Once bitten, twice shy?
What does Sir Walter Raleigh and my dog, Oscar, have in common?
Any guesses?
Well, they’re both wearing Elizabethan collars!
In Oscar’s case, it’s not a 16th century fashion statement, but a necessity.
The poor lad was badly bitten on his front leg and after three days of drainage tubes, the doctor could see the muscle and state, “It looks like mincemeat in there!”
She cancelled all her appointments to operate on him immediately.
And … after an hour on the operating table,
Two metres of sewing thread
And sixty stitches!!
My fuzzy buddy is at home with meds that would make even the most enthusiastic junkie happy.
Unfortunately, the op means six weeks of rest and only teeny-tiny walks. I’m sure both of us will be going mad(der) by the end of it – although I have promised myself to get out for those lovely long energizing walks anyway.
It won’t be the same without my faithful companion, but at least he’ll be sunbathing in winter sunshine and getting plenty of love.
For lots of healthy pets, please pop over to: Pet Pride!
Frozen surprises
If you could capture the cold and paint it … what would it look like?
As warm as melting honey or as dazzling as a sun on fire?
From where I’m looking, -18 C looks just glorious!
To see more colourful skies, please visit: Skywatch!
Call me naive…
I’ve become quite a crier since I became a mother. Or perhaps I’ve always been one and being with young children has just unleashed this previously unknown tendency? I cry my way through Disney films – and on the rare occasion that doesn’t see me blubbering at the happy ending, then the kids will ask me if I’m feeling all right. Because tears are a natural part of their lives.
Then there are the public events that I cry through – albeit more discreetly. There are end-of-school concerts and shows and singing events.
Like yesterday, for example. A simple singing concert, with young high voices so pure and clear that I found my eyes welling up with tears.
Call me naive, but there is something so pure and innocent and joyful in those moments that it stirs my soul.
Then I think back to the end of school ceremony in church last summer. (Yes, another tearful occasion!)
After seeing my daughter play the violin, four boys persuaded their parents to put them down for violin lessons.
Call me naive – but there is beauty and power in music.
And just as I’m about to try to become cynical, I look at the photo again.
Is it just me – or can you also see a row of tiny angels on the ledge underneath the window?
Call me naive: but is it so wrong to believe in the goodness of others?
The hope of the future
In my world I read of hatred and killing.
Of people who would rather focus on our differences;
Of a world where it is easier to shake your fist in anger
Than to hold hands in friendship.
And yet… in my world I look at the children
Who see through the superficiality of things
To celebrate our common humanity.
They live in a world where it is
Easier to laugh
And hold hands out of love.
We have much to learn from them.
To see more of our friendly world, please visit: My World!
On safari
Snow and cold should not stop you from following your spirit of adventure!
One early morning, Oscar and I set out on a safari.
Sniffing here and there until we came across
A rainbow-coloured footprint under a tree of red berries.
There was definitely magic afoot!
You could feel it swirling in the air.
We followed the track through snow and ice
Until we discovered it! The very shy – but child-friendly …
… Snow Hippo!
I rushed inside to tell the kids of my discovery and they ran outside into the cold sunshine to look for the snow hippo. Ten minutes later, they were still searching high and low and had walked right past the ice sculpture.
Why? Because my tale was so convincing that they thought the hippo was a real live one!
For other real or imaginary pets, please visit: Pet Pride!
New skies
As it’s Losar in Tibet and New Year in most of Asia, I thought it only fitting to post the skies we had here on New Year’s Day (Jan 1).
The sun rose optimistically in the sky
Casting a glow on sleeping football nets
Pregnant with the hint of rosy promises to come.
By lunchtime the sun had cast off any show of shyness
To burst into a firework display
Of candy-floss spun clouds
And veils of pink and blue