Me - a possible World Record holder???

How many pictures can one person possibly take of 6 chickens in one week?  Haha, I don't know the answer, but I'm pretty sure I must be very close to the record!

On Monday a week ago we finally welcomed our new members of our family - Ivar the rooster, Märta-Hara the hen and the four chicks Chleo, Chica, James (who is a girl) and Tony Hawk!  The kids have absolutely loved having them here - and actually so have I! It surprised me how cozy it is to have chicken walking around.  The first few days we didn't do much else but chase them back to our property.  They disappeared the whole time and we would find them in the woods, down by the lake or by the neighbor's house.  Now they seem to know where they are allowed to go and we don't freak out as much if we don't see them right away.  They usually show up in a few minutes.

Märta-Hara has layed 5 eggs so far and Ivar, who always got chased away from the hens where he lived before, is in his heyday making sure that there are more eggs to come (!)  What the kids didn't know about the birds and the bees so far they are sure to learn from Ivar...

Ivar "the man" and his harem on a stick...

Sverigeflytt / Moving to Sweden...

(Scroll down for English version...)

Vi har nästan varit hemma i Jämtland i en månad nu och för första gången får jag överslafen för mig själv!!!  I vanliga fall brukar barnen bråka om vem jag ska ligga hos, men i kväll lade dom sig alla 3 på botten av våningssängen - och jag har nu krupit upp på toppen och njuter av min frihet! :)

Mamma var till sjukhuset för sin andra omgång av de nya cellgifterna idag, men blev hemskickad pga för höga bilirubinvärden och för lågt blodvärde.  På torsdag ska hon få åka in igen för att få ett par påsar blod och förhoppningsvis stärka systemet.  Mamma blir såklart frustrerad åt att hennes behandlingar ännu en gång blir uppskjutna och har därför kännt sig lite nere idag.  Även på dessa, lite jobbigare dagar, så är jag så tacksam att vi kan finnas med som stöd och kanske lite distraktion från allt medicin- och sjukhusprat.  Vi har därför i familjen officiellt tagit ett beslut (som vi egentligen visste att det lutade mot) om att bli kvar här i Sverige till hösten!  Det är ju ett rätt så självklart val eftersom jag omöjligtvis skulle kunna lämna Mamma ensammen med sina behandlingar.  Mamma har fortfarande svårt att ta det till sig, då hon nog aldrig riktigt skulle våga tänka den tanken.  Hon är självklart otroligt glad och lättad, men säger att hon har svårt att se sig själv som så sjuk att vi väljer att flytta hem för hennes skull.  För mig personligen handlar det mindre om att stötta henne i hennes sjukdom och mer om att finnas med för att hjälpa henne må bättre.

Igår tog jag min kära vän, Malin till hjälp och åkte runt för att kolla in områden där man möjligtvis skulle kunna tänkas hyra ett hus eller stuga.  Det känns lite tight med tid att fixa allt detta och skriva in barnen i någon skola som passar innan skolstarten om drygt en månad.  Men jag har aldrig varit den som är den - och om man lägger ner lite jobb och energi på något så brukar saker och ting falla på plats! ;)  Danny å andra sidan har ett helt hus i Virginia att tömma och magasinera innan han kan ta sig tillbaka till oss.  Tack och lov har vi en fantastisk familj och vänner som verkligen ställer upp i vått och torrt.

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We've been in Sweden for almost a month now and for the first time I get the top of the bunk bed all to myself!  Normally the kids fight over whom I will sleep with, but tonight all 3 fell asleep together and I am up here enjoying my freedom! :)

My Mother went to the hospital today to get her second round of her new chemo.  Unfortunately she was sent home because of too high bilirubin levels and too low blood count.  She will have to go back to the hospital on Thursday for a blood transfusion to boost her system.  Of course my Mother gets frustrated when her treatments keep getting postponed and has therefore had a bit of a down day today. Even on these tougher days I feel so fortunate to be able to be here as a support and maybe even a bit of a distraction from all the medical talk.  Our family has therefore officially made the decision (something that we kind of anticipated) to stay here in Sweden, come fall!  All logistics aside, it's a pretty obvious choice since it's impossible for me to leave my Mom alone here with her treatments.  Our move is still a big thing for my Mom to process - I guess she never would have allowed herself to hope for it to happen.  Of course she is extremely happy and relieved, but at the same time says that it's hard to look at herself as being so sick that it initiates us moving here.  I of course look at it less as in being here to support her disease and more as in helping her get - and feel - well.

Yesterday, my dear friend Malin and I drove around looking for good areas to possibly rent a house or cottage.  I do feel like we're a little bit cramped on time having to fix living arrangements and sign the kids up at a school before the school start in the end of August.  But with a lot of work and focus things usually fall into place! :)  Danny on the other hand has a whole house in Virginia to empty and store before he can rejoin us here.  Thank goodness we have a fantastic family and great friends that never hesitate to help when we need it!

