Tagged: goodthings

06
Aug
2018

HOT POTATO

I’m normally about as far from being a gardener as you can get. I don’t like being outside all that much. I loathe having dirt under my fingernails. Bending over is hard these days thanks to back issues and kneeling is out completely. That said, I like gardens. I like flowers. And I like eating things. This year has been a banner year in the Ek family backyard, where we’ve managed to grow several…crops. Thanks to getting net on the cherry tree, we enjoyed a month-long bonanza of delicious sweet cherries. It’s hard to believe I had practically never even...

09
Jul
2018

DISTANCE MEANS SO LITTLE WHEN SOMEONE MEANS SO MUCH*

There’s a special feeling to being alone after weeks of being social. I feel like I’ve been on a whirlwind the past two and a half months. A good whirlwind, but a whirlwind nonetheless, what with Karin’s graduation, family visiting, friends visiting, and a seemingly unending round of parties and get-togethers. Now, the house is quiet and empty, and clean, and I am rather enjoying it. It’s funny how you don’t want things to change, and yet they do, and when they do, you can either rail against it or just enjoy the moment. I’ve had so many moments to...

26
Jun
2018

SCHOOL’S OUT!

Two down! At least, two high school graduations down. Karin had a fantastic day, starting with a champagne breakfast at the school and day full of activities until their “run-out” at nearly 4. I had thought Martin’s school yard was big and crowded, but I wasn’t at ALL prepared for how many people were crowded into the open areas of Karin’s school. Nearly 1000 students graduated and ALL their families and friends seemed to be there, with signs and balloons and plush necklaces and champagne bottles and big smiles. We parked at Karin’s girlfriend’s house and walked over to the...

20
May
2018

A NEARLY PERFECT WEEKEND

This weekend delivered all the things that make spring in Sweden unbeatable. Pretty near perfect weather, with high blue skies, warm temps, and cooling, leaf-ruffling breezes scented with lilac. The sun shines until nearly ten, sinking slowly down through a pastel rainbow of lavender, blush and blue. The moon’s a silver sliver; the evening sky speckled with stars. A fat hedgehog trundled past the trellis yesterday evening, while we were watching ice hockey (which we’re doing again tonight, cheering on Sweden in the gold medal game of the World Championships. If they win it will be twice in a row:...

28
Apr
2018

WHAT’S THE BUZZ, TELL ME WHAT’S HAPPENING

Last week at work was awful. Too many things that were frustrating, rage-inducing or just plain annoying happened. I am VERY glad of this long weekend, though I am going to have to check into work emails and possibly do some work regardless because there is just so much of it. We were all freaking out over the amount of short weeks in the next two months (the first of which is this one). You’d think that we’d be THRILLED about having all this time off after the long holiday drought since the beginning of January, but 1) there are...

20
Apr
2018

SIMPLE PLEASURES

Today at work, we were entertained for a while…well, entertained isn’t exactly the right word…mesmerized sporadically by the antics of three huge hares that were loping along on the verge outside our office windows. Our building is bounded on the north side by the loop that circles the parking areas and the building itself, a skinny strip of beech hedge, an even skinner strip of grass and then an extremely busy 4-lane road that is the direct access from the highway that goes past Lund. The hares, which were as big as big small dogs; like, bigger than chihuahuas and...

19
Apr
2018

SUDDENLY SUMMER

Suddenly, it’s summer. Weeks of winter teasing, will she won’t she and now BAM, heat wave! Sha na na na na na—we’re surfing on sunshine. Everything has exploded and with it, my head. I went directly from horrible head cold to allergy attack of the ages. Today I thought I’d have to rip my eyes out. Visine and all the other eye drop bottles only hold it temporarily at bay. Nose sprays, allergy meds, COME ON, give me a break. I went from sick misery to allergy misery and honestly I’m not sure which is worse. But the sky is...

10
Apr
2018

SPROING

Suddenly, you see it. The brown is giving way. The green is rising. It’s so subtle as to be hardly noticeable and yet you notice it. You’ve been waiting for it. It’s hard to tell the difference but the difference is there. It’s in the plumping of the grass. It’s in the filling out of trees. It’s in the way the sun shimmers slant from silver to gold. It’s the gradual warming of the earth, the way the spring begins pushing its way into your consciousness before anything can even be seen and suddenly there they are! Sprouts! Stalks! Leaves!...

18
Mar
2018

RECIPE SCHMECIPE

I made a yummy dinner tonight, if I do say so myself. I don’t cook all that much anymore, because the amount of people that I need to feed has drastically reduced itself to…mostly me. Karin is so rarely home and Anders and I tend to just grab something simple for ourselves: soup, a sandwich, hotdogs (in his case). Some years ago, I got tired of cooking, too, and basically stopped. The kids were old enough to get their own damn dinners for a change and Anders cooks better than I do, and likes doing it, too, so I just…quit....

15
Mar
2018

SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE

Not writing is habit-forming. Not reading probably is too, but I’ve never done that. Of all the things I used to do, but no longer do (with the caveat that I still could do them again someday…), writing is the one that I tend to miss the most when I don’t do it for any length of time. It’s been, give or take a couple of days, a month since my pinched nerve started acting up again, and I am still struggling with it, though this week has a seen a turn for the better. I had at least 3...

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