Category: general

06
May
2025

PICTURE PERFECT

We’ve had such a lovely stretch of lovely weather here that I’m getting completely spoiled. Apart from one day of part rain, it’s been beautiful sunny, blue skies, but still COOL breezy temperatures. Even when it’s down to 9C I am still not wearing a jacket because the sun is warm enough for me. We have onion sprouts already coming up in one row, so it’s enough for them as well! Hoping to see more sprouts soon, though the potatoes always take forever to start. I need to go buy cucumber and tomato plants, but Anders said there’s no rush...

02
May
2025

FOR POSTERITY — LITTLE LIZ

When I was going through papers from my mom’s house, I found a bunch of letters she wrote to her parents a few months after I was born. She wrote to her parents every couple of weeks, and most of them are full of daily chitchat and talk about what was going on with her, my dad, and their lives. I’m copying here some of the things she wrote about me for posterity. NOTE: I was called Lisa after I was born (named Elizabeth for my dad’s mother’s middle name, or more likely, just because my mom liked the name!)....

01
May
2025

RABBITS! RABBITS!

Well, I’m writing a blog post on the first of May, which is a holiday here in Sweden, and even though I didn’t say “Rabbits! Rabbits!” first thing when I woke up, I am writing it now, and that ought to count for something. It’s been an absolute stunner of a day, quite perfectly perfect: sunny, warm but not too warm, a cool breeze, blue skies, butterflies and bees and birds singing. The neighbor’s cat came around twice but is super shy, which is a bummer. I slept in and then played games and read before doing anything of import....

27
Apr
2025

FAIRLY TALL

by Galen Fott (who I just discovered is a real person) (I have had this typed out on two pieces of (now) very old, faded, ragged, stained, and ripped pieces of typing paper since I was in junior high, but I don’t remember where I got it from. It’s possibly from a play of skits that my best friends were in. It always makes me laugh.) Lunga, lunga ego, when you were late yards old, or even flea, you gloved to glisten to fairly talls, didn’t you? Quell, here’s an udder one—bud this one is SNIFFERENT! Once a puddle time,...

26
Apr
2025

TRIP TO OREGON, JULY 1992

(When reading this, remember this is long before cell phones, Apple Pay, and baggage weight restrictions) I’m back from my first real vacation in years, 10 whole days. I had a wonderful time in Oregon visiting my best friend Becky and her husband Doug, and squashing my maternal urges with their two beautiful children: Christopher (3) and Sara (2). Lots of hanging out with kids, shopping, movies, the Oregon County Fair (quite a treat), and going to hear great live music. But the best story is about my arrival and departure from hell! I swear that everything you are about...

21
Apr
2025

POSTING AND PITCHING AND PAPERS

I have to make up for not posting at all since mid-March, right? I only wrote 4 posts in March (before I left for the US) and I’ve only got a week and a half left of April, so I’d like to at least match March. Or beat it! We’ll see. HAHA! While I was in the US, Sarah connected to my Spotify account on her phone so we could listen to my playlist while we were driving around. And just now, HERE IN SWEDEN, I am listening to Spotify’s Discover Weekly and it was hijacked by her car! I...

20
Apr
2025

POST-OP

Anders took me to the Ortho Center in Malmö on Friday morning. I had to be there at 10:30 am and he couldn’t stay so he dropped me off and went home to work on the MG and wait for my call to come be picked up. I checked in, paid (SEK 150!), and was sent up to the prep waiting room but didn’t wait at all (then). The nurse checked my name, gave me a cup of pills and a glass of water (pain medication and anti-nausea meds) and then handed me a pile of clothing and took me...

15
Apr
2025

WHOOSH—I’M BACK!

Back from the USA, and still jetlagged. I was gone for 4 weeks and did I blog once? No. No, I did not. What a lame-o. I did think about it. At least twice. But was too busy the entire time to really be motivated to write anything here. Sarah and I spent the first two weeks working on organizing and cleaning up the rest of her home after her move of her entire family and nearly every room. Her family played musical rooms, which eventually left my mom the space of a 2-room suite, plus bathroom, plus half-loft where...

10
Mar
2025

DON’T GET ME STARTED

Why is it that every time I tell someone, almost always someone who is NOT American, that I DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT, they just keep on trying to talk about it? Trying to get me to engage in a conversation in which they want me to explain, defend, or continuously agree or react in shock about the batshit crazy takeover of the American government right now. I DON’T FUCKING WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT. Because you don’t want to get me started. The whole situation enrages me and fills me with despair and disgust and disbelief. I can’t...

09
Mar
2025

SO MUCH EFFORT, BUT THE PAYOFF IS PIE

We ended up being 34 people for Pie Night yesterday, which was perfectly manageable. We have a party palace of a home. I was bummed about a couple of the people who dropped off the list, as I was hoping to see them, but one was sick and the other couple had something come up. We didn’t even have to borrow chairs from Lisel, as I was an idiot and completely forgot about the fact that we have 6 chairs on the porch and a further 2 cafe chairs from the swing patio. Anders spent the majority of Saturday morning...

October 2025
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