  This is not our usual Christmas letter since we have been traveling in Scandinavia since December 1, with 12 days on the Hurtigruten Coastal Express from Bergen to Kirkenes, Norway, and back, then to Oslo and Sweden where we’ve been warmly welcomed by my cousin Ingrid and her husband Hans Ove in Norrköping and Olov and Lena in Karlstad where we are spending Christmas. Despite some disappointing rain, we’ve had beautiful snow, first on the day after our arrival in Bergen and again these past two days in Karlstad. I’m reminded of my Upper Michigan childhood, with snow on the ground for five to six months. Will snow will become a rare experience with global warming? For much of 2023 we worked on publishing and then promoting Kent and Pam’s book, We Ran Away to Sea. We’re still working on the promotion, but have been gratified that so many of you have us you have enjoyed the book. For those of you in Albuquerque, Kent will be giving an illustrated talk about his sailing years at Oasis at 10:30 am on January 19, 2024. Other News: We walked parts of the Camino Mozárabe from Alméria to Mérida in Spain during March and April. The terrain was rugged, and at 79 and 82, we are no longer walking the pace we managed ten years ago. From Karlstad we’ll go to Stockholm, then Helsinki and Tallinn, Estonia; and after that a week “somewhere” before we fly home from Amsterdam on January 10. Polar Night: In the Arctic, we discovered that even during the polar night, when the sun doesn’t rise above the horizon for months, the night is never totally dark, but lighted by reflections from the atmosphere, the white snow, and the moon, stars, and planets. Dawn and dusk follow each other in the space of two or three hours. May we each experience lightness and hope this coming year, even amid the apparent darkness of our polar nights. Kent and Linnea Christmas in Sweden   Copyright (C) 2023 Jacana Press. All rights reserved.Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe |
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