Oops it has been a while since my last post! August and September have flown by with family visits and my sister-in-law’s beautiful, fun and magical wedding on the island of North Haven, Maine. With the cool climate, the crisp blue fall sky and the charming clapboard houses it felt like being, maybe not in Denmark, but on the rocky coast of Sweden or Norway – and that is close enough for me 😉
I will let the photos speak for themselves – they are that beautiful.
In the pictures below I am trying to capture the beautiful arrival scene by ferry from Rockland to North Haven, Maine.
I can’t decide if Maine is more beautiful in rain or shine. As you can see on the photos below we had a stormy and windy ferry ride back home from the island. But after having safely arrived on land, that rocking rainy boat ride almost struck me as more full atmosphere than in the bright sun light. As if rain and storm is just right for that rocky coast.
How can you not become inspired by this place? I am so excited to have found the perfect setting for my forthcoming romance/sci-fi novel about love and art in a world where technology controls more and more of our lives. Where rationality and technology are about to conquer emotions, freedom and our humanity.
And, needless to say: the novel also takes place in Denmark…how could it not 😉
Geraniums, Heather and False Asters at Sun Nurseries, Woodbine, MD
Wild roses in Cape Cod!
An abundant flower bed with lots of hydrangeas in Cape Cod
A Cape Cod beach
We just spent a week in Cape Cod and it was overwhelmingly beautiful with all the cute Cape houses, abundance of flowers and beaches everywhere you go! It is a lot like Denmark where you are never more than two hours (which is very rare) away from nice sandy beaches. The beaches have dunes with wild vegetation and only a few summer houses can be spotted along the shoreline. On the Danish as well as the Cape beaches everything is neat, cute and natural. I saw lots of pink wild roses with a scent that brings me right back to the Danish summer by the sea. Hydrangeas are the predominant flower in Cape Cod and people grow them in large rows in front of their houses or along the road as the impressive flower bed in the photo (above and below). They really know how to make things look pretty up there in the Cape!
Luckily, this weekend my husband and I discovered a Danish nursery “Sun Nurseries” in Woodbine, MD. The owners are Danish and the nursery even looks like a Danish nursery! They have a wide variety of well-priced plants and flowers – not just the ones you see everywhere. I found Geranium and even Heather! And a cute flower called False Aster which looks like a light blue Daisy. All of this is something you could also see in a Danish garden. All I need now is wild roses – and a beach! Ahh what I wouldn’t give to wake up to the sound of waves outside my bedroom window in a cute cedar shingle house on the Cape……..
My dream of a Cape house right on the water. Notice the pink hydrangeas:)
Impressive flower bed on the way to Brewster, Cape Cod
Impressive flower bed on the way to Brewster, Cape Cod
Impressive flower bed on the way to Brewster, Cape Cod
Impressive flower bed on the way to Brewster, Cape Cod
Vacation! Just looking at the sky with my boy… (actually he played with my phone and I got to look at the sky;)
We celebrated Sankt Hans Eve (Midsummer’s Eve) last night with a bonfire and bread baked on wooden sticks over hot coals (called “snobroed” in Danish, literally: “twisted bread”).
Snobroed is super easy to make. It is a basic bread dough with milk in that rises for about an hour and then you divide it into the number of bread sticks you want, roll them with your hands into long rolls that you then twist around bamboo sticks and bake over the hot coals until golden brown and they sound hollow. Serve with ketchup. Pretty tasty and always a hit with kids around.
“Snobroed” dough twisted around bamboo sticks
“Snobroed” dough twisted around bamboo sticks
Baking the “snobroed”. Always cozy/”hyggeligt” to sit together around a fire
Around Summer solstice in late June, Danes celebrate Sankt Hans Evening (St. John’s Eve) with bonfires and sometimes witch dolls! This was originally a pagan celebration of summer solstice and the magical shortest night of the year but after the introduction of Christianity it also became the celebration of John the Baptist’s birthday which is supposedly June 24th.
There used to be a lot of superstition related to this night. Evil was was fought away with bonfires and sick people travelled to holy springs hoping their illnesses would be cured on this night where light was stronger than darkness. As a symbol of chasing evil forces away, Danes started burning a hay witch on top of the bonfire in the early 1900! Real humans, believed to be witches, were not burned in Denmark after 1693. Nevertheless, the story goes that on the evening of Sankt Hans: “the witches are being sent off to Brocken” (the highest point of the Herz mountains in Germany).
Interestingly, this pagan/Christian tradition is still highly popular in Denmark, although many people skip the witch doll burning. Every year on June 23rd you can see bonfires, sometimes with witch dolls, lightening up the bright midsummer sky all over the country. I believe this tradition has survived for so long because midsummer is a beautiful time to get together with friends and family for bonfire and barbecue. Especially in Denmark, where the sun is up until around 10 pm – and even later in countries further North.
A beautiful and dramatic Sankt Hans Evening bonfire has been depicted in a famous painting by the painter P.S. Krøyer from the Skagen artist colony. It is on display at Skagen’s Museum on the most northern tip of Denmark where light is especially beautiful.
