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Shopping & Margaritas

As the weather was still a bit cold we did shopping today so we could be outside once the sun returned. We went to Westfield Brandon and Emelie found a few things. Going home we went to Lettuce Lake Park to see if we could spot some alligators. We saw one at least. We had […]

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Oaklawn Cemetery & St Pete

Emelie saw in our book 100 things to see in Tampa that there were an old cemetery in downtown Tampa that had some history to it. We decided to go and check it out. Oaklawn Cemetary opened in 1850 and was a place for “white and slave, rich and poor”. There are government figures, businessmen, […]

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Christmas Eve

Food, food and some more food was today’s activity. We started the day by having brunch at Datz. Their portions are huge and we couldn’t finish our food. Emelie and I shared two dishes – Waffles & Chicken Benedict and something called Cheezy Todd. The Cheesy Todd was a burger with “buns” made of fried […]

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Some of the murals in Tampa

We had a long lunch at Sparkman Wharf and enjoyed the sun as it’s going to be really cold this weekend. Afterwards we took a walk in the Channel District of Tampa. We also drove by Postcard of Tampa.

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Sunken Garden with Emelie

Emelie wanted to visit the Sunken Garden in St Pete. It’s a lovely place that has been around for a very long time. It started by a family loving plants and then it just grew into an attraction. The children of the first owner took over but when they wanted to retire it was to […]

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Emelie is here

Yesterday evening Emelie arrived in Tampa and we picked her up at the airport. Today she and I did go for lunch in St Pete at The Library. It’s not a library nor have it ever been but it’s decorated as a library. I’ve been told that the food might not be the best but […]

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4th Sunday of Advent

We decided to invite some of our neighbours for some advent’s “fika”. Two of them already had other plans but the other four could make it. I had baked “lussekatter” (saffron buns), a saffron sponge cake as well as ginger snaps and some chocolate. We had some Swedish ”glögg” (mulled wine) from last years special […]

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2022 Tampa Holiday Lighted Boat Parade

Tonight we went to see the Holiday lighted boat parade that takes place every year. It starts at the south tip of Harbour Island, passes Convention Center, turns up by Armature Works, goes back down to Convention Centre, south tip of Harbour Island and ends at Sparkman’s Warf. This year it started in time and […]

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The French Coffee morning

Today the French ladies invited us to their coffees morning. We had a quiz, cheese, charcuterie, champagne, quiche and a lot of pastries. A lovely morning as always.

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Lucia coming up

On Tuesday Lucia is celebrated in Sweden and on Thursday Peter has a big meeting. So yesterday and today we have been baking 120 Lucia buns. We had to start by getting everything we needed and then by dinner time we took a break and finished today instead. Now we are just being cozy and […]

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International Night in Florida

Thursday was the International Night at MacDill Air Force Base. It’s the first one in three years due to Covid. Last year the base closed again due to rise in people getting sick and it had to be cancelled. Last week I got 9 kg (20 lb) shrimps delivered and on Tuesday Peter’s assistant and […]

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Thanksgiving in Illionois

Today it was Thanksgiving and we celebrated with Colleen and Daryl and their extended family. The turkey was to go in the oven by 5 am and Jake and Nicole were in charge they were the only ones that needed to get out of bed that early. They did go back to bed once it […]

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Sibiria & Santa Claus

We left Louisville and headed west to do some more sightseeing along the way to Collinsville. We left a sunny and cold Louisville, Kentucky and crossed the Ohio River into Indiana. Siberia was just a fun thing that we saw on the map after we ran into Stockholm the other day. Slightly bigger than Stockholm […]

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Fort Knox & Louisville

We woke up to a lovely day and left Bardstown after breakfast. We were heading to Fort Knox but stopped at Boundary Oak distillery as we passed it. They had a lot of cool bottles and we tried some that tasted very little bourbon. The prices for doing a tour is not expensive but their […]

