Tagged: thisisjusttosay

Magic summer evening where nothing is more immediate than the robin’s-egg sky, the white clouds, the warm breeze and the multi-hued horizon where the sun is diving down through whitened blue into rainbow layers of light. A beetle busily crosses the path and a caterpillar moseys along a leaf. Peacock butterflies flit nearby as you head into the over-arching greenness of the snail trail tunnel. The lawnmower is singing in the backyard, scything down the purple and white clover sprinkled over the lawn, and once in awhile a pheasant ratchets a high note harmony. Martin is on the phone with...

Martin and I were going to go for a walk after dinner, but I had to get a couple of quick things done to finish and publish this month’s AWC newsletter/website and when I was done with that I had to do a quick-read through my friends list and answer emails and as I sat here the room gradually got darker and darker until I got up and turned on the light, and then did a double-take because it was only 7:30…and it’s supposed to still be light out! Then thunder rumbled. bbbuuuuummmmbbbblebooooommmmm, it went. Hmmm…I thought (with my Einstein...

One friend started chemo today. Another starts chemo on Monday. A third has been extremely ill with something the doctors haven’t been able to identify and yet another has been struggling with a debilitating disease for quite some time. I don’t know how to be there for any of them. I don’t feel like I AM there for any of them. None of them live particularly near to me, though 2 are within an hour’s drive (1 of those is actually in a different country, however), but even so, I am feeling continually frustrated and upset with myself that I...

I had it in my to-do list to write a post tonight, but my shoulders hurt and my wrists hurt, and I suspect it’s partly from too much computer as it is, so I’ll just wave in passing and hope for better things tomorrow.

Loud grumblings and groanings shot us both out of bed early this morning as the house shook. Anders said, “Herre Jösses!” and ran for the front of the house, collecting Karin on the way. I stumbled out behind them, exclaiming, “What’s going on?” thinking that a plane had crashed or the garbage truck had run into the front of the house…or perhaps the neighbor had started up his Ducati, though why he would be doing it at 6:22 a.m. was beyond my feeble early-morning powers of reasoning. A few seconds later all was still again and after a few confused...

I’m feeling a little helpless about one of our fish right now. He smacked into the side of the tank a few days ago during a spazz-out zoom-around-the-tank fit and ever since he’s been sitting down on the bottom of the tank. He can get about, but he’s mostly just holding still and sometimes he’s on his side and almost upside-down although he seems to be managing to stay upright most of the time. I don’t think he’s dying, but he’s definitely injured and from the research I’ve been doing tonight on the web, it sounds like it’s his swim...

Haven’t paid* U.S. taxes in 11.5 years, but today I got FREE MONEY from the U.S. government anyway! Woo hoo! Thanks, George! Of course, since I’m depositing my Economic Stimulus Check in a Swedish bank (O! the irony!), it won’t be as much as it might have been, since the dollar is still in the toilet, and I’ll lose a big chunk thanks to international check-cashing fees but still, FREE MONEY! Can’t beat that with a stick! *But have kept up my end of the bargain as a U.S. citizen and faithfully filed my return every year

Man, it’s quiet around here. The kids are gone for 3 days/2 nights at their grandparent’s. The house is clean, though my to-do list includes yet more cleaning, in anticipation of hosting the AWC Independence Day Party next weekend. Last week, I had thought that things were finally loosening up at work…ha ha HA. Every time I think that, I get slammed with more projects. And still a month to go before vacation…sigh. Tomorrow is book group deluxe: with potluck AND slumber party, at my friend brief_therapy‘s place! I can’t wait! She told us to bring something to throw on...

It’s strange to think I’m half a world away from where I was this time yesterday, and with the busy week ahead I shall be flung back into routine quickly. I’ve come back to summer apparently. All the flowering trees were in full bloom in Boston, but here everything is leafed out, the grass is green and and high and the rapeseed is lying golden and full in the fields. After 24 hours of traveling, my body is only craving motionlessness and sleep and O! how glad I am to be home. I feel badly that I haven’t been writing...