Endless Summer

Summer in Sweden is awesome, but it can be very short. Everyone is so happy that the fall, winter and spring have finally come to an end that they just go nuts. The entire population spends every possible minute outside, soaking up the sun and enjoying the warm weather. The humidity is low, and best of all, it doesn't get dark until after 11 p.m.

This past summer was particularly fantastic. During the entire month of August in only rained for 3 or 4 days, never more than an hour or so, and the temperature was consistently 80 to 85 degrees. I was amazed that some people were complaining about the heat because, after living in Sacramento for several years, we were used to temperatures close to or over 100 degrees almost every day of the summer.

One weekend we went out to Monica and Torgney's summer house (Camilla's aunt and uncle). The house is a typical little red "stuga," with white trim, and it is conveniently located close to a lake in the middle of nowhere. We spent the entire weekend swimming (clothing optional of course), drinking coffee, and testing our skills in a spur-of-the moment decathlon that included events such as the work boot toss (for accuracy in a big empty garbage can), bouncing the soccer ball on your head (number of times) and riding a bicycle zig-zag fashion between soda bottles (count the number of bottles still standing). The other activity that filled up our time was kicking an old soccer ball for our dog, Lena. She was so sore by the end of the weekend that she could hardly walk, but she wouldn't stop dropping the ball at our feet.

In the evening we had an awesome barbecue dinner outside, drank some more coffee, as well as a few nips of other tasty beverages, and chit chatted. We were hoping to catch a glimpse of a moose that frequents the area, but unfortunately it never showed, most likely due to the smell of the dog. After a relaxed evening, we all went to sleep in our assigned nook or cranny. The main house doesn't have a bed room, just a fold-out couch; Camilla's cousin, Therese, had first dibs on that. Camilla, Philip and I slept in a little nearby cabin that has room for a big queen-sized bed and not much more. Everyone else slept in a big walled-off room inside the barn that is full of cots.

In the morning we got up and repeated the activities of the day before. I started the day with a nice run through the woods on awesome back-country roads, followed by a swim in the lake. Everyone else did a similar version of whatever they felt like doing. Just another typical Swedish summer.