Tagged: goodthings

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...

16
Jan
2018

THE BAD WITH THE GOOD WITH THE BAD WITH THE GOOD

No let-up at work so far…in fact, just the opposite as one of my team members has had a bit of a breakdown due to several factors and is taking time off for mental health. Apparently the fact that doing so will contribute to giving the rest of us a breakdown wasn’t enough of a deterrent. Augh. Yesterday was horrible as I was already stressed about everything at work before I even got there, and when I drove up to work and parked, I realized that my parking permit was missing from the little holder on the windshield. AUGH! Anders...

31
Dec
2017

RETROSPECTIVE

very year, it goes a little faster, the swing from beginning to end. The seasons march past, the sun rises and sets, the things we do and say and experience, all flying by, to become a memory, a happening, something to look back on. This was a hard year for me, watching from afar as my country’s leadership opened its coat and exposed itself to the world. I’ve been learning how to live without children in the house, since Martin has been gone since July and Karin is basically never home. It’s been a year of adjustments, for sure. I...

25
Dec
2017

HAPPY HAPPY MERRY MERRY

It’s been a very relaxing long holiday weekend here in Flyinge. Unlike most of North America, we’ve had no snow, which is a pity…it’s been the usual southern Swedish mix of rain and grey, but inside candles, advent lights and the Christmas tree area all lit. Martin arrived home on December 19 and time is already flying by. I took two days off so we could get some things done and enjoy his being home before finishing up work before the holidays. It was SO NICE to see him and give him a hug and it’s SO NICE to have...

16
Dec
2017

GETTING IN THE MOOD

As always with this journal, I’m torn between simple posts about what’s been happening, what I’ve been doing, and more complex posts about my philosophies and what I think and care about. For the 4 of you reading, does it make a difference? It was an up and down week, work-wise. I tried too hard and went in on Monday, but ended up only managing a half-day before giving up and going home. Tuesday, however, I woke up feeling much better, worked from home all day and by Wednesday felt I was pretty much back to normal. The only other...

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,...