Thomas

Thomas is a retired IT professional, who lives alone with his golden retriever Ziggy Stardust in a small townhouse in a small town in the southern half of Sweden. He has two grown-up kids and at least five grandkids – "as far as I know". Thomas enjoys daily long walks with Ziggy in the forests around town, he loves cooking for his guests, and he likes to make things with his hands. He says he loves good food, good wine, people who smile and make him smile. Having spent most of his life developing things, methods and organizations, he's passionately interested in all kinds of technology, natural science, politics,... anything that raises a problem, whether it can be solved or not. Consequently, he is consistently short of time. While he was professionally active, he lived in San Francisco a few years, working as software engineer down in Silicon Valley. He claims that he did leave his heart in San Francisco, and is constantly planning to go back and pick it up. Quoting Hoagy Carmichael's Hong Kong Blues, he says "... every time I try to leave, sweet opium won't let me fly away... ...i.e. my opium is Sweden, my kids, my dog, my friends, my forest,... you know, I'm Swedish."
julbord at the grocery store

A Free Lunch – in the Grocery Store!

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Today, I spent extra half an hour in my favorite grocery store, eating a complimentary lunch from their julbord, which they put up one day every year a few weeks before Christmas. (Please see explanation of julbord below.) The julbord is open for all customers, free of charge. You’re invited even if you haven’t been … Read more

Allt For Sverige

Allt för Sverige – Americans in Sweden Reality Show

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  Imagine ten Americans of varying ages and professions, such as sheriff, factory worker, pastor, designer, student, singer-songwriter,… all of these getting together, all strangers to each other but with one common characteristic: Swedish ancestry, of which they know very little. Buy them a return flight to Sweden and offer them a months all-inclusive journey … Read more

The White Moose

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You didn’t know there are white moose, did you? No wonder if you didn’t, it doesn’t exist more than 100, maybe 150, and they all live in Värmland. They’re not albinos – albinism is a defect and albinos usually do not live long enough to have offspring – these babies are leucistic, i.e. they have … Read more

Swedish-Strawberries

The Swedish Strawberry

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Today is August 15. The temperature is approx 25°C (77°F), the sky is all blue, and the sunshine is pouring down on my face as I cross the street on my way to the supermarket. It’s a beautiful Swedish summer day. But – wait, something’s missing! For almost three months, there has been a table … Read more

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