Category: The yellow house

Pippi Longstocking

Are there people who don’t know who that is?? Probably, but here in Sweden very few, I think. Every year a reprint of her work is published here and that has been the case since 1945, when Astrid Lindgren’s first book about Pippi Longstocking was published.

This writing came about after seeing the film “Becoming Astrid”, a film about the young Astrid and which gives a beautiful and clear picture of her struggle to become who she eventually became. And she has interested me ever since I saw Pippi on TV as a girl, followed it again with our children and now with my grandchildren.

Her books, the ones that have been translated, are almost all on the bookcase, have been read to endlessly and now that I have mastered reading Swedish a little, I can read the original and the untranslated edition that is in our nice, small library here in Lidhult. In addition, we live in Småland, where most of her children’s books are set.

Astrid Lindgren’s life

Astrid Ericsson was born on 14-11-1907 in Näs, a small community near Vimmerby in Småland. She enjoyed a happy childhood on her parents’ farm, together with her brother and 2 sisters. As a young woman she struggled with her religious upbringing and the prevailing norms of the 1920s. At 18 she became pregnant by the owner of the newspaper she worked for, he wanted to marry, she did not. She left for Stockholm to train as a secretary and to get away from the gossip. As a single parent she could not take care of her son and she placed him with a foster mother in Copenhagen and later for a while with her parents in Näs. When Astrid married her great love Sturre Lindgren in 1931 they were finally able to start a family where a few years later another daughter was born.

Astrid was 37 when Pippi Longstocking was born. The name Pippi Longstocking was invented by daughter Karin who wanted to hear stories about Pippi Longstocking during a long illness. Such a special name calls for a special girl, Astrid thought, and that is what she became.

Publishers initially thought it was a strange book and did not want to publish it. But when it won first prize in a children’s book writing competition by publisher Raben&Sjögren, the floodgates opened and Pippi and her creator became a world hit. Last year Pippi celebrated her 75th birthday!!

Astrid Lindgren continued to write until old age, 85, sometimes several books a year and many of them are still available today. Here in Sweden, a beautiful new edition of “Mio my Mio” has just been published. She wrote 35 reading books, 41 picture books, translated into 100 languages ​​and to date about 165 million have been sold. In addition, she wrote the necessary articles, commentaries in the newspapers and plays/stage adaptations of her books.

Astrid wrote for the child in herself, she always said. Astrid has always stood up for the rights of the child and the animals.

Today, the Astrid Lindgren Company, together with Save the Children, is committed to children and especially girls in developing countries through the program Pippi of today.

Astrid Lindgren biography and museum

And then ….. the biography of Astrid Lindgren by Jens Andersen “Deze dag, een leven” gives a beautiful picture of the writer with many photos, interviews and material from the writer herself. The film “Becoming Astrid” can be found on NPO plus, and a lot of information can be found on the official website of the Astrid Lindgren Company.

In addition to the film about the young Astrid, there is also a beautiful and cheerful ballet made by Pär Isberg about Pippi, Tommy and Annika, in which the composer makes very nice use of the original music from the Pippi films. The ballet can still be found on YouTube or in the archive of the SVT.

If you ever have the opportunity, visit Astrid Lindgren’s Varld in Vimmerby, the place where she grew up. We did it a long time ago with our children, and it was a great success. In many places in the park, short pieces from the books are played, albeit in Swedish, but if you know the books, that’s no problem.

Or Junibacken in Stockholm, where, in addition to the characters from Astrid’s books, other well-known Swedish children’s books can be found. Furthermore, the apartment at Dalagatan 46 in Stockholm where Astrid always lived is a small museum. She lived here from 1941 until her death in 2002. Much of her work can also be found in the beautiful Royal Library in Stockholm.

We have now been living in the land of Pippi and Astrid for a number of years, who would have thought of that when I first saw and read Pippi???

“I’ve never done it before, so I think I can do it!”

Pippi Longstocking!

