...keys that jingle in your pocket...words that jangle in your head...

The island of Gotland is pretty small if you are driving.

We decided to just sleep in Visby though.

Zok and I were out of our element though, and I think we could not fully appreciate the island.  There are many ruins.  Visby itself is a walled city (not as pretty to my opinion as Chester).  The wall still has over forty towers, and is a UNESCO World Heritage site.  The wall unlike Chester can not be walked upon.  The whole thing is about 4 kilometers.  The churches have parts that are from the 1200s, our hotel had parts from the 14th century.

The ruins are older than that.  This is not a time in history that I am knowledgeable of- so most of my reading ending in my thinking 'Gee that is old'.

As we were there at the very end of August, even the museums were closed.  We did stop as some Viking areas, stone markers, ring stones ala Stonehenge.  But Zok was really focused on his 'Loppis' quest.

No road sign was too small to go off road for a look.

...why did summer go so quickly? was it something you said?...

I have come to Sweden almost each year since I met Zok in 2000.

Usually I would come here because due to his work schedule, which is less 'touring' per say as working at the various European festival shows that happen each week in Sweden from about March through August.  

This year he was particularly busy though working at over forty festivals.

I now understand that his only chance of a real Summer is to be in Tasmania from January.  He is too busy otherwise, and he does not have good weather luck.  We just took a long, a very long drive from Stockholm down to Malmö, where we dropped off some band backline.

Then we continued up the east coast- over to Öland, then took the ferry to Gotland.  Zok had this idea to go 'loppis' shopping.

Loppis means thrift store, garage sale, and sometimes antique shop.

One never really knows what following loppis signs will bring.

Gotland is supposed to be jam packed with people all summer.

I do know a lot of people who go there around mid-summer.

Apparently come September first, the island is a ghost town.

We had a hard time finding places that were open although we still ended up with a lot of loot.

I didn't really believe that there would be loppis stores all around, I thought maybe the red cross variety in towns that we were passing though, but no- many people have them permanently- somewhere on their property.  In barns, small sheds that look like doll houses, or just on the lawn.

We bought a large bookcase, three chairs, a smaller bookcase.  Zok found the rest of the outdoor furniture he wanted at the 'fynd' room of the IKEA in Malmö.  I found two cute pair of clogs for about $9 each, and a good pair of wellington boots for $7 and a really cute suitcase that still has a lock and key.

We also picked up odds and ends like a horse shoe, a milk glass vase, a uranium green class soap dish, a good light fixture (the last we needed), two owls (I thought the small one would bring us luck and the large one is the type that hangs with a tealight that shines through both sides) and some pottery.

Everything was really inexpensive- compared to what I have researched with my loppis shopping in the Stockholm area.  As far as vacations go though, I feel like a need a few days to recover. 

...like a clock whose hands are sweeping...

Öland is an island- 137 km long and 16 km long.

At one point in history the island had over two-thousand windmills.  They were apparently a sign of status.  The island is also a Unesco World Heritage site because the farm land has been in contiuous use from the Stone Age.  Although the Loppis shops here were a let down, and the day was grey with continuous drizzle, I wanted to try and find at least one-hundred of the remaining four-hundred windmills.

Zok did not agree with this plan.

True, many of the windmills were similar in model, as if someone came along with a windmill kit that could be flat-packed and delivered for assembly IKEA style.

We were not staying here but continuing on to catch a ferry from Oskarshamn to Gotland another island.

 

"...and talk is cheap when the story is good..."

Where have I been?  Where haven't I been?

Did my thirty-something self have a better ability to keep all the non-stop hours that become days that become weeks that become ones personal history straight?

Zok was home and then he was not home.

I worked two 10 - 12 hour days at a festival meant for under 25s (for sobbing out loud- yeah hi! be rude to me- I am after all your mothers age).  Mostly I was in charge of gearing kids up, and then giving them a safety lessons before their first time on quad skates.  There was also (much too long of a story) a jam skating component that immersed me into early 1980s music that sent me into a K-hole of nostalgia that I have yet to crawl out of (um yes currently listening to Rick Springfield).

