Last night I took the dog out for a walk. It was around 10:30PM. The sun was near the horizon but it was still an hour away from dipping below the hills. The golden color from the low sun looked really nice on the buildings, flowers, and sheep!
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Today we went the a Swedish midsummer party in Kuivakangas, a village just south of Juoksengi. The day started off with some games, and a quick pony ride. Jessica got three out of five baskets, and Zoe was not too excited about being on a horse so we cut the ride a little short.
Next came the raising of the May Pole. Zoe really enjoyed being thrown up in the air, again and again and again. After that it was time for a soda and burger while we listened to the band play Swedish Folk songs, and I rested my arms.
After the band packed up and drove off on a lawn mower (Hey I don’t make this stuff up!) the kids played a few summer games around the May Pole and then it was time to go.
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After checking out the river and the ‘beach’, I thought I’d ride north to see if I could find anything interesting.
After a few minutes I found a cool looking ‘road’ that I figured would lead down to the river so I decided to walk down to the river’s edge for a little different view of the Torne River.
The water was so high that the road was flooded and I could not reach the river, so I turned left and headed into the trees and bush, climbing over blueberry bushes and some kind of spongy ground cover. Finally I came upon a small secluded pond, climbed up on a rock to take a few photos, then headed back to my bike.
From there I rode north again until a found a dirt road that headed up into the forest. This brought me up to the cross country ski loop and eventually to the top of Littisvaara, the hill where the shooting range and the radio tower are. There was a nice view of the Torne River and I found many young berries growing along the trails. From there it was all down hill to the house.
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Took the camera and rode my bike around the village today. This is the first set of photos.
I started by heading down to the river. It’s amazing to see how high the water level is now. The water was very calm and the cloudy sky was just beautiful.
Then I headed up the road a bit to the ‘beach’. I snapped a few photos on the way. Well, I arrived at what is usually a beach, but with the water level so high there was no sign of sand, so I took some photos of the flowers. Maybe next month the beach will be visible again.
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Today the river ice began to break up and float down the Torne River here in Norrbotten. It does not look as though it will be as sensational as it has in past years, but this will be my first time experiencing it, so I’m excited none the less.
Every year they place a small boat out on the ice just north of the bridge in Övertorneå. People try to guess when the ice will carry it under the bridge. I guessed the boat will pass under the bridge at 4:16pm on May 6th, which is tomorrow. I might actually be close.
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Well Spring finally came to Norrbotten. The river water is rising and the ice is breaking up. Here is the first set of photos from the ice break. These ones were taken about 45 minutes south of Juoksengi at a place called Kukkolaforsen.
Here are some photos taken last fall at Kukkolaforsen, before the snow came.
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Kalle just installed a webcam at the Arctic Circle in preparation for Walpurgis Night, a holiday celebrated on April 30 where people light huge bonfires.
The camera faces North toward the center of Juoksengi and will be left up after the celebration. Now everyone can see for themselves how long (and short) the days are way up north!
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Today while driving to Luleå, I spotted a guy standing at the edge of an opening on a frozen lake, fishing! Naturally I had to pull over and take a photo.
That is when I noticed that the swans had returned. There were several standing along the edge of the ice and others floating around in the water.
As I stood there two of the swans began to flap their wings and prepare to fly away. I was able to capture them running across the water and taking off. Then they turned toward me and made a beautiful pass. The sun behind me lit up their wings against a fantastic blue sky.
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Today Kicki and I entered two ice fishing contests out on the Torne River in Juoksengi. The ‘Juoksenginappet’ and the ‘Polcirkelnappet’.
The day started at 11:00am down at badstranden, ‘the bathing beach’. It was a beautiful morning with a few clouds and just little wind. Two hours later it was time to weigh the fish and award prizes. Kicki and I were 0 for 1 so far, so we just watched and ate grilled korv, ‘sausage’.
After the prizes were handed out everyone took a short walk or drive down to isvägen, ‘the ice road’, literally 800 yards south for the next contest.
By now the clouds had thickened and the wind picked up considerably. If you hadn’t guessed, that means it was COLD!
Well Kicki and I stuck it out for another two hours, along with many others, but again we came up short. Really short. we were 0 for 2 for the day, and really cold. There was another weigh in and prizes were handed out.
It was fun to see everyone from the village out enjoying the bright spring day, even if it did end a little cold and gloomy. In fact, as I write this at 9:00 pm, it is just getting dark and beginning to snow.
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Well we finally went to Pullinki to play in the snow.
Pullinki Ski is the closest, (um… only) ski area close to us. It’s less than 10 minutes north of Juoksengi, in Svanstein.
Our friend Victoria and her son Jordan just moved back to Sweden from New York, so before they headed down to Stockholm to live, we all went to Pullinki for the day.
The weather was perfect. The sky was beautiful. The sun was nice and high with few clouds and no wind at all. The kids had a great time too, well… most of the time.
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Tornedalsloppet is a 45 kilometer cross country ski race from Svanstein to Övertorneå, held on the last Sunday in March. The track goes through the fields right behind our house in Juoksengi, so we walked down to cheer them on.
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There were some really nice Northern Lights last night. Despite the -22 degree weather, I decided to stand out in a foot of icy snow to try and capture them with my camera. I managed to get a few good shots, and the Övertorneå Community posted one of them on their home page. I think this is the first time I was able to photograph the lights from the southern side of the house, so you can get an idea of the size of this light show. It wasn’t the brightest lights we’ve seen here, or the most active, but the shapes were amazing. At one point the streaks of light came together in one central point, making a kind of ring with star like rays shooting out from it.
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As noted in the previous post, Kalle, Kicki and I drove to the ‘Coldest Market in the World” yesterday. The Jokkmokk Market.
The market was huge, packed with visitors from all across Lapland, and yes, COLD. I don’t know how the vendors were able to stand around their booths all day. I was absolutely freezing after only a couple hours in the -15 degree weather, but after a little time in a heated museum/restaurant, we were back out on the streets checking out the rest of the vendors… well, for a little longer anyway.
After a quick bite to eat it was time for the drive home, this time there would be no bright sun light. In it’s place was glowing clouds and a light dusting of snow.
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Yesterday Kalle, Kicki and I drove to the Jokkmokk Market in, well… Jokkmokk.
Dubbed the “Coldest Market in the World”, the Jokkmokk Market was started in 1602 and now attracts over 20 thousand visitors every year.
The three hour drive from Juoksengi to Jokkmokk was beautiful, mostly due to the snow covered trees and an incredible sunrise.
More about the market itself in the next post.
Where is Jokkmokk, Sweden?
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