Visit to Borås

I'm still working part-time but it can be debated what counts as work. If someone calls me after I'm supposed to have left the building, I answer. Also I answer e-mails. I have had to spend two afternoons in meetings that were important, even though I shouldn't. One afternoon I drove to Malmö City Library to look at a book collection they were discarding. I picked out about 12 books for my library. Driving in the center of Malmö in rush hour is not something I will be doing again soon. It was absolutely terrible. Despite these ordeals, I managed to visit three charity shops also to get more books. Soon after, someone contacted us to say she was clearing out her mother's house and asked if we wanted the books. I went there during my working hours this time and picked out a few, mainly on local history. 

At work I have shown parts of the reference collection to new staff members. Most of the time, I have desk duty or retrieve books. The weeks around Halloween were stressful with too few staff members. The Thursday just before, I got desk duty because a colleague was sick, but could only be there until 10 AM, then I had a meeting. After a quick lunch I drove home. Just minutes later my father came to pick me up and after 3 1/2 hours we arrived in Borås. I stayed with my mother and her boyfriend. Friday my mother and I went to a few second hand stores. In the evening my father, sister and her family came over for the usual taco dinner. Saturday morning I watched when my niece trained figure-skating and then went on to the second hand store where my mother volunteers. Bought more books. For lunch I went with my sister, niece and father to a farm in the countryside. We had a tasty tomato soup in a room decorated for Halloween. Lots of cobweb, pumpkins and skeletons. In the evening my father treated us all to dinner at a restaurant. The up-scale bacon burger was very good. After a very nice weekend my father drove me home on the Sunday. 

Another Sunday I visited my colleague Maria. She asked for help reorganizing her family history documents and photos. We sat in their screened-in porch and sorted through hundreds of items. I learned after a while what her relatives looked like, so I could sort the photos in piles. We also got the old folders exchanged for new ones and wrote explanations on the envelopes. One particular photo caught my eye. It was of the students at a house-keeping eduction in Lund 1911. Maria's great grandfather's sister Alma was on this photo and to my surprise so was my great grandfather's sister Olga! Incredible that there would be such a connection. Since Maria had duplicates of this photo, I received one. In all, a very nice visit. 

Even though I work too much, I have had time to update my genealogy files. I have added more generations on the family tree I keep at MyHeritage. Last week there was a new match showing up on my DNA-profile. It was a rather close match, a second cousin once removed. I have never heard of this woman before and when I reviewed her family tree I couldn't see that we are related. I actually did research on her tree to make sure she hadn't missed anything but it's correct. In my opinion there could only be one explanation here - her father cannot be the one she thinks it is. I hope that she has figured this out herself so that I don't have to be the one telling her...

Research and shopping

The first two weeks I worked full time and had lots to do. The second week I attended five meetings, for instance. After that, I have taken leave 50%. This is because I have too many vacation days left. Despite this, I'm in the building anyway to do personal projects. There is always some research to do. Last week I got a surprise visit from my grandmother's cousin and his wife. I hadn't seen them in over a decade but remembered that they have been at the library before. They have been to the hospital (next block over from here) quite a lot since the wife is undergoing treatment. We have met and talked several times the past two weeks and also had lunch together. On one occation the wife told me that her brother didn't know who his father was. These cases can be very complicated but this one was very easy. Her brother  happened to be noted in two different birthbooks; one contained the information and the other one did not. He was grateful to get the information but sadly his half-siblings are deceased by now. 

The weather is slightly colder and darker, just like normal. On weekends I have visited fleamarkets in all directions. Five of them were new to me. Bought some designer egg cups in one place, they didn't know the value of those so got them cheaply. One of the clothing chain stores where I could go shopping went out of business earlier this year but have restarted in a shopping center nearby. There is also a newly opened second hand store in the same area, and I have been there several times already. Many activities are starting again, since the restrictions are no longer in effect. A vast majority of the residents are fully vaccinated. This week there is a choral festival in Lund, and I listened to the Cathedral boys' choir yesterday at lunchtime.

Back to work

I had six weeks of vacation in total and there was not that much done. It's still difficult to travel abroad, so I remained for the most part in the summerhouse or its vicinity. One Saturday I was the guide at the cemetery tour at my birth town church. 16 people showed up, which was surprising since it was cloudy and had just rained. After two hours of talking most of the attendants walked over to the local school building. They had a reopening after renovating. For being such a small village they had lots on offer; coffee & cakes, popcorn, chocolate raffle, icecream, face painting, grilled hamburgers and games for the children. I talked to several people there and ended up getting research requests.

I have also done some short visits to other towns (with or without my mother), bought two tops at my cousin's clothing store, picked mushrooms, watched sports on TV, solved a large number of crossword puzzles, cleaned my car and visited most fleamarkets/second hand stores within a 40 minute drive. I have bought quite a few books for the library. At one place we bought very nice fabric, and my mother made me a pillow case and a kitchen curtain from some of it.

One Sunday we went to Ronneby in Blekinge province to visit one of my mother's friends. We toured the local fleamarket and then had a buffet style lunch. We also went for a walk in the pretty park where there used to be a spa facility.

Occasionally, I have spent some hours at work to do research, and I also went to the regional archive a couple of times to use their databases. The research for others is sent off now. 

