Summer in Sweden

As some of our long-time readers know, Don & Sooz lived in Stockholm many years ago. We really love Sweden; we made a lot of good friends there, and have gone back to visit many times.

On this trip, though, we didn't make our typical holiday visit. In fact, we went over to make plans to build ourselves a summer house on Aspö, one of the islands in the archipelago! Read on for some of the details on our new project.

As usual, c
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Being so close to the water, sailboats are a very common sight on our way out to Aspö.

Here's our island! Actually it's a rock just off our island to which Sooz and Grant swam.

The water was about 68°F
(or 20°C for my European friends). Bracing!

Our hosts on the island were Janne the sailor, and Margaret the bookseller.

Ah, a sip of calvados on the
deck at sunset- bliss!

The evening sun through
the island forest.

Our island has a path around it, the distance is about 1.3 miles.

Here's Grant and Sooz on our plot of land. We spent a couple of days clearing trees and brush.

Sooz showed herself to be surprisingly adept as a lumberjack!

Grant poses here in front of
our new Swedish house!

Actually, this is the house we're going to build. It's made by a Swedish company.

It's called an X-House, and it is made from solid timber in a giant kit. We hope to have it all done by next June.

After a few days on Aspö, it was back to Stockholm. Don poses at Margaret's bookstore with his bride and the beautiful Marcia.

The obligatory Don-with-beer photo, eating Vietnamese!

Next day, Don took Grant and Tim to Gröna Lund for a host of nausea-inducing rides.

Grant bought a few of these T-shirts to give to his girlfriends!

At Marcia and Rutger's house, Sooz defied gravity on their trampoline.

She also was charmed by
the local puppies!

Speaking of puppies, Marcia took her dog, Archie, to a local dog show and we all tagged along.

Archie placed 3rd out of 15
dogs in his very first show!

He also competed in best-in- show. Didn't win that this year, but wait until 2008!

Back on the trampoline for
some evening bounce activity.

Next day, Grant and Tim's
sister Camille practiced their synchronised jumping.

Lastly, Rutger sent us on our way with one of his fantastic barbeques!

Get a piece of the rock!

Here's a panoramic photo of the rock we've cleared for our house. You can click on it for a larger image. Stay tuned over the upcoming months for more updates!


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