I have had roller derby practice as we are back up to 3x a week.  I had a couple of roller derby committee meetings.

I met up with some friends from the roller derby league (are you sensing a theme?). I went apartment shopping with a friend (derby).

My paper for school is at a healthy word count but I am not sure that the paper makes any concrete points...

I am thinking of skipping practice tonight because Zok is home for only about 24 hours and tomorrow night is a league meeting that I can not miss.

I am sick, I say sick and tired of not understanding Swedish.  I am signing up for classes as soon as I can find someone who reads Swedish well enough to help me with the form. (!)

At the under 25 festival I had one kid say - loudly and clearly "SPEAK SWEDISH YOU ARE IN SWEDEN".  Better, late in the day after I got tired of saying "I am sorry but I do not speak Swedish".- each time someone asked me a question-therefore I just started in English I had a black teenager step into my face and start yelling (in Swedish of course)- a friend stepped between us- and afterwards explained that the boy assumed I was racist for assuming that he did not speak Swedish.

Ahhhh the joys of globalism.

"...and in a dark brown voice she said Lola..."

Stockholm has a good PRIDE week and a fun parade.

I was ready to skate in the parade this year but then Zok got the festival tickets and well a girl needs to make choices...

I did go early and sit with some league mates to cheer on our skaters.

One of our league is the effervesce Swedehurt.

Derby is of course a subculture with all the trappings that comes with-

I had heard about Swedehurt before I joined Derby in Tasmania and before I knew there was a league here in Stockholm.

At that time I think she was skating with Gotham City (New York).

Sometimes I am so trapped behind her at practice I practically have nightmares about her ass- which is always sending me flying 20 feet or in my WAY!

But as you can see from the parade pictures- she is a mighty force.  She is not the only one- there are really tens of her- that are in the same league (ha ha pun intended).

I love them from any angle- even if it is from my vantage point of the looking up at them from the ground where I landed...

 

"...as Mr. Kite flies through the ring, don't be late..."

Zok and I had to go to the part of town where most of the foreign embassies are.

As we were walking back towards the subway station- we saw elephants, camels, and horses grazing in the park.

The circus has come to town(!) 

(The exclamation after the sentence really is inside my head because in all honestly I do feel a small sharp stab of "thrilling!" in my heart.)

Recently I watched a documentary about a family circus and how hard they work to get crowds in against the competition of our more modern entertainments.

I asked Zok "Would you rather go to the circus (he has never, ever been to see the circus) or go to the opera?

It looks like next month, we are going to the circus.

(!!)

 

"I was lost, and measure for measure, love spewed from the heart of me..."

Summer days continue to be interrupted by thunder and lighting.  By torrents of rain that cause the streets to flood even as the sun breaks through.

But the thing about Sweden and weather- the weather never wins.

So the BBQ's continue, pride week goes on whether or not the make up smears and the dresses get soaked.

Zok surprised me by getting us on the list for these shows-

http://stockholmmusicandarts.com/english/ 

The first one was today.  We walked in as Marianne Faithful was performing 'The Crane Wife'- she also did 'As Tears Go By', and 'The Ballad of Lucy Jordan'.  She sat down for a smoke during guitar solos and had a glass of white wine handy, and I loved every minute.

Patti Smith opened with 'Dancing Barefoot' and closed with 'Gloria'.
She was full of energy and looked like she was having a great time.
Pretty inspirational.

Today is the PRIDE parade.  I considered skating with the group from STRD, but I had to admit, that I'd rather cheer from the sidelines.
I have my PRIDE date- and then Zok will come and get me and we will go to the festival and see Ane Brun.
http://anebrun.com 
We saw her last year at Cirkus and the show was really good.