Tagged: wonderfulworld

03
Sep
2016

A MATTER OF TIME

All the spiders are coming inside, it must be fall. All the skeeter-eaters, too. And the flies come in, but they’re so slow and lethargic that it’s easy to swat them or blow them back outside. Everything looks yellow-tinged, insect-eaten, wilty. The storks are in the harvested fields, eating worms, every morning in the fog. The leaves aren’t falling yet but it feels like just a matter of time. Everything boils down to a matter of time, doesn’t it? It’s September already. Whether or not it’s officially fall, September heralds the beginning of the end of the year. Out of...

14
May
2016

FULL OF FLOWERS

It’s been so beautiful here, sunny, warm and blue skies, a bit of a breeze (it is Skåne, after all), birdsong and bee buzz, and still chilly in the evenings so you know you will sleep well. It’s spring in all the best senses of the word. I was going to go take photos of the dandelion hill earlier this week but I was too late and they’ve all blown to seed now. The rapeseed fields are glowing neon yellow and the lilacs…the lilacs are here! Unfortunately, these are not OUR lilacs. These are the lilacs I WANTED. When we...

21
Jan
2016

SEASONAL BLING

Oh hi there! Here I am with nothing to say. Okay, I have something to say…let’s see if I can dig it out of the inner recesses of my brain. It’s beautiful here today, but OMG so cold. It was -9C when I left for work this morning and despite the fact that sun was shining and the entire sky was this pale, translucent pinky lavender blue all day long it was FREEZING. With a capital BRRRR. The fog was laying low over the fields all last night which meant that this morning everything was covered in inches-long hoarfrost. And...

07
Jan
2016

THE GOOD COUNTRY

I had made a comment to Anders some time ago, that my VW Jetta seems to want to go around 140 k/h, and he agreed…his VW feels the same. He said it was because that is approximately the speed you drive on the autobahn and the cars seem to be engineered to that comfort zone. 🙂 During our road trip through Germany, I got to drive a couple of times on the autobahn, and I’ll tell you what: I loved it. Drivers in Germany drive like you’re SUPPOSED TO DRIVE. They go fast, they stay to the right except when...

08
Oct
2015

SAVORY

I would have thought it was fall because I saw my first sugar beet on the side of the road just a few days ago (since then I’ve seen several), but the weather has apparently decided to fast forward toward winter. It’s been really cold, and gray, and windy as all get out. Two nights ago, the winds were so fierce that the leaves were literally leaping off the trees. Lawn furniture was blown about. The house shook with the gusts and kept waking me up. We’ve seen huge flocks of geese flying the wrong way south, honking their heads...

24
Aug
2015

OH SAY CAN I SEE!

I can see! OMG I CAN SEE EVERYTHING. I knew I was living in a blur, a fuzz, a near clear facsimile of vision, but I had no idea how bad it really was until today when I got my new glasses. I feel like I should look different, because now I look differently. Everything is so crisp and clear and readable. Even the tiniest, smallest print. Why did I wait so long?? For the first 20 minutes or so, I was a bit bothered by the subtle blur at the very corners of my peripheral vision; the edges of...

31
May
2015

A MOMENT

We’ve not had much warm weather so far this spring, it’s been very changeable. Every five minutes, a new condition: rain, breezy, sunny, cloudy, hail, chill, you name it. Yesterday, on the way home from dinner in Malmö with Anders’ mom we saw several rainbows. One of them was huge and simply perfect; you could see ALL the colors. Even Anders (who is color-blind), said he thought he could actually see red. Usually all he sees is blue and yellow: all his rainbows are Swedish! It’s lilac time, my favorite. They smell so lovely outdoors. We don’t have any, yet,...

13
May
2015

PUT A PEONY ON ME

It’s raining again, and the lacy tracery of spring leaves against the branches of the trees is filling out into that one-color summer green already. At least I haven’t had to water the pansies but once since I planted them. I’m home early for a long weekend, though I was home sick all day yesterday, so it turned out to be an even shorter week than I anticipated. Tomorrow is Ascension Day which we have a holiday for in Sweden and my company gives us half-days off before holidays as well as the “pinch” day for Friday. Nice! Martin: *because...

25
Apr
2015

SEASONALITIES

I don’t remember this so clearly from my years in Chicago, but here in Sweden, one really lives after and by the seasons. I find myself looking out for the annual marker of the start of each season and feeling such satisfaction when it’s noted. Spring: pied wagtails Summer: clouds of gnats hovering in the summer evening air Fall: sugar beets on the side of the road (fallen off trucks) Winter: Advent candelabra Yesterday, I saw my first pied wagtail, so now it’s OFFICIALLY spring. The lacy tracery of bright green leaves wasn’t enough. The lush pad of fresh grass...

21
Apr
2015

SPROING

Around every corner, the fuchsias are glowing. The bird cherries have exploded like white blossom popcorn trees and the magnolias are about to blow. There are little leaves on the lilacs but they’re still a couple of weeks away. The thornbush in the back yard has also exploded with starry white blossoms. It’s not really a bush anymore; it’s nearly a tree. I wonder what it is? Hawthorn? Blackthorn? Judging from what I found online, it is either a blackthorn or a cherry plum. I’ll have to pay more attention to the fruit later, but I’m pretty sure it’s not...

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