Thursday

 Every day we seem to have a dinner planned with some relative or another and it’s getting to me.  Just once I would love to kick up my feet on a couch and watch some television in peace and quiet. 

Tonight it was fish cake at Erik & Inge-Briet’s house just down the road a few hundred feet. Erik, who is 86, is Elsie’s oldest brother.  So at six o’clock sharp, everybody shows up.  First to show up was our group, Victor and I, along with our hosts Elna and Siwert.  Elna is Elsie’s younger sister.  Literally thirty seconds behind was Elsie and her older sister Bittan with husband Lennart.  Swedes are very punctual! 

Yesterday it was dinner at Elsie’s youngest brothers house.  We were all there at exactly the invited time of 6:30.  At least there we had an excuse to kick back and watch the soccer match between Spain and Germany in the world cup, with Germany loosing 3-2.  

 Tonight it was a tuna fish cake with mayonnaise, covered with some kind of cream and shrimp.  Yes, I know, if you were trying to loose weight this wouldn’t be the right food to eat.  We had some @#%# Gallo wine for the dinner, which I’m not going to get into for now!  (Why, why, why can’t people learn about the differences in wine?  They live their entire life drinking the cheapest of wine wondering about the headaches they wake up with the next morning.)

But, the conversation is what I found interesting. 

Maybe this is the topic for many over the age of eighty and Elna, who isn’t at that age bracket quite yet wanted it to change the subject, a change to something more lively.  The topic for the evening was what sicknesses or ailments fellow comrades had.   Maybe this is a popular topic for those in this age group, but for those who are not, it can be a little depressing to listen to. Especially when they start going into the cancers this or that person died of!    Elna and Siwert voiced their opinions about the subject to deaf ears and walked out to get some fresh air.  The dinner was good but very filling for me, I feel like I need to burn a few thousand calories off soon here. 

At 9:00 the group disbanded and headed back home for bed.

Tomorrow it’s Bittan & Lenards turn. They set up a large tent in their front yard for the relations gathering.  The dinner starts at 6:00 in the evening and as usual will wrap up around 9:00 to 9:30; usually the time the crit session starts back home.

 Now I’m back in the basement with a glass of red wine blogging.  Our sanctuary as Quasimodo put it, is the basement of Siwert & Elna’s place.

Tomorrow we are taking the train over to Kopenhamn (Copenhagen) to pick up Lina, who has been visiting a friend there for the past five days.

Richard Boyer