Sankt Hans Evening (St. John’s Eve) bonfire on the beach in Tisvildeleje, Denmark, 2013
Another great place to attend a public Sankt Hans bonfire is the beach in Tisvildeleje, Denmark. Every year there is a large bonfire by the beach and the whole ceremony is opened by a speech by a famous Dane followed by the Midsummer Song by Holger Drachman. There is even a holy spring in Tisvildeleje, called Helenekilde, where sick people used to spend Sankt Hans night in hope of being cured. This is also depicted in a painting by Jørgen Sonne, which is on display at the National Gallery of Denmark in Copenhagen.
You can find public Sankt Hans bonfires and parties all over the country every year on June 23rd. After having returned to live in Denmark, I can truly see how beautiful that night is – not because of the witch doll burning – but because of that magical midsummer light. And, if you are not in Denmark for midsummer why not have a bonfire in the backyard? Whether you believe in witchcraft or not, midsummer nights are a beautiful and fun time for a bonfire…
I would also like to share that as a seasoned traveler, I know how crucial it is to have dependable health care insurance on the road. Unexpected medical issues or travel mishaps can happen anytime, so having the right coverage is key. That’s why I recommend SafetyWing, which offers two solid plans: Essential and Complete.
From $2/day, the Essential Plan is great for short-term travelers, covering emergency medical care up to $250,000, along travel interruptions and lost luggage. Optional add-ons for adventure sports and electronics theft are available.
For digital nomads, expats and long-term travelers, the Complete Plan is ideal. It includes routine check-ups, mental health support, maternity care, and trip protection, plus emergency medical coverage up to $1,500,000. All this in 170+ countries, including your home country.
Stay safe and travel worry-free – check out SafetyWing today and get the protection you need!
“Cut” is the second novel in Emily Duvall’s “Flawless Series” about love, family and gemstones…
Do you know that feeling where you can’t put a book down and then after you finished you miss it and wish you hadn’t been in such a hurry? That’s exactly how it is for me when I read Emily Duvall’s books. First there was “Inclusions” and now “Cut” about the Cahill sisters and the Harrison brothers. It must be the great mix of well-written romance and suspense combined with very likable and realistic characters. While the men are certainly attractive and the women beautiful no one is just perfect in her books. They all have flaws that make them even more likable and easy to identify with. They don’t always do or say the right thing and that is just what makes me love them even more and feel so good when I read about them – because isn’t it good to be reminded that nobody is perfect and we all make our mistakes…;)
Generally speaking Danish novels and movies tend to be on the not so happy side. Complicated relationships, unhappy endings and as I wrote in my last post, dark crime stories seem to dominate the Danish world of fiction. It seems like a mystery in itself why the happiest people in the World produce such dark dramas?! Why do so many scary, if not depressing, stories come from this country and how does that go along with being such a happy country? You wouldn’t really think that anyone is happy in Denmark based on those crime stories and movies about unhappy families. Or, are these dark stories part of the reason why Danes are happy/content? Reading about someone who is doing worse than ourself in life might actually make us feel better about ourselves. It puts our life into perspective and can make us appreciate what we have and feel thankful that at least we don’t have as big problems as the people in the story.
Feeling cozy with a sad book. “Trip trap” tray, “Tema” coffee cup, and dead roses…
The authors of “The Danish Way of Parenting” make the same point and call it “Authenticity”. Already as children the Danes read sad or scary stories like many of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytales, which give them more realistic expectations and prepare them better for life.
It is healthy to talk with children about difficult topics and life events and to be honest about what is going on – in a way that is appropriate for their age. This way they learn that life isn’t always rosy red and that they might not become a princess who meets a handsome prince. They learn to be honest with themselves and let their true emotions guide them through life.
Do you have any opinion about this? Feel free to comment if you have another explanation of why Danish fiction isn’t on the happy side? Do you agree that flawed main characters and fiction about other people’s problems make us happier and more appreciative of our own life? I would love to hear your take on this!
You can’t really write about Denmark without mentioning the Scandinavian crime shows and novels…
I just found the Danish TV show “Dicte” on Netflix. It offers a “hyggeligt”/”cozy” trip to Denmark’s second largest city, Aarhus, which the New York Times has nominated as number 17 of the best places to travel to in 2016!
The show stars a lot of great Danish actors, like Iben Hjejle who is the main character crime reporter Dicte. It is based on Elsebeth Egholm’s thriller books about Dicte.
This show is great for someone like me who isn’t into scary stuff (I steer far away from the Swedish ones!) as this one is more on the cozy side. It is not too scary and revolves a lot around personal issues such as love, divorce and friendships – the Danish way;) So for me it is great taste of Danish culture.
