Michael Jackson, RIP

Heard this morning that he died of a heart attack, aged 50, just like Joe Strummer. (My dad had one when he was 50, too, but he survived his.)

It's too bad Grant knows only "Wacko Jacko" and not the artist he was. I'm playing "Thriller" this morning to try to educate the boy.

What a great day!

Sorry for the long delay in posting, I was so occupied with celebrations I didn't have time to report! Anyways, here's what happened:

• Sooz and Grant arranged for everyone to write me a birthday card here on the island, so when I went to the dock to pick up mail, there were tons of cards from friends and family, many of whom are frequenters to this blog, over 60 at least. It took me a long time to open and read them all.
• Being a gadget man, I got a Kindle from my mother and sister and a iPod stereo for the house from Sooz and Grant.
• Sooz gathered us all up for a 11AM mystery boat, and we were joined by Marg, Janne, and her son Callan (who I haven't seen in a few years, and is now sporting a fetching bohemian look).
• The eleven of us went to the island of Sandham and had a fantastic lunch in absolutely perfect weather at the famous Sandhamns Värdshus. Some of us boys went swimming in the bracingly cold water, and we all perused the yachts and other sailing shops.
• Late in the day, our own boat took us straight to Marg and Janne's. We fortified ourselves with a gin & tonic, and then all trooped back to our place for birthday cake.
• The evening ended with a slapstick tick removal process as Tim found one on Ollie. I wish I had a movie of all of us chasing him around with the tick pluckers!

All in all, I cannot imagine a better way to spend my day. Much love to Sooz, Grant, and all my friends. Photos (way too many actually) are on a birthday webgallery now.

I'm 50!

Well... I made it to a half-century. Sitting now on the deck of another beautiful morning.

Marcia is in the sky chair, watching the birds, and Sooz is making my birthday cake. Life is good.

She and Grant are up to something today, but I don't have a clue what it is. Stay tuned!

A beautiful evening

Wille and two helpers showed up around 8 and hit the ground running to finish up the garderobe doors and the bathroom trim, among other tasks. He also left us a nice guestbook and a mysterious wrapped present for me to open tomorrow.

They finished around noon, just in time for our friends Jon and Anette to show up. We worked with them in Sweden 20 years ago, and now they live in Texas, a couple of miles from my old house (and I live in London, a couple of miles away from theirs.) Anette's Swedish and her family lives on Öland. They flew up from their visit for my birthday tomorrow.

The weather forecast looks great and we should have a really fun few days. Check out the midsommar web gallery.

Ugglas

...is Swedish for "owl". I posted yesterday that we saw one, (note this is not the first use of that word in this blog). But I didn't mention that Ollie was quite enthused at the sight of the owl. He normally doesn't pay any attention to birds, so we're assuming he thought it was a flying bunny, which would have explained his excitement, even still this morning. We think it was a barn owl. Personally, owls creep me out a little bit.

I'm digressing about owls because Wille didn't make it today; he promises tomorrow early morning for sure. We amused ourselves with small projects and card games. The weather was kind of funny, with high haze making it cool. But the forecast looks great.

The Longest Day

...not D-Day, but the actual longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. (It's also my grandmother's birthday, but I digress).

It was a beautiful day today, clear, still, and sunny. We put jarn vitriol on the house, or should I say Rutger did. He loves painting, so he ran the sprayer and I masked the windows and doors. That stuff is insidious, though, just a drop turns the wood grey. We have a few drips in places they shouldn't be, so I will have to do a few touch-ups.

Willie comes tomorrow to finish up and I hope the big jobs will be done then so I can chill out over the upcoming week.

On a totally different note, I can tell there are many more people here during midsummer; there are voices all over from the paths and docks which I haven't heard before. It's still quite secluded, though.

UPDATE: More photos just posted on the web gallery.
UPDATE 2: Just saw a big owl fly by. Marcia says they're rare to see these days. She and Sooz also saw a snake earlier, which Ollie missed completely.

Saturday update

The weather forecast was wrong and we've had a beautiful day today. Us menfolk put jarn vitriol on the little house and it looks nice and mellow silver-grey. Sooz, Marcia, and Ollie took a lap around the island and then worked on their tans. (Not Ollie, of course.)

We're all lazing in the sun now and will soon head over to Marg and Janne's for a midsommer evening.

More photos soon, I promise.

PS. The sun rose at 3:30 today and will set at 8:55.
UPDATE: I was wrong. The sun rose at 3:30, but it set tonight at 10:09.

Midsommar afternoon

Another fun day so far. Rutger and I worked on building a giant garderobe for the little house. It came in three boxes and had 52,000 pieces of hardware (at least that's my estimate.) Miraculously, we got Grant and Tim to shovel some of the excavated earth over the grey water tank.

We all enjoyed a lovely lunch of lemon chicken on the deck, and were then off to the Waxholms dock to watch the parade of boats as they circled the island. Next was the gathering at the midsummer meadow, and a surprising number showed up; I didn't think the island held that many people.

We met a few neighbors there, and Ollie was stroked by a dozen children. Then back for a lazy afternoon; as of this writing, Marcia and I are the only ones awake!

Lots more photos in the midsommar webgallery.

A busy day!

Sorry to be so quiet but we've been really busy with the house and all our activities. Here's quick "data dump":

Marcia, Tim, and Rutger all arrived at noon, and Marg and Janne stopped by around 6, so we had a nice full cabin!

I got a cool tool box as an early birthday present from M&R, and I happily filled it up this afternoon.

