Värmland

We took a little road trip to Värmland – to explore some of the places where my grandparents family came from. Alas, we stopped mostly and took pictures at artsy places.

Like Lars Lerins museum,

Finnskogs Centrum for a look and a concert of finnskogs music and tales,

Birch bark shoes,

Could be grandmas grandma,

Alma Löv Museum,

Värmlands Museum in Karlstad,

We did, of course, travel through lots of beautiful scenery and landscapes (some in sunshine, some in rain), but it was just too beautiful to take pictures of.

Nice clouds too.

Aftermath

The party was great and many people stayed to have breakfast, lounge, help clean up and revert the area to a state of natural spiffiness. There was, of course, lots to sort and take to the recycling center.

Including a small amount of fermentables to start out a new compost pile.

The Big Garden Party

After party

More preparations

For the big garden party today.

Fleamarket

Some are expecting rain

Our food tent

Another food tent

Many artists are already here to set up their projects

My own project – The Zen Dirt Garden

Carefully weeded and cultivated!

Getting ready

We have plenty of time to get ready for the big garden party.

Garden Party!

We didn’t have one last year, but we decided to have another Big Garden Party at Timogarden in Djurby. As usual lots of food, activities, fun, art and music. Everyone is welcome!

Less than 3 weeks to go.

More info on facebook:

https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10157399297881228&id=662296227&set=gm.853788781669502&source=44

From an earlier year;

High point

The high point of the Pajala Market was, of course, the Rai Rai Band!

Sami tipi

I’m back down in the flatlands near Pajala for the annual family reunion and visit to the Pajala Market. What caught my eye was this just right size tipi.

Small on the outside but big on the inside.

The company, Tentipi, makes them in Sweden with good quality materials. It’s a style designed with the Sami tipi in mind. They make really big ones too.

Here was also a cool variation from Tentipi.

More like a roof, the sides fold up.

More mountains

Mostly a bunch of rocks and water.

A cabin

And a half frozen lake, Katterjärvi, which was the days destination.

The other side is Norway.

After some lunch at the cabin (outside on the deck, as it was not open), I took a leisurely walk back to the lodge for a nap, a sauna and dinner at the local cafe.

Mountains

After an 18 hour train trip through Sweden and up into the mountains, I finaly made it to my destination – Bjornfjell in Norway. It was, alas, not the place I remembered from a previous trip to Narvik. It was all closed for the season too, so I set out on a new adventure. I found the track-layers trail of old and took off back to Sweden. This area has a lot of history from the time of the Sami to the modern times of mining, train building, WWII, road building and today the trekkng and resort life.

The trail, skirting the train line, was better than expected. It brought me first to the border resort town in Sweden called Riksgränsen. This resort was closed now too, as it is a winter sport area. So I continued.

I was thinking of stoping at this camp site, but it was too early to set up my tent (which I haven’t used for years – not sure if it is good anymore). The weather was great, so I continued to the next resort town Katterjokk where the hikers lodge was open and got a room. Nice place, very inexpensive, so I guess I’ll have to stay one more night and do some hiking around here.