Tagged: goodthings

16
Feb
2026

THE ONLY WAY TO HAVE A FRIEND IS TO BE ONE*

I’ve been thinking a lot about friendship lately. All the different kinds that I’ve been privileged to be a part of and those that have stayed and those that have disappeared and why. I think my delight in landing on writing a letter a month for 2026 was partly fueled by a need to reach out to friends that I feel distant from and, probably, remind them that I exist. Even if I say I don’t expect an answer or a letter back, I’d still like to think that my reaching out might awaken an answering call in people that...

07
Feb
2026

PRETTY THINGS AND QUIET TIME

It’s the beginning of a relatively quiet week for me, since Anders left this morning with Karin for a week of skiing in Italy. I dropped him off at the station in Lund, then went and parked behind the station and walked over to Espresso House to have breakfast and sit and read for an hour, while waiting for Clemens Antik to open. I was determined to beat Martin there to get that vase, and I DID! HAHA! I WON! He got to work just before 10, but checked on Find My iPhone where I was, and knew I was...

03
Feb
2026

THERE, THEN BACK, THEN UP, THEN DOWN

What a mixed bag of a day. I got up earlier than normal but didn’t stress out about getting ready as I knew I’d need to let my morning bathroom routine take precedence as I did not want to be worrying about finding a restroom on my way to Malmö in rush hour traffic. I got disentangled from the sleep apnea test equipment (went fine, no problems, as far as I know, though we’ll see what the results say), showered, and left the house at 7:30 AM confident that 2 toilet visits would see me through. Wrong. Almost to the...

25
Jan
2026

IF YOU WANT HAPPY ENDINGS, READ COOKBOOKS*

We get a physical monthly magazine from our local Swedish grocery store chain that is chock-full of recipes. It’s named Buffé and it is, indeed, that, in terms of instructions on putting food together. Neither Anders nor I cook much anymore, though he’s much more likely to whip together a tomato and onion soup if we have crushed tomatoes in the pantry. I think about cooking like I think about posting here…a great deal of it happens only in my head. I just spent an hour going through the backlog of magazines in the basket, with the intent of recycling....

07
Jan
2026

A VACATION FROM MY VACATION

There’s something so wonderfully monotonous about the slowing down of time during vacation, if you’re home and not traveling at least. The way your sleep clock slowly turns itself over and you find yourself staying up until the wee hours and sleeping until 11 (or at least that USED to be the case). I still see it happening a little bit but because I wake up so much during the night, it’s not as easy to turn my internal clock upside-down anymore. But time slows down generally if you don’t make plans. My plans are little ones that involve home...

04
Jan
2026

JINGLE JINGLE, PART THE SECOND*

As usual, I was living in the moment and didn’t take nearly enough photos of our time in the States, but I was apparently better than the rest of my family. Martin says he only took 2 photos the entire time, haha. Here’s the photo dump from our holidays! Essie, Danely, and Karin decorating cookies Karin and Martin decorating cookies Karin outdoes herself with a cookie too pretty to eat! Anders, Essie, Karin, Grandma Linda, and Martin – ready to open presents Danely is also ready to open presents The elusive Mr Bryce Me and my mom (who is not...

03
Jan
2026

RESOLUTIONS, RELAXING, AND REMINISCING

I’ve been musing about new year’s resolutions and trying to decide if I want to do something. I really enjoyed the years that I had done a once-a-month resolution (5Ks, art, poetry), but I don’t really have any good ideas. I supposed I could do art every month again, since it’s been a few years. Or maybe I will do write a letter every month this year! That’s a good idea, I think! I might even make it write-at-least-1-letter every month for 2026. We got home from North Carolina yesterday after a long day of traveling. We got up a...

31
Dec
2025

RETROSPECTIVE

a! I remembered! I was afraid I would forget and not remember to write my year-end retrospective until I got home and that would mean it would actually have been written in the new year. I think it’s happened once or maybe twice before but I’d much rather have it be my last post of the year. We are at my sister’s place in North Carolina, spending the holidays with her and her family, and my mom. It’s 10 days total and we have 1.5 days left, as we fly home on January 1st. We will actually arrive back in...

20
Dec
2025

EK FAMILY CHRISTMAS LETTER 2025

2025 has been a lot, especially for Liz, and she is glad we have nearly reached the end of it. But there were lots of good things throughout the year as well! Karin spent a week in Canazei in January working for LionAlpin, and she and Anders went back in March for a week of skiing as well. In March, Liz headed to N. Carolina to stay for 4 weeks with Sarah and help with getting mom moved in to Sarah’s house. John arrived for the second 2 weeks of her stay and they managed to get mom’s house nearly...

16
Dec
2025

JINGLE JINGLE, PART THE FIRST

In the spirit of trying to write as many posts as possible this year (and next!), here I am. It’s been a busy day in a busy week. Since I got home just before 5 pm I have tidied up, emptied the dishwasher, refilled it, handwashed a pile of dishes, filled in appointments and activities in my 2026 calendars, eaten dinner, listened to Discover Weekly and added a bunch of new music to my playlist, read a couple of newsletters (am behind by a day), and placed my new mousepad (gaming pad, hahahaha) by the keyboard. Still have to install...