We needed to drop some gear off down in Malmö, so we took an opportunity to do some second hand shopping in Skåne, closest to Malmö, so not as far in as we traveled last time when we needed to get furniture for our apartment. We stayed at a work friends summer place for two nights, we stayed there just to sleep over last time, and I was (am) in love with the place, so I was really happy to stay a bit longer this time.
The second hand shopping is amazing, it is a loosely organized mix of actual shops where people are curating and refurbishing antiques, interspersed with barns that have just seemed to have accumulated generations of stuff, some barns that seem to have different sellers throughout, and a sprinkling of garage sales. Both trips we both found basically what we were looking for. This time we bought a dining table- Scandinavian in its magic ability to go from a four person round table, to a six person oval, to finally an 8-10 person formal oval.
We also found odds and ends, I got a version of a hand tooled leather bag/purse I have been searching for - maybe 3 years now? We completed our plate settings, and also found five new matching spice jars we were missing.
I realized that, at this moment in time- Stockholm really is going through a transition- growing so quickly- working out how to fit in people who have been displaced from their own countries and cultures. There is building everywhere, rock being blasted, trees being cleared, roads being extended- all over the city but also directly next to our building. My mood completely changed while being in the countryside. For about ten years now I have been sidling away from cities. When I have a choice I avoid large cities when traveling. When I thought we might settle here I pushed for a smaller city. But then, Hobart grew- the as the media calls it...'the MONA effect' has perhaps permanently changed Hobart, if not concretely, at least by outside perception. For my first five or six years I could barely get people I knew to remember we lived in Tasmania and not Tanzania, or New Zealand- whereas now Tasmania seems to be on every persons 'must visit' list. In 1992, when I moved from L.A., to Seattle I never expected Seattle to boom the way that it did, yet still, I was surprised all over again when Hobart changed.
I came back to this post to add, because as I sat in a small patch of sunshine, looking out at the clouds and small snowflakes (in May!) I realized I hadn't wrote what I wanted too. My intention had been about how much Zok loves to second-hand shop now. How when I first took him when we were in Bellingham, the concept was so foreign to him. He never went thrifting or as the Aussies say 'op-shopping' when he was young. He never had to go from necessity nor did he have the fever or looking for treasure but he does now. The bargain hunting part of his dna sadly still loves a large bargain store like costco but all in all, I feel I have created a positive change. Plus this is a couples activity that we both enjoy. Also now, when we pull off the road, to some random barn, and I start to speed up as I go through items saying semi-crazy things like "Our höganas plates are here somewhere, I can feel it!" and then I find them...well he is almost a believer in my powers...
I came back to this post to add, because as I sat in a small patch of sunshine, looking out at the clouds and small snowflakes (in May!) I realized I hadn't wrote what I wanted too. My intention had been about how much Zok loves to second-hand shop now. How when I first took him when we were in Bellingham, the concept was so foreign to him. He never went thrifting or as the Aussies say 'op-shopping' when he was young. He never had to go from necessity nor did he have the fever or looking for treasure but he does now. The bargain hunting part of his dna sadly still loves a large bargain store like costco but all in all, I feel I have created a positive change. Plus this is a couples activity that we both enjoy. Also now, when we pull off the road, to some random barn, and I start to speed up as I go through items saying semi-crazy things like "Our höganas plates are here somewhere, I can feel it!" and then I find them...well he is almost a believer in my powers...
