LOTS going on!

I was going to start the new year with a post about my retirement, and our plans to move from London and become full summer residents on Aspö.

However that post will have to wait, because a giant storm roared through the archipelago on New Year's Eve, causing serious damage and power outages lasting nearly a week.

We found out from our neighbours Raymond and Eva (who are resident year-round) that two trees had fallen near our house, and they sent along these two photos:

The good news is that our house isn't damaged; both trees fell away from the house, which is a blessing. The bad news is these were the two lovely pines close to our deck, which provided a great deal of beauty and shade. It's a real loss.

Here's the before and after. The house is looking quite exposed right now.

Annika and Olle came by today and surveyed the damage. Thankfully their house was spared as well. There are a number of smaller trees down around us, and plenty of them down all around the island. We have a big clean up ahead of us!

Report from the island

We're back from a surprisingly eventful week. The weather the first few days wasn't great, but it became glorious the past few days. Although we hadn't planned it, we were able to have dinner with Annika and Olle, Peter and Jeanette (with Niklas and Noelle), and drinks with Tony and Ann-Catrin. So a much more social time than we had planned, which was great!

The house was in great shape, save one little issue I'll blog about in an upcoming post. We did our usual tree-trimming and brush clearing. I helped Bo's boat get into the water; we're going to wait a bit to float ours, though.

One bit of excitement (for me at least) was that the fibre-optic cable has made landfall on Aspö! The plan is for it to be installed around the island in the second part of next year. Vattenfall are going to be replacing the old poles and overhead wires with underground cables, which I think is a great idea. Those old poles are unsightly and require a lot of maintenance. The fibre will be laid along the power cables, so I may soon, at long last, have broadband at our little home. There's a picture of the cable (with lots else) on my photo page.

On our last day, we went into town early and finally I got to visit the ABBA Museum. To say I enjoyed it is an understatement! We had dinner that evening with Janne and Margaret, who were in good form. They are planning to visit us on Aspö when we're back in July.

Before that July trip, we are making another visit late in May for the bank holiday. One of Sooz's girlfriends from the US will be joining us. We always love to introduce new friends to the island.

It's been a fun week!

Marcia and Rutger arrived on Friday afternoon, at almost the exact time as our Mat Hem delivery, so that was perfect timing. The Aspö Marathon was on Saturday morning. I'm not in full running condition, so I ran only 7 laps, which is one-third of a marathon. I am happy to report that our community raised over 30,000kr for a children's cancer charity!

We went out in our boat in the afternoon to have a picnic at a nearby skerry. Rutger is an experienced boater and he gave me plenty of advice. We also went to Nämdöbote to climb the observation tower. It was a great day.

We ended up having a family shift change: when they left, Marcia and Rutger's kids Tim and Camille came out to spend a couple of days with us. The good weather held, so we took another boat trip and the girls topped up their tans. Annika and Olle came over for dinner and we all had a great time.

The next day, Peter and Jeanette (along with their son Niklas and adorable granddaughter Noelle) gave us all a ride to Nämdö for lunch. We got to have one last visit at the venerable Guns Livs, the grocery store on Nämdö which has been sold to a still-unknown buyer. That's bittersweet for archipelago residents; Guns has become a bit tired over the years, so a bit of investment is needed. But it's been the the same family for many years.

Sadly, we have to leave a few days early as I had a work commitment crop up, so we are ordering an early taxi boat for tomorrow. But we'll be back for a long weekend as soon as we can arrange it.

Lots of photos of all this fun are now available in a Flickr album.

Settling in

We flew in on Sunday because Ollie's dog sitter was busy on Saturday (and we won't leave him with anyone else!) That gave us a nice evening with Rutger and much of the day Monday to shop in Gustavsberg at our leisure. The house was in fine shape and I started on my little projects.

One task was to install the new footstool cover we ordered from Bemz. It fit really well and is pretty funky, as you can see from the before and after photo here.

