I celebrated by starting the day with breakfast in bed.
Then I went to the gym. No pictures of that, there was nothing nice to see there!
Waffles for lunch!
A sunny day, it finally felt like spring!
måndag 25 mars 2013
waffle day
March 25th is waffle day here in Sweden! I love all food-related holidays.
I celebrated by starting the day with breakfast in bed.
Then I went to the gym. No pictures of that, there was nothing nice to see there!
Waffles for lunch!
Then I went out with this guy for a walk. It's wonderful having a little doggy for a neighbour.
A sunny day, it finally felt like spring!
I celebrated by starting the day with breakfast in bed.
Then I went to the gym. No pictures of that, there was nothing nice to see there!
Waffles for lunch!
A sunny day, it finally felt like spring!
söndag 24 mars 2013
preparing for spring
It's grey but warmish outside - a whole degree above zero. The snow is finally melting! I've said it before and I'll say it again: I adore snow and winter but by March 25th, even I'm ready for it to end. I just want to stop needing my winter boots, really, they are starting to give me blisters.
Here is what I need for spring, from etsy:
this super delicate hamsa bracelet from gold of jerusalem
a Schlep tote from raven's thread
wild flower print from lola's room
bumblebee bobby pins from elizabeth perry
new outfits from pattern matters
Here is what I need for spring, from etsy:
this super delicate hamsa bracelet from gold of jerusalem
a Schlep tote from raven's thread
wild flower print from lola's room
bumblebee bobby pins from elizabeth perry
new outfits from pattern matters
lördag 23 mars 2013
Earth hour
Tonight I stayed in with a headache (sad!) and we turned our lights out for earth hour. It's the first time I've done it, every other year I seem to forget and then feel guilty afterwards, when I remember.
We played cards. First a round of Uno, but it was impossible to see the colours properly.
The bathroom is quite cozy with candles lit up.
We played cards. First a round of Uno, but it was impossible to see the colours properly.
The bathroom is quite cozy with candles lit up.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
10 saker jag tycker om - 10 things I like
-Walking on frozen-over lakes
-When you are outside and look up just at the moment snow starts to fall. This is, perhaps, best appreciated in December rather than March, but for me it never loses its charm
-Napping early in the afternoon.
-In principle, I am a vegetarian. I don't buy meat at the store, I tell people I'm a vegetarian, I take the meatless option on airplanes and at dinners. But I adore hamburgers. They're my great weakness.
-fabric stores
-James Taylor (there's a part of me that's about 50 years old, hiding in there somewhere, listening to James Taylor and mooning)
-matzo brei. Here's a recipe. It's hard to recreate in Sweden.
-being joined by Joakim after going to bed alone. Fitting myself in between his arms and falling back asleep.
-a hot water bottle on a cold night.
-raspberries.
9 saker jag tycker mindre om - 9 things I like rather less
- trying to find matzah in Sweden
-getting out of the shower or bath. Being in there is lovely, but climbing out all damp and chilly is one of the worst things I know.
-take-out coffee cups with leaky lids, and no matter what I do, how tightly I try to put the lid on, they drip scalding little splashes of coffee over my hands all the way to work
-cold, tasteless winter tomatoes
-boarding trains while carrying suitcases. I always think a porter will come up behind me and tell me I should be ashamed for packing so much more than I can carry
-graffiti on lovely buildings. It's not so much the graffiti itself I mind, it's just that if it doesn't work with the building, if the building is lovely and pastel-coloured, for example, I think the graffiti ought to go somewhere else.
-when I think there is one sip left in the glass, one chip left in the bag, one more square of chocolate - and then it's not there after all
-library fines.
-pulling the receipt from an ATM. Awful sound.
8 bloggar jag läser - 8 blogs I read
Clara
niotillfem
Emily Dahl
soule mama
a clock without hands (this was my favourite blog for ages, not really updated anymore, but thankfully with archives intact)
the girl who married a bear
posie gets cozy
Elsa
7 saker jag vill göra i framtiden - 7 things I want to do in the future
-live in Paris
-speak perfect Swedish - or at least stop worrying about, and feeling self-conscious of, my grammatical mistakes, my accent, everything.
-go to Argentina and Japan
-have a horse
-learn to play the banjo
-live in New York for just a while
-write a whole book.
6 saker jag är rädd för - things I'm scared of
-in my waking hours I am not afraid of spiders, but sometimes I wake half-way up in the night and believe that all shadows are giant spiders, dangling over my bed, and then I'm just terrified.
-global warming
-children and very small animals - I like them but I'm afraid I will stumble and step on them. I'm awfully clumsy.
