Tagged: famdamily

28
Oct
2024

HOLIDAY PREP

It’s nearly Halloween. I have the big bowl of candy ready and the kids are coming home tomorrow night to carve the pumpkins and decorate. Anders is gone this week but will be home on Thursday at some point, though I don’t know if he’ll make it for the trick-or-treat hours. Kirstin hosted the annual (3x makes it a yearly event, right) AIC adult party on Friday. I didn’t really dress up at all, since I don’t really like dressing up. I stuck my bat deelybobbers on and wore a bright orange shirt. That’s as dressed up as I like...

16
Sep
2024

GOING AND COMING

We moved Karin to Copenhagen over the past week. She moved in on Tuesday last week, and it was a super easy move, as she didn’t have so much furniture, and only a few boxes and miscellaneous other stuf. She and her best friend Elsa actually had the trailer filled before Martin even arrived in the morning to help. So we drove over to Copenhagen, and her new apartment is really nice. It’s a big 3-bedroom, brand new, on the south side of Copenhagen, quite near the water. We got her all unloaded, and then Martin and I went and...

17
Aug
2024

ERIN GO BRAGH – GALWAY

Waking up in Galway on your birthday is a good way to do it. Or rather, being awakened, as per the usual Swedish style. We had to get up early to catch our daytrip bus, so of course the kids and Anders woke me up even earlier with singing, hugs, and a new iPad (yay!). The next morning we walked through Eyre Square on our way to the hotel where we were meeting the bus. And Karin ran into someone she knows! Because of course she did! She knows everyone! Someone she went to school with, who had actually been...

16
Aug
2024

ERIN GO BRAGH – DUBLIN

We were only in Ireland for a week, but we did a LOT of things and saw a lot, and ate a lot, and I took a bajillion photos. If you are going to turn 60, Ireland’s a fun place to do it in. It’s as green as promised, and the people are lovely. We stayed in AirBnBs, all of which but one had a million stairs, which was a bummer, since I am still in a knee brace, but I managed. We flew to Dublin on Wednesday, August 7 and stayed right down in the city center near to...

14
Jul
2024

QUARTER OF A CENTURY

Yesterday, Karin turned 25 years old. She’s an amazing young lady and it’s a pleasure to watch her make her way through the world, with the spirit and influence and drive that she has. For some reason it’s not as weird to have my youngest turn 25 as it is when my little brother hits milestone birthdays. I am already sufficiently boggled at my own age; my daughter’s doesn’t seem to make it worse, which is nice. She’s barely been home for 2 weeks, first working a week at the music festival in Roskilde, Denmark and then working every single...

30
Jun
2024

TO DO AND DO AND DID

How is it already the last week of June? How is it already 2024? How am I possibly going to be turning 60 in a little over a month from now? The mind boggles. It’s been a mostly relaxing weekend, with one beautiful sunny warm day and one chilly, rainy grey day, though the skies have mostly cleared now at 8 pm and the sun is shining again. Yesterday, I had a to-do list that consisted of housework: defrosting the freezer, lots of laundry, vacuuming, cleaning bathrooms, emptying garbage cans. I got it all done and had plenty of time...

17
Jun
2024

WE’RE ALL A LITTLE IRISH

Has this online journal become a Monday-night special? It’s possible. It’s a good excuse to sit and write a post while I listen to what Spotify’s Discover Weekly might have to offer me. Sometimes not much, sometimes surprisingly many songs that catch my ear. I’m sitting here sweating because I just folded all the laundry, and then went outside to water the garden, and then I came in and did my knee exercises. You wouldn’t think that standing up from a sitting position 30 times in a row without using your arms would be strenuous, but you’d be wrong. Some...

29
May
2024

GRATITUDE POST

Things that are good right now: Spring into summer in Sweden: sunshine, perfect temperatures, cooling breezes, green growing things, flowering trees, wild daisies along the roads, birdsong, bumblebees and butterflies, the sounds of children playing in the neighborhood (and lawn mowers and hedge clippers) My family: being celebrated for Mors Dag (Swedish Mothers Day) with double rose bouquets, chocolates, and a Lego peacock, spending time together and eating delicious dinners that Anders cooks, planning a birthday trip (with Anders), crosswords from Martin that blow me away, Karin’s enthusiastic drive to do odd jobs around the house for money (and her...

13
May
2024

TRAVELER

I’m back! 3 weeks in the US went at the speed of light. It was, as always, great to spend time with my sister and my mom, but a bit disheartening to see my mom’s memory issues up close and personal. Karin was the perfect traveling companion. Thankfully, I was recovered from the stomach bug and traveling wasn’t an issue. Our plane from Copenhagen was delayed and then delayed again, which was fine with us, as it meant we could sleep a bit longer before leaving for the airport and it also meant our long layover in Toronto was shorter...

30
Mar
2024

ABOUT TO SPROING

Since I didn’t grow up in a church-going family, and only had a few years of semi-religious interest in high school, Easter has never been about Jesus much, for me. In my family, it was all about coloring eggs, hiding eggs, finding eggs, and Easter baskets full of candy. Interesting that both Easter in the spring and Halloween in the fall have such an emphasis on sweets. We have always decorated eggs the “old-fashioned” way, both when I was growing up, and with my own children when they were small. Vinegar, boiling water, and food coloring. We never used any...

January 2026
S M T W T F S
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031

Archives