The shower and the Cinderella have been working great, and the washing machine is good, too, although we have to balance it as it's been walking all over the floor during the spin cycle.

The little stuga (referred by Rutger as the "love shack") is all cleaned up, although the fresh ceiling is dripping sap onto the sleeping couple. (Insert joke/pun here).

It was fairly cool and rainy yesterday afternoon, and this morning looks unsettled, who knows what weather we'll have for the big celebrations this afternoon...?

More photos will be up soon and I'll try to post more later.

Here at last!

We arrived safely with all our stuff! Plus the weather today is great, we have hot and cold running water, a beautiful bathroom, and a fully working Cinderella. What more could a man want?

More to follow in the morning.

Reunited and it feels so good

Sooz, Grant and Ollie made it exactly as planned at 15:30, a little butt-sprung but otherwise in great shape. Marcia opened a bottle of pink champagne to celebrate Sooz's driving accomplishment.

I spoke to Anders, and he said everything was done, but there was a problem with the water pump yesterday, and the plumber was there this morning to fix it. He hadn't heard back from him, so he's assuming all is OK. And Wille sent me a text just now, saying he was still at work at the house and he will call later. Fortunately it's a beautiful day today, so work should be progressing well.

Lastly, I called the båt taxi people to reconfirm our boat tomorrow; I'm glad I did that, because they had me down for Friday, not Wednesday! Fortunately, we fixed that, so all is well now.

I've also started a new photo gallery; the 'midsommar' link is up on the right of the blog, too.

Final Hour!

This picture is of the GPS which is saying that we will get to Marcia & Rutger's in an hour! The last stretch couldn't be much better, the sun is shining and the roads are virtually traffic free. This will probably be my last blog post so; Over and Out.

Sweden

We just got off the boat into Sweden!
Getting to the car was so flipping complicated, we were holding the line up getting out so we just threw everything in as fast as we could. I think that could have gone a liiiiitle bit better. None-the-less we are all fine and set to get to Marcia & Rutger's around 3.
Sent from Grant's iPhone

Pripps

I am currently enjoying a Pripps Blå at the bar on the boat. I can't believe the systembolaget is out of Pripps, must be all on the boat!! Sooz is having a gin and tonic which she says is not as good as the ones she mixes up!

Kiel Kabin

This is our cabin. As you can see it's pretty small but it is very nice. It has a bathroom and a small window and a tv. The boat looks very nice and we are about to go out to shop/dine. We should depart around 7 and arrive at 7 to Göteborg. So 12 hours but we will sleep almost all of it.

Traffic Jam

Not a good picture, I know, but it was hard to capture such a huge
line with the camera on an iPhone.

Close Call

Right after we almost got rear-ended by a Porsche racing with an Audi, we saw on the other side of the road, a Mercedes that had been rear-ended and crumpled up because of that. There was a huge traffic jam where people had enough time to get out of their cars. On another note, we are about 10 minutes to Kiel. Picture of the jam to follow.

Sent from Grant's iPhone

Nordsee: Never Again!

Blech... We just stopped to fill up on gas and get something to eat.

We chose Nordsee because the line was short and we didn't want to eat at Burger King. Wow was that a mistake. I got some shrimp salad which was disgusting but I managed to eat almost all of it because, well... I'm Grant. Sooz got a cold breaded fish sandwich which she hardly touched. I think we have learnt our lesson... I hope Kiel has not disgraced itself with any Nordsee's!
Grant and Sooz

Builder's update

Anders says the electrician is on-site and the delayed Bauhaus sink and cabinet have arrived. We should be just fine for Wednesday.

Wille is coming out tomorrow, just to run things close! But he's bringing a couple of helpers so the day should be all he needs.

Marcia donated plasma this morning and then we've been shopping for household supplies. We also visited her vet to get a prescription for snakebite treatment. She thinks it's a good precaution because quick treatment is important should Ollie meet one of our local snakes.

Germany

We have crossed the border into Germany. So many people are just
flying past us in their cars on the motorway. The GPS is telling is
that we will get to the Kiel dock at about 2:40 our time. All is well
and we are looking forward to the boat.
Grant and Sooz

Sent from Grant's iPhone

Marcia's parents, Tonny and Jan

Now we can see where Marcia got her good looks!

VDK's

The van den Kieboom's have been extremely kind and generous to offer up their home to us for a night. We went over to Rene's last night for dinner where we were served a feast of White asparagus and steak. Today we will continue on to the boat at Kiel and from what I have heard, it sounds like the boat will be very enjoyable.
Grant and Sooz

Sent from my iPhone

Here in Stockholm

...writing from Marcia and Rutger's couch. The flight in was uneventful but it is cold and rainy here. Ugh.

Sooz and Grant report good weather and a lovely dinner at Marcia's parents in Holland.

Tomorrow, Marcia and I go shopping, and Sooz and Grant and Ollie drive to Kiel for the ferry. I will have a builder's update from Anders and Wille, so stay tuned.

Nederland

We have crossed the border into the Netherlands. Whilst filling up at the gas station we had a scare, thinking we lost a credit card but we found it tucked in a passport. The weather is miserable here; solid and heavy rainfall.
Grant and Sooz

Sent from my iPhone

Chunnel

We are here in the train now. We caught a 6:50 train rather than our
scheduled 7:20 train. The train is just about to depart and I have a
feeling we are way ahead of schedule.
Grant and Sooz

Sent from my iPhone