The first signs of a Swedish Spring

These beauties appeared in the middle of our
yard where grass normally grows. Pretty!

In many places, spring arrives with longer days, some rain, buds sprouting on trees and the disappearance of all snow and ice.  In Sweden, there is a maniacally crazy and random cycle of snow, sun, rain, snow, rain, rain, snow, sun, snow, rain, before spring decides to stay a while.  This elusiveness really toys with your sanity.

In addition to the typical weather patterns that indicate spring is arriving, we've noticed that Stockholm has its own indicators.  Everyone seems to relax a little more and shovels are put away in their garages until the next snow fall or 6 months, whichever comes first.

Here is our list of uniquely Swedish/Stockholmish signs of spring:

• You put away your heavy winter gear for your early spring/fall gear -- lighter gloves and hats are now worn around town
• Hunter rain boots and spandex are the new uniform for the Swedish women

• Snow drop flowers start popping up through the snow
• Everyone sweeps the rocks, grit and dead leaves into the street so that the...
• Town hoovers/vacuums the streets of all of the sand and grit
• Motorcycle drag races on the streets start up again
• Your heating bill begins to decline by about 500 SEK/month
• Neighbors start shoveling their lawns of all snow into the streets to help it melt
• Dead branches and trees are collected and placed for the upcoming large bonfire celebration, Walpurgis Night, on April 30th

The site of our local bonfire for Walpurgis Night

Happy Springtime everyone! Enjoy the sunshine!

Catching up - the Reader's Digest version

So... lately we have been missing in action because a lot of things started to happen at the same time.  We came out of our Roman holiday a little weary and took a break from updating everyone on all of the things we have going on.  The lack of updates doesn't mean that we aren't busy but just that I'm way too lazy to post a separate blog about everything individually, so here is a quick recap:

• Veganism - we took a break from being strict vegans while in Rome and when we came back, decided to drop the veganism and become vegetarians.  Some blood work came back for me that indicated I was ridiculously anemic and in need of serious iron replacements STAT.  Rather than face iron infusions or other scary things, we decided to bring back dairy and eggs into our diets.  I even consented to chicken/salmon once a week until my iron levels get back up to normal.  It wasn't good for a while - nearly passing out while sitting down really scared me and I know that I can't take care of Calvin if I'm horizontal.  The vegan lifestyle is fantastic but my already anemic body needs heme-iron every now and then.  I have to be flexible enough to do what's best for my health.  I'm currently on 200 mg of iron supplements a day... possibly for all eternity.

• We are moving -  No, no, not back to the US, but we heard from our landlords that they are returning to Sweden in August and would like their house back.  That means that I've been scouring the very very few websites Stockholm has to offer.  Trying to find a house in our price range that accepts dogs and isn't a 3 hour commute for Jon is really tough and time consuming.  We are viewing a house on Saturday so fingers crossed that we can snag it AND live with it.  Calvin will be changing schools and needing to say goodbye to friends - so sad. I'm losing the small network of awesome neighbors that I've built in a short time, so I'm super sad about that too.  I'm trying to look at it as another opportunity to experience life in Stockholm from another perspective, but sometimes we get lazy with our perspectives and just want things to be the same for a little bit.

• Work, work work -  Work has been busy for both me and Jon.  I've seen an uptick in my hours lately and "maxed" out last week.  Jon has been getting home late (9-10pm) most nights now as his leadership is shifting and there are new priorities/deliverables that must be done.  We've been keeping busy and eating late dinners.

• Upcoming travel - Jon and Calvin will be heading to the US for 2 weeks in August for a wedding, so catch them while you can if you are in the northeast.  We will all be traveling, as a family, back to the US for 2 weeks in November for Thanksgiving.  It'll be nearly 2 years since I've seen my family and I've been missing everyone like crazy!  I'm ready for some family reunion time.

• Calvin! -  I'll just post a video to update you on how Calvin is doing.  He is hilarious (daily) and his vocabulary is picking up speed.  Last week he said, "Momma, Daddy behind you!"  Fortunately I already knew Jon was behind me or it might've freaked me out.  To hear a positional/directional word from him was really good. We are moving out of the "cars cars cars" vocabulary and into some higher level concepts.  Our only current issue is that he is TERRIFIED of bath time now.  I have no idea what happened but he refuses to take a bath. He runs screaming out of the bathroom absolutely terrified and we have resorted to washing him down with warm, soapy washcloths.  His feet have been neglected a bit, so I tried putting those in the sink to wash them and he freaked out at that little action.  It might be a while before we rehabilitate him to the tub...

• Weather - It's still winter here with snow on the ground and frequently falling from the sky.  When will it ever change? Will we have the shortest summer ever? Probably...

• Bessie - she is still barking at rabbits, squirrels and children, sleeping in the sun and licking her butt at inappropriate times (is there ever an appropriate time?).  Not much of an update there.

Well, that's the update here. What is going on in your neck of the woods?