I never listen to the radio nowadays. I never listen to the more than 500 CDs we own, either. And since last year, the only tape player we own is a small boombox that is up on the top of a shelf… so I never listen to any of the mixed tapes that I made or received long ago, and haven’t for years. But I listen to music all the time. All day long at work and whenever I’m in the car. I’ve built a Spotify list with over 2000 songs on it and that’s what I listen to. It’s...
One reason for liking autumn is that it’s soup weather. I’ve always had a soft spot for soups and I eat them all year round. Cans of certain Cambell’s soups that I can’t get over here are one of the few things that I consistently bring back home with me from the States. I really miss chicken noodle soups, which can rarely be found here in Sweden. But there is something about the chill in the air that makes me want to MAKE them, and not just open a can. gnostraeh also has a thing for soups and she’s been...
I just drove Martin in to Lund to drop him off at the train station (he’s going to a movie with a friend in Malmö) and it was nearly pitch black out… the streetlights weren’t on yet, but light was nearly gone from the sky. They WERE on when I returned back through our village at 5 o’clock. And it’s still nearly two months until the shortest day. UGH. Every year, the darkness of this time of the year gets harder to bear. The only respite is the month of December when everyone’s windows are lit up by advent candelabras....
Totally got my relax on today, and it was a perfect Sunday for it. After a busy week of work with the majority of my colleagues on vacation, it was nice to have the downtime I needed. Karin carved the pumpkin on Thursday night and did a bang-up job of it: Then she decided to decorate the foyer into a mini-haunted house. She hung black plastic garbage bags from the ceiling to enclose the space and make it dark, put a skeleton on it, and hung spiderweb both inside and out. Some black candles and a big black spider and...
I can’t figure out if I should go to Boston and work the week BEFORE Thanksgiving week or the week AFTER with the assumption that I will be at my sister’s with my mom FOR Thanksgiving week itself. The trip is already approved by my boss with the week of vacation attached, and my family has grudgingly, though not without a far amount of grumbling on the part of the children, accepted my absence for Thanksgiving, which means moving our own annual Turkey Day celebration up by 1 or 2 weekends or down by 1 (which causes it to land...
We had several people boggle at us when we made the announcement that we had chosen Toronto for our BIG birthday trip. Even the border patrol goggled at my sister on her way into the Canada, when she answered the question about whether she was entering the country for business or leisure. “What the heck are you going to do in Toronto for a week?” he sputtered. Granted it wasn’t our first choice, but it turned out to be a good one. We had a fantastic time, and I’ve got the photos to prove it!
All weekend I’ve been planning to edit and post photos from our trip to Toronto (almost wrote “trip to vacation”) but the weekend has been so busy that suddenly it’s nearly bedtime on Sunday evening and the farthest I’ve managed to get is opening Photoshop. Jet lag seems to be pretty much gone…just the dregs of it left, but that could be regular afternoon fatigue. I can’t believe I have to work 5-day weeks from now until eternity. We had all these short weeks in spring; it was crazy! Like 6 in a row or something and now? Nothing until...
Everyone took lots of photos while John and Simone were visiting, which makes me really happy. It’s ridiculous that we let 2 years pass since the last time we saw them. It’s not like they live on the other side of the ocean…It’s 2 years since I’ve seen my sister and her family as well, but since they DO live on the other side of the ocean, it at least make some sense. Plus we’ll get to see them in just a few more weeks, so yay! Simone and the boys flew up to Copenhagen the day after Midsummer Eve...
Good things for remembering The sounds a baby makes when he’s content Walking and talking with my husband during the long hospital wait A woozy Martin smiling from the recovery room bed Simone’s Maultaschen, yum yum! The green and blue of leaves and water The way Sammy runs: flat-out Reading Blue Hat Green Hat to Sammy and laughing like loons Spotify quizzes with John and Anders and the kids Simone’s victory dance when Germany won the group game against the USA in the World Cup Not needing the fans we brought and being able to have the bedroom window cracked...
Wheeee! Vacation! At least a week plus 1 day, plus 2 weekends, so altogether 10 days off! I didn’t get everything done that I wanted to at work, but it wasn’t my fault…late responses or no responses from people I was waiting for answers from, and a miscalculation with an IT person that came to fix a problem and ended up making it worse so that I lost nearly an hour and a half of working time. But, whatever: vacation! Martin has to have surgery on his arm. We went to the hospital call-back on Wednesday, a week after the...