Yearly Archive: 2016

10
Aug
2016

FILLING THE YEAR

In Sweden, the phrase for having a birthday is “fyller år” which literally means “filling the year”. In Swedish, you don’t turn 100, you fill it. The word birthday is the same in both languages; födelsedagen. In my family, we have a pile of birthdays in March (Sarah, John, Simone, Bryce) and a pile in the summer, mostly in July with mine lagging in early August (my grandmother, my mom and dad (same day), me, Sammy, Karin) and another group in December (Danely, Martin, Jakob). My sister’s husband Tom, and Anders, are the odd men out, with birthdays in January...

09
Aug
2016

FUN WITH FAMILY

When I proposed having a party this summer to celebrate all the big events & milestones in our family, it never occurred to me how it might snowball. I persuaded my mom to let me invite the entire family, never suspecting that so many of them might actually come. I thought it would be like my plans for my 50th birthday trip with my friend Russell: all our family and friends would come…when in reality not even my brother could make it (we had a great time regardless). And we had a LOT to celebrate this year: big birthdays, graduations,...

08
Aug
2016

FUN WITH FRIENDS

It turns out, when I am selecting photos from vacation, that I tend to take all the ones with people in them. Even though I appreciate photos of the places we’ve been and the things we’ve seen, the ones that get me, that contain the things I most want to remember, are the ones with the people we were with in them. You can find fantastic photos of the Statue of Liberty and New York and Boston anywhere online, but if you want to see what I love, then here you go. Three posts coming up full of smiling faces...

04
Aug
2016

IN WHICH I MENTION MY DIGESTIVE SYSTEM ONE TOO MANY TIMES

Things about jetlag that suck 1. Setting the alarm and lying down for a 1-hour nap because you are literally so tired you cannot keep your eyes open, and then, in your zombie-induced haze, turning off the alarm and struggling subsequently as if you are in sleep quicksand to wake up. 2. Getting your digestive system cycle back on track. For a intestinally-regular person like me, being completely off on my disposal schedule is discombobulating. 3. Waking up at 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. or 5 a.m. and not being able to get back to sleep in the time left...

01
Aug
2016

WELL HELLO THERE!

Did you miss me? I missed me! I missed you, too! It’s hard to believe that it’s been a month away and now we’re back. It was full on summer in the States but back home in Sweden, I feel we’ve landed in the early onset of autumn and I have to say I am SO GLAD. I never do well in heat and humidity and we had enough of it this past month to last me a lifetime. There’s a lot of reasons why I love living in Sweden, but cool weather and no humidity trumps just about everything....

30
Jun
2016

OVER AND OUT

I just finished a really good book, The Kitchen Daughter by Jael McHenry. It was excellent and had a (sad) twist that I did not see coming, which I always appreciate in a book (even if it is sad). I’ve been reading a lot lately, after what felt like a very long streak of not reading much at all, or at least reading so slowly as to be the same thing. I read a new Bill Bryson book, which was both interesting and ho-hum at the same time. I’ve downloaded 2 more books to my Kindle so I’ll have more...

24
Jun
2016

MIDSUMMER

We had a whiz-bang thunderstorm yesterday evening that went on for HOURS. It lasted pretty much all night, rolling and booming and crashing with lightning strikes. The kids and I sat out on the porch for a long time watching, and going Ooooo! every time lightning split the sky and the big cracks of noise hit. Then it poured rain for hours, too. One of our neighbors measured it at 40 mm (1.6 inches-ish) but it sure seemed like more than that. The dog was anxious all night as well, so when we weren’t being woken up by crash-bangs, we...

22
Jun
2016

ALL THE THINGS

Had a meeting with my boss yesterday and was informed about my raise: higher than the average and lots of praise to accompany it, which was nice. Wish it was hitting with tomorrow’s paycheck instead of next month’s. Would have been nice to have that extra money in the States. Got my FBARs done, finally. Figuring out our plans for the US trip: what to see in NYC and Boston on the day each we have allotted for them. Planning a couple of days at a relative’s in Traverse City and my college roommates lake cottage. And a real American...

19
Jun
2016

GETTING THINGS DONE

I’m procrastinating right now. I need to be doing my FBARs but I hate doing my FBARs and so I’m doing just about anything else instead. I can’t put it off forever, though. Yesterday, I talked to our neighbor and found out that the vet diagnosed Morris with acute kidney failure…nothing to be done but end her suffering. Jessika and I were both crying during the entire conversation. The vet said the problem with such things is that the symptoms are so diffuse and gradual, in cats at least, that you often don’t realize there is anything wrong until it’s...

15
Jun
2016

CATLESS

We had the perfect cat. She belonged to the neighbors and they found her as a stray, took her in, fed her and cleaned her litter box, and took her to the vet when necessary, and kept her in at night, so she’d be safe. For us, she was a sometimes cat, a loaner cat, a daily visitor who brightened our days. She was curious and friendly and social. She followed behind her owner Jessika, trotting down the street, when she was taking their two dogs for a walk. She came over nearly every single day (that wasn’t snowing or...

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