Lizardek

01
Jun
2008

QUEEN O’ THE MAY

It’s hard to decide which I like better: the myriad mosaic of green that is spring or the upholstered uniformity of full-on summer verdancy. Everything is padded and plump with summer now, in leaf. The fluff-headed grasses sway in the wind of the cars’ passing along each country road. Small birds tumble about each other above the rooftops, romance on the wing. We’ve had the loveliest anniversary weekend. Just think! 12 years married. Of course, in the frenzy of making sure to remember the date, I got it firmly fixed in my head that YESTERDAY was June 1st, and because...

29
May
2008

IS THERE AN EXCHANGE RATE FOR NATURE’S COIN?

Do you think yourself beautiful? Are you pleased or, at least, at peace with your appearance? If not, what would you do to remedy it? Apply make-up? Straighten or curl or color your hair? Whiten your teeth? Lay yourself bare before a knife to correct what nature deemed your lot? Remove, add, lengthen, shorten, dye, reduce, enlarge, change. Catching part of a documentary on the increase of cosmetic surgery in China, I was appalled and mesmerized by the young girls who were undergoing operations to lengthen their legs. 6 months of pain and re-learning completely how to walk (no mention...

28
May
2008

THE STARFISH STORY

adapted from The Star Thrower by Loren Eiseley (1907 – 1977) Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work. One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who would dance to the day, and so, he walked faster to catch up. As he got closer, he noticed that the figure...

27
May
2008

BULLETS FROM THE BUSY

The pool has sprung 2 consecutive links in the 3 weeks we’ve had it. *sigh* Karin had a fever yesterday, I got the call at 10 a.m. and worked from home the rest of day, battling a crashy connection. She was better this morning, but since the school requires kids stay home for a fever-free day, she was with me at work this morning (infecting the office instead, muahahaha!) and missing the school brännboll tournament. My to-do list will not stop growing. Squishing it does not, just as with my children, work at all. We have new across-the-street neighbors. Young...

23
May
2008

WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND

My plan, when I first moved to Sweden with my new husband, was to study Swedish for six months and then start looking for a job. Best-laid plans, and all that, and my discovery, 2 months after our arrival, that I was pregnant threw them right out the window. I studied Swedish anyway, but only for 4 months, taking an expensive class first at the Folkuniversitet and then, when I moved up to the front of the line, a second class at the free, government-sponsored Swedish for Immigrants. This second class sucked in comparison, but we couldn’t afford to turn...

21
May
2008

BUSTED

Liz: Good night! Karin: Good night! Liz: Sleep tight! Karin: Sleep tight! Liz: See you in the morning! Karin: See you in the morning! Liz: Olive oil! Karin: I lo—*pause* Liz: No? Oil of Olay? Karin: *rolls eyes* Liz: Hmmm…what was it again? Eulalia! Karin: *patiently* No, mama Liz: Oilily? Karin: *suspiciously* Are you doing this just so you’ll have something to write about on your journal? Liz: *giggles madly*

20
May
2008

SHAKING THEIR PURPLE PLUMES

Dizzy with the perfume of the lilacs, each time I pass a tree or a bush of them, I incline my head and take a great walloping sniff and say AAAAH. I can’t always smell them (thanks, allergies!) but it’s fun to try, and when I DO get a whiff it lasts for a really long time, long after the fact, long after I am gone away from them. It’s the memory of scent and the memory of green and of new and of BURGEONING that gets me through the winters here. All the long dark dreary winter days I...

17
May
2008

OBVIOUS PROBLEMS SITTING STILL

A Saturday with absolutely no plans* has resulted in the following: sleeping in until 9:30 and then dozing for another half hour finishing a book and beginning another 6 loads of clean, sweet-smelling folded laundry, including a million towels and the bedding from every bed in the house 3 clean, sweet-smelling, freshly-made beds 6.5 bags of outgrown children’s clothing a logic problem conquered on the second try Chinese take-away for dinner a quick run to the store for milk a half-vacuumed house myskväll with shrimp crackers, fortune cookies and a new movie to watch (Enchanted) a journal post!…of sorts *for...

15
May
2008

POSSIBLE REASONS WHY LIZARDEK IS IN SUCH A GOOD MOOD

2 solid weeks of sunshine? Anticipation of book group tonight even though she hasn’t read the book? The lovely lovely lilacs? The decision to take off for lunch in town tomorrow and then play hookey for the rest of the afternoon before attending a party in the evening? The fact that tomorrow is Friday and she has no plans for the weekend? ALL OF THE ABOVE?

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