I just thought of something I'd like to do for a goal for 2022, and since it's already mid-January, I'd better get started! I think I'd like to try doing art at least once a month. I haven't done anything since the early days of this blog in the early 2000s with the collage book I started then. I used to be so crafty and artistic. Now I just LOOK ( Read more... )

One of my goals for 2021 was to walk a 5K every month in addition to the nearly daily walking I was already doing. My usual routes are either a double-helix around the neighborhood (approx. 1 kilometer), or a 1.5K zigzagging up the neighborhood and then over and around and down below the school, or a 2.5K which goes around the school, over into the ( Read more... )

It's the day after Christmas, at the end of 2021. It was a good Christmas in many ways...the four of us back together and everything ready in plenty of time so no one was stressed. I had most of my shopping done by the end of November, almost all of it done online, and the last of the things I ordered arrived well in advance. Karin helped Anders ( Read more... )

Dang, this month is getting away from me. It's the weekend again and I've been thinking that I need to get a post written so here I am. This morning I woke up slowly, from very complicated, weird, but interesting dreams that of course I can no longer remember. It's nice to wake up with a nice feeling like you were in the middle of a good story ( Read more... )

This past Saturday was All Saints Day (also known as All Hallow's Day) here in Sweden. It was late this year, falling on November 6. A lot of older Swedes are against Halloween simply because when it falls on a Saturday, which means it is ALSO All Saints Day, the sacredness of the holiday is overshadowed by the newfangled ridiculousness of an ( Read more... )

Martin left North Carolina on Tuesday. Mom, Sarah and Bryce drove him to the airport, a couple of hours early, so that he could get his extra bag registered and make sure everything was squared away. He had gotten a rapid COVID test the day before (negative) and downloaded 2 Audible books for the trip. Everything went super smoothly and he kept us ( Read more... )

Oy! That's what you get, I suppose, when you get back to work and regular routines. Suddenly, 2 weeks have whipped by and you haven't written a thing ( Read more... )

Hello from rainy Skåne! We had a few nice days at the beginning of last week but it's back to rain and grey and solid cloud cover. I was really hoping for a nice weekend, but it's not looking like I'll get my wish. Tonight we are going (with Karin) to the annual crayfish party, hosted and attended by friends we haven't seen since the start of the ( Read more... )

Every evening, through the spring and summer, I go out and water in the garden. I'm not a gardener, not really. I put pansies in the pots in the spring and swap them out for pelargoniums in the summer; those that don't have year-round succulents. I'm partial to plants and flowers that are low-maintenance, that come up year after year, with the ( Read more... )

It's forecast to rain all day and this coming week but the sun has been doing its best to stay out and I went for a walk around the village, enjoying the sunshine (had to remove my jacket!) and the greenery. The cherry trees and magnolias and spirea are blooming. The magnolias, especially the bright pink ones, are such ridiculously pretty pink ( Read more... )