weekend edition

Whew. Shay and I have definitely enjoyed the week-long break from our regularly scheduled lives. My parents flew in a few days before our spring break started and they stayed with us until Wednesday. The weather was basically wretched the entire time, for which I apologized daily, as if it were as much a matter of my control as the thermostat setting. But my parents were good sports and we still managed to show them around our little corner of the world. We loved having them here.

Lawrence's annual St. Patrick's Day parade
(My parents thought I was insane when I suggested that we should attend
despite the pouring rain. Clearly, Lawrence is chock-full of crazy people.)
photo from the Lawrence Journal-World

The day after the departure of the parents, I was whisked away on a "secret adventure." We were several miles down I-70 before Shay let me in on where we were headed. We ended up 150 miles from home at a bed and breakfast in the sleepy little one-stoplight town of Lindsborg, Kansas. Why drive 150 miles for that, you ask, when you've got a perfectly comfy bed and a perfectly good box of just-add-water pancake mix at home? Well, if you know me, then you know that since leaving Sweden I have been basically in love with all things that remind me of Swedishness. So when Shay found out that there was a little town in Kansas that celebrated its Swedish heritage to the point that it called itself "Little Sweden, U.S.A," he thought he should probably take me there to check it out. And he did. And it was the cutest, sweetest thing a thoughtful husband has ever planned for a Swede-o-phile wife. And the trip was hilariously fun.

There was so much Swedish nostalgia to be found that I couldn't even take it all in. Did I have any desire to eat pickled herring for breakfast? Of course not. But I loved that it was part of the breakfast buffet. I felt a happy pang of remembrance when I turned up my nose at it and went for the knäckebröd and lingonberry jam instead. We browsed shops full of folk art and imported foods and books and Swedish music and cheesy t-shirts. We stocked up on Marabou and Bilar. We ate Swedish pastries at charming little bakeries. We visited tiny Bethany College where the mascot is (any guesses?) the Swedes. Shay even packed our kubb set so that we could play at the park and feel like a couple of Scandinavian senior citizens. Also, remember how I was recently in need of a pig-shaped cookie-cutter? Well, behold:

My need is now met. Oh, the simple joys of life.

Speaking of joys, I hope you all have an absolutely lovely Easter. I am looking forward to it.