Did you miss me? I missed me! I missed you, too! It’s hard to believe that it’s been a month away and now we’re back. It was full on summer in the States but back home in Sweden, I feel we’ve landed in the early onset of autumn and I have to say I am SO GLAD. I never do well in heat and humidity and we had enough of it this past month to last me a lifetime. There’s a lot of reasons why I love living in Sweden, but cool weather and no humidity trumps just about everything....
I just finished a really good book, The Kitchen Daughter by Jael McHenry. It was excellent and had a (sad) twist that I did not see coming, which I always appreciate in a book (even if it is sad). I’ve been reading a lot lately, after what felt like a very long streak of not reading much at all, or at least reading so slowly as to be the same thing. I read a new Bill Bryson book, which was both interesting and ho-hum at the same time. I’ve downloaded 2 more books to my Kindle so I’ll have more...
We had a whiz-bang thunderstorm yesterday evening that went on for HOURS. It lasted pretty much all night, rolling and booming and crashing with lightning strikes. The kids and I sat out on the porch for a long time watching, and going Ooooo! every time lightning split the sky and the big cracks of noise hit. Then it poured rain for hours, too. One of our neighbors measured it at 40 mm (1.6 inches-ish) but it sure seemed like more than that. The dog was anxious all night as well, so when we weren’t being woken up by crash-bangs, we...
Had a meeting with my boss yesterday and was informed about my raise: higher than the average and lots of praise to accompany it, which was nice. Wish it was hitting with tomorrow’s paycheck instead of next month’s. Would have been nice to have that extra money in the States. Got my FBARs done, finally. Figuring out our plans for the US trip: what to see in NYC and Boston on the day each we have allotted for them. Planning a couple of days at a relative’s in Traverse City and my college roommates lake cottage. And a real American...
I’m procrastinating right now. I need to be doing my FBARs but I hate doing my FBARs and so I’m doing just about anything else instead. I can’t put it off forever, though. Yesterday, I talked to our neighbor and found out that the vet diagnosed Morris with acute kidney failure…nothing to be done but end her suffering. Jessika and I were both crying during the entire conversation. The vet said the problem with such things is that the symptoms are so diffuse and gradual, in cats at least, that you often don’t realize there is anything wrong until it’s...
We had the perfect cat. She belonged to the neighbors and they found her as a stray, took her in, fed her and cleaned her litter box, and took her to the vet when necessary, and kept her in at night, so she’d be safe. For us, she was a sometimes cat, a loaner cat, a daily visitor who brightened our days. She was curious and friendly and social. She followed behind her owner Jessika, trotting down the street, when she was taking their two dogs for a walk. She came over nearly every single day (that wasn’t snowing or...
Whew! We made it through the week! What a crazy few days it has been. Last Monday was a holiday, and Anders and I took Tuesday and Wednesday off work in order to get the final preparations done for Martin’s graduation and party on Wednesday evening. Tuesday was a graduation party for the daughter of a friend and Friday it was Anders’ nephew Henrik’s turn. Today has been, obviously, a day of rest. Much needed and much appreciated! Apart from the fact that the weather could have been a bit better, the big day on Wednesday went off without a...
I am the lamest blogger that ever lived. Okay, not really. There are lamer bloggers out there (naming no names). I guess when you are a blogger who is no longer really blogging, you are an epilogue. There have been lots of things to write about, but they are all happening at once which makes sitting down and finding words harder than you would think. This past weekend was Swedish Mother’s Day. I was given flowers (peonies!), a Pandora bead for my bracelets of a lion with a crown and a little bag of my favorite dark-chocolate-covered cherries. In the...
Every year it’s the same and yet I still boggle at how the time goes. It’s nearly the end of May. The lilacs are in full bloom but soon they’ll be over…the lupines are on the way now, and the roses. We have tiny, hard, green cherries on the tree but I can’t decide whether it’s worth it to put net on, since we’ll be gone all of July and that’s when they’ll be ripe. Might as well feast the birds one year, eh? The honeysuckles are just starting as well and my clematis is vining its way up the...
It’s been so beautiful here, sunny, warm and blue skies, a bit of a breeze (it is Skåne, after all), birdsong and bee buzz, and still chilly in the evenings so you know you will sleep well. It’s spring in all the best senses of the word. I was going to go take photos of the dandelion hill earlier this week but I was too late and they’ve all blown to seed now. The rapeseed fields are glowing neon yellow and the lilacs…the lilacs are here! Unfortunately, these are not OUR lilacs. These are the lilacs I WANTED. When we...