Valborg och fix av uteplats

Nu börjar grönskan komma. Älskar som sagt den där skira intensiva vårgrönskan. Man blir så glad av den. Vi har fixat lite på uteplatsen eller våran alatan. Även om vi bor på tre trappor om man kommer från gatan så bor vi på markplan om man kommer via innergården. Vi har en rätt hyftast stor altan på markplan. Det var dock dags att fixa och göra snygga till rabatterna en del. Under vintern har folk slängt fimpar ner från sina balkonger som hamnat i våra rabatter och det fanns även annat skräp att plocka bort. Vi plockade bort allt skräp. Passade på att kratta rabatterna och få bort alla gammla löv också. Nu har det blivit vårfint.Det blev ändå så vi fick ihop en hel svart sopsäck.

Utemöblerna hade vi ställt ut sedan innan. Men nu torkade vi av dem och sopade altanen så att det blev fint och fräscht. Vi bor endast ett stenkast från kanalen så det är nästan så vi har utsikt över den.

Valborg blev lugn. Vi kollade faktiskt inte på några eldar.Idag är det nu första maj. Maj ser jag fram emot som en trevlig och vacker månad. Det är otroligt ljust ute nu. Det ljusnar tidigt om morgonen och är ljust till kring nio på kvällen. Det är underbart självklart men jag hade ändå föredragit en mer jämn spridning så att man slapp det där totala mörkret under så lång tid på vintern. Men nu får man istället passa på att njuta av just ljusa kvällar som är så magiskt och speciellt för våra bredgrader.

Fredagstema-På Grillen

Passar på att hänga med på månadens sista fredagstema som är: På Grillen. Dags för grillning. När och vad brukar ni grilla? Det är Nilla som jag tackar för april månads teman. Det är lite lustigt vad gäller grillar. Vi är otroligt välutrustade på grillfronten för tillfället. Det är nämligen så att vi dels har våran egen stora gasolgrill som vi tog med från USA och dels så hade killen vi hyr lägenheten av också en stor gasolgrill redans ståendes på altanen. Vi har alltså dubbla grillar. Här kan vi slå till med mega BBQ om vi så önskar. Det var faktiskt en granne till oss som frågade om vi hade tänkt sälja en av våra grillar då de sett att vi hade två. Men den ena är som sagt inte vår och den som är det vill vi gärna behålla.

Grillat är gott! Jag skulle nog säga att vi grillar det mesta. Det är väldigt olika.Vi grillar både kött, kyckling, fisk och räkor. Hamburgare gör vi också på grillen. Grönsaksspett är något annat som jag gillar mycket liksom majskolvar. Majskolvarna brukar vi grilla med blasten på. Så himla gott.

Just nu har vi ingen gasolflaska till grillen så det måste vi skaffa, så snart som möjligt. Det har därmed ännu inte blivit grillpremiär för våran del. Men snart så. I Alabama grillade vi rätt mycket. Som sagt blir det ju både smidigt och gott.

Nu är som sagt april slut och därmed ny månad ocn nya teman. Det är faktiskt jag som står för maj månads fredagsteman. Det har varit lite klurigt att hitta på men jag kör på dessa:

Fredag 6 maj: Mjukt

Fredag 13 maj: I ditt hem. Välj en favorit, något roligt, annorlunda eller något som betyder lite extra för dig. Det kan vara en pryl, möbel, annat objekt.

Fredag 20 maj:Godast just nu.

Fredag 27 maj: Sommarlängtan. Till vad? Aktivitet, ställe, personer, resa, valfritt?

Trevlig Helg och Happy Friday!!!

Fake Ghost town

When we were at Big Bend national park in southern Texas there was just not many hotel/motel options. Even if there were cabins that one could book inside the park there are very few and these need to be booked well in advance. That is about a year in advance. Since we had not planned this trip so early we had to stay in the closest town to Big Bend which is practically somewhere out in the middle of nowhere or in the middle of the desert. We stayed in this little town called Terlingua. Well to be absolutely honest the motel was located about 12 miles outside of Terlingua. When we first arrived my first reaction was: oh my what is this. But the place was clean and had the simple necessities that we needed. The price we payed was a rip off but when there is not many options you got to take the place and pay what it costs. I guess they knew they could get away with the price as it is mostly tourists coming to Big Bend staying here and living options elsewhere is very limited.

