Just back from Scandinavia

I'm sitting bleary eyed in my kitchen, jet lagged from a great and interesting trip to Sweden and Norway.  This is Åstol a little fishing village on a small island just off the western coast of Sweden.

I spent a lot of time in and around the fjords in Norway.  This photo was taken on a boat in the Næroyfjord, a World Heritage Site.

I even spent several days hiking the mountains around the Fjords, in the rain sometimes. Norway is basically a big flooded range of mountains ... so beautiful.

My main reason for going was to meet a long lost, well ... really just found 3rd cousin in Sweden. I and my sister were treated like queens.  He took us to a recreated Bronze Age settlement.

And fed us proper Swedish food. This is raw pickled herring behind the half hard boiled egg with red caviare on it with knäckebröd in the front with butter (smor) on it. You can see I took conservative tasting portions at first, but then actually liked it and had seconds.  Maybe it's my 1/4 Swedish blood! Well, the beer and schnapps helped.  But, I'm going to have to go to IKEA and get some of this stuff so I can have it again at home.

And always when traveling, everything looks different and funny. I liked the name of these candies.

And look at the window I found in Stockholm when walking home from a concert late at night! ... I don't think there was any direct connection with the pattern company, but I bet they had Butterick's patterns in mind when they named the store. These are funny costumes!!


So, this is all I'm good for today ... But, I have a few really interesting things I want to share with you soon.  And, I know I promised sewing tips for the Barbie FROZEN dresses, too.


I'll get on it as soon as I get the dirty laundry taken care of, restock my fridge and get caught up on my sleep.