Wandering in the Woods

The talented and generous Vienna Teng is donating her time for local Bay Area Breast Cancer Foundation, HERS Breast Cancer Foundation's 2nd Annual Women's Conference and Benefit Concert on Saturday, April 22nd from 7 pm-10pm (doors open at 6:30 pm) in Fremont, CA at Washington West- Auditorium, 2500 Mowry Ave. She will be joined by Blame Sally and Kyler England.

Well, Heather won't be here till afternoon. I believe it was around midnight last night that Heather called to say they were heading out; I certainly hope that Justin took a nap during the day. They called this morning at a quarter till eight to say they were arriving in Red Bluff for breakfast. Hopefully the waitresses there won't hold her being related to Grandpa against her. Naw, Grandpa loves teasing people, but he really is quite charming about it. I can't believe how long it has been since I've been to Red Bluff. When James and I were nearing the end of our flight home from Norway we flew over Mt. Shasta. It was an amazing sight to see from the air. Plus, it was a very welcome sight since I knew that meant we were almost home. På hemväg. (It means homeward bound).

The house concert went very well. As always, things wouldn't have run half as smooth if James hadn't been there. He picked up my Grammie Brask and my Great-Aunt Karen, played greeter at the door, helped move furniture, and drove my grandmothers and Great-Aunt home after the show. We drove over to Barnes and Noble at around three thirty to say goodbye to my coworker, Kathy. She has been with us for nine years and really didn't want to leave (she and her husband are moving to Oregon). James and I both got Green tea frappuccinos while there (Damn you Starbucks!)
Almost got ran into over by Raleys. Some woman thought that she ought to be able to back up all the way out into traffic without even checking to see if there was anyone behind her. In a parking lot? What are the chances there would be any other cars or people to back into, right?!
Got back to the house and knocked out a poster for the evening's performance. Thank goodness Dragon showed up early to take photos so I was able to ask her to bring back a can of Fixative. I have a couple cans of it somewhere, but it's lost in stuff after teaching the classes for OK.
It was great getting to see some people that I hadn't gotten a chance to visit with in some time.
Incendio is so very friendly, I got hugs. I gave them the poster I made.

The P-51 flight is being postponed. Apparently my cousin, Sean had something that he couldn't get out of for that day so we're going to have to try rescheduling for later. I think October was the suggested time.

