Tagged: wonderfulworld

06
May
2007

ALL THINGS SEEM POSSIBLE IN MAY*

I always claim autumn as being my favorite season, what with its cooling days, perfect for sweaters, and the abundance of color in the treetops, among other things that bring me joy. But when I experience a spring like this one I’m hard put not to do a complete aboutface. Spring is truly a wonder. There’s something new every day, every moment practically. The kids ran laughing and shrieking through the sprinkler this afternoon, sleek as upright seals, their legs coated with tiny green grass shavings. They put the sprinkler under the big trampoline and screeched as the water tickled...

04
May
2007

SPRING’S IN FULL SWING

All the white blossomed beauties are in full bloom these days. Every day is sunny and blue with a high bright sky and just enough chill in the air to make it comfortable and keep the flies under control. I’ve put up screens on all the windows in anticipation of rising temperatures and switched to the summer blankets on the beds. This evening Karin and I went for a walk and took the camera with us, as I was determined to finally, after NINE years in Flyinge, capture the pear tree allée in full bloom. Every year I anne-of-green-gables my...

28
Apr
2007

JIGGITY JIG

Being home after weeks away makes me feel like jigging, though I don’t actually know how to jig. I assume it includes planting your fists on your hips, arms akimbo and kicking your legs scissory from under your tartan but I may be getting confused with a reel. It wouldn’t be the first time. Spring is far more advanced here than it was in either Michigan or Massachusetts. I didn’t sleep on the atlantic flight at all, choosing instead to spend more than half the flight absorbed in movies I would probably never have gotten around to seeing. The first...

17
Mar
2007

THE FRUIT DOESN’T FALL VERY FAR FROM THE TREE

Martin is spending the night…with his girlfriend ! I was warned this day would come, but I didn’t think it would be quite so soon. I had quite an “American” moment when he first asked, but Anders and I talked about it, and we figure it’s fine…this time. In a year or so, it won’t be appropriate, but for now, they’re just kids. He and Ebba have been a special “couple” since they were in daycare together. Apart from a period in 2nd grade when they got teased too much by some older kids and “broke up” they’ve been steady...

04
Mar
2007

IF I HAD A DAY THAT I COULD GIVE TO YOU

Today everyone is better, the sun is shining and spring seems just around the corner, though the temperatures are still a bit chill. I want to fling all the doors and windows open, and put music on and turn it up. Martin and I went for a walk in the sunshine. We saw ladybugs, lots and lots of ladybugs! And smiling people. And barky dogs and inquisitive cats and flirty chirpy birds. And lots of people out working in their yards. It was such a nice walk that we think we’ll go for another one in a little bit. Martin...

01
Mar
2007

AND YET SINGS, KNOWING SHE HAS WINGS

Birds are everywhere here. I suspect I notice them more now because there are so few other creatures out and about in this grey and snow-scabbed landscape. Some days ago, in the space of a short while, birds made their presence known to me in various ways. We were in the car, driving to the home of a couple that live far out in the country, who had promised the kids good sledding in the company of their son. I saw: a fat black-and-white magpie sitting alone in the black branches of a skeletal tree, his shape silhouetted against the...

20
Feb
2007

OH SURE, NOW IT COMES

We’re supposed to get TWO FEET of snow tonight and tomorrow. TWO FEET. That’s 24 inches. 61 centimeters. Oh geez! It’s up to my knees! I don’t know whether to be pissed off or pleased as punch about it, given that in the former’s favor the mild temps and increasing daylight has me longing for real warmth and spring flowers, and in the latter’s favor we’ve had nearly no snow at all this winter so it would be kinda nice to have a little bit. It would have been nicer if it had come in January, when one thinks it’s...

10
Feb
2007

THE TEMPO OF TWO LEGS

3 days in a row the sun has been shining and I’ve gone for a walk despite the below freezing temperatures. When I drove down old Odarslövsvägen yesterday, the sky opened out in front of me in a giant pink and pale purple bowl. I thought I’d never seen anything prettier. Little puffy clouds were dotted here and there like a flock of sky sheep and the sun was dropping slowly behind me pitching out every vibrant pastel in its palette for my delight. Most of the fields are still green, having never really had a chance to freeze completely,...

03
Feb
2007

ILLUMINATION

How lucky can you be? Is it luck or is it coincidence when things come together in that certain constellation that either leaves you gasping with admiration or smug with pride, or just aglow with fulfillment? Even the small things: getting a parking place near the door when the lot is full and cars are circling like sharks, and then discovering there are sales going on for just the things you are shopping for? Slowly closing a book in the morning that filled you up over the last few days like good cream and later in the day, pulling another...

27
Jan
2007

I KNEW THAT I WOULD, NOW

Oh! I feel good (da nanananana!) I was gonna post yesterday but first I was at work (no posting allowed (ha! (I just typed aloud) by order of me) and then I was racing to the grocery store to buy ingredients for my super wonderful yummo dinner that I was hosting for my first friends and then I was cooking cooking COOKING like a madwoman, and then I was cleaning up the hot chicken bouillon broth water that I slopped all over the stovetop, the front of the oven and the kitchen floor when I suffered a lapse in judgement...