Tagged: martinbean

07
Feb
2026

PRETTY THINGS AND QUIET TIME

It’s the beginning of a relatively quiet week for me, since Anders left this morning with Karin for a week of skiing in Italy. I dropped him off at the station in Lund, then went and parked behind the station and walked over to Espresso House to have breakfast and sit and read for an hour, while waiting for Clemens Antik to open. I was determined to beat Martin there to get that vase, and I DID! HAHA! I WON! He got to work just before 10, but checked on Find My iPhone where I was, and knew I was...

02
Feb
2026

WEEKEND UPDATE, WEEKDAY STARTER, PLUS A LOT OF UGHS

Already writing February on work filenames, which is crazy. It was Christmas a minute ago. January just whipped by. It’s left us with an arctic freeze. It’s been -3 to -9 CELSIUS every day for what feels forever and no end in sight yet. The snow was pretty much gone before the freeze at least up here. Apparently there is still a lot down south and in Österlen. It’s been really windy as well, which means that -3 feels like -15. Brr. On the plus side, the last couple of days have been beautifully clear: sunny and bright blue skies...

04
Jan
2026

JINGLE JINGLE, PART THE SECOND*

As usual, I was living in the moment and didn’t take nearly enough photos of our time in the States, but I was apparently better than the rest of my family. Martin says he only took 2 photos the entire time, haha. Here’s the photo dump from our holidays! Essie, Danely, and Karin decorating cookies Karin and Martin decorating cookies Karin outdoes herself with a cookie too pretty to eat! Anders, Essie, Karin, Grandma Linda, and Martin – ready to open presents Danely is also ready to open presents The elusive Mr Bryce Me and my mom (who is not...

20
Dec
2025

EK FAMILY CHRISTMAS LETTER 2025

2025 has been a lot, especially for Liz, and she is glad we have nearly reached the end of it. But there were lots of good things throughout the year as well! Karin spent a week in Canazei in January working for LionAlpin, and she and Anders went back in March for a week of skiing as well. In March, Liz headed to N. Carolina to stay for 4 weeks with Sarah and help with getting mom moved in to Sarah’s house. John arrived for the second 2 weeks of her stay and they managed to get mom’s house nearly...

31
Jul
2025

CONFESSION

I low-key miss my kids so much. I miss having them at home, where I know where they are, where I know they are safe. I miss having them here where I can enjoy their humor and their conversation and their presence. I miss Karin’s casual physical affection and Martin’s sharp-eyed commentary. I miss watching shows with them and movies, and playing games with them, and going for walks with them, and just, you know, hanging out with them. I can’t tell them this, at least not without joking about it, because I think they’d think it was something I...

05
Mar
2025

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE QUIZZY

I write a good things post every day on Facebook, usually in the evening between 8 and 10 pm. Sometimes, during the course of the day, I jot down good things in my Notes app on my phone so I don’t forget about them. Some of the good things are small stuff, like a hug from someone or the sight of spring flowers. Some are big things, of course: an event or an experience, or something I did. Some are silly, some are just notice of something yummy I ate. I’ve found that it’s not hard to find good things...

22
Feb
2025

CHECK CHECK CHECK!

It’s simultaneously so weird and so cool to see my children at their work, at their places of employment, while they’re working. We haven’t been to the restaurant Karin is working at in Denmark yet, but we’ve seen her in action at Beachgarden last summer, and I worked directly and indirectly with her at Axis for 5 years. We’ve been to all the restaurants here in Sweden that Martin has worked at, and it gives me such a feeling of pride to see them working. Not because I had anything to do with the super cool adults they’ve grown into,...

16
Sep
2024

GOING AND COMING

We moved Karin to Copenhagen over the past week. She moved in on Tuesday last week, and it was a super easy move, as she didn’t have so much furniture, and only a few boxes and miscellaneous other stuf. She and her best friend Elsa actually had the trailer filled before Martin even arrived in the morning to help. So we drove over to Copenhagen, and her new apartment is really nice. It’s a big 3-bedroom, brand new, on the south side of Copenhagen, quite near the water. We got her all unloaded, and then Martin and I went and...

02
Mar
2024

IT’S A LOT RIGHT NOW

I just hung up the artwork that John and his kids made for me, for Christmas. It’s two flowers made of sliced up, painted pinecones, mounted on a wooden board. I’ve been debating where to put it, and originally thought of putting it out on the porch, but the walls out there are stucco, so not only does Anders not want to put a nail in them, but there’s no good way to mount anything at all on them. I couldn’t even use a CommandStrip, which is what I’ve now used to hang them on the tile wall in the...

12
Feb
2024

WHERE TO GO, WHAT TO DO

I’m recreating Karin’s resume so that she can apply for university in Copenhagen. I already recreated Martin’s a few months ago before he started job-hunting in earnest. I lost all the original source files when I upgraded to a new work computer a year or so ago and wasn’t thinking about where those particular files were saved. Karin’s been pretty much working steadily since she started as a referee for the soccer leagues in the village where she played, when she was a teenager. I’m not sure why she needs her resume for a university application, but it’s just as...