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Maker’s Mark

After breakfast we put in Marker’s Make in Loretto. While driving there we saw a sign for Mammoth Cave. Decided to make a detour going to Loretto. The roads were narrow through rural land and nice landscapes. We drove through Stockholm (about 10 houses). Finally we reached the park but still had a few miles […]

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Baby shower in Illinois

Yesterday we left a cool Florida with around 13C / 55F and flew to St Louis and was met by more winter temperatures 0C / 32F. It was cold!! It took forever to get our luggage and when we got to the rental car office they couldn’t find our car and we had to find […]

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Beach & OCC Roadhouse

We spent a couple of hours at the beach today. It was warm but with the wind it didn’t make you sweat. The Mexican Gulf was cold – a lot colder than 2 weeks ago. Dinner did we have at OCC Roadhouse & Museum in St Pete/Clearwater.

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Tampa

We went to Ybor by streetcar and walked along E 7th Ave. a lot of places hadn’t opened yet and it was really slow. Then we took the streetcar back to downtown, got the car and went to Tampa Postcard Mural for a selfie. We had lunch at Armature Works and walked a bit on […]

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Lettuce Lake Park & Outlet

We went to Lettuce Lake park to see some alligators. The water was quite low and the sun hid behind the clouds so not much activity. We started by seeing an alligator in the lake but nothing else. We continued walking and then saw two more laying on land. The slowest ever there.

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Salvador Dalí & Sunken Garden

I haven’t been to the Salvador Dalí museum or the Sunken Garden yet. So with visitors it was time. We started the day by going to the Dalí museum and even if it’s not a big exhibition it’s still a lot to see. After that we had lunch at a Red Mesa Mercado a Mexican […]

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Halloween

Today it’s Halloween and we took a walk after dinner in our neighbourhood to see all the decorations. A lot of kids out Trick or Treating with their parents. There was even a place that had adult treats such as beer, hard seltzer and wine 😊 There are no children coming to our street as […]

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St Augustine

It was colder in Savannah then we anticipated and today it was even supposed to rain. We decided to head south and leave Georgia and hopefully find some sun. When we drove into St Augustine the sun came out and we had 27 C again. We started our visit by going to the distillery and […]

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Savannah

Early this morning we headed to Savannah in Georgia. It’s about 6 hours drive and by lunch we arrived. We started with a stop at Wormsloe historic site which is where Noble Jones settled in 1733 after arriving with the ship Anne. Next to it there is the old Wormsloe plantation but it’s a private […]

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Camilla & Pål in Tampa

Yesterday Camilla & Pål arrived in Tampa. For Pål it’s first time in US and it’s first time in Florida. Today we had to run some errands in the morning before we could enjoy the pool. We walked to Ballast Point pier to get some lunch and see the neighbourhood. By the time we got […]

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Davis Island & Salt Shack

Last full day in Tampa and the girls wanted to do the beach and then drinks and dinner in the evening. We didn’t want to drive long but wanted to try a new beach. We went to Davis Island but the water wasn’t nice but sitting on the beach worked fine. Now we have tried […]

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Homosassa

The girls have seen a lot of native animals of Florida, alligators, dolphins, raccoons, turtles and a lot of birds, as well as manatees but from a distance. But today we went to Homosassa to see them up close. When we arrived we parked at the main road and took the boat down to the […]

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Canadian Coffee morning

Today the Canadians had their coffee morning and it was really nice. They started by presenting Canada and gave a bit of facts that I must have learnt in school but nolonger remembered. After that we were put together in groups and they had a quiz about Canada. My group won and we got a […]

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Ybor & Brandon

Today we went to Ybor for the girls to see it at daylight. They went here on a Saturday to see the nightlife in Tampa and enjoyed it. But it was a bit different during the day as there as way less people and not all places are open as well as some stores are […]

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Everglades

Leaving Miami we headed towards Tamiami Trail and then took a left into Loop Road. In the beginning it was slow but then the alligators started to show. After the Loop Road we went to Wooten’s Everglades Airboat Tours to see if we could go with one of their tours. They had one leaving 20 […]

