Muffin's family...

We are very fortunate to have contact with Muffin's mother Bilba (13 yrs. old) and her twin brother Vincent. Vincent and Muffin are 8 yrs. old. Vincent with the blue disk and Bilba with the diamond pattern on her nose.



Muffin flirting with our friend Kim Loughran. He's Australian and has lived here even longer than I have.


Muffin's kitten name was Francis - Bilba and Vincent's owners are our friends Martin Heap from Cambridge, England and Helena Brodin-Heap from Örebro, Sweden. We used to live next door to them on Upplandsgatan.

Long time since last posting....began the year with a Scottish party with good friends...

Can't believe that it's March already - Christmas has come and gone and we are swiftly moving towards spring. It's 7 degrees centigrade today. Some fun things did happen - On January 27th we went to the annual Scottish event - The Burn's Supper to celebrate the birthday of the Scottish poet Robert Burn's.

The dinner of the Scottish national dish - Haggis accompanied by the music from bagpipes, ended with Scottish country dancing.

Marilyn & Iain - she from NJ he from Scotland. And our other Scottish friend Joseph who comes from a place not far from Neil's hometown of Greenock (Gree -nock meaning beautiful place) Cecilia our Swedish friend. The picture at the top is of the Caledonian Society's chieftain with the Japanese ambassador to Sweden. He plays the bagpipes and writes poetry - Ode to a Golf Ball - in the style of Robbie Burn's.

Brother and sister act....

This is a photo of one of our very best friends Hans with his twin sister Marjo. They are Dutch-Hans lives in Stockholm. He was Neil's first employee at the bookshop. Marjo lives in Sassenheim, Holland - this pic was taken when celebrated their 50th birthdays last year.

Yikeees is it December 2 already?!

On 19 November, friends of mine helped me to "celebrate" my 36th year in Sweden - actually 16 November was my real arrival in Sweden day. We celebrated at a spa called "The Rose Island" (Rosenön) which is a short ride from the center of Stockholm and luckily it was the only sunny day we had in all of November this year.














Here we are - Marilyn (who took the pic) Joanie, Karin, Cecilia, Amy, Barbara, Carole and Denni. We started with lunch at poolside with a view of the archipelago and then on to the "Bath Ritual" with scrubs and masks and hair stuff. Cecilia with the long blonde hair (of course), is the only person here who was born in Sweden, everyone else is a transplant just like me.

Contrasts - the first big snowstorm blew in on 1 November....Today, almost a week later it's about 10 degrees centigrade...

One month ago... the beach at East Hampton, Long Island.

The plants on our balcony dusted before the storm really blew in on 1 November.

A very historic moment - Carole and Neil cross the Delaware - a hard thing for a New York/New Jersey person to do. The historic moment? 6 October...

Pat Murphy is my old school friend from Maplewood. She has known me ever since my family and I moved there from Newark in 1952 - we are sharing a delicious bread pudding desert at a restaurant in Frenchtown, New Jersey along the Delaware River. Pat now lives in the Bucks County town of Warminster. This sweet little dog - Daisy - loves to cuddle. We love her.

Here is the historic moment- Carole & Neil crossing the Delaware - captured on film. This was the day that the weather reminded us that it was autumn, not summer. Neil wasn't able to take up Pat's friend Jack's offer to go up in his glider.

The following day - 7 October -we left Warminster by train for Philadelphia Airport and flew back to Stockholm.

Back to Philadelphia - this time to stay with our friends Susan, Ulf, Charlie and Findus - their cat - 3-5 October..

This is Findus on the left. Susan and Ulf's little kitty. She has the most beautiful eyes.

Back in Philadelphia- Saw this beautiful flower that my paternal grandfather used to grow in his beloved garden - Susan, Neil and I went to the Chanticleer Gardens which are close to were Susan and Ulf live - Gladwyn, Pa.


We were treated to lunch by Ulf at the country club. Can you believe this weather? We've been so lucky.

Charlie, right, and Neil had great fun playing with Charlie's computer.

Having lunch together and Susan and me having a photo-op in the Chanticleer gardens. It's October and it looks as if spring flowers are blooming.

Susan is American and Ulf is Swedish. They recently moved to Gladwyn, Pa. leaving a big void here in Sweden.

3 October -You can't leave the Island without eating freshly cooked lobster!

Neil behind the camera, Janet, Dominick and I prepare to dine on these beautiful lobsters. Dominick prepared everything - fries, corn on the cob, cole slaw...the works.

Point Lookout, Long Island - staying with Janet and Dominick

Hard to belive that it wasn't still summer. Just had to put my feet in. The Atlantic was still warm!!...great to once again be able to put my feet in this ocean. Even Neil enjoyed it.

To the beach...out to Long Island...30 September - 3 October...

We ended the day with Margaritas at Guerny's Inn at Montauk. Another place I had always wanted to visit...any maybe one day stay at. It's right on the most beautiful wide beach.



The following day Janet, Neil and I drove along the south shore of Long Island and stopped at East Hampton - can you believe that on 2 October people were swimming and lying on the beach.

This was once a potato farm - all along the north shore there are vinyards that offer wine tasting.
We're at Pellegrini Vineyards. Neil had the fun of driving Janet's Audi convertible so he wasn't allowed to taste anything. Janet's husband Dominick had to work so he couldn't join us either.

Back to the bright lights and big city - our return to NEW YORK...the truely Big Apple 28-30 Sept.

We had a great time visiting the newly renovated Museum of Mondern Art on West 53rd St. Right done the street from the school I went to from 1961-1963.
We had out lunch in this restaurant and in a way became part of the exhibition.


Had dinner at "Elaine's" a restaurant I've wanted to go to every since I lived in NYC. Here we are with Ariane and Anders. The couple sitting together, I met in Stockholm when they tried to pinch my shopping bag in my local supermarket - Greg and Molly. The couple facing each other are Ariane and Anders. They are journalist who live in Sweden but are in NYC for a year. They were nice enough to put us up for our 2 nights in the big city.

25-28 Sept - Off to the States to look at the fall colors and to find some clues to my roots in northern Vermont...

I had decided to find out more about my maternal grandfather - Arthur Gardner Skeels and his family. About all we know is that the Skeels family came to America sometime in the late 1700's. They came to Vermont and put down roots in the St Albans/Swanton area of Vermont.

So on 25September, Neil and I flew to Philadelphia and on 26 September we took the Amtrak train called the "Vermonter" to St Albans, where we started our search.

We had seen the name "Skeels Corner" on a Vermont road map and thought I had found a lead - but to my chagrin, it was just that - a corner where two roads crossed. I'm standing at "Skeels Corner" none the wiser!

The rest of the photos are from northern Vermont not that far from the Canadian border- Neil had wanted to see the autumn leaves which we did and some other sights along the way. We ended our day at Lake Champlain by this gazebo after seeing covered bridges and pristine New England villages still confused and wondering how we could find out more about the descendants of the Skeels family - maybe they were part of the Green Mountain Boys who fought in the Revolution?? - we still are none the wiser...have to keep searching.

Me looking confused standing at Skeels Corner, Vermont!