The situation at work this Monday wasn't crazy but I was told I had been missed. Last week they had apparently been only two staff members in the stacks. That is definitely too few. I have so far been able to wade through the enormous amounts of messages but only taken action on some of them.

Visit to Hanö

The first Saturday on my vacation I went with my sister, her husband and their daughter to an island off the coast of Blekinge, Hanö. It's a small island with a dry and stony landscape, where the wind is always blowing. We went on a guided tour of the lighthouse at the top (about 60 meters above sea level). It was a nice excursion. On the way back to the summerhouse we stopped for a large icecream in Åhus.

Tuesday last week I had to go back to work temporarily. The language library delivered 160 boxes with journals to our storage, and I was there to open doors and give advice. This time they had hired a moving company to get the boxes in and then the faculty library staff did the shelving. It was raining very much so the floor got wet but apart from that it went well. I kept busy shelving other books and searching for books suitable for an upcoming exhibit. In the afternoon I returned to the summerhouse.

I was all alone the first week, since the others were in Borås. I spent my days driving around the area of northeastern and eastern Skåne, visiting lunch restaurants, cafes, icecream places, antique book shops, flea markets, thrift stores, consignment stores and malls. So far I have bought a nightgown, a blouse, a top, a cardigan, a scarf and many books for the library. One day I also went to my birth town cemetery to spray some of the gravestones to get rid of the moss and lichen. It has been very nice to be on vacation at this time, when most others are working. The number of tourists everywhere has gone down dramatically. 

This Tuesday I returned home to do laundry and because I had to hand my car in for the annual service. This evening I will return to the east coast again.

Soon vacation

It has been a long and tiring summer in the stacks at the library. Mostly because of the hot weather. The summerworkers have been efficient and got many projects done. Today we had chocolate cake to see them off. 

My vacation starts now, at least in theory. Already on Tuesday I have to go to the storage to receive a shipment with journals from a faculty library. It's easier if I don't have anything else that day. 

The Olympic Games just ended. I didn't watch that much because of the time difference. Sweden got three gold medals; show jumping, pole vaulting and the discus. 

Most weekends I have visited at the summerhouse. The activity level has been rather low. We did get to a few fleamarkets and also a historic mill where they baked bread in a wood-fired oven. I spent last weekend at home, going on a road trip on the Saturday. I went to a total of seven fleamarkets, some of which I had never been to before. The results were meagre, only a few books for the library.

The weather is cooler now, thankfully. The ocean temperature is lower also, sadly.

Hot weather

Some days have been terribly hot here. More than 30 degrees. It has been just awful to work in the stacks. This is an old house and the heat stays in for a long time. The air conditioning leaves a lot to be asked for, definitely. I have been sitting at someone elses desk often, since the climate in my office is too hot. The janitors bought more fans but it really doesn't help. When we have desk duty, we have to leave the desk occasionally because it's difficult to breathe there. 

The summerworkers are busy putting old material into new boxes, shelving and also retrieving. The number of requests is low right now. The regular work takes perhaps a couple of hours each day. The rest of the time we engage in different projects. I have added extra dissertations to our collection and continued weeding the reference collection. Since there was time, I have also given three lectures. The summerworkers listened to the talks about biographical works, reference books and card catalogues. 

One Saturday when it rained I went to Ikea in Helsingborg. I bought a new desk, which I have wanted for a while. The box was very heavy and I could just about squeeze it into my little car. The material was solid wood so it was a challenge to assemble it also. It took most of the Sunday. It turned out great. 

The past two weekends I have visited at the summerhouse. My mother and I went on a flea market round, since both the ones in Åhus have reopened. There was a line at both places to get in. We bought quite a few useful things, like plastic boxes, new garden chairs and a rake. I bought books for the library. This past Sunday we went to the market in Kivik. It is one of very few markets held this year. We bought some small items.

Midsummer

It's now July and things have slowed down somewhat at the library. We do get the visitors who have personal projects and this is also the time when we hear some rather strange questions. Recently, one person contacted us and by the way it sounded, she wanted us to do the research for her. We said no. 

The book moving project at the storage ended after almost three weeks but they didn't get to finish it. We will have to continue another time. This summer we have three summer workers. There is a long list of chores for them to do, both at the main building and the storage. They also have desk duty every day. 

Some weeks the weather has been really hot, the highest temperature was 32 degrees. The worst part of it was over a weekend, so I sat at home and did very little. I have a sun deck chair on the balcony, which is nice. There are no flowers in the flower boxes this year. Instead I planted dill, basil, chives and brussels sprouts. I have already made use of most of it. 

I made the Midsummer weekend longer by taking two extra days off. My sister and niece joined me at the summerhouse the same day. We had a very good time. We went on an excursion to Österlen one day and my father came to visit also. It was not the warmest water in the ocean but we jumped in almost every day. My niece did not hesitate, she loves taking dips in any pool/lake/ocean/river/any body of water big enough. Midsummer eve was not really celebrated, since there was no maypole but we had lots of good food to eat. The herring was mandatory, of course. The rest of my sister's family came down to the summerhouse in time for the weekend. 

Last week I got the second shot of vaccine. This time the side effects were not as bad as the first time (which is unusual, I hear).