Author: lizardek

21
Nov
2008

MY COUNTRY, TIS OF THEE

Yesterday, at book group, one of the women asked us to help with an experiment her daughter was doing for school. She is asking everyone she knows to write a few words or sentences about what they think of America. Not Americans—AMERICA. She’s drawn a map of the U.S. on a big piece of paper and she’s putting all the notes that are BY Americans inside the confines of the country, and all the notes that are by NON-AMERICANS outside of the penciled country borders. I joked that my view of America has been revised rather drastically since November 4th....

18
Nov
2008

NOT READY

Even though winter has been galumphing up with its tongue hanging out and its tail wagging a mile a minute, spraying drool and happy pee everywhere I am NOT READY FOR IT. I’m fending it off with both hands, yelling, “NO NO NO! DOWN, BOY! WAIT!” Damn dog. The village has its Christmas tree up by the little traffic circle. No lights are on it yet, but it’s up. Christmas decorations are for sale in the mall and everything is starting to twinkle. NOT READY. I had to scrape the car windows this morning and it wasn’t any wimpy little...

15
Nov
2008

BEATEN, BUT UNBOWED

I know I’ve lamented before about the fact that my family does not play games together the way my first family did when I was growing up. I miss playing games and remember very fondly the evenings of marathon Monopoly games where we played with several versions set together (you had to exchange money at the current exchange rate when you went from the American to the German version or vice versa) and Risk challenges where my sister and I attempted world domination over each other. My parents taught us to play just about every card game under the sun,...

13
Nov
2008

GEARING UP FOR GOBBLING

Nice things about walking on a dark, chilly, wet night (when it’s not actually raining): Dragonbreath No sweatbands required Streetlights make everything sparkly! That Halloweeny-evening feeling Increased chance of frog sightings Things that have run out in front of my car in the past few days: Female pheasant with a death wish Village cat MAN. ON THE HIGHWAY. NO REFLECTORS. Idjit. Things that were big and round in the sky this morning: Gigantic shiny silver full moon hovering above the horizon ahead of me Great glowing globe of fire hovering above the horizon behind me Things I am thinking an...

12
Nov
2008

PLANES, TRAINS, AUTOMOBILES & GENEROUS SOULS

Yesterday, I stepped outside my regular life for a day and was treated to a “business trip” to Stockholm where my colleague (the events manager at work) and I visited several hotels and conference centers to check them out for a big event that is being organized for next year. So, instead of getting up and going to work as usual, I got up earlier, drove 40 minutes to Malmö’s little airport, flew an hour north, and then took a train into the center of town, and the subway way out of it again to the other side…out into the...

10
Nov
2008

GET OFF GET UP GET OUT

Don’t write much on Tuesdays: karate class until late and baths seem to suck the motivation out of me. Rarely write on Wednesdays: choir until 9:30 p.m., don’t get home until after 10. Hard to write on Fridays: MYSKVÄLL and usually other late-night plans and commitments. Ditto Saturdays, though I seem to manage them better, probably because I’m posting earlier in the day. Which means typically I’m writing in this journal on Sunday, Monday and sometimes Thursday. Oh, the other weeknights do pop up for showing here and there, but I’ve noticed a pattern. I haven’t posted on a Tuesday...

09
Nov
2008

WIN-WIN

I think today ended up as a win-win day for all of us. I got to sleep in. Anders got an early-morning Father’s Day celebration. Everyone was in a good mood. I got a project completed. The weekend laundry got done. We had some sunshine. I surprised the kids with tickets to the early showing of High School Musical 3. Anders got to nap while we were gone. We had delicious sushi for dinner. Now it’s dark and wet and early evening. I have another project to work on, a good book to read some more in, 2 kids to...

06
Nov
2008

THANK YOU LETTERS

One of things my mom managed to instill in me while I was growing up was the necessity of writing thank you letters. If I had been a guest at someone’s home or received a gift from someone, it was good manners and a courtesy to respond to it with a written thank you note. Writing cards or letters at all seems to be gradually becoming a lost art, which is a shame since getting “real” mail in the post is one of the nicest ways to make someone’s day. Over the years I’ve gotten several surprised and grateful thank...

03
Nov
2008

WHEN WAS IT? AH! WHEN WAS IT NOT?*

Once upon a time. Once. Really? Only once? Those words denote the beginning of a story but do you see how they hold the end in their hands? It was but it is no longer. Once it was, but now, it’s not. Once but never again. I wonder who used the words for the first time and if they knew what a weight they were investing them with. If we dwell too long or too often on what once was, how can we enjoy what we have now? What to do? How to capture and hold those ephemeral onces in...

02
Nov
2008

PARTY PEOPLE

My costume idea was so excellent, but I think it left something to be desired in the execution since no one even asked me what I was supposed to be. When I told people what I was, they laughed their heads off, though, so I give myself points for that. I was a piece of salt licorice, the Swedish candy that makes people around the world shake their heads and say, “EWWW!” I wore a sparkly black shirt and then I spray-painted my top half and my hair black (not my face) and then sprayed glitter all over that. Let...

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