My mother Elin and I had our second Swedish Day yesterday, going to sites we did not make it to on the first one.  I have been taking Swedish lessons while commuting using my iPod so I did a lesson yesterday too while driving south.

The first stop was my grandmother Ruth’s grave.  I was surprised to see that the Swedish flag I put up on the last Swedish Day is still there and looking good.  I added a pot of flowers.

I also visited my great grandparents, Emil and Elin.  I had been having problems finding them on recent visits so I did not bring them flowers.  Now that I can remember where they are at, I will be sure to bring them.

I went to University Seafood and Poultry and bought some homemade pickled herring there.  That is an amazing store I had never noticed before.  I will be back!

Next Mom and I went to IKEA.  I have never been before so it was an experience.  Here is the warehouse area.

Everything was so cheap.  These sheepskins were $14.99!.  They did not feel like real wool though.

Then we went to one of the many houses Emil had built.  This is the one in Montlake that they had lived in briefly and Ruth was quite fond of.

The current owner was there but was not interested in seeing the photos we have of her house being built by him and my great Uncle Elis.  So we did not get to see the inside of the house, but it still looks good from the outside and per Zillow is worth more than $1 million.

So here are the photos:

Montlake House – 1925

Emil Ruth Montlake house

Emil Elis Ruth

Emil Elin Ruth Elis

Montlake

We went to the Scandinavian Specialties Store to buy some Swedish food items and then headed to what we call the Greenlake House that Emil also built.  Here it is now.  For the first time we noticed a J in the screen door.  We are guessing it means Johnson as Emil and Elin lived here for quite a few years after he built it.

They had torn down the previous house that was here to build this house.  We believe they had lived in the prior house before building this one, perhaps even before the Montlake House.  Here is the house they tore down in 1953.

Emil and other members of my family built a lot of houses in the Seattle and Bremerton areas for many years, and I wish could be acknowledged better for their craftmanship.

Mom and I then headed to the Swedish Club for dinner.  We had cocktails with their amazing view first.

We enjoyed an amazing salmon dinner and a presentation about a famous Norwegian composer, Edvard Grieg.  On the way out, I noticed this Swedish spinning wheel.  It looks a lot like the one I inherited from my great great grandmother from Sweden but mine is missing the distaff.  So it was good to see that.

I made it home pretty late.  But here is my stash of Swedish foods I picked up along the way.

We had a great Swedish Day.  Unfortunately along the way we figured out some other Swedish sites we need to visit.  So it looks like there will be a #3!