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.

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.

To the mountains

I got the last crop circle finished (I could have done better) just in time.

Now I’m on the bus to the train to the mountains for some hiking. That is, to Bjornfjell in Norway. They say it might be snowing tomorrow.

Home to garden

Now we are home again with a little jet lag and a couple grey days left of november. It’s cold, rainy, dark and dismal, but it feels good. 

And there’s a lot left to do before winter sets in. 

The kids have raked the rest of the leaves to take to compost.

And there’s quite a bit of clean up and digging left to do. 

Dali Rhino Hotel

The Toyoko Inn Hotel, adjacent to the Nagoya Airport, with the Dali Rhino in the entrance courtyard, was the last step in our Japan trip. 

It has an excellent japanese style breakfast,

complete with rice, vegetables, miso soup, pickles, natto and what else -Coffee!

Polska

We would rather stay, but it’s time now. We are preparing to go home again. We bought 2 large sport bags to get everything back with us. 

And what could be more appropriate then to visit the japanese/swedish folk dance group in Osaka. 

These folk dance enthusasts have been dancing together for 10 years now and are very good and made us look like the novices we are. So we had a great time danccing with them, learning many new dances and laughing at all the wrong turns. 

Doing the polska

Three of them are coming to Sweden next summer for a folk music and dance festival. Hope to see them again!

Arts and crafts

Today we found a fun and different market in our neighborhood park (Minatogawa park) – arts and crafts, music, food, and coffee and….

Coffee ceremony

The adress to an organic tea grower near Nara. 

Nan bread with spinach curry lunch

Nan bread oven