Tagged: holidaze

12
Aug
2008

EACH TIME SOMEONE SHOWS THAT HE CARES

The day we walked around Paris was boiling hot. The sun beat down and baked the city to a fine simmer and the white dust of the Jardin des Tuileries rose up and coated the trees silver and dusted the tourists. The Garden is 63 acres and was designed by landscape artist, Andre Le Notre in 1664 (he was also responsible for the park at Versailles); it still looks much like his original design. We entered at the end by the Place de la Concorde and walked all the way through to the Louvre. Because it was such a relentlessly...

11
Aug
2008

BORTA BRA MEN HEMMA BÄST

I can think of much better ways of spending my birthday than 7 hours of nausea and fever in the car, culminating with a bout of stomach flu. Regardless, now we are back and I am oh so glad to be here. Sweden, even with a thick cloud cover and pouring rain, never looked so good as when we crossed the bridge from Denmark and knew we were nearly home. Although maybe it was partly the comparison with eastern Germany where we spent the weekend that helped. We left my brother’s place on Friday and drove to a little town...

06
Aug
2008

DANCE UPON THE MOUNTAINS LIKE A FLAME

It’s 8 o’clock in the evening and the church bells just rang in the little white church tower with the verdigris onion top that I can see out the window, across the pasture. They ring on the hour, but they don’t necessarily count it…this time there were only 5 bongs. This morning at 6 a.m., as on most mornings, there were, like, TWENTY bongs. It’s a crapshoot, apparently. And sometimes the bell peals out again at a quarter after, just to see if you’re paying attention. This is what I see from the window: the crossed wooden bars of the...

05
Aug
2008

EUROPEAN VACATION

It’s hard to get writing again when so much time has gone by and all of it crammed with things you want to remember. I’ve thought about posting several times in the last few days but wasn’t able to motivate myself that last little necessary bit. There was always something to do, or someplace to go, but today the clouds are hanging low and heavy white over the Alps and the wind is rising; we might see another spectacular thunderstorm before the day is over, they seem to be a specialty down here. 3 days in Paris wasn’t long enough,...

04
Jul
2008

SUMMER TURNS ME UPSIDE DOWN

How much more perfect can a summer evening be? Sun slowly sinking, tiny non-biting midges dancing in sparkling clouds. Children splashing and screeching in the pool. A hose in hand, spraying water over every pot and flower and sun-saturated growing thing. A rainbow-striped hot-air balloon slowly cruising right above our heads. A day spent finalizing preparations for the annual AWC Independence Day bash which we’re hosting tomorrow (because today was a regular work day, though I took it off regardless). Singing American patriotic songs in the car to the kids: Yankee Doodle, My Country Tis of Thee, God Bless America,...

20
Jun
2008

CHIAROSCURO

It’s a bittersweet feeling for me, this day, the longest of the year. Before I moved to Sweden, I was never as aware of the presence or absence of sunlight as I am now. It’s in the back of my mind all the time these days; the light. Whether it is shining or obscured partially or wholly by clouds. How much of it there is, and the increase and waning of it yearly. Before I moved so far north, I didn’t realize how much I would be affected each year by the two halves of it: the first half which...

16
Mar
2008

THAT’S LIFE

Another weekend whizzes by. But now we have lots of time off to look forward to, as Easter approaches. The kids are off school this week but are at daycare part-time, since mom and dad are working until Friday. Friday is a day off! And Monday? Is a day off! We are not doing anything special for Easter, however, other than coloring eggs at some point, and hiding them presumably. And I need to go shopping for stuff to fill baskets with. I don’t know why, since this has always been a favorite holiday to celebrate American traditions on, that...

05
Jan
2008

COMING DOWN

We didn’t know we were trapped until early afternoon when we tried to get out. We bundled up and locked the door, turning to face the wind and chill of the winter afternoon, and promptly slid, all 3 of us, barely maintaining our balance on the ice sheet that had covered our driveway, street, and indeed, the entire world around us. So much for driving to Malmö for an afternoon get-together with friends. So much for meeting Carolyn (Marilyn’s co-worker, grandmother of Taylor Parker and mother of my friend and fellow AWC member Katie). I looked down the street and...

30
Dec
2007

TURN TURN TURN

I read 118 books in 2007, an average of 9.8 books per month. I’ve increased the total number of books every year since I started keeping track, from 104 to 110 to 113 in the past three years. I don’t know if I’m getting faster at speed-reading or if the books are smaller. Though some of the books I read this year could totally be used in house-building as bricks, so I don’t think that’s it. Best books of 2007 (in no particular order and including no re-reads): The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield...

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