Monthly Archive: August 2007

29
Aug
2007

FEELING FALL

It’s been on the chilly side the last few days, especially in the mornings and evenings, though today was a great warm glory of sunshine. I didn’t get home until well near 6 (the all-day/evening work event turned out to be only all-day, but in a minor twist of irony the rest of my family is out this evening, the only one I am home this week), and after eating dinner and catching up with blogs, I set out just after 7 to walk. The sky was an unearthly blue hung about with underlit clouds and the sliding sun lighting...

26
Aug
2007

STUFF TO BUY AND STUFF TO DO

I awoke to the sound of pouring rain this morning and felt awfully sorry for the Flyinge Sports Association who were probably cursing the weather as they tried to set up the flea market tents and tables over by the soccer fields on the other side of the village. By noon, however, the clouds had lifted and there was blue sky showing around all the edges of the towering cumulus skybeasts, when the kids and I set out. For safety’s sake, we wore our raincoats tied around our waists, and we were glad we did as a last sudden shower...

25
Aug
2007

DO BE DO BE DO AND DO AND DO

As my friend Kathey says, I am a force to behold! (She is, too) We exchanged lists of what we did today and patted ourselves on the back. Here is my list: put stuff out on the curb for the flea market pickup done 5 – count ’em – FIVE loads of laundry (aside to my brother: WITH DRYER *muahahaha!*) stripped all the beds and made them up new talked to my husband on the phone (he’s on Gotland) talked to my brother who flew home yesterday…it’s sure quiet around here now talked to my mom for an hour read...

22
Aug
2007

HOW CAN THE LIGHT THAT BURNED SO BRIGHTLY SUDDENLY BURN SO PALE?

It’s not iritis and it’s not glaucoma and it’s not any other eye disease. I have healthy eyes, just ageing ones…and DRY ones, to boot. Very probably made worse by the skin treatment medicine I was on for 4 months in the beginning of the year and which I will most likely be starting again tomorrow, which definitely won’t help and will, in fact, probably make it worse, at least for a while. So, I’m relieved to know that my eyes are really okay, but frustrated to know that the blurryness will probably continue for a long time and that...

21
Aug
2007

ARGH & YIPPEE IN THE SAME POST

I’m an idiot and too fast for my own good. Aside to my sister: this is not meant to make you feel bad, I’m just grumbling at my own stupidity. It seems that EVERYTHING is happening on the very same week this year. The Gothenburg Book Fair, which I had a blast at last year. The AWC Regional Meeting in Copenhagen, which is always a fun time, and I love any excuse to go to Copenhagen. Both scheduled for the same weekend as my sister’s wedding. Oh well, c’est la vie. BUT, I booked my tickets last night without double-checking...

20
Aug
2007

WHAT’S THE BUZZ—TELL ME WHAT’S HAPPENING

Just booked tickets home to the States for my sister’s wedding at the end of September! Woot! Twice over the pond in the SAME YEAR! Also, called to get a doctor’s appointment for my stupid blurry eyes. I suspect e11en‘s diagnosis of iritis is correct, though we’ll see what the doctor has to say. I wonder if they’ll even have HEARD of that here in Sweden. First day of work was crazy busy and did not go exactly swimmingly, but I have a new title anyway. I’m no longer a Marketing Coordinator. I am now the (or maybe I should...

19
Aug
2007

HOW IT GOES

This last week has gone by in a blur and suddenly today is the last day of vacation. Since I was a teenager, and possibly before, I’ve always been enamored of sleeping in. It’s a treat, a comfort, a blessed extra rest, but I’ve been able to take it too far, and even in college was able to turn my days over: sleeping in so late and staying up so late that eventually I exchanged night for day and vice versa. Since I’ve had children, though, I’ve been less and less able to sleep in. Not at all when the...

15
Aug
2007

CLIMBING TOWERS, SHOOTING STARS

A tiny sleek copper-colored snake gliding through the leaf clutter on the forest floor. Giant wooden towers built on a beach of boulders. A maze of grey beech tree roots patterning the cliffside. Karin far ahead of us, bounding down the side of the hill, first to reach the tunnel towers of wood that lead to the towering structures. Martin leaping from boulder to rock, climbing to the top of Wotan’s Tower, a veritable billygoat. My heart, pounding like a jackhammer, as I lean against the trunk of an old oak tree, resting on the way back up the hill....

12
Aug
2007

REVVING UP & WINDING DOWN

I can feel summer slip-sliding away, even though the days are still long and warm and full of flowers. Every day is filled with things to do and time to do them; the sudden realization that the kids start school in 3 days comes as a shock. Yesterday we filled the house with good friends, lots of laughing, running, tumbling children, bright red crayfish and smiling moon lamps on the porch. A day of cleaning early, and then relaxing and waiting, anticipation mounting before the party start time, culminating in a very fun evening, and a long slow day today...

10
Aug
2007

IT’S NOT THE YEARS IN YOUR LIFE THAT COUNT, IT’S THE LIFE IN YOUR YEARS*

Happy birthday to me! haha! Woken up just after 7 a.m. to singing and hugs and presents. Spent the day with family and friends at the zoo, we watched the seals get fed and admired all the little animal babies. The zoo was crawling with baby animals: wolf cubs, lynx kittens, wildcat kittens, fox cubs, otter pups, kids (goats), lambs, wild piglets. We got home around 3:30 and power-napped for an hour, then made dinner and went to the grocery store and afterwards I frosted the spice cake I’d made yesterday with home-made buttercream almond frosting: YUM! The boys are...