Logistics

Sooz leaves for the UK a week from today so we're working out the details on how we move everything from Texas to Aspö.

She's spending a week in London before going to Sweden, so she'll need to take more clothes than we usually pack for a trip to our house. The good news is that British Airways will let her check two bags from London to Stockholm. But since she's on her own, Sooz can only carry as much to our house as she can manage on the bus, and most of that will need to be groceries. She'll have to leave something behind at Marcia and Rutger's house. The supply lines can get pretty stretched!

The good news is that Marcia and Rutger plan to visit her for the weekend, so we can prevail on them to carry out a left-behind bag or two. And then Grant and I arrive later in the month; strapping boys like us can heft quite a bit onto the bus at Slussen, and back onto the boat at Stavsnäs.

At least we have our friends we can prevail upon for storage and transport. It's a bit like a Himalayan expedition in that regard.

The bigger change will be our July trip; then, it's just Sooz and I, and we will be heading direct to Aspö from Arlanda for the first time. Anything we take to the airport in Texas will be our responsibility on the plane to London, the plane to Stockholm, the bus into town, the bus to Stavsnäs, the boat to Aspö, and the walk through the woods to our house! So we'll be traveling light in July, that's for sure.

Arvesund designer sheds

I stumbled upon the website for Arvesund, a maker of traditional but stylish stugas. They also have a number of interesting furnishings and fixtures too. Although the X-House is just what I wanted, these houses are also pretty close to my style.

Their English website is entertaining and definitely worth a look.

Broadband Internet in the Archipelago

I've been using a 3G wireless connection out at our house for a few years now. A little wi-fi hotspot above the fridge rebroadcasts the signal through the house so we can enjoy the internet on our iDevices. It works pretty well, although it's not that fast and is a bit fiddly. If I want to rent a movie on iTunes, for example, we have to decide in the morning, as the downloading takes all day! But it does work well enough, and it is pretty cool to have wi-fi out in the middle of an island. In fact, let's face it, it's not just cool. Internet access is pretty much a necessity if one is away for a number of weeks.

I recently received info about a plan to bring fibre-optic internet out to our archipelago. The Swedish government wants to have super-fast (100mps!) access to 90% of the country by 2020. There is money available for rural communities to apply for assistance in providing such service. As best as I can read, we in the Nämdö archipelago are being asked to join a broadband 'club' which will then apply to the government for assistance in providing access to our island.

The good news: internet that fast could open up a whole bunch of possibilities for living out on Aspö. I could easily have a few webcams set up to check on the house, the weather, and the moose. Heck, I could have a little weather station giving info on the conditions in real-time (I will admit I've already checked into that.) And a stable internet connection that fast would being all sorts of entertainment and even work opportunities out to our house.

The bad news: cost. It looks like being a member of the broadband club would cost about 15,000-20,000 kronor ($2000-3000), plus about 3000kr ($500) for the wiring and who knows how much for the monthly fees. And of course, there is the encroachment of the outside world into our little idyll that such technology would bring.

I've registered my interest formally with the club, and already received a charming reply from the organizing group on Nämdö. There's no commitment to do so, for now at least, and it seems from the documents that joining now would guarantee us access at a much lower price than adding it later. I would think that having it might increase the value of our property, too.

More news as this progresses.

Aspö Summer Calendar

Despite the late snow, the summer season is officially upon us! I just received the yearly resident's e-mail from Thomas Hansson with the Sommarguiden for 2012. It contains all of the key dates for island activity this summer.

We won't be there for the midsummer festivities this year. But, through the summer, there a number of different activities; a sailing school, a talk by Claes about the history of the island, jewelry making, weekday football matches on the meadow, for example.

Our timing looks great this year, as we'll be there for a busy day on July 28. There will be a sailing regatta around the island, and an islander's flea market in the afternoon. The evening ends up with dancing on the meadow's new dance floor. That sounds like a great day!

All of the new info is on the Aspö website.

A report from Aspö

Janne sent me an email this morning. In it, he says "Just got 2 inches of snow out here and the weather has been really bad for weeks. Hope it turns to spring soon."

Looks like winter is coming back for a bit more before it finally leaves the archipelago!


