Author: lizardek

10
May
2026

ZOOMING FORWARD

I may have to do some rethinking about my new year’s challenge of writing a letter a month. I’ve been struggling to decide who to write to for May. I wrote a short list of people (that haven’t already received a letter), and it made me realize how little contact I have with old friends and relatives these days. Social media just doesn’t cut it. Friendships that I once would have said were solid have become tattered and unraveled over the many years. In some cases, I haven’t seen a friend except once or twice since we moved to Sweden,...

04
May
2026

I WILL NEVER RUN OUT OF BOOKS TO READ

I’m a bit bummed out about the books that won the vote for the next batch of AIC bookgroup books. Not because they’re not good choices, and sure to be good reads, but because not only have I read 2 of them already, but NONE of my 5 recommendations made the list, and 2 books made the list that were recommended by someone who has never even participated in bookgroup, but showed interest and sent her book recs in right before the deadline. Grump. She’d better show up now. One of her books that made the cut is one I...

01
May
2026

DOUBLE RABBIT RABBIT RABBITS!

Two days in a row where I’ve had occasion to say “Rabbit rabbit rabbit” …that only happens once a year, if at all. Today is May 1st, a holiday here in Europe (it’s Labor Day) and yesterday was Valborgsmässoafton, or Walpurgis Eve in English, which isn’t a day off, but is cause for a traditional celebration here in Sweden regardless. That makes today a double holiday as it is also the feast day for Saint Walpurgia, who would probably be astonished and gratified to learn that her name is still a part of the calendar and that many parts of...

26
Apr
2026

A BIRD IN THE HAND

I don’t consider myself a birdwatcher, though I very much enjoy feeding the birds that come to our yard through the winter, and watching them. I’m always thrilled when we get one of the woodpeckers, and it’s exciting to see a chaffinch, a new bird that we hadn’t seen before. Normally we get blue tits, chiffchaffs, European robins, blackbirds, and tree sparrows. We get wood pigeons and mourning doves, and the aforementioned woodpeckers (Great Spotted). We get pheasants. And we get the big “blacks” including crows, jackdaws, ravens, rooks, and magpies. I scare the jackdaws and crows away when I...

24
Apr
2026

PUZZLING BEHAVIOR

March and April will apparently be very bare of blog posts, the way things are going. If I don’t give myself a good kick in the butt as it’s already April 24th and the end of the month is LOOMING. I’ve been so busy with work and coming home completely drained every day, with zero motivation or energy (no thanks to jetlag last week either), and not wanting to sit at the computer after a full day of sitting at the computer, because my neck and shoulder are starting to hurt, and by the time I get home I just...

14
Apr
2026

A LITTLE CATCH UP, A LITTLE CATCH DOWN

A near-whole month has zoomed by, with me out of place for 3 weeks of it. I left for the US on March 19, knowing that I most likely wouldn’t post anything here while I was gone, and I was right. We were BUSY the entire time. Sarah and I lugged out everything from the storage unit that is holding all the stuff from my mom’s that we deemed to valuable to just give away, including quite a bit of furniture, and about 30 boxes. We had help from Bryce and 2 of his friends to get everything out and...

16
Mar
2026

JUST SAYIN’

(Warning TMI ahead) Welp so much for my long stretch of not being sick…the last time I was sick with something that WASN’T colitis was the stomach bug that hit me last April, and was the bug that kicked off the whole colitis debacle. I was sick Friday night, started about 1 am and I wasn’t sure if it was food poisoning or what (ate sushi with Martin and Theo around 8 pm earlier)…stomach cramps, then retching and vomiting, and then, oh joy, my old friend diarrhea. It’s Monday now, and still having that though the rest of it was...

11
Mar
2026

I SNEEZE, THEREFORE I AM

One would never know that I’ve been on this planet for SIXTY-ONE AND A HALF YEARS and that ALL of those years have contained a Spring season. This past week my eyes have been itching terribly, I’ve been sneezing my head off and feeling strained and tired and yet it took an embarrassing five full days of this for the lightbulb to finally light up above my head yesterday evening after a bout of itching, sneezing, and rubbing my eyes so severe that I was nearly crying, with the realization that DUH…allergy season is here! Spring is sprung! ATCHOO! As...

08
Mar
2026

PARTY PALACE POST-PIE PONDERINGS

Our house is such a perfect party palace! Pie Night was another smash success, and this year all 26 attendees were on time and we had the perfect division of dinner pies and dessert pies. For dinner we had brie and mushroom pie, sauerkraut and sausage pie, spinach and broccoli quiche, gluten-free shepherds pie, 2 taco pajs, cheese empanadas and chili beef empanadas, and tuna plait. One family also brought a spinach salad and carrot and celery sticks. For dessert we had 2 fruit pizzas, 2 blueberry pies (one gluten-free), key lime pie (also gluten-free), boston creme pie, berry crumble,...

06
Mar
2026

THINKING OF SPRING AND PREPARING FOR PIE

I’ve thought about writing nearly every day of this month that we are already a week into, and even sat in front of the computer with the tab open to the blog admin page, but ultimately walked away without a post. I’ve got so much going on in every sphere of my life right now. It’s crazy time! Work has been nutso (as per usual; when is it not?) and I’ve had things to do in the evenings and on the weekends, and a mile-long to-do list in my head as well. Tomorrow is Pie Night and I have the...

May 2026
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