We really did it.  We bought a house in Sweden.

This has long been a dream of mine.  I fell in love with a different house on a real estate website and we went to Sweden intending to buy it.  However, it didn’t live up to the photos, so, disappointed as I was, we said “no.”  Luckily, there were two other possibilities.  I love the setting of this one.  The house and outbuildings surround the yard.

The house was built in 1930, and an addition, including the porch and an entry hall seen here, was added in 1989.  The house is very livable, but we already have plans for some changes, including removing this porch and replacing it with something more like the original.

The outbuilding on the left is made of log and part of it was built in the 1200’s!  It’s hard to wrap my mind around that date.

These pictures are from the real estate listing.  When we saw it, it wasn’t furnished.

Here’s the entry hall that was added in 1989.  The two round windows were originally on the outside of the house.

The living room is a nice size, as it used to be two rooms–the living room and a bedroom.

The short wall behind the corner fireplace used to extend across to divide the two rooms, and it’s kind of awkward with the fireplace sitting at an odd angle–something we plan remedy, although we don’t have a definitive plan for it yet!

This free standing fireplace is in an odd location–the doorway that leads to the kitchen.  It was part of the 1989 remodel and was attached to some ductwork that helped spread the heat throughout the house.

The kitchen was rather awkwardly laid out without much counter space.  I’m sure the island was there to remedy that problem, but it made it hard to move around.

We only had possession of the house for two days before we came home, but we have entirely removed the kitchen and made plans for a new one!

The dining room is a part of the 1989 addition.  There is a ton of built-in storage along the right wall.  The sellers left us the table and chairs and the little cabinet on the left wall, so we’re not entirely without furniture!

The other part of the addition was a bedroom and three bathrooms–two down and one up.

Upstairs, at the top of the stairs, is a bonus room.  The doors to the left lead out to a deck that looks toward the river.  I can’t wait to sit out there on a warm summer morning, enjoying a cup of coffee.

Here’s the upstairs bedroom.  I think we’re going to have to fill it with beds and make it dorm so everyone can come visit!

So many of the homes I’ve visited have aerial photos taken in the fifties.  I stumbled onto a website that has thousands of them, and found one of our house!  I’m going to order one to hang on the wall.  If you look closely, you can see the original porch.

So, what was my first purchase for the new house?  The little tart forms you can see in our China cupboard!

Here’s what they look like close up.  Perfect for individual apple pies!

The second was a pair of chairs from a loppis, a kind of permanent garage sale.

I can’t wait to get back do more!

I am fascinated by the Swedish fäbod.

The best translation for a fäbod that I know is a summer pasture…

…but it’s more than just a pasture.

In the province of Dalarna, where Anna Lena came from, it wasn’t easy to eek out a living on the small farms.

Most of the farms were near small villages in the valleys.

In the summer, you couldn’t turn your animals out into the fields around the farm because you needed the grass to grow up so you could cut it for hay.  That way you’d have something to feed the animals in the winter.

So in the summer, the animals were taken high up into the forest to forage.

Each farm had grazing rights in certain areas of the forest.

Small cabins and barns were built and the old grandmas and young women would spend the summers there, tending to the cows and goats.

It was a big day in the spring when nearly the entire village would drive the animals up to the summer pastures.

The men helped ready things, then left the women there for the summer.

The work was hard, beginning at 4:00 in the morning.  The women milked the cows then let then out into the forests.  While the animals grazed, the women made cheese and butter.

In the evening they would bring the cows back in from the forest.  It was a big responsibility, and many things could go wrong.

My grandma always told me that her mother, Anna Lena, left Sweden because she didn’t like taking care of the cows.  The first time I visited relatives there in 1981, I told this story and they told me about the fäbods. Perhaps it was life at the fäbod that Anna Lena didn’t like.

The fäbod system died out decades ago, but some of the old buildings still exist in some areas.

This summer we were lucky enough to visit one near the village of Äppelbo.

Our host, John, told us that many of the old buildings were taken down in the 1930’s and the logs were sent to Stockholm to be used as firewood!

 

We fed the calves hard bread!  Who knew calves liked hard bread!?!

 

We also took turns blowing the horn to call the cows.

 

No cows came, but we all got some sound out of the horn!

 

It was a wonderful day.

