Beautiful Weekend in the Country

May 21

Good morning faithful followers. It’s a sunny Monday morning and we’re finally getting around to posting the blog from the weekend.

On Saturday, we left the house without knowing where we were going or what we were going to do. We got a little nervous, though, when Maria put rubber boots in the car. We drove about 30 minutes outside of Sundsvall where they were holding the annual Koslapp or “Letting the Cows out” day. Apparently, the cows are in the barn all winter and once the weather gets nice, the cows are let out and allowed to roam the pasture. They go back into the barn for milking but then go back out. There were 700 people at this event, and it was really quite fun. Here’s a short video of a few of the big girls heading out to the pasture. We also had fresh milk with a homemade cinnamon roll…very delicious.

Letting the Cows out
14th century house; oldest timber house in Sweden
Organizers of the Koslapp gave us a hat

After the cows were all out, we headed back towards Sundsvall and to the North Mountain where there were old buildings, restaurants, shops and an incredible view. We had a shrimp sandwich for lunch (soooooo good; Lynn already knows how to make it so we’ll definitely have these at home) then walked around the park for awhile looking at the old buildings. The views from the mountain were spectacular. Here’s video that Peter took.

Then it was back to the house for rest before a very delicious dinner of homemade pizza. Lynn, Peter and Maria went out for a long walk after dinner and saw some of the markers that indicated the pilgrimage walk from Sundsvall to the Cathedral in Trondheim. If you remember from our posts about Trondheim, the Cathedral is where St. Olav is reported to be buried. It was cool to know that we were on the trail that thousands of people have walked.

Marker on the pilgrimage trail
Beaver cut this tree down

Yesterday (Sunday) was our day to visit the family in Ostersund. On the way, we stopped at Jamtli, which was very much like North Mountain. It’s a beautiful park with old buildings, rides for the kids, shops and restaurants. We watched women making flatbread (oh, so good) and strolled the grounds for about an hour before heading to Maria’s mom’s house.

Jamtli
Looks like rusty old tools, but….
…it’s actually chocolate
Ugly spider but it won’t bite; it’s made out of metal…very realistic.
Women making flatbread
18th century homes were brought to the site to make the village
Beautiful view of Lake Ostersund from Jamtli

Our afternoon in Ostersund was wonderful. Lynn got to see her cousins, some of whom she hadn’t seen in 25 years. We had a delicious lunch and hung out in the backyard for the afternoon. It was another gorgeous day with perfect weather for visiting family. In addition to celebrating our visit, two of the cousins were celebrating birthdays. Morton (Maria’s brother) and Per Eric (Maria and Lynn’s cousin) both have milestone birthdays (50 and 60 respectively) so we sung a rousing chorus of the Swedish version of Happy Birthday. Click on the link to see that.

Ruth’s house; Maria grew up here
Peter enjoying Per Erik’s 1957 Dodge.
l-r: Per Erik, Ruth, Lynn, Ruth and Anne Marie (Ruth’s neighbor)
l – r: Gustav, Emil (both are Morton’s sons), Morton, Emil’s girlfriend, Marielle and Maria
Renee, Ruth and Anne Marie
Peter and Per Erik
l-r: Kike (Morton’s wife), Frida, Louise and Mildred. Mildred is Maria’s sister and the girls are Mildred’s daughters
Delicious buffet lunch
And, of course, dessert

Ostersund is about 2 1/2 hours northwest of Sundsvall, so it was almost 9:30pm before we got home but since it stays light until about 11:30, it felt much earlier. Hopefully we’ll have a chance to go back again before we leave to see the town and have lunch with Ruth.

Today we’re having a quiet morning at home but are visiting Maria and Martin’s summer house this afternoon. It’s another beautiful day so we’re looking forward to it. Have a great day!

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