Yet another day without sunshine until late afternoon, and then the winds took over, and it was unbelievable--white caps on the coast! We all slept in this morning until almost 11:00. The boys were out and about their activities right after our late breakfast while Carina and I sat for a long while drinking our morning coffee, and Sven and Rose-Marie went out shopping.
Early afternoon, Rose-Marie and I went out for a long walk in a beautiful area not far from their house. The area, Brunn Parken, was where 300 years ago a very special spring was found with water that was said to have amazing healthy properties.
People came from all over Europe to drink this water, and eventually, it was manufactured and became the popular brand of water one sees all over Sweden and Europe today called Ramlösa vatten (named after the suburb Ramlösa where Rose-Marie and Sven live). An entire little village for the very rich was built up around the spring, and all the houses that were used their for the living quarters of doctors and even royalty are still standing--privately owned now. The houses are named after flowers (Viola, Begonia, Iris) and/or women (Veronika, Desiree).
They really look more like half-timbered houses one sees in England, and apparently are very, very expensive. We also walked down by the spring where an exhibit was set up for the spring's 300th year anniversary celebrated just last week. Rose-Marie and I took a walk in the woods along a brook; it was really beautiful, but there were warning signs all over because of the torrential rains which have causing many of the pathways to fall away. 
Still, it was wonderful to see this special place where not only midsommar is celebrated every June but also another holiday called Valborgsmässoafton when a big bonfire is lit. Sabina, who just graduated, was working at a tennis club in Brunnparken, so we stopped to say hello to her, too, on our walk.
We went back to the house to relax for awhile, start dinner, and check on the kids. About 4:00, Carina, Sven, Rose-Marie and I set out with the car to see some Helsingborg sites including an old mölla or mill from 1846. It was still working, and the guide there loved explaining how it had worked back in the old days. We also drove near the coast of Kattegatt, a sound which eventually flows into other tributaries which end up in the Atlantic Ocean, saw a fort called Kärnan which was used when Sweden was at war with Denmark (very often), saw Hamlet's Castle called Kronborg across the sound over at Helsingor, saw the apartment where Dorothy, Elsie's sister had lived for years (it brought back many memories from when I stayed there with Grandma Elsie), Rose-Marie and Catherine's childhood home and the play house (lekstugan) I had fallen in love with as a child, as well as the schools Rose-Marie and Gunnel went to. We picked up Gunnel and Gösta, Catherine arrived, and we had a lovely chicken casserole dinner.
After dinner, we connected my iPod to their TV, and we looked at pictures from Eden Prairie, Carina's confirmation, times we'd been in Sweden before, and lots of pictures from Elsie's life. I had made copies of the family research I had done and shared those with them.
We spoke of trips to come when we hoped to go together to see the church where Elsie and Dorothy's ancestors are buried as well as other ideas for next time. Gunnel shared stories of when she had met the king of Sweden and the 11 Swedish chamionships she had won for "power walking," and how Rose-Marie, Catherine, and she modeled for serial stories in Swedish magazines in the 1950s and 1960s.
We talked about how every year the kids and I had come over to visit, one of the girls graduated from gymnasiet (like our high school), and we ad just missed their graduation, also called taking "studenten." We would love to come over again when Joakim graduates from gymnasiet.
Before we went to bed, Rose-Marie took out a box full of letters she had saved from Elsie and me sent years ago. It was quite interesting to read through some of them and recall times gone by. Elsie was quite the historian and wrote letters one could hardly read because of how cramped and long they were. We laughed about the fact that once she filled up both sides of the paper--including úsing every margin and corner she could find to say even more--she began using little slips of paper to add things she had forgotten in the main letter--she also wrote her letters in Swinglish or svengelska, freely switching from one language to the other without much regard forwhether the recipient understood the language. What characters BOTH Elsie and Dorothy, her sister, were! We know both would have had us laughing and knowing that as we shared, we were making memories. When we said goodbye to Gunnel and Gosta, it was rather sad.
We both recalled a favorite quote from my great Aunt Carin:
Att möttes och skiljas är livets gång
(to meet and part is the way life goes)
men att skiljas och möttes är hoppets sång!
(but to part and meet again is the song of hope!)
I've always liked this little saying, but how much more powerful it felt tonight!
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