Tagged: goodthings

17
Jul
2025

IMPRESSIONS, EXHIBITIONS, AND EXPEDITIONS

I spent most of the day yesterday in Copenhagen with my friend Camilla. We met up at 9 am at the train station in Malmö and took the train over and then walked 2 blocks to the Glyptoteket. I have been there before, but it was ages ago, and all I remembered was admiring Rodin’s The Thinker and after realizing that a great deal of the museum is devoted to permanent galleries of Egyptian and Middle East, and Greek and Roman artifacts, lost interest. Not really my thing when it comes to museums. But Camilla was excited about 2 visiting...

12
Jul
2025

TIDY HOME, TIDY MIND

Having a clean and tidy house is really important to me. It appeases my OCD and it’s satisfying, and it makes me happy to be able to look around me and admire the NICENESS and cleanliness of my own home. Even when I was a kid, I liked tidying up the mess my room often became, just for the satisfaction of it. I liked rearranging my room as well, because every time I did, it became NEW and was satisfying for a long time. One of the things that I used to cajole my siblings into doing when we were...

07
Jul
2025

GARDEN APPRECIATION POST

I’ve spent a lot of time this spring and summer admiring our garden. Anders does all the heavy lifting when it comes to the yard and vegetable garden. He mows the huge lawn, trims the hedges, weeds, edges, and plants most of the vegetables as well as netting and staking, and tying up when necessary. I buy flowers and put them in pots or plant them and water everything every day, and deadhead as needed. We’ve done more with fertilizer this year and it’s really helped, especially with the tomatoes and with a couple of the rose bushes, as well...

06
Jul
2025

TO-DO BEE DO BE DO

Waking up super early has one advantage, though I could wish it was not the case since I’m HOME AND DON’T HAVE TO GET UP. Because I can’t get back to sleep, I figure I might as well get up and moving and shower and eat breakfast so I can start doing whatever it is I have on my to-do list for the day. You might think that I shouldn’t HAVE a to-do list while I’m on sick leave/vacation, but have you met me? I live for to-do lists. And oh my god, I’m getting so many things done right...

03
Jul
2025

DOING NOTHING AND EVERYTHING

I’ve felt a little stupid about some of the medical terms that have been flying around me for the last 2 months, and part of that has had to do with the differences in Swedish and English, and part of it was not having really thought about the differences in terms. I’ve felt that the words ‘inflammation’ and ‘infection’ seemed to be used rather interchangeably, but when I mentioned that to my doctor, he said, “Not by the medical establishment. They mean completely different things.” So I finally looked up their definitions, and like, duh, of course they are different,...

24
Jun
2025

FINDING BEAUTY EVERYWHERE

I don’t go to nearly enough art exhibitions or photography exhibitions or dance recitals or concerts these days. Maybe part of it is living all the way out here in a tiny, quiet village. It is mostly Camilla that finds art exhibitions in and around Malmö and Lund and suggests them to Debbie and I as possible excursions for the 3 of us. Concerts are too expensive most of the time, and require way too much work and honestly, I’ve seen most of the musical artists I like or am content to listen to their music via Spotify. Most of...

23
Jun
2025

SHOPPING, SUSHI, AND SCHEDULES

Do you like shopping? Or just window shopping? Do you have to have a list or a plan or do you like to just wander and look and see what you find? I’ve never been all that much of a shopper, and since I’ve gained weight, clothes shopping is no fun at all. I have a couple of stores, one here and two in the US and that’s basically where I do all my shopping, though I order bras online, and there is one catalog from the States that I’ve ordered jeans/leggings from many times. I wear my clothes until...

21
Jun
2025

SOLSTICE RUMINATIONS

Happy summer solstice! Glad midsommar! What a difference a couple of weeks, good medical care, a definite diagnosis, and wonder drugs makes. I’m still easily tired, which isn’t surprising considering I’ve been so housebound and sedentary. I hope to start walking again soon. We’ve had a full week of the most beautiful weather: sunny, blue skies, a little breeze, perfect temperatures, cool evenings. If the whole summer was like this, I’d be perfectly happy. Yesterday was midsummer in Sweden, a day off, and one of the biggest holidays of the year. I was up early as has been the case...

18
Jun
2025

DIAGNOSIS

I don’t know if you have ever had a medical procedure in which a camera is inserted into your body when you are awake and aware, but it is a VERY weird thing to see. I had another colonoscopy today. The last one was in October, and even though there was a screen where I could see the camera movement then as well, it was awkwardly placed and would have required me twisting my neck weirdly and because a colonoscopy is both uncomfortable and slightly painful, I mostly didn’t try to look last time, but kept my eyes closed and...

16
Jun
2025

HOME SWEET HOME

I was discharged from the hospital yesterday at lunch time. Since I’ve been responding very well to the cortisone treatment, they felt I could continue with tablets now from home. Anders picked me up at lunchtime and we went to Espresso House so I could get a toastie before we headed home. They sent me with a medicine list, info on the colonoscopy, a different easier laxative for the colonoscopy prep, and assurances about my sick leave and the followup in 2 weeks. All of the doctors and nurses I had dealings with were awesome, though my first doctor was...