Lizardek

24
Dec
2020

EK FAMILY CHRISTMAS LETTER 2020

Oh 2020, we had such high hopes for you! Martin was going to come home in the spring and we were going to go the States for summer vacation and everything was going to be wonderful. I almost feel like I could write this letter sort of like the part of Twilight where Edward leaves Bella, and for four or five months there are just blank pages with the month’s name on them. Karin and Anders did manage some ski trips at the very beginning of the year; Karin spent a week in Austria with a friend and then the...

17
Dec
2020

BOOKS IN THE TIME OF CORONA

Barack Obama released his favorite books of 2020 list today and I confess to feeling a little thrill to see that the book I’m currently in the middle of was on it. And that two other books in my queue are also on it. Reflected good taste! To be honest, the book I am reading, that was on his list, is probably not going to end up on my list of best books I’ve read this year, unless it takes off or takes a rather drastic turn. It’s good, but it’s really heavy and because it’s about the consequences of...

13
Dec
2020

LOOKING ON THE BRIGHT SIDE

We’ve had approximately ONE hour of sunlight in December so far. And in the past month, we’ve had a total of 24.3 hours of sunlight…spread out over 3 days. I looked at the weather app for Lund for the coming week and all it showed was clouds and rain. I’m guessing that even when the solstice comes, it will make no difference for the next couple of months. Normally this time of year we average around 52 hours of sunlight, which is still AWFULLY little. Seems like weatherwise, all we have to look forward to is depression and sadness. I...

08
Dec
2020

BRING IT ON

I’m feeling on top of things concerning the holidays. I wrote and printed our Christmas letter several weeks ago, which felt idiotic because usually it’s a rundown of the things that have happened in the past year, and like everyone else, NOTHING happened in the past year, because everything that was planned got canceled, and we’ve only been at home. I sat and wrote out my short list of Christmas cards during the AWC Zoom meeting the last week of November and got them in the mail last week. I only send printed cards to people who reciprocate so the...

03
Dec
2020

I WAS DREAMIN’ WHEN I WROTE THIS

I follow my college roommate’s daughter Erin on Instagram; in fact, she has two accounts and I follow them both (along with her mother’s, of course). One of them is her professional account (she’s a content developer) and the other is personal. She’s older than both my kids, and we’ve seen her and her brother along with her parents (who met in college; he was also a friend back then, and still is, though he’s not on social media) every time we’ve been home in Michigan for the last 23 years, so even though it wasn’t often, I still have...

02
Dec
2020

MONKEY SEE MONKEY DO, MONKEY PROUD

Karin made dinner for us tonight: potato soup with carrots, leek and chicken dogs (cut-up). It’s a soup that she and her classmates made once, on an expedition to Skrylle, which is a nature reserve not too far from the school. She was about 14 at the time, and they made the soup over an open fire and she clearly remembers me asking her, when she got home, if she’d been smoking, because she smelled like smoke, and being upset with me for EVEN ASKING, GOD MOM. It was yummy, and Anders made garlic toast in the oven to go...

27
Nov
2020

ABUNDANCE

Thinking about things I’m grateful for is on my mind this week, like it’s on all the Americans minds, of those who celebrate Thanksgiving with at least some investment in what GIVING THANKS means and not just that it’s a socially sanctioned opportunity to stuff yourself until you feel sick. I found myself getting very upset with some of my relatives who were having family and friends over (in the US), when I’ve spent the last two weeks discussing the situation with my mom and son, imploring them to not get together, and just stay safe, which feels like hypocrisy...

25
Nov
2020

FOCUS ON THE FUTURE

Choir practices Massages 2020 work kickoff AWC lunches AWC monthly meetings Charlie Caper at Victoriateatern Martin’s visit home Bookworms Choir weekend Work trips Valborg bonfire & BBQ Lundaloppet Midsommer Visits with Anders’ mom Independence Day BBQ My grandmother’s decline and funeral Summer vacation in the States Movie nights Crayfish party Flyinge loppis Karin’s university start Dinners with friends Wreathmaking workshop Funny Girl at Malmö Opera Friendsgiving Julbord AWC media sale That’s the short list of cancelled events and activities so far this year. I’m thinking about Thanksgiving since it’s tomorrow, in the US, and normally, tomorrow, I would be meeting...

22
Nov
2020

CINEMANIA

We’re working on getting into the holiday spirit around here. Karin came home this afternoon; it’s the first time we’ve seen her for any amount of time in nearly 3 weeks as she’s been quarantining…two COVID tests, both negative, thank goodness. I’ve been getting Christmas shopping done…have my sister and her family sorted, and my mom, and my brother’s family except for him. I have Martin nearly done, and Karin and Anders started. Pretty good work for a couple of days. Karin and I went grocery shopping, and then brought all the Christmas decoration boxes into the house and got...

17
Nov
2020

YOU CAN SPEAK YOUR MIND BUT NOT ON MY TIME

I don’t care about lots of things that other people seem to care a ridiculous amount about. Princess Diana, for example. Don’t care. The 4th season of The Crown was just released and suddenly my social media is full of her again. Don’t care about royal families in general, for the most part, and the current one in the UK has less interest for me than most. I don’t care what they’re doing, who they’re marrying, where they’re vacationing, and whether or not they’re happy in their roles. I watched the first three seasons out of curiosity and thought they...

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