Catching Up Medley

I was yelled at over the phone today. By one of my colleagues from Sweden. He was very upset with me because of the lack of new posts lately. Well, OK, he didn't yell, but he did tell me I need to post something new. It's been way too long since my last post, he said. And he was right, of course, still it was kind of nice to hear it. My blog is the only blog he follows so I have a responsibility to keep posting. So, thank you A, this one is for you! You better enjoy it!

OK, there are a few reasons I haven't posted anything in a while. First of all I was in Sweden, and for a few days I was without an internet connection so I couldn't post. I did write some posts, but when I finally had connection again the posts felt out of date, and I was too busy to write something new. After I came back home again I got a headache, leading to a 4 day migraine attack. Not fun and a joy of my life, but hey, at least it didn't last for 5 days! And after that I've started a few posts, but I didn't feel any inspiration. I have no choice today, but that's OK because today I am inspired!

Let's talk about my trip to Sweden. What did I do? How was it? Who did I see? Well, over a period of 10 days I was in 5 different towns, and I saw 56 people. The youngest was my new little nephew of 6 weeks, the oldest was my granddad of 82 years. Some I saw for only a few minutes, and some I saw for a few days. Some I had never met before, and some I see every time I go back. It was a perfect mix of family and friends, old ones and new ones. Well, almost perfect, there are always a few people I wish I could have seen, but it didn't work out that way. Hopefully next time!

I also went through my stuff, which wasn't more than a few boxes of a mix of things that was mine, my dad's and my grandma's. There were a lot of rubbish, I got rid of 5 big bin liners with stuff, but there were some treasures as well. I found old papers after my grandma, like food rationing coupons for the years after World War 2 when my dad was just a baby; and kitchen towels monogrammed with her maiden name initials. My dad had those things in possession when he died, and I apparently kept them. I was in such a bad state when I left Sweden to move to Spain so I had no memory of keeping those things. But I love it that I did! There were also some things that was my dad's, like photographs, and letters I wrote to him when I was a kid, and drawings my son made for him when he was a kid. And his journals, actually calendars, where he jotted down a few words of what had happened a few times a week, or when something in particular had occurred. Events like when he saw, or spoke to my sister and myself, or when he had doctor's appointments or had dinner at my grandma's. And among my own things were my photographs, the most important ones where all there; my baby pictures, and my son's baby pictures. I wasn't sure they would be there, but they were. Memories of life and love!

All those things I brought with me to Spain, except for what I didn't want to keep, and my dad's drawer. It was so nice to see it again, and I have more love for it than I remembered. I can't wait to find a way to get it here. After the summer, before the end of this year, is what I hope for. I just need to figure out the cheapest and best way to do it.

What else did I do in Sweden? Well, I had a couple of days with no plans and one of those days I spent with my best friend and it was rainy and cold outside so we slept in, had a nice chat by the kitchen table, and then we watched films all evening, cuddled up under blankets and we had sweets and chips and dip for both lunch and dinner. Yum! I also had a nice dinner and evening alone with my mum for the first time in, well, maybe all my life. She cooked and we had some wine and stayed up chatting until after midnight. I also had a nice dinner out with some friends one evening, and I saw my granddad a total of three times. And the last evening I watched Sweden win the Eurovision Song Contest for the 6th time, it was exciting and nail biting and oh so much fun. Måns Zelmerlöw was great and performed the song Heroes perfectly! I am so happy got to share that evening with my sister and her best friend. Next year I plan on being there in person to see it live, it's supposed to be a great live event. With Home Free coming to Europe and Eurovision being held in Sweden I have decided to make next year a year of live music. I am very excited to see what else will come my way!

Speaking of music, and Home Free, they released a new video yesterday and as always I am in love with both the song and the video. This time it's a medley of Song of The South by Alabama and Wagon Wheel by Old Crowe Medicine Show, and it's smooth and soothing, and fun. It's even more fun in concert, so have a look for a live video of it on YouTube, there are several to choose from, and you will see the guys interact with their audience while singing it. It's fun, and I wish I was there. Of course.

So, A, are you happy now?

Did anybody else miss me? If so, what would you want me to write about next? What posts are your favourites? Let me know in the comments, please.

Love//

Carina

Music Sunday

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the Eurovision Song Contest that we have here in Europe in May every year. In Sweden this is a huge event, and the hunt for Sweden's contribution officially starts in January every year (although the job in finding songs starts long before that). For 6 consecutive Saturdays the Swedes are sat in front of the telly watching the Melodifestivalen (or Mello as it's commonly called) while artists perform songs. The first 4 weeks will show 10 contributions per week, with the top 2 going straight to the final week, and the 3d and 4th going to a second chance aired week 5. The top 2 of those goes to the final week. These evenings bring family and friends together over some nice food, loud opinions and laughter.

In the end there are 10 songs and artists ready for the big Final week 6. The winner is chosen by the votes of the viewers and jury groups around Europe. I'm not going to get in to the technicalities of how the votes are calculated, but they are.

The winner of all this gets to go to the Eurovision Song Contest, which is held in the country of last year's winning song. 

Nowadays most countries contributions are in English, but there used to be a rule that you were only allowed to sing in the official language of the country you were competing for. This was always unfair because a lot of people understand English, or Spanish, but very few understand Turkish, Polish or Greek. It was fun in a lot of ways, but I prefer it now when I can understand the lyrics of the songs.

Anyway, this is Sweden's winning act, and this year's contribution to Eurovision. There is an official video of this song, but I'm sharing the actual performance that won Melodifestivalen, because the light show is quite spectacular.

This is Måns Zelmerlöw. Måns came in fifth in Swedish Idol in 2005, and he won the first season of the Swedish Let's Dance in 2007. Here is Heroes.

Oh, and beware of his eyes. You might drown if you're not careful. 

Love//

Carina