Monday

Today Lina and I went to Skansen, a cultural museum spread out over several 100 acres in the middle of Stockholm. There they have collected old buildings and farmhouses, some of which date back to the 1300’s from all over Sweden and put them together in one large park on an island. The people working there will dress up in period costumes and basically play the part of whatever building they are stationed in. So the baker will actually produce breads there in the shop, the wood worker will make furniture and the pottery maker will turn out bowls and cups for sale. And they encourage you to take pictures as long as you don’t use a flash.

One of the houses was making flat bread and they let the kids help. So after putting an apron and hair shall on my daughter, they showed her how to grind up wheat, make the flour and dough. She then rolled it out on the wooded table and they baked it in the open fire stove. And yes they have honey to pour over the top so you can eat it right there.

As I was walking aimlessly around, I stumbled into one of the manors from the 1600’s where they were having a small violin concert in period dress, so I walked around photographing every possible angle as the four women played. I felt like the Paparazzi in a candy store. My idea is to collect as much information as possible for future paintings; and I know some of this subject matter would make killer work. Thank God digital took over print film, now we can just shot thousands of pictures without spending a fortune on development.

Richard Boyer