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Sunday, March 30, 2008

Sewing

It has been a fairly normal week (although only four days of work), with the boring meetings and desk duty on Thursday afternoon. Yesterday I was at the mall, and I bought some fabric and pattern for a top. I don't know when I will get time to make any clothes, but maybe this summer. I did use the sewing machine today, actually. I shortened three pairs of jeans and mended two tops. I can tell it's a long time ago I was into sewing, because it didn't go too well. I bent the needles and put the spool of thread in backwards.

Today I have been busy doing several things: brought paper and cardboard to the recycling station, did the laundry, went grocery shopping and returned plastic bottles to get refund, watched equestrian sports on TV, tried to translate a travel diary from an emigrant journey 1887 into English and cleaned the kitchen.

Naxos has just released the first volume with Leroy Anderson's orchestral works, if anyone is interested.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Easter Holiday

I have just spent the Easter holiday at my mother's place. I left already on Thursday at noon to go to the library in Kristianstad. It was time to remove one half of the Leroy Anderson exhibit, and remake the other half. It ended up being a smaller exhibit in the basement, near the genealogy room.

My sister, her husband and son John (who will be three years old in June) were also visiting my mother. We had a good time there, playing with John, eating my mother's tasty food, and solving cross word puzzles. We also did some short trips, we had a great Easter buffet (lots of herring and salmon) at Furuboda on Friday and we went to a few different places to look at some of the art and crafts displays that are traditional for the Easter holiday in Skåne. Many artists (of all kinds) have exhibits and sales at their houses or gathered somewhere over this weekend. It has been a tradition for about 40 years and lots of people go to see these displays.

It seems a little late, but the winter weather arrived last week. It caused a whole lot of problems, because many people had changed the tires on their cars. We never thought it would get this cold and snowy this season.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Chocolate

Thursday evening I was on a chocolate event with some of my colleagues. It was in Malmö and I took the (express) bus. I never thought it would take such a long time to go to Malmö - 45 minutes. The train takes 12 minutes. The traffic was really bad, but I got there on time anyway. Around 1900, Malmö was known for having several chocolate factories. Only one survived to the late 1900s, Malmö Chokladfabrik. They produced a large variety of sweets, cocoa powder, vanilla and baking soda. The factory was empty for about 15 years, until some people recently started a small business making and selling fine chocolates. We got samples of eight pieces, from white to very dark and bitter chocolate, and the guide told us how chocolate is made these days. Very interesting. Almost all of us shopped in the store. I knew my fridge was filled with chocolate, so I resisted it.

Yesterday I did some research at the regional archive. I hadn't been there in quite some time, but I thought there were enough cases to make the trip now. Someone had asked about a midwife in Norra Strö, and more specifically wanted to know when she got her education. The only school for midwifes here in the 1860s was in Lund, so I checked the records there and came up with nothing. She wasn't listed as a resident, so she was most likely still registered at her parents' place. I did manage to find out the graduation date from a book, however.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Another Leroy Anderson-meeting

I have just come back from another Leroy Anderson-meeting in Kristianstad. It's getting closer now, and everybody is nervous about getting everything ready in time for the concert on April 26. There are so many small details we haven't thought about. Flower arrangements, banners, security, ticket sales and the exhibit are important things that don't really have much to do with the actual music, and we are struggling with local ordinance rules, insurances and all the other paper work. We have sold all but 200 tickets now (out of 1200).

The weekend was fairly quiet here. I had been given treatment by the chiropractor on Friday and was supposed to rest my sore back. I only wrote some emails and watched TV. Though on the Sunday I went on a train trip to Helsingborg and ended up at the mall (is anyone surprised?). I didn't do any excessive shopping, but came home with some more clothes (two tops).

The most exciting event at work this week was when a large bus with school children on an excursion got stuck in the narrow parking area in front of the library. The driver got the bus in, and managed to turn it (which was an accomplishment), but when she was going to drive out, there was a parked car in the way. She had all the kids take a snack break, and after a while the owner of the car was located and the bus could get out of there. Really, there aren't many interesting things to tell about the daily work we do at the library, so anything out of the ordinary is worth telling.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Mail order

We got one day of winter so far, and that was yesterday. It was white frost on the ground and four centigrades below zero. The sun was shining and it was great weather. Today it's yet again five degrees above zero and the frost melted very quickly. So boring.

For the first time in several years, I bought some clothes from a mail order catalog. Most of it actually fitted me. There was one top that I think had an incorrect tag, it was much too small. But I'm happy with the new bathing suit, the brown top and skirt, and the underwear.

I have given a copy of the Norra Strö emigrant list to the library in Kristianstad. I just heard from a woman who had looked to see if her relatives were in it. They were, and she contacted me to ask if I knew more. I could give her quite a lot of information. She asked about two sisters who lived in Maywood, IL, and I have most of the Swedes there cataloged, so it was easy to answer.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Vasaloppet

After the incredible work-week, I decided to take it very easy during Saturday and Sunday. The only important thing I did was to send in the article about Leroy Anderson to the genealogy magazine. It was approved of, luckily. I don't know when it will be published, when I find out I will post it here.

The main event in Sweden today was the Vasaloppet ski race in Dalarna. It's an annual cross country ski race of 90 kilometers. The number of participants is huge, about 15 000 people is average. One of my first cousins, Håkan, has participated for many years, and he is very good at it. This year he came in 295th. The fastest make it in about four hours, this time a Norwegian guy named Jörgen Aukland won it, with about three minutes' margin to his own brother Anders. There are mostly Scandinavians who race, but in recent years people from other countries have taken part also. The winners of the American sister-race in Mora, Minnesota get a free ticket to the Swedish race.