Again, again, again and again

I don't know why, but I kept taking pictures like these on this trip, over and over and over and over again.

An afternoon walk

Me and Oomoo spent another couple of days in Stockholm after the ski trip, whilst Mr Famapa had to leave for work. My friend A's eldest son is nine months older than Oomoo, and had to go back to school straight away, but we came and picked him up from school one day, and took the long way home, walking from Gamla Stan to Hornstull where they live. They sometimes take this walk to school when time and weather allows, and it was such a cool walk. I wish I had more time do these simple things when we visit in the future, as it always feel so rushed with family duties, and we never stay long enough to be able to just hang out. These 40 minutes or so were so nice, and I really enjoyed discovering Stockholm anew, and noticing things more as it's all so foreign now. I mean, look at how ridiculously colour co-ordinated all the houses are! Heaven forbid you paint your house blue :)

Snow snaps

Snapped this whilst we stopped on the drive up to the north at a lay by, with public loos, a shop, a car park etc. You'd never know it was there looking at this. Oh the joys of picture making.

Mr Famapa in the same spot, walking out on a frozen lake. The ice/snow was all thawed and gone by the time we drove back to Stockholm nine days later.

Watching the cross country skiers getting a literal lift on a snow tractor going up the mountain. We hedged bets on who would fall over first. No one did.

I love how the trees look so graphic in the landscape.

Getting ready to toboggan down the hill. Sure beats the puny runs we get here in London.

Walking down the mountain as another load of cross country skiers came up. As you can see, there are no mountain ranges like in the Alps. I quite like this vista though; it'd be boring if everywhere looked the same.

Sticking to the path.

Cabin days

After one day in Stockholm, we drove the seven hour drive up north to Vemdalen, to A & D's cabin. It was built in the mid-60's and was originally built for A's grandfather. I'm so glad we got to go again this year, and that it didn't feel as rushed. When we weren't skiing, there was a lot of cooking, film watching, Easter egg eating, sauna-ing, and snowball fighting going on. There was way more snow this time round, which was way more fun. When I was still living in Sweden, A used to invite me to come up there when we were teenagers, but I never went. I didn't ski or snowboard then, and I honestly felt no desire to go there, as surely it would just be really cold?! I'm so glad things change. And man, are my friends are insanely lucky to have this place.

Ice Ice Baby

It's so funny to be posting these wintry pictures when spring is exploding here right now. But what can you do?! I'll just have to be a bit behind season-wise here until I've posted all my Sweden shots. These are from our first day there when we went for a walk by the beach at Hornstull, and where the boys invented a new game - ice bowling. Basically you had to throw a piece of ice and see how far it would glide along the frozen water. Fun! If we'd been there a couple of weeks earlier we would've been able to take a walk on the ice, which I'm sure Oomoo would have loved. Amazingly, by the time we came back from our ski trip further north in Sweden, the ice had completely melted away. More pics from our trip to come!

From the 6th floor

Heeeej! Sorry about the radio silence... I can't believe how quickly a month can go sometimes! The reason for my absence here was a two week trip to Sweden over Easter, and the mini heat wave that hit London the week after we got back. There was no way I would sit at the computer with those temperatures after the ridiculously long winter we had! It's been well over a decade since I last spent that long a time in Sweden, and it was nice to be there for longer, especially as the weather was pretty amazing for nearly all of it. We stayed with my friends A and D and their kids in their 6th floor apartment. I tell you, the light they get up there is something else. I think if I ever had to move back to Stockholm an east and west facing flat high up would have to be a must. It's funny, as for the first time since moving away from there 25 years ago, I actually had a serious think about what it would be like to move back. And for a few minutes it was very tantalising, but then the same unsettling feeling in my gut I always feel when I'm in Stockholm (and felt before I moved away) came back. Maybe I need some hypnotherapy to sort that out - if it would ever have to become an option. In the mean time, visiting once a year is just fine, thank you.

A second visit

After our Tate Modern visit, me and D walked along the river and went to see the Andreas Gursky exhibition at the Hayward Gallery. And this time there was no emergency call from Oomoo's school like the last time I was there - phew! In fact, as we went in around 2pm, the gallery was quite empty, so we could really take our time looking, whereas a couple of weeks ago we had to queue to get in. It's quite something to see such huge prints, and it does beg the question whether they are more interesting just because they're big. Would his Photoshop wizardry still impress in more regular-sized prints? I personally preferred his earlier work, where it felt like you were looking at something real, although I guess it might not have been! My favourite picture in the whole exhibition was a print of grey carpet, blown up huge (of course). It really appealed to my former graphic designer self (I mean carpets are pretty amazing grids, hehe), as well it turning the mundane, that you wouldn't even register in real life, into something worth capturing and elevating it into art. Now that's what I call magic.

Tate on a Thursday

Superflex

Jumana Emil Abboud

Amadeo Modigliani

Joan Jonas

A group of people making a nice shape innit

I don't know about you, but with the passing of the spring equinox this week, as well as the clocks going forward today, I finally feel like I'm coming out of my yearly hibernation. I remember MAV writing a while back about how she sees the winter months as the time to slow down, and not fight the need to rest, retreat and not push against what your body is telling you need to do. For her, the New Year starts at the spring equinox, and this year I've followed her way of thinking. And you know what? I feel so much better for it. I realise this is something that probably affects me more as I'm not working, whereas when I was in full time employment, I didn't have the time nor the luxury to tune in to the changing of the seasons. I'm looking forward to feeling more energetic, and not so sluggish and sloth-like. Do you feel the same?

Anyway, earlier this week, with more of a spring in my step, I met up with my old workmate D, and went to Tate Modern to see the Modigliani exhibition before it ends. It was very busy, and at one point I realised that we were amongst the youngest there, which as two middle aged women was a funny concept. The exhibition itself was good; lots of great use of colour, and his sculptures were amazing, and even though it's a bit safe to keep putting up exhibitions that will be hugely popular, I'm so grateful to be able to see so much great and famous art with my own eyes. All those great artists are great and famous for a reason.