Yearly Archive: 2011

21
Sep
2011

PAIN & PLEASURE

You know how when you hit your funny bone a good one, it radiates that spasm up and down your limb to the exclusion of every other sensory input possible in that moment? How you just have to stand statue-still, with your other hand clamped around the screaming bend in your arm, and WILL the pain to fan out from your fingertips? What would you do if it didn’t stop? For. Two. Whole. Weeks. I called our healthcare insurance company today and asked for an appointment with a naprapat which I wasn’t even sure of the definition of until about...

18
Sep
2011

DOUBLE-DRIVE-BY

This is literally the first time in 2 weeks that I have had the energy or the time to get online and post something. It has been go go go since I got to Massachusetts. This is our last evening here; Mom and I fly out tomorrow from Boston, she home to Michigan, and me home via the Atlantic Ocean and a layover in Amsterdam. (which I just spelled Amsterdamn and then Amsterdamm in my attempts to finish the sentence…drrr). I have had a very productive, very fun 2 weeks and extra quality time with my mom, plus a GREAT...

01
Sep
2011

DRIVE-BY POSTING

I am breathless with the amount of things I have to do lately. It’s non-stop go go go from the moment my alarm shrills in my ear until the moment I switch off the light and burrow down beneath the covers again. Every day is filled; work is crazy busy and the evenings are no better. Something every minute that is calling, pushing, pulling, demanding my attention and my time. I just wrote out a list of things I’ve done today, mostly to impress you, then realized no one really cares except me, what I’ve accomplished on my to-do list,...

26
Aug
2011

GOOD GOOD GOOD THINGS

A forecast for all-day rain that turns out to be COMPLETELY wrong Taking the day off Sleeping IN on a work day Planning ahead Having a brainwave on the way to Lund and going to the train station in Hjärup instead where the parking is free all day! Getting up on the train platform to discover that someone vandalized the ticket machines the night before* and they were being replaced, so: free train ride to Malmö! Having everyone show up for the AWC lunch on time Festival food! Moose Wok, Wild Pig Pockets, SUSHI! Langos! Churros! Mini-donuts! (I didn’t eat...

23
Aug
2011

PONDERINGS

What is there to write about? The slinky way the clouds move in as the blue of the sky darkens toward dusk? The mosquito-whine of race cars from the other room, where the Playstation seems to be always on? The meatball & potato pie leftovers that my husband made for the crayfish party? The way the ripening pears hang from the overstuffed trees of the allé? How my brother doesn’t post enough photos of how cute my new nephew is? How pleased I am about Karin’s school choice so far, and guess what? Her English & Spanish teacher is an...

18
Aug
2011

TOO MUCH OR NOTHING

I need to spend some time remembering why I’m here, why I put myself out here, why I do all the various things I do. Because I like doing them? Or because they’ve simply become habit? I could write a book just about the things I no longer do, the things I no longer have time for, or make time for, or find time for. I could write a book…if I bothered, but let’s be honest: online journaling is about as far as my writing is and will ever take me. That’s fine, I’m down with that. This past week...

15
Aug
2011

*BLEEP*OVERS

Martin and I think we shall try and spot some shooting stars tonight, if I can stay awake until it’s dark enough. It’s fairly clear and the sunset is a lovely glowing orange against the blue. It’s turned all the little clouds pink. Karin is spending the night with a teammate friend in Södra Sandby, the next village over. As glad as I am that she has made so many good friends on her soccer team and is finally reveling in girl friendships and everything that goes along with them, it makes me crazy when she calls me up at...

12
Aug
2011

1 X 2

No shooting stars for us tonight, though I can see a glimmer of clear sky near the horizon at the outer edges of the solid cloud cover that blankets us. It’s cold out, too, dipping down into the lower teens (Celsius), a chill reminder that summer is fleeting and layers are essential in this northern clime. It’s been an up and down day of really good things and bummers of the lighter variety. A friend I see much too seldom had to cancel our get-together plans for spending the evening talking non-stop. I had an excellent sushi lunch with brief_therapy...

10
Aug
2011

ANOTHER YEAR OLDER & WHAT HAVE I DONE?

After a simply lovely 3 weeks of having mom here, I had to hand her off this morning to the airport, where she flew down to see the Latest Main Attraction in Germany: her new grandson, Samuel Otto. I can hardly begrudge the fact that she had to leave, since I’ll get to see her again in just a few weeks, but it WAS tough to have to do it on my birthday, and the kids & I are lamenting how very empty the house feels without Lizardmom (or Anders!) in it now. The 3 weeks she was here were...

06
Aug
2011

BU-BU-BU-BUBBLING

Several people who had been there, before we actually went to Iceland and saw for ourselves, when trying to describe the landscape of the country referred to it as a moonscape. In the late 1960s, Neil Armstrong and the Apollo 11 crew came here to train for their impending moonwalks, so I guess the impression the place leaves is accurate! Our last stop on our Mývatn tour was the Leirhnjúkur geothermal solfatara. It is a very stark area, devoid of trees or much growth other than the ubiquitous lichens and moss on the ancient lava fields surrounding it. A solfatara...

May 2024
S M T W T F S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728293031  

Archives