Lagom!

Swedes are known for being a bit dull and not too clever. The Swedish chef in the Muppet show was a good indication of how many think of us regarding the latter. We are also known for being, generally speaking, modest and careful with words. If an American find something to be “fabulous, marvellous, outstanding” we would say that it is “OK”. When my mother had prepared a really superb dinner my father’s comments would be: “not too bad”.

We even have a word that you cannot directly translate into any other language and that is “lagom” which means “not too much and not too little” or “just right”. A margarine that you can find all over Europe is called “Lätt och Lagom” which means “easy (when talking about weight) and not too much and not too little”. Since it is so difficult to translate the name, it actually keeps it Swedish name in many other countries, adding a bit to it’s exotic, foreign touch.

Along the same lines, we also have a kind of milk that is called “mellan mjölk” which directly translated means “in between milk” since it has more fat that than skim milk but less than full milk. “Lagom” in other words! A good friend even has “news from the country of the “mellan mjölk” in the subject line of her mails.

There are, however, areas in which we more or less always go to the extremes and one such area is the weather.

First of all, it is, like in many or even most other countries a favourite topic of conversation and you will always hear incredible stories about how much or little rain a place has had during the last day, week or month, how hard the wind was, how severe the storm was, and so on and so forth. Just the other day my neighbour and I discussed how much it had rained and had serious problems agreeing on the number of mm we had received.

We also tend to exaggerate when we talk about the berries or mushrooms we find in the forests. The blue berries are either “enormously big or incredible sweet” and the mushrooms “cover the ground where ever you look”.

Conclusion; we in Svångemåla as well as all other Swedes, are just as complicated and full of contradictions as you might think when you watch an Ingemar Bergman movie!

Big cats in Svångemåla?

No, I have not gone mad and this is an exception that will not be repeated soon but I got a special request from a friend to share some pictures of “cats” that I have met, so here they are. I spotted some cats in Svångemåla a few years ago but they were rather fat, domestic ones and not like the lions, leopards and cheetahs I saw in Africa. There are indications that one or maybe two lynxes have been roaming around not far from Svångemåla but if this is true or not I do not know.

Flirting?

As all males know, the opposite sex is not always easy to understand. Their mimic and words can be very difficult if not impossible to interpret and if we get it wrong we are considered ignorant, arrogant, or simply stupid. The consequences are sometimes really outrageous and hard to understand and we males have to be careful not to get it all wrong. Knowing this, I am now very concerned that I might not know what is going on in the head of Dear Mrs Deer. A severe storm hit Svångemåla today and the power was cut for some time but when I went out to have a look at the situation, I saw Mrs Deer walking around not far from my door. I went inside to get my camera, took a few pictures but did not notice that she actually twinkled at me before she jumped into the high grass. This must be a first; a deer flirting with a bear! I take it as a good sign and hope she will come even closer the next time.

Glad midsommar ! Happy midsummer!

Midsummer, the maybe most popular of all holidays in Sweden, is here. In the northern parts of Sweden the sun will never set and even as far south as in Svångemåla, it never gets really dark. The whole of Sweden is getting ready to celebrate by eating herring, drinking snaps, sing silly songs and dance around the midsummer pole. The latter is actually a phallus symbol and this, as well as some of the dances where, for examples, the dancers pretend to be frogs are, particularly to foreigners, a bit strange. I know this for sure after having tried to explain it all to a group of students from twelve different countries on a campus in Vermont many years ago. They also seemed a bit doubtful when they were told that they could find out about their wife / husband to be by picking seven different flowers, put them under your cushion and, voila, he / she will show up in your dream! If they only know the power of midsummer!

In Svångemåla the fragrance of jasmine is getting stronger and stronger, the white peony is in full bloom, and the hop-bine has reached the top of the pole or about four and a half meter. Even more exciting is the news that Fred and Frida Fox have been successful in bringing two really cute babies to the village. I almost laugh out loud when they showed off their jump and dance show in front of the car last evening. Let us only hope that their happiness is not dependent on other parents’ offspring. :(

Glad midsommar!

Comments

Dear All,

Thanks for the many emails you have sent me regarding my blog. I was not aware that you had difficulties posting comments directly on the blog but I have now removed the requirement to be logged in and you can even post anonymous comments. Please do! It is always nice to hear from you.

Dear Mrs Deer is here!

My dear Mrs Deer has finally showed up. She has probably been busy reproducing but nice weather and plenty of good food brought her out. I am sure she has a baby or two but the grass is just too high for me to see them. Hopefully she will parade them a bit later as she usually does.

Baby boom in Svångemåla!

Those of you who have read my blog know that a woodpecker "visited" me some weeks ago. It was not the kind of visit you look forward to but I forgot all grudges today when I saw and heard her little baby, sticking out his head calling for more, much more food. He was obviously very hungry and I could hear him calling his mother all the way from our house. There are many baby birds flying around now and I am happy that they have so many mosquitoes to eat. J Pity the mosquitoes are trying to eat me but maybe it is all part of the natural circle?

Lucky!

Sometimes you have to be lucky when taking photos! Today I was taking pictures of our rhododendron when suddenly a butterfly came into the pictures. No skills, just pure luck! But you have to agree, it is a special picture!

Mosquitos

I know they would come. They come every year and you just have to take the right actions to survive. They are the most deadly animals on earth and hated by all but the birds. I am of course talking about the mosquitoes. There are two factors that determines if it is going to be a bad or really bad mosquito year – the temperature and the precipitation. This has been a fairly dry year and it is not particularly hot either so it is, so far, only a bad mosquito year. It is still enough of them to make the birds stuffed after only a few rounds with an open mouth and me crazy after fifteen minutes of cutting the grass. I have, however, bought a new anorak that is made of a soft mosquito net. Perfect if you do not enjoy either constantly beating yourself when trying to kill the small creatures or scratching yourself until you bleed when you have been bitten in the most incredible places. There are a number of different ointments that make you smell like some sort of walking chemistry laboratory but most of them are not particularly effective. In other parts of Sweden I have heard that they use urine on the skin to keep them away. I have not tried that yet. I have, however, used the same strategy as male dogs, rhinos and many other animals do to keep the badger away and, knock wood, it seems to have realized that it is messing with a bear and should be a bit careful. I have not declared victory just yet since I have not seen any white flags and the summer is far from over.

Talking about the small helicopters... a wise man once said that if you think that you are too small to have an impact, you have never spent a night in a tent with a mosquito!