RennyBA's Terella

Summer Rain and Square Dance in Mariestad Sweden

RennyBA — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 23:40:24 +0000

Scandinavian weather is usually sunny and warm in the summer, especially in the southern part. Both in the capital’s areas - Oslo in Norway and Stockholm in Sweden (at the latitude of 60º) - the mid temperature in June/July is around 20 -25C (68 - 77F). It varies a lot though; some weeks ago we had a long period with 30C or more, but recently we’ve had more like 15C, occasionally 20C or more when the sun is out.

We are now in our vacation home in Mariestad, Sweden and regardless of the rain we are in a summer mood. It’s a charming little town (about 30 000 inhabitants) and very lively with a lot of tourists this time of year - the guest harbour is full and so are the inns and hotels. However, on a rainy Saturday afternoon, when we went for a walk the streets were relatively quiet. I had my Nokia mobile phone at hand of course, and tried to capture the atmosphere. It’s up to you to decide if I succeeded:

In the city centre; The Town Square:

Nice and quiet with just some umbrellas.

Only one stands where you could buy strawberries.

The raised flowerbed beside the square. Notice the person shooting pics under the umbrella - do you recognize her?

A sculpture with the town square in the background. Even they had an umbrella There is actually quite a lot of interesting sculptures in this town - I’ll take you on a guided tour showing you later.

So where was everybody? Well some were in their boats, some in their tents or cabins at the camp ground and of course some inside their homes. However, we heard some music in the direction of the town park and guess what we found there:

Mariestad Square Dance Festival:
Some might be familiar with this, but let me give you a resume: An folk dance with four couples (eight dancers) arranged in a square, with one couple on each side:

The various square dance movements are based on the steps and figures used in traditional folk dances and social dances of the various people who migrated to the USA. Some of these traditional dances include Morris dance, English Country Dance, Caledonians and the quadrille. Square dancing is enjoyed by people around the world, and people around the world are involved in the continuing development of this dance.

The dancers are prompted or cued through a sequence of steps (square dance choreography) by a caller to the beat of music, who leads, but usually does not participate in the dance. In the picture above you see the caller on the stage at the left to the Swedish flag.

I’ve actually never seen this dance in practice live before. I think it’s more popular in Sweden compared with Norway where we are much more into our traditional folk dance (which of course is very similar). What really caught my eye however was that they started quite young in Sweden. Take a closer look at this photo:

To the right; A baby with yellow ear protectors dancing on it’s moms stomach

Mariestad badminton Open:
Well, I might be exaggerating a bit with that title, but when we came home, the rain had just stopped and outside our house we found these guys deadly serious in their competition:

So even if it was rainy and we’ve had quite a lot of them lately, we had an adventurous day, thanks to this charming city and our summer mood. I hope you enjoyed our guided tour. My regular readers know there will be more since we are on vacation - so stay tuned!

Rainy day in Mariestad #1 [Flickr]

RennyBA — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 16:13:05 PDT

RennyBA posted a photo:

Rainy day in Mariestad #2 [Flickr]

RennyBA — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 16:12:57 PDT

RennyBA posted a photo:

Rainy day in Mariestad #3 [Flickr]

RennyBA — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 16:12:44 PDT

RennyBA posted a photo:

Rainy day in Mariestad #4 [Flickr]

RennyBA — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 16:12:29 PDT

RennyBA posted a photo:

Love Hate Food from Norway and RennyBA Achievement

RennyBA — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:35:15 +0000

Food is an important ingredients when blogging about Norway and the Nordic countries; our traditions, culture and habits. I’ve tried my best to share about what and how we eat, but it’s not always easy to know what interesting, difference or even special compare to others around the world.

Fortunately, I’m married to an American whom I met on the net and she came to live with me 10 years ago. We have a lot in common - the affection for food is one of them. We love to plan - buy the ingredients (or even catch it like in the pic to the left) - prepare and make it in our own kitchen. That’s half of the fun if you ask me - but then again I’m a Norwegian and I hate fast-food.

It has been a joyful challenge to share and mix our food traditions and I’ve learned or been much more aware of what is typical Scandinavian food during these years. Seeing it through her eyes has enriches my culinary adventures and now I’ve got the chance to share it in the nutshell. DianeCA was challenged by Zhu with a ‘Things I Love/Hate about Food in my country’ -meme.

