Life in Motala

The country roads feel unsafe when there is a lot of traffic, so mostly we cycle inside the town. Today we went down to Vinnerstad, to where the speed limit changes to 90 km, turned and made a wide circle back, about 15 k.

Crossing the old bridge over Strömmen (the river) back into Motala

Today the canal was full of coloured balls, after a "duck" race.

I love August. Always great weather and fun things to do. And my birthday! The best thing about getting older is getting better at making memories. 

We had a great party! Lots of food and fun and we finished off with a Metallica Guitar Hero battle.

I won the lottery again for crayfishing in Boren! It was a fantastic night, warm with no wind. So fun! We caught 103!! Here we are getting the boats ready to go out at 6 in the evening. Later at midnight we picked up the traps.

This is Motala’s famous (well, in the 40’s anyway) beach, four km long! The south end is shallow, but farther north on the beach it gets deep with a great sandy bottom. I snorkle a little, don’t see any fish but I like looking at the water.

Sunday had sunny weather, so we spent it swimming at MTSS (ice cold water) and cycling down and around the south part of town.

Watching the bridges go up for the boats is fun. It is amazing to see huge slabs of concrete rise into the air.

After two short weeks of warm weather we went back to dreary, cold "English weather". Luckily the lake had warmed up a little so now we can swim at our favourite spot by the marina. We try to swim every day, but some days it is just too cold.

Thankfully ice-cream tastes good even when it is raining. Here we are having lunch at Två små hus, the milkshakes are the starter.

Last week Lucky fell badly and snapped both bones in his front leg. First there was talk about amputation, but the vet managed to save his leg. Now he has to rest as much as possible, hence the cage. Here he is getting a visit from one of his friends, who like all small boys always smells interesting and drops yummy bits of food.

Summer was slow coming this year, but it arrived at last! We can leave Lucky for a few hours at a time, here we are at Varamo beach.

Dirt bike show

A new friend from Canada at the finish

Ingrid and Ruben hanging out with the cyclists

Adam at the finish

Vätternrundan is so big, you almost have to see it to understand the size of it. This year over 19000 cyclists were registered to start. I worked at the start and up on the Town Square, where they hand out ride numbers, diplomas, etc.

Here I’ve just had coffee with a visiting group from the US

My old friend Adam is one of the cyclists, here he is in the start fold at 11.30 pm.

Halvvättern was on Sunday, a 150 km long ride south along Vättern, past Vadstena, up onto Omberg (the holy mountain), down the other side past Ödeshög, then around up again, past Rök (famous Runestone) through Skänninge (one of Sweden’s oldest towns) and back up to Motala. The weather was great and the cyclists were really excited at the start. I worked all day (as on Tjejvättern the day before) and it was really fun.

I met a Canadian cyclist used to the Rocky Mountains who laughed at Omberg being called a mountain, which technically it is not. But it presides over the countryside like a miniture Ayers Rock and I can see why it has a special place in people’s minds.  Here is a view of Omberg from an island in Lake Vättern.

A couple of times a term the school puts on a show for the parents. This time they built a stage outdoors and we had a picnic, it was freezing but we all had loads of fun.

Friday I worked late helping out with an extra Vätternrunda for cyclists doing En Svensk klassiker (four events within one year, cycling, skiing, swimming and running) and then again at night before their start. Here is the harbour area (where the cycle events start) at 2.30 am just before all the cyclists showed up

And here the first cyclists are leaving Motala, crossing the old bridge between the harbour and Två Små Hus (our favourite ice-cream place). The sun is on the way up and it is 3.30 am. Incredibly beautiful! What a great way to start the day.

Today Ingrid’s school had rented the track and field for a sport’s day. They had a great day. I ate lunch with them, and spent some of the afternoon with them. It was fun to have them close by.

Here’s me handing out some yummy chocolate balls.

Ingrid having a snack

Waiting around for an event to begin

Some boys in Ingrid’s class communicating something

Bondebacka is a farm in Motala that is famous for two radio masts that were built on its grounds in 1927. The masts picked up radio signals from Stockholm and relayed them to the rest of the country. The radio masts are still there and a lot of people climb them for fun. Some people even get married up there. We stayed on the ground and had a picnic on the original farm.

One year old today! He has a great life. When I work and Ingrid is at school he goes to an old lady’s house, where he has a dog friend and gets to play around all day. Here are pictures from an outing on his birthday, a tipspromenad (a quiz walk, very popular in Sweden), together with a friend from work and her dog. Spring is here at last, it was a beautiful day!

Happy Easter!

I seem to live in the Sports Hall these days. Ingrid has swim practice three times a week, and we are often there for other events. Last time it was MSS (Motala Sailing) that had rented the swimming pool. The kids got to practice flipping and turning a dingy, climbing in and out of a huge liferaft and testing life guard wet suits for rescue missions in a cold sea. Very fun!

Here Ingrid is pulling a dingy in a race against the clock. She and her team mate did pretty good!