A date with bondage and animal furs...

I'm missing my hubby who went back to the US yesterday - but luckily I have one of the best overnight dates we've had fresh in my mind...  Friday night... laying on top of a reindeer fur... a branch of leaves to whip ourselves with... a fire... a rope... only sleeping a couple of hours because we were busy - - - helping the Laplanders mark their reindeer calves!  (What were you thinking?)   ;)

We had the privilege to be invited up to the Sami people (the indigenous people of Scandinavia) who still live off their reindeer herds.  Our friend, Anders, has been helping this Sami village for many years and it is thanks to him that we got to take part in this extraordinary event.

Swatting ourselves with branches to fight off mosquitos

Beautiful views while hiking up the mountain

Danny helping Anders

July 13th and I got to step in some snow...

11pm - walking back to camp

Anders' old traditional Sami hut

Midnight bedtime in our tent

2 am wake-up call.  Reapplying mosquito stick...

Sami taking off to gather the reindeer at about 3 am

4-wheelers and dirt bikes herding the reindeer into the corral

Every reindeer that belongs to a Sami village needs to be marked.  They mark the reindeer with a cut on the ear for which village it belongs to, then for which specific family it belongs to and finally for which person in the family it belongs to.  In the spring, when the new calves have arrived the Sami gather all the thousands of reindeer from the mountains where they have been roaming free over the winter.  This is done with a helicopter, 4-wheelers and dirt bikes.  They then divide them up into smaller groups of a few hundred and bring them in to a corral where they study the cuts on the mother's ears and then capture the calf with a lasso and mark it with the same markings.

I was absolutely amazed that these people could figure out not only who the calf belonged to, but also what specific marking the mother had!  To me, as a first timer, it was complete chaos with hundreds of reindeer running around like crazy.  The Sami, however, had it all under control.



Danny helping Bengt...

This week or so that they spend up in the mountains, marking their reindeer is a total family affair and the young kids are right there in the middle of the corral with their own lasso, learning the trait.

I love how the girls were still so girly, with their cute hair-do's, designer glasses and earrings while they were lassoing and cutting ears like the best of them!  Maybe it's just me noticing this, having been in the US for so long where this would be such a typical man's job.  Because here, in this Sami village, there's not even a reflection on whether an animal was caught by a man or a woman.  I still can't help admiring the girls a little extra... :)

I want to thank Anders so much for letting us come along on this unforgettable trip as well as all the people in the Sami village for dealing with us beginners.

On the way home I said to Danny "Now, I would just like to see a moose to top this trip off..."  Not even 5 minutes later...

Glad I had my camera ready in my lap! :)

Värdigare att kissa i vägrenen...

Tack för alla tankar och påhejande för vår resa till Umeå - det hjälper faktiskt att känna ert stöd och både jag och Mamma uppskattar det verkligen!

Vi klev upp tidigt i torsdags så att vi kunde ta det lugnt och äta en riktig frukost på patienthotellet.  Jag ville inte att Mamma skulle stressa över något då hon skulle ta prover det första hon gjorde innan vi hade möte med doktorn.  Vi checkade ut från hotellet med 20 minuters framförhållning och gick till bilen för att lägga in väskorna då jag inser att jag hade låst ut oss!!!  x@***&@@^^  Nejdå, nycklarna hade jag i handen - men vår kära bil, Orvar, går inte att låsa upp utifrån och bör därför inte låsas innifrån, vilket JAG VET.  Men jag hade väl annat i tankarna kvällen innan...

Jaha, Mamma fick gå in på sjukhuset själv, medan jag fick vänta på bärgaren... suck...  Vilka otroligt onödigt bortkastade pengar!  1400:- skulle det kosta (!)  Men jag sa att jag hade bara 900:- och ett par amerikanska kort som nog inte kommer att fungera i alla fall - så han tog mina kontanter.  Jag svor till mig själv att jag kommer aldrig mer låsa den där bilen!  Så om någon ser Orvar på stan någon dag så ska ni veta att det är bara att hoppa in och ta honom... jag ber er... TA HONOM!

Tack och lov hann jag i alla fall in till mötet med doktorn.  Det blev ett bra möte, där Mamma kände att hon fick svar på de frågor hon hade.  Kanske inte riktigt de svar som vi febrilt hoppas på, men i alla fall en ny vinkel i hennes behandling som hon inte skulle ha fått om vi inte hade gjort den här resan.  Doktorn ansåg att den version av cellgifter som hon får nu har slutat fungera på hennes kropp - ehhh, ja en sån bagatell kan ju vara bra att veta!  Så hon beordrade en ny sorts cellgiftsbehandling som tumören förhoppningsvis ska svara bättre på.  Mamma är schemalagd för behandlingar i morgon och på tisdag.  Doktorn avslutade med att klappa Mamma på kinden och sa att med hennes pigga ögon och energifyllda personlighet hoppades hon att allt skulle gå bra - för det är du värd!  Med en klump i halsen skakade jag hand och vi gick därifrån.