Let me reveal some from Diane’s post as an appetizer:
‘_{The cuisine is pretty basic and easy to prepare. There are of course some things I am not too crazy about, like liver, or something called ‘blood-pudding’ believe me it’s not a dessert.}’
……
‘_{Another food which is Norwegian and I love is Brunost, or brown goat cheese. This cheese is unlike any other kind of goat cheese I have tasted, it is not strong like Chévre, it’s usually mild and sweet.}’
……
‘_{Lastly what I like best about eating here is HOW we eat. We sit together. One does not eat standing and does not leave the table before the others are finished, also at work, at school, and in day-care.}’

You really should click and read Diane’s post and please leave a comment to show how much you appreciate her efforts to reveal Norwegian food -traditions and -culture!

The “Feel Good” Contest:
I’m very glad Diane was challenged on that meme. Even more; since Zhu shortly after throws another challenge, I could not resist taking the opportunity - while at it:
‘To participate, blog about your biggest achievement and don’t be shy to brag: after all, this is the “feel good” contest! Link back to this post and don’t forget to let me know about it by leaving a comment.’

I could of course post about my working career, my travels as well as all the followers on my blog, my Twitter or connection at LinkedIn, Flickr or Facebook. However I take it you’ve guessed already; It has to be the happiness of having Diane in my life. Not only is she a wonderful wife, a great Mom and appreciated co-worker, a talented blogger, but she also enriches my life, have opened my eyes in many aspects and helped me learned a lot about myself as well as Norway and the Nordic countries.

So Zhu, here is my contribution - this is what makes me ‘Fell Good’! - You might like to play too and win something very special

Social Golf Club Host at Mariestad in Sweden

RennyBA — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 15:44:53 +0000

Golf is a social game and for me as a Network Evangelist, a great way to connect with other golfers. Today I had a unique opportunity to explore that part of the game as my wife, DianeCA, and I were recruited as hosts at our home club in Mariestad, Sweden.
Since I am a Norwegian, maybe I should explain: Our vacation home is in Mariestad on the shores of Northern Europe’s biggest lake: Vänern. We spend a lot of our free time here, especially in the summer months. That is why we have chosen to be members here instead of in Norway.

Recruited Golf Club Host:
I like the system; every member is recruited to hosts one weekend (4 hours on Saturday or Sunday) about once every 3 years. This makes it a bit cheaper to run the club and gives us an opportunity once in a while to focus on service and get to meet and greet other members and guest players. So for me this enhances the social side of the game and it’s always a good start to the course, to meet new hosts each weekends:

Welcoming golfers and giving them a good start at first tee. This couple was Danish, so it was quite an international experience. We had no problem understanding each other and they often visit Norwegian ski resorts in the winter time .

Golf Host’s obligations and advantages:
First of all, the duty is to give the players a good golf experience. Then you see to that the flights starts at the right time - that they have the required equipment (green fork and rule book etc.) - know the local rules and have paid the green fee. The fee for one round is €30, but free for full members (one year membership is €360).

There are other obligations and advantages too of course. Let me explain with some photos (I had my Nokia N82 at hand of course):

Checking and emptying the garbage at the outdoor containers; well I look at it as an advantage, as I got to drive a golf cart. You see in Scandinavia, only handicapped are allowed to use golf cars. I like that too, as it gives us more exercise, it’s much more social to walk and talk and it gives you a better understanding of distance in the game.

Let’s go one with the duties + +:

Tidy and clean up a bit at the rest table and club café.

Free snack at the club café; that’s what I call real advantage

Recognitions from the friendly receptionist, Elisabeth (sorry, the photographer had a shaky hand when taking this shot ). That’s an advantage too, as you get the best service if you give and extra helping hand. So this is just like Networking in itself: A Givers Gain - the more you give, the more you receive.

That’s why I like this recruiting host system and as you may have noticed; we had a jolly good time!

I don’t think I’d be a very good caddy - I talk too much and am more into the social part than the technique of the game itself. But: if anyone needs a host; we are available, for any games - as long as we get a free snack and I can drive a golf cart .

Here is a collection of my golf posts from Mariestad. You don’t need to like the game, to enjoy these posts :

Opening of the Golf Season at Spring in the Nordic
Nordic Golf in the Golden Autumn Beauty
The beauty of Golf, a nature experience
RennyBA made Hole in One

Long Summer Days in Oslo Norway

RennyBA — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 22:11:02 +0000

Due to Norway’s high latitude (Oslo 60º - Tromsø 69.5°), there are large seasonal variations in daylight. From late May to late July, the sun never completely descends beneath the horizon in areas north of the Arctic Circle (66.5°). Norway is called the “Land of the Midnight Sun” as you may remember. The rest of the country experiences up to 20 hours of daylight per day (19 hours in Oslo). Conversely, from late November to late January, the sun never rises above the horizon in the north, and daylight hours are very short in the rest of the country (5 hours in Oslo).

