Commuting

My commute this morning on my bike:

Just after collecting my bike from the indoor bike room.

Down the quiet side street.

The morning bike commutes have been a bit more slippery than the evenings. Both of these past two mornings it has been snowing and the plows hadn't been out on the bike paths recently. By the evening there was more gravel down and it was freshly plowed. What I do enjoy, though, is that they often don't plow all the way down to the pavement. This would leave space for water to pool during the days and ice to form. Instead, there is always a layer of snow and gravel on the ground. With snow tires being mandatory on cars, and more people have studded tired (some even on their bikes!), this seems to work quite well.

Leaving work around 4. Last bike outside.

Uppsala Training Weekend this weekend! Planning on a nice long orienteering run in Lunsen tomorrow, followed by two sessions on Sunday. Lots of out of towners here too - over 120 people participating. Should be beautiful tomorrow in the snow! After some dire weather predictions of -14°C, it's only going to be about -5 tomorrow. I can deal with that. Good thing I have wet socks :)

Weekend Fun

This weekend was the Linné Gala, which signifies the end of the season and time to relax and have fun. The organizing crew (which included Ross) did an amazing job decorating, serving wonderful food and having lots of games and awards. Plus, great music to get us through the night. Ross won the Sunshine Award for all of his enthusiasm and cheering.

Solstråle Ross

Sunday was, due to a late night, a lazy day, but I got excited and baked one of my favorite seasonal Swedish deliciousnesses (yes, that word is a noun).

Lussekatter (saffron rolls)

I put on Christmas music and pretended that it was December. With no Thanksgiving to hold you back, Christmas celebrations can start a lot earlier.

Plus, they made my Monday morning at work much better.

On Wednesday we are headed to the opera in Stockholm with some friends, but also Ross's parents! Eric and Mary are flying in on Wednesday and will be staying with us through the weekend. Hopefully we will get to show them all the exciting Uppsala sites... like the forests. The weather has improved, since it's not constantly raining and it's above freezing, so I hope it continues this way while they are here. The morning bike commutes to work are beautiful, as I'm often biking during sunrise. Soon it will be completely dark, but for now it's quite magical.

October

October in the US

Em and Baby Ben! Bath Time.

Boggle Games at North Americans. Really, we did race prep...

Delaware Water Gap. iPhone doesn't do the colors justice.

Exploring with Alex, Ross and Karen

Being tourists in the woods.

Fall! With pies, and pumpkins, and apples and cakes and donuts!

This is why I love fall. So excited to stop at the stand.

Look, I'm pie!

October in Uppsala

It's hard to tell, because it's the iphone, but it's a gigantic moon rising by the cathedral.

Clothing Exchange party. Combined with a fantastic brunch and, of course, an urban o course. (Link to Claire's blog about her year in Sweden and with Linné)

Bowling with work - the winning team. Notice I was not on it. It was a horrible bowling evening. I need to brush up on my skills.

Sunset outside the apartment.

And we moved, in September. We didn't go far, just across the street. But instead of living in apartment 23, we now live in 4. The walls have yet to be decorated, but we'll get there!