Pea soup and pancake Thursday at Soderasen. I mean, like, it’s a National Park and nature preserve but I prefer to dwell on the essentials rather than the incidentals.

Oh, wait, now I remember: I did see some nature:

Cousin Olof showed me one of the competition areas where he has done his carriage driving. The pictures, I am sorry to say, do not do justice to the skill necessary to getting a horse and carriage around and through the gates.

And, of course, Goster Carlsson’s monument to his close encounter experience.

Mr. Carlsson (not pictured*) encountered alien beings late one night while out on his bicycle near the beach. He swears he had never and has never indulged in alcoholic drinks. You be the judge. The aliens introduced him to the formula for a new use for beech pollen, the result of which was a multimillion dollar empire in the production of health/medicinal supplements. In appreciation for the aliens’ help, Mr. Carlsson had cast a model of their spaceship to memorialize the encounter. (*the gentleman communing with nature pictured here is called Olof Hägg)

Go ahead, you can look it up.

And even more fun facts:

You can see that I am having way too much fun!!!