Category: general

02
Feb
2008

WHEN YOU REREAD, YOU DON’T SEE MORE IN THE BOOK THAN YOU DID BEFORE, YOU SEE MORE IN YOURSELF

For someone as perpetually busy as I am, a weekend with no plans is both soothing and disorienting. I’m constantly torn between the need to relax and the urge to fill my time. I need the downtime, my shivering soul protests, but my brain won’t stop buzzing. Everywhere I look there is, of course, something to be done, a project half-finished looking at me reproachfully, dust bunnies prowling under the bed. The bathroom needs scrubbing and I dutifully swab the decks but my heart’s not in it. Laundry goes in, yet another load in the endless cycle. I close my...

01
Feb
2008

FORGIVE THE FISH METAPHOR, BUT THE SUSHI IS TELLING

The sushi was awesome, though the kids were of divided minds. We sat at the tables in the back—they have exactly 10 chairs in a tiny back room (and a counter up front that seats 4). The fish was fresh and the spicy salmon roll rocked my socks. The kids were a bit taken aback by a strange maki piece that was PINK instead of the usual seaweed black. I asked the owner what it was: soybean paper! I didn’t get one, so didn’t taste it this time. Anders said it was nothing to write home about, but it sure...

31
Jan
2008

I AM NOT A BLOGGER, I JUST PLAY ONE ON MEME

Things I am tired of: darkness rain cold hands my daughter’s whining Things that never seem to end: laundry my to-do list at work winter the weight struggle Things I want to eat but don’t have in the house: tempura maki reese’s fast break bars my dad’s chervil soup (I could make it, though) pie Things that made me laugh today: an email from a colleague after I solved a problem for him, that said in huge letters: I LOVE YOU!!!!! my son’s verbose and swenglish explanation of a game in gym class called spookball the outfit my daughter had...

27
Jan
2008

THE WEEK IS WORTH THE WAIT

No matter how often it’s sunny, it’s still like a miracle to me when the sun comes out. To wake and see the blue sky above the tossing branches of the pine trees and the bird cherry across the ditch and the sun, that pyro, striking sparks off everything. After weeks of overcast skies and rainy days and windstorms, a sunny day is awesome. It AWES me. It makes me sit up and take notice. Suddenly everything that has been drab and dark and grey is silver and light and glinting gold. The asphalt is mica-ed with sparkles; even the...

26
Jan
2008

CONFESSION

Okay, I admit it. I miss them. I can’t wait until they get home, even though I’ll enjoy my last day of peace and quiet tomorrow.

26
Jan
2008

GOOD THINGS

Today was full, FULL I tell you! of good things. Though there were a few things missing that would have made it perfect (like a massage and my family returning home, and not missing the phone call from my travelin’ bro), I am pretty pleased with the day. And actually since it’s after midnight, it was YESTERDAY that was full of good things, and today that is also full of good things because of the last point below. Meg posts Friday Love Lists and this is a little bit like that, and also just because there is something so solid...

23
Jan
2008

IN THE DETAILS

It’s never really quiet outside even in the hush of early morning when a whisper-thin coating of diamond dust ice sparkles everywhere. The morning dawning glazed orange and pink showcases the silhouette of a church tower across the fields in the distance. Bobbing daisy chains of geese flung across the sky, heading southwest (wrong direction again). Driving up the hill to Öderslöv, ahead of me is a many-armed monster, freshly killed, being hauled on the back of a huge tractor trailer – drawing near, it resolves into the huge twisted gnarly limbs of a recently downed ancient tree. I’ve been...

21
Jan
2008

IN SOLITUDE, WHERE I AM LEAST ALONE

The moon is shining down in a misty sort of way, it’s full of itself and drunk on moonshine. The house is quiet and (relatively) clean. This is the one week out of the year when the things I pick up and put away stay in their places for 7 whole days. This is the one week when no one else dictates my activities or time spent on any given thing: I have free rein! I don’t have to think about anyone but me! (at least at home…work is another story entirely) I don’t have to fix meals for anyone...

19
Jan
2008

SIGHT UNSEEN

The days keep getting away from me. Even as I sharpen my gaze, fixating on the color and the lightness of the evening sky—is it more cobalt than black at 4 o’clock?—is it lighter now, just slightly? It is! A miniscule difference that lights up my whole attitude—they seem to begin, whiz past, and end more quickly than ever before. In addition to the still-more-frequent than I would like blurry eyes, I’ve been plagued this past year with a recurring eye infection that is very irritating coming as it does with constant watering, sensitivity and redness that the strongest eyedrops...

16
Jan
2008

SIMPLE PLEASURES

Does getting older mean that you slowly freeze from the inside out? I swear poor circulation will be the death of me one day. My hands are SO COLD. I hate sitting here staring at the screen, unable to think of a single thing to write about. What a lame-o! Forging ahead, regardless. Never let it be said that writer’s block has got the best of me! My kids have been traditionally a little late to the party when it concerns iconic movie figures. Last year they were obsessing over Star Wars, watching the movies over and over, play-acting Jedi...

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