The Wildlife and our Wild Life

Speaking of wild life, here is one group who gathered to watch the Sweden/England World Cup game. Enthusiasm no doubt waned as England won 2 to 0.

As the summer progresses, see more wildlife in our travels and in our neighborhood. The deer are not in the fields so often as they were in the spring, but the ones we do see have started growing their antlers in preparation for the mating season. The birds are teaching their young to eat on their own and to fly. The waterfowl are swimming with their young and the song birds are still singing. For the first time since our first trip to Norrland in 2016, we saw a female moose and her calf while traveling with Jordan's family and again last Friday when coming home from Uppsala, we saw one grazing in a field. We also saw two red foxes trying to get across the busy road on the 4th of July as we traveled back to our apartment. Unfortunately, our sightings of the moose and foxes were too fleeting to capture with the camera, but we did get some of the deer and waterfowl.

A young buck and his doe in the field

We have been watching this little family
of swans for a few weeks, now

Male swans are called cobs and female swans
are called pens

The young are cygnets

This little family of ducks was in the
same pond. The parents were scolding
the ducklings, who were asking for
food, by pecking them on the head!
The ducklings then started diving
under the water for food, just
like mom and dad.

Much of the first part of this week was spent in updating files in the file cabinet and in the binders we keep in the apartment. We have found them to be quite helpful, at times, so we wanted to be sure the Clouses, who will replace us, will have current information. We also started a project creating a form for the missionaries to keep in their apartments, telling missionaries who followed them, useful information about the apartment and the local area, e.g. where to shop for food, where the clothes washing and drying takes place, landlord/lady's name and number, etc. We put in the address and landlord/lady information, stuffed them into plastic folders with a magnet so they can keep these on the fridge door.

We also modified and sent out bicycle report forms, so bikes are part of the apartment inspections, from now on. We have had to toss two bikes that died from lack of maintenance and I took a front fork from one and placed it on another. A missionary was riding along when the front wheel came off the bike, the elder took a hard fall and it bent the fork when it hit the ground. We have also had several stolen.

With the bent fork and the cannibalized
bike frame

Olivia did the updating work on the
files and the binders. Huge job!

We didn't really give much thought this year to the 4th of July as it is obviously not celebrated here, so we expected it to come and go just like another day. Brother and Sister Hammar, their daughter, Julia, and our friend Elsa had other thoughts. They invited us to their home to celebrate with a barbecue. Sister Hammar (Judy) is from the USA and Ulf has lived there. In fact, they were married in the Washington D.C. temple on the same day as Olivia's sister and husband, Jennifer and Ray Smith. I think Elsa said she had not celebrated Independence Day before, but she is always ready for a party, especially if she can contribute. She did. She and Julia made some amazing brownies. Ulf cooked three different kinds of hamburgers: regular that was seasoned perfectly, spicy hot, and bacon flavored. He also had three or four kinds of hot dogs. Judy made all the preparations and we brought some other picnic items, as well. It was great fun.

Some of the young women in front
of the Hammar's home

Sisters Chapledaine,
Bingham and Jones in
red, white and blue

Elsa and sister Bingham

Another red, white and blue picture

Descending: Elder Dawson, Julia, Elsa,
Sister Jones, Sister Chapdelaine, Sister
Bingham and Elder Jordan

Left to right: Olivia, Ulf, Sister Jones, Elsa, Sister Bingham,
Rasmus (Ulf and Judy's son), Elder Jordan, me, Judy, Julia,
Elder Dawson and Sister Chapledaine. It got quite cold in the shade!

We were able to go to the new apartment where the Clouses will be staying. We wanted to take some measurements in order to get an idea about where things would fit, so they will have working space as well as living space. They will have a nice, modern apartment with a dishwasher, modern stove and oven and access to a washer and dryer.  The Hales came along with us and agreed that this will be a very comfortable place to live. We currently have a 1/2 hour drive to the office, but the new apartment will only be about 7 - 12 minutes, which will make it much handier for them.

We returned for a third time to Uppsala, this week. We were invited to Björn and Mirna Nordin's apartment for lunch. Mirna is from Peru and, while Björn is from Sweden, he spent several years as a teen and young man in California, where his father was transferred by his company. They have two very happy and bright children: Rafaella 12 years old and Leonardo 5. Björn and I have been good friends for many months, but just at church. Mirna has not been comfortable with her English, so it is only recently that we have gotten to know her better. Rafaella's English is quite advanced, but Leonardo is still young to learn another language. He does understand English, however. They are leaving for Peru after a six-year absence, and will stay about a month. They wanted to have us over before they left, since we will be gone by the time they return.

