Today it was time for another running session and exploring the town one lives in. Today it was the South East again.
9km in total.
#20 #blogg100
Before springtime takes over in Norrköping, let me share some of the beautiful pictures of a foggy morning walk to work:
#19 of #blogg100
Think I really need a bigger handbag now… 😉
#18 of #blogg100
One of the chairs that I wrote about in my last post is now actually renovated!
Yesterday evening the chair got a few nice layers of Shellac. Shellac is great to work with, because it dries very quickly. One has to be careful, though, not to apply the next layer too fast. Otherwise the first layer might dissolve again, resulting in the surface not being as shiny and smooth as it should be.
After that, the glue pistol got some work to do. It is an almost meditative, highly focussed work to get the furniture ribbon in the right place and straight, and no glue in places where there shouldn’t be any. Especially in the places that are not as easily accessible, like where the armrests join the backrest.
Anyway, now everything is done, and the chair will move back to it’s home soon.
Here are some more pictures of this week’s masterpiece 🙂 .
Before After
The entire series you’ll find on Flickr!
Post #9 of 100
Last Friday the world’s oldest (known) blogger was guest at Skavlan, the most popular Scandinavian Talkshow.
Her name is Dagny Carlsson, and she started blogging at the age of 100 years. Now or never, one could translate her motivation. When she was younger, she didn’t dare to put her dream of becoming a writer into action, and also, when she was young, women did not have the same possibilities as today. Another fact is that today’s technique makes it easy to write and publish online. It is amazing that Dagny at this high age tackles modern technique and starts blogging. But as she says in the interview at Skavlan, the biggest hinder in life is oneself.
For that, Dagny is a real inspiration to many of us, an example of “It is never too late” and “Where there’s a will, there’s a way”. Not to mention the detail that she at her age is a walking Wikipedia of history. She remembers a lot about the old times and writes about it on her blog.
The old times were NOT better, she emphasizes. So I’d say, let’s just do what we want to do – it is not sure that we get the chance to become 100 years old, so that we then can start realising our dreams. Let’s start NOW.
Another advice she gives is “Be curious!”. For her, blogging has an important social function – she meets a lot of people online and offline. She does not know anyone her age, all old friends passed away. She has a younger sister who is over 90 years old, the only family that is left. She never had children of her own, since she first married a guy who loved alcohol too much. The second one, who she spent over 50 years with, she met at the age of 40. Then she was too old for children, she thought. After she left her first husband, she went to Norrköping and became a “konfektionstekniker”, someone who is an expert in fabrics, patterns, sewing technique – an important role in the textile and clothing manufacturing industry, even today. Norrköping was at that time still Sweden’s Manchester with loads of textile industry and many women were employed there. (The concert hall Louis de Geer I went to yesterday is a part of the old, now totally rebuilt industrial area.)
Dagny has by now more than 1 million followers, and this is her blog:
http://www.123minsida.se/Bojan/
If you understand Swedish, then you can watch and listen to this interview with Dagny:
#6 of 100
This afternoon it is time for the second last concert in our subscription with Norrköping’s Symphony Orchestra (or SON – “Symfoniorkester Norrköping”).
Since we luxuriously enough live a 15-minute-walk away from the home of one of the main Scandinavian orchestras’ home, it is almost obligatory to go and listen.
This afternoon, Michail Jurowski, a very well known Russian conductor will lead the complete concert of Anton Bruckner‘s 5th symphony – a piece of about 80 minutes length.
This will probably be the longest classical concert I listened to and I am actually looking forward to it! (I remember a situation during university where I successfully avoided Wagner’s opera “Tannhäuser” which is on for more than 4 hours with intermissions.)
Wagner and Bruckner lived during the same time. What I noticed when I read about Bruckner’s 5th symphony is, that it has been written during the same time as the early years of our old railway station in Grythyttan, which we try to renovate. The composing periods where 1875 – 1878 and 1877 – 1878.
It will be fun to listen to some music from that time period! Grythyttan’s station master will not have been able to enjoy the music at home, though. The phonograph was only invented in 1877, and Bruckner’s 5th did not get recorded until 1937.
