70

I'm not quite done with posting about our road trip yet; but I've kind of been taking a break from that this weekend, to celebrate my own 70th birthday. 

Somehow any birthday marking the end of a full decade tends to cause more "fuss" than those in between.

One friend of mine (living elsewhere), who also turned 70 in August, celebrated by escaping with her husband, children and their respective parnters, plus a bunch of grandchildren, to the Canary Islands. She said she was not planning to have any extra party when they got back; but whether she succeeded in keeping that intention, I don't know.  

Another friend (living in the same town as I) who also turned 70 in August, decided early on to take the bull by the horns, so sent out invitations six months in advance to a big party in mid August - which I blogged about earlier this month. Considering how early she sent out the invitations, I suspect she must have started the planning shortly after her 69th...

As for myself, I probably started "worrying" at least a year in advance as well. But I arrived at the conclusion that my friends these days are so spread out that trying to gather them all at the same time and place would be impossible. And even if by some miracle I'd manage it with some of them, it wouldn't give me the time to catch up with them all properly anyway. So for my own part, I arrived at the compromise of an escape trip earlier in the month (the road trip with my brother); then kind of took advantage of my friend's party to catch up with some mutual old friends; and then spent the Actual Day just answering phone calls and messages and whatnot...

The friend who escaped to a  far-off island for her big day visited me at the end of July; and another friend, just recently retired from work in connection with her own 65th, took the bus here from from another town a few days before my actual BD for lunch + also came home with me for a while. She's another one I've known for nearly 50 years, and we managed to get a good long undisturbed conversation about all kinds of things. 

--- Having come that far in writing this post, my phone rang. It was the friend whose party I attended two weeks ago; wanting to come by. Visitors wasn't in my plan for today (either); and at 2 pm I still I hadn't even had lunch yet, nor been out. Hard to say no, though - and I had some photos (paper prints!) for her from her own party anyway. (She's one of those who miraculously still manage to get by without neither smartphone nor computer.) 

So I had a hasty lunch; and shortly after, she turned up, bringing a pretty pink begonia. Luckily at least I was able to offer her a cup of instant coffee (tea for myself) and a piece of cake. (I did bake one earlier in the week, a sort of mix between cake and pie, that can be eaten with whipped vanilla cream.) ... And a bit later I accompanied her part of her way home, and then extended my own walk a bit on the way back to mine - so got my own exercise in too, after all.

Now it's evening, and I can no longer recall my original plans for this post (if I had any). Ah well. I guess I'll just post it anyway. 

Tomorrow is a New Month. Remains to be seen what that will bring! (If nothing else, I  have some thank you notes to write...)

 

Road Trip 2025 (11) - Old Church at Pelarne

Tuesday, 12 August - Part 3
Pelarne Church

Near the little village Sevedstorp (nowadays also known as 'Bullerbyn', cf previous post), we also made a short stop at Pelarne church, with separate belfry (bell tower); situated up on a little hill just by the road. The church wasn't open, but we walked around it.

Gate

 

This church is one of only a few old wooden churches left in Sweden that date back as far as to medeival times. The oldest part of this church is believed to be from the early 1200s; and if so may even be the oldest wooden church still in use. 

On June 30, 1905, Samuel August Ericsson (1875-1969) och Hanna Jonsson (1879-1961) were married in this church. Two years later, their daughter was born - who was to grow up to become the famous author Astrid Lindgren (cf. my previous three posts from this trip).  

On or near the big cross to the left in this photo was a sign saying that "This cross was raised in 1963 in memory of the around 7000 parishioners who have their final resting place here in the old churchyard, which served as cemetery until 1882." (A few old headstones, probably belonging to well-known and "important" people, can still be seen in the churchyard.) 

 

Below the hill, at the crossroads, the b&w sign (Kyrkogård) points towards the new cemetery (we did not go down there), while the blue one to the left points towards a walking trail.

Linking to Skywatch Friday

Road Trip 2025 (10) - Bullerbyn

Tuesday, 12 August - Part 2
Bullerbyn / Sevedstorp (Mariannelund)

Driving on from Vimmerby after having visited Astrid Lindgren's childhood home there, we also found signs pointing to Sevedstorp and Bullerbyn ("The Noisy Village"). Sevedstorp is the original name of this little village, and this is where Astrid's father Samuel August grew up (in the house in the middle of the three). It is also the village Astrid had in mind when she wrote her books about some children living in a such a village, which in the books she called Bullerbyn. (Swedish: "buller"= noise; "by" = small village)

 Illustrations from my three-books-in-one volume about Bullerbyn, from 1961.

When films based on the books were made in 1986-87 (and later turned into a TV series), those were also recorded in the actual village of Sevedstorp.

 

 

In the barn belonging to one of them, they now also have a café - at least during the summer tourist season. 

 

 

 

 

 

 
The surrounding scenery is still very rural and idyllic... 
 

... And some friendly sheep came up to the fence by the barn to say hello!