We also got the boat back into the water and I installed a new bilge pump that would turn on automatically when the water accumulation gets too high. I also made little tops for the deck railing poles (in Swedish, stolphatts, or "pole hats"). I was going to buy some at the building store but they were clean out. Perhaps that's a good thing because I found a whole new world online of deck railings and pole caps. That will be worth a blog post on its own one day.

Marcia and Rutger are coming this afternoon to spend the weekend, and tomorrow is the Aspö Marathon. I'm in fair shape, so I'll do a few laps, but not a full one! Stay tuned for photos and updates.

A great midsummer

Time for a quick catchup. We did indeed have a successful trip to Guns and retrieved a huge amount of alcohol. (Clicking boxes on the internet is a lot simpler than carrying bottles of sparkling wine on our little boat!)

The midsummer celebrations were on the 23rd and our 'neighborhood' on the island was responsible for the kid's games and the clean-up. The six of us (Raymond and Eva, along with Karin and Kalle) made plans to man the various games. Thankfully the weather was perfect. Lots of us came together to decorate and raise the midsummer stång.

We joined Gun and Bosse at their house for lunch; afterwards was the traditional boat parade around the island, followed by music, games, and dancing. We all had a great time and our little group ran the games very well, if I say so myself. Dinner was at Annika and Olle's with their friends and family. We had a super time. It's so nice to have friends who would include us in their family celebrations.

Speaking of being included, the next day was my birthday, and we had dinner with Peter and Jeanette. We were joined by their son Sebastian and his girlfriend Jade, and their dog Harry. We had a stupendous meal. This weekend was one of my best birthdays ever.

Lots of photos of all this fun are on my flickr page. We'll be back in three weeks, and I can't wait!!!

We've arrived!

And I'm happy to report excellent weather so far. The island is ablaze with flowers and greenery and it looks superb. Our transportation and logistics worked perfectly; we've become experts at this! It hasn't been that long since our last visit so everything was in good order. I got the posts for the deck railing mounted, and brought along some poly-hemp rope for the railing itself. We experimented with the right height for the rope before drilling any holes.

The highlight so far was joining Annika & Olle and Gun & Bosse for a lighthouse cruise on Sunday/Monday. We went back into town on Sunday afternoon and set sail around 4PM. The boat cruised through the archipelago and stopped briefly in Mariehamn, which has the bonus of making the shopping onboard duty-free!

We had a fantastic time, the weather was good, the food was great, the scenery was wonderful, and the company was the best. I took a whole bunch of photos for the Midsummer flickr page.

We got a taxi boat back from Slussen late last night. Tomorrow, we take our little boat to Nämdö for a bit of shopping at Guns Livs. We ordered some wine and beer through the Systembolaget for pickup at Guns. If it all works out, this will make it a lot easier to order and transport our drinks in the future. Hauling boxes of wine on the bus gets to be a drag...literally!

Our new chair

I posted about 6 weeks ago that Sooz was going to buy an Eames rocker for our house. We thought it would be a stylish and easy way to add guest seating.

She found a company in Amsterdam, popfurniture.com, who came through with flying colours. Our lovely chair was delivered to us on Aspö right on time and with minimal fuss. I made a little video of its unboxing and assembly.

Otherwise things are fine. The weather turned colder today but our heat pump is keeping us nice and warm. We're having Annika and Olle and Peter and Jeanette over for dinner tomorrow, and then Marcia and Rutger arrive on Thursday. Looking forward to the social whirl!

We've arrived

We started our Friday in Slussen and decided to go to Gustavsberg for mid-day so we'd have lots of time to do our yearly shopping. We always seem to be rushed for time and so we made plans to avoid that by keeping the whole afternoon free.

Sooz loaded up at ICA and I visited the Systembolaget and the building store to pick up supplies. We ended up at Stavsnäs a bit early so we stopped at the harbour's pizzeria. News of the attack on Drottninggatan came through and we all watched it unfold on the TV. It's hard to put into words the disgust we all felt at such a cowardly act.

The taxi boat to Aspö was very quick if a bit subdued. However we were able to make it to a nice pre-warmed house easily and set about unpacking and setting things up.

