Posts filed under Flashback Friday

In The Rearview Mirror 2020 pt. 1

Snowshoeing in Montana

Flashback Friday

Memories

First-quarter of 2020

    2020 turned out to be one of the best and worst years in history for us. Right before getting on the plane to go to Sweden (to celebrate my dads 70th birthday) Winslow got a phone call and a job offer. We did two trips before Covid19 took its grip of our world. Sweden, and a week or so after I came back from there we went to Colorado to meet up with a bunch of friends. By March Covid19 in NYC was a fact and we started our weekly walk to Central Park. By mid March things started to shut down and I said bye to my lab for a couple of months.

January

    We celebrated Christmas and New Years in Bozeman again. Just like many other NYE celebrations we cheered early and went to bed. The next day we got up at 6am and ventured out in the snow. W and his dad put on back-country skis and I came with them for part of it on my snow shoes. I Couldn’t have started the new year in any better way, I was in heaven. We did another outing around Bozeman before getting back to the big city. Once back in NYC we got some crazy warm weather. We took advantage of it and went to our favorite local bar for a beer. W and I and my brother and his partner surprised my dad in Sweden for his birthday. But before that we had some time to explore my old stomping grounds. We arrived at Operakällarn and boy was my dad surprised. After that followed some cold but beautiful days in Stockholm. We walked around everywhere, as we tend to do now when we visit. Winslow flew back to NYC earlier than me and I had some more time with my dad. I walked by the old fruit/candy store where we always used to go when I was in high school. And many trips to the beautiful Hedvig Eleonora church, where I got baptized, mom and dad got married, and moms funeral was held and where her memorial is. I blinked and then that trip and January was all over.

February

    Spring started to appear already early February. Maybe mother earth knew we needed something bright and light in our lives? We went up to Poughkeepsie and Millbrook to check out the area where we would move if W accepted the job offer. our first trip to Canoe Hill, and the Wassaic Art Project. We even went to the local diner in Millbrook. Back in the city we did our monthly trip to chinatown and the obligatory seafood dinner at home. We went to mermaid in for oysters, and also went to one of our favorite dive bar in the East Village, the Library. Then we flew to Denver, went to the grocery store and bought 6 dozen oysters before we drove to Estes Park where we had rented an AirBnB. We got a beautiful hike in at Rocky Mountain National Park, and before we knew it the trip and February was over.

March

    March 2020, a month that felt like a year, and therefore there are a few more photos to share. We greeted spring in Central Park, and continued to greet it the whole month during our weekly walks. If there was one thing to be excited about it was the blooming of flowers and trees. We knew things were getting bad, we heard silent rumors about a potential shutdown, and on March 16th I went to the lab to shut it down, for the foreseeable future. The rest of the city followed in the coming weeks. It was a spring that came and then got cancelled. I don’t think any of us could have imagined what the next months could possibly bring, and boy were we in for a surprise.

In The Rearview Mirror 2019 pt. 4

Flashback Friday

October

    Our friends came and visited us in October, and we ventured out to a wide variety of museums and art galleries. Early October was actually a bit chilly and you could definitely tell that fall was on its way. But as always, temperatures fluctuated a lot this year too. We went through Central Parks many times in October and it’s always great to see the colors change as time passes. We also went to a light show by Columbia University. It was ok, not spectacular in any way though. Morningside Park has raccoons that we see from time to time, and in October we saw one again. One of the streets we take to work is always full of nice Halloween decorations, so it was always fun to stroll through that part and check out all the various decorations for this year.

November

    In November fall colors were still lingering in Central Park, and we still had warmish temperatures. It’s interesting how fall seems to hang on forever in New York, compared to other places we have lived. If you venture out in Central Park on some of the trails it almost feels as if you are in the middle of nowhere even though you are in one of the largest cities in the world. I made some cardamom buns and finally made them perfect! I also managed to make my first macaroons. We went to W’s grandma for Thanksgiving and hung out there for a couple of days. It’s always nice to be able to have those days to recuperate from the big city life.

December

    December came with a thin layer of snow, and that is about everything we got. I went to the ballet and saw the nutcracker and I made some saffron buns, absolutely delicious. W and I explored some old and new bars before we headed out to Montuckey for Christmas. We did a lot of hiking, per usual around Bozeman. Actually more than usual because of the thin layer of snow. We rented an Airbnb in Gardiner after Christmas and spent a couple of days in Yellowstone National Park. We checked out some bars in Gardiner and the next day we finally went skiing in northeast Yellowstone! On New Years Eve we went to bed already at 9.30 but we had big and early plans on January 1st.

In The Rearview Mirror 2019 pt. 3

Flashback Friday

Memories

Our second summer in New York, but again we were gone for a big chunk of the time. This was the first summer in 10 years that I went back to Sweden. I always hear about other Swedes brag about Sweden in the summertime, and I haven’t really understood why….until now. We managed to go to a Broadway show which was incredible and continued to revisit Central Park, East Village, and Chinatown. At the end of the summer, we thought it was time to conquer a peak, or two, again!

July

    The 4th of July came and went, and the aftermath kind of reminds me of the Swedish Valborg. I was working now but always manage to find some time to go for a short walk around the campus out at Lamont. I made Swedish cinnamon buns for my birthday and even snagged a selfie of myself in front of the mirror. July always brings hot temperatures, and this July was no exception. We grew a lot of herbs, but they all died unfortunately when we went to Sweden. I think I must have forgotten about summertime in Sweden. Also, the fact that we had insanely warm temperatures and sunny skies every day probably helped a lot. Summers up north, where my family’s summerhouse is are incredible. The sunsets are always out of this world. We have the baltic sea right there in front of the house and we fish a lot while we are up there. We have our own smoker too of course, and you cannot get fish that are fresher than this. We did some blueberry and cloudberry picking and even managed to find some spruce seedling. We took a trip west, towards Norway, and then south, through Åre and then continued through Östersund before heading straight back to Stockholm. Dad gave us a tour at the Royal Palace and we visited mom’s old working grounds at the open-air museum, Skansen. The last day we went to Omnipollo brewery and even had time to visit the church and my mom’s memorial there.

August

    Back in NYC W’s mom and aunt were still with us and we went to a fantastic Broadway musical called Hadestown. It was incredible and I still listen to the soundtrack every now and then. Life went on, walks to work, and beautiful views from the lab I run. I went out to Cold Spring with some new found friends and then W and I ventured out in the East Village, again. That part of town also means that we go by East Broadway mall for some seafood. Later in August we went to Ikea in Red Hook and went bar hopping over there for the afternoon. We even managed to find some live music at one of the local bars. I went out to the old Lady that stands tall by the southern tip of Manhattan. I was quite positively surprised by the visit, It was definitely worth it to walk all the way up to the crown. We were lucky and the weather was a bit cloudy and rainy so the temperatures were not as hot as it can be since it’s all within a tin can basically (well, literally). On the last day of the weekend of the month we went out to Cold Spring together and went hiking to Breakneck ridge.

September

   September arrived, but instead of fall colors early on we had warm weather. Of course, because in New York fall arrives later, and also sticks around forever. We went on a road trip to the White Mountains in New Hampshire and stayed in a cute little town called Woodstock. These White Mountains here on the east coast, are very different from the ones we are used to in Alaska. We visited a research site called Hubbard Brook and the next day we conquered not one, but three peaks, all above 4,000 feet. On the way down we saw some incredible waterfalls. And just like Algonquin Peak we were scrambling over boulders and crossed creeks and waterfalls. Back in NYC fall had slowly tried to break through but the colors would last for a long time after this.