VIKTOR DONOVAN: TIME FOR VACATION - FIVE WEEKS THANK YOU VERY MUCH

Saturday, June 23, 2012

TIME FOR VACATION - FIVE WEEKS THANK YOU VERY MUCH

This is the season when Swedes have absolutely no problem finding a general subject to bring up at the workplace. The subject: Vacation. People who usually say nothing to one another will happily ask the other person if they have had any vacation yet and/or when they intend to take it.

When they get the answer they don't listen. It's just a ritual. But the ritual also requires that you, who asked the question, relate your own vacation plans. Rather like when you ask how someone is. You do not expect a detailed health history.

Swedes don't think they have enough vacation and would love to have more. Those five wonderful weeks (mandatory by law) go so fast. Swedes have the right to have at least three of those five weeks consecutively during summer. Compared to Americans who get usually a total of two weeks all year if they are lucky, Swedes are fortunate indeed. But those five weeks are equally beneficial for their employer. Employees come back with their batteries charged and work better than ever.

On the radio, they discuss whether one should take the entire vacation in one go, or divide it up and what is best for you. Everyone agrees that you absolutely need your vacation or your health is sure to suffer. Swedes often get extremely surprised to hear that Americans have only two weeks vacation or none at all.

Other benefits for Swedes: The religious holidays. Swedes are not at all religious (religion would never be brought up in political situations), but they love being off work on those religious holidays. Swedes have at least 6 more days off than Americans do. And Americans are generally the more religious. No logic here?

Two friends from California, visited Sweden a few years ago and their first impression was that people seemed so relaxed and unstressed. They loved seeing fathers on paternity leave taking care of their children.

These American friends said that people in California worried about not having or losing health-insurance, losing their job, or not having one. Interesting observation. Maybe we Swedes should count our blessings and stop fretting about not having enough vacation days.

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NEW BOOK!

Much of human activity is centered around food. We think of food whether we’re hungry or not. We spend a great deal of time buying it. We take hours preparing it (well, some do). We talk about it. We read about it in cook books. We watch television when chefs talk about it (sometimes to excess). When we socialize, it is often centered around the communal intake of it. We give it as gifts. Food, we can’t escape it! Some people become keenly interested in preparing food for themselves and others; many have become what we call “good cooks”. Usually a degree of creativity is involved together with a keen interest to entertain and a need to take care of others, to be a good host. It is such people that one remembers, and that is how I got started on Food & Folk, remembering, for example that excellent couple, Beatrice and Clayburn La Force on their ranch in Alpine California. After that I just kept going.

MY HOMETOWN GOTHENBURG

A series of closeups (224 photos) of Gothenburg, Sweden. Language: English and Swedish.----- This book consists of a series of closeups of Gothenburg. It is no history book but, hopefully, it will generate some curiosity about our city. When you walk in a city like London you are struck by Britain’s colonial past and its enormous wealth which manifests itself in buildings and institutions all over the city. When you walk in “Little London” as Gothenburg is often called, one is keenly aware of its importance as the best fortified city in Northern Europe. Two forts still watch over it. Remnants of the seventeenth century wall, and the meandering moat are a reminder of the city’s military past. Positioned on the West coast of Sweden, Gothenburg was once a world leader in ship building and shipping and evolved naturally into a merchant’s city. The English and Scottish heritage here is very important. There are clues and traces everywhere. One has only to look.

A GARDEN IN MY HOMETOWN

A book in English and Swedish about the Garden Society of Gothenburg--TRÄDGÅRDSFÖRENINGEN -----The Garden Society of Gothenburg is one of the best preserved early 19th century parks in Europe. It is situated directly downtown, offering lovely walks in the park or in the shaded woodland areas along the canal/moat, waterfront. The garden recently went through a major renovation under the auspices of Ulf Nordfjell, the internationally known landscape designer. The aim was to bring the garden back to its old nineteenth century glory. Carpet bedding returned and five new woodland areas were designed by five international garden designers. A superb new rose park was added, a successful blending of historical roses and perennials.

Love letters from my Swedish grandfather Folke to my American grandmother Olga 1909 - 1961

My American grandmother, Olga, met my Swedish grandfather, Folke Jonsson, in Brussels in 1909. Olga was 18 and Folke, 23. They settled in Gothenburg and Särö, Sweden. Olga, being American, had her family in Florida, and Folke soon came to realize that if you marry a woman from another continent, and this woman is charmingly independent, innovative and brave, and has her own means to boot, she is bound to want to visit her native country some time -- or several times -- or more than several times. To Folke, a sensitive soul, the long separations were quite painful and he suffered till his darling Olga returned. He “talked” to her in his frequent letters. Olga saved all his letters, in their original envelopes, in neat little bundles held together with different coloured ribbons. They were a treasured lifelong testament of his love. Olga and Folke corresponded in English as Olga was American and preferred writing in English. Had my grandfather Folke married a Swedish woman who had stayed at home, there would not be this stack of his letters today. He never intended the letters to be shown to others, but more than one hundred years have passed since Folke wrote them to his darling Olga. I have enjoyed getting to know my grandfather in this manner and I think others, not only relatives, should also share that privilege.

A pictorial Companion to the letters in the book above: 150 pictures of Olga & Folke 1909-1978

NEW BOOK BY DONOVAN O'MALLEY

REVIEW: "...O'Malley continues to prove that he is one of the more important writers around, a writer who with every book brings into our lives some very strange, often exceedingly humorous, and now, frequently very lonely people. His ability to create language for each of his characters is sharp, well studied and written, and without belittling anyone he, in language, shows the difference between class, and education, and exposure. Likely that comes from his experience in writing plays where characters are alive and moving, but with his considerable literary skills he makes his written page people morph into real life folks. He is in top form here ... " Grady Harp, June 12 (Hall of Fame reviewer)

Saturday, June 23, 2012

TIME FOR VACATION - FIVE WEEKS THANK YOU VERY MUCH

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