IKEA

It's been an interesting week. We are completing a few renovations on our Texas house and have so made a few trips to our favorite local Swedish furniture store.

I'm having quite a sense of deja vu, because I've spent today with my toolkit, assembling various pieces of furniture and crossing off household projects from my to-do list. It's very much like being out on Aspö.

I also read an interesting article on how IKEA accomplishes all those aspirational photos in their yearly catalog. They have an enormous studio filled with experts to recreate the stylish Swedish lifestyle.

Increasingly, however, those images aren't photographs, but computer simulations. Instead of an army of tradesmen, youngsters at their computers take the contents of the IKEA catalog and recreate the perfect kitchen digitally.

I'm not sure what to make of that; after all, many of the movies and TV shows we watch nowadays are created digitally. But an IKEA kitchen is much more a real thing than the forest moon of Endor, and I would expect that it would exist somewhere, even if it is just in a studio for a photographer's lens. But maybe that's just me being an old fogey!

Lots of content on its way

... just not yet. Between the jet lag, lots going on at work, and our own home project in Texas, I've been short on free time. However, I have been keeping a list of future topics and I've jotted 8 subjects so far, so stay tuned!

On our way home :(

Writing this from lovely Heathrow. We had a jam-packed last few days in Aspö, a fika with Tony and Ann-Catrin, a small kitchen remodel, a visit with Eva-Lis, a botched photo shoot, and a good-bye dinner with Margaret and Janne. Plus a surprise visit from a couple of teenagers! More detail soon, have to run for now, but lots of new photos are up.

A busy few days

Let's see if I can provide a recap on this drizzly Wednesday morning....

Sunday we arrived to the house in fine shape. I had less to carry, as the ceiling fan I had checked went missing somewhere at SAS. They were still tracing it 48 hours later, and I was losing hope of ever seeing it again.

However, my spirits were raised by meeting up with our neighbors Johan and Sofia at their newly-restored barn, just behind Olle and Annika's house. Sofia had planned to have an Oktoberfest beer tasting in the barn so I brought along a few cans of Shiner Oktoberfest as a unique treat.

Afterwards, we hurried up to Margaret and Janne's for a belated birthday dinner which was super, and we survived the dark walk home. We only heard a moose, but didn't see one.

On Monday, I installed the new outdoor lights, which look fantastic, if I say so myself. Marg and Janne came to us for an early dinner, after which I ran down to the dock to pick up my ceiling fan, which was amazingly found and delivered by SAS!

Tuesday was puttering around, I fixed the wheelbarrow among other small tasks. We also met with Lars Dahlin, a local handyman from Runmarö, to take a look at a few leaks, and to get some advice on painting the house and sealing the deck.

Today, we're going to install the fan while it's a bit damp outside, I'll put up a few photos after that's done. It's been relaxing and great fun so far!

UPDATE: All done and working perfectly! (With a bit of help from Rutger giving electrical advice over the phone, that is...) 

A Starry Evening

Just a quick post with last night's photographic product. Lots going on but too busy to add more to the blog right now.

Stay tuned for more news and photos from beautiful Aspö!

Aboard the m/s Roslagen!

We're here and all is well; we will be on Aspö in 20 minutes. We saw Tony and Ann-Catrin on the dock in Stavsnäs and they'll be back tomorrow, so that will be a treat to see them while we're here.

Dinner tonight with Margaret and Janne. More info and photos up later!

Leaving today!

Well, I am, at least. Sooz is already on her way, having spent the past few days in the UK. I'll be in cool Stockholm from sunny Texas soon enough, and we'll head out to Aspö on Sunday.

I should also point out that today is the birthday of both my lovely wife and the gorgeous Margaret. In just a few more days it'll be Grattis på födelsedagen to the beautiful Camille. 

Happy Birthday, girls!