UPDATE: I video-chatted with Marcia. She showed me the snow cover at their house and said it was a proper snowstorm overnight. I tried not to let her see Ollie at the pool behind me when we talked!

Eurovision Betting

Rutger pointed out to me the other day that Sweden was the bookie's favorites for this year's contest! I checked the website of Ladbroke's, a big betting firm in the UK, and sure enough, Loreen's "Euphoria" are 9/4 to win. The Russian grannies are 6/1 and Engelbert is third favorite at 10/1.

Albania are the long shots at 200/1. Their odds might improve if Rona Nishliu visits a stylist before the final...

Tiny Houses

I found an interesting builder of very small houses: Tumbleweed Tiny Houses. They specialise in homes under 300 square feet (28 square meters), with one model as small as 65 sq. ft., or only 6 square meters!! The Tumbleweed people are part of a movement towards smaller houses that are less impactful on the environment, and help promote less materialistic lifestyles, among other benefits.

Our home on Aspö is huge by comparison, about 670 sq. ft. (62 m2). Plus we have the little house which is about 220 sq. ft. (20 m2), and now the shed! So we have, comparatively speaking, lots of space.

I do remain surprised at how much we're able to pack into our little house, however. We have everything we need, and plenty of room leftover. I think this is partly because we started fresh with a bare rock, and absolutely every single thing had to be carried in, and partly because we spend only a month or so at the house every year. But still, we're able to live quite comfortably and (if I may say) stylishly in a house that's maybe a quarter the size of the average home in the US. This efficiency of space, and of lifestyle, does give food for thought...

Marathon Training, part 2

I am exactly halfway through my training regimen; 9 weeks down and nine to go. The first half is probably easiest; I've run 180 miles so far, and the next nine weeks calls for an increase to 250. On the other hand, I spent a lot of the early weeks getting back into the groove and building up a bit of stamina. So, I have a lot of work ahead of me, but I am better prepared to do it.

I'm starting to be more confident that I can beat my 1990 time of 4:23. To be honest, I like the idea of funning faster at age 52 than 30! I'll know better about that goal when I give my next monthly update.

Engelbert Humperdinck

Yes, ol' Engelbert was appointed as the representative of the UK for the upcoming contest. I don't say "old" lightly; he is 76, after all. But he is an experienced performer who can add a good dose of professionalism to a well-written ballad on the night. I think it interesting the BBC moved away from their recent contest format and simply announced the performer and song. It seems they're doing everything "old-school" this year!

PS. Engelbert may not be that young, but the Russian grannies are even older still...

An IKEA House

Margaret sent along this story from the Daily Mail (not my favourite paper, I have to say) about an "IKEA house". It makes perfect sense; you buy everything else, why not just buy the house, too?

The house isn't really made by IKEA; it's by Ideabox, a Portland-based architectural firm who have designed a number of interesting small homes. The idea behind their "Aktiv" home is that it is built around IKEA systems, so the two parts, interior and exterior, are designed together.

It's certainly smaller than a typical home here in America; 745 square feet (69 square meters). That's just a touch bigger than our home on Aspö, and about the size of a Texas 3-car garage! I think smaller, more efficient homes like these are the way of the future and I like the idea very much.

Spring indeed!

Annika sent along a few photos this weekend and it's a big change from her snowy February pics! As I said just a few days ago, Spring is making its way to Aspö, too. You can see the latest on my Annika's photo page.

Skärgårds Radio

One of our favourite things when we're out on Aspö is listening to the local radio station. Skärdårdsradion, 90.2 on your FM dial, translates to 'archipelago radio'. Its target audience are the people who live and work out in the islands. The broadcast is localized; I tried once to receive it at Rutger's house in Stockholm and couldn't pick it up.

They provide maritime weather on a regular basis, a bit of news on the hour, and a limited but charming playlist of new and classic middle-of-the road songs. They play all of the popular Melodifestival and Eurovision hits, for example. It's hard to put the exact musical formula into words, but both Sooz and I have heard a song and said to each other, "we'll hear that one this summer," and we're almost always right. Listening to their station has become part of our experience on the island.