So how do these seasonal variations effect us here in the North? Well, Norwegians know how to make the most of these long summer days, meeting friends and sitting outdoors in the garden until late in the evening. There will always be time for sleeping in the winter time you know . Recently we had one of those precious evenings visiting a very good friend of mine, Gunnar Braathen and his charming wife. This photo is taken at 9:40PM and as you can see, it’s still daylight (click all pics to bigify & enjoy!):

Gunnar is a colleague from the Norwegian Computer Society, a SEO (Search Engine Optimization) guru and in recent years, a body builder. His goal is to be a World Champion at 65 so please click to visit his blog to see his muscles play! It would be nice of you to leave a comment and say that Renny sent you.

You may wonder how else the seasonal change effects us. The average temp in Oslo in July is 20C (68F) and in January -5C (21F). In the summer the schools are closed for a full 8 weeks and out of the standard Norwegian 5 weeks vacation, we use 3-4 weeks in the summer. Other than that, I thought very little about the difference before my wife DianeCA came to live with me – moving from upstate NY. She came in August and every night when we went to bed - to sleep - she mentioned it was still daylight. It never occurred to me that this was a problem as I never had trouble sleeping in the summer time.

I am much more aware of this phenomenon now that I am a blogger, thanks to all my friends around in Blogsphere. All your wonderful comments showing interest, asking questions and comparing our parts of the world has really opened my eyes to see there are different ways of living. The climate and seasons have an impact in our way of living. It has encouraged me to take photos to show the difference. Here are some more from this evening taken with my Nokia mobile phone around 22:15PM:

The sun set around 22:45PM but it’s still dusk one hour more.

Of course long summer days make us crazy for the beach too. Tanning, swimming, cliff diving and even skinny dipping are all part of the beach life, as you can read in my post: From frozen Paradise to hot summer beaches in Oslo Norway.

So don’t waste the long summer evenings, jump right in – and leave me a comment!

From frozen Paradise to hot summer beaches in Oslo Norway

RennyBA — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:41:19 +0000

Even in Norway, the summer time can be hot. We’ve had 30C (86F) and more with sunny weather the last couple of weeks in the Oslo area. Even more: around 25C at night and that’s what we call it Tropical Summer That’s not bad for a place located at 60 degrees north, which puts it roughly on the same latitude as Anchorage in Alaska, or the middle of Hudson Bay in Canada. The main reason for our relatively warm climate is The Gulf Stream which transports warm water and air from the Mexican Gulf, and makes the Norwegian climate much warmer than at similar latitudes elsewhere in the world. Adding to that, since it’s around summer solstice, the sun is up from around 3:45AM to 10:45PM -19 hours.

If you then have in mind that the sun is up only for 5 hours in mid winter and the temperature is around -10C, I guess you understand why Norwegians are crazy about taking advantage of this sunny, warm weather. So I take this opportunity again to show you a bit of our significant four seasons and why we love to be outdoors - out in the nature - all year around. Let me start with a season contrast at the very same spot on our favourite island, just 20 minutes from the city along the Oslo fjord (click all pics to bigify and enjoy):

^{By the beach at Kalvøya (Calf island) in the Oslo fjord, July 2009.}

My regular readers may recall the very same spot from my post last winter (Snowy Frozen Paradise in Sunny Oslo Norway). I think it is as beautiful, but of course totally different scenery:

^{Kalvøya in February 2009.}

I know you are convinced, but let me give you another example and start with winter this time:

^{Sunny beach day in March 2006.}

^{The same beach in July 2009.}

Walking around on this island with plenty of beaches and places for recreation, I had my Nokia N82 mobile phone handy to shoot some examples for this post. Even more; I had my blog business card and when I showed one and explained the reasons for my photo hunt, some were more than willing to show how they got an extra thrill on a sunny day like this:

Left: Bridge jumping. Right: Cliff Jumping. Water temperature: 23C (73F)

Let me end this significant change in seasons and weather report from one of the beaches at Kalvøya island starting in the winter time and then to summer time:

^{A beach at Kalvøya in January at sunset 4PM.}

^{Same beach in July at 2PM.}

Some ask if there is topless tanning in Norway and there is, but it’s not considered a big deal. I saw some around, but most of them who don’t like tan lines, are on the nude beach 5 minutes walk from the one above. I was there for a swim, but respectfully left my mobile phone cam where I put my clothes and I can tell you, it was a wonderful way to cool down on a hot summer day like this