The next morning, we joined Annika and Olle as they took their old boat to Stavsnäs. Olle decided to consolidate his two boats (one big, one small) into one that does everything: the Anytec 622. It is a gorgeous aluminium boat, filled with all the latest conveniences. And it is fast!

So far, so good. The house is in great shape and we are expecting fine weather tomorrow, although it looks to be getting worse as the week goes on. I've started a new photo page for this visit which I update through the week. Stay tuned for more!

We're back!

It was a whirlwind trip. We took the Friday morning taxi boat and had Aspö pretty much to ourselves on the day.

In addition to the quiet on the island, the sea was unusually calm so we went boating around our neighborhood. We went to Namdö and climbed up to the observation tower at Nämdöbote. It was quiet and beautiful!

On Saturday, we worked with Olle and Annika to get all of our boats up out of the water at Bo and Gun's house. It was hard work but it was a lot of fun. Annika and Olle made dinner that night, and we had a great time.

Sunday, we closed up the stuga and went back to Stockholm in the afternoon. That's the saddest part of the year!

I have lots of photos up in a new album, and more posts will be up in the coming weeks, I promise.

Stavsnäs Vinterhamn Pizzeria and Restaurant

When we took our shopping trip to Gustavsberg recently, we had some time to kill in Stavsnäs. Over the past couple of years, there have been a few additions to the little bunch of shops at the harbour. 

One of those was a pizzeria. We stopped in and were the only customers. (In fact, I think we were the only people at the whole harbour early on a Wednesday afternoon.) Sooz and I spoke with George, the charming young man behind the bar. He’s probably close to Grant’s age, and he’s attending university. It turns out he was the owner!

George’s family moved to Sweden from Serbia a generation ago from a family of restauranteurs. He bought and re-opened the pizzeria two summers ago. We talked about their business, and as you’d imagine, the summers are busy, and the winters are very, very quiet. Most of the off-season is just take-away pizzas for those people who live year-round in the Stavsnäs area.

We will certainly stop by George’s restaurant whenever we get a chance. I want to support him and his local business as much as we can.

Photos from Annika and Olle

They're out on Aspö for New Years' and have sent me a bunch of great photos from yesterday and today. I've added them to my page of their Flickr photos.

A quick weekend!

It's Tuesday evening, about my first chance to update after going to Aspö this weekend.

Everything worked out just as planned; I caught Norwegian Air right after work and made it to Marcia & Rutger's house in time for Rutger to make me a tasty hamburger.

I took the mid-day boat to Aspö on Saturday. The weather was spectacular: mid-50's, and sunny.   Olle and Annika had me over for another usually wonderful meal, and I rode back with them from Stavsnäs on Sunday afternoon.

My Norwegian flight back on Monday morning was smooth as well, and I was in the office well before 9.

The only snag is that I came down with a terrible cold as soon as I arrived in Sweden, so I was much lower-energy than I would have liked. I managed to pack up all the food and close up the house, but not a lot more than that.

I did manage to take a bunch of photos, thanks to Annika's encouragement, so an October photo page is now up.

This is our last trip for the year, but we'd like to make a winter visit early next year. Stay tuned!

"How Walking in Nature Changes the Brain"

An interesting scientific study recently found that time spent in nature can make positive changes in one's mood and well-being.

I've certainly found this to be true in my time on Aspö. My connection to the environment around me there is much stronger than I've experienced before: what flowers are blooming, the different birds flying about, the crunch of a moose's hooves in the distance.

Perhaps the connection to nature, and one's fellow island residents, pushes away the stresses of a more fast-paced urban life?

That makes sense on an emotional level, but now we have scientific proof as well.

Lots going on!!

It's Tuesday afternoon, and I have now found time to write about the past couple of days.

Winding back takes us to a super dinner at our house Saturday night with our neighbours Peter and Jeannette, which ended quite late! This led to a lie-in Sunday morning, but Olle asked if I'd like to set out fishing nets that afternoon with him and Bosse. Of course I said yes! We took my boat and put out gill nets in 4 different spots. Bosse piloted us through lots of little nooks and crannies in the nearby islands.

