I haven’t posted in a while. Life is full. I’m not distressed–yet. I even have taken a 20-minute break in a hammock on a couple of the nicest days. Most of the non-work time is filled with getting my manuscript ready for print.
The recent work has been getting all the series abbreviations right, and then getting the bibliography ready for dividing into an end of chapter bibliography for each of the 5 chapters. But because I must submit one Word document per chapter, if I find a change that needs to be made in formatting, I have to go through 5 documents. Fortunately, my tricks from my days as Director of Communications and “cleaning up” text for catalog production at Trinity Lutheran College has been put to use now.
Last Sunday, Anya and I spent part of Sunday with our American-married-to-a-Swede-friend, Donna. She took us around Uppsala for “Sista April” (last April) or Valborgsmässoafton. This former holy day, recognizing Saint Valborg, has turned into “Sweden’s biggest party” celebrating spring. We avoided the champagne and strawberry breakfast and the champagne shower run in the afternoon, but this and much other partying kept this university city–and the police–active. Donna said that they set up military tents as a place to care for people with medical supervision for those who are dangerously drunk.
Aside from the alcohol, there are other traditions that make this a fascinating day. We joined Donna and a couple other friends on the bank of the river that runs through town. We watched about 85 of the 120 homemade rafts float down the river. The excitement–and massive crowd–is farther down the river by the two waterfalls, watching to see if they will fall apart on the descent. Divers are ready to rescue the mishaps.
Here are some of our favorite rafts.
We then walked through town, heading to the library.
Last year, they estimated 35,000 people, and some felt this gathering was bigger this year.
At the university library, the big wigs of town–including the archbishop (in a purple shirt)–come out and wave their white caps–their high school graduation cap. This is a long tradition in a land of palpable traditions.
However, the new twist on the tradition–only two years old–was that the most famous men’s choir in Sweden, Orphei Drängar, sings on the steps of the library. This started when the concert hall was undergoing renovations. With some serious amplification in a park-sized area, many more could enjoy the wonderful odes to spring.
We skipped the evening bonfire, as we are not night owls. Perhaps, I’ll consider going next year, but Anya already knows that it will occur during test week, so she will opt out.
With blessings,
Beth