Midsummer's Eve

Every summer around the summer solstice, we celebrate Midsummer's Eve here in Sweden. It's a ancient pagan tradition that nowadays involves pickled herring, schnapps, and dancing around a big, flower clad phallus symbol - the midsummer pole! Last Friday it all went down, and I had been invited to a party out in the Swedish country - the perfect place to celebrate this feast - and the weather gods smiled at us! The house was situated high up with an amazing view over the water!

The first thing we did when we arrived was to go down to the landing-stage and look at the water!

I was wearing my 30s dress from Old Touch (wrote about it before here), and I have to say even I enjoyed being hit by the rays of the sun! For a little while...

Tifa looked lovely - as always - but the wind tried to mess up her hair!

When it was time to prepare lunch all the ladies went into the kitchen, while the men stayed outside drinking alcohol. As traditional as it can be...I guess...

Traditional Swedish midsummer food! Fresh, boiled potatoes, smoked salmon, boiled eggs with caviar, salad, pickled herring, and stuff like that...Here you can also see two small versions of the big phallus symbols...

Then we ate! Another thing that must be on the table this day, is the schnapps - or "nubbe" as we call it in swedish. 

There was no question to which schnapps glass was mine, since I naturally marked it with red lipstick to show it belonged to me - a tactic I sometimes use on certain men too...Observe that this glass is actually shot glass-sized, and not as big as it might look in the picture!

Now and then during the day we took a break from the festivities, and went into the bedroom to cuddle with the two cats locked in there for the day.

Then we mingled on the mountain for a while...

...and cuddled with each other instead!

My dress and my wine! Then it happened!...

...Bacchus came to me and I saw the light!

After that enlightening experience Jocke decided to climb up on the roof.

The bravest among us followed him up there. If these three people ever start a band together, I think we have a good promo picture here...

Me and Tifa on the roof. The view from up there was breathtaking! Getting down was a bit more difficult than getting up though, since the unsteady ladder was held by to unsteady (read: drunk) persons...

As the sun went down over the forrest...

...the men gathered in the kitchen! For now it was time to prepare the meat, for the barbecue, and that is manly!

There was so much testosterone flying around in the air at that moment I almost fainted...

At midnight Jocke treated us to some champagne. Thank you Jocke!

After that some went to bed, while the rest danced around in the kitchen, until the sun started to rise and we went back down to the landing-stage to watch all the beauty around us.

The water was so still it was hard to tell what was up and what was down.

Henrik tried to take a good photo of the scenery...

...and I decided to make it a bit more difficult for him - while at the same time looking out for pirates! Unfortunately I had let my hair out, and with a fast grab and pull from Henrik...

...I ended up in this position, which kind of reminds me of something from The Exorcist...

Then Jocke found a champagne cork, and we decided to go to bed! A few hours later I woke up and tip toed out of the house, while the rest of the lucky bastards kept sleeping. Because I had to go to work!