The owners were Mexican and they had this Mexican restaurant called Tivo´s place. We tried the food there one evening but honestly it was not that great. We were the only guests at the restaurant that night and we could hear a lot going on in the microwave and less going on in the kitchen.

There was a pool but it did not look like anyone had used it in a long time. It did not feel like the place where I wanted to swim or hang around. Well we were not here to lie around a pool or hang around a motel room, we just needed a clean bed to sleep in and that is what we got. We were here to spend time in Big Bend.

Terlingua is a old former mining town where they once mined for mercury in the 1930:ties. The town is today claiming to be a ghost town. At leas the old part of the small town has big sign saying Ghost Town and so on but I would say it is a fake ghost town.

There was only one house that was a true ghost town house and it was this one. The rest of them had people living in them even if they were falling apart. For all I know one house does not make one town. We were quite dissapointed in our ghost town experience that we got here.

We drove around town and at first glance there appeared to be several houses that were abandoned and it looked very much like a ghost town but when approaching and getting closer there were cars parked by these houses and signs saying "private property, keep out". Even if they were missing a roof or falling apart there were all kinds of poor hippies and wetbacks living here.

Some of the former ghost town houses had even been fixed up like this place. If you click on this picture you can read the sign that says Cafe and internet. One of the good things is that now days there is practically internet and wifi everywhere. Even our motel above had it. Great for me that tried to keep up with the blog as we traveled around.

The Terlingua church was kind of cute. I think it was the old original church building only they seemed to have put in new windows. But for the ones going to Terlingua because they expect to find a ghost town - people don't bother because this is not a ghost town. Me and C joked about this and every time we passed a single abandoned house that was falling apart we would call out to each other " look - a ghost town!"

Good Eats and Good Listening

Back at work today. It has been nice to meet up with my collages and I have told them about the trip. I am unsure about how my jetlag is going. I slept well the entire night but still was very tired when I woke up and I have been tired all day long. Maybe it takes more than one good nights sleep to make up for being awake for 24 hours. Tomorrow we have a seminar day at work the entire day so I hope I will be able to stay awake.

Just saw that Brad Paisley (great country singer) is coming to Sweden in August. I would love to go to his concert. Only the tickets are so expensive. They are about 750 kr each. If both me and C are going it gets expensive. So right now I can´t make up my mind if it is worth it or not. When I was in the US I bought Taylor Swifts new album and also an album with Tim McGraw.

Something else that I bought were the new M & M Pretzels. They had not yet come out when we moved back to Sweden. I have always liked the M & M's with peanuts but the pretzel ones were quite good also. But most of all I have concentrated on eating Edy's ice cream. I feel kind of guilty of all the ice cream I had. I actually ate one whole half gallon!!! Well I am glad it does not happen every week. Me and C even managed to get a last scoope each at the airport in Chicago just before we boarded the plane :-)

Something else that I also bought is wild rice. I can't find pure wild rice here in Sweden. They sell a wild rice mix or regular rice with a little bit of wild rice mixed in it putting emphasis on little. The New Orleans style rice mix that we bought is just a yummy favorite of mine and C. We had it for dinner when we cooked out at White Sands.

Took my bike to work today. Felt nice and it was a beautiful morning. On my way home however it started raining. It was one of those light spring rains so it was not that awful. Spring rain always leaves this special scent in the air. A mix of wet soil and wet pavement of the road.

Back in Sweden

Sorry for the somewhat blurry picture. We are back home in Sweden now. The Swedes sure have been celebrating Easter. One of our neighbors had put up these feathers outside their porch area.

The trip back went well but was as always long and tiresome. We did not get the best seats on the place from Chicago to Frankfurt. Both me and C got to sit in the middle of the middle row. Well we survived that too. Now I feel kind of groggy out of lack of sleep. I only slept an hour or two on the plane. My strategy is too try and keep myself awake and go to bed early this evening instead.

We got picked up at the airport my Stefan which is C´s brother in law. That was very kind.

We unpacked our stuff and are now about to go grocery shopping. Our fridge has never been so empty. Tomorrow I am off to work again. It is good to be home but it sure has been a great vacation. One of the best. We enjoyed both the road trip and the time in Alabama so much.

