Actually it’s 12:30 at night for us, but the sun is already up here at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. At 8:30 on a Monday morning the place is fairly busy. The flight over was long, long enough to watch three films on the little screens they have on the back of the seat rests. I never could sleep on airplanes, so right about now I could just lay down anywhere on the floor and fall asleep in a few minutes.
Richard Boyer
Sunday,
Location: 30,000 feet above Wyoming.
I’m on the way to Sweden with Victor and Lina. We set the alarm for 7:00, ate breakfast and headed out the door for check-in with Delta airlines. I was expecting a zoo of people, but instead it went quite smoothly with their self check-in.
Last night we all drove up to Park City for the Midsummer celebration. A holiday that is wildly popular in the Scandinavian countries, stemming back to the days of the Vikings. They saw it as a time to honor the longest day of the year and the fertility of the human race. Yes many a child has his or her birthday in March.
We had the Maypole from last years festival; a large 4x4 pressure treated wood pole with a cross bar on it. This is then covered in leafy twigs cut off of bushes and then adorn with flowers. String is generally used to wrap the greenery around the pole.
We were also late driving up there, putting the entire pole decorating ceremony on hold. Somehow when we tied the large wooden cross to the top of the car, I thought wearing a white robe would have fit in better. It looked like we were heading to a KKK rally. I was waiting for the first cop to pull us over and start the questioning process.
The women took over the decorating tradition as we arrived. Most of the guys grouped together with some stout beer in hand. David Maribello, our electrician friend had just finished a job wiring up a brewery and of course had a rather large collection of their most potent products in the form of liter bottles. This of course attracted more guys to join our group in conversation, as the women worked. In this organization the majority is Swedish wives married to Americans. We all had something in common, foreign wives.
Soon the dinner bell rang out and we lined up for the smorgasbord of food, starting with herring and potatoes. Most of the guys gleefully fill their plates up with the fish, as the Swedish tradition is to wash it down with Aquavit, a potent 40 percent-spiced vodka. With each shot the group broke into Swedish songs, most of which I would be shot for translating. Especially when they deal with the sexual arousal of women, or the stiffness of certain male parts.
When everyone is to the point of finding it difficult to balance, the games begin. We split up into seven groups and were given names from each day of the week. The completion was fierce, as Monday’s group was yelling out primeval grunts.
The first task was to loop a string around your ear with a piece of candy tied to the end. You then had to run up to an empty wine bottle and gingerly try to lower the piece, in this case, a Swedish fish into the neck of the bottle. No hand could be used and it took a while. A three-legged race followed with half of the contestants flailing on the ground. They saved the most dangerous until last. “The boot tossing”. This is where to victim gets into more or less a football squat stance and the boot is then tossed between the legs, arcing it over the back in an attempt to propel it forward. The result usually ends up with the boot flying straight up in the air and landing on some unsuspecting contestant. I deflected one away from Lina head. It was a fun evening for everyone.
At 11;00 we finally headed back down the valley, we had an early morning to deal with.
Richard Boyer
I worked on this one today, just adding a few more highlights to the water and a few more bodies in the background. The crit has been put off until tomorrow. Most everyone is heading down to the Salt Lake Arts Festival. Every Spring they put on an event where they close off a few city blocks and set up artists booths with all kinds of crafts and art work for sale. Food and concerts are usually in the evenings and this evening "Cowboy Junkies" are playing.
Sunday
Today is Fathers day, one of the most played down holidays there is. Lets face it Mothers Day has about the same power as Christmas, if you forget it, you might as well start packing your bags. You’re out in the proverbial doghouse for a week.
I was told by Lina to sleep in so she could bring me coffee in bed. At eight-thirty I decided to get up, both Victor and Lina were still snoring away, so I went out on the back porch to soak in the morning sun. Karin was just returning from a walk with the dog and it was then we figured there was no point in waiting any longer. We decided coffee was in order on the porch and let the kids continue to sleep.
We have an old sailboat up here at the cabin, something Karin and her friend Sussi got for free. Just being in the right place at the right time, they met a man who just wanted to get rid of an old boat and trailer. With a little paint and work we had the thing back up and running. Two years later its still being used and the only thing it could use now are some new sails.
The wind was blowing this morning so we decided to pull the plywood off the top and clean out all the dead leaves from winter storage. A couple of spider webs and paper wasp nests had to be carefully cleaned out, but soon it was ready to try out in the water.
We headed off to the East arm of Jordanelle Reservoir. The Sunday boaters were out in full force. It was father’s day on the water. Within minutes we had the mast on and were backing the boat down the ramp, getting the old sail on in a strong wind was not easy. And soon Karin was swearing from being clipped in the head from the boom. Strong gusts were playing havoc on the small boat. Victor and Karin decided to try it first, as we pushed them out into the water. The boom swung around again narrowly missing their heads. A few minutes later they were across the arm of the reservoir and working their way back across in the classic tack. By the time they came back to our side they had progressed forward about a hundred feet. The steady head wind made it hard to cover any distance, but added excitement as Victor leaned into a nice tilt, high up on the starboard side for a ride back across. Hollers were heard from Karin, as she told Victor to be more careful. He increased the tilt and flew across to the other side.
