Tonight I will be celebrating the New Year with good friends, good food, laughter and fireworks. I will be warm, fed, happy and surrounded by my family. I will not be mourning the deaths of my loved ones. I will not be lying wounded and sick in a hospital far from home. I will not be contemplating the destruction of my home, my business, my world. But I will be thinking about those who are. Please give if you can. Melanie Says It Far Better Than I Could: Waves of Chance & Change Goals for 2005: Continue learning to say...

My sister and I outfoxed each other on the cool-aunt/you-bought-WHAT?! dichotomy this year. I sent her 2.5-year old a romping stomping dinosaur outfit that roars and growls with every movement, and she sent my husband and daughter a remote-control car. A big one. A LOUD one. The package was super late even though it was mailed early, and arrived the evening before we left for a 2-day jaunt up to Gothenburg to pick up a car. Consequently, Karin was able to open the present, but not play with it, engendering 2 days of endless comments and questions about playing with...

The news from Asia is just staggering. We have friends that were traveling by train from Singapore to Malaysia this week, and no idea where they were or if they are okay. It makes my little life seem awfully unimportant in comparison. **** Despite the 50% off sale at the lamp store, and an assortment of some 50-60 hanging lamps, Anders and I found nothing that we could agree on as being right for our dining room. The search continues. I’m very pleased with the results of the first meeting of the new AWC webteam. There are now 4 of...

Foggy days and foggy nights. I am not in a fog, although my home is. The temperature is dropping, I can feel it in my bones. Birds are cold feathered bundles huddled together under leaves, in chilly nests, wishing they’d gone south. A tree is outlined in white, rimed in frost, a starry anomaly. The waning moon glows encircled, wreathed in fog. Apparently the postal system is working in a fog too, as my sister just summarized our lists of missing gifts to and from the States, mostly from, and it totals 13 packages. 🙁 Amazon, you suck. USPS, you...

Ssssh…listen. Do you hear that? No? Listen closer…it’s the sound of quiet. It sounds so nice, doesn’t it? It’s not quite the sound of silence, since the computer is humming, and my fingers are clicking away on the keyboard, and the washing machine is running in the background, and Paul and Art are nowhere in evidence, but it will definitely do for now. Anders just left with the kids to go ice skating in Malmö and I decided to stay home to work on the AWC website, read another book (my 4th!), do laundry…and enjoy the peace and quiet. We’ve...

Somehow, every year, I find out once again that all the preparations and stress were worth it, when I see the kid’s excited faces and Anders really likes his gift. Sneaking Christmas cookies while the kids are occupied with constructing Lego sets. Laying on the couch listening to new CDs and staring at the Christmas tree until all the colored lights run together. Glad that there is sunshine AND snow. Glad that the gifts I sent to far places were received on time and with joy. Glad that I can really relax now and enjoy a week off. Merry Christmas,...

Yay! My 42 tons of snow is being delivered right now! It’s a WHITE CHRISTMAS, after all! 😀