Henrik Carlsson's Blog

All things me.

Midnight Swim

posted this article on and tagged it with Midnight Swim Sundborn

Tonight (midnight between the 31st of July and 1st of August) was the ”Midnight Swim” here in Sundborn, where a bunch of swimmers swim from the damm next to Carl Larsson Gården upstream to the church and then back downstream again. It seems to be an annual thing and I heard about it last year but was too tired to check it out, something I regretted the day after when I saw photos of it and read about it in the paper.

So this year I decided to go regardless of whether I was tired or not and I’m so glad I did. It was really cool to see the lit up buoys (the right word?) that the swimmer dragged with them in the dark, and the speed they managed when they headed back downstream was simply amazing.

Here’s some photos:

The last group of swimmers (the fastest ones) starting their journey.
Resting and gathering the group back together at the church, before turning back downstream.
High speed swimming downstream, closing in on the finish line.
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posted this note on and tagged it with Maratonmarschen Reading Stephen King The Long Walk

I’m currently reading ”Maratonmarschen” by Richard Backman. It’s the first book I’m actually reading (as opposed to listening to) in a long while and it’s hard to get into the habit of reading. I’ve only gotten a few pages in but it’s really good.

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posted this note on and tagged it with A day in the life

We’ve lost so much routine for the mornings and evenings during the summer holiday. Tonight Iris didn’t get to bed until 11 pm and Ebbe was up even later. We need to do something about this, but I’m not sure what.

Today the kids and I took a trip to Rättvik and hung out with my father for a few hours, had Rättvik’s Ice-Cream and strolled on the boardwalk. Then we took an extended drive for the way home just to keep us busy for a while. The kids are really easy to go on long car trips with. They love to be in the car.

Linn has been doing a lot of cleaning and picking up an order of groceries and together we’ve mowed the lawn.

Tomorrow is Linn’s birthday, so I’ll need to get to bed soon.

All of us at the boardwalk in Rättvik.
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posted this article on and tagged it with Podcasts

Were podcasts that are ostensibly about something always this rambling, or has my tolerance gone down?

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Replies and comments

posted this note on

Spectacular thunderstorm tonight.

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posted this on and tagged it with snapshots

Well that turned out to be a much more interesting night than I had planned. Ebbe threw a tantrum and refused to go to sleep in the hotel room. Probably too many new things at ones. The only place he felt good was in the stroller so he and I went on a late night walk in downtown Gävle.

Just to be clear to international readers, in Sweden it’s extremely uncommon to walk around downtown with a child in a stroller at midnight. Uncommonly enough actually for a police car to stop next to us and chat to us for a while. They probably wanted to make sure I was not some kind of crazy person.

Anyway, once we had walked for a while he fell asleep and we are now back at the way too hot hotel room.

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posted this on and tagged it with snapshots

Today we spent the day at Furuvik, a theme park an hours drive from our home. Tonight we’ll sleep at a hotel in Gävle.

I’d be lying if I said that it has been smooth sailing all day. Getting everybody ready on time in the morning is a pain, and traveling with picky eaters is never fun, but on the whole we had a great day. Ebbe and I spent a long time in the animal park part of Furuvik while Linn and Iris went on rides (carousels?) and then we all met up for more rides. Turns out both my children loves that.

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posted this note on and tagged it with Andy Weir Reading Seveneves snapshots The Martian

Earlier today I started listening to The Martian by Andy Weir. I wasn’t really sure what I was in for but so far I love it. I see a lot of similarities to Seveneves actually. Space, dire situation, people desperately trying to solve problems both big and small with whatever they’ve got at hand.

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posted this photo on and tagged it with Altan Deck Huset snapshots The House
The work on the pergola is slow, but yesterday we finally got the frame of it all up which really made it feel a lot more *done* all of a sudden.
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posted this note on and tagged it with Children

They say sharks must keep swimming to stay alive. I wonder if children believes the same applies to themselves and making sounds – talking, screaming, singing, clicking their tongues, anything – with their mouths?

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