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Joy On Purpose: The Fox Diaries

Don't Forget!

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Now back to our regularly scheduled blog post.......

A little over a year ago I looked out my office window to see a mother fox with her 4 baby fox kits. It was one of the most magical moments of my life. I immediately got my camera and spent the next several weeks in my front yard and garden observing and interacting with these gorgeous creatures.

 

Each Thursday I shared a little bit of each week and what it had held here on the blog under the category of "The Fox Diaries". The foxes didn't return this year and I still look out my window everyday expecting to see them.

 

They're with me though in another way.

 I haven't been as active as usual on my blog and it's for a good reason. I've been writing and editing my new book "The Fox Diaries: The year the foxes came to our garden" published by Audrey Press.

 

It has been a life long dream to write a book and the one thing I realized while putting this whole project together is that dreams don't just arrive at your front door, you have to create them intentionally. It's been the creating process that has meant the most to me and has brought me the most joy. To see a word document coming back from the editor looking like "real book text". To wake up one morning and see the book cover in my in-box and realize, "Oh,....this is really happening". 

 

There have been moments when I've lost complete objectivity, like the first time I saw the actual book design, I held my breath through the whole book look. Or what about the day a large envelope came to my door. Not expecting a package I couldn't think what it was, and it was the proofs of the book. I stopped breathing then too.

 

 The next package to come were the actual book pages. Soon, my book will be ready and soon....I'll have so much more to show you.

 

This is where I thank each and everyone of you who stop by this blog to say "Hej". It was because of your love of our foxes which gave me the courage to give this a go and it's been worth every living second.

 

 Here's to Joy! What have you always wanted to do or create?

The Fabrik Furillen

By Per Svangren

 

The third White guide recommendation in Rute is the design hotel The Fabrik Furillen. On an island which was a former military base in a former limestone factory, a new modern hotel and restaurant have been built. The old factory and the whole factory area have been used when forming the new hotel. Iron, brick, limestone have been renovated and used, together with new modern material.

 

 

Here you can stop for a coffee, homemade bread, breakfast, lunch or dinner. Or you can rent a bike, stay a night  either in the hotel or in a caravan that is placed around the island.

 or the very popular, eremitkoja. That is a small house with one bed, one table, one chair and a small fireplace placed all around the island with a sea view or in the middle of the forest. Here you can enjoy the silence and just be by yourself for a day or so. Every morning you will be served breakfast in your house, coffee, fresh baked bread and so on. A very wonderful place to come and retreat.

 

 

 

Double Green in Savannah

The invitation asked us to come to Savannah City Hall to witness the signing of an agreement between the greenest city in Sweden,Växjo, and a city in want of mentoring to become the greenest city in Georgia.

                        

Växjo, a smallish city in the province of Småland has been a role model over the last 40 years in developing innovative approaches to "living green". Växjo and the surrounding area has made a committment to decrease their usuage of fossil fuels. To date they have decreased their per captia usage by 32% by using alternative and renewal fuel to heat their homes. They are also leaders in sustainable housing and environmental technologies. Clean-tech is Växjo's industry.

The Lord Mayor of Växjo, Nils Posse, says that Savannah has the potential to become "double green". Savannah already has a sustainable forest around it's city center, as well as, 21 green garden squares in the historic district of Savannah. Now with the help of Växjo, they will learn how to use renewable and reuseable energy to take Savannah into a state of "green".

Here's what happened: 

We met and mingled.

                         

                        

We gathered to watch the signing of the agreement between Växjo and Savannah.

       

       

                             

        

  and now we exchange gifts ..........

      

      

    

and then it was done.  May Savannah live long and double green.

Snö....SNOW

Stockholm is looking for snow in a big way. It is in the forecast for today, tomorrow, and Monday but there hasn't really been a great snow in Stockholm this year. To help all of my Stockholmer friends out, I've decided to create an array of snowflakes. So everybody here's some snow .

         

You can do this too....on your very own. Have a look at this tutorial on instructables and have some fun playing in the snow.

                    

Here is a little added bonus on the snow theme or at least on the frozen water theme. Here is a short look at the work of Dr. Masaru Emoto. By taking a photographic look at water crystals, he was able to determine the mysterious effects that music and words have on water. See for yourself.

               

              

A Nobel Mess

Nobel Day, yesterday Dec 10th, began with the traditional Nobel prize Award Ceremony where the Laureates receive their Nobel medals and diplomas from King Carl and the Royal Academy.

Afterwords ,1300 guests made their way through the winter darkness to Stockholm City Hall, illuminated by torches and braziers, to take part in the Nobel banquet.

Doesn't this sound lovely ? Wouldn't you love to see how this all plays out in lovely photographs? Our own Per Svangren was totally committed to bringing you photos of the above mentioned views. There were, however,...... how do you we say, a couple of problems.

