Östersund

Several days ago, John and I had a lovely few days as guests of friends in lovely Östersund.  John mentioned that when someone receives a gift that is beyond what one can repay, one is left to simply gratefully, thankfully accept.  And so we did.

The sleeper berth between Stockholm and Östersund

 Passing loads of lumber on the train. 

A local comfort food, "Kans".  A meat-filled steamed dumpling, served with a soft buttery cheese and, not surprisingly, lingon (think cranberry) sauce. The meat reminded of me of corned beef. 

Marshmallow farms.  : D

This floating raft has a sauna in the center. 

On the mountaintop

I was delighted how many wildflowers there were.  And this flower was the most plentiful.  

Waves of them were everywhere. 

Listening to the sound of silence on the mountaintop at ~ 1:30 AM

Gold.  "Hjortron", or what English speakers call "cloudberries". 

These much loved berries only grow in the north, and (as I understand it) only grow wild.  Thus, they are hunted down, and if there is an area where they can be found routinely, it is often a closely held secret. 

It is cooked into a jam, and is delicious warm over creamy vanilla ice cream (etc.) 

Fika on the veranda.

Laundry

First of all, let me say that I am not complaining.  I find our laundry circumstances very agreeable.  Some might find it inconvenient, but most of the time, it works very well for us.

Our laundry is in the basement.  That means we go down 2 1/2 flights of stairs, which in our building adds up to ~ 64 stairs per trip. We can take the elevator (the screened column in the center of the stairwell), down to the first floor, but then we must take the stairs to the basement, and go through two steel pocked door.  I still don't know why they are locked, but whatever.  (This is all better than at a previous apartment, where we had to leave our building and walk across a courtyard to get to the laundry room.)

Outside the laundry area is a sign-up sheet.  Every day is divided into three 5 hour periods.  We simply signs up for a time when they choose to do their laundry.  Both the washer and dryer rooms can be locked.

In the laundry room, we have a laundry sink (with built in scrubbing surface), two washers, and a dryer.  We also have a mangle.  I believe that my siblings and I are some of the few persons our age, who grew up in the U.S., who know what a mangle is.  It is a kind-of industrial strength iron.  The one I grew up with had an extremely hot, arched surface that wrapped over a rotating cylinder.  One passed material,/clothes between the cylinder and the hot curved ironing surface, ironing the clothes.  But the mangle in our laundry room are not at all hot.  It simply presses the clothes.  But don't use it for anything with buttons on it.  They will be broken!  As a side note: Many moons ago during the depression, my Polish grandmother created a small business for herself in Poland, ironing with a mangle.

The dryer speaks for itself.  But just to let you in on our adventure, here are the instructions for the dryer.  I understand most of it, but there is still a few mysteries.

And now, the drying room.  Down the hall from the wash room, is a drying room.  There are clothes lines, a heater, and a ceiling fan.  It is a nice way to hasten drying without having to put everything in the dryer.   In another apartment where we lived earlier, there was not a drying room, but a drying closet, the size of a wardrobe.  It worked well, but the metal hanging poles on which one hangs clothes, got so hot that I think it burned holes in a few more delicate garments.

And that is pretty much it.  Works for me.  

And if the machines breakdown, someone else gets to fix them!  

: )