dan collier » sweden

Sunset northwest of Norrö

dan — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 19:28:56 +0000

A beautiful sunset at about 10 pm last night, taken from the back deck of the boat.

Gadfly II: Fly Harder

dan — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 18:45:53 +0000

Yesterday sailing was great, blowing about 10 knots, and we made it up Rödlöga before deciding to stay nearby on an islet next to Storskäret. Today, the wind was blowing 15-20 knots with choppy seas, and sailing was a challenge but we eventually made it back to our anchoring spot from a few days ago on Norrö.

Below are some pictures of the last few days.

I haven’t updated the route we took yet, but you can find Storskäret here.

Stockholm Archipelago on Gadfly II

dan — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:40:06 +0000

Johanna, Naomi, her friend Leah, Jaxon, and I are sailing this week (July 27 – Aug 2) in the archipelago between Stockholm and the Baltic sea on a Delphia 28 GT. The Swedish ideal of tying up to an unmarked (and for me unknown) rock cliff in just a meter or two of water takes some nerve, but so far so good.

I’m tracking the trip on Google Maps, if you’re interested.

Volvo Ocean Race: Stockholm In-Port Race

dan — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 09:26:03 +0000

The Volvo Ocean Race 2008/2009 came to Stockholm last week. On June 21st, quick “in-port” races were held in Kanholmsfjärden in the Stockholm archipelago (quite close to Bullandö). We went out to watch the races, some images are below.

If you’re wondering about Kanholmsfjärden, it is Kanholm’s fjärd – and a fjärd is “a large open body of water within an archipelago (particularly on the east coast of Sweden).

Midsommarafton

dan — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 08:26:40 +0000

We spent mid-summer weekend in Bullandö this year. Because mid-summer is the biggest party day/night of the year in Sweden, dancing around the midsommarstången (mid-summer pole or Maypole) was held on Friday.

Here are some pictures from midsommarafton.

Naomi’s 6th Grade Class Photo

dan — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 13:33:49 +0000

Naomi is in the bottom row, farthest to the left.

Julafton 2008 på Bullandö

dan — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 21:25:45 +0000

Below are some photos from Julafton (Christmas Eve) at Johanna’s parents’ house at Bullandö. Happy holidays!

Jaxon’s Kindergarten Class Photo

dan — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 20:42:44 +0000

In Sweden, to start first grade a child is generally expected to be 7 years old by January 1 of that school year. Parents with children that just make the cut-off seem as often as not to wait a year to enroll their children. So even though Jaxon went to kindergarten on Cape Cod last year, he will only be 6½ years old on the 1st of January 2009, and the bi-lingual school we wanted him to attend insisted he join the kindergarten class.

When we asked Jaxon about attending kindergarten again, he wasn’t too happy at first. But when we told him about kindergarten here – how much playtime they have and the fun things they do, he reconsidered. His comment was “Playing is what I do best!”. The academic aspect of kindergarten has been much less intense here compared to Cape Cod, but adjusting to a new primary language and new friends has kept Jax plenty busy.

Below is his class photo from this year. While he is the tallest in the class, he is far from the oldest.

I hope to eventually receive and post Naomi’s class photo, but it seems we lost the requisite forms required to appease the multiple layers of bureaucracy necessary to receive our copy of the photo.

A short walk in the woods

dan — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:25:17 +0000

On November 22, after a light snowfall, Naomi, Jax and I took a walk in the woods in Bullandö. Here are some pictures from our outing.