-getting so old that I don't know who I am anymore.
-that I never will be perfect in Swedish, or any other language besides English
-tuberculosis. this one is rather irrational but as a child I consumed a steady diet of Victorian literature and the fear of becoming consumptive has rather stuck with me.
5 platser jag tycker om att vara på - 5 places I like to be
-relaxing/hiding/reading/napping in the stacks at Scott Library at York University, in Toronto. At the end of my first year at York I was having a terrible time with my roommate and spent as long as I possibly could at school, mostly in the library, tucked into a corner on the third floor where hardly anyone went, beside books on Buddhism and with my bag for a pillow against the radiator.
-in Ekonomikumparken on Valborg, sharing a blanket and a bottle of champagne and a basket of strawberries at ten in the morning or so
-in the middle of Uppsala, surrounded by pastel-coloured 18th century architecture, with a view of the pink castle and the cathedral and the trees over the river.
-in a basement pub with friends, two beers in.
-in New York, around W 80th and Broadway, where all the restaurants are Kosher and all the buildings are of beautiful brown brick with enticing stairwells and moss on the sidewalks, where you walk and walk and can't believe how normal yet mystifying it is that here you are on Broadway, here you are on Amsterdam Avenue, eating a bagel like it's no thing.
4 ord som beskriver mig - 4 words that describe me
-independent
-loud
-happy
-imaginative
3 saker jag ser fram emot - 3 things I'm looking forward to
-finding wild strawberries in summer
-taking a long, long bike ride out to the lake
-five good friends arriving from Germany for a visit in just two weeks!
2 bra filmer - 2 good movies
-Our Idiot Brother
-The Royal Tenenbaums
1 bra låt - 1 good song
-The Bel-Aire Girls – Tonight You Belong To Me
listan har jag hittat via den fina niotillfem och hannapee
1, 2, 3 , 4 ,5
-Walking on frozen-over lakes
-When you are outside and look up just at the moment snow starts to fall. This is, perhaps, best appreciated in December rather than March, but for me it never loses its charm
-Napping early in the afternoon.
-In principle, I am a vegetarian. I don't buy meat at the store, I tell people I'm a vegetarian, I take the meatless option on airplanes and at dinners. But I adore hamburgers. They're my great weakness.
-fabric stores
-James Taylor (there's a part of me that's about 50 years old, hiding in there somewhere, listening to James Taylor and mooning)
-matzo brei. Here's a recipe. It's hard to recreate in Sweden.
-being joined by Joakim after going to bed alone. Fitting myself in between his arms and falling back asleep.
-a hot water bottle on a cold night.
-raspberries.
9 saker jag tycker mindre om - 9 things I like rather less
- trying to find matzah in Sweden
-getting out of the shower or bath. Being in there is lovely, but climbing out all damp and chilly is one of the worst things I know.
-take-out coffee cups with leaky lids, and no matter what I do, how tightly I try to put the lid on, they drip scalding little splashes of coffee over my hands all the way to work
-cold, tasteless winter tomatoes
-boarding trains while carrying suitcases. I always think a porter will come up behind me and tell me I should be ashamed for packing so much more than I can carry
-graffiti on lovely buildings. It's not so much the graffiti itself I mind, it's just that if it doesn't work with the building, if the building is lovely and pastel-coloured, for example, I think the graffiti ought to go somewhere else.
-when I think there is one sip left in the glass, one chip left in the bag, one more square of chocolate - and then it's not there after all
-library fines.
-pulling the receipt from an ATM. Awful sound.
8 bloggar jag läser - 8 blogs I read
Clara
niotillfem
Emily Dahl
soule mama
a clock without hands (this was my favourite blog for ages, not really updated anymore, but thankfully with archives intact)
the girl who married a bear
posie gets cozy
Elsa
7 saker jag vill göra i framtiden - 7 things I want to do in the future
-live in Paris
-speak perfect Swedish - or at least stop worrying about, and feeling self-conscious of, my grammatical mistakes, my accent, everything.
-go to Argentina and Japan
-have a horse
-learn to play the banjo
-live in New York for just a while
-write a whole book.
6 saker jag är rädd för - things I'm scared of
-in my waking hours I am not afraid of spiders, but sometimes I wake half-way up in the night and believe that all shadows are giant spiders, dangling over my bed, and then I'm just terrified.
-global warming
-children and very small animals - I like them but I'm afraid I will stumble and step on them. I'm awfully clumsy.
-getting so old that I don't know who I am anymore.
-that I never will be perfect in Swedish, or any other language besides English
-tuberculosis. this one is rather irrational but as a child I consumed a steady diet of Victorian literature and the fear of becoming consumptive has rather stuck with me.
