Tagged: holidaze

27
Nov
2022

IT’S BEGINNING

Martin and I decorated the house today. That was 3 boxes and 3 huge paper bags worth of indoor decorations. We still have two huge boxes full of decorations just for the tree. I went through all the Christmas decorations a few years ago and got rid of an entire moving box full of stuff (some of it was Martin and Karin’s things), but it kind of feels like I should do it again. Then again, we do live in a big house, and it’s very mysig to have it all decorated for the holidays. And I only decorate the...

26
Nov
2022

ANTICIPATION GLITCH

All morning I was looking forward to the things I had planned for this afternoon and evening. Even yesterday, when Anders and Martin and I were eating dinner, I mentioned that I’d be gone the second half of today so that they knew about my plans. There is a maker’s market that we went to in the early fall that was happening again as a Christmas market over the weekend and then Debbie and Camilla and I were going to meet at Camilla’s tonight for dinner and to exchange Christmas presents. Only all that was on the calendar for December...

20
Nov
2022

GOOD STUFF and GOODBYES

What a weekend! We had our annual Friendsgiving dinner potluck yesterday and it was a smash success. I was quite worried to begin with because I invited too many people, or rather, I invited so many people that we weren’t at all sure how we’d manage to set up the tables and chairs so that there would be space for everyone, or even if that many people would fit. But we did, and they did. I should remember that inevitably there is always someone who cancels last minute and sure enough, 3 people on the invite list weren’t able to...

31
Oct
2022

HALLOWEENIES

It was either a very quiet year for trick-or-treating, or I bought too much candy. 😛 It’s super foggy out tonight, and I know lots of families were very excited about Halloween this year, judging by the chatter on the village FB group. We’ve had lots of kids, actually, but it doesn’t feel like we had THAT many, if you know what I mean. They’re still trickling in as I write this, and maybe I feel like it wasn’t so many because Karin took turns with me answering the door and handing out candy. I guess I’ll be bringing lots...

26
Oct
2022

A STORY I FORGOT TO TELL

I read this poem this evening and it hit me. Prayer by Marie Howe Every day I want to speak with you. And every day something more important calls for my attention—the drugstore, the beauty products, the luggage I need to buy for the trip. Even now I can hardly sit here among the falling piles of paper and clothing, the garbage trucks outside already screeching and banging. The mystics say you are as close as my own breath. Why do I flee from you? My days and nights pour through me like complaints and become a story I forgot...

15
Sep
2022

BORNHOLM DAYS

There’s something really special about being reunited with family that you love. After a long absence like the one caused by the pandemic, it’s even more special. We drove to Ystad on September 20, with Martin and Karin, and took the ferry over to Bornholm. After arriving in Rønne, we ate lunch in the main square, walked around a little bit, and then headed north to the campgrounds just outside of Allinge which was to be our home for the week. John had arranged the cabins months in advance, and we had two of them: one for 4 people which...

25
Jun
2022

SUMMER APPARENTLY TURNS ME UPSIDE DOWN

Geez louise, my last post was in MAY. How do I manage to go this long without writing when my intentions have paved the way to hell and back, they’re so good. Part of the issue is my ongoing, renewed struggle with the pinched nerve in my neck, which began again with a vengeance about a month ago. Just sitting at the computer causes it to pinch, which causes my entire right arm to go tingly and numb all the way down to my fingertrips. It pinches when I tilt my head back, even just slightly. 🙁 GAH. Last time...

29
May
2022

THE SITCH

It’s the last day of a 4-day weekend and Mors Dag here in Sweden. We had Thursday and Friday off for Ascension day and a bridge day, and it’s been a relatively quiet, very relaxing weekend for the most part…except for some major bummer stuff that happened on Friday. On Thursday, Karin came over with Brumma and we hung out on the deck in the sunshine and watched the birds. The weather all weekend has been very changeable with a little bit of everything, including a triple rainbow over Flyinge. We get double rainbows quite often but I think this...

16
May
2022

ROMAN HOLIDAY, THE FINAL FIFTH

No rain at all for our last full day in Rome: 26C and sunny. We headed out and walked down the Via Nazionale to the beautiful Palazzo delle Esposizione where they were holding an exhibition of the world press photo of the year plus installations on many of the contenders and past winners. Sobering and disturbing to see and read about as so many of them showed the terrible violence that man inflicts on himself and his environment. Afterwards, we walked to the Metro and took the subway to the end of the gardens of the Villa Borghese, a huge...