Weekly mix

It has been rather quiet here lately. I have been rather occupied, with nice things only, and when I was finally at home, I did not feel like sitting down in front of the computer. Well, these things happens. I would like to share some of the things I have been doing.

On April 27, I was invited to Lena for dinner. Her friend Tina was visiting from Stockholm. I have not seen here in a long time, so we had a great evening talking about old memories.  The day after we went for an evening at the concert hall Malmö Live. There was a performance of Jesus Christ Superstar. I love the music and used to know all the lyrics by heart. It was really great to see it performed live.

30 April is Walpurgis Night and a day when we celebrate the coming of spring. We do this by lighting big fires and sing to the spring. I must admit though, that most of the time the weather is very far from spring. Hail, rain and snow have shown themselves on this very night. However, this year it was quite a pleasant evening, so Lena and I walked down to the beach. In this part of the city they put a fire in the water. In some areas it was so dry so lighting a fire was forbidden, but this place was obviously perfect.

On May 2, I went to have lunch with Lena, at the Modern Museum here in Malmö. It was a wonderful lunch, a shrimp sallad with quinoa. One of the tastiest sallads I have ever eaten. Afterwords I visited an exhibition on Andy Warhol. A post on Bookmark Monday will be up on Monday 13 May, with a little bit more info.

On May 3, I drove about 20 min to Höllviken, a small town by the sea a little bit south of Malmö, to visit friends. Friends I have not seen in a long time. We met in the mid 80s, but afterwards always lived far away from each other. But you know what it is like with some friends. You have not seen each other for years, but you pick up as if you just met the week before. It was a lovely day with lots of talk and a walk in the surroundings.

Yesterday I went with two friends to Sassnitz, Germany, just for the day. It was a rather long ferry trip. Next time I will stay in the wonderful surroundings on Rügen, and visit one of my favourite cities; Stralsund. So beautiful.

Tomorrow is a lecture, Thursday is a theatre and on Friday/Saturday I will go with my husband to visit the island of Ven, situated between Denmark and Sweden. This is where Tycho Brahe lived and worked. He was a Danish nobleman, astronomer and writer. Edwin Arthur Burtt, says in his The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Physical Science: A Historical and Critical Essay (1925), that he was "the first competent mind in modern astronomy to feel ardently the passion for exact empirical facts." He was granted the island by king Frederick II and he built his research stations Uraniborg and Stjerneborg there. I think you can still se at least the last one today. It is a very small island so we will rent bikes and stay overnight.

And what about the reading you might ask? I did manage to squeeze in a couple of books. Med Örnen mot polen, a scientific book about the Andrée expedition. Three men trying to reach the North pole by balloon in 1897. They disappeared and were found only 33 years later. More about them in a separate post.

Quicksand by Malin Persson Giolito, about a fictional school shooting. It was chosen as the best criminal story of the year in Sweden. It has been made into a series by Netflix. Since I have now finished the book, I will go on to watch the series. Anyone who has seen it?

For our book club we choose a French book this time, and rather new. I could not find an English title, so don't know if it has been translated. It is La fille qui lisait dans le metro The girl that read on the metro) by Christine Féret-Fleury. More about it in another post.

A few notes on what I have been up to. I do keep reading your blog posts and am, as always, amazed at what you are achieving and doing.