From Per............

" First, a morning walk taking some photos. No bips and bloopers there."

              

                              

             

"Second.....The award ceremony was to begin at the Concert Hall at 4 pm so I posted myself there at 1:30 to see everyone coming,and taking photos as they were entering. Boy did I have a great position.

          

That was until 3 o'clock came. At this precise time the police came by to clear the area. I was moved to stand 300 meters from the Concert Hall and just when one thinks things can't get any worse, darkness fell, my flash wouldn't work, but this didn't really matter as I was so far away.

              

         

 

 At 4:15 exactly, all of the cars came,dropped off their passengers, but as for me I was too far away to see anything and everyone was under umbrellas.

         

                                   

            

Maybe I have forgotten to mention that it was cold, it was raining and I had Diesel, my dog, with me. A major point is that Diesel didn't want to be there and kept trying to leave. The photos are complete bips and bloopers."

"Third, I went home to the dog's relief. I changed my clothes, left Diesel at home this time , and walked to the City Hall. Having wizened up from the morning I arrived 30 minutes before the banquet was to start. Just as I arrived, the police were leaving because all of the guests were already there. They had arrived from under a portico where no one could see them.  There were no buses running all day so all of these endeavors I did with my own two feet. I had to walk all day."

Now on the other side of the world , in a kitchen in Tennessee, two women of Swedish and Swedish American descendant discovered that the Nobel Prize Award ceremony was being broadcast live on-line. The banquet too. :)

              

              

            

This was the first time that I had ever seen the Nobel Prize Awards Ceremony. I'm never in Sweden for Nobel Week, so it was just thrilling for me. It was so beautiful and the music was grand. To have a look for yourself please go to this link where you can learn more about the Nobel Prizes and such, plus they will have a video recording on-line soon of today's events. www.nobelprize.org  

As we were watching the "red carpet" portion of the program we noticed it was really raining and thought of Per the entire time. The only thing to do really was to eat our Nobel Medal Chocolate from the Nobel Museum. As we all know chocolate can solve any problem. So what have we learned from this adventure? It's much better on TV !

            

           

Is there any Love in Stockholm ?........Per at Large

           

On November 7th 2008, we wrote a blog about man hole covers. There are A manhole covers, and K manhole covers. When walking around in Stockholm taking photos for the blog, I didn´t find any K-holes and wonderd why. I now have the answer.
K stands for kärlek (love) and they are good to step on to ensure true love, they are even better to kiss upon, just to make sure.

         

 A is the complete opposite.

        
While I was visiting Gotland I suddenly saw a K-manhole cover. After having exhausted myself trying to find a K manhole cover in Stockholm , I was wondering,how is it that I found one in Gotland  but not in Stockholm? To get an answer I spoke to Stockholm Vatten, the company which distributes water to all households in the city of Stockholm, and they told me that they have changed all the man hole covers with a K on them to covers with Stockholm Vatten instead. Why? I asked. Because it makes it much easier to see the difference between an A and a K  for the people who work with them. Not only this but it is a form of advertising to the inhabitants and visitors to Stockholm to let them know who is delivering the water.....Stockholm Vatten.

        

     
So if you belive in A-holes and K-holes, you will just have to look in another place other than Stockholm, because there you will just meet A-holes and you know what they stand for?

   

Swedex By Per Svangren

         

This weekend two of our Swedish teachers, Kajsa and Jenny together with myself went to a Swedex test training course. There were eight students from Sweden and Europe who learned how to become  test leaders. As a test leader you can educate others how to administer the tests, as well as, give the exam yourself.

         
 
So what is Swedex? Swedex is an examination in Swedish as a foreign language.When  doing it you will get an international certificate related to the Council of Europe level of attainment scale. Other European countries give the same level of exams.  The purpose of the Council of Europe level of attainment is to create a common European standard for language ability.  The tests are available in two levels A2 and B1. The scales describe what a language user can do in the language at each level. These levels are A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 and C2. All of our courses at LearnSweden have been developed using the Council of Europe's Level of attainment score.
 
Each certificate test can be taken independantly and you can take the test regardless of how or where you learned Swedish. The tests can be taken in Sweden or at any other test center in the world. There are test centers in many countries in Europe and also in Asia, Africa and South America.

A surprising number of people learn Swedish as a foreign language to be able to work or study in Sweden. Many others who live outside Sweden have contacts with Sweden or with Swedish companies and need to be able to communicate in Swedish. So, for an increasing number of people, it has become important to be able to document their knowledge of Swedish. And the Swedex examinations provide an opportunity for them to prove their competence in the language.
 
Learnsweden will start administering the exams in the US. In a short while we will offer the possibility to do both tests in severel places all around the USA. Our test leaders will give the exams to individuals that need the certificate to have working privledges in Sweden, entrance to a Swedish university, to obtain knowledge of Swedish language ability levels or just for fun .
 
