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Today...

... is hot.  Like ridiculous hot.  Summer hot.  92º and climbing. (The heat and I are not friends.)

... I ate my first garden grown strawberry of 2011.  Really, try growing them.  They are *so* easy to grow and garden strawberries are like 1000 times more delicious than grocery store strawberries.  I kid you not.

... the peonies are blooming and I am enjoying them while I can.  In this heat they won't last long.

... Pete and Maddie stopped by a church rummage sale and brought home this little gem.  I love Dala horses, and this is a sweet little piece.  (Sverige means Sweden in Swedish.)

... I plan to have a cool drink and relax so I can (finally) get over this head cold.

 

Dala Horse Love

My husband is Swedish and when I married him, I was introduced to many Swedish things.  Yes, I've tried lutefisk (not awful if covered in cream sauce), and Bond-ost and Glogg -- both of which I plan on having at my mother-in-law's this holiday season.  But my favorite Swedish thing is the Dala horse. 

On our most recent trip to The Gift Box, Pete got me this wonderful orange Dala horse dish which I am loving, but I still don't have an actual Dala horse of my own.  We do have quite a collection though:

Yes, there are two bulls down on the far end -- I believe the different animals represent different regions of Sweden and perhaps my husband's family comes from the region represented by the bull (but he can correct me here).  The black horse is a very special gift -- an antique given to Maddie by her Farfar before he passed away.

And while we are on the subject of Swedish things...

Here's our Swedish Christmas tree.

The Dala Horse

The Dala Horse, or Dalahäst, is a traditional toy from Sweden.  They are carved from wood and beautifully decorated using the swedish painting technique called Kurbits painting.  The oldest ones, some of which can be seen here, date back as early as 1624.

The Viking's religion, As, viewed the horse as sacred, which is probably why horses were carved.  There is a whole lot of information on the Dala Horses and their history at the Grannas website.  Grannas, the oldest existing manufacturer of Dala horses, was started back in 1922 by Grannas Anders Olsson.  It is still family owned and the horses are hand-carved and hand painted.  You can see pictures of all the production step here.

And what about those Dala Horses at the top of the page?  Those live with us.  The red one is Maddie's and is newer.  The Blue one is Pete's, which I believe he got as a child (am I right, Pete?)  The black one is very special -- it's rather old and was given to Maddie as a special gift from her Farfar (Father's father in Swedish) shortly before he died.  And those little ones are Pete's -- I think they are also kind of old.  Can you believe it -- I don't have one to call my own yet!

So, that's a little bit about the Dala Horse.  Here are some more links on Dala Horses:

• The Dala Horse... From Folk Toy to Lindsborg Tradition
• A Dala Horse quilt square pattern
• Picture of the Giant Dala Horse at the Scandinavian Heritage Visitors Center in Minot, ND.
• Wooden Horses of Sweden from Folk Art to National Symbol -- a book about the Dala Horse and the men and women who make them.  There is also a book called The Magic Horse by Chris Mosey which is out of print and apparently hard to find.  (I have to look for these when we are up in Andersonville!)

Hope you found this interesting!  Even though I only have a touch of Norwegian in my blood, I am so taken with everything Swedish!  I'll post more about Swedish crafts in the future!

A little bit of Swedish Christmas

Yesterday on our trip to IKEA I saw a lot of Swedish ornaments and I decided it was time to use our second christmas tree this year.  This is a whole Swedish tree and is sitting in the corner of out dining room.  Here's a close-up of a traditional Swedish ornament:

The straw ornaments are very traditional, as are the tomte's hanging from it.  Don't know what a tomte or tomten is?  See my post from last December.

Straw animals are popular too -- darn forgot to photograph our big straw reindeer!  But here is a picture of a cool straw wreath I bought at IKEA:

Pretty cool, huh?  And more Swedish Christmas info will follow.  I'm having the traditional Swedish Christmas dinner for all of Pete's family at my house this year, so I'll be sure to blog about that too!  And if you want to read more on your own, Pete's Mom got me the book Swedish Christmas by Catarina Lundgren Astrom a few years ago.  It has a lot of recipes for Swedish holiday goodies as well as some info on the traditions.

And I'm collecting info on Dala Horses too!  More on that soon!

Tomte

I've been meaning to post pictures of my Tomtes for ages and when Wendy posted about Swedish Christmas last week, I went into action.  Okay, not really.  After a couple of days I talked Pete into taking pictures for me, and now 3 days after that I'm finally posting. 

That picture up top is our biggest Tomte and he sits on the mantle.  Notice his lovely sweater! (which I did not knit.)  So, you're probably asking what a Tomte (or tomten) is.  Well, I found a definition of Tomte here and I found more Tomte info here.  But basically they are little elves that live in your house (on your farm. . . under the house. . .) and they are sometimes thought of as Santa or Santa's helpers.  Oh yeah, and they are Scandinavian.  Here's another. . .

This guy is a little smaller and more freindly looking! than the first one.  Our niece used to be scared of the Tomte in my in-laws house (he looked like the first one up there).

Then there are these little wooden tomtes (here's a website that sells all kinds of them) that come in all varieties.  The tall hat guy is Pete's and was given to him by a family friend years ago.  And here's mine. . .

We bought this a few weeks ago when we went up to Andersonville in Chicago.  While there we ate Swedish pankcakes with lingonberries at Svea and got lots of goodies from the Swedish Bakery. 

I must admit that I only have a touch of Norwegian in me.  However, Pete is almost entirely Swedish and I have loved learning about the Swedish heritage. 

And if you want a cute children's book about a Tomten  check out The Tomten by Astrid Lindgren it's one of Maddie's favorites!