I’m leaving for the US in, basically, a month. I have a small stack of stuff that is going with me and several reminder emails to myself about things I need to get (mostly gifts) before I leave.
Yesterday afternoon, Martin emptied out some container in his room and came in to give me some American change, and ask where he should put the others he had found. We used to have a huge plastic Coke bottle that was about a quarter-filled with coins from all around the world. Every time we were going somewhere, we’d have to empty it on to the table and sort out all the coins for the country we were traveling to.
Then, at some point, the bottle cracked and I pitched it. The coins moved around in various vases and pots and now have ended up in a wooden container that is big enough to hold them all. I have all of our coin purses put to use in it, holding the coins from a specific country, giving preference to the ones that we use more: American, Danish, Euros. There is a bag of South African Rand coins, and a bag of coins from the Czech Republic, not all of which are probably valid anymore. And there are plenty of Swedish coins too, which we never use, because you don’t need coins for anything anymore, and no one in Sweden carries cash for anything anyway.
But there was quite a large pile of loose coins as well. We went through them and separated out all the obsolete Swedish coins that changed years ago and are no longer valid. You can’t even turn them in to the banks anymore, so I threw them in the metal recycling, along with a few random Chinese coins that we’ll never use (and which are also so old they may not be valid). And now I have a full coin purse of American change and even $12 in bills to take with me next month.
It’s mid-February. Time is flying by. We’ve had sunshine nearly all week, which means you can actually SEE how much lighter and how much longer it is in the evenings. I saw some spring flowers yesterday, tiny yellow drops and tiny white ones. There is probably more cold weather coming, and it’s supposed to start raining again, but at least now we have the feeling that spring is on the way, even if it will be a little longer yet.
I have a quiet evening home alone tonight. Anders is going out to dinner with work, and Martin is in Malmö with a friend. I’m about to hit the couch to read, as I’m in the beginning of re-reading a favorite old book by a favorite author (Tam Lin by Pamela Dean). She has only written a handful of books, and I read online yesterday that her latest novel was actually rejected by her publishing house so she is trying to raise money to publish it herself, though all the info I could find was several years old. It seems weird, because her books are gorgeous masterpieces of fantasy writing. I hope she succeeds, I would love to read a new book by her.
Even with all the traveling Anders has been doing and all the evenings I could have been working through my long list of recommended TV shows, I keep choosing reading instead. Right now, I’m enjoying picking old paperbacks off the bookshelves and rereading old favorites. I can turn the bedside light on when I go to bed and not worry about it attracting bugs through the open window (even with a screen on) like I do in the summer. Time enough to read on Kindle when I start wanting to open windows.
SOON!
*HAHAHAHA where is Ozswede when I need her?
Mood: relaxed
Music: Yuna—Someone Who Can