This weekend we had been planning to go to a “cow release” at one of the local dairy farms and watch as the milk cows were let out to graze after a long winter in the barn. These events have turned into a sort of tradition all over Sweden, and they seem to be getting… Read More Weekend

A few hours ago Yrsa fell off a chair and landed, face first, on this notepaper holder. Her cheek doesn’t look so pretty, but I think she gave as good as she got. She, at least, can fight another day; not so the paper holder.

One of the best things about little kids is the off-the-wall things they say, and raising kids with more than one language adds a whole other level of awesome to the mix. Because we speak mostly English at home, our kids don’t usually speak much Swedish until they’re three or four, but they do, of… Read More Look who’s talking

I’m having a strange little MS flare-up these past several days. As usual, it’s my left leg that’s affected, but it’s not affected in quite the usual way. My walking feels almost entirely normal, except when I have to lift my leg a little higher, to go up stairs, for instance, or to step over… Read More Gait

Petra has always been attached to Olof, of course, but not with the same obvious intensity that Tage and Brynja are. As a matter of fact, it’s probably in some part due to having the the two of them on either side of her that she has generally gravitated more to me than to her… Read More Together

These last few weeks of the school term have turned our violin schedule a bit topsy-turvy, with changes to days and times that I can’t seem to wrap my head around. Our individual lesson is ordinarily from 4:00 to 4:30 on Thursdays, with the group lesson from 5:20 to 6:00. The break between the two… Read More Confusion

From the beginning of my plans to go back to school, I’ve been intending to go only part-time, almost entirely due to the fact that I’ll be attending classes 500 miles from home. I figured that a full-time schedule would involve entirely too much travel, but in the past couple of weeks the class schedules… Read More Jumping in with both feet

Bureälven, or the Bure River, cuts a swath through our little town, passing not more than a couple of hundred meters from where we live. It’s always high in the spring, of course, but this year is something out of the ordinary. It’s covered nearly all the bridges in the park next-door to our house,… Read More This river is wild

Last weekend I ground up some spelt in my grain mill and made this bread. It was so good, far beyond my expectations. It really is amazing the difference fresh flour makes.