It is possible to listen to the station from their website but I haven't been able to listen to it on my internet radio at home. Until now, that is. I stumbled across an iPhone app that streams the station right into my pocket. It's free and it works perfectly. We're able to sit outside in the Texas evenings and listen to the latest in Swedish pop. Bliss.

The app is available on the iTunes store here. Give it a try!

A view from the UK on Sweden and Eurovision

The Guardian ran an interesting article about how seriously Swedes take the Eurovision contest- and how the UK should, too. I thought it was worth sharing.

UPDATE: Marcia sent me a text today about the Russian's entry of singing grannies. I agree with her observation this song may be hard to beat in Baku:

The stirrings of Spring

Here in Texas, we're already into the 80's and everything started greening up seemingly overnight. I fear this is the prelude for another brutal summer. But right now, it is lovely, so we are trying to enjoy it as much as we can.

In Sweden, however, the temperature change is more gradual. The snow is gone and the temperatures over the next weeks aren't forecast to be below freezing. Conversely, this is the time of year when days get longer very quickly. In fact, tomorrow will have 5½ more minutes of sunlight than today did. By this weekend, the days will be 12 hours long, and a month later, 15 hours.

Janne is leaving sunny Florida in a couple of days to head back to Aspö. He's not looking forward to the swap from warm sunshine to cool and cloudy. I can't say as I blame him!

One good thing for me, selfishly, is that he'll be able to help me out with a shopping list of lumber and a few other bits of building supplies. My one big project for our May visit will be to build the stairs up to the little house, especially now that Grant will be with us that week to help.

I sent Janne my shopping list, and I am pleased to report that he thought it looked correct. There's no higher praise for me than Janne's approval of anything I do building-wise! He will order my stuff and we will share the shipping cost with any other orders he places for himself, so that's a win-win. And he said he'd drop it off at our house. I can't imagine better service than that.

It's about 9 weeks until I can be back out to Aspö...and I can't wait!!!

Loreen is the winner!

 

I spotted Loreen in the first semi-final and at the risk of sounding smug, I was darned good with my guesses. I thought it would come down to her and Danny and I'll be darned if I wasn't right!

We had an atypically rainy day here in Texas so I put the live feed from SVT on my flatscreen and watched it in real-time. Even more fun was video-chatting and messaging with Marcia and Camille during the show. It was almost like being there.

Now on to Baku at the end of May!!!

Stockholm Design Week

Stockholm Design Week (and the Stockholm Furniture Fair) was held in the second week of February. I have found a couple of websites that have a great gallery of photos and information about all of the wares on display.

First is a slideshow from core77, which is a pretty interesting design website.

Second is coverage from designboom of a number of different designers and furniture displays.

Lots of interesting and beautiful things on display in the dark of the Swedish winter!

We're ready for the Melodifestival final!

Last night was the "second chance" show, which is my least favourite of the six-week process. None of those acts are as good as the winners, in my highly-educated opinion at least. What is good is that SVT has now put up video of all the performances, so please take a look.

My favourite is still Loreen's "Euphoria". There's also the Don Draper breakdancing wannabe David Lindgren with a classic Eurodisco/Eurovision song that might play well in Baku. And for sheer head-scratching entertainment value, check out "Mirakel" with Björn Ranelid & Sara Li.

My second fave is Danny Saucedo's catchy song with has some very inventive staging. He is also going last in the running order next week which is usually helpful.

I wish we could be at the Swedish pub in London once again to watch the big final!!!

Marathon training

I am 4½ weeks into an 18 week schedule for the Stockholm Marathon. It is 93 days until the race, and so far, things are going well.

My last full marathon was in 2004, so I am easing back into my training. I am once again using Hal Higdon's running calendar to schedule my runs. I am using the novice calendar, although in my heyday fifteen years ago, I followed the expert. It's hard to imagine doing that now.

My knees were worringly creaky at the start but everything has settled down. I am a bit concerned about it getting warm too quickly down here in Texas. Marathons are typically held here in the December-February period. I think I may well have some hot May mornings to deal with!

I am automatically posting my runs on my twitter page now (thanks to a really great little app) so if you're curious, you can see my progress in great detail there.