On Youtube one finds some nice introductions to the piece, like this one, played by Leipzig Gewandhaus orchestra conducted by the famous Herbert Blomstedt, who by the way was principal conductor in Norrköping between 1954 and 1962.
Enjoy the music!
#5 of 100
First of all thanks for some great food inspiration to my colleague Pernilla!
Everyone wants good Friday food, right? Then you should try this recipe and experiment a bit with it.
You need:
– a muffins form
– a packet of puff pastry ( ideally with 10 or 12 square slices)
– 1 egg
– a bit of spicy oil, such as chilli oil
– some grated hard cheese with about 30-35 % fat (such as cheddar or here in Sweden “Västerbottenost”)
– some ingredients for a savoury filling (this is where you can be creative!!)
I had 10 slices of square puff pastry, and the fillings I chose to do where these two:
1. a bit of frozen whole-leaf spinach and about 5 slices smoked salmon
2. half of a sweet red peppar and 5 mushrooms, all finely chopped, and almost half a packet of herb cream cheese, such as Philadelphia.
How to put things together:
– preheat the oven to 220 degrees centigrade
– defreeze the puff pastry so that it is really soft
– prepare each compartment of the muffins form with a tiny bit of chilli oil. This will add extra taste and makes the pastries come out easier when they are ready.
– mix an egg in a cup, and then put a thin layer of egg onto each puff pastry plate.
– place the puff pastry like small cups into the compartments of your muffins form
– then place the filling into each puff pastry (I had smoked salmon and spinach in half of these, and then the peppars mixed with mushrooms and philadelphia cheese in the remaining ones)
– top each one of the pstries with one (or more) spoons of the grated hard cheese.
– you can choose to close the the puff pastry pockets or you can choose to leave them open. I closed them and then I put a bit of the egg on top.
– the remaining egg I mixed with some chilli oil and put it into one of the two remaining empty compartments of the muffins form.
Put the form into the preheated oven and let everything get ready, it takes about 15 minutes.
Take the form out and let it cool off about 5 minutes. Then lift each pastry out of the form a table spoon will help you. Serve with some fresh sallad if you like, or enjoy them as they are.
Very important – don’t forget to enjoy a glass of redwine with it! After all it’s Friday night! But they also work with other beverages or plain water of course.
ENJOY and have a LOVELY WEEKEND!
Today I found this great overview about the British English language via my network on LinkedIn. From my own experience of almost 5 years in London I cannot but agree.
So, read, smile and memorise – and maybe your next business negotiations with a British partner might go just your way…
…. has several advantages:
This morning I even met 3 fellow runners! Rather rare at half past six in the morning on a week day in Norrköping.
This year I am a bit more disciplined with running, since I am registered for Göteborgs Varvet, the biggest Swedish half marathon.
Let’s bring it on!
Photo taken from Instagram @anmaratube .
Today, on 1st of March, the 5th Swedish blogging competition Blogg100 starts, and this year I want to be part of it.
What the heck is it all about?
The challenge is to publish each day for 100 days in a row a new blog post. So hopefully one gets back into writing again, and hopefully this blog will get a bit of a life again! It has been neglected in favour of
– not writing at all, except on Facebook or Twitter (stupid really, since one doesn’t even own the content)
– writing about motorcycle related topics on Elisa travels
– writing about our railway station renovation project on Grythyttan Station
Since I love writing, but not necessarily when to my opinion there isn’t anything to write about, the challenge really will be to find interesting stuff for each day to come.
Just to warn you, the coming posts can contain anything, from contemplating about simple questions about life, to reports about hobbies like upholstery, station renovation jam making, running, Eskrima training, motorcycles , Grythyttan and Norrköping.
Oh yes, and who is responsible for all this #blogg100 stuff?
Fredrik Wass, one of the most known Swedish media bloggers. You can follow him on his Bisonblog.se or on Twitter @bisonblog , not to forget on Facebook and Instagram!
HERE WE GO! Read you on #blogg100 ?
Yes, YOU can do like me and take part! Read more on Fredrik’s Bisonblog.