Då vi ändå var i Umeå passade vi på att gå på stan i ett par timmar och åt lunch på en båt nere vid Ume-älv.  Innan det var dax att åka hemåt skulle vi absolut in på Jula och köpa en spade, för Mamma hade sett så fina lupiner i skogen på vägen upp och ville stanna och ta med sig några på vägen hem...  Hahaha - vad jag inte gör för min Mamma!

Om det kom någon bil så satte jag mig ner på huk, så de trodde nog att jag satt och kissade helt öppet.  Men det kändes nästan värdigare att jag satt och kissade i vägrenen än att gräva upp blommor... :)

Vi hann också med en liten avstickare till en jättefin kyrka (som jag inte kommer ihåg vad den heter nu)

där vi tog oss en riktigt svensk fikapaus i bilen.

Det var härligt att få drygt en dag för oss själva, bara Mamma och jag.  Och även om jag inte tycker om omständigheterna till varför Mamma säger det så får jag hålla med om att det kan vara bra att "man blir påmind om att leva livet här och nu!"

Umeå University Hospital

Yesterday (Tuesday) my Mom received a letter stating that she should appear at the University Hospital in Umeå on Thursday morning for a blood test and to meet with an Oncologist.  Terrific, you may think - well, Umeå is located 387 km (241 miles) away from our city!!!

Our city of Östersund is great in so many ways, but the medical service a cancer patient recieves is unsettling and incompetent.  It is with mixed emotions that I choose to write about it, because the nurses that take care of my Mother are fantastic and the doctors truly do all they can, but unfortunately they CAN'T even answer some of our questions.  It is not their job... one is a surgeon (a terrific one at that) and the other an MD - cancer is not their specialty.  There are more than 126 000 people living in our county and the main hospital does not have an Oncologist!  One day a month an Oncologist flies down from Umeå to answer questions and look over treatment plans... ONE DAY...  But mind you - now it is vacation times in Sweden - and if the average Swede has 5 weeks of payed vacation, I can only imagine how many weeks the doctors get...

Anyway, 2 weeks ago when we met with one of the doctors he informed us that due to vacations there would be no Oncologist at the hospital until the end of August and he recommended for us to go up here to Umeå to attempt to get our questions answered and to figure out the best treatment plan for my Mom.  So, after about 5 hours of driving my Mom and I are now staying at a patient hotel across the street from the hospital.

Time to sleep... Keep your fingers crossed that this trip will give us some encouraging news and serve as an incentive in my Mom's fight!

Ivar the Rooster

After a day of rain and a day of overcast, grey skies I am ready for some sunshine again.  Unfortunately the little heat wave we experienced a few days ago seem to be far in between and the forecast isn't looking too bright.  Our dear Danish friends that we got to know in California came up here in the middle of the week and I'm glad that they got to see our city from its best side for a couple of days, so they are not terrified that they chose to spend the summer here with us.  Thank goodness we are similar in the sense that we just dress accordingly and go on with our business!

A look back at warmer days...

Yesterday we had a dog house delivered that we graciously got to take over after my second cousin and her family.  Today we started cleaning it out in order to turn it in to a hen-house.  When we're done with the transformation a rooster named Ivar, a hen and her chicks will move from our neighbor farmer to our house. :)  The kids are so excited - well actually so am I!  Poor Ivar is being picked on and attacked by another rooster on the farm and we are starting to feel the urgency to get him a new home.

The rest of the day was spent digging and planting... moving bushes... planting berries... digging holes to prepare for a couple of cherry trees... cutting and and removing big roots...  Tiring work, but so rewarding.  Not only in the way the garden turns out, but also in how great it feels to be working my body that hard - this is the way your muscles should work!  Danny on the other hand is being our private lumberjack.  He is cutting and chopping wood like a mad man and piling it up to dry.  The kids watched him with big eyes the first time they saw him swing the axe and thought he was the coolest guy ever!  Now the chopping has worn off on them - but to me he's still pretty cool...

Saturday = Candy Day

Today is Saturday and to most Swedish children Saturday means CANDY DAY!!!  This is how I also grew up.  You don't get to eat candy throughout the week and on Saturday we would use our allowance to go buy candy at the candy store.  On Wednesday two of my mother's friends came to visit and they brought a candy bag each for the kids.  They all had to put their bag on a shelf in the room and have been eyeing those bags for the past few days.  Of course, when they weren't looking I have been sneaking candy out of their bags (!)  I'm actually just being nice, so they don't get a belly ache from eating too much... ;)

This morning they hurried up to have their breakfast before they were allowed to chow down on their sweets... Lovely!