 

 

Road Trip 2025 (9 B) - Post Scriptum about the "Big Ball of Sticks"

 

In the comments to yesterday's post I got questions about the "big ball of sticks" in the playground at Astrid Lindgren's Näs. I did wonder about that myself when I was there. I saw children climbing in and out of it, so it was obviously hollow inside. But I could not relate it to any special story that I remembered.

Just now it occurred to me to try and ask the omniscient (?) Google AI about it. Below is the answer that AI gave me (translated by me from Swedish to English):

"The big round hut at Astrid Lindgren's Näs is not part of the original playground or exhibition, but an artistic work or installation created to represent a place where her stories take place. It is designed for children to play in it and experience and act out the stories in a new way, just as in her books."

Road Trip 2025 (9) - Näs, Vimmerby

Tuesday 12 August - Part 1
Vimmerby
Näs - Astrid Lindgren's Childhood Home

 

The main tourist attraction that we had planned on visiting on the fourth day of our trip was the childhood home of Astrid Lindgren, Sweden's world famous author of classic children's books. I doubt there are many readers of this blog who aren't familiar with at least some of her books and characters - like Pippi Longstocking, Emil of Lönneberga, Karlsson-on-the-Roof, the Bullerby Children ("Children of Noisy Village"),  Mio My Son, Ronia the Robber's Daughter or The Brothers Lionheart... Some of them very "down to earth", others belonging more in the children's fantasy genre. 

Astrid Lindgren (born Ericsson) was born on 14 November 1907. She grew up in Näs, near Vimmerby, Småland, Sweden. She was the daughter of Samuel August Ericsson and Johanna (Hanna) Sofia Jonsson; and she had an older brother and two younger sisters. Before becoming a full-time author, she worked as a journalist and secretary. In 1926, at age 19, she also had a son, Lars, born "out of wedlock". (He was in foster care for four years but then returned to live with her.) 

In 1944, Astrid won second prize in a competition held by a book publishing company with a novel entitled Britt-Marie lättar sitt hjärta (The Confidences of Britt-Marie). In 1945 she won first prize with Pippi Långstrump (Pippi Longstocking) - which had first been rejected by another publishing company. No doubt they regretted that, as since then Pippi has become one of the most beloved children's books in the world and has been translated into around 100 languages!

Astrid's childhood home is now a museum, surrounded by a park with more buildings and things to remind of her books. Neither my brother nor I had been there before, and we ended up spending around three hours there, including a guided tour of the cottage where she lived back in her childhood, but we also had lunch at the restaurant there, and finished off with a walk through various areas of the park.

We were in luck as we arrived shortly before a guided tour was about to start, which we were allowed to join. The house is rather small and it is only shown by a guide to a limited number of people at a time. The tour was about an hour long, with a lot of interesting info. All in Swedish, but in spite of that, at least half this group of visitors seemed to consist of tourists from Germany and the Netherlands. Usually at Swedish tourist attractions there are signs in Swedish and English - but here, signs in German were actually more common than English! (Something which I can't recall ever having seen anywhere else!)

Astrid's parents worked on the estate belonging to a vicarage - the house above. The guide started telling her story about the family outside of that house. (Inside, there was an art exhibition that we visited on our own later.)
 

From there, we walked on to the cottage where Astrid lived with her parents and three siblings. From what I understood, they all just lived in one half of that house, though - basically a kitchen + one room that served both as bedroom and living room for them all!

 We weren't allowed to take photos inside, but one thing that stuck with me from the guide's stories was that some games mentioned in books like Pippi Longstocking, and The Bullerby Children, originated from Astrid's own childhood games with her siblings. Like in the Pippi books, a game called "Don't touch the floor", involving jumping around the room from one piece of furniture to another, was actually invented (and practiced!) by Astrid and her three siblings in the small combined bed/living room in that cottage... 

 

In a barn nearby, there are some carved wooden figures on display, reminding of those that Emil of Lönneberga used to make. They were also showing scenes from those films - with subtexts in German. Like Emil's sister Ida dangling from the top of the flag pole: 

 

  

 

In a field nearby there is an impressive huge old tree which inspired the tree in Pippi's garden where she used to hang bottles of soda for the children.

 

There are also winding paths to follow around the park, with intricate wooden fences and gates appearing here and there. 
 

Before we left, I bought two books in the gift shop:

One is book Astrid wrote about her parents ("a love story"), which I have heard about, but I don't think I ever read it. (Our guide quoted from it quite a lot.) And I also bought a cheap paperback version of Mio, without illustrations, as I'm not sure I ever read that one in full either. (I know I have seen it set up as a play at the theatre, though - years ago.) I have not yet found the time to read them after I got back home; but I will!

All in all, the place was well worth the visit!

PS. There is also another theme park in Vimmerby called Astrid Lindgren's World, more focused on activities for children; while this one, with her actual childhood home, is probably the more interesting choice for adults without children. (Even if there were families with children visiting this park as well.)