Lizardek

03
Dec
2017

LIGHTING THINGS UP

This has been a majorly NON-SLUG weekend here at Chez Ek. Anders, who has apparently been replaced by a pod person, went out yesterday and bought outdoor lights and HUNG THEM ALL ALONG THE FRONT EDGE OF THE HOUSE. He was too funny, because he came in to the bedroom on Saturday morning, where I was still lolling reading, and asked me if he could get one of these. Apparently they sell them here in Sweden, now. Guess who got the hairy eyeball THIS time? 😀 He had no intention of actually buying one, though, and proceeded to look up...

30
Nov
2017

I DO AND DO AND DO

This has been crazy week. Something every single evening: Monday – WW, where I expressed disappointment that my scale at home in the morning showed I had lost more than the scale at WW in the evening and was told that “you can’t trust your scale at home”. Which? What? Why not, WW? SO YOU CAN GET PAID MORE? Give me a break. (it was because it was morning, that’s why, and I was getting ready to shower and hadn’t eaten anything, so there) Tuesday – AWC monthly meeting with 2 guest speakers and the annual holiday cookie exchange, which...

26
Nov
2017

MAKING MERRY & GIVING THANKS (PLUS EATING STUFFING)

Would you believe that the ONLY photos I have of the 2017 Thanks-Friends-Giving-Aganza are a montage of my antique mini silver salt and pepper shakers being filled? SO EXCITING. Back in the day, we used to record our gathering for posterity, posing on and behind the sofa, which children in our laps, etc. Nowadays, we just wait hungrily for everyone to arrive already, throw things in the microwave to heat them up, and stampede to the tables to stuff ourselves. Nary a photo in sight! No one even lifts a camera, ’cause their hands are full of forks and knives,...

21
Nov
2017

GHOST TOWNS

Wherever we go, the older we get, the more we are living in the past. Everything around us reminds us of it, whether we realize it or not. Every house you pass, every building, every street you drive down, or road you take is a path, a place, a memory of something from your former self, your former life. And when you live somewhere for a long time, it’s even more true. Every rock, fence, tree, garden, has a history imprinted upon you. That’s the house the twins lived in, Martin’s former best friends, when he was young. And that...

17
Nov
2017

BEATING THE BLUR

Do you think time seems to go by faster because we stop paying attention to the details? At a certain point, we’ve seen it all before so we don’t have to watch it as it develops, and only need to stop and snap to when something new happens. And after years, nothing new really happens. Unless we really stop. And force ourselves to see the details in the little things, the everyday things that really aren’t the same. It’s not easy, though. I think we lazily allow ourselves too often to coast along, skimming the surface of our lives, until...

16
Nov
2017

MEH URGH GAH FLUMP

I was going to come home from choir and write a post. A good post. A long one, full of musings and interesting theories and anecdotes about my life. But, 5 minutes after I got home, and got the computer turned on, Karin called and needed to be picked up, and I had to leave again, and it put me in a bad mood (for other reasons than that she needed to be picked up) and then since I was grumping, I thought about other things that have been aggravating me this week, and by the time I got back...

12
Nov
2017

GOOD GRAVY

For some reason my last two posts were set to private, though I swear I haven’t changed the settings on my editor, so what the hell, Livejournal? Now I worry I need to check back through every post to make sure they are all visible. No WONDER I don’t get any comments! Drrrr. It was a multiple holiday weekend. We have MÃ¥rtens GÃ¥s (and MÃ¥rtensafton, since Swedes insist on celebrating all holidays the evening before, Veterans Day (in the US), Remembrance Day, and Swedish Fathers Day today. On Friday, Anders’ mom had us all over for a delicious (catered) meal...

08
Nov
2017

SWINGING THROUGH STOCKHOLM

Oops! Forgot I had a blog. Heh. We had a really nice trip to Stockholm, though we missed Martin. Karin, unfortunately, was sick with a really bad cold the entire time: fever on the way up, coughing, sore throat, stuffed head, the works. We drugged her up and made her go with us everywhere though 😀 The weather couldn’t have been better. Friday was bright and glorious sunshine with blue skies and chill temperatures. Saturday it was cloudier and felt colder though it actually wasn’t. It only drizzled on us once, but we didn’t care because we were having fun....

30
Oct
2017

HELLO WEENIE

I just activated a new member for the AWC: a guy from Texas who has been in Sweden for 10 years, and has heard about us since before he moved here, but never thought to join because, well, duh. It’s a WOMEN’S club. Right? Except, no, not really. It’s not just Americans and not just women, though we only have a handful of men at the moment. We’ve talked about changing the name for years, but no one seems to be able to agree on a new name and the one I would have liked has already been taken by...

21
Oct
2017

IN MY HEAD, IN MY HEART

Every day as I drive to and from work, or to and from the grocery store in the next village over, I take snapshots in my mind. I even caption them, thinking as I do, that I should take the time to stop the car and take and shoot an actual photo, even if just with my phone. The little abandoned building in Östra Ödarslöv, with peeling paint and pale turquoise doors. The huge autumn-yellow tree with a bare crown and a ring of leaves around his foot (“Balding”) The road through Flyingeby, lined with trees, and the huge yellow...