There is no bad weather...

For those of you who don't already know, there's a saying in Sweden that goes "There is no bad weather - there's only bad clothes" and this morning we took it to heart.  When you're surrounded by all this amazing nature, there's no reason to sit inside.

Yesterday we had seen a lonely reindeer running around outside my Mom's cottage.  The reindeer should normally be up in the mountains by now, but this one must have ran the wrong way.  When we came closer to take a picture we saw that it had a bell around its neck!  And the kids realized that it MUST BE one of Santas reindeer!!!

So this morning we cut up an apple, got our rain gear on and decided to go find the reindeer to give it a treat.  Porter figured that a "rein"deer better be out in the "rain" - unfortunately that wasn't the case...
We still had a nice walk and I got to show the kids my savviness in wrapping a finger that got burned by a stinging nettle (brännässla) or showing edible leaves and flowers.

The Santa reindeer we hope will be back some other day...  We think it was Prancer.  At least the kids were told that he probably was sent as a reminder for children to stay well behaved... ;)

Stand Up Paddleboarding in Jämtland

One of the best purchases we've done in a long time is to buy a couple of Stand Up Paddleboards!  We've only been out twice on the lake by my Mother's, but I absolutely LOVE it!!!  These are some pictures that my Mom took of us on her cell phone the other day.  We were coming back from a long paddle and the kids wanted to give it a try... 

On the bottom picture you see us as two little dots in the water.  I was standing on my board with Skyler sitting in front of me and Danny had the boys sitting in front of him.  The lake has about 300 islands and it is hard to describe how incredible it is gliding over the water, checking out islands and coves and sounds.  I wish I had a water proof camera... or even better - video camera! ;)  

The people in the village have never seen paddleboards before and I'm sure we are quite a sight with the kids with us.  Today we had a couple of kayakers sit and just stare at us and the other day I saw a man run in to his house and came out a second later with his binoculars.  :)

Our first week in Sweden...

I can't believe it's only been a week since we left Virginia.  - And by that I don't mean that time passes slowly, but instead how much we've crammed in to this first week in Sweden.

The trip over with the kids went great!  They are such seasoned travelers that they just got comfortable, ate some dinner when it was served and then slept the rest of the way.  Our stop-over was in Iceland, which I at first thought was a good break in the trip.  Turns out that since the kids sleep so well it's better to do one longer trip all at once and let them rest as long as possible.  Since we all couldn't fit in the same row I had Oliver with me and Skyler and Porter sat in front of us.

Our third and last flight is only a 50 minute trip from Stockholm to Östersund.  I love looking out the window as we are approaching my city, at the familiar view of the lake, islands, green woods and the mountains in the distance still with a little snow on the peaks.  Unfortunately the airplane window was both dirty and scratched, so the picture doesn't show too well...

Even though it hasn't been two months since I was home last, it was great seeing my Mother again.  She was greeted with big hugs from the kids.  Even though I've seen her almost daily over Skype it hit me how yellow her eyes and skin were in person due to the elevated bilirubin levels.  If one doesn't know better it just looks like she's got a good tan going.  And to me, she's still as beautiful as ever!  Thankfully, by now it seems to be turning around again.  Hopefully her new round of cortisone is doing its job and she can continue her chemo treatments as soon as possible.

The very next day after landing in Sweden, Skyler and Porter joined in in a camp for four days.  They spent 6.5 hours a day playing soccer, doing track and field, canoeing, biking, playing flag football, jumping on the trampoline and much, much more.  They really enjoyed themselves and even though they were tired by the end of the week, it was great for them to get to meet up with other kids and play and be "forced" to speak swedish right off the bat.  I actually think they've adjusted quicker with the time change than us adults because they were so tired after their days of playing...

Skyler and friends warming up for track and field

Porter and friends doing soccer drills
He is the one in the hoodie to the left.  Danny said it's so much easier
 telling our kids apart from other children when we're in the U.S... ;)

On Tuesday my Grandmother stopped by for a few hours to visit with us before she left to spend 10 days in the very south of Sweden with my Uncle and cousins and families.  She is such an amazing woman!  It is hard for me to understand that in just a couple of months she will be turning 92!  I'm looking forward to having "our time" with her when she comes back from her trip.

Danny joined us in Sweden on Wednesday - one day later than planned due to thunder storms on the East Coast on his initial day of departure.  The kids were so excited to see him here!  Well of course, so was I.  It's been four years since he last visited Sweden.

Now, we are just relaxing (or not really since there are a bunch of stuff still to be done on the cottage...) and having a good time...

Oooops, I guess I have to update my blog in order to get some more pictures in here...

I'll let you enjoy this video I shot the other night at 1:00 am - magical light...