Keep your heart open for my friend Kjell, he’s having ablation tomorrow and lots of tests today. 
He’s not really eating two ice creams, he’s just holding Lorraine’s while she takes a picture to show how cute we are when we’re eating ice cream! We’re out at the Picasso sculpture. The Swedes thought they were having summer. I thought it was sweater weather!
Leaving Kristinehamn
August 25th, 2009What the Artists Do
August 25th, 2009It’s amazing having such talented friends. Since I don’t get to see them often, I’m always struck by their talent. Lorraine is a sculptor of both large and small pieces. Here are two of her bronze pieces that adorn the town parks in Kristinehamn. The first is called Woman, and is sitting in the park behind the Hotel. The second is called Sisters and sits outside the Children’s Medical Center. Last Winter, the girls were adorned by a street artist.
Pretty fun, eh?
But she also does house size sculptures. Here are some pics of her work along with her husband Kjell’s at an exhibit of their work.
Open house at their studio is October 4th to coordinate with the opening of the Värmland Art Exibit.
And of course anyone who was at 0ur wedding will recognize this:
that’s all folks! pretty amazing, eh?
Kristinehamn Players
August 25th, 2009You’ve seen the pics of my host family. And my sister Margita is still holding pics of the church and graveyard hostage. I’ll get them and post at some point! But here are some of the folks that have made this such a wonderful trip!
Lorraine has been my friend since we discovered one another in class at Brogårdsskolan 40 years ago. She’s a sculptor. She met her partner Kjell (painter) in 1972 (I probably met him not long after.) They have two boys Nicklas 25 and åke (couldn’t make it capitalize!) 22. Lorraine’s sister Dorothy is now a vet in a town called Arvika. She has been one of Sweden’s better known horse vets, but has gone back to small animals while she and her husband Kent raise their children, Axel and Sigrid. Lorraine and Dorothy’s brother Erik lives in the states. Here’s Dorothy at the lake on a camping trip with Lorraine and the two of them outside the candy cane shop factory.
In 2007, I came over in November because Erik, Lorraine and Dorothy’s mom died. Liz had been an amazing addition to my life. Wherever I lived, she often came to stay, so lots of people got to meet her. They set her stone in 2008. She’s lying in a church yard close to the farm where she grew up, looking out over the lake.
There’s something wonderfully satisfying about the fact that her stone is in a graveyard where her family has been buried for hundreds of years.
And then of course there are the friends of friends: Here are we, Kjell and I, (more fika!) with Gunvor, a wildly talented film artist and Yana, who is married to a wonderful painter. She’s now filling her retirement with travel. St. Petersburg next!
This picture is in Lorraine’s backyard. She’s a fairly spectacular gardener!
Landscape
August 25th, 2009So, this little area where I lived in Sweden is really beautiful. There is, thanks I’m sure to old glaciers, lake systems that run all through this area. It’s still heavily forested.
The forests are full of these unbelievably quaint little cabins. Here’s their cabin on a snowy winter day. 
You’ll notice they’re all painted a wonderful red color. This is called Falun Red. It comes from an area up near the copper mines. They had all this run off from the mines and turned it into paint. Apparently when it’s time for repainting, you brush it off and repaint, no scraping. Something about the high mineral content… Nope they don’t export it!
Another common color for houses is yellow. It cheers you up, I guess in the long winter darkness. This darling, old, house, lies across the channel from town. It can only be reached by ferry. Apparently, the one thing that mars its beauty is that summer cottages are supposed to face the afternoon sun, this has more of a morning sun direction. Tsk. Obviously not worth the money, despite the fabulous gingerbread and wonderful old windows. And wouldn’t that little summer house be a great place to eat cinnamon bread?
As I said, Sweden is fairly wooded still. They’re very good when they do take timber to rebuild. This guy appreciates it a lot. He was along when Kjell and Lorraine were picking mushrooms. Yikes!
Oh, so shaddup about Michelle Obama’s arms!
March 12th, 2009I needed to take time out for a small rant. Wedding Priestess couldn’t believe her eyes. The other day, I was reading the NY Times Opinion page and there it is, a little blurb: Should Michelle Obama cover her arms? Pardon me? The opinion page of the NY Times should be talking about world news. Instead, they’re making space for a debate about whether this fabulously toned woman, who happens to be married to POTUS, should be exposing her arms to the world.
Are we worried about her offending someone? I noticed when she and Hillary (that would be Madame Secretary) celebrated women of strength, many of whom were in headscarf and long-sleeved clothing, that she was carefully covered. Even if she didn’t have the sense god gave a goose let alone a woman who worked at the levels she has worked for so many years (not to mention her upbringing) I’m thinking that Madame Secretary from over at State could give her a call (Hey Meesh, this is Hil, don’t forget to wrap those rascally arms this afternoon. Smoochies!) So, I don’t think it’s that.
Do we think she’s not demure? Most of what we’ve seen her in has been very, WP is amazed and somewhat aghast to hear these words cross my lips, lady-like. So what’s the problem?
I think it’s what those arms represent. Power. A strong, beautiful, confident woman. Scary. Let’s not even worry about the race issue, because that’s surely running around in there too. (Why, WP, how could you even think such a thing?) There’s plenty on the plate with a woman of power. She’s warm, she’s welcoming, she’s smart and oh BTW there’s just something about her that says: Don’t mess with me.
I like to think of her at the dinner table with POTUS, propping her chin on her hand and saying: Why do you think that? He’d have to be transfixed and taken aback. And that’s a great thing for any man, and particularly for the leader of the free world.
As a woman 15 years her senior, I’m thrilled to see her strong, confident beauty. We’ve come a long way baby! Sojourner Truth asked, flexing her arm, “Ain’t I a woman?” Yes, you were! Yes, she is! Healthy, beautiful and competent. Now that’s a woman.
So, count me as a no vote for the poll on arm covering. Stay strong, Michelle, your beauty and strength are a pretty great antidote to pictures of Rhiannon’s battered face and exposed breasts. Your pics are almost enough to make WP think about arm curls. … OK, over that, whew! … Go, Michelle, Go!
Tip: And boys, go back to worrying about fixing up the economy rather than the fact that Mom-in-Chief can do more reps than you can. Sleeves aren’t going to fix either of those problems.
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