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Key West & Islomorada

As we were staying at a hotel in Miami we had breakfast fairly early and then headed towards Key West. As it was a federal holiday we choose to stay in Miami as the prices in Key West are always high but get even higher at times like this. It’s a 2,5 hour drive but […]

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Miami

We were supposed to go to Miami last weekend but as we needed to go back home after the evacuation we postponed it for this weekend instead. We left early Saturday morning to be able to see as much as possible. We drove over the small ”town” Yeeahaw former know as Jackass. We just wanted […]

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OCC in St Pete/Clearwater

Tonight we went for dinner at OCC (Orange County Chopper) Roadhouse where they have nice food, live music and motorbikes. The food was nice and we even tried one of their live action cocktails as well as beer. We moved closer to the scene after dinner and listened a bit to the band Symmetry.

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Lettuce Lake Park

As we couldn’t go to Circle B Bar, which is our to go to when you want to see alligators, due to heavy flooding we went to Lettuce Lake park which is also great to see some alligators. We could walk most of the trail, just a small part that was flooded, and saw both […]

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Shooting range & movie

Peter took the girls to the shooting range and they could try to shoot different weapons. They tried a Glock, a 357 Magnum and a Scar assault riffle. In the evening we went to see a movie at Ciné Bistro in Hyde Park. We saw Amsterdam which was a bit weird but funny at the […]

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Green Lemon & Picnic Island

Since Felicia was here last time she has been wanting to go back to Green Lemon for their tacos which she finds to be the best in Tampa. She also wanted to introduce Cajsa to Margarona – the bastard sibling to Margarita. As it’s a very popular place we went there early to get a […]

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St Pete and St Pete beach

I wanted to show the girls St Pete and they wanted to go to the beach. We started by going to downtown St Pete and walk the on the pier. Before leaving the pier we had some lunch there and it was a very nice pizza. We then continued to St Pete beach were we […]

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Riverwalk & Armature Work

The girls wanted do some relaxing by the pool so we did Riverwalk in the morning and had lunch at Armature Work. On the way home we went to take some pictures at the Tampa postcard.

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Tarpon Spring and Dunedin

Today we went to Tarpon Springs to eat greek food and show the greek part of the area. The area is famous for it’s sponges and that a great part of the population is Greek, some even still speaks the language. We ate at Mama’s Greek Cuisine and I had a wonderful mousaka and Peter […]

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Evacuation

Monday morning we understood that we might be hit by hurricane Ian and started to prepare for leaving. We had to make sure to pack every valuable and those things we couldn’t bring we had to put in water-safe containers in case the house would flood. We live in an area that is likely to […]

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Cajsa’s birthday

Today Cajsa turned 22 years old and we ”woke her up” by singing for her. They still have not got into the right time zone and wakes up very early but she pretended to sleep at least =) They enjoyed the sun a little more when we went to the beach at the base and […]

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Beer pong and AW

As the girls had some trouble adjusting to the new time zone we started the day with a morning walk and then they were just relaxing at the pool with some beer pong and sun. As we were going to have all the Swedes over later in the evening for some after work I had […]

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Felicia & Cajsa are coming

Tonight Felicia and her friend Cajsa are coming for a 3,5 week stay. We are so looking forward to it. I started the day with coffee with some friends in Hyde Park and then had lunch with Pat at The MadDog & Englishmen. Then it was just to wait for them to arrive. We picked […]

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Almost lunch in West Indies

Every month the Nordic spouses meet up for lunch. This time we had lunch at Bahama Breeze and the coconut shrimp tacos were lovely as well as the company.

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Lunch at Datz

Being away for a few weeks meant that we needed to shop food. Started by having lunch at Datz and we will be back.