Monday morning, we went to retrieve our nets, with a disappointing haul: only 2 sea bass and 10 flounder. We detangled and hung the nets to dry, and Bosse cleaned the fish with a skilled hand. I took home the sea bass for lunch, which Sooz prepared deliciously.

After my fish lunch, we were invited to a fika at Annika and Olle's with friends and relatives. We filled up on lots of sweets cooked by the lovely ladies of Aspö— although Bosse contributed with delicious raisin cookies too!

We capped the evening by decamping with Olle, Annika, her friend Lena, and Bosse and Gun for a picnic barbecue on the nearby island, Lilla Alskäret. Bosse brought along the flounder he had smoked, which was delicious. The little island was beautiful, and the evening turned out sunny and calm. To say it was perfect doesn't do it justice. I took a whole bunch of photos, but it'll take me a few days to post them all. It will be worth the wait!

This morning, I needed to put my boat up for the season, and it was Olle to the rescue yet again. First, we took off the motor. I made a stand for it in my shed, but it was a heck of a chore to get it up to our house. It was also a lot of work to get the boat up on the shore at a neighbour's land. Olle towed us over to the spot, which was a wild ride! We had to navigate shallow water and a reed bed, plus lots of muscle power, to get the boat high enough to be safe. (Lots of fun photos are on their way!)

I am very sorry to have worked Olle so hard! As he said, we can't do this every year. I have to come up with a better place to put my boat and motor which isn't so reliant on muscle power.

Tomorrow, sadly, we have to leave in the afternoon. I don't want to think about that just yet.

Östanviks Gård

Our neighbouring island of Nämdö is known mostly (to me, at least) as the home of Guns Livs, the grocery store, and its beautiful church.

But Nämdö is much more than that, of course. It's been inhabited since the 13th century and farmed since the 16th. Today, about a hundred people live on the island full-time. It has a number of great walking trails and even a few gravel roads along its length.

There is a big barn on the east side of the island at Östanvik, visible from the sea on the way to Guns. It's the site of a farm which has been on that site for many years, now operated under the auspices of the Skärgårdsstiftelsen.

The farm shop at Östanviks Gård is open on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays during the summer. Since we have a boat now, Sooz and I decided to pop over to have a look. The weather today wasn't great, but at least it wasn't raining. We've decided that we can't wait for perfect weather whenever we want to take a trip!

We had a fun time. I'm happy to report that our boating skills are improving, and we made the journey with no fuss. The farm itself was really nice. We got to chat with Stina and Jon about their life on the island as farmers. We picked up some fresh bread, local spinach, and their lamb salami. Photos from the trip are on the July photo page.

Having a boat makes a big difference. To know that we can make a trip pretty much whenever we want changes the way we think about being here for longer visits. We're no longer reliant on the boat and bus timetables...or the generosity of our neighbours. Now we can live much more like the locals!

A moose festival!

Our mystery guests were indeed Margaret and Janne, who visited yesterday afternoon, bringing dinner provisions with them!

We invited Annika and Olle over, and enjoyed a fine meal prepared by our friends. The evening was capped by a visit by the mama moose, who was nibbling on leaves quite near the house.

This morning, the moose returned, along with her baby. All of us got an unprecedentedly long look, as they hung around all morning.

Marg and Janne took the mid-afternoon boat to Saltsjöbaden, which makes a connection all the way into the center of Stockholm. I think we'll try the same next week, it should be a beautiful ride.

Sunshine, suntans, painting, and mystery guests

The weather's been super the past couple days, and we have taken full advantage! We awoke yesterday with pleasently few ill-effects of our marathon running the day before. Olle and Annika invited us on a boat trip to Stora Alskäret, their favourite secluded island, so we packed a lunch and hung out on the rocks. Olle and I did a bit of exploring and picture-taking; the girls topped up their tans.