But if you are really into Scandinavian crime shows “Forbrydelsen”/”The Killing” is probably the best and has been made into an American version on Netflix called “The Killing”. I would of course recommend watching the Danish original version taking place in Copenhagen with Sofie Graaboel starring as the crime detective in her famous Icelandic sweater;)
Speaking of scary fiction and movies, Jussie Adler-Olsen, is one of the most succesful crime story writers in Denmark and several of his bestseller books have been made into international movies. If you like crime stories I would definitely check him out. I think pretty much everyone in Denmark has read them! Except for me…
Nyons, that’s where we lived and that’s the town to be in. They have local markets – with everything from the classic Provence baskets to locally made sausages, French nougat and rose wine – twice every week. And, a farmers cooperative in a beautiful modern building where they sell local wine, specialties and all-natural beauty products etc. Smart way of giving local businesses a better chance to market their products. France really has a lot to do with eating lots of delicious food and drinking wine from surrounding wine castles…
Nyons also has a local olive mill which is now a store with all those local specialties – olive and lavender soap, French nougat, olive oil and what not.
“Moulin a Huile” – the olive mill in Nyons and the old Roman bridge directly connected to the downtown
The old Roman bridge in Nyons
The old Roman bridge in Nyons
We actually stayed in a Danish-owned architect designed apartment near downtown. With it belonged a beautiful olive field, gazebo and veranda overlooking the olive field with mountains in the background. This place was such a perfect mix of classic Danish interior design and the beautiful landscape of Provence.
View from “our” veranda at Else’s rental in Nyons
The view from “our” window at Else’s place
Downtown shopping street in Nyons, France. The store on the left hand (Camellia Boutique) with yellow and red flowers painted on the facade was the most fantastic new clothes store. If you like classic pinup girl dresses with a modern touch – and happen to be in Nyons – go there!! I bought three dresses and a shirt and I wish I could buy all my clothes there! Plus the owner, Marie, is super personal and sweet.
I have to admit that it is a little bit of a food shock to return to the US. How can I find bread as good as French bakery bread (or just half as good) and how can I get delicious fresh local ingredients? My first answer has been: the farmers market. Our town’s farmers market has just opened for the Summer and it is a much bigger market than usual with live music and food tastings. Â Local farms, creameries, bakeries, restaurants, the local health food store and local breweries are participating. I was able to go home with kale, strawberries, tomatoes and cucumbers all freshly picked that morning. I sneaked the kale into my usual “kid smoothie” – and my children drank it just as fast as usual.
Plain yoghurt, frozen blueberries, banana, lime, avocado, water – and freshly picked kale;) Drink up kids!
As for the bread I think there is no other way than to get baking…but we’ll see about that – Summer is pretty hot and humid here!
We just came back from a family wedding in Paris and vacation in Provence. It was so exciting and beautiful that I have to write about it even though this blog was supposed to be about Denmark only. But France is Europe…and it was great to be back!
Not really sure where to begin so lets just start with some pretty pictures from the trip…
Paris is beautiful and so is Provence. No surprise there. I am in love with the Tuileries garden, Louvre and the area around the Eiffel Tower – we stayed in hotels both places. And, I want olive trees and lavenders in my backyard ala Provence:)
Dramatic evening sky over Louvre… so impressively big and elegant
View from the Tuileries
Also, there is absolutely no going back to buying bread from supermarkets anymore. Any little French town seems to have at least one “boulangerie” (bakery) and I just have to learn to make bread like that! More to come about Paris and the town where we stayed in Provence…
What is so special about that Danish happiness that the news media has been talking about over the last few weeks? Here are my suggestions to what makes Danes so happy – besides a welfare system that leaves everyone pretty safe and secure. This guideline should be taken with a grain of salt and I hope you will view it just as some ideas on what that Danish happiness is all about. I am not saying Danes are better than other people and we can definitely learn a lot from the world around us. But who knows – maybe you can use a few of these suggestions to add a little of that unique Danish happiness to your life. As a Dane in America I use it as a checklist whenever I need to get back to my cultural roots.
Outdoor time is so important for kids! Their mood improves and they learn so much!
Sign advertising “Hygge Broed” which means “Hygge Bread” in front of “Grannys House” – a cafe/bakery at Torvehallerne in Copenhagen
Guideline to Danish Happiness
“Hygge” – this is the unique Danish term that combines coziness with togetherness. Danes often do this by enjoying relaxing and fun times with family and friends. So bring out the coffee and cake;) Beer and wine help bring on the fun too!
Outdoor time– enjoy the outdoors every day. Preferably at least half an hour combined with exercise and nature
Get your kids outside every day for an hour at least of free play. Remember that rain is fun if you are dressed for it (or at least it is fun for the kids. This one is pretty hard to live up to but I try…)
Lots of free play for your kids! This encourages imagination and creativity
Home-cooked meals with close family and friends
Eat Danish food such as frikadeller (Danish meatballs), wiener broed (danishes), pandekager (Danish pancakes), rugbroed (rye bread) and sild (herring) with beer and schnaps! 😉 Recipes to come on this blog!!
Decorate your home simply and beautifully with a few design items you love and lots of white! White walls etc. Less is more… But whatever your style is the most important thing is to make it into a beautiful and “hyggeligt” space where you love to spend time
Don’t over-schedule your life – enjoy your home
Be content with what you have -this is probably the most important part of Danish happiness 😃
Happy as a Dane 