Summer has arrived in Ulricehamn!

And suddenly summer arrived! In a world of flowers, bright green leaves, bird song and a lot of sun the winter months are quickly forgotten. Sweden and the Swedes come to life in the summertime. Suddenly the agenda is fully booked with garden parties, dinner with friends along the lake and outdoor activities. I love it!

Our days are long and we spend hours sitting outside on the porch sipping on a Belgian beer or a South African wine. In the last two months we have gone bicycling, enjoying the beautiful surroundings and each week seen 30 – 50 kilometer of Ulricehamn.

I think this winter felt darker than the previous once and obviously it was. We had a lot of snow the previous years but not as much this year and snow reflects light and make the days look a little bit brighter. Somewhere in the beginning of March it melted away and left us with a rainy, cold, grey season being neither winter nor spring. The way we depend on the light here up north cannot be explained in writing. One has to live here to understand how we live with the seasons. Dark long winter months are transformed in the summer season into long days where the sun does not set until late in the evening (or not at all if you live above the polar circle). In the winter months I go earlier to bed, feel more tired and we stay a lot more inside. Maybe the urge to be outside as much as possible in the summer months is a physical compensation needed by both body and soul to get through life?

I think I live in one of the most beautiful places we have in Sweden but I am also in love with big cities and traveling so this spring we took the kids to London in February and to Amsterdam in April. It felt great letting the kids experience the big city life for a little bit and it also felt fine coming home. For some people it is clear where they want to live and how they want to live their lives. I am always curious about other places and meeting new people and feel energized when I come home with a new experience. A few weeks ago I visited Iceland which was very interesting and the hospitality was fantastic but it made me wonder how it is to live on a remote island. We live in mobile times in a global world but actual distances still have an impact on people’s possibilities.

This weekend the girls are off on a CISV weekend camp and Nils, Jochem and I spend the morning at Komosse hiking for 4,5 km. Nils will walk 20 km this summer in order to get a new Wii-game and is keeping track of all our hikes. With 90 km of bicycling paths and hundreds of kilometers of hiking paths we have lots to explore this summer.

Hope the sun is shining on you too!