Walls!

From the front, view of kitchen/livingroom.

The yellow is the neighbor's house.

From the back yard, SW.

We had a quiet day at home today. Haylie played with Spiderman for a while, until he punched her in the stomach and went home. Up until then it was going great, and they took out all the farm animals and spread them all across the living room floor.

After that we took a drive to look at some siding ideas to the south in Eksta. Haylie found a big green grasshopper which she caught. She says it kept biting her. As she was trying to catch it again, she accidently pulled off a leg. She was quite upset by it.

There is a nice spot south of Djupvik on the coast in Eksta where there is a windmill and a very scenic view of the two islands off the coast, Lilla Karlsö and Stora Karlsö. They are famous for their avian wildlife. I have never been on the smaller island, Lilla Karlsö, but the big island I have been to a number of times for college and as a guide.
http://www.storakarlso.se/english/english.asp

This is a view of Lilla Karlsö.

Haylie (and Stefan) had fun checking out the beach rocks.

The little stinker walked right out into the sea with her shoes, socks and pants on. Then she had to take them off and go wading. The water was still quite warm, even though the air is starting to cool.

The bottom right here is flat limestone rocks, with many cracks from the winter ice.

Near the coast on Gotland, especially here in Eksta, the pine trees have quite interesting shapes. They also lean away from the sea, as years of wind have battered them.

We made crépes for dinner when we got home, with a filling consisting of bacon, thyme, shallots, mushrooms, and créme fraiche. Haylie told me again (6 out of 7 days this week, with the exception of fajita night) that this was the best food ever! She is having a growth spurt right now and is eating like there is no tomorrow.

As American as apple pie

I made this pie on Sunday. It took me almost all morning. The crust was a paté briseé, since we don't have crisco, and boy was I missing ready-made crusts by the time I was done. I don't have a food processor so it took quite a while to cut in the butter. But it was a wonderfully delicious crust, the best I have ever had. I made an apple-rhubarb filling, with some caramel sauce that you pour over that had rave reviews on the internet. It did turn out too liquidy though, as I suspected. But it tasted good anyway. It was hard with a deep dish pie with lattice crust on top to get it to stay together as a slice, so we ended up with piles of pie rather than slices. But it was beautiful prior to cutting it! Josefin and Isabelle came over to share it with us. Haylie was unfortunately in a mood and ended up with a few time outs and getting grounded from various things by the time the day was done.

Kräftskiva

Last night was the annual crayfish party at Stefan's dad's. Every year in most of Sweden, at the end of August, people have crayfish parties. In northern Sweden they eat rotten fish called Surströmming instead. Neither appeals to me, so I usually make something to bring for myself.

At these parties, you wear a party hat and alcohol is involved. There is a very large element of playing with your food involved as well. There are always decorations present with crayfish on them, and often paper lanterns or lights of some type hung. Below you can see Stefan's step-mom arranging the buffet table. There was taco pie inside too - that is what I ate.

Here I am holding Haylie's cousin Elina. Haylie asked me as we left, "What is that blue stuff on your eyes?" Maybe its a Swedish thing, mom? A cultural aversion to blue eye shadow? (Inside joke)

Haylie didn't eat crayfish this year, though she did eat some shrimp. Emely 11, is next to her, testing her blood sugar before dinner. She is the oldest cousin and is great at supervising those little kids.

They have a big party tent, with heaters suspended from the center pole. It is really nice for late summer parties. Henrik on the front right is a serious crayfish eater.

Stefan's sister Camilla, Matilda, Conny, and Stefan's dad Allan, toasting.

Sister-in-law Anna and Stefan's brother Joakim.

I stuck a crayfish sequin on Stefan's head so he would match the other guys.

Stefan's sister Josefin, brother-in-law Tord, and Camilla.

Standing on the right is Stefan's brother Tobias.

Elina just after her bottle. Very relaxed. I was playing with her face and got no reaction. She is 4 weeks now.

Last weekend

Last weekend we went for a drive south, stopping first at Hablingbo for lunch. We ate at the bakery & café.

Here is Stefan with the café in the background, with Hablingbo church visible beyond. The body of the church was rebuilt in the 13th century, but the tower is the original from when it was first built in the 12th century. They did that to many churches on Gotland, rebuilding them and making them larger and in the Gothic style, replacing the Romanesque church on the same site.

Here is Haylie in the tower of the church, posing with a runestone, with an older picture stone behind. The picture stones are very famous and are only found on Gotland. They were often placed near grave fields or other significant places. They were produced over a long period, starting in the Bronze Age and evolving gradually until they were in the form of runestones during the period of the late Iron Age known as the Viking Age. As christianity gained in popularity at that point, the creation of them discontinued, although they still retained a cultural or spiritual significance. They were then reused and often built into the churches or walls around the churchyards. In at least one known case from the Viking Age, at the dig where I was in Fröjel 1999, they were reused in graves.

http://www.gotmus.i.se/1engelska/bildstenar/engelska/picture_stones.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picture_stone

On the wall of the church, a medieval ship, known as a cog because of the style of construction with which it was built, had been carved sometime during the Middle Ages.

There is also a wall painting of a Trojaborg present. These are found throughout southern Scandinavia, often in the form of a stone setting in the shape seen here.

Haylie was taking advantage of the acoustics to sing a song with inappropriate lyrics.

After that, we went to Burgsvik and visited Stefan's mom where she has her camper parked for the summer. It was still nice and sunny, but a cool wind made for a very brief dip for Haylie in the pool.

The next day, on sunday, we had Isabelle over to play and went to Haylie's daycare to play at the playground. You can see our apartment building in the background. Haylie is eating rhubarb, hence the puckered lips while going down the slide.

They have a big slide on the hill. The hill is used for lots of sledding in the winter.

Our progress this week

On thursday I stopped by the lot on my way to work. I took my weekly exercise hour since I was really stressed, and took a walk in our neighborhood there.

Here you can see that the rebar is in place, the water and tubes for the wiring are installed, and the in-floor heating is all laid out. Just waiting for the concrete!

Our garage is ready as well.

Here is the house from the south, kitchen end.

Heather

Fall is approaching, with cool mornings and nights starting to change the colors of nature's palette.

The rose hips are ripening.

The sloe berries are all over the place on our lot. They are often used for making liqueur here, and are rich in vitamin C but very sour.

I came back after work on thursday, and the concrete had been poured. Now we have to water the concrete as it dries, so it dries slowly and doesn't crack. We stopped by twice today to water.