park transformation

The autumn chill has hit. It's most evidenced in the park near our apartment. Last week when the temperature was 20 and the sun was out, Högalidsparken's playground and wading pool was jam packed with children and parents after a day of work/dagis.

Today's brisk 15 degrees, grey and gusts of wind couldn't keep everyone away. However I only counted a handful as we scurried by trying to get K2 out of the wind while she screamed for a meal.

I'm really going to miss this park. Even in the dead of winter there are children and adults in the park in any weather and at nearly any hour.

last minute crayfish party

Swedes are not known to be spontaneous. We are a bit of an odd pair among our friends since we tend to do everything last minute. This past Friday evening we decided to throw a last-minute crayfish party for any of our friends living near our house who had nothing better to do. Seems most people had nothing better to do.

We ended up with 12 adults and 12 children.

Helan Går!

guiness book world record in ukulele

Unbeknownst to either of us, we live a stone's throw away from the 2007 Ukulele Festival grounds. This year they attempted and succeeded at breaking the Guiness World Record for the largest ukulele orchestra.

401 ukuleles plunked out the two chords of Hang Down your Head Tom Dooley and another Swedish song sharing the same two chords for over five minutes. They succeeded on the third attempt.

Apparently the first time 'round they fell short of the required length of time and only played for four minutes 34 seconds. The second go exceeded the required five minutes but to make absolutely sure they clinched the honor, they did it a fifth time.

This was serious stuff. In order to qualify for the honor of setting the record each participant had to not only sign up, show off their ukulele but also demonstrate they could play BOTH chords. I was immediately disqualified. I lacked both.


K2 gave it a try. She wasn't pleased with the result

nakedness and pubic peeing

I have to say I appreciate living in Sweden for its relaxed view on nudity and using nature to relieve oneself. Mostly as it applies with convenience to having a 3-year old during the summer in the midst of potty training.

We live near a wonderful park that has a fabulous wading pool that's the joy of every young child this side of Södermalm. It's irregularly shaped and built into the natural landscape and bathed in sunshine after a day at dagis. It's the natural weigh station on the way home waiting for Daddy to come home.

It's also where we parents get to chat with one another and build friendships with nameless mothers and fathers of the Amandas, Eriks and other children we know the names of. But that's another entry.

Often we go prepared with swim trunks and a towel, but more often that not recently we arrive as we are. And the Bean strips down and frolics naked, matching at least half of the other kids. Yesterday he even rode a trike around naked...albeit with sandals. And there's no scandal, no shame and no paranoia of the potential of lurking pedophiles.

The Bean is also succeeding splendidly in his endeavor to rid himself of the diaper. Consequently he has a frequent need to relieve himself. Thankfully the sight of a parent taking a young child off to do his/her business behind a bush, or at least up against it, is rather normal. It's made the walks to and from dagis less stressful too. Inevitably, somewhere about halfway between one toilet and the next the Bean will need to pee...despite having done one for the road.

Maybe it disturbs others who are not as familiar with the comfort of Swedes in the natural environment. Personally, I'm trilled.

congestion tax

Congestion fee, environmental tax, rip off...call it what you will. Anyway, I just paid it for the first time.

I am still amazed that enough people accept the double taxation for the Stockholm driver. I have argued this so many times that I really just ought to copy and paste my arguments but at this point I just can't be bothered.

OK, forget the usual complaints. What equally frustrates me is the payment plan. Apparently if you sign up for an automatic debit each day you are levied the tax it would be deducted from your account and all is clear. That made me presume that it would be equally tallied via the pay by internet option...but noooooooo.

Once logged on via ebanking each date is listed and the amount per day is displayed. Excellent. The total owed for the car 45kr--is also displayed. Great. On to forking over the unjust tax. Manually I had to enter the date and that date's amount due. Since there were three dates to date (a whole lot of dating going on now) I had to flip between internet windows to get the date and amount right. The option to pay 45kr in one swoop doesn't exist. And of course I messed up and wrote the wrong amount for one of the dates. Could I edit? No...Do over.

Finally, 45kr divided up as 10, 20 and 15 was paid in via the hubby's Handelsbanken account. Let's see if all worked.

Or will another entry be the frustration of paying the late fee?

boston accent

Somehow my 3-year old son has picked up and exaggerated a Boston accent. I wonder where he got it from.

While there's still remains of the accent in my speech, I know that my Boston-speak is mild and subtle. It makes me wonder how he's managed to pick it up. Is it that he hears it and goes overboard as a child might? Or is it a very funny coincidence?