The Vikings are Coming! The Vikings are Coming!

No need to hide your wives and valuables though.  This time it's an expedition with the boat Draken Harald Hårfagre which is landing on Newfoundland tomorrow, June 1st!  Expedition America left Greenland on May 27th heading our way.  Captain Björn Ahlander started the voyage in Norway, heading first for Iceland.  Here's an amazing clip from their voyage:

The teamwork is takes to undertake something like this is very impressive.  I can't imagine being one of the people sitting together in this open boat on the Atlantic.  No need for rowing at this point with the wind as strong as it was.  It helps me truly understand the Vikings better to watch this team in the North Sea.  It's the biggest Viking ship and it's named after the first king of Norway, Harald Fair Hair. According to their site http://www.drakenexpeditionamerica.com/ it will be in New York on September 15th!  What a sight that would be!

Back home, we had our own special nautical visitation - a replica of a Spanish galleon from the 1630's.  Reminded me of this beast, which was even more impressive: take a look here for my post on The Vasa which sank off the coast of Stockholm in 1628.  

Prins Oskar

Here's a beautiful picture from the new prince of Sweden's christening. The little princess Estelle seems to be enjoying herself.  She's just adorable.

I am sorry not to have blogged much lately.  The good news is that the ambassadress from Sweden AKA my mother is coming soon with yummy treats and news from home.  Searching on the internet, and reading the press about Sweden isn't the same as enjoying a cup of coffee while hearing the news from home.  I look forward to it, and the Marabou (hint, hint)!

For those of you who, unlike me, don't have a lot to do, here's a clip from the Swedish coverage of the young prince Oscar's christening.  For those of you who are too busy like myself, try to relax and  enjoy your weekend.  I hope that you all have a very nice time with your family.   In the States we get an extra day for Memorial Day to honor our veterans. We're heading off to Pittsburgh where there's lots to do and family to see.  But for now I'm off to do the laundry and make some calls.  

Happy Memorial Day Weekend a little early to you all!

Swenglish at IKEA

Eurovision 2016 Winner!

The most bombastic and overly produced Eurovision shows I've ever seen - and yes, I did watch the whole thing - was just not as much fun as it should have been.  Everything was so over the top (but that's not always bad thing given that I personally give bonus points for "cheese") yet I just felt stunned by the strobe lights, smoke, light shows, and bad choreography.  Everyone looked and sounded more or less the same. Congrats to the Ukraine! Their song was emo to the max but I guess it meant a lot to her (see below) and the country.

And little Franz of Sweden did alright, as did Australia.  But why is Australia even part of EURO-vision?  Hmmm.  Well here's some background on the winning song, and the video. The afternoon wasn't a total loss as I had lovely friends over, a nice bottle of wine and munchies, and my family rooting along.  Just not how I remembered it I guess.

The 32-year-old winner is a member of the Muslim Tatar minority of Crimea who saw her great-grandmother deported along with 240,000 others by Stalin in the penultimate year of World War II.

Jamala's poignant song opens with the harrowing line: "When strangers are coming, they come to your house, they kill you all and say, 'we're not guilty, not guilty'."

But the memories of that horror have been revived by Russia's seizure of Crimea several weeks after a pro-EU revolt ousted Ukraine's Moscow-backed president in February 2014.

However, Russian lawmakers on Sunday lashed out at arch-rival Ukraine's "political" victory in the Eurovision song contest, as one pro-Kremlin paper insisted Moscow's entrant was robbed.

Ukrainian performer Jamala won the glitzy contest Saturday with her ballad "1944" about the deportation of the Crimean Tatars by Soviet authorities during World War II in a performance widely seen as a swipe at Moscow over its annexation of the peninsula in 2014.... 

From The Local 

Daily Doodle Challenge!

I am starting a challenge for my Start 2 Art class and I'm opening it up to everyone!  Just a simple doodle a day will get you on the road towards more creative thinking; and a better appreciation of nature and the simple joys of life.  That's what "Living la vida lagom" is all about - finding the balance in life and we need art, I think, to balance out technology.  Feel free to look for Start 2 Art on Facebook and post your daily doodle there if you'd like to share.

Picture of the most boring cloud I could find so you don't feel compelled to copy ;-)

So...Daily Doodle Challenge #1 -- Draw a cloud. Keep in mind this quote by Thoreau: "What sort of science is that which enriches the understanding but robs the imagination". Open to any and all!

Hell to the No!

This woman is bold and brave!  Tess Asplund said "hell to the nej" to the neo-Nazis in Sweden.  She just reacted in Borlänge on May3rd and David Lagerlöf happened to take her picture.  It's going viral and The Guardian covered the event with an article.  It's soooo scary that the Nazi group, or Nordic Resistance Group as they call themselves now, is growing in Sweden.  The far right has become a common sight now as they never were when I lived in Sweden.  It's like a really bad Stieg Larsson book has come true and will haunt you forever if you don't stand up for what's right. Here's what Tess said, and I love it -

I hope something positive will come out of the picture. Maybe what I did can be a symbol that we can do something – if one person can do it, anyone can.”

Dump Cake

I don't know if I'm the only person in the world that's never made this cake before, but dump cake is my new fav.  I watched Pioneer Woman today for the first time and she was literally making food for cowboys.  It was intriguing.   I mean, do people actually still live like this?  Branding, and separating cows into different pastures while riding horses seems like a thing of the past.

But yes, they do, and she makes delicious food for them while a camera crew films every second.  I didn't have a camera crew, or even a camera, but I did make the peach dump cake and it was the easiest cake eva'!  Do my kids deserve cake on a Tuesday?  Not really.  But if it gets my picky daughter to eat two more bites of pasta I am all for it! Recipe below:

Ingredients:
1 29 oz can of sliced peaches, with syrup
1 box yellow cake mix (18.25 oz)
1 and 1/2 bars of butter, sliced (3/4 cup) or more if needed
Steps:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Pour peaches and syrup into greased 9 x 13" baking dish.  Sprinkle the cake mix evenly over it.  Then spread the sliced butter on top and into the oven for 35 - 40 minutes. Voila!  It's sure easier than my Swedish cinnamon buns.