It’s been a bit over a year since my last day working for the DoD, and a bit less than a year from when I formally retired as a civil servant. A year ago next week, Susanna flew out to Sweden to start our life over here. All this churn is thanks to DOGE and Elon Musk. I don’t think it saved any money and certainly didn’t help the country become stronger. But it provided me an opportunity that seemed too good to turn down.

So how has retirement been? For the most part I think it has been good for me and the family. Though not always in the most straightforward way.

Moving to a different country has been a lot of work. And I’m still not done with everything needed for the move. It has been quite an adventure. Some of the things about the move have been harder than I expected:

Selling the house and getting rid of two decades worth of belongings was a lot harder than I expected. Of course, I didn’t get ahead of it as much as I should have and the last day before Izzy and I flew over here with Hoagie was stressful to say the least. We had to get everything moved out, which wound up with us just tossing everything into a dumpster that we didn’t want to put into storage. That and saying goodbye to everyone the morning we were heading to Boston was the most stressed I have been in a long, long time. It didn’t help that we were flying a dog overseas, and I didn’t really know what to expect from that. Checking in and customs were pretty straightforward, but I didn’t know that at the time. It was hard to find details on what to expect.

Another thing that I’ve found very hard is Swedish. Swedish is hard. I’ve never found language very easy (my French grades in high-school can attest to that), and trying to learn a new one in my 50s is even harder. One can easily get by here without knowing Swedish, but I’m a guest in their country, and I should learn the language and culture. So I struggle through SFI classes and use ChatGPT to help quiz me.

The bureaucracy here has been tough. It takes a while for things to get done. I don’t think it is any harder than the US, nor did I expect it to be easy. ChatGPT has been a great help in translating and searching websites for things. It would have been a lot harder a few years ago without that sort of automated help. It took a few months to get my personal number (i.e. Swedish Social Security Number), which allowed me to get a bank account, which allowed me to get a BankID and without a BankID there is almost nothing that a person can do here. Except spend money – I think that is easy to do in whatever country one is in.

But a lot hasn’t been as hard as I had expected.

School for Izzy was a lot better than I had expected. None of us knew what to expect putting Izzy in a public school here in Sweden. She did speak Swedish, but we didn’t really know what it would be like being a foreigner showing up in the middle of the school year. But the school is great. It helped that she had to go back into 3rd grade last year to be with her age group, so the material wasn’t difficult for her. Having her coursework in Swedish was challenging enough alone without having to learn a lot of other material. In addition, she was able to find friends. It took her a while to find people she clicked with, but she eventually did. It was really good that we came here in the fall so she had all winter and spring to make friends before the summer, and I think she is having a great summer!

Meeting people has been relatively easy. There is a stereotype that Swedes aren’t friendly. They are, but just typically mind their own business. Unlike in the US, it would be very unusual for a Swede to talk to a stranger on the street (or in a grocery store, or bar). But having a dog makes it different. About half of the dog owners will say “hi” when you pass on the street while walking your dog. And I’ve met lots of people at the dog park, some of whom I see several times a week. I don’t really speak much Swedish still, but English works most of the time. It would be a lot different if I spoke neither Swedish nor English.

I was really lucky in finding my workshop space a short drive away for a very reasonable price. I knew we had decided to find an apartment in the city, so was worried about what I would do for my own space. I could have found a place out by Susanna’s parents, but that is a 45-minute drive away. The place I found is 20 minutes and the perfect size for me now. It’ll be slightly better if I can get the room below my shop, but I’m not in a rush.

Keeping busy hasn’t been a problem. It is more challenging now that I have to fully structure every day, but there are plenty of things to do. Susanna’s preschool needed someone to help out and build and repair some of the outdoor furniture and structures, so that has given me a place to go. And getting out and working with my hands has been good for my health and soul.

Healthcare has been easier than I expected. At least it was once I got my personal number and BankID. It is pretty straightforward, even though routine things take a bit longer to schedule than it would have been back in the US. I think there are private doctors that I could use if I desired, but I’ve been pretty happy so far.

I was a bit worried about the winters here. It doesn’t get much colder than back in the US, but it is a lot darker. We came for Christmas in 2024 and I wasn’t prepared for how short the days were. But we moved here in the fall, so the short days creep up on you. I was also pretty busy, and hiking around in the winter here is beautiful. Plus Hoagie prefers hikes in the cold to the heat. However, by the end of February I was ready for spring. And the summers here make up for the winters!

I do miss my friends and family back in the US. I was glad I got to see most everyone in December before I fully moved here. I know Izzy misses her friends back in the US a lot, and was very angry about the move for a while. But she has been resilient and is good at making friends. The city is small enough that we give her a lot of freedom to explore the city with her friends. She will ride her bike into centrum or to the lake. The kommun offered very inexpensive bus passes for the summer for students, so she has been fully using the buses when it is too far to bike. With the sun setting late (9pm or later), we haven’t really had to worry about her wandering the city after dark, though we will have to eventually cross that bridge as the days get shorter.

I’ve been spending a few days a week building stuff for the Norlandia preschool in Hovmantorp. My tools have been sliding around in the back of my car, or have been stuffed into some plastic buckets which tend to tip over. So, I decided to make a few toolboxes. There is a stack of 2-foot long boards in the workshop left over from when the factory built furniture for IKEA, and the landlord has said that I am welcome to use them.

As part of my woodworking journey, I’ve been trying to do some hand-tool warmups weekly in the shop. I decided that I would dovetail the bottom to the end boards to make it a little stronger. The sides are screwed to the bottom and end boards using some old brass plated screws that I also found in the shop. They work much better than the buckets, though I probably need a third toolbox….

I’m making progress on the chicken coop. It has been slower going than I had hoped. The weather hasn’t always been the best to work outside in, and then over the past two weeks a stomach bug has gone through the house. But today I was able to get there for a few hours to make progress.

I’m in the homestretch with my bench build. I put finish on the legs over the weekend and started weaving the top this morning. This is my first time weaving, so it is a bit slow going, and I think the warp is the easy part of the weave. The next step (the weft) is the real challenge to make the top look good.

I had about half of the warp put on when I had to leave the shop to head home and meet Izzy after school. Hopefully I’ll have it finished by the weekend.

Izzy has sportlov (sports break) this week. It is a week off of school designed to encourage outside and healthy activities. It originated in the 1940s during a wartime rationing of coal to save on school heating costs, but over time became more associated with outside activities (according to Swedish Radio). Izzy and I took the opportunity to take the three hour train trip north to Stockholm for two nights. Susanna doesn’t get the week off of work, so she is holding down the fort at home.

We arrived just after noon today and walked around Riddarholmen and Gamla Stan before heading to our hotel in Solna (next to the Mall of Scandinavia). We finished the evening enjoying dinners Susanna’s sister’s family (Rebecka, Max and Agnes)

Here are a few pictures from our walk around today. The bay around Stockholm is frozen for the first time in years. We saw a large group of ice skaters enjoying the clear weather. We even saw someone riding a bicycle across the Riddarfjärden.

To be honest, I’m getting tired of winter. Of course, a long, cold winter is something that I expected moving to Sweden. It has been a bit more difficult to find the motivation to get outside the past two weeks. It isn’t totally hopeless. The days are getting longer, and I get some motivation to walk with Hoagie. However, I found a bit of a cheat with him; I take him to the woods behind the apartment, and if no one is around I let him explore a few minutes off leash. It saves the walk tot he dog park. I keep telling myself that I’ll get back to he longer evening walks when it warms up. So, please hold me to that promise.

Anyway, despite my complaining, I did get some time to enjoy the weather this weekend.

Yesterday Susanna and Izzy met Hoagie and I in Rottne and we stopped by the Stockekvarn swimming place (on the eastern shore of Helgasjön) on the way back home to do some ice skating. I built a skating aid for them to practice with and they got to enjoy a not-crowded day skating on the lake. Hoagie even got some off leash time when the other skaters left, but was cold and ready to go home by the time we left.

This morning Izzy had a friend over and we all went to the mall for a few hours. This afternoon I dragged Izzy with me to the Helgö Naturreservat which is also on Helgasjön. We walked for an hour or so exploring the area. Hoagie had some time to run off the leash, but eventually I decided there were too many other hikers around and leashed him for the second half of the walk.

I was finally able to get back into the shop today.

Last week was a pretty slow shop week. Izzy was sick the second half of the week, so I had to stay home with her. She’s feeling mostly better today, so I was able to get to the shop. Susanna’s car is still with the mechanic where they are trying to diagnose some sort of electrical problem (or declare the car dead), so it was back on the bus to Rottne with Hoagie. The bus schedule doesn’t give me many hours at the shop, but it does help me get some exercise walking to and from the bus stop. Plus it is better than being stuck at home.

Today I finished throwing together a bench to support the planer. I built the bench out of scraps so it is pretty ugly. But it works. I think I have enough of the workshop built out, so I’m in business. At least this week. Next week is winter sports break for Izzy, so I’ll be out of the shop for the week (but we are visiting Stockholm for a few days, so that will be a fun adventure).

Today the sun came out and it warmed up a little bit (though still below freezing). Izzy was finally feeling good enough to get outside for a short hike. So, this morning the whole family agreed to go for a hike (with some members less excited than the others). We walked downtown, caught the number 4 bus to Öjaby, and walked to Dragsåsen naturreservat. The nature reserve sticks out into Öjabyviken (Öjaby bay) in Helgasjön (Lake Helga). The lake is frozen and we passed an area where a family had shoveled the snow and was skating on the lake. Hopefully Izzy will get the opportunity to skate on a lake some year, it is a pretty cool experience.

A little farther down the path we found a place to walk out onto the lake. We explored a bit while Hoagie had a great time running around on the open ice. He loves running in the snow. Izzy was the most adventurous of us and walked on the ice a ways along the shore while the rest of us walked the path and while Hoagie ran like crazy up and down the trails and hills. If only we could live every moment as carefree and excited as Hoagie is when he is running through the woods.

After a short walk, we crossed the bridge to the southern most part of the nature reserve. The snow had piled fairly deep on that section of trail, so we decided to wait until warmer weather to explore it fully. At least the humans did. Hoagie was having a ton of fun running through the snow piles and he explored a lot more of the southern island than we did.

Overall it was one of the more scenic hikes I have done in the area. It was way more interesting than the loop at Hissö that Izzy and I did on another windy day earlier this winter. It is a very short hike (under a mile) and we spent a lot more time walking to and from the bus than we did walking the trail.

I decided to rearrange the shop a little bit. Susanna’s parents had an extra couch that they said I could put in the space. I liked the idea, but I needed to make room for it. I decided to move the second workbench and place it back to back with my first bench. That workbench was a bit wobbly and wasn’t in the best shape, so I had to spend an afternoon taking it apart and doing some minor repairs.

That cleared up a space in front of the windows for the couch. Now Hoagie has a new place to hang out!

The new arrangement got rid of my sharpening station that I had setup on the second workbench. I’ll build a new one when I figure out where I want it. Or just sharpen at the benches and move the sharpening supplies off the shelf above the couch.

Today I built a bench for the CNC, but didn’t get the machine put together. I’ll work on that next week. The table turned out very sturdy, but I need to build a shelf (or drawers) below it to add to my storage. Susanna’s dad supplied me with the lumber and I cut the pieces on his chop saw, so the project was pretty quick to put together.

I made another big add to the shop this week. A few weeks ago I went by SweDendro tools and ordered a benchtop planer from Axminster. I had been sitting on the Danish Cord Bench project waiting for a planer and was getting frustrated about the wait. So, yesterday I decided I’d just pick up one of the benchtop planers that they had in stock, even though they cost a little more. Of course, as soon as I gave up on the planer, it arrived in stock. Susanna’s car is at the dealer, so I had to wait until she returned from work yesterday to pick it up. Today I unboxed it and set it up on the table I’m using as a finishing table. It has a spiral cutter head, so that should be a big improvement over the planer I had in the US.

Now I have to build a proper workbench to hold the planer. I’ll also need to figure out a way to remove the chips, but I’ll probably start with just hooking up the vacuum to the machine for now. There is an old single-phase dust collector on the other side of the building that I can probably borrow if I ask, but it needs some cleaning up and new bags. That will be a project for a later time.

I’m still trying to figure out what my go-to finish will be. It is a bit of a challenge to navigate the language and new products. I did some test pieces with LIBERON Bistrot Varnish and just picked up some Hozon 2C and put a first coat on some samples today. I’ll see how they look when they fully cure next week.

I’m trying to make Fridays my tool maintenance and shop cleaning day, so was able to get some pictures with the workbenches mostly cleared off.

My goal next week is to finish milling and do the joinery on the Danish Cord Bench. I ordered the cord and cord nails but don’t yet have an expected delivery date for them. I have a couple of projects in the queue, including a chicken coop for Susanna’s work, a loft bed for Izzy and a new TV/entertainment cabinet. The chicken coop needs to wait until I get the paperwork needed to work as a contractor. The loft bed will be a quick build (e.g. screws/bolts) . The TV stand/entertainment cabinet will be my first try with veneering so will take a bit longer. My landlord has sheets of veneer sitting around from when they built furniture for IKEA so I’ll purchase a sheet or two as needed.