Melodifestival 4 in Malmö

This was the last semi-final; next week is the selection from the "second chancers" in Nyköping, and then the whole show moves to Stockholm for the Grand Final.

There were a bunch of decent acts; I think the right ones went through. Lisa Miskovsky fulfilled the plaintive-blond-with-a-guitar slot by singing "Why Start a Fire", which was Sooz's favourite. I liked Danny Saucedo with the pumping Euro-Disco "Amazing" which had some very cool Tron-inspired costumes. (Costuming counts for a lot in Eurovision, remember). I wish I could share the performances, but SVT keeps a tight lid on any leaks.

Danny came in second last year with "In the Club" and I found a cute interview with him here.

I'm not that enthused over next week's crop. I'll have to have a careful think before the final and I'll make my prediction.

Princess Estelle

I posted the summer before last about the big Royal Wedding of Crown Princess Victoria and her Prince, Daniel.

Yesterday brought the latest good news for the couple, as Victoria gave birth to a healthy little girl, Estelle Silvia Ewa Mary, the new Duchess of Östergötland.

Here's news of the birth from the perspective of the Swedes, the English, and us Americans.

Electricity Usage

I just received my bi-monthly bill from Vattenfall, our electricity supplier. The December/ January usage cost me 1255 kronor, which averaged to 10.47 kilowatt hours per day.

This compared favorably to the 20.3 and 16.9 daily averages I had the past two December/Januarys. Much of that is due to the warmer winter we've had so far, but we spent a few days at the house in December 2010, which accounts for the spike, because we were pumping every radiator in the house then.

I also have the thermostat set at 9°C on the bathroom radiator this winter, which I think helps prevent overheating the area.

The Cinderella is the other big driver of electricity usage when we're at the house; it uses more juice than a radiator. I've been tracking the electricity usage closely, and I think I have enough data to make a chart comparing the last three years. It's not exactly Moneyball, but I think it's interesting.

Melodifestival 3 in Leksand

I thought the standard of performances was a lot better this week, although I failed horribly at choosing the winner. My two least favorite acts were the ones that went through; Molly Sandén with a turgid ballad, and the bizarre pairing of the orange-tanned sexagenarian Björn Ranelid speaking about love over a Europop dance refrain led by Sara Li.

A good summary from one of the many specialty Eurovision fansites can be read here.

The Snow Moose

A friend visited the Sapporo Snow Festival recently (as you do) and sent along a photo of Sweden's entry. It's a moose in a box.

The moose is cute but not that sophisticated snow-wise; however, the detail of the cardboard box is amazing. The box flaps and the crease in the corner are all rendered delicately out of snow. The moose placed second to Hong Kong's dragon entry.

Click on the photo to see the moose's charming caption.

Melodifestial part 2

Last night's show from Göteborg was disappointing, frankly. The level of singing was even lower than usual and all the bad acts were just bad (not good-bad and therefore funny).

The two acts that went through were Ulrik Munther, a folk-Bieber type, and David Lindgren, who I can describe best as "Swedish hip-hop meets Don Draper".

I am sure we won't be seeing either of them in Baku.

UPDATE: Margaret sent me a blog of an American ex-pat living in Sweden who posted an excellent summary of the show.

Webcams

I really get a kick out of looking at webcams around the world. I have two on this blog, a Sandhamn camera run by Waxholmsbolaget, and a Stavsnäs cam run by a resident in the apartments next to the local ICA. I also have a couple of my own in our house in Texas to keep an eye on Ollie.

To be honest, I would love to have a webcam out on Aspö so I could keep an eye on the house, to see the weather first-hand, and maybe to catch a moose snapshot or two. I found a blog run by a gentleman who owns land in Wales, and set up a solar-powered webcam to upload regular pictures onto his website. To be honest, I have been looking at it most every day.

For me, it'd be easier to set something like this up. I at least have electric power, rather then relying on a solar cell as this gentleman has to. I would have to keep my internet connection on full-time, so I'd be paying about 200kr a month while I am away, so that would add up.

The biggest thing keeping me from doing this, though, is the distance. It seems pretty certain that during the months I am away, something would stop working.
And therein lies the problem. If I set up a webcam and it stopped working, that would drive me crazy. I would be far better off not having it in the first place.