Had a whirlwind of a last day at Pia‘s house. I spent the morning weeding the veggie garden. It took a while, but it looked much better and you could easily distinguish the vegetable greens! After lunch, I did another drive around the area. This weekend there is a huge car show in Falkoping, all kinds of old American cars classic cars from the 50s, 60s and 70s. I saw muscle cars, low riders and old school cars with fins. Even saw a pink Cadillac! I had a strange American moment when I drove past a place called the Burger Bar and outside was a cherry red Chevy convertible with the top down and four people lounging in it. It was really cool.
I visited a couple more old churches and then stopped to do my final mushroom picking in the forest. I foraged a good amount and cleaned them when I got back.
Then it was time to head to Karin‘s house, she had invited us over for a barbecue. Her home is adorable! Her great great grandparents originally lived on the land and in 1920 her grandfather built the house that is currently there. She inherited it when her father died – it is her “summer house“, she also owns an apartment in Gothenburg, where she lives for most of the year. It is a perfect sized house and plot of land for one person with a very private back and side yards. She has beautiful veggie gardens and the back fence is lined with red currant bushes which she harvests to have with her breakfast most mornings. We got to see the little workshop that served as her grandparents house while they built the main house and the outhouse that was used until 1970! It is plastered with paper with all kinds of old magazine ads and pictures of the royal family, most of them put up by her grandmother. It is so cool! The house has a wonderfully calm and cozy atmosphere. She still has the original ovens, which she uses on occasion, but she also has a much more modern oven and stove top. She barbecued salmon, which basically just melted in our mouths and roasted vegetables from her garden- carrots and onions. She also sautéed cabbage in soy sauce with black sesame seeds. It was all absolutely delicious! We enjoyed a lovely summer evening outside then went inside for dessert as it was starting to get windy and cool. Karin had made a delicious berry cake, so we sat in the living room and ate that and chatted some more. Finally at about 10:30 the sun had finally set, and we walked back to Pia‘s house. It was a perfect ending to my time in that part of Sweden.
I have met such wonderful people during my time here and made some great friends that I hope I will get to see sometime again!