Back in Bama

We got to return sooner than we ever expected. Our flight never left from Birmingham. There were some kind of technical problems so it was cancelled. We got to call the Gedgoudas again and say we were back. So here we are in the Vista neighborhood having another great night. Maybe this was meant to be. Well whatever it was we are having another great night. We will try to head back to Sweden tomorrow morning instead arriving Monday morning instead.

Time to say goodbye for now

These weeks have gone by so quickly. Today is our last day and we are leaving in the evening. We have had the best time ever. It has been great to come back to Alabama and to great friends. Our road trip has been a blast. Now we don't really want to leave. I guess that is a good sign because it means that we have both had a real good time.

We have enjoyed the beautiful spring and everything being so lush and green here. The spring flowers have been so pretty as well as the blooming Dogwood trees.

Yesterday evening we had the party. A good mix of Swedish and American friends. The party was a great success and everyone seemed to have a good time. There was lots of good food.

Yes I got to end the night with an ice cream moment having a BIG bowl of Edy's. My favorite ice cream. I guess you can tell that was the perfect ending to a great party if you look at the big smile it put on my face.

We want to say a big THANK YOU to the Gedgoudas family that are more that just the greatest of friends to us, they are family. Thank you guys for everything! You have given us so much, the best ever time!

We have had many very nice moments on the porch. Taking in the sunshine and just relaxing.

One evening I left my camera on the porch for a moment and I sure got a surprise and a good laugh when I checked my camera.

Close friends both two legged as well as four legged ones. We are so grateful for this time we got to share with yáll. It has just been the best.

Favorite stores.

Favorite places like the rec center at UAB where I have have many friends.

Sweet Home Alabama will always be in our hearts. This is where some of our dearest friends live. I just never realized how much we left behind when we left and how much it meant to us. I hope we will be able to come back again in the near future and visit. THANK yáll. It has all been so great!

Good Times

This vacation has been great in so many ways. It´s been the best time we could ever get. I could easily count these weeks as some of the best weeks in my life. We have seen so much and we have been able to spend time with some of our closest friends. It´s just been the perfect mix of everything. We have had the best time.



White Sands was just such a different and beautiful landscape. Special in so many ways. As we are both into taking pictures this landscape had so much to offer. These are some of the pics that C took. There are so many of these that I just love.

White Sands was just magical and dazzling. We walked into the white landscape of the sand dunes. We walked and we jumped in the dunes. We cooked out here and stayed until the sun went down. Happy, tired and sandy we returned back to our hotel.

Carlsbad caverns just opened up this magical awesome underground world to us with is mesmerizing beauty.

The mighty state of Texas. Yes it is true that everything is just a little bit bigger in Texas. We found so much beauty here. We felt a connection with Texas and specially with Austin which is my home town where I was born once upon a time. Yes, Austin was just a city and place that we loved. A place that we hope we will return to and could very much imagine moving to even.

Texas was just cool in so many ways.

The desert is filled with it´s own kind of beauty.

So many spectacular views such as this one of the Santa Elena Canyon.

We loved the vast open spaces and just being on the road. The sensation of freedom was great. On the road towards new adventures and new interesting places.

We got to see many sides of the desert. We admired the beauty of it both at dawn and dusk.

We did quite a lot of hiking. My absolute favorite trail was in the Guadlupe Mountains at McKittrick Canyon. It was just so lush and green, passing streams and so on it was hard to believe we were in a desert region.

Even if the road was long and we traveled for many hours some days it was never boring. The scenery and landscape kept changing. You would think that the desert all looks the same but that is not the case at all.

We fell in love in many ways with Texas and it did bring out both the cowboy and the cowgirl in us. C got his cowboy hat and I got my boots I had been dreaming about. I have seen so many beautiful boots in Texas. I have one pair now but I can easily imagine filling my closet with many more pairs because there are just so many gorgeous pairs it is impossible to settle with just one pair.

We have enjoyed many great views such as this one in New Mexico taken from our drive up the mountains when we were on our way to Los Alamos. The mountains tops still being covered with snow at the highest peaks.

San Antonio´s river walk. San Antonio a beautiful and very colorful city. A nice mic

The chili if New Mexico was spicy but soooo good! The adobe buildings of Santa Fe charmed us.

We wanted sunshine and blue sky and we certainly picked the right spot and the right kind of vacation for that. In the desert you can be pretty sure that the sun will shine upon you. After freezing my butt of in Sweden for so many months I felt just like a little desert flower that finally got to bloom and shine.