When I was in Sweden this summer, Sven-Eric allowed us to go into his attic and look through four trunks of very old clothing.  It was like finding hidden treasure!  Among the wonderful finds there were two old leather aprons.

Every farmer, blacksmith and craftsman probably had an apron like this.

Even though they were stiff as boards, Torsten tried them on.

One had a lovely, hand woven neck band.

Sven-Eric generously gave one to Torsten, who has worked some conditioner into it and made it soft and supple again!

Torsten has formal Nåsdräkten, but also the everyday clothes, which he has on here.

Don’t you love the birch bark knapsack?

It’s great to see new life given to old things.

Of course Midsummer’s Eve is the big summer holiday in Sweden, and I love being there.  We enjoyed music in the church that morning.

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Everything is decorated with small birch trees and birch branches, even the entrance to the church.

In the afternoon we went to the folk park for the community celebration, which starts when the musicians arrive.

Many of my Swedish relatives were already there.

And the maypole was decorated and waiting to be raised.

I love seeing everyone in their folk dress, especially the children.

Everyone from the parish has the same dress.  This is my relative, Inga-Britt, whom I hadn’t seen in many years!

Here’s Emmy in her Nås dress, and don’t you love the man’s clothes?  I especially love Torsten’s frock coat.

With lots of help, the maypole gets hoisted into place.

It’s hard to take a picture with people and a maypole!

The park is right on the river, part of the same park where Ingmarsspelen is performed.  I told Torsten that during the intermission of the play, we were walking along the bank and we heard violin music coming from across the river.  It was hauntingly beautiful.  We looked and looked and Bob thought he could make out someone standing in the reeds on the other side.  Torsten said, “Oh, that was Näcke!”  At first I thought he was naming someone he knew, then I remembered that Näcke is the water sprite who makes beautiful music!  It must have been him!  Sometimes Näcke lures humans to a watery death, but other times he shares his talent for making beautiful music with them.  How lucky were we?

The wild lupine is in full bloom at midsummer and it has been a tradition to have my picture taken standing in a field of lupine.

Bob got creative with the camera!

We were invited to Sven-Eric’s for a midsummer meal.  It’s also traditional to mow around the daisies that bloom in your lawn!

The food was delicious, and there was plenty of it!

The weather was getting cloudy but it was nice enough that we could eat outside.

Two very happy guests.

And we even had room for dessert later as we sat up and talked into the wee hours of the morning.

Fabulous memories!

Inmarsspelen is a play that has been performed in Nås every summer since 1959.  It’s presented in a beautiful setting along the river.

It’s based on a true story and adapted from the book Jerusalem by Selma Lagerlöf.

The story focuses on Ingmar Ingmasson and the Ingmar farm.  The farm is one of the largest and most respected in the village.  There has always been an Ingmar Ingmarsson on the farm.  But young Ingmar wasn’t oldest enough to inherit the farm when his father died, so the farm has passed to his sister, Karin and her husband, Halvar.

Ingmar is in love with Gertrude, and he wants to buy the farm back.  Halvar agrees to sell the farm to him if he can earn the money, so he goes into the forest to start a sawmill to make the money he needs.

While he is gone a preacher comes to the village preaching fire and brimstone.  Many people in the village become followers of Helgum, including Halvar.

Karin isn’t convinced, but a strange affliction has caused her to lose her ability to walk, until one day when her little girl almost drops her doll into the well and and Karin runs to save her.  She converts after that.

Even Gertrude becomes a follower of Helgum.

One day Helgum says that the world will end and the only place that will be saved is Jerusalem.  He wants his followers to sell their farms and belongings and follow him to Jerusalem.  He asks them all to listen for the God to call them.

When Ingmar returns from the forest and learns that his brother-in-law is going to sell the farm before he has enough money, and the Gertrude is planning to go to Jerusalem, he is angry and heartbroken.

Eventually, Gertrude decides to stay with Ingmar and marry him, even though he won’t have the farm.

The farm goods are auctioned off and plans are made to sell the farm.

But Ingmar is approached by a wealthy merchant who says he would like to buy the Ingmar Farm and give it Ingmar as a betrothal gift–if he will marry his daughter.

Ingmar has a dilemma.  In the end, he chooses the farm and marries the merchant’s daughter.

