The past 6 years in Dalarna have been wonderful. Nothing disappointed us or diminished our love for Sweden. On the contrary, we have only become more attached to this country and we feel at home in nature and among the people.
Whereas in the Netherlands our business activities and other personal circumstances, at times caused a lot of stress, arriving at our own beloved spot in Sweden gave peace and new inspiration every time.
It is time to give special attention to our beloved spot in Sweden. And perhaps I do that most for myself.
Our home in Sweden until now has been “Krusbo. A wonderful house and place that gave us and the many people who visited us something special. It’s crazy to experience that a place does so much to people.
Is this because of the house? The house is beautiful and we have upgraded it with attention and care over the past few years. As a result, it now has, for example, a beautiful, luxurious bathroom, its own well and all facilities.
Is this because of its location and the surrounding private land?
A little strolling around the house, chopping wood, doing chores, picking raspberries, blueberries and lingon, walking up behind the mountain to look for chanterelles, canoe under arm and out on the lake to enjoy the serene silence. Or sitting on the terrace in the evening with a fire lit, gazing into the distance and listening to the language of nature.
Is this because of our neighbors? We were told and I still hear it with regularity; “Swedes are reserved and reserved. From the day we walked onto our property, which was not then ours, our neighbors Kjell & Marie have held a special place in our hearts. They taught us a lot about living in nature, about building projects, every guest who came to us they were equally kind and helpful to. But the most beautiful thing is that together we have built a bridge between their and our grounds and this reflects the personal and heart to heart relationship that has developed between us.
I am not going to be able to pinpoint exactly where this emotional attachment to Krusbo comes from.
However, there are his memories that come to mind and make me smile again.
The first time we saw our house and walked onto the property, we fell in love at a glance. It was a warm beautiful summer day and I remember sitting down on the terrace and thinking, ‘this is it’! We met the owner; a lovely woman who showed us around and actually without us buying it made us feel “this is your house. The same day we bought it.
Every time we took the turn from the paved road, up the gruss road, our dog Genty, would sit up straight, yawn quite a bit and then nose in the air. We opened the window of our car and she did nothing but sniff all the scents of the forest for the last few miles. Arriving on our property, she jumps out of the car, runs a few happy laps and then rolls down the lawn on her back from top to bottom.
Visit from our friends from Holland on New Year’s Eve and doing a long jump race from the terrace into the snow. And every year on Jan. 1 at 0:00 a.m., singing “Happy New Year” by Abba very loudly outside across the grounds (viciously).
The first years where we only had an outside toilet and I made it a sport to improve my time very hard running to end up back in our warm bed.
My parents who visited there 3x and could enjoy so intensely together the little things; splitting wood, hiking on the property and in the area or sitting together on the dock to look out over the lake. When I think back on my father’s life, the memory of having had him there is a very fond one.
The multiple visits by our friend from the Netherlands, who was out there bouncing around in his bare feet. He lovingly cared for this place, exuberantly enjoyed nature and got in touch with a desire for simplicity and simple living
The many personal, casual and sometimes emotional conversations on the terrace in the evening by a fire together or together with people who came to visit us.
Nevertheless, we have since moved, Krusbo is still there, but it is no longer our home in Sweden. At first, the decision to leave this special place behind felt like something we could never do. Until it dawned on me that everything Krusbo has given us will never go away. The memories remain and are deep in my heart.
With a smile and a tear, we said goodbye to our Krusbo and our adventure in Sweden continued in Jämtland. This is over 6 hours north of Dalarna and again provides entirely new experiences and experiences.
Our dream of doing business in Sweden and continuing to build our lives here is increasingly becoming a reality. More on this in the following blogs.