A Day of Fun with Sture and Inger... Tärnaby and nearby, Sweden

Our day started with a lovely breakfast followed by a quick stop in Tärnaby for a couple of items to supplement our picnic lunch. Afterward, we drove to Laisaliden where we parked the car and headed out to walk a bit on the Drottningleden hiking trail. After a short climb at the beginning of the trail, we were treated to lovely views on all sides as we hiked along a high plateau. The image below is a panorama of five images of just some of our lovely views on this hike... stitched together in Photoshop.

The two images flanking the wildflowers in the top half of the collage below are of the rushing mountain stream running alongside the start of the trail. The yellow wildflower is Small Cow wheat (Melampyrum silvaticum, the dark purple flower is Bartsia alpina L.; its common name in Sweden is Svarthö which translates to Bartsia! The image on the lower left is the first of five images that were used to make the panoramic image at the top of this post... even the ground was beautiful on our hike as seen in the gorgeous stones and greenery in the image in the lower right. In the middle is cousin Sture, carrying most of the provisions for our lunch and coffee making and brother-in-law Tom on top of the world in spite of the gloomy weather!

Below you have the gateway to the hiking trail and Sture preparing to make the all-important coffee to go with our picnic lunch after we had hiked up to the plateau. The hardest part of finding a lunch spot was finding a place that was sheltered enough from the wind to allow Sture to light the flame for making the coffee. We certainly didn't lack for beautiful scenery!

Images below include several from our hike along the plateau, brother Lukas and brother-in-law Tom (back to camera) hunkered down and enjoying lunch and Sture finally joining us in the meal after making sure we all had coffee. The image in the lower right is an HDR from 3 images taken of the stream that runs alongside the start of the trail. As we returned to the parking lot at the end of our hike, the sky had become quite dark except for the light patch in the distance and light rain was falling.

I debated about including the collage below... the church looks crooked to me in BOTH of the images. SIGH... must do a better job of post processing when making collages which tend to exaggerate any "off kilter" bits! This is the church in Tärnaby (Tarna kyrka) and is the church where Inger's parents were married.

Interior views of the church in Tärnaby include the high pulpit, a view of the painting over the altar and one of the stairwells leading up to the choir balcony where the organ, last image, is located. This church was beautiful in its simplicity and not nearly as elaborately decorated in the interior as many we saw.

After our stop in Tärnaby on the way home from our hike, we made a couple more stops along the way to have a look at some family homes formerly belonging to Inger's family. The house on the top left below was the home of Inger's grandparents until they became quite elderly at which point it was given to one of the sons as is the custom in Sweden in the old days (and still seems to be fairly common to this day). The home in the lower right is where Inger's grandparents lived in their "old age" and is on the same property as their other house. The thermometer measuring the temperature at nearly 9 PM was on the outside of Sture and Inger's home and the interior door is in their house. That door came from the old house that they bought to provide building materials for portions of their home. Sture was in the process of stripping all the old paint when Inger suggested that he should leave it as you see it now because it was beautiful that way. I quite agree!

The last collage has an image of the home in which Inger lived until age 4 when her family moved from Tärnaby to Lycksele, a lovely little wildflower, Moneses uniflora (known as Ögonljus in Sweden), and a pleasant scene near the family property.

More on Göteborg, Sweden from June, 2011

If you have been following along on my journey, you will have noticed that posts have been very slow to appear! (and that this one is out of order) In addition to having difficulties with internet access while I was away, I took over 3500 photos in the 2-1/2 weeks that I toured Sweden and Iceland... a bit of overkill that NEVER would have happened back in the days when I had to pay for prints! So it's been taking me quite awhile to go through the images and pick just a few to share.

The collage (created with Picnik) has two images from our visit to the Göteborgs Stadsmuseum (Gothenburg City Museum) which houses viking and emigration history as well as special exhibitions: in the top left, copper coins used for currency during a time in Sweden when silver was extremely scarce and pottery and tile samples diagonally opposite in the bottom right corner, Skansen Kronen tower (sits on a HIGH hill overlooking Göteborg), a view of the city from Skansen Kronen park (on the left under the tower) and just one of the many church spires soaring over Göteborg on the right. Under the copper coins, a close-up of the Poseidon statue, a famous fountain at the top of the main street, Avenyn, in Göteborg, a colorful police car and one of the many coffee shops we saw in Göteborg.

At present, Starbucks has no coffee shops in Göteborg. Apparently, that will change when a Starbucks coffee shop opens in Göteborg's Central Station in the winter of 2012... I have to wonder how many of the marvelous coffee shops everywhere in the city will remain after/if Starbucks builds a large presence there.