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Vacation in Sweden 2022

Peter and I spent three weeks in Sweden as our vacation. First five days we spent in Scania which is in the very south of Sweden and where our parents live as well as Emelie and my brother and his family. We flew out from Tampa to Frankfurt and unfortunately the connection to Copenhagen was […]

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OCC Road House & Museum

We had late lunch today over in St Pete/Clearwater. We went to a place owned by Paul Teutul Sr. – OCC Road House. Orange County Choppers (OCC) is a world famous custom motorcycle manufacturer founded in 1999 by Paul Teutul Sr. at his former Newburgh NY facility. Paul Sr. and his team of custom fabricators, […]

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Sheraton Sand Keys and another lovely evening

Mr Kimble and his wife invited us over to Clearwater and the hotel for an evening with wonderful food at Rusty’s. When we arrived in our room we were greeted with a bottle of red wine and a charcuterie board. We started with 3 starters – Ibirico ham, some vegetables with whipped ricotta and focaccia […]

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Golf

I don’t play golf but a lot of the other ladies do. They were going to go out one evening and play 9 holes. I told them I don’t play and somehow we came up with the idea that I would be their designated driver. A lot of laughs and even some wildlife.

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France and 14 of July

The French invited us to celebrate 14 of July – Bastille Day – with them at Tampa Yacht Club. We had French meat, cheese, wine, champagne and dessert. We had a lovely evening with the international community.

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Lt Dan band

Tonight the base had a concert for their staff and their families. Gary Sinise is the actor that played Lt Dan in the movie Forrest Gump. When Sinise started to prepare for his role as Lt Dan he learned a lot about the military, veterans and particularly wounded veterans. He then started to perform at […]

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Visit to Nova Scotia – Canada

When living in London Peter worked with a Canadian and we got to know him and his wife well. We have kept in contact and talked about seeing each other but the pandemic happened and travelling was stopped. Finally we found a time that worked for all of us. Peter and I flew to Halifax […]

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Instant ice cream

My neighbour Pat and her husband have bought a condo over at Treasure Island. She needed to take a few things over and asked if I wanted to come along. When we were done we wanted an ice cream and I found a small but cool place. They make fresh ice cream in a minute. […]

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Swedish Midsummer in Tampa

The Swedish midsummer is always celebrated on Friday between the 19-25 of June. It’s been celebrated for many years and was connected with solstice but when Sweden became Christian it was celebrated on June 24 as a celebration of John the Baptist. Midsummer’s Eve is not a national holiday but they day after is just […]

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The Sistine Chapel exhibition

Right now there is a exhibition in Tampa that shows and explaines Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel. Each section was enhanced on fabric and explained what it was about, why he choose it and where in the ceiling it is placed. Beautiful pictures and very interesting to see and read about.

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A few days in Collinsville, IL

Last week I went to Illinois to see my friends living in Collinsville and my friend currently living in Neapel. We all met in London while living there and both Colleen and Mary ended up living fairly close to each other when the tie in London was up. I saw them last three year’s ago […]

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Dunedin and celebrating 27 years married

27 years ago we said yes to each other at Torna Hällestad church. It was a lovely day then and so was today. We drove to Dunedin that’s located north of Clearwater. It has about 36 000 inhabitants with a Main Street with a small town feeling. After we parked the car we walked down […]

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Visit from Sweden

My friend Boel came for a short visit and we kept busy. She arrived Thursday evening slightly delayed and we thought dinner at Salt Shack would be great. Due to the delay it was already crowded and we went to Big Ray’s instead. First day she wanted to do shopping and eat at Cheesecake Factory […]

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Military Spouse Appreciation – High Tea

The CENTCOM family Center invited spouses to sign up for an event today. It was to show their appreciation for the spouses and the theme was Mad Hatter and high tea. We were about 50 ladies attending and the dress code was dress, gloves and hat/fascinator. I didn’t have gloves anymore as I’ve lost mine […]

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Kazakstan hosting the coffee morning

Today I was on base for a coffee morning. It was supposed to be last month but as Ramadan was on they had to move it. As usual lovely food and company.

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Movie time

When we were in New York we saw ads for a movie – The Northman. As we like other movies about vikings we decided to see this one. The movie I can’t recommend but the movie theatre was amazing. The serve drinks and food inside, each chair is more of a armchair and there is […]