Monthly Archive: January 2008

31
Jan
2008

I AM NOT A BLOGGER, I JUST PLAY ONE ON MEME

Things I am tired of: darkness rain cold hands my daughter’s whining Things that never seem to end: laundry my to-do list at work winter the weight struggle Things I want to eat but don’t have in the house: tempura maki reese’s fast break bars my dad’s chervil soup (I could make it, though) pie Things that made me laugh today: an email from a colleague after I solved a problem for him, that said in huge letters: I LOVE YOU!!!!! my son’s verbose and swenglish explanation of a game in gym class called spookball the outfit my daughter had...

27
Jan
2008

THE WEEK IS WORTH THE WAIT

No matter how often it’s sunny, it’s still like a miracle to me when the sun comes out. To wake and see the blue sky above the tossing branches of the pine trees and the bird cherry across the ditch and the sun, that pyro, striking sparks off everything. After weeks of overcast skies and rainy days and windstorms, a sunny day is awesome. It AWES me. It makes me sit up and take notice. Suddenly everything that has been drab and dark and grey is silver and light and glinting gold. The asphalt is mica-ed with sparkles; even the...

26
Jan
2008

CONFESSION

Okay, I admit it. I miss them. I can’t wait until they get home, even though I’ll enjoy my last day of peace and quiet tomorrow.

26
Jan
2008

GOOD THINGS

Today was full, FULL I tell you! of good things. Though there were a few things missing that would have made it perfect (like a massage and my family returning home, and not missing the phone call from my travelin’ bro), I am pretty pleased with the day. And actually since it’s after midnight, it was YESTERDAY that was full of good things, and today that is also full of good things because of the last point below. Meg posts Friday Love Lists and this is a little bit like that, and also just because there is something so solid...

23
Jan
2008

IN THE DETAILS

It’s never really quiet outside even in the hush of early morning when a whisper-thin coating of diamond dust ice sparkles everywhere. The morning dawning glazed orange and pink showcases the silhouette of a church tower across the fields in the distance. Bobbing daisy chains of geese flung across the sky, heading southwest (wrong direction again). Driving up the hill to Öderslöv, ahead of me is a many-armed monster, freshly killed, being hauled on the back of a huge tractor trailer – drawing near, it resolves into the huge twisted gnarly limbs of a recently downed ancient tree. I’ve been...

21
Jan
2008

IN SOLITUDE, WHERE I AM LEAST ALONE

The moon is shining down in a misty sort of way, it’s full of itself and drunk on moonshine. The house is quiet and (relatively) clean. This is the one week out of the year when the things I pick up and put away stay in their places for 7 whole days. This is the one week when no one else dictates my activities or time spent on any given thing: I have free rein! I don’t have to think about anyone but me! (at least at home…work is another story entirely) I don’t have to fix meals for anyone...

19
Jan
2008

SIGHT UNSEEN

The days keep getting away from me. Even as I sharpen my gaze, fixating on the color and the lightness of the evening sky—is it more cobalt than black at 4 o’clock?—is it lighter now, just slightly? It is! A miniscule difference that lights up my whole attitude—they seem to begin, whiz past, and end more quickly than ever before. In addition to the still-more-frequent than I would like blurry eyes, I’ve been plagued this past year with a recurring eye infection that is very irritating coming as it does with constant watering, sensitivity and redness that the strongest eyedrops...

16
Jan
2008

SIMPLE PLEASURES

Does getting older mean that you slowly freeze from the inside out? I swear poor circulation will be the death of me one day. My hands are SO COLD. I hate sitting here staring at the screen, unable to think of a single thing to write about. What a lame-o! Forging ahead, regardless. Never let it be said that writer’s block has got the best of me! My kids have been traditionally a little late to the party when it concerns iconic movie figures. Last year they were obsessing over Star Wars, watching the movies over and over, play-acting Jedi...

13
Jan
2008

BE LIONS ROARING THROUGH THE FORESTS OF KNOWLEDGE

I was a bit flabbergasted and then completely bowled over today to get a message from my friend Marilyn telling me she’d given me a ROAR award. This is a new award to me, I hadn’t heard of it before. Being the recipient of A ROAR FOR POWERFUL WORDS award comes with some stipulations. I am supposed to share 3 writing tips and then pass on the award to three more bloggers worthy of recognition and esteem. Frankly, this sounds like a meme to me. Curious to find out where this award originated, I started following links back. Quite quickly...

12
Jan
2008

AS USUAL: WALKING, WRITING, WORKING, READING, LAUGHING

This was today’s Treasure Hunt Walk list: someone smiling a 4-legged animal (not a dog) a man in a hat something purple flowers a truck a bicycle the letter X 2 triangles Martin made me laugh before we’d even left the neighborhood by quickly drawing an X and 2 triangles on the page and then he grinned up at me and said “You’re smiling!” but I called him a Cheater Peter and squashed him good. He used house roofs for the triangles and the man in the hat was eventually supplied by a garden gnome with a bright red hood....