Borta Bra men Hemma Bäst

There is an old Swedish proverb "borta bra men hemma bäst." Away is great, but home is the best.
Having been away for a month and a few days I can heartily affirm the proverb. It was wonderful to be in Sweden, to be among folks I came to enjoy and like, and to see parts of the country I'd never seen before in their company. Afterwards, it was great to meet my cousin for dinner, to travel to Västerås to be with another favorite cousin and then to wander the back streets of Stockholm, far off the tourist path.
It was an amazing four days in Chicago with my sister and with friends I hadn't seen for many years. Our trip to Minnesota was fantastic.
The trip home, from Aitkin and then from the Twin Cities was filled with surprises. We got off the beaten path here too and took U.S. 69 from the Iowa border to Des Moines. Along the way we stopped at the Norwegian Immigrant monument in Northwest Iowa, and then in Forest City, at our sister school, Waldorf College.
What a trip!
But how great it is to be home!
We got home and the house was a bit musty, but that didn't matter, we were home.
We got home and there was a pile of bills waiting to be paid and an even larger pile of credit card come ons waiting to be thrown away. That didn't matter either.
We got home and I've been away so long that I feel as if I need retraining on names and places and code numbers and the like.
It's home. That's what really matters. It's home and comfortable and the place we want to be because it is ours. This is where we live and where we're known and where we belong.
Not only that, all our stuff is here, so we don't have to worry about what to do with our stuff.
Home, ahh. "Borta bra men hemma bäst."

Midsommar Days 1 and 2

I've already posted one about Tiny Toads. I'm pretty pooped right now. We leave tomorrow for Chicago, Sweden, Chicago, Minnesota. I'm pretty much packed, but probably not as well as I should be. I say this as a way of explaining both my somewhat rambling posts and as a way of saying that I'll be posting less frequently in the next few weeks.

If I can find places to download photos, I'll do that. I have video of Alf's entire Friday presentation, and I'll edit that in Mid july when I get home.

It was, overall, a good midsommar, though I got overheated. It's funny what happens when you get over heated. The least little comment can make you take things seriously that aren't meant seriously. The heat also makes you say things you otherwise wouldn't have said.

But it was a good day for Rotary. We probably made enough on Midsommar that we'll be able to fund our Bethany College Scholarship from this one event. It's a small scholarship, but we're proud of it.

The Folkdanslag acquited themselves well, I thought. Dr. Frederickson keeps us on our toes, and so does Charlotte.

The Toads got to rocking in the Heritage park.

The Majstång went up with no one being crushed under the weight of the pole. Lots of people came out and danced.

So it was a good day. Tomorrow comes the rain.

I'll try to keep friends and neighbors posted from the road and read comments, but it won't be as often as I would like, Anybody who needs to keep us all up to date on something happening in Lindsborg, please add it to the comments section. Particularly updates on Damn Yankees. Folks out of town are reading to keep up with the show.

See you in a few weeks.

Kalle