Okay, not really, but we had low fog this morning and then the sun came out and lit up the hoarfrost on everything. And who can resist going out and tromping around in the snow that has stayed on the ground due to our sub-zero temperatures for three weeks and taking photos of everything in sight? Not me!
Last week started on such a high, with the anticipation of the inauguration coming like a rainbow of angel choirs singing and the sun coming up. It’s been SUCH a freaking relief to look FORWARD to reading the news, checking the headlines, skimming social media. I heart everything! I care! I thumbs you up! And I cannot overstate what a relief it has been to have the former 45 silenced and to have silence not only from him but about him. He can’t disappear fast enough, as far as I’m concerned. Anders and I watched the inauguration, and I got...
Karin was just over 3 years old when we moved into this house. As I’ve mentioned before, we had the house built to “painting-ready” and once we got the keys, Anders did everything else in the house: flooring, painting, trims, wallpapering, tiling,…everything. With two little kids under 5, we had our hands full, and some parts of the house weren’t done when we moved in (the important parts were) so there was a lot of box shuffling and moving things around. We had a lot of fun choosing the decor for the kids’ department which consisted of their two bedrooms...
Oh 2020, we had such high hopes for you! Martin was going to come home in the spring and we were going to go the States for summer vacation and everything was going to be wonderful. I almost feel like I could write this letter sort of like the part of Twilight where Edward leaves Bella, and for four or five months there are just blank pages with the month’s name on them. Karin and Anders did manage some ski trips at the very beginning of the year; Karin spent a week in Austria with a friend and then the...
My last grandparent passed away today. I’m sad about it, but at the same time, she lived an unbelievably long life and she went peacefully at the end. Just think, if she had managed to hang on for just another 3 weeks, she would have been 104 years old. Still, she beat her own mother, who was 2 weeks shy of 103 when SHE died. It was really tough at the end, for my mom and my sister, who have spent the last three weeks caring for her around the clock. Thanks to the pandemic risks and travel restrictions, I...
We spent last Christmas in Michigan with Liz’s mom and Martin and our good friends Kathey and Russell joined us there for New Year’s so we had a very happy start to the year! We were back in Sweden by January 4 and back to work nearly straightaway, leaving Martin behind to continue his second year at CCS. At the end of January, Anders went skiing in Czech Republic with friends on their annual ski trip. He had several work trips early in the year as well, all to Italy. Karin continued working at Axis with Liz as her contract...
Our bedroom is done, apart from the closet, which Anders is working on now, and it’s so nice it’s like sleeping in a hotel room. We are really pleased with the result and it’s amazing how paint and new furniture can spiff up a room! I have one more painting that is at the framer’s now, but otherwise, everything is back in place. I went to the same frame shop that helped with Martin’s art back in March, and even though I was only there twice, once to drop off and decide and once to pick up the finished pieces,...
Megsie tagged me a book meme on Facebook, which is kinda the only meme that I can’t resist. It’s posting 7 books you love for seven days. When you read as much as I do, it’s REALLY hard to only pick 7 books. Do you pick your FAVORITES? (Impossible to stick to 7, in that case). Do you stick to one genre? Do you play to your audience? Do you choose only newer books or only older ones? What if you like really quirky books or complicated books or Harlequin romances or you feel children’s literature is underrated and not...
I love the Netherlands so much. Although, I call it Holland more often than not, because it’s my favorite place and Holland just sounds a little more cozy. On one of the last days, Karin asked me why I was so fascinated by it as a country, and I stopped and thought hard before I answered. I have loved a lot of different places. I love the drama and the beauty of Switzerland and Norway and Scotland. They give me a mountain fix. I love the smell of the air and the taste of the water in Michigan. I love...
It’s been borderline unbearably hot and humid here, for me, anyway. Anything over 25C and I’m wanting to move further north…though, according to one friend who lives VERY far north, it was just as hot and humid there, so maybe there is no escaping it. Today, however, though it was hot and humid throughout the first part of the day, cooled off considerably and it’s now a lovely chill temperature. Especially since I opened the front door to create a draft and now the house is under 20C for the first time in ages. It’s quite cloudy out and I...