Hudiksvall III

Today we made our obligatory tour of downtown Hudiksvall (including stops at the library and the bank), but not before we went swimming in a lake near Tom's house. Okay, so Tom and I went swimming and Elaine watched us safely from the shore. I completely understand not wanting to have sand in uncomfortable places all day long, but it was delicious to jump into the icy water. I got out after about a minute of feeling like I was going to freeze, a nice feeling after all of the heat I have endured lately. I realized that I should stay in longer since the wind was blowing and the water wasn't that cold once you got used to it.

Back on land, I took a sort of miserable but upright shower and got dressed again then gleefully applied sunscreen having met my quota for vitamin D intake. I don't think I mention earlier, before I left Seattle I had some blood work done and unsurprisingly I have a very low level of vitamin D. Nicole (my rheumatologist) is recommending that I take some fairly considerable doses of supplements, but until I get a regular supply, it's ok for me to fulfill my requirements with 15-20 minutes of unprotected sunshine. Without burning, of course.

After swimming and our downtown errands, we just barely had time to get to a restaurant for the daily lunch special. Tom had a plan. Elaine and I were both clearly skeptical when we parked in a car dealership, but Tom knew what he was doing. We were too late for the special, but we had pan fried flounder and mashed potatoes with salad and coffee. Yum! They had really tasty little cookies, too - lots of butter.

Then we headed to an auction, Tom wanted to see if he could pick up some linen, but wound up with a bench instead. We didn't have time to stick around for the linen to come up for bid because we needed to get out to Trogstavallen. There we walked around for a bit, looked at several charming old buildings, one of which was in Tom's mothers family and got dinner. Tom and Elaine got dinner, I didn't need any more food just then, especially not Kolbollar which is bits of pork fried in pork fat and then pancake batter thrown in to hold the whole mess together.

We also met Tom's aunt, Gerd. She is a really charming woman. We spoke Norwegian as she had spent some time in Norway at folkehøgskole. It was easy to tell that she and Tom enjoy each others' company.

As I am writing these Tom and Elaine are practicing their dances with the local dance group and I am hoping that I get an opportunity to run through my dances. As far as these dancers go, they are lovely all around. All of them seem to be good dancers and are eager to help Tom and Elaine.