might come in handy, NY Times Travel Guide To Copenhagen
