Today was a lovely day! The sun was out and shining bright but boy ... was it COLD! I actually slept in today since I stayed up way too late finishing a book I got for Christmas. I intended to leave the house a bit earlier so we had more time to visit with Fredrik's aunt and uncle who live in Järvsö, Sweden. It is about an hour drive west of here.
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It was my first time driving Irene's car (a Volkswagen wagon of some sort) but it is a very nice car with 4-wheel drive and studded tires too. It took a while for my brain to stop freaking out since I would never drive in weather like this if we were in Seattle. I think when we left Hudik it was about -4 C or 25 F and there is ice and snow on the roads ... or so it seems. Most of the roads are plowed, sanded and salted so they really aren't a problem. The smaller roads have compacted snow on them so they look much worse than they are. I actually had no problems driving and never felt the car skid, slip or slide. It was more of a problem remembering how to drive a stick shift and learning the controls of an unfamiliar car.
Anyway, it was a bit colder here than it has been in a while but when we got to Järvsö I barked at Fredrik to hurry and close his car door when he was casually getting out. It seemed much colder there as the biting cold was much more noticeable when we got out of the car. At first, I thought it was because we were so nice and cozy in the car and so the outside air just SEEMED colder. Well, as we hurried inside and peeled off all our layers ... they told us it was actually -18 C or 0 F outside at the moment!! Yikes! No wonder I noticed change in temperature! The drive over there was beautiful with all the snow on the landscape and the trees all white and the sun making everything glisten. I hope we got some good photos!
Well, we had a very nice visit with Maj and Ingvar (Fredriks aunt and uncle) plus Farmor and Jan were there visiting too for the new year. It was great seeing everyone and having the kids play and loads of people to entertain them. When we left, it was a chilly -20 C or -4 F so we plugged the car in to get the engine warmer going so the car wouldn't be hard to start or have a -20 C car to get into! Ah, the conveniences of Sweden! It took a few minutes getting the kids into the car and saying goodbye to everyone so almost immediately I noticed that my nose hairs were freezing! What a weird experience! I also got to see the stars and how bright and different they looked. You forget that the stars are in different spots when you are on the other side of the world. ;) It was also nice to see them when you are way out in the boonies.
Back in Hudik it is a nice warm -6 C or 21 F. It felt sooooooo nice and warm! We had tea and ate a light meal and now it is time for bed.
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