Already writing February on work filenames, which is crazy. It was Christmas a minute ago. January just whipped by. It’s left us with an arctic freeze. It’s been -3 to -9 CELSIUS every day for what feels forever and no end in sight yet. The snow was pretty much gone before the freeze at least up here. Apparently there is still a lot down south and in Österlen. It’s been really windy as well, which means that -3 feels like -15. Brr. On the plus side, the last couple of days have been beautifully clear: sunny and bright blue skies and we had a full moon 2 days ago (a day ago?) which left me hypnotized every time I caught sight of the huge shining disc.
The weekend was lovely with lots going on. Anders and I had a mysig Friday evening watching Bäst i Test and then the finale of På Spåret. The team we were rooting for won handily, but it was a tight and very exciting match. It was Kirsty Armstrong and Hanna Lublin Niklasson, who were amazing and funny and so smart throughout the whole season. Now we are watching the 10th and final season of Queer Eye. I’m quite sad that it’s ending. I never saw the first iteration of the show that aired back in 2003 but I’ve watched all of the ones that rebooted starting in 2018. I think it’s been a welcome shot of kindness and genuine joy that is most often missing on TV. I hope it gets rebooted again at some point, and I’ll really miss seeing my favorites in the Fab Five.
On Saturday I had a birthday party to go to, in the middle of the afternoon. My friend Helen turns 60 tomorrow, and she celebrated with a tea party for all her girlfriends at a lovely tea café in Lund called Alice och Kattens Tesalong. The interior decor is superb, silly, and full of kooky and beautiful things reflecting Alice in Wonderland: lots of kittens, rabbits, flamingoes and gorgeous wallpaper. We were 22 people. Apart from Helen, I only knew my friends from work (Barbara, Lisel, Suzanne, and Lisa). I had met a couple of the other British ladies at Helen’s many years ago, but didn’t really remember then. She had seating arrangements and none of us Axis friends were together at all, but I ended up with 3 other fun women, so it was fine. Everyone was dressed up in very colorful outfits, and there were lots of pearls, fancy hats, and fascinators. We were served little tea sandwiches with the crusts cut off, then scones with a tray of whipped butter, heavy cream, raspberry jam, and lemon curd to add, and finally a huge slab of delicious chocolate cake. YUM!
I was about 20 minutes early to Lund so I stopped in to the little antique store next to Martin’s pizza place and checked out the first 2 rooms. There was an absolutely GORGEOUS vase/candleholder thing, in red-pink-white glass with chased silver filigree feet. It was stunning, and only 600 kronor, but I couldn’t think where I would put it. I sent a photo of it to Martin and he also fell in love. I ended up buying 2 crystal wax catchers for candlesticks, then headed to the party. I had thought I’d stop in and see Martin at work but it turned out he had the day off.
On Sunday, Anders and I left at 10 AM and went to Costco. I wanted Kleenex and shelled pistachios and he was looking for espresso coffee beans for his new coffee machine. We had made the mistake of asking the kids if they wanted anything and Martin asked for toilet paper and pasta, and Karin and Essie sent us a HUGE long list of stuff. We had to pick Martin up at 11:30 so it was a good thing we gave ourselves some extra time. The place was absolutely packed, as usual, and full of the kind of people who walk really slowly down the center of aisles and stop and block others from moving. I wanted to scream several times. So annoying! MOVE TO THE SIDE PEOPLE. We found all but 3 of the things on Karin’s list, and made it to Martin’s right after our deadline.
Then we headed over the bridge to Copenhagen and had lunch with Karin at her place. It was SO NICE. I confess, I am still not always used to thinking of my kids as adults, with adult capabilities. They continually wow me. Karin had made an outstanding “pyttipanna” which is a very traditional easy Scandinavian dish. It literally means “small things in a pan” but basically translates to Swedish Hash. I had to laugh when googling the translation because Google translate told me it’s called “puddle pan”. Which, no, I’m sorry, GT, it’s not. It’s small pieces of sausage (Karin used chicken hotdogs), potatoes, and onion sautéed together in a pan, then served with a fried egg on top, and either lingonberries or sliced pickled beets on the side. Karin put her potatoes in the oven first, and served with beets. It was absolutely delicious. We sat around talking for awhile after we were finished eating, and then left to head over to Essie’s new apartment to help her with moving in.
Anders had brought tools and a ladder as he was fixing/mounting ceiling lamps in 3 of the rooms. Martin and Karin helped carry things up the FIVE FLIGHTS (no elevator, UGH!) and I, apart from a stint organizing things in the kitchen, sat and talked to Martin and some of Essie’s friends (and one of her sisters) who were there helping, and even read my book a bit. Essie had bought me a Danish frikandel (which is hard to describe but very delicious). She also gave Anders 2 beers from Åben and a pastry for Martin, all as thanks for helping out (though I didn’t do much). After dinner, we took the kids out to a ridiculously spendy sushi place. Also delicious!
It turns out that Martin is planning to go to the antique store after he gets to work on Saturday morning and buy that vase! The antique store is only open between 10-2 on Saturdays and I had ALREADY ALSO been thinking about going back to get it, so now I have to race him to get there first and then fight him for it. 😀
Lots going on, so it wasn’t the most relaxing of weekends, but it was fun and full of fun people and good food, so no complaining here! Today was again ice cold and very windy. I had to get up early and go to the healthcare clinic to get blood drawn again. But when I left the house I discovered the Tesla hadn’t charged up very far from the night before (it was quite low on battery when we got home from Copenhagen and dropping Martin off), so I came back home and worked from home all morning to let it charge up again because I had to drive to Malmö Hospital for an appointment at 1:20 PM to pick up the equipment for a sleep apnea test I’m doing tonight. The equipment consists of a monitor you have to wear strapped to your chest, another monitor taped to the back of one hand which includes a fingertip monitor thingie, and tubing that goes from your nose into the chest monitor (you have to tape the tubing to your face). EESH. We’ll see how it goes. I’m usually up at least twice in the middle of the night, I tend to flip to my stomach after I’m asleep which means face in the pillow and things in my nose mean it will probably be irritating and make me have to blow it. AND I’m allergic to most adhesives so I’m worried the tape will have me itching like crazy by morning. Not sure how accurate the test will be!
Then I have to take it all BACK to Malmö hospital by 8:30 AM tomorrow morning (double UGH) before getting to work, and the charger for the car is not working well in the cold. It prioritizes the house, so it’s not charging as much or as fast as normal, and I do not want to be stressed out both about running out of charge halfway back AND getting there so early in rush hour traffic to begin with. And then I have to go back AGAIN on Wednesday morning to the hospital for the next dose of my colitis medicine. 3x in one week is a bit much. Triple UGH.
And now, for something that completely cracked me up: (thanks False Knees!)
Mood: busy
Music: Your Smith—You Could’ve Told Me