Author: lizardek

16
Sep
2022

THREE WEEKS OF LOVE

Mom and Sarah came back with us to Sweden, from Bornholm. Three weeks! Luxury! It was so nice to have them here, and of course, as always, the time went too fast, and they have already left and returned home to the US. Since they had to share a bed in Germany and on Bornholm, we gave them separate bedrooms at our place (since Karin isn’t living at home it wasn’t too difficult). We had lots of things on the calendar for their visit, and we added a whole pile of stuff as well that Sarah wanted to do since...

15
Sep
2022

BORNHOLM DAYS

There’s something really special about being reunited with family that you love. After a long absence like the one caused by the pandemic, it’s even more special. We drove to Ystad on September 20, with Martin and Karin, and took the ferry over to Bornholm. After arriving in Rønne, we ate lunch in the main square, walked around a little bit, and then headed north to the campgrounds just outside of Allinge which was to be our home for the week. John had arranged the cabins months in advance, and we had two of them: one for 4 people which...

16
Aug
2022

RELAX TO THE MAX

I have a feeling that posting will be light for awhile, if I don’t manage to write anything else before vacation. I have 3.5 more days (half because Thursday morning I have the MRI appointment) of work, and MAN, do I have short-timers syndrome. I am SO ready for vacation. All my co-workers are back in the office and the first thing they ask, of course, was how was your summer vacation? and when I say I haven’t had it yet, the look of shock on their faces is hilarious. And then pitying, as they realize that means I have...

13
Aug
2022

ANOTHER ONE AROUND THE SUN

It was my birthday on Wednesday. Not a big one, unless you count that fact 58 is a pretty big number. But I mean it didn’t end in a zero or a five. Two more years until the next “big one”. Which I’m kind of not looking forward to, to be honest. Anyway, it was a nice birthday, despite the fact that I worked all day. Anders was away but came home that afternoon, Karin came home for dinner, so all 4 of us were together all evening. I picked up Thai food from our favorite takeaway place in Lund,...

08
Aug
2022

IT MOOSE BE LOVE!

During one of the lulls in the pandemic, my manager gifted her husband with a moose safari for his birthday. !!! I got all the details from her and promptly told my family that I, too, wanted a moose safari! I added it to my Christmas wish list, and the kids got it for me! The moose safari in question was at a moose park in Markaryd, which is quite a distance from us, approximately 1.5 hours north. But last year, when we were visiting our friends Mats and Annelott, we saw signs for a NEW moose park in Skäralid,...

04
Aug
2022

MISSING PEOPLE

When was the last time I saw you? It feels as if the pandemic has squashed all conception of time, and I’ve lost track. I feel like I haven’t seen most anyone in years, apart from my husband, kids, two best friends Debbie and Camilla, and my colleagues. The last time I saw my mom was June 2019, for a week in Seattle. That was, incidentally, the last time I saw my oldest friend Becky, and Chuck (and got to meet his wife). I saw Russell in Stockholm in June 2019 as well, but the last time I saw Kathey...

03
Aug
2022

PLANTY, PINCHY, PERSPIRING

It’s super hot and muggy today, the kind of weather I like the absolute least. We’ve got every fan in the house going, all the windows are open, and even the front door, trying to get a cross-breeze. I was just out in the garden watering and the water was sucked up by the earth as fast as it came out of the hose. Martin and I went to the plantshop after work and bought a new coral-colored rosebush for under the trellis and Anders already planted it. I hope it’s as prolific as the previous one was. I doubt...

31
Jul
2022

JUST WHAT I NEEDED

I think this coming week is the last of the dead weeks, and then people will start coming back to work. If things start ramping up, that’s quite alright with me, even though I am still not done with the “projects to do if no work is coming in”. Last week, because I was sick, I ended up working all week from home. I plan to work at least tomorrow and Tuesday in the office, then hope to work the rest at home again, because after that everyone will be back and I’ll have to be onsite more than not....

30
Jul
2022

STUCK ON STUFF LEFT BEHIND

I’m reading a good, if slightly disjointed, book by an author that I like, and every page contains word nuggets of beauty, obiter snippets, that I want to copy and write out, and share, and savor. This one struck me particularly: Maybe I shouldn’t be so attached to objects either. But everyone keeps dying, leaving stuff behind, objects I can’t usually get rid of. And I enjoy the company of the dead. They are so quiet. They know things I don’t know. The dead leave clues, and life is a puzzle of trying to read and understand these mysterious hints...