Svenskarnas Dag - Swedish Midsommar Festival

Up until June 2005, the summer solstice, or midsummer, did not mean much to me. But at that time, I was studying in Hamburg, Germany, which is so far north that the days are very long in the peak of the summer. For example, at this time of year, the sun does not set until almost 10:00, and it rises again before 5:00. Therefore, there are only a few hours in the night during which it is completely dark.

While I was studying in Hamburg, a good friend of mine from my exchange program and I talked about riding on a boat from Germany to Norway during the summer solstice. We discovered how expensive such a journey would be and decided to try to ride our bikes around Hamburg from sundown to sunrise instead. It was during this bike adventure that I discovered this three-headed paper-mache monster on top of a dumpster near the U-Bahn Emilienstrasse. Needless to say, I hid it in some bushes in a nearby park and picked it up the next morning and took it home on the train. It lived on the dorm of my balcony for a while until it moved onto David's balcony.

However, the three-headed monster is not the focus of this blog entry. Several weeks ago, I discovered an amazing You Tube video made by IKEA Germany. It was a commercial banned by the Swedish HQ because it makes fun of Swedes and their beloved Midsommar festival. After seeing this video, I was determined to attend some type of midsummer celebration: IKEA Commercial.

Minnesota being the Swedish capital of the U.S., I knew I would be able to find an event near Minneapolis. I discovered that the local Swedish organizations put on an annual Midsommar festival, and I decided to attend. To my dismay, the festival, held in Minneapolis' Minnehaha Park, was much tamer than the IKEA commercial. However, it was still an interesting event with plenty of Minnesota Swedes as well as regular Swedish Swedes.

                            The ceremonial raising of the Midsommar pole.

 

 
              Some traditional Swedish dress from some region of Sweden.

             Super Swedish family. Please use disparaging language with me if I
                  ever dress myself and family members in matching clothing.

                      More traditional dress - in 80 degrees, nonetheless!

                    The American-Swedish Institute making flower crowns.

                                                           The majstang                                                        

                                 Hej hej! Although I certainly feel like it,
                                 I am not the official Midsommar Queen.

                                              Crown put together by me...

                                   ...and a dress the color of the Swedish flag

My Indoor Garden Project

Last August after I had moved back to the U.S. from Munich, I was lucky enough to spend two weeks with my family in Pennsylvania before leaving for Minnesota. While at home, I tried to spend as much time with my grandfather as possible. I spent a number of evenings at his home out in the countryside. On my visits, I would walk out to the garden above his house and pick Swiss chard and fresh tomatoes for our dinner. Perhaps because I was longing for those summer evening dinners with my grandfather and also because the taste of homegrown tomatoes is unbeatable, I decided to embark on a home garden project.

I bought a mini greenhouse as well as a number of pots, organic potting soil, and organic fertilizer. Trying to pot plants in an apartment is an interesting task. I am glad that my mother was not around to see potting soil on my kitchen floor and in my kitchen sink!

Unfortunately, I only harvested a few tomatoes before my tomato plants gave up - there just wasn't enough sun in my kitchen and spare bedroom windows. I also had to get rid of the strawberry plant because one morning I awoke to find it covered in tiny green bugs. But my Swiss chard and green peppers seem to be doing fine. I also have a large collection of herbs, including basil, cilantro, thyme, oregano, spearmint for making fresh tea, and Thai basil for making my favorite Asian dishes.

                                 The area inside of my kitchen window -
                                  and the beginning of my great project

                                      Swiss Chard and green peppers -
                             finally found a good use for my guest room

                                                      My adorable pepper

                                         Herbs on the kitchen windowsill

Lake Minnetonka

It seems that quite a number of my posts end up dealing with a Minnesotan lake. But as Minnesota is the Land of 10,000 Lakes and visiting lakes is a favorite summer activity in Minnesota, I seem to spend a fair amount of time at various lakes.

On this particular trip we decided to make use of my grandpa's car and drive outside of the Twin Cities. We chose Lake Minnetonka, specifically the town of Excelsior, as our destination. Excelsior is approximately a thirty-minute drive from Minneapolis.

The name Minnetonka was translated by early white settlers in the region as "a ton of water," or something close to that. Lake Minnetonka is a spectacular body of water with many bays, inlets, and peninsulas. There are a plethora of towns and villages surrounding Lake Minnetonka, but Excelsior is especially attractive in that it has that quaint small-town feel and is full of antique shops, and has an old movie theater, an ice cream shop with homemade waffle cones, and many quaint cottages.

                                  David and I, engaged in a camera war

                                                  View of Excelsior Bay

                 Barren beach - late May is still too cold for Minnesota's lakes!

                         Gray squirrel - much larger and more common
                                      than the European red squirrel

                                          Cottage near Lake Minnetonka

                                   We certainly do love our flags here...

                                 I ordered a small....and this is what I got!

                Grandpa's car: a sedan so large that it is not even sold in Europe

                                                      
                                                      Downtown Excelsior

Road Trip: The Upper Midwest

Hello again, dear readers!

In late April, David and I flew to my family's home in Pennsylvania to pick up a vehicle and drive it back to Minnesota. The vehicle belonged to my late grandfather, who died of cancer in December. Although I would much prefer to have my dear grandfather alive, I am glad to be able to carry on his legacy through driving his car. My grandfather loved driving very much, and he was well known for his rather wild driving style and coming very close to having accidents, but somehow managing to just barely escape.

We departed from Pennsylvania and drove through the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and into Minnesota in two days. Since David had not yet transferred his driver's license, I was the sole driver. We stayed overnight in Chicago, but it was still a very long trip. And because I had not done this type of driving in about five years (due to graduate school and living abroad), it made for a very interesting trip. This post is dedicated to the memory of my grandpa, Robert C. Johnson.

                                                               Our route

                 Yes, this woman from Ohio has "Vegas Gal" on her license plate...

                             View from my window of downtown Chicago

                       River which runs through Chicago into Lake Michigan

                      

                                             The Magnificent Mile by day

                      Downtown Chicago with view of Chicago Tribune office
                                              and Marilyn Monroe statue

                      Random Marilyn Monroe statue with giggling men
                                  of all ages posing under her skirt

     Wisconsin is "America's Dairyland," and is very famous for its cheese.
                        We stopped at a cheese shop just off the highway,
                                      but unfortunately it was closed.