Gertrude goes to Jerusalem.

Footnote: In 1896, 38 farmers sold their farms for a pittance and moved to Jerusalem and join the American Colony there.  Families and friends were torn apart.  They day they left the skies grew dark and thundered rolled across the heavens as their wagons rolled out of town. You can read more here.

Some photos were taken from the Ingmarsspelen website.

 

In Swedish travelogues, I often see images from Millesgården, the sculpture garden created by the artist Carl Milles.

This trip  it was a priority to see it.  Sven-Eric accompanied Bob and me on a beautiful, sunny day.

We wandered the terraced grounds, enjoying the statues.

The movement of the figures is amazing.

Many of them have their necks arched, which I found very interesting.

The self guided tour starts out on a terrace where the artist’s home sits.

There are many sculptures there, and fabulous views of that hint of more to come.

The lower terrace is the most amazing, with this large Poseidon statue.

And pedestals…

…with sprites playing instruments.

The delicate balance of the sculptures is incredible.

To me, the most fascinating is The Hand of God.

An amazing day.

I love Skansen!  It’s the outdoor museum in Stockholm.

It has historic buildings from all over Sweden.  Some are prominent public buildings.

Others are typical farm buildings.

Many of them log construction.

Including this one from our family farm in Nås.

The fences are charming.

A raised bed garden!

And I particularly love the leaded glass windows.  Outside…

..and in!

There’s a lot of symbolism on this old candlestick.

Shoes made from birch bark!

Swedish horses.

A rune stone from Uppland.

We had “fika” — a coffee break!

Geraniums in the window, of course!

And a Mora clock.

A lovely day!

A visit to Sweden wouldn’t be complete without some time in Gamla Stan — the old town.

The narrow streets…..

…and charming architecture,,,

…hold such appeal.

There’s something to see up every street.

Other parts of the city are charming as well.

There are many green areas and fountains in the city,

We had some wonderful meals—and great desserts.

Pretty yummy, but made even better with the addition of some delicious chocolate sauce!

And, of course, there are bicycles everywhere.

And even though it was summer, some of them had studded tires!

That was a new one on me!

Skansen is the fabulous historic outdoor museum in Stockholm.  When we were there in June, we happened into one of the old buildings where two women were making thin bread.

There were beautiful soft rounds of dough resting in the window.

The dough was first rolled with the grooved pin on the right then got a final pass with the nubby one.

Once it was rolled paper thin, it was lifted onto a “paddle.”

The baker used a soft brush to reposition the dough.

The oven was full of glowing coals.

It cooked in about 30 seconds!

The bread in the front of the basket is the finished thin bread.  It was quite tasty!

 

Bob and I returned to Sweden again this summer!  Instead of staying in Stockholm for our “city” part of the visit, we stayed about an hour away in Uppsala.

Two things dominate the skyline in Uppsala.  First is the cathedral with its twin spires.

The other is the Uppsala castle, perched high on a hill.

Uppsala is a charming city.

There are many flower lined bridges crossing the river that runs through the center of town.

I love the architecture, and how the river runs right through this building!

Uppsala is also home to one of Sweden’s major universities and medical school.  This anatomical theater was built in 1663.

Students stood in the tiered theater while a professor dissected a cadaver on the table!

This is one sign we always look for when we’re in Sweden.  It means bakery!

The pastries are amazing—as tasty as they are beautiful!

My favorite is the Princess Cake!

Every bakery makes them.

While green is traditional, you sometimes see blue and pink.

The strawberry whipped cream cakes are pretty wonderful, too.

Of course we always look for this guy, who advertises a brand of ice cream called GB Glace.

We visited a museum that had two of my favorite things—a kakelugn (ceramic stove) and…

…a Mora clock.

In the children’s area there were these cute embroideries.

 

In one of the shops I fell in love with this post box.  It reminds me of my Swedish birdhouse.

We went out to Gamla Uppsala, where there are Viking burial mounds and centuries old buildings.

Even here they are painted with the Falu Röd paint.

I love the log construction.

Sweet!  Don’t you love the sod roof?

The woven sides of this bed fascinated me.

The old stone church sits on a site where pagan sacrifices once took place!

The day we were there a christening or wedding was about to happen.  It would have been fun to crash the party, but I refrained!