A WEEK IN SWEDEN

After the hustle and bustle of the cruise it was good to sit down and relax with friends in the Swedish countryside.

Here is Stefan up a ladder installing gutters to an outbuilding on the farm. Adam with Emilio are down below assisting.

DAN ANDERSSON

Bet you've never heard of him but Dan Andersson is the Swedish equivalent to Robert Burns of Scotland - a poet. There was a festival  of his work to mark the 50th Anniversary of the D.A. appreciation society in and around his place of birth near Ludvika, Darlarna. in central Sweden. Here his great granddaughter was describing his life in the area.

As it was all in Swedish it was right over my head so I went walkabout at the property on which the perfomance of his work was being held.

One hut was made over to a kind of museum. This "stuffed" wolf was incredibly realistic and later had our host's dog very interested.

Home made sauna dating from the late 1800's

Sleeping quarters.

There were stalls round about. At this one working model farm equipment was on display.

This lady was demonstrating how the copper coloured paint used all over Sweden was manufactured. Not precisely sure what she was doing but it involved boiling up a soup of wheat and water, then adding powdered copper oxide which is a bi product from the copper mines. It is an excellent and cheap preservative for wood.

Loved the natty seat which is surprisingly stable. Only problem was the one I looked at collapsed into a dozen pieces on close examination.

Our hosts Ingrid and Jan's house with caravan they had just purchased.

A view of the lake just down the road.

The following day we went to the property where Andersson was brought up in between trips to the USA and Stockholm.

This is the hut he lived in and wrote many of his works. Often at night because they took in drifters and that was the only time he could get any peace.

The actual desk he wrote on. His photo on the wall above.

This lady "guide" sang several of his poems to us. Much of the music was added later by his admirers though he did write some himself. It was extremely varied and good to listen to.

We went to a concert that night given by Sofia Karlsson and two accompanying musicians. There were more than 300, very enthusiastic people in the theatre. Not surprising as they made a very good sound. We ended up buying a CD.