It’s 7 AM and I am sitting outside outside the front door, listening to the church bells ring next door. It’s slightly cool but very sunny, a few cars have gone past, people on their way to work. While the house is in a rural area it is on a road that connects Floby, the closest town to Falkoping, the closest city, so there is a fair amount of traffic. Besides the big trucks hauling hay and tractors I’ve seen other trucks hauling logs, and several people towing trailers behind their cars as well as a fair number of campers. Because of the sun‘s trajectory, the front of the house is a good place to be in the morning and late afternoon, and the back of the house is good in the middle of the day and after 8 PM at night.
Today I explored a nature area nearby called Mösseberg. I parked near the small children’s zoo and playground that was filled with families. In one fenced area where there were baby goats, there was a handwritten sign sign saying that only five children at a time could be in the enclosure. There didn’t appear to be any staff around enforcing it, but the kids and adults waited patiently for their turn. I wonder whether something like this would work in the US or if people would just ignore the sign.
I was very grateful to see that the children’s zoo had a toilet, though there was only one which was surprising considering how many people were there. One issue that has come up for me when I have been out is the lack of public toilets. This tells me I need to cut back on my caffeine consumption in the morning, or else not leave home until after lunch when my bladder isn’t in such urgent need of a toilet!
At Mossberg, I hiked around different trails among the trees. There was an extensive disc golf course in the forest, a campground and lots of trails for biking and hiking and during the winter snowshoeing and cross country skiing. Near the children’s zoo is a tall observation tower, I hiked the many steps up the spiral staircase to the top where I’ve got a 360 view from Lake Hornborgasjon to Falkoping and the forest.
My next stop was Gokhem church, which was built in the 12th century and features paintings done in 1487 that are still remarkably clear. This church is still used on a regular basis. It was absolutely gorgeous! It was also nice and cool inside, I’m sure because of the very thick walls. I spent quite a bit of time marveling at how old the church was. I was also impressed that the services are held in Swedish, but they have devices you can use that offer translation in English or German.
I have been very surprised to see large campers being hauled by relatively small cars. Today I saw someone with a station wagon, a similar size to my Subaru, hauling a large camper trailer, something that you would normally see a big truck pulling. Maybe because they don’t have big freeways in Sweden, most of the roads are just two lane highways with a top speed of 80 km, it’s safe for smaller cars to haul bigger trailers.
After my adventures, I returned home to do some weeding and look after the animals. I also picked some wild strawberries and made myself dinner. Lol, I am such an American! I made a salad then couldn’t be bothered to do anything more complicated so pulled a ham and cheese pizza out of the freezer and baked it. I did slice up some zucchini to add to the top. For a frozen pizza, it was pretty good. Had a pretty sunset, sounds like we’re going to get rain tomorrow so not sure if I’ll be able to get out much.