You can read more about this at www.swedex.info. At the site you will also be able to try some of the tests.
    

            

Where's the K ?

While walking around Stockholm, it isn't long before you come to realize that there are a lot of manhole covers. Some are very ordinary looking and others are beautifully decorated. While mentioning this to a friend they imparted a little swedish urban myth upon me.

                        

Plenty of Swedes believe that stepping on the manhole covers with a "K"  brings good fortune and luck while stepping on the manhole covers with "A" will bring you misfortune. What do these letters stand for and what other sorts of powers can they bring the average person ?

The K on the manhole covers actually stands for källvatten (fresh water), but to the manhole cover people who step vicarously on them , the k stands for kärlek. As you step on the k covered manhole cover and think of the person you love, it will bring good fortune to both of you. Now if you jump you are really helping your efforts because those who jump on a k manhole cover will bring even better luck to themselves in the love life arena. Now if stepping and jumping haven't worked well the best thing you can do is bring the one you love and kiss them while standing on the k manhole cover.

            

but becareful........Just when you thought everything was solved you step your goodluck right out of exsistence.

          

The manhole covers with the A on them stands for avlopp (sewage), and this holds some pretty unlucky connotations. "A" can stand for avbruten (broken love),or avundsjuka (envy), or even act as a warning to beware (akta). The unlucky effects of the "A"manhole cover can be to counteract the love you just wished for on the "K" covers but not to worry the ill effects can absolutely be taken away by having someone pat you on the back three times. Did I mention they have to do this voluntarily without being asked ?

                               

                            

In our own search for love, we sent out our own Per Svangren to investigate the trotted paths of manhole covers. He came back with many photos of "A" manhole covers but he couldn't find a single "K". While asking various family and friends "where are the "K" manhole covers ?"; Everyone knows they've seen them they just can't remember where. So it seems many of us just walk over the "A's" in life. Be a friend and pat a back three times and remember to watch where you are walking.

Honestly....if you know where the "K" manhole covers are in Stockholm let us know. We truly would love to know.

Smack the goat

                                           

Our friend Rebecca Svangren is visiting from Sweden for a short while. This is her above trying on halloween costumes. In the process my children get to hear Swedish on a daily basis. This has lead to some very funny moments with my entire family trying to manuveur with their new conversation skills.

Little boy "O", our youngest, was sitting at the dinner table the other night and heard me ask Rebecca if her soup tasted good. "Smakar det gott ?" Ja, det smakar gott, tack. (yes it tastes good, thanks).

When I turned to ask "O" if his soup tasted good he grinned and said,"Ja, smack the goat".

At this point during our table talk we suddenly had many questions for our guy.

"Do you like the bread ?"

"Smack the goat". was his reply

Do you like the salad ?

"Smack the goat".

Do you like ice cream?

"Smack the goat."

So the next time you really like what you are tasting ......just remember to "smack the goat."

Truffel Hunter Part I

Bourgonge truffles have for a long time back been found in France, while in Italy one mostly finds the white truffle. Truffles use to be found by pigs, but nowadays most truffle hunters use dogs and the most common is Lagotto Romagnolo.

For the last ten years the first  Bourgone truffles,were found on Gotland, an island three hours by boat from Stockholm. Now truffles, referred to as black gold, have become very important for the island of Gotland. A lot of people (or dogs) are looking for them during the period of September to December. It will cost you around $1000 a kilo to buy your very own truffles. A lot of restaurants serve truffle menus during the season, and a lot of the truffles are exported all around the world.

The people on Gotland make truffle oil, truffle salt,  and truffle cakes to sell all over Sweden. These lovely items are also exported to the rest of the world.  From entrées to desserts, truffles are served in all of it's varieties in restaurants. Omelets with truffles, fish with a truffle sauce or why not vanilla ice-cream with freshly sliced truffles over it.

There is one point of caution we would like you to know about however. The truffle is not included in the Allemansrätt ( Everyones rights), because it grows under the ground. The owner of it is the landowner. People with Lagottos have a busy time in the fall being asked my curious landowners wanting to see if they have a little black gold in the ground.

Here are some pictures our truffle hunt,with my Lagotto Diesel.

When we are searching, the dog gets a command, to search and then he starts sniffing around the area.  As soon as he smells truffle, he starts digging it up. It can be just under the surface or up to half a meter down. When he has found it, he gets a piece of sausage or meatball for his great efforts. In the four or five hours w are searching for truffles, we can find up to one or two kilos. Diesel has a lot of fun and has us running all over the forest after him.

After a day in the forest, Diesel will stay under the burning fire and rest, while I have to clean the truffles and sell them to restaurants and others. The truffle has to be used in a week or two. But you can freeze it, but it will loose some of its taste.