All along the edge of Pildamms Park in Malmö, where the water is, the city has planted pearl hyacinth in zigzaggy waves in the stretch of grass between the bike path and the walking path. It goes for almost a mile, a wavy wiggle of purple and green, under the trees. By the edge of the water, we stopped and watched a swan gliding and posing, and 7 tumbly ducklings waddling after their mother. The kids behaved beautifully at choir practice last night. Karin came and sat with me and then put in a song request so we sang Vår...

A friend called me tonight and left a message saying that she just called to chat and see how things were because she noticed at the meeting yesterday and recently that I haven’t been myself. I called her back after I got home and we talked for nearly an hour. I’m really touched that someone noticed. Although, if my upside-down inside-out state-of-mind is that obvious, perhaps I need to do something more drastic. argh On the way to choir, Karin was awarding me 1 point for every vehicle I passed and taking away 1 for every vehicle that passed me....

This morning as we left the house, the sun was shining in an electric blue sky. It was already 7C and the day promises to improve. If I was outside or had windows at work, I’d be a happy camper. As it is…sigh So since I can’t enjoy it, go read this instead: Spring in Sweden, Complete with Pictures: Swedish Spring by idahoswede The meeting last night was good and bad. We had guests from the other international club in town at our board meeting because we thought it would be nice, since we have so many members in common...

Two little girls are skipping rope together, 1 turning the rope over them both, the other facing her, hopping in time and chanting. Both of them have pink pants and blond hair. 2 more blond and pink girls look on, waiting their turns. Just past them, a group of small boys crouch in a circle, shooting marbles. 2 of them have homemade marble bags at their sides and are earnestly comparing the merits of spaghetti vs. cats-eye. Someone’s big steelie bounces off a cobblestone, prompting a burst of shouting and agonized arm-flapping. Over by the bushes, a group of kids,...

My brother called to tell me that he and Simone got engaged yesterday on their anniversary of 6 years together! He asked her to marry him in German, and apparently he actually said something like, Please, will you find someone for me to marry? 😀 It’s about time, John! Karin LOVED her first soccer practice, so much so that when they were done with the actual “practice” stuff and were playing games, she refused to play because she wanted to keep on kicking the ball so one of the trainers had to go and work some more with her. The...

rain-spitty grey and squinty glare work work work work more work good lunch more work massage coming up thank god it’s been a month and I need one sooooooooooooooo bad pick up martin show him off at police station so he can get his swedish passport renewed grocery shopping nap on couch i hope dinner reading surfing bed That’s all I got.

The concert last night was AWESOME!! We got to Rådhuset (City Hall) at 8:30 and gathered on the steps until everyone was there. The Old City Hall was built in 1546 and it’s a very imposing building on Stortorget, faced by a giant verdigris green statue of Karl X on horseback. When it was still a real city hall (it’s since been outgrown), it was lent to king Gustav IV Adolf for a year 1806-07, as he thought Malmö a far superior location to Stockholm in times of continental wars (and never liked Stockholm anyway) and chose to move the...

Grilled chicken rubbed with barbeque sauce, grilled onions, tiny baby broccoli florets, rice mixed with white and yellow corn, topped with butter. *drool* That was Friday night’s dinner. The sun has been peeking out at intervals today, sticking a toe in and then wrapping clouds around itself while going brrrr I slept in, or rather, dozed on and off this morning, after being awake until 2:22 a.m. last night, the last point I looked at the clock. Anders played hockey at 9 and just got back from the building store with a big ol bag of cement. I’ve got laundry...

That white flowering explosion behind us in the farmyard? It’s called hägg in Swedish. I didn’t know what that was in English, so I looked it up yesterday and turns out it’s a bird cherry. They’re everywhere now. I can’t stop seeing them now that I know what they are. It’s like when I got my engagement ring and everyone on the el train suddenly had big sparkly rocks on their fingers. And when I was pregnant, and SO WAS EVERYONE ELSE. It was freaky, man. I have a major compulsion to know the names of things. It bugs me...

Along Planteskolevägen, daffodils bow their heads and curtsey before the royal red crowns of the regal tulips. The sun is out, and you’d think by now I’d be used to it, but no. It’s just as awesome and bright every day it makes an appearance. The fields are plowed and turned and fertilized and some of them are even green, tiny little rape plants already pushing forth. Fields of rape. Rape fields. Amazing that something that sounds so potentially horrifying produces such unbelievable BRIGHT yellow blooms. You’d swear they’re fake. Nothing can be that yellow, right? Wrong. I don’t like...