Impressions

We are easing into Spring with variable weather and longer days. Nori is adjusting well, finding all the nooks and crannies our apartment offers with only minor disruptions and growing pains. She enjoys playing fetch, keep away and “the floor is lava”, traversing furniture with incredible dexterity, but she can usually be found napping on her favorite step on the staircase where she can see what’s going on in the main room and upstairs simultaneously!

Upper right photo is Nori waking up from a nap on her favorite step.

I hosted Cooking Club at our place with The Minnesota Table as inspiration. The menu was Wild Rice Turkey Soup, corn bread, and salad with maple balsamic dressing and Rhubarb crisp for dessert. We had to add strawberries because I couldn’t find enough fresh rhubarb but it was still pretty good. Several people had never had corn bread or wild rice before and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. In order to keep the kitchen clean on Monday evening we ate out at a place recommended by Bryant’s coworkers. I had never even noticed the little basement restaurant before and it was fun to try something new.

Art galleries are a great blustery weather entertainment and this week featured several art events. A quick visit with Melissa to the Livets Museum and an exhibit of Rosa Bonheur, (presumably related to international women’s day) with an article from the early 1900s, mansplaining about why there aren’t any great women artists (because women are incapable of greatness… after all, they have so much more leisure time in which to pursue the arts)

Then came a guided tour of Lund Konsthall‘s new exhibit with several artists. The creature sculpture is a mathematical representation of the acceleration curve and bunkers built in the bomb testing zone near Kiruna, which the Swedish government claimed was uninhabited, in spite of the fact that it is home to the Sámi people. The “compromise” was to build bunkers in which people could take cover if they were in the area during bomb testing. 

One member of our International group is starting her own business offering a variety of guided art experiences for individuals, companies and groups…painting parties, lessons etc. and she invited us to be a test group. Our workshop was on Impressionism and we used acrylic paints to create our own impressionist inspired works. Mine was based on a photo I took at Clemenstorget and is not finished but Ghada helped me get going on it at least!