This collage represents quite a lot of trial and error, research looking for templates (FAIL) and a painful learning curve encountered in putting this together in Photoshop CS5. My goal was to be able to create a collage that wasn't locked in to the templates offered by Picnik. I'm somewhat satisfied with this but, if I had it to do over, would try to figure out a better way! Meantime, I will post this as is and MAY replace it some day if I ever figure out a simpler, cleaner way to do it. Clockwise from top left, a view of Göteborg from the deck near the top of the building where my cousin Örjan works, architectural detail of the roof of his building as seen from this same deck, detail of one of the painted inlays typical of the elaborate exterior decorations seen on many buildings in Sweden, atypical street scene (no people in it during early afternoon), detail of statues decorating a balcony... they seem to be saying oh my aching head... or how long do we have to support this balcony above us!

I'll close this post with a shot of the seaport from which our grandparents (and their first two children, my Aunt Ada and Uncle Holger) set sail for America in the early 1900s... Grandad came first to get settled and earn money to pay the way for Grandma and their children to follow him several years later. After their family was reunited in Sheridan, Wyoming, four more children were born. My mother was the fifth.

Family visit in Gothenburg - or Göteborg... Swedish style!

It has taken awhile to get to anywhere the Internet is reliable enough to post anything. Will see how it goes. We arrived in Göteborg on Saturday but my checked bag didn't make it until Sunday. Fortunately, I planned for that possibility and we just continued on with only minor worries about the luggage. Cousin Örjan met us at the airport and led us to our hotel, saving us the worry of finding our way while jet lagged!

For this post, I'll just include a few family photos and leave the tourist report until another day. Our cousin Örjan is doubly related to us through his great-grandfather and our grandfather who were brothers and his great-grandmother and our grandmother who were half-sisters, making him our second cousin, once removed. (his father Sture is our second cousin; we will be visiting him later on our journey)

Our first evening in Göteborg was spent dining with Örjan and his wife Lisa and planning our next day while keeping in mind that it might be a rainy day. No pictures from our first night in town...

A few family photos are included below from our second day and evening when we were squired around town by Örjan and Lisa and then treated to a marvelous meal at their home where we met the rest of their immediate family.

Left to right: sister Valerie, cousin Lisa, cousin Örjan, brother-in-law Tom, brother Lukas and yours truly...

Cousin Örjan.

Örjan and Lisa's son Ludwig.

Örjan and Lisa's daughter Matilda putting the finishing touches on dessert.

Left to right: Ludwig, Örjan, Lisa, Svante, Matilda and Sixten at their home on the evening of June 19, 2011. We were wined and dined and treated to a marvelous meal of traditional Swedish dishes including moose that was absolutely delicious! I wish that I hadn't been so jet-lagged or I'd give you more details about the meal. In addition to delicious food and lovely wines, we had wonderful conversations and learned more about our Swedish family.

Upcoming trip to Sweden... with side trip and a stop in Iceland!

Just a quick post (HA!... my posts always take longer than I intend) to share an upcoming journey itinerary. I'll not worry about my house/home while I'm away because someone will be in residence there to keep an eye on things. :-)

At a family reunion in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada 25 years ago, I met Swedish second cousins Sture and Inger Johansson and their son Örjan. Sture and I are doubly related through our Swedish grandparents because our grandfathers were brothers and our grandmothers were half-sisters. When we met in 1986, I promised to come visit them in Sweden and now I am finally going to do just that.

This trip will be a family trip with my brother, his partner and my sister who is the serious genealogist in the family. We will be staying first in Göteborg to visit with Örjan, his wife and their four children who live in a nearby suburb.

We will also visit with Sture and his wife Inger while staying up north in Lycksele. Sture and Inger live on the property that has been in my Swedish family since 1640. Family records for that area of Sweden were lost in a fire in 1640 when the church in Umeå where they were stored burned. So we don't know anything about our family prior to that year.

Part of our visit with Sture and Inger will be in the mountains close to the Norwegian border where they have a cabin near Tärnaby. After our stay there, we will cross the border into Norway and drive south through the mountains before crossing back into Sweden.

In between visiting with family, we will spend time in Stockholm, the High Coast, Umeå and Österund. On our return trip, my brother, his partner and myself will be stopping in Iceland for a few days. My sister will be returning to the US from Österund through Stockholm after our overnight in Österund.

Our itinerary and a map of our route follow... if things go according to plan, I will be posting a few photos and stories along the way. However, I do not know how well the plan will work since I will be attempting to blog via iPad on a wireless connection whenever possible and will not have my computer with me! (trying to travel light)

Letters represented on the map above correspond to locations indicated on the itinerary below in parens (A, B, C, etc); we are not staying in Norway at the junctions indicated by letters G and H on the map. (large view of map)

1. June 17th for Göteborg, Sweden via Icelandair; arrive in Göteborg at 3:00 PM June 18 local time
2. June 18-19 in Göteborg (A); drive to Stockholm on the 20th
3. June 20-22 in Stockholm (B); drive to Härnösand on the 23rd
4. June 23 in Härnösand (C; High Coast region); drive to Umeå on the 24th
5. June 24- in Umeå (D); drive to Lycksele on the 25th
6. June 25 -26 in Lycksele (E); drive to Tärnaby on the 27th
7. June 27-28 near Tärnaby (F) at Sture and Inger’s cabin; drive to Östersund on the 29th
8. June 29 in Östersund (I) overnight; drive to Stockholm on the 30th (Val flies home from Östersund on June 30)
9. June 30-July 1- Brother Lukas, partner Tom and myself in Stockholm (B) two more nights
10. July 2- flight to Reykjavik where we stay July 2-4.
11. July 5- depart Reykjavik for home

Catching up... St. Croix... the rest of the trip and future notes!

