Happenings in February

February’s theme has been sniffles and head colds. We have all taken turns with a bout of whatever seemed to be going around. It feels like we have only been blowing our noses all month, many toilet rolls worth, but thinking about it February wasn’t all bad.

First a tradition, every year the 2^nd Tuesday in February (also known as “fat Tuesday” = ‘”Mardi gra”) we celebrate in Sweden with a pastry known as “semla”. It is a cardamom bun with almond paste and whipped cream. I ate two…. and they were good….

Next was the annual chess tournament for all the 4^th graders, which Malin’s class participated in this year.  February 9^th, about  400 4^th graders competed in Västerås.  Each student played 4 games. It was fun to see them so focused, sitting at rows of tables concentrating on their games.

On February 16^th, Jesper and some of his team mates were asked to be referees in a few games when 7-year old boys were playing hockey.  Jesper was nervous at first but really enjoyed it at the end. I was not able to be there so there are no photos.

Last weekend, Malin and I went to the art museum in Västerås, they have an exhibition with designer dresses made by Lars Wallin. They were gorgeous and some were fairly extreme. It was like entering a different world. There are people that actually have occasions to wear these outfits. The first one was Malin’s favorite and the 2nd was one of the ones I liked the most.

 

Now it is time for spring break, time to get rid of the germs and charge up the batteries again for a hopefully more energetic month, March.

Temperature roller coaster

One month ago we left Singapore with temperatures above 30 °C and we came back to a wintery Västerås with temperatures around 0 °C. We changed clothes but other than that no concerns. About two weeks later the temperature dropped, when we woke up on Saturday morning the thermometer showed -26 °C.  It was a very nice sunny day and by lunch time the temperature had climbed to only -14 °C, so we went cross country skiing and it was a great feeling. 

 

We skied a lot that week both cross country and downhill. Then it turned warm, +3 °C and rain and almost all snow disappeared. Not much to do then.

Last Saturday we went up to Romme, about 1.5 hours drive north of here and went downhill skiing for the day. Again a sunny day and only -5 °C in the middle of the day. Sunday was equally nice so before Jesper’s hockey game we went out on Lake Mälaren to skate. The lake was like a mirror, you could skate anywhere you wanted.

 

 

Now this week, I think we have gotten at least 30 cm of snow so now it is time to get the skis out again. It has been modest temperatures, around -5 °C.

It is amazing how the body can adapt to the various temperatures.
We really enjoy the winter even though it complicates the daily routines; needing more clothes, snow shoveling, scraping car windows and taking kids to school since it is difficult to bike……