When we got back, Sooz and I decided to start painting the little house. We started on the back, as that isn't much seen, so we could safely practice our techniques. It took us about 3 hours and turned out great. I'm sorry I didn't take any before/after photos.

I rectified my photographic omission this morning when we painted the front of the house. If it were only as easy as the movie makes it seem!

We'll leave the house sides to another day, as we're preparing now for evening guests. Any guesses who?

The Aspö Marathon

It was a wonderful day! I managed to last all 12 laps (14.6 miles) as I had hoped. Each lap around the island is about 2 kilometres (the official measure is 1960 meters. My Apple Watch pegged it at about 2150.)

We had a great turnout. Annica Bergman did a super job setting everything up. The race was held to raise money for a children's cancer charity. Her partner, Anders, (our resident priest), finished the full marathon distance. We saw lots of new people from neighbouring islands who joined in. It was quite the crowd!

Even more impressive, Sooz managed 7 laps herself. (I say "more impressive", as I run regularly, and Sooz doesn't.) We are both feeling fairly sore and worn-out this evening. But we wouldn't have missed a minute of today.

Annica and her fellow Aspö residents should be rightfully proud today. Photos have been posted, of course.

A Sunny Saturday

The rain of the past few days seems to have passed at last. By midday, the sun started to shine, and it's turned out to be a beautiful afternoon. Thankfully, the forecast looks decent as well.

Today was the graduation day for the sailing school. The learning sailors all received a diploma. The day ended with a race by a few grown-ups, which was great fun.

We had a great dinner with Annika and Olle last night. Sooz made lemon chicken, and four hours passed effortlessly. They brought me a few boating gifts for my birthday; two lovely cushions and a waterproof pouch for my iPhone and iPad. All of those will be put to good use!

Tomorrow, we're going to the church at Nämdö, as our neighbor Anders will be conducting a service there. It's a beautiful little church, and it will be fun to see Anders "in action", so to speak.

We'll have pasta tomorrow night, as Monday is the day of the second Aspö Marathon, 24 laps of the island. I am going to try to do a half-marathon, myself. I do a few laps most mornings, and I think I can do a dozen! Stay tuned to see if I manage it....

My gosh what a day!

Things started out with a problem right at the start. The flight Sooz and I were taking from Texas was nearly 3 hours late. This meant we were going to miss our connection in London. Grant was going to meet up with us on that flight, flying in from Boston.

I talked to British Airways, who put us on a later flight, but kept Grant on his original flight. The upshot was that we all met in Stockholm, just 2 ½ hours late. Our poor boy had to hang around Arlanda all that time, suffering from jet lag!

We rescheduled our taxi boat to 7PM, and took a taxi to Slussen to catch the bus to Stavsnäs. Sooz and Grant got off a stop early to shop at the ICA in Stavsnäs for fresh food. (Remember, I had stocked the freezer on our last visit.) I schlepped all the bags off the bus at the harbor and waited.

Everything worked out just fine, and we arrived the dock with all our stuff before 7:30. It was a beautiful sunny evening, and everything was perfect after a loooooong day.

That was, until we found that there was no electricity at the house at all! Sooz noticed the small first. All of the food I so expensively and laboriously brought the house had spoiled. Plus we had no water, no fan, no lights, and no Cinderella.

I asked Tony for help and we troubleshot the problem to my meter reader. He called Vattenfall (the power company) on my behalf. They told him a repair team would be out within two hours. Since it was already after 8PM, I thought this was optimistic, but then again, I'd never bet against Tony. The man knows his stuff.

Tony and Ann-Catrin gave us shelf space in their fridge, and also fed us, as we were starved. We went back to the house to await the repair team. Sure enough, they showed up near Tony's dock at 10PM. Two workmen, Albert and Stefan, hiked over and replaced the faulty meter. By 10:30, we had power again! We certainly couldn't have done any of this without Tony's help.

I've written Vattenfall about compensation for the loss of a lot of food, plus the trouble and smell we have to deal with. We'll see what they say about that.

But besides that wrinkle, all is well. Grant is with us, and the weather is perfect. The July photo album has started.