urprisingly, 2022 did not totally suck like the two years before it. Even though COVID finally visited us twice, no one was very ill, and Martin missed it completely. We had a couple of big milestone birthdays, with Anders turning 60 and Martin turning 25, and 2 big, very fun trips, to Rome, and to Bornholm. Mostly, life continues with the usual bumps and ups and downs. I’ve taken 2 weeks of vacation, here at the end of the year, and today is the last day if you don’t count the New Year’s weekend. I start back to work on Monday but as usual, it’s a short week, so a nice, soft start to 2023.
Family & personal highlights of 2022
- Doing art every month
- Booster shots 3 (everyone) and 4 (Liz & Martin)
- Karin’s new girlfriend Olivia
- Anders and Karin’s ski trip up north
- Family trip to Rome for a week to celebrate Anders’ birthday
- Tours of Katrinetorp, Torup, and Svaneholm castles
- seeing Anastasia at Malmö Opera
- Karin’s trip to Greece
- Getting my blog moved here to lizardek.com with Russell’s help
- Hosting 2nd-cousin kid Cassy and visiting the IKEA Museum
- Handfeeding and petting real moose!
- Martin’s summer month in Detroit
- First AIC summer BBQ in 3 years
- Bookbinding and papermaking workshops
- A week on Bornholm with my first family
- Meeting my niece Kaya for the first time
- Having mom and Sarah home in Sweden for 3 weeks
- Hosting a crayfish party with friends and family
- Anders’ new job as a Field Service Engineer
- New porch furniture, garden swing, dishwasher, stovetop, and oven
- Karin’s new 5-month job with LionAlpin in Italy
Turns out I didn’t read as many books as usual this year, and certainly nowhere near my high of 101 from last year. Not too sure why, since I was always reading something. I read 67 books in 2022. I guess not working from home as much really did make a difference, since I wasn’t able to read books while eating lunch.
Best books of 2022 (in no particular order and not including re-reads)
- Go Tell the Bees That I am Gone by Diana Gabaldon
- The Scholomance books by Naomi Novik
- Terciel and Elinor by Garth Nix
- Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend by Susan Orlean
- Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason
- Recursion by Blake Crouch
- This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub
- Raft of Stars by Andrew J. Graff
- Horse by Geraldine Brooks
- The Unwritten Book: An Investigation by Samantha Hunt
- Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
- The Hero of This Book by Elizabeth McCracken
- Seasparrow by Kristin Cashore
- White Time by Margo Lanagan
Once again, this was not a year where I was searching out or finding new music. Martin added several artists to my playlist that I enjoyed, at least, and I found a few others.
Best new music artists of 2022
- Raveena
- Harry Styles
- Tennis
- Jordan Smith
In 2022, we watched a lot of series and movies again, and are currently working through all of the Marvel movies in “timeline” order. I watched 60 films this year (counting the one we’ll watch tonight, haha!), nearly 20 more than last year. Not as many series, though, possibly because we spent a good chunk of time watching all 12 seasons of The Big Bang Theory.
The movies I enjoyed the most in 2022 were: The Shape of Water, Fantastic Mr Fox, Turning Red, The Adam Project, Memento, Everything Everywhere All at Once, CODA, Top Gun Maverick, Prima Facie (recorded play from London with Jodie Comer), The Sea Beast, Bullet Train, Man of Steel, Ant-Man, Black Widow, Thor Ragnarok, and Avatar The Way of Water.
The new (to me) series I enjoyed the most and recommend were: Station Eleven, The Time Traveler’s Wife, My Next Guest with David Letterman, and Bad Sisters. We also enjoyed new seasons of Dickinson, Russian Doll, The Flight Attendant, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel, Barry, and The Handmaid’s Tale.
Some manageable goals for 2023
- WALK WALK WALK. Shed the pandemic pounds.
- Finish the kitchen renovation
- Pave the garden corner and plant trees/bushes
- Continue to paint and do art
- Write poetry
Tomorrow, there is nothing planned until we head out to spend New Year’s eve with Mats and Annelotte. It will be nice to get back to more regular routines, even if I have both enjoyed, and made the most of, these two weeks off. Next project: figuring out how to PDF my blog year so I can print my annual blog book. Happy New Year!
Mood: contemplative
Music: Erin McCarley—Gotta Figure This Out