...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.