Tagged: obiterphotos

20
Jan
2006

WHITE PETALS AND SNOW SNAKES

Lo. sifted through the winds that blow, Down comes the soft and silent snow, White petals from the flowers that grow In the cold atmosphere.* It’s snowing and blowing like crazy. All day long the flags have been overworked, stretched out to their snapping points, straining in the stiff breeze, ends fraying. This snow is so different from the last stuff we had. Then it was fat and wet and lazy and perfect for packing. This is more like diamond dust. It’s dry and granular and it blows up against everything in great drifts and piles and ridges of frozen...

05
Jan
2006

POLAROIDS FOR POSTERITY

With Great-Grandma Beebe, January 1965 Is that a smile, Mom, or a grimace because carsick-baby is about to puke all over you? April 1965 during a roadtrip from Lake Tahoe to Reno, Nevada

30
Dec
2005

BY FEBRUARY I’LL BE SICK OF THIS STUFF…

…but just now it’s marvelous, magical, wondrously winter! Martin and I went out for a walk today, the first of what I hope is a year and more of half hour walks through the changing seasons, through Flyinge in all her colors and decorations. Because of hurting my foot last February I’ve not been able to keep my promise to myself to walk every day this past year. I had to be careful of my foot still, in my big stomper winterboots on slippery streets that have been packed down instead of plowed and snow ridges and piles that shift...

27
Dec
2005

IF YOU GET MY DRIFT

It’s the epitome of a winter wonderland here. We’ve had snow, fat and flurrious, white and wondrous, softly falling, whipping sideways, whiteout sifting, all day. Sometime around midday, I heard the thunk and swoop of the shovel; Anders was out futilely clearing the driveway as the flakes floated down around him softly and quickly re-coating everything. The kids bundled up and took off like rockets into the snow. I had been admiring the pristine…and trackless…vistas from the window and was suddenly jolted from my reverie by the knowledge that every soft white surface would shortly be a churned and stomped...

25
Dec
2005

FILLED UP

We’re replete with good wishes, goodwill, good food, present satisfaction both on the giving and the receiving end. Tiny Lego pieces are strewn from one end of the playroom to the other. Martin has already finished an entire book of maze puzzles from Grandma Linda. Anders is cooking: a turkey in the oven, it’s American-style tonight! Hayley Westenra croons from the living room, earlier it was Lilla Melodifestivalen from Karin’s shiny new space-age boombox. I’ve cleaned up and taken a nap. The sun shone bright in an amazing blue winter sky all day, not a cloud in sight. To all...

22
Dec
2005

THERE GOES THE HEALTHY EATING PLAN

Yesterday, I made Rice Krispie Holly Bars and Buttercream Almond Sandwiches, plus prepared the dough for today’s cookies: Iced Sugar Cookies, which the kids did a bang-up job of decorating, and ms_hackman‘s every-bit-as-delicious-as-advertised Caramel-Filled Chocolate Cookies. I still have Fudge Puddles to make but need to go get a mini muffin pan. We also have Grandma’s Gingersnaps and Chocolate Chip Cookies, plus my Snowy Chocolate Chips in the pile…not to mention those AWC Cookie Exchange cookies that are still left in the freezer. Yesterday I called my mom who is at my sister’s for Christmas and she came on the...

17
Dec
2005

PART OF THE MIRACLES YOU SEE EVERY HOUR

The winter sun shines so brightly you almost think you need sunglasses when you head out the door, camera in hand, 3 small child satellites revolving around you with crazy orbits. Head into the sun, keep your eyes open. You might think it’s all dead and brown, but you’d be wrong. Tiny pine cones, bright red berries, curlique teasel, fluff-headed winter grasses, a coat of ground frost, the sun in your eyes. The children run before you, laughing in the sunshine. They stop and wait and wonder why you’re taking pictures of that dead plant, those trees against the sky,...

09
Dec
2005

ALL AGLOW

I wonder if zombies ever feel like they are going through life like humans? It seems to be worse in the winter, that troglodyte feeling, of shuffling from bed to work to home to bed and around again, arms outstretched, feet flat and clomping. The sun was out today, and I would have stretched to it and turned, following like a flower, in fact I could feel my yearning pushing at the walls of our office building. Alas, by the time I left, it was pitch out, dark like it was 10 o’clock, and it was only a few minutes...

30
Oct
2005

HALLOWEENIES

I want to be in the U.S. next year for Halloween. I want my kids to experience it RIGHT. We had the AWC Halloween party today and while it was really nice, if a bit chaotic, it was just a masquerade with decorations. A couple of years ago we got to participate in the closest thing to a real Halloween since we moved to Sweden, courtesy of a friend who put her heart and soul into making sure her children got to experience as close to the real thing as possible, and it was wonderful, but I really, REALLY want...