Rafaella, Björn, Leonardo, Mirna, Olivia and me in the Nordin's apartment

We are clearing out a lot of things that have accumulated in this apartment over the years. In doing so, we found a lot of things that we could give away. We gave the Nordins several books, as Björn loves to read, a couple of books for Leonardo and Rafaella and some painting materials for Rafaella who is quite an artist, already.

On our way back to the apartment, we took time to see a place we have often commented that we would like to visit. Carl von Linne' is famous in botanical circles for his advancement of the methods for identifying and classifying organisms. He cultivated and tried to both genetically improve plants and to preserve other plants in their native state. Unfortunately, we got there after the building were closed and the guides were gone for the day, but the gardens and trees are labeled and explanations of the work in English, so we did a self tour.

On the road to Linne's'
Hammarby we were
finally able to visit the
church that we have
photographed so many
times to show how the
fields change with the
seasons.

It is called Danmark Kyrkan. Why a
Danish church in the heart of Sweden,
I don't know.

Many of the churches
have a cock on the steeple.
This is the best example
we have seen. 

It is not a
weather vane. I have not
been able to discover the
reason for a rooster on the
steeple.

It seems that every churchyard is well kept.
This one is no exception. On any day of the
year you will see people in the cemetary
caring for a loved one's grave.

Two 11th century rune
stones on the church
property.

The inlaid cross on the back
of the church.

At a gate to one of the gardens

Called the cabbage garden, it has herbs
and vegetables grown in the 18th century.

 Some of the plants Olivia especially liked in the many gardens in the Linne' gardens:

The hay and other crops, including but probably not
this wheat, are planted, cultivated
and harvested as they were in the 18th century.

Saturday we made a quick trip to the second hand store (which is only open on Saturdays from 10 to 2) and picked up another suitcase. We came with only one carry on and one checked bag, but we are allowed to check 2 bags, and we have plenty to fill another.

Following our trip to the store, we quickly drove out to the town of Örebro, a couple of hours away, where we picked up an irreparable bike to bring back. It is the bike we used to repair the one that took the nose dive mentioned above. The missionaries there, Elders Berlin and Fronk, were walking on air. They had just committed a young man from Sierra Leone to baptism. In February he was walking from his bus through the woods behind the church and thought to himself, "I need to go into that church." He did, was welcomed by the members and met the missionaries. He was allowed to be taught because there are about 20,000 members in his country, so if he is deported, he will still be able to live his religion without fear of reprisal.

While we were in Örebro, we finally took the time to visit the ancient castle. This is one that is said to have been a favorite of King Gustav Vasa. It is an ancient castle that has been remodeled many times over the centuries. We were not able to stay for the tour in English, but we were able to just walk the floors and grounds. Most exhibits are in Swedish, German and English, so it worked out for us.

Front and back views of the castle.

At one of the entrances

This room has had many
uses over the centuries.
At one time it was used to
dry out the papers that had
been brought from the Stock-
holm Archives when the city
was under siege. Note the
holes in the wall and in the
chimney. These provide an
excellent draught that dried
the papers without heat.

The only remaining privy with a lid
and a rope to empty it into the lake below.

On the basement level with
wall reinforcement and a
French ensign

A carved stone from the 1600s, a stone
that has been recently carved and the old
tools of the trade

Original cannons that have never been
protected from the elements. Very rusty.

Throughout the castle were actors in
costume. This one is portraying King
Charles XIV John (Jean Baptiste
Bernadotte) who was a French noble
adopted into the Vasa family when the
reigning king determined he would have
no heirs. The current royal family
descend from him.

Some of the prison cruelty
was also on display

A typical scene. It seems
we spend a lot of time on
the phone. This time just
in front of the castle doors.

It was good to have some time to catch up on a few things that have been deferred for a while. There are still deferred items to attend to, but we are working on those as we go along.

We had an enjoyable time in our meetings today. There were many missing because July is vacation month. On the other hand, we also had several visitors, as well. It was a blessing to partake of the sacrament and be uplifted by the speakers and teachers, today. We hope yours was as blessed a day as was ours.