"Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability." ~Sam Keen

Hello everyone! OK, I blame the lack of posting on crappy internet as well as a case of summer is here-itis! haha, everyone here has it and it leads to swimming in the lake, going to bed early and lots of sweating in the hot shop... in general exhaustion/having fun!  So, here I am to update you... finally.

The Karl Lagerfeld/Orrefors collections has been released (sadly in France, so I didn't get to see Karl):

http://www.orrefors.com/news/cat/press/post/now-launching-karl-lagerfelds-first-collection-for-orrefors/

and here you can see some of the pieces:

http://www.vogue.co.uk/news/daily/110608-karl-lagerfeld-glassware-collection/gallery.aspx

This past weekend was a long holiday weekend for everyone in Sweden and Kirsten and I went to visit my Aunt, Uncle and cousins at their summer house on the coast!  It was wonderful, as Kirsten said you revert back to your 10 year old self, ruled by your stomach instead of time and filling the day with only fun things.  

We went on boat rides with Anders (my uncle):

 Had coffee in the garden in the wonderful, warm sunshine:

 Went kayaking with Magnus (oldest cousin):

 He brought down 2 sea kayaks and I went out with him on Friday around some of the islands.

 Anders was very concerned about my safety and came to check up on us in the boat... you can see us straight ahead of the boat really tiny.

 Kirsten and I stayed in the barn and here she is walking up to the main house for dinner one day:

 The sunset:

 We laid on the pier everyday after breakfast enjoying the sun and sounds of little waves.

 Saturday Hans (middle cousin) decided to try the kayak with Magnus, here he is getting the feel of it on the land first:

 lookin' like a pro so far...

 Then he rowed out, starting yelling about how he didn't know how to turn and next thing we know he flipped over and started yelling about how cold the water was!  I think the water was around 14C (57F) this day:

 So, big brother Magnus rowed out and saved him:

 Kirsten and I did some rowing around also, she was much better at rowing in a straight line then I was!

 We played Kubb in the yard.  Sarah (Hans' fiancée) kicked all of our asses! 

 Hans grilled ribs Saturday night, they were SO GOOD!

 We ate tons of good food, you can always count on good food with this family.  Here we have ribs, grilled corn, cole slaw and bacon wrapped prunes and goat cheese! An amazing feast prepared by Hans and Sarah:

 Sunday it was a bit colder and we had wrap up in our blankets to lay on the pier:

 And Bjorn (youngest cousin, my age) and Magnus went kayaking:

 Kirsten and I spent a lot of the weekend playing with 3 nails and 3 rocks.  It is similar to tic-tac-toe except once you have laid down each of the pieces you can move them around to try to get 3 in a row.  We also played the game on the right where you pull up the colored pieces and try not move the spring board.  

 This is the sky around 11 at night... pretty bright!! 

 Saturday night I even did the sauna! I went to Bjorn and Kirsten, and thought I was going to die.  They had the temperature around 80-85C (176-185F) in the sauna and then we jumped in the sea which was around 15C (59F) THREE TIMES!!! I couldn't sit in the sauna as long as them and kept having to go out and get some air which was a bit embarrassing, but it was my first time.

 Here is the main house:

 Hans and Sarah in the hammock from NC:

 Monday was Sweden's National Day, everyone forgot except Kirsten who reminded us at lunch! We learned from the encyclopedia that it had something to do with some king getting voted into power in the 1800s and something else that I forgot...  After lunch we went for a boat ride around the islands and since it was the National Day the boat got the Swedish flag.  So here is our Norwegian celebrating Sweden:

 We climbed to the top of a big island and took in the view:

 This was at the top of the island, it is a beacon they light up as a warning of the Russians coming or something.

 After the boat ride Kirsten and I went home tan and very happy! I even got a new sundress:

I think this is the tannest I have ever been by June! Who would have thought I would get this tan in Sweden of all places... ah, the life of a student!!!

I will fill you in soon on what has been happening in school this week I promise!

"In summer, the song sings itself." ~William Carlos Williams

Alright, so a lot has happened in the WEEK I have not posted (sorry about that).  My internet has been really weird recently, turning on and off and on and off randomly and in general sucking.  I tried to post an "I'm alive" post from school but the internet was being SUPER slow there and I didn't have time to wait for it to load.  So, anyway, HERE I AM!!!

So... Last Friday was International Food Day in Nybro.  There were 20 some food vendors giving away food from all over the world! There was Sweden, Denmark, Norway, China, Thailand, Iraq, Morocco, African,  Several -stans (They were ones I had never heard of before so I can't remember now) and even an American stand.  

 Weirdly I think I managed to get two pictures with the same random black dude in them! I don't know who he was or what country he was representing since he is seen above behind a table.

 But, each of these tents have at least 4 different countries at them, some have more and you just line up and get food.