Since my last post (and not THE last post) about our trip to St. Croix, we've been to Montana for three weeks and to Illinois for 7 days so I'm definitely far, far, far behind on posting here. It seems that many things have intervened and kept me too busy to post...

1. first with things here at the house and two weekend trips the two weekends prior to leaving for Montana
• one from May 21-23, 2010 to "Dirt Fest" at Raystown Lake, PA (a mountain biking event Mike wanted to attend again this year and I accompanied him)
• a second trip (by me alone) to Easton, PA to visit Robin (brother) and Pat (his wife) over the Sunday and Monday of Memorial Day Weekend
  
2. and then with our trip to Montana (from June 2-23, 2010) which came about in a rather rushed fashion with a decision to go only about 3 weeks before we actually packed up and left
3. and last but not least, a trip to Illinois from June 27 - July 3, 2010 due to a death in the family (Mike's mother passed away on June 19 while we were still in Montana); viewing and a memorial service were held in Lovington, IL (where she grew up and where other family is buried)

SO... I will try to briefly wrap up the last few days of our stay in St. Croix before forging ahead with stories from the rest of our travels! In the days after attending my nephew's wedding (see previous post) and before our departure, we managed to fit in another family dinner at our villa that included picture taking at the request of some of us who especially enjoy the tradition of a photo of "the five" siblings, some more shopping, another snorkeling trip for "the boys" (Mike and Larry III), a visit to the St. George Village Botanical Garden to walk around the grounds and shop a bit more at their delightfully air-conditioned shop (it was HOT outside), a quick stop to see Jason and Keely's apartment high on a hill overlooking Christiansted, and last, but not least, a family dinner at No Bones Restaurant (Jason and Keely's favorite local dining spot) on our last night in St. Croix. A few images are included below...

One of several family photos taken on June 25, 2010 in St. Croix. This one shows "the five" siblings from left to right... Robin, Valerie, Larry, Victoria and Lukas. There is a slide show available for viewing the rest of the family photos including the ones from our last night together at No Bones Restaurant.

Larry III and Mike returning from snorkeling at a beach near Point Udall.

Just on the other side of the hill... better snorkeling than where Mike and Larry III snorkeled... but we saw it too late!

A very unusual flowering tree... the Cannonball tree... so named because its fruits resemble cannonballs when ripe... this image shows some buds and one fully opened flower.

A view of Christiansted (town and harbor), USVI from Jason and Keely's apartment... the road was pretty rough (steep with sharp turns AND muddy) getting up there but we made it!

An interesting building with exterior walkway and arches... I just like this one!

"THE END" of my St. Croix posts... on to the next adventures when I have some more time to post.

St. Croix, USVI - Wedding Day - April 24, 2010

I know I'm very late posting the rest of our trip images and stories... seems that many things have intervened since our return home on the 28th.

The day of my nephew's wedding dawned cloudy and there were several periods of rain showers throughout the day. But the weather cleared shortly before the ceremony was to start and the rest of the late afternoon and evening was marvelously clear and quite nice.

We arrived, as instructed by my nephew, 45 minutes before the ceremony was to start to find the catering crew completing the setup of tables and the bar and wandered around exploring the lovely grounds of the estate. As guests started to arrive, we saw family members we hadn't seen since the last wedding (Jason's younger brother Michael married Dawn in August of 2008).

Once all the guests arrived and were seated, following a short and joyous ceremony, Jason and Keely enjoyed celebrating their union with all of those in attendance. Partying LATE into the evening followed the ceremony and I have far too many images of their wedding to share in this space. I've uploaded a few here which may be viewed as a slide show if you want to see all eleven images (takes about 30 seconds depending on your connection speed).

I've included a few family images below ... and a couple of scenic shots from the grounds of the lovely Cane Garden Estate, St. Croix, USVI where the wedding was held. Enjoy!

Cane Garden Estate, main house. Jason and Keely had their wedding ceremony on the steps; we weren't allowed inside but peeking through the windows showed a gorgeously restored interior of this historic residence.

The lovely bride and handsome groom after the vows and just before marching down the aisle to "Another one bites the dust..."

Grooms uncles L-R back row: Tom, Lukas, Larry, Mike; front row: Duane, Larry III, Robin.

The kiss... Pat and Robin on a bench with the clear water and gorgeous countryside behind them.

Dress was island casual... we all took advantage of that! Family members L-R include Valerie (mother of the groom), Larry III, Larry, Tom, Chris, Lukas, Michael, Dawn and Pat.

Groom's family in the left photo L-R: cousin Evan, sister-in-law Dawn and brother Shane; brother Michael and his wife Dawn on the right.