Eat cream & cheese; hike, swim, & bike; live to 90+

This has been an eventful week. The most dramatic event perhaps was that mormor fell down a flight of stairs with her rullator. To repeat, my 90 year old grandmother fell down a flight of stairs. You would expect that she would at least have broken a hip, right? She scratched her head and hand, and slightly bruised a leg. She got up and walked up 3 flights of stairs to her apartment. Granted she was in pain and took a pain-reliever. Although she initially insisted on making dinner, she was eventually willing to let me buy a pizza and shrimp salad instead. I'm convinced that the secret to her longevity (in addition to great genes and an easy going nature) is copious ingestion of dairy products and active lifestyle (she wishes she could go cycling with me and misses her daily hikes through the local woods).

On Saturday, we got a chance to go swimming in a nearby lake. My cousin-in-law Fia drove us there. It turns out that I had cycled fairly close to it earlier but didn't know it as there. It was barely 80 degrees, which is considered sweltering here. Post-Atlanta I only admit to "hot" if I am soaked in sweat within 2 minutes of stepping outside despite not expending any energy. That's hot, the rest is just warm.

Anyway, the lake was gorgeous. We walked through a forest out onto a little point of land. At first mormor and I just dangled our feet in the water, but eventually I decided that I had to take a dip. I'm a wuss when it comes to swimming in lakes because I am afraid of touching something alarmingly slimey. If I can see it and confirm that it is just a rock, I can accept the sliminess. I'm not really sure what I am scared of. My main association to lakes is to movies like Friday the 13th (?). You know those movies where teenagers go to camp and get slaughtered by supernatural homicidal former-humans. However, I really don't think about that when swimming. Anyway, since I was at a lake, it was warm, and I had a swimsuit, I thought I would kick myself later if I didn't go in. The water wasn't too cold, although the temperature varied a lot. Every time I approached a warm area I was afraid it may be shallow and I might touch something slimey. So, I tried to keep a reasonable distance from shore, swam little 20 foot laps, and treaded water. Once I was out in the water, mormor decided to come in. She loves swimming so I wasn't surprised. However, she was justifiably concerned about getting in and out going over slippery stones. It went well though. I think I might cycle out to the lake with my swimsuit later in the summer.

I got to Stockholm yesterday in preparation for flying to France on Saturday for the Tour. I haven't been exposed to news since I was in DC. When you are 90, there really is no news so we don't get the paper or watch TV news. I was shocked to find out that several of the most interesting cyclists have been prevented from competing due to suspicion of doping. This includes my favorite for winning the Tour, Ivan Basso (and he is not just my favorite because he is the most gorgeous. OK, that's a lie. He's on my desktop. Sigh.) Anyway, my mom taped the 1st two days of the Tour for me to watch. I'm trying to find other cyclists to be excited about but its tough. I like Hincapie but he's just not THAT good looking. Boonen is great for the sprints but can't win the general classification. Floyd Landis has an unusually unattractive physique for a cyclist. You see my dilemma.

Anyway, I need to reassemble my bike so I can get out on the roads here in Stockholm. My other plan for the next days is to take a kayaking tour of the Swedish archipelago and then maybe rent a kayak on my own a few times. Of course, I'll watch the tour too. I am also waiting for a triple crankset to arrive from the states. I got it off e-bay. I need it to make it through all the hill climbing we will be doing in France. The gears on my bike at present are ideal for flat land.

Sweden is no longer in the world cup. The loss was disappointing. As if unable to recover from the shock, the sportcasts kept playing highlights of previous Swedish games. My favorite part of this was when they showed Ljungberg's goal for the billionth time while playing Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus". I think that says it all.

Oh, yeah. My little sister Pam had her first baby this week: a tall healthy baby named Michelle Faith Andersson. I think that makes me the only one of my many half- and now full-siblings to withstand the temptation (or whatever drove them to it) to procreate. I win!

[Note that I am getting better at posting photos at a new account on flickr. Some of these will be in future blogs (e.g., one on Swedish food!) and some won't. All of the photos on this account are tiny to make them easy to load. If you want any full size versions just email me.]