It was my birthday on Wednesday. Not a big one, unless you count that fact 58 is a pretty big number. But I mean it didn’t end in a zero or a five. Two more years until the next “big one”. Which I’m kind of not looking forward to, to be honest. Anyway, it was a nice birthday, despite the fact that I worked all day. Anders was away but came home that afternoon, Karin came home for dinner, so all 4 of us were together all evening. I picked up Thai food from our favorite takeaway place in Lund, and I had baked a spice cake, my favorite, earlier in the week, so just had to frost it after dinner.
At work, I got taken to lunch at a favorite restaurant in Lund (Skissernas) by my friends Barbara, Lisel, and Helen, who also gave me chocolates and a pretty pink scarf. We spent almost 2 hours out in the middle of the day, talking and laughing. Good thing work has been so slow! 😀
Karin and Martin gave me flowers and a gift certificate to my favorite clothing store (who also sent me a birthday rebate voucher), and Martin brought me a very cool Frank Lloyd Wright jigsaw puzzle from the Detroit Institute of Art. And Anders got me a garden swing!! I have wanted one forever. We can’t have it on the porch, as there is no room, but it works perfectly in the back corner of the garden, which is shady by late afternoon. It’s forest green, with white button cushions and a matching green awning cover. I love it.
I’ve already been out in it every day, and Martin and I sat out and looked for shooting stars in it the last couple of evenings as well, as the Perseids are in town. I saw 3 last night, and Martin bagged 10, at least. Tonight is the peak, so we’ll see if we can manage to stay up and stargaze some more tonight, as Martin gets off work late, and might not be dead tired when he gets home. The moon is just past full and the sky has been completely cloudless and the moon is so bright that it actually makes it difficult to see any shooting stars.
And the evening ended with a Facetime call with my first family in Germany. My sister is on the mend, showing definite improvement and feeling much better, so that’s really good news. I can’t wait to see them all in person!
Today has been pretty sluggy. I slept in, lazed around a bit, then got moving and showered, had lunch, and started laundry. Martin and I power-cleaned both bathrooms and he did the windexing of all the glass surfaces in the house as well. I’ve done some vacuuming, but otherwise am taking it easy. It’s really hot out again today, 4th day in a row of high temperatures for us. I just checked and it’s 31C. We’ve learned the best ways to keep the house cool: open all the windows in the morning, pull the blinds on the front of the house until noon, then the ones on the back, close the porch door after lunch, and then open everything up again in the early evening as it starts to cool down. I have all the fans going as well, and one of them is so loud, it’s ridiculous. I’ve asked Anders to take a look at it so see what’s causing the noise…I hope he can fix it.
Forgot to say, that the appointment at the spine doctor went well, though he told me that nothing short of surgery is going to fix the problem. He’s referred me for another MRI, which he had to do because the last one was 5 years ago, but he said he was surprised they didn’t refer me for surgery back then, because it was obvious to him that it would be needed. My MRI appointment is this coming week, on Thursday, which works out well, since we’re gone the week after. I’m still having pins and needles nearly constantly, much worse if I sit wrong or tilt my head back. He said the surgery would be imperative since it’s a chronic, constant issue now…if it’s not treated I could end up with nerve damage in my hand. He was surprised, though, that it’s only affecting me on one side. But he was reassuring about the fact that this is a common issue, and the surgery is routine. I’m still freaked out by the idea, and not looking forward to the whole process. 🙁
Tomorrow, I am finishing up my birthday celebrations with lunch and an exhibition at Torup Castle with Debbie and Camilla…it’s supposed to be another gorgeous hot day, and the last hurrah of summer in Sweden. I hope the weather continues to be fair since after next week I’ll finally be on vacation. It’s been a long summer coming!
Mood: content
Music: Claud—Guard Down