 This was really good, it was from some where in South America... they sat there and cut up the veggies, cooked them and this super old man gave you a tiny bowl which he carefully made sure had a piece of each veggie and bread.  It was really good but I think my favorite was Norway (delicious pancakes with butter and sugar between them), Thailand (fried spring rolls with sauce), China (chicken and some peppers in a wok) and Iraq (huge really good gyro of sorts).  I even went to investigate the American table... I had heard they were serving meat on white bread (not very exciting).  It turns out it was pork bbq with cheese (weird) and on white bread.  The pork was good, the cheese and bread left something to be desired.  I had visions while walking over there that it was going to be baloney with mayo or something!  It was an interesting afternoon and nice to see Nybro exciting and alive... even with mainly super old people! haha.

Afterwards Sigrid and Vegard took me to the riding stables for my lesson.  We brought the kids out to meet the horses, they seemed more interested in this big tractor carrying round bales then the horses but they did look at them.  Apparently after they got home they talked about the horses and had enjoyed it.  I got to ride Idex (pronounced E-dex) for the first time.  He is super sweet and a lot of fun to ride, he felt so small compared to Lady and Poseidon! Apparently he can be a good jumper if you get him going, I wonder if I will ride him again or not.

 All day on Friday I worked on making drop vases.  I was working by myself so it was easier to do alone, but I did need a punty and a few of them have hole in the side which I made with a torch and then blew until a bubble formed and popped.  Here are two of them... I don't know why I didn't take a picture of all of them but I made several, maybe 7?

 Saturday was the exhibition for the 3rd year (I shouldn't call them that, some have been going for longer then 3 years... ) or the most advanced "Art Glass" students.:

 I spend the morning helping Kirsten (this is not her, this is Marja) pour champagne, cut and arrange fruit...

 and the best part... put out the chocolates!!!

It was a good turn out, a lot of people came and even one of the Orrefors' designers cut the ribbon for the opening.  I met and hungout with an American who used to work at Åfors but is now opening his own place in the area named Christopher Ramsey.  I was thinking maybe need year I can do one my practical studies with him, since he was nice and speaks English.  He is also super friendly and seems to know EVERYONE so maybe he would be a good connection.  After the opening we went to the Crystal Bar and had a glass of wine and enjoyed being dressed up and not drinking at home for once.  Then we went to a cook out in the back yard of Ida and Bosse and hung out and chatted the night away.  I mostly spent time with Kirsten and Sigrid... I even got to ride in the front of Sigrid's bike.  She and Vegard have this bike with two wheels in the front and a giant box where the kids ride... it was very comfortable :)

 Monday I ruthlessly went through my cupboard giving glass to the school and throwing away bad stuff.  It was hard but I felt so much better afterwards! Look at it now... not over flowing for once!!

Then in the hot shop all week it has been time for production, meaning making bowls, cups and vases for the student's to use next year to practice doing flower and deep cutting on.  So, I spent my day making these on Monday:

 And I think I made about 15!  Not too bad :)

 Tuesday I made these, very similar but with straight sides.  Some were super thick and some thin, so they can be used for either deep cutting or flowers... depending on the assignment.

 I have no idea how many I made but it was a lot! The whole class produced a TON and we had turn on the second annealer that day!

 Tuesday the circus came to town and parked literally in the back yard!

 That is the school building on the left.

 It was the Bambino family circus! Kirsten and I went with Sigrid, Vegard and the kids... turns out that Kirsten and I were the only ones there without kids... 

 It was TINY!

 Here is Mr. Bambino, his wife and their clown son...

 Another son working with the 4 little black ponies they brought with them...

 They did this trick where they would stand on the step... which I think scared people more them impressed them because the space was so small it was so close.

 I couldn't get this picture to turn sideways, but here is another son standing on his hands on top of three chairs on top of a table! Pretty cool.  I only stayed for the first half, it was hot, kind of lame and I was starving for dinner... of course I heard the second half was better then the first.  Oh well.

Wednesday I cleaned out my locker some more and packed up a bunch of glass to take home:  

I have no idea if I am going to be able to get it all home or not! I hope so!!! Then after lunch I helped Vegard blow up a graal (which turned out really good) and made a super ugly brown bowl which thankfully broke before I got it in the annealer, it was that ugly! haha.  

After school we went to the lake for a cookout and swimming! I even jumped in! OK, it was just for a few seconds of swimming but I did it! I guess that means it is officially summer!! Hooray!

Now I have Thursday (today), Friday and Monday off of school so I am going to see my family at their summer house on the coast with Kirsten.  I am excited and promise to take tons of pictures when we get there tomorrow! Tonight I have riding lesson which I think will be private, just me riding, which makes me a bit nervous... hopefully it won't be too exhausting, but I suppose if it is thats OK, I have the whole weekend to recover! It supposed to be perfect weather and I am going to go outside and enjoy some of the perfect weather right now!