5 platser jag tycker om att vara på - 5 places I like to be
-relaxing/hiding/reading/napping in the stacks at Scott Library at York University, in Toronto. At the end of my first year at York I was having a terrible time with my roommate and spent as long as I possibly could at school, mostly in the library, tucked into a corner on the third floor where hardly anyone went, beside books on Buddhism and with my bag for a pillow against the radiator.
-in Ekonomikumparken on Valborg, sharing a blanket and a bottle of champagne and a basket of strawberries at ten in the morning or so
-in the middle of Uppsala, surrounded by pastel-coloured 18th century architecture, with a view of the pink castle and the cathedral and the trees over the river.
-in a basement pub with friends, two beers in.
-in New York, around W 80th and Broadway, where all the restaurants are Kosher and all the buildings are of beautiful brown brick with enticing stairwells and moss on the sidewalks, where you walk and walk and can't believe how normal yet mystifying it is that here you are on Broadway, here you are on Amsterdam Avenue, eating a bagel like it's no thing.
4 ord som beskriver mig - 4 words that describe me
-independent
-loud
-happy
-imaginative
3 saker jag ser fram emot - 3 things I'm looking forward to
-finding wild strawberries in summer
-taking a long, long bike ride out to the lake
-five good friends arriving from Germany for a visit in just two weeks!
2 bra filmer - 2 good movies
-Our Idiot Brother
-The Royal Tenenbaums
1 bra låt - 1 good song
-The Bel-Aire Girls – Tonight You Belong To Me
listan har jag hittat via den fina niotillfem och hannapee
1, 2, 3 , 4 ,5
fredag 22 mars 2013
a small cat
Joakim and his brother each have a cat they got as children, Tarzan and Baghera.
Today Baghera, his brother's cat, was put to sleep. He was old, and ill. Still I can't stand it. Such a small, soft little coal-black kitty. In this picture he's staring rather devilishly, but in he really was so sweet and patient. At Christmas I gave him all the bits of cheese and salami he wanted, the little beggar, and I'm so glad I did.
Today Baghera, his brother's cat, was put to sleep. He was old, and ill. Still I can't stand it. Such a small, soft little coal-black kitty. In this picture he's staring rather devilishly, but in he really was so sweet and patient. At Christmas I gave him all the bits of cheese and salami he wanted, the little beggar, and I'm so glad I did.
onsdag 20 mars 2013
listing books
I have been surprisingly faithful in keeping up a list of books read, which I began in August 2009 when I moved to Sweden and was stuck in bed with a terrible cold and no internet connection for a few days. I had some books and a new laptop with OneNote installed, so when I'd finished all the books and had nothing else to do I turned to playing with it, and started a list of the books I'd read. I've always been keen on keeping lists, but never have I been so dedicated as with this list. As of today I'm only on book 165, which doesn't seem like much, but bear in mind that in between books I've read probably thousands of pages of articles and chapters of things for school, which didn't make it on the list.
And what is book 165? Dodie Smith's The Town in Bloom. I've been on a D Smith kick lately, this is the third novel by her I've read in the last few weeks, and the last one our library has by her. I love her clever females, her invariably kind but imperfect men, and her reasonably happy endings. I like a bit of trouble in my novels as much as anyone, but I can't stand it when books end with everything gone all wrong, just for the sake of 'realism.' It's been my experience that things quite often turn out more or less acceptably, after all.
And what is book 165? Dodie Smith's The Town in Bloom. I've been on a D Smith kick lately, this is the third novel by her I've read in the last few weeks, and the last one our library has by her. I love her clever females, her invariably kind but imperfect men, and her reasonably happy endings. I like a bit of trouble in my novels as much as anyone, but I can't stand it when books end with everything gone all wrong, just for the sake of 'realism.' It's been my experience that things quite often turn out more or less acceptably, after all.
tisdag 19 mars 2013
waiting
It snowed again today, a spring snow. I'm glad because the snow we have has been lying around, getting frozener and frozener and more and more dirty. It's nice to have a little fresh powder on top.
Waiting for spring to come to Sweden can be a bit trying sometimes. It takes patience. You can't get too excited by the first sight of sun and longer days, as I always do. You just have to wait. And wait. But the waiting has its own sweetness. When spring does come, when you really do see that first something green pushing its way in to life, the feeling is quite extraordinary. You really feel a sense of accomplishment, that you've survived something, that this new thing called spring really is quite special. The months of darkness, the weeks of sunny, bitterly cold days, that one 'last' late snowfall that always seems to be followed by yet another, are actually the best part.
photo source
photo source
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