The weather on June 6 was perfect, only a bright yellow sun filled the cloudless blue sky. In beautiful Balboa Park in Central San Diego the overwhelming sweet smell of flowers filled the air. Here and there, small blond boys ran around in Swedish soccer shirts with the number 10 on the back. House of Sweden had managed to gather over one hundred Swedes for the National Day, and it was quite remarkable to see so many Swedes of so many different generations celebrating together. Swedish Consul Dr. Ulf Brynjestad gave his last National Day speech as a consul, which was very good and entertaining as always. (He will be retiring some time this fall.) After the speech, the Swedish National Hymn was beautifully sung with a lot of enthusiasm. The children of the Swedish School in San Diego then sang several songs, such as "En kulen natt" and "Idas Sommarvisa," and they concluded their contribution with some of the school’s older students reading a couple poems they had written themselves. After the ceremony SWEA served cookies, juice, and coffee. The children ran to the dessert trays as if their lives depended on getting that first taste of homemade Swedish cookies, and soon enough the rest of the Swedes followed their example.