Considering that I didn’t go to sleep until 4 a.m., I think only sleeping in until 11 was pretty good. Other than running the dishwasher 2x and handwashing a boatload of wineglasses and reading a really good modern fairytale, I spent most of my day with chocolate hands:
It’s Thanksgiving in America, but here in Sweden it was just another regular work day. Except for all my American colleagues who wished me a Happy Thanksgiving and the thanks-filled posts I saw online and an elevated mood on my part (defiantly ignoring the rain), there wasn’t much different about the day. We had our annual wreath-making workshop tonight and despite the fact that half the people who were signed up bailed, the 4 of us who were there had a great time and lots of laughs, while the rain pounded futilely on the corrugated roof. Haha! we said, you...
Well, that was fun, but I am totally wiped out now! We had the big AWC Halloween costume party tonight, and wow, what a difference it makes with activity coordinators who are committed and hard-working and most of all, THERE. The kids and I got there at 4 p.m. to help set up the table decorations, which we brought with us: dried maple leaves in yellow, orange and red, dried rowan berries and papery orange japanese lantern seedpods. The rest of the decorating and setup committee had been at the restaurant the evening before setting up halloweeny stuff all over...
Karin has a misplaced faith in my ability to carve pumpkin masterpieces after I did a Bionicle Mask of Light (under duress) for her 2 years ago…this year I narrowly escaped having to figure out how to carve a Darth Vader pumpkin. May the Gourd be with you! With the help of our first ever pumpkin carving kit pattern, Karin instead chose to go with a Flaming Skull, while Martin and I opted for more traditional jack o’lanterns, after I realized that the darn things were nearly 2 INCHES THICK. They have to last until Tuesday so they’re sleeping in...
Listen! The wind is rising, and the air is wild with leaves, We have had our summer evenings, now for October eves! —Humbert Wolfe Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower. —Albert Camus Yellow, mellow, ripened days, Sheltered in a golden coating; O’er the dreamy, listless haze, White and dainty cloudlets floating; Winking at the blushing trees, And the sombre, furrowed fallow; Smiling at the airy ease, Of the southward flying swallow Sweet and smiling are thy ways, Beauteous, golden Autumn days. —Will Carleton
Sometimes I think time is moving too quickly, other times I realize, like today, that it is ME that is zooming through the days, barely able to slow down enough to turn my head and realize the sun is shining, the sky is that crisp sharp autumn azure that seems unreal. The air is full of bite and breath and yet you don’t need a sweater. We pulled the wooden wagon behind us to the plant nursery in search of pumpkins; alas, there were none. Or rather there were, but they were either too small to work for our-style jack-o-lanterns...
Both Martin and Karin complained of sore and ticklish throats this week and Karin went through an entire bag and a half of orange and cherry-flavored cough drops…guess who’s got it now? *cough* So, it’s no wonder I was dragging today, pulling myself one step at a time through work towards quitting time and the Tylenol cold medicine calling me from the bathroom cabinet at home. One of the interns at work graduated today and she cooked lunch for a bunch of us. It was one of the most interesting taste-combination meals I’ve ever had, in a good way: salmon...
All photographs copyright Anders Ek
Meet our houseguest! This is Chimay (pronounced “shim-ay”) who was named after a Belgian beer. He’s the sweetest, calmest, prettiest cocker spaniel I have ever met, and he’s all ours until next Wednesday! Mikael and Lene dropped him off this evening after giving us a crash course in Having a Dog 101 (including the fine art of picking up dog poo in a little black bag without having to come in actual contact with it). He was a bit confused when his humans and his brother Eddie shut the door in his face and left him here, but he seems...
Every trip leaves tracks in the mind, memories that slowly fray around the edges. I was surprised that the people of Scotland were, on the whole, so short. I was amused that every time I heard a mother call or reprimand a child, his name was inevitably Alastair or Conor. I was more apprehensive about riding in vehicles on the “wrong” side of the road than I thought I would be; using my own neck muscles and mindpower to keep the buses from tipping off the edges of cliffs and from whamming into oncoming traffic that was on the wrong...