sweden and easter feathers

photo from here

birch sticks with feathers tied to their ends, called påskris, are a clear sign that spring has arrived.  when i first laid eyes on them last march, i thought it was quite a strange concept, until i saw feathers in the trees.  it's pretty awesome.  

this easter tradition brighten the days - especially when it's still snowing in the city.  the feathers are often bright pinks, blues, yellows and greens - think dr. seuss - but i like the soft muted colours best.

oh, you know what else happens at easter?  trick-or-treating! girls and boys go door to door dressed up as witches - head scarves, kitchen aprons and painted on freckles - to ask for coins or candy for their easter egg.  weird, right?

i expected these traditions to be based on pagan rites but they aren't.  the feathers symbolize the palm leaves that lay on the ground when jesus returned to jerusalem. however, they are now simply a decorative item boosting spirits as swedes emerge from long dark winters looking forward to spring.

have a lovely spring break. my boys and i will be travelling to the south of sweden to spend time with friends and explore new places.  see you back here in april.

12 / 52 weeks

kai: studying.

stockholm weekend pics

crazy weather making weekend made better by visiting a new to us cafe, saturnus. oh, so good!  afterwards, when we thought we lost kai and then found him - i know, he's twelve but he didn't have his phone and doesn't know downtown well - i needed to walk and calm my racing heart so i roamed around downtown until is began to snow, happy to arrive home to my little guy safe and sound.

this weather - we woke up to snowy rooftops, it rained, it snowed some more, it cleared up, it rained. the grey skies have settled in, the cold can be wintry cold - when the ending and beginning of seasons meld together. and, i couldn't be happier to bring in this wintry spring with our lovely friends.

when the market we visited wasn't quite what we expected - after a 50 minute bus ride - we needed to save the day so we piled, literally, into ximena's teeny car - a tight squeeze for sure - to siggestra gard. we drank warming drinks, breathed in crisp fresh air, ate soup and stole meatballs from the kiddos plates, the apple crumble was to die for!  the claustrophobic squeeze into the car was well worth it, i love it here. see our two day stay here last year at this time.

and homeward bound...

hope you had a lovely weekend.

friday interiors

svenskt tenn is a dream.  the store, founded in 1924, became a vanguard for modernist design in sweden.  josef frank, an architect and designer, wildly known for his vibrant textiles joined the svenskt tenn team in 1934.    

nature played a huge role in frank's designs; many of his textiles depict scenes with flowers and animals, especially birds.  my favourite is the celotocaulis, a classic 1920s design of green stalks and the celoto flower.  one day i will have pillows on my sofa with this fabric!

although his textiles are more than fifty years old, they have not lost their freshness; they scream modern and swedish.  his fabrics are applied to everything from curtains, pillows, trays, handbags and furniture.

svenskt tenn is the most beautiful store you will ever see.

have a lovely weekend! 

11 / 52 weeks

kai: twelve in a half... 

stockholm weekend pics, museums and a culinary tour

feeling grateful for this time in stockholm.  sometimes when i am going about my days it hits me that i am away from home, that i am here in stockholm.

for example, this weekend...

i take the little ferry to the moderna museet.
i spend time with a girl i met and immediately adored years ago in vancouver when she was just a few years old and who - along with kai - will soon be a teenager.
i make do with a language i am not fluent in, slowly deciphering text and words.
i spend an afternoon walking the streets of sodermalm, an island.
i eat, drink and laugh with lovely expats.  
i am an expat.
i listen to kai practice his swedish.
i buy a year membership at the fotografiska - i will be here that much longer.  

a saturday afternoon at the moderna museet with two of my favourite kiddos.  i wanted to see the paul klee paintings - i love his colours and form.  he was presented alongside swedish painter ivan agueli.  i ended up loving agueli's palm grove paintings, so beautiful.  i thought the kiddos would get a kick out of the life itself exhibit but they declared the view from the windows were the best art!

an afternoon on a culinary tour of sodermalm with some lovely expats, such a geat way to spend a sunday. there was chinese, greek, and indian; meatballs, of course; we visited a food hall and one of the most popular restaurants in stockholm.  then there was dessert - hot chocolate at chokladfabriken followed by little cakes - the coconut one was delicious - in the private room at the fotografiska.  oh, i mustn't forget to mention the bloody marys made with gin at nytoget 6, it was a favorite among the group.

  

btw, i'm learning to use my camera on its aperture setting and i haven't quite mastered it yet so, as you may have noticed, all indoor photos are either not sharp or out of focus.  many were deleted!

i hope you had a lovely weekend.