The Cabin & Midsummer's Eve

We cleaned up early in the morning and went to the buffet breakfast which was a little more unusual than we had experienced to date. I was in a hurry so I just had cheese and Wasa Crackers with my coffee while Bob was a little braver. The hotel office was closed, but a very nice worker in the kitchen helped me connect to the internet. She didn't speak English, but it's amazing what you can pantomime.

We met Vi & Tord at 9:00 to start off towards the cabin. We stopped in Sjotorps to meet up with their friend of many years, Karin (pronounced car en). She was a delight and told us a lot about her husband who was an engineer in the ship yards and her children who followed into the same industry. From her house we could walk to the Gota Canal and we got to see a boat go through the locks. 

Tord went on ahead to prepare lunch at their cabin north of us on Lake Vanern. We stayed with Vi and Karin enjoying the beautiful morning and had coffee and a Swedish jelly roll at the café by the Canal. In that short time, we felt close enough to Karin to hug her good bye. It was a joy and so interesting to spend time with her.

We got gas for the first time in Sweden with the help of Vi and the attendant. Their system was just enough different to be confusing but we're learning and people are so nice. We drove on off the highway along a beautiful back road and saw several deer.

We turned on to a gravel road following the lake shore past a campground to their most lovely, quaint little cabin and guest cabin on the northeast side of Lake Vanern. The guest cabin and outhouse were the original buildings that belonged to Tord's parents. The newer cabin has a bathroom and electricity. There were flowers and views in every direction and oh the tranquility.

  

Their son Peter was there and he showed us around while Vi and Tord were busy arranging for the rest of our day. His English was good and we enjoyed each other right away. He was most helpful.

Tord prepared a traditional Midsummer's Eve lunch of Herring, New Potatoes, and Salad. I tasted the herring, but Bob loved it. We ate at a little table outside by the lake under an umbrella. It was a picture to remember.

 

These two days of Mid Summers Eve are big celebrations all over Sweden. The traditions began in ancient times to encourage a fertile growing season. Vi told us about decorating the Maypole with wild flowers and all along the trip to the cabin we had seen ladies walking and on bikes with bouquets of gathered flowers. Karin gave one to Vi for our lunch table that was so delicate and pretty with purples and yellows. The story is that if a young maiden picks 7 different
kinds of flowers and places them under her pillow this night, she will dream of her future husband. 

After lunch, we settled in and made up our beds. It was nice to have some quiet moments to soak it all in and I worked on the blog for a while with a lovely view of the lake in front of me.

Then we headed to a small town where Tord was born, Kristinehamn, and went out to a great wooded park to watch the Maypole Celebration. We got there early enough to have a front row wooden bench, though many were on blankets on the hillside leading down to the pole. The pole was on the ground wrapped in greens and flowers. Several in the crowd had flower wreaths on their heads, especially the little ones.



 

On the opposite hill we heard the music of traditional folk songs with accordions, a guitar and a fiddle. The band was in costume with several couples also in costume following. 

They marched in and the men raised the pole

and then they did several folk dances. It was fun to watch with each dance getting more complicated.

When they finished and marched off, the band continued and they called people forward to go around the pole. The dances were so funny with the kids just giggling and parents helping as they acted out things like hopping frogs or workweek chores or what ever the song told them to do. Vi said they do the same folk songs for Christmas as kids dance around a Christmas tree. It was great fun to watch sitting out in the open air and though, at times it looked like it might rain, the weather held.

From there we drove down along the canal admiring the quaint as well as spectacular homes. Small ones are disappearing as ever larger ones replace them. I guess it happens every place. At the end of the road was a park with a statue by Picasso. They said it was his first outdoor work of art. He loved the area and often visited.

 

We went into a cafe' and had delicious ice cream. We didn't understand the listing of flavors written in Swedish, but couldn't go wrong. Peter was getting to know me better and was feeling free to tease me about taking so many pictures. I got one of him beside the word Glass, which means ice cream. I told him I didn't need to learn any other words after that.

Sorry this is getting long, but we did so much.

We drove back to the lake and stopped in the park with a log cabin church right across from their cabin.

They had us go in for the service with a talented young couple speaking and then singing to tell a story.

It was all in Swedish but beautiful and we could kind of get the flow of it through their expression. However, we missed all of the jokes but laughed anyway. We thought we had the routine down, but clapped once when we shouldn't have at the end of a song and got some odd looks. I truly wished our seats weren't right in front.

We went back to the cabin and watched Swedish News and saw films of Midsummer Celebrations from present and past.



Tord fixed us a wonderful dinner of sliced tomatoes, potato salad and honey smoked salmon. They amaze us with their generosity. We had strawberries and ice cream for dessert and waddled into the living room chairs to chat.

Peter cleaned up, they would not let us help and Tord built a cozy little fire as the evening was cool. But, that's not the end! Vi said, "And now it is Christmas Eve," and she brought out gifts. She gave me a hand painted cloth bookmark with Swedish flowers and Bob a handwoven Thailand one. Then they gave us a nicely done picture book of Sweden and a cute little Maypole with a Swedish flag all wrapped in Christmas paper. Then Tord brought out two little stemmed glasses that were hand blown from the Smaland area. They had belonged to his father and were 120 years old. We were speechless! There were no words strong enough. I was very choked up. We were glad we had decided to take one of Bob's best wooden bowls to them but now, even that did not seem enough. After as much praise as we knew how to give, we used the outhouse, dry brushed our teeth and crawled into bed. Bob says I was snoring as soon as my head hit the pillow. I know I only had to get up once to go out to the outhouse and was thankful they don't have bears in the area. After that, even after the walk in the cool night, I went immediately back to sleep.