All Kinds of Junk: All Things Swedish

Brånnboll - Swedish baseball... Have you ever heard of it? All the kids is Sweden play this modified baseball and my students in Redwood City are about to learn. They asked me to bring them a present... the were expecting candy, I brought them a new game.
This section All Things Swedish is a work in progress. Soon I'll have an audio clip explaining how to play the game. But for now...

We have stuff, they have stuff... shrimp, frogs bumble bees, boats, bridges, crabs, sailing regattas, food in a tube, they lose hub caps, shoes... I mean they have the same stuff we have in the U.S. but in Sweden there are a few things that you just have to marvel at... like gas prices - roughly $8 a gallon... next time you complain about $3 think again.

They have regattas, but they trailor their boats in and from other countries as well, often hundreds of miles for one week of sailing. The Swedes love the Danes and the Danes love the Germans.... wait, that's not right. Ok, it's a love/hate relationship. They love to hate each other, but respect each other because of their fine taste in sailboats.

At the end of this walkway in Stockholm is an elevator... they call them a "Hiss".
This one costs 10 krone just to go down, next time I'm taking the stairs.

Disposable BBQs are an awesome invention for a country filled with responsible citizens. If this were allowed in the U.S. we'd have forest fires in every back yard from San Diego to Banger.
The trick is using them on a ROCK!!! NOT ON THE GRASS!!!

And now... How to recycle a can in Sweden:
Swedesrecycle.mov (video/quicktime Object)

This church in Malmø was built in the 1200's.
We have churches, but they have only been corupting our better judgement for a couple hundred years, here they have been asking for money for many centuries. This one asks for 150 krone just to look around inside.

They have windmills old and new... this one is old.

I don't know what this means, but it is on every store in Sweden. I welcome your comments on this one.

The Twisting Torso building in Malmø is an archetectual marvel. As it rises it rotates a full 90 degrees.

This view of Stockholm helps me sleep at night. If I have a bad sailboat race, I flash back to this evening with Kester, Lisa, Charolette, Oscar and Drunk Rob w/ the fancy white shoes and I drift off nicely into slumberland.

A fountain in Stockholm... somehow this one is cooler than all of ours here in the U.S.

They have grasshoppers too!

The wheat and barely fields north of Stockholm are magnifigant in August... the sweet aroma fills the air and frees the mind. The E.U., however, pays farmers in Sweden not to grow anything... So there are a lot of farmers with nothing to do, but still getting paid... I'm in the wrong business.

They have cows too, but theirs are blonde.

A modern windmill. Everyone I asked could care less if the spinning blades killed any birds, some thought that was a bonus. They did agree that wind power was a great idea... as long as it wasn't in their back yard. And, if you are sailing and there are windmills near by, they are great at helping you predict shifts.

Had I known they had skateparks I would have brought my board. I saw evidence of a thriving skateboard community all over Sweden. The landscape archetects must be skaters because there were so many skateable cement storefront surfaces. Plus, I really enjoyed their graffiti... it was way more artistic than most of ours... I wished I had taken more pictures of it.

This is Lars... he's cool. He helped me roll my sails into their tube for transport. I had to give the hat. He's boat bum in the making. He hangs around the marina all summer messing around with boats and helping out where he can.

These car ferries are all over and the high taxes they pay suppliment them so they are free and run often enough to count on them, unlike MUNI or BART.

This rock is called, "The Butt". Can't imagine why.

Swedish horses.

They have great sunsets too, but they have them much later in the day... say, 10:30 pm.

They have kings, we don't. We all moved here to not have them. We ended up with Bush. I almost got into a fight with guy talking politics... I was agreeing with him about our fearless leader and he was ready to brawl... I had to excuse myself... quickly. There are 3 things we are never to bring up in conversation; money, religion and politics... in Sweden these are open targets.

They have robbers also. Read Robban the Robber for more information.

They play guitar and the accordian too. They sing more than we do and that bums me out. I wish we sang more here.

They have big hair hair despite their parents wishes.

They have mother daughter bonding moments.
Sorry about the "red eye" Ingrid... it's the best picture I have of you.

They force a smile when need be. Diplomacy is a virtue cherished by the Swedes... no confrontation at any cost.

But this opening up umbrellas indoors is bad luck. I guess this bad luck for opening up an umbrella indoors doesn't apply to Swedes.

They have guys who play guitar and sing... soon I'll have an audio clip of this guy doing a Swedish version of jungle book and Bob Marley.

They build bridges and fast too. This one was built in less than a year. We have an earthquake in 1989 and they are still fixing stuff around here.

They eat unshelled shrimp on their boats. It's fun too. You shell it, throw the carcass overboard and munch the meat, repeat.

They play with their food and sing songs at the same time!

Box wine is big, especially with the sailing crowd. This one we called, The Elk". We also sampled the boar, the giraffe and the lion.
This was taco night at Bjorn and Elisabeth's house.

They have bumblebees. But they have this other cute name for them. Somebody tell me the Swedish word for bumble bee!!
I forgot it.

Their Bouys are... bigger.

I found this plant interesting only because it reminds me of fireweed in Alaska. When the flower tops out and finishes blooming, it means summer is over. It's kind of the depression flower... it keeps reminding those who look at it the end of good weather is near.