An hour later we caught sight of them again, the sail out all the way, as they rode the winds back to the launch site. It was Lina and my turn now.
Victor pushed us out as the boom swung around and clobbered me in the head. I cursed the stupid boom for being so damn low, fit for a munchkin. We found ourselves racing across in the same fashion, with some of the gusts picking the small craft up to tipping levels with us. Lina was soon asking if it was time to head back, but I wanted to try and get forward at least a little down the arm of the reservoir. My pay off was another whack to the head by the boom. I vowed to look at the Internet for new sails. Ours was so old and stretched out that the boom was dropping down at the end, making it next to impossible for me to stoop low enough so as to avoid being hit.
We made it back in one piece and are now relaxing with a gin and tonic back at the cabin. Chicken is on the menu for tonight.
Richard Boyer
We planned to go up to the cabin today to escape the heat. The forecast called for afternoon temperatures in the 80’s
Karin woke up early, put on some coffee and powered up the Laptop. Princess Victoria and Daniel Westling were to be wed over in Stockholm and it was televised live over the Internet.
I stumbled out of bed a little after eight in the morning and went downstairs. In an excited voice she called me over to watch the commencement of the wedding vows. Cameras had been place all around inside “Storkyrkan”, a stone church built sometime in the 1200’s, so as to capture every angle and emotion of the young couple.
I glanced over to the kitchen table where the Salt Lake Tribune had been placed. The headlines were just another long-winded, eyewitness’s detailed account of the execution of convicted killer Rodney Gardner. I decided to bring the paper up to the cabin; maybe we could use it to start a fire in the stove.
“skynda på” she called out. All of Sweden had become glued to the television for this monumental event.
Soon they were out the door and climbing onto a horse drawn carriage, ornately decorated in royal fashion for a promenade around the town. The route had carefully been planned out to offer the most exposure for the newlyweds to the general population. And the population was out to see them today! Security guards dressed in suits ran along side the carriage, as the rest of the police and military opened up a wide berth along the crowded streets for the procession. They finally made their way over to Djurgarden and the Wasa museum to board an elaborately, gold decorated boat for a trip back to the castle on Gamla Stan. The “Slottet”, as they would call it was where the evening banquet dinner was to be held. They pushed off without a motor; the driving force was a crew of fourteen rowers in full uniform.
We both thought, just what would we have to do to be invited for that dinner.
Richard Boyer
I worked on the scouts some more, adding a few more and changing a few around. Its still not done. With the uniforms I hope it doesn't become too drab. That may call for some more colorful flags in the piece.
I just blocked in this 18x24. Its from the scouts marching back to the car after a long hike in southern Utah. The road is what intrigued me, the way it serpentines through the grasses.
It’s June and we should be walking around in 80-90 degree weather, basking in the sun, but noooo. Here we are putting on ski coats! The next couple of days it’s calling for cold rain, no wonder everything seems to be growing like its on steroids.
We had the crit last night and started off with some nice bottles of wine. It has become tradition now to not come empty handed, but rather with your choice of red wine. We are still trying to get it across to some of the crit members to go to the wine store and pick out something above the ten dollar range. Usually there you can find a good one rated at least 90 for around $12-14. This makes it more fun to open up a few and do some taste testing before the actual critiquing begins.
I brought along the
I also added a canoe to one of the
So I added a canoe to the small 11x14 piece here.
Richard Boyer
Yesterday Karin and I decided to do a mountain bike ride. She wanted to leave first thing in the morning after waking up. I on the other hand couldn’t even open my eyes without that first cup of coffee.
Some people will go to the gym early in the morning before eating anything; my wife falls into that category. She usually rolls her eyes when I say that I need to eat a real breakfast before exerting myself to the limits. French toast came to mind yesterday and so after an hour or two we were finished and ready to hit the steep slopes.
As we cycled up the hill to the entrance of
We spent much of the time walking the bikes up the steep incline. Karin was swearing at the heat. It was my fault for eating such a large breakfast!
At the top it levels off for a while and you get to catch your breath as you ride through fields of wildflowers. The trail then continues up again, although not quite as steep along the side of the hill. There you could look down into
We came to a junction and decided to continue on up and along the Bonneville Shoreline trail until we reached Dry Creek, from there you can fly down the hill back to civilization. That’s where she turns to me and say’s “Why don’t you go first you like to go faster anyways!” In my mind I knew what she meant. When it comes to downhill most guys tend to leave common sense behind, as they put the bike into the highest gear and begin building up speeds approaching Mach One.
This would explain all the bruises our oldest child has when he returns from a mountain bike ride. Never the less I made it down with no injuries. Karin just called it “Reckless”
Today I just worked a little on the larger
Richard Boyer
I broke out the larger Grand Canyon painting today and started up on it again. Seems like a long time ago that I did anything with this one. The river trip took up a week and then I had another weeks worth of paintings from the trip to finish up.