We slept like the dead. I woke up at around four-thirty or so and saw that it was already quite light out. I think I might have fallen asleep again for a bit, but we were out of bed before six and we had a bit more of the quiche that Eva was kind enough to make for us. James was curious what their Saturday morning children programming was like and we saw the most bizarre music video of a man and four women dressed up in baggy cat outfits meowing and singing in a disco video. James tried out the outdoor shower and ran out of cold water very quickly so he took me over to the community shower. It's pay with tokens, Magnus gave us about eight tokens for during our stay. Got ourselves all ready for Magnus to show up. After having breakfast with him he suggested we put together sandwiches, etc. for a picnic lunch while we were out looking at old family homes, etc. He drove us all over the area, pointing out where his mother was born, etc. We met several people and he purchased a book written by someone in the community to give to me. It was a history of who had owned properties and whom they had been sold to so my family name showed up in there several times. He also took us to see a Bronze Age house. After a few hours we found a picnic bench with a great view of the sea and had lunch. After lunch he continued to show us different houses and then he took us to the place where my great-grandfather had been born. We met the people who owned the land now and the wife walked out with us to show us all that was left of the house. Part of a stone wall and a large stone with a door hinge on it. It was up on a bit of a hill and I stood for a while looking out at the green fields and the nearby glen. We took photos and thanked them for letting us visit. Then it was time to go to the family reunion.
There were so many people there, almost thirty adults and some children. Everyone formed a long line to come over, introduce themselves, and shake our hand. It was surprisingly hot out and I wasn't dressed right at all. It had seemed chilly when I picked out clothes at around six in the morning. I don't think they have any concept of skin cancer there. We spent virtually all day standing or sitting in the sun. It was really nice getting to meet everyone though. I got to meet another Petra! We went on a walk through the forest. They had a game set up on the walk through the forest with multiple choice questions tacked to trees. It was a beautiful area, right next to the lake. After that it was time to Bar-B-Q the Ka-Bobs we assembled and they told us that we should be instructing them on how to Bar-B-Q since we're Americans. We told them that my Father is really the master meat griller in the family and that we generally just contribute the meat to be put on the fire. They told us that we needed to stay for much longer and suggested that we call our work and tell them that we would not be coming back. It was nice feeling so welcome by family, they really wanted us to be there. =) I spent quite a bit of time sitting with Magnus going over the photos that I brought for him and the family tree scroll that he was carrying around. I blanked on a couple of the little kids names. They were shocked when they saw the photo that my grandmother had taken of their ranch in Red Bluff when it was snowing. "You have snow?!" Hehehe...well, yes. Some places in California actually do get snow. I thought I was going to pass out for a while there. I ended up having to retreat into the little park house with a restroom and a kitchen just so I could down some cups of water and be out of the sun. Magnus arranged for a nyckelharpa player to be at the reunion so James could speak with him and try out the instrument. The performer, Lennart Dunér played several tunes for us, it was lovely. All of my family was sitting around on chairs and on the grass listening to the music. It was so kind of Magnus to arrange that performance. He really went out of his way to make sure that we felt welcome and got to see everything that we were interested in during our brief stay. I want to learn Swedish. I am going to go ahead and buy the language CDs through my store and see if I can't get myself to at least know more than a few phrases. Ate a lot of good food, they had a lot of desserts, and I ended up drinking a cup of coffee. I liked it. Course, it had milk and sugar in it, but I liked it. When I tried it I turned to James and told him, "My Father is going to laugh at me. I like this." (He did. He said he was going to bring me over to the Dark Side yet). We were there till about nine-thirty or so and then Magnus drove us back to his little cottage in Frosakull and made plans to be there at around eight-thirty the next morning so he could eat breakfast with us again and then he would drive with us part way in the direction we needed to go to get to Goteborg and find our hotel. I gave him the pen that I had bought at B&N for him. He insisted that I use his cell phone to call home and talk to my parents. I wasn't really feeling homesick, I was more tired and sun exposure exhausted than anything else. Poor James' face was really sun-burnt and part of the top of my head had gotten it too. I ended up falling asleep on the couch in the sitting room for a bit while James took a quick shower. Aside from all the sun and the surprising heat it was really a wonderful day.

I was very glad that our flight was leaving at one in the afternoon this time instead of early in the morning. My Dad was able to give us a ride to SFO since he worked at one. I was feeling pretty stressed out...,being trapped on a plane, wanting everyone there to like me, etc. I had myself pretty worked up. Dad made a sandwich and a half for us. We ended up throwing away half a sandwich, but the sandwiches were a good thing to have. Arriving at the airport we went to get ourselves checked in and James was told that his name was on a no fly list. We weren't too concerned, James A. Campbell is a fairly common name. Got that cleared up and then we went to wander around the airport. We were planning on a sit down meal, but we weren't terribly impressed with the selections at SFO and we ended up with not enough time before they were going to start loading the plane. I got the window seat again and I actually made use of it this time. In 2003 when we went to Co. Cork,Ireland I was by the window, but after glancing out of it a few times it made me too anxious feeling so I closed it, but this time I enjoyed looking out and seeing the impressions that man has made on the landscape. It's really rather like looking at a quilt. We were over land most of the time so I had some interesting views and I wish I had had my digital camera out, there were some amazing cloud formations. One in particular was quite awe inspiring, a large pillar of cumulus clouds rising up out of a sea of clouds. While not staring out the window I tried to sleep, but really didn't have any luck with that. I don't think I had even an hour's sleep while on the plane. I did a lot of reading and ignored the in-flight movies. I wasn't terribly interested in watching them. I finished "He Shall Thunder in the Sky" by Elizabeth Peters and got part way into "Lord of the Silent" before we landed in Frankfurt, Germany. The staff at Frankfurt were nice and spoke excellent English. By that point I was just so glad to be off the plane. The landing was flawless though, I couldn't even tell when we touched down. Many of the passengers applauded. We had been in a plane for about eleven hours and it was miserably warm and stuffy in there. Why don't they make airplanes cooler? I've heard they used to be quite chilly. That would be so much better, then I could just bundle up and use the blanket they give out. The food was pretty good on the flight, nothing too exciting, but it was passable. The Frankfurt terminal was very warm too. We wandered around trying to figure out which Gate was ours since they had to switch it a few times due to problems and delays. After two hours we were on the last leg of our journey to Scandinavia and were on our way to Sweden.

Yay! I'm free! Free! Vacation, vacation, glorious, wonderful adventure time! James and I are putting another notch in the passport and will be flying off to Sweden and Norway on Thursday. I'm so excited, but I'm a little nervous. I think I'm worried about the traveling in a place that the official language isn't my own thing and I want to make a good impression. I'm hoping that everything will work out with meeting up with my family and that James and I will get to see a lot of wonderful things, have amazing experiences, and not freeze(I think we'll be fine). I'm jazzed! I bought some last minute things at work tonight. I picked up a couple of language dictionaries that should be easy to pack and a couple of blank paged travel journals. I want to be good and try to actually record my experiences while I'm there and sketch a few things too. James stopped by the store to let me know that he had bought back up batteries for the digital camera and a box of chocolates to give as a gift to our host, Magnus. I'm looking forward to meeting him in person, I hope he likes me.
Better go to bed. Mom and I are both off "today" and are going to spend the day together. =)

Almost done with Christmas shopping...only the harder people to shop for to go. Sigh. I hate trying to figure out something to give my Grandmother. Most every article of clothing I've ever attempted to buy her gets returned (not that I can really blame her for that..she's a hard size), she finds gift certificates to be impersonal...course that may just be for giving to others, she can't really read because of her poor vision, she doesn't watch movies, and she only listens to music on the radio. Every year I'm at a loss and I rack my brain trying to think of something to give her. I always get her a calendar of whatever sort of dog she currently has, but that isn't really enough.

I was running so late today for getting to work. I don't know what my problem is lately that I can't get out the door at a reasonable time. Symptom of not being satisfied with my job? I feel like I'm getting pretty blase' about some things- They're not going to fire me for this so oh well. Bad, bad, bad. Need to work on that.
Still pondering buying my friend's car. I just wish I was having more luck finding info on it on-line.
Ack! I can't believe next week is Thanksgiving! I haven't discussed plans with James yet. I brought it up about a week or so ago, but I didn't know then what my family was going to be doing. Apparently the family is meeting in Sunol this year at my Great-Aunt's place; I had been suggesting that I could try to stop by and stay for at least a bit at James' for Thanksgiving, but I'm not sure how we'll coordinate this. It had always been complicated enough with my folks debating back and forth where we were going to be for the holidays, but now I've got to try to add my fiance's family into the mix. My Dad's side of the family meet every year up in Sunol at my Great-Aunt's house, but there has always been the debate from my Mom's side of the family (namely Grammie) that the Furlong side of the family (that lives in CA) is much smaller so we should be with them. I'm hoping we'll succeed in getting her to come with us this time. My Uncle Jeffrey doesn't care about Thanksgiving, he would much rather just stay home with the dog. (rolls eyes) Must try to figure something out with James. I don't want his family thinking that I don't like them.
I started reading the most recent Anita Blake Vampire Hunter novel, "Incubus Dreams" yesterday. I think it's really at the point now that I'm only continuing to read them because I like the main character so much. I don't know...they've just degenerated into tales about her sordid, complicated love life. I was really much more interested in them when there were nasty supernatural beings out to get her. That is still part of it, but in the last couple of novels that seems to really have become a side plot, while her sex life has become the primary focus. I feel like yelling at her to go kill something!

I stayed up way too late last night. Even for me! My Dad was flipping channels and discovered a "Hunter" marathon. Heheheehe...it used to be a family tradition to come home from work or whatever we'd been up to and all watch Fred Dryer's character make sarcastic comments and shoot things.