Time for a different parallel...: The month of May..... My favorite month of the year....

Before enjoying the dinner at Ena & Jonas home.

My blogging hasn't been up to the level I plannend when I returned to Stockholm. However, if I'm honest a lot of things aren't on the level I thought they would be by now. I recall that I planned to Tweedtoo, but when I sit down, I wonder why anybody would like to read my one-liners. There is already so much information send to each and everyone in today's society, nobody is waiting for more....

An other thing I planned to write about in my blog; things about Sweden and Stockholm in particular, this specially for all my friends outside of this country and that is something I will start up in this blog. But.... First things first....

We've gotten fantastic news this spring, for this autumn Anders and I will become "farfar" and "farmor" (grandparents to the baby of our son, the title is specific in our language and refers from the childs family status. We'll for their child be "father's father" and father's mother :) We are already "morfar" and "mormor" to Ellinor, our daughter Valeries child, mothersfather and mothersmother). Jenna is due at the end of October and we find it absolutely fabulous! Think how fun my grandchildren will have coming to me for holidays or Sunday dinners, they'll always have a playmate!

This spring hasn't been what I, or for that matter everybody here, hoped for weather-wise and that's the main reason I haven't started my long walks (hard without a dog who forces you to go out...)

One of the reasons I love springtime!

I'm still job surching but our plans for the summer are made! Anders and I will be traveling to the East Coast of the United States. The first weeks we plan to spend in Washingtorn DC, visiting my brother and his wife and we'll hopefully be able to catch up with the many wonderful friends we've made during the past eight years. The last two weeks we'll spend together with my friend Anne, her husband John and Anne's family at Cap Code. We haven't been very much outgoing but had a wonderful evening at our longtime friends Jonas and Ena, celebrated my birthday withing a small circle and had a wonderful time at the yearly Attache Ball, in wonderful setting: Karlbergs Castle.

Jonas taking care of the drinks....

Day after it was time to celebrate my birthday :)

On my way to Karlbergs Castle for the yearly Attache Ball, hosted by our Supreme Commander General Sverker Göransson and his wife Ann.

Karlbergs Castle

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And now my friends it's time to start upp with my writing about Sweden and capitol Stockholm. This I do in the hope you can't wait to visit me. This month attraction is: Skansen...........

This fabulous place has been significant to me ever since I came to Sweden for the very first time. Over the years I have visited this fabulous open air museum numerous times and enjoyed it every time when I walked the paths in this historical surrounding. Last time I walked around at Skansen was when Ellen Roughead and Admiral Roughead officially visited Sweden and Anders and I hosted their party. We had the most wonderful guide and I again learned something new. So when you visit Stockholm this is a definite place to visit!

Skansen is the world's first open-air museum and was founded in 1891 by Artur Hazelius. Hazelius lived from 1833 – 1901 and was a Swedish teacher, scholar and folklorist. Before founding Skansen he already had founded the Nordic Museum in Stockholm (maybe something for my next blog......).

The main reason for Hazelius to found the museum was that he feared that the industrialization of our society during the 19^th century, made the rural way of life evanesce. And as a result of that, he feared that the country’s many traditional customs and occupations could be lost. With his extensive traveling he bought around 150 houses from all over Sweden and had them shipped piece by piece to the museum where they were rebuilt to provide a unique picture of traditional Sweden.

All the buildings are open to visitors and show the full range of Swedish life from the 16^th to the 19^th century.

Skansen is the main tourist attraction in Sweden and is situated on the island of Djurgården, not far from downtown Stockholm. This open air museum covers about 75 acres and the site includes a full replica of an average 19th century town. In this town you can find craftsmen in traditional clothing, such as tanners, shoemakers, silversmiths, bakers or glassblowers, demonstrating their skills to the visitors.

At Skansen you will also find a wide range of Scandinavian animals such as the bison, brown bear, moose, grey seal, lynx, otter, red fox, reindeer, wolf and wolverine.

The open air museum offers throughout the year special activities. One can enjoy folk dancing, sing-along at Skansen, a large and well visited Christmas market with typical Swedish traditions and much much more!