Author: lizardek

12
Jan
2008

AS USUAL: WALKING, WRITING, WORKING, READING, LAUGHING

This was today’s Treasure Hunt Walk list: someone smiling a 4-legged animal (not a dog) a man in a hat something purple flowers a truck a bicycle the letter X 2 triangles Martin made me laugh before we’d even left the neighborhood by quickly drawing an X and 2 triangles on the page and then he grinned up at me and said “You’re smiling!” but I called him a Cheater Peter and squashed him good. He used house roofs for the triangles and the man in the hat was eventually supplied by a garden gnome with a bright red hood....

09
Jan
2008

DOWN AND UP

I hate saying goodbye to my mom. No matter how long the visit is, it’s never long enough. *** We don’t have any more snow but it sure is cold here. It’s extra cold in my office and I’ve had to ask building maintenance to please come and take a look at the ventilation system, since despite the fact that I’ve turned the heat up as high as it will go, there are still arctic blasts of chill in the room. It feels as though my hands are feet are permanently frozen—from the inside-out. It gets worse all day as...

05
Jan
2008

COMING DOWN

We didn’t know we were trapped until early afternoon when we tried to get out. We bundled up and locked the door, turning to face the wind and chill of the winter afternoon, and promptly slid, all 3 of us, barely maintaining our balance on the ice sheet that had covered our driveway, street, and indeed, the entire world around us. So much for driving to Malmö for an afternoon get-together with friends. So much for meeting Carolyn (Marilyn’s co-worker, grandmother of Taylor Parker and mother of my friend and fellow AWC member Katie). I looked down the street and...

04
Jan
2008

FOREGONE CONCLUSION

Things I Could Be Doing: sleeping reading packing up Christmas decorations unloading the dishwasher editing 2007 working on the inheritance inventory updating my library list online shopping folding cartons & packaging for the recycle bin cleaning figuring out what to take to the meet & greet tomorrow figuring out the menu for the dinner I’m hosting in 2 weeks setting up bill payments editing photos for family website uploading photos to AWC website writing an interesting, thought-provoking blog post Things I Am Doing: none of the above

01
Jan
2008

WALKING AND TALKING

Best way to end a year: enjoying the first sunny day in WEEKS, then driving under a clear crystal-studded sky to spend an evening with good friends, including some not met in far too long. Handing lit sparklers to a wide-eyed child as champagne glasses clinked and kisses were exchanged with dragon breath and chilled cheeks. Cheering as fireworks exploded overhead and all around you in the distance. Sitting around the table telling your most vivid memory moments from the past year. Loving your mate in the wee hours of the morning. Best way to start a year: sleeping in...

30
Dec
2007

TURN TURN TURN

I read 118 books in 2007, an average of 9.8 books per month. I’ve increased the total number of books every year since I started keeping track, from 104 to 110 to 113 in the past three years. I don’t know if I’m getting faster at speed-reading or if the books are smaller. Though some of the books I read this year could totally be used in house-building as bricks, so I don’t think that’s it. Best books of 2007 (in no particular order and including no re-reads): The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield...

28
Dec
2007

SO WRONG

I just had a bite of an exotic chocolate bar with a very bizarre ingredient in it. Anders likes chocolate with chili and during her last visit my mom gave him a couple of bars from Vosges. I took one bite and thought my lips were going up in flames (cue misschili laughing her head off). She had also brought a bar with wasabi and one with curry. I thought the wasabi one was pretty okay but the curry bar was nothing to write home about. This year, in addition to a couple more chocolate-chili bars, she gave him one...

26
Dec
2007

WHAT EVERY WELL-ROUNDED LIBRARY NEEDS

I realize this is really bad timing, judging from the tumbleweeds currently blowing through my own wallet, but I can finally make mention here, since I’ve just verified that all my family members have received and unwrapped their Christmas presents. Remember all that editing I was so mysteriously working on over the course of the past year? It was this: lizardek’s obiter dictum — best of 2003-2006 And if there is anyone who just can’t get enough (and my jaw will permanently dislocate if so), there is also The Complete Works (to date). I know these are not really of...

25
Dec
2007

LET NOTHING YOU DISMAY

Carols playing on the stereo, cookies on a platter, stockings lying rumpled and flattened on the floor, surrounded by scraps and strewings of wrapping paper. Cards from friends and family around the world pinned to the felt snowman strip that hangs in the hallway. The aroma of roasting turkey wafts through the house overriding the knowledge that after the holidays it’s going to be time to get back on that treadmill and get some pounds off again. Lights on the tree glow on the red and golden and multi-colored ornaments, each with its own story to tell. Mistletoe lurks above...

November 2025
S M T W T F S
 1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
30  

Archives