5 years Mooi Gula Huset

“And suddenly you just know it’s time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings”

5 years ago, 31-01-2019, we finally left the Netherlands late in the morning. A lot of stuff had already been moved over time, but our Volkswagen bus was still full to the brim. Not least with the last stuff, but also with the dogs, Moppie and Bo and our cat Tom, who started new adventures with us. Due to some last-minute hassle in Zutphen, we only managed to drive early in the afternoon. Partly because of that, we only drove up the road to Lidhult in the early morning of February 1. A beautiful full moon shone on the white world around the yellow house. Our adventure had begun.

Cleaning up and organizing

The weeks that followed, we mainly spent cleaning up and furnishing and getting the rooms for the B&B in order. One of the rooms upstairs has blue wallpaper and that is the inspiration for the names of the rooms. The blue room will be the Bohuslän room, decorated with blue accents, for 2 people. The other 2-person room will be the Dalarna room. This one has Faluröd on the wall, and further furnishings with Dalarna accents including 2 chairs and a table with the traditional Kurbits motifs. Our spacious family room will be the Skåne room with natural yellow on the wall. The common room, where the tables for breakfast are also located, will be furnished as much as possible with furniture from our “Mooi-Inredning assortment”. But maybe more about that later.

The first guests of Mooi Gula Huset

And then on April 12, 2019 we welcome our first guests, 3 cyclists and 2 motorcyclists. Nice! That first year we welcome 12 different nationalities, we have nice and very occasionally a less nice encounter and we become more and more skilled in running the B&B Mooi Gula Huset. We discover that we are located on a well-known cycling route, the Banvallsleden. A cycling route straight through southern Sweden on old railways. We also welcomed many cyclists. There also appear to be nice roads in the area for motorcyclists. The breakfast, coffee/tea with freshly baked bread, homemade jam and muesli is much appreciated.

And then, in the second year, Corona strikes worldwide, bookings are cancelled and travelling becomes very difficult in Europe. Fortunately for us, there are few restrictions in Sweden and many Swedes travel in their own country that summer. Great for us. The Danes and Germans follow a little later and our year was not that bad.

People looking for a place to stay overnight or to enjoy the area a little longer now know where to find us. Even people from the village use our B&B if they do not have the space for guests or family, very nice. Friends and family come by regularly and some just pitch their tent in the garden. That is also possible.

The garden

The enormous garden around the house is slowly taking shape again. We soon put up a small greenhouse for tomatoes and peppers. And every year more containers for vegetables are added. In the meantime, we also have a plum tree, a pear tree and 2 new apple trees next to the existing apple trees. There is more and more space in the grass for just paths so that all kinds of animals can find a place in the tall grass and different flowers appear everywhere. In the spring, almost the entire garden is blue with star hyacinths and snow glory, yellow and orange with hawkweed and mouse ears in the summer, next to various other summer bloomers. Nice for bouquets in the rooms. Every now and then deer appear to nibble on the vegetable garden, but that is part of it. And also the hedgehog that makes the mistake of crawling under the fence to the dog area and has to be rescued again. The dogs have their own area where they can run to their heart’s content and lie in the sun.

Tom liked to sit on the well or in his spot in the front garden where he could see everything well and could be cuddled by various people. He was a very social cat. Unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to Tom in April 2023 and he now lies in his favorite spot by the well. Moos, our “Swedish cat” now occasionally takes over Tom’s task.

5 years Mooi Gula Huset, now we are at the beginning of the sixt year …….

“May the year ahead be bright with possibilities”

Välkommen! Welcome!

A special cat. For 2 years he has been traveling to Sweden without any problems and just as happily back to the Netherlands. But since February 1, 2019 he is allowed to catch his mice in the big red barn or enjoy an afternoon nap on the pillow. Homesick? Tom doesn’t and neither do we.

On April 28, 2023 we had to put Tom to sleep and he found his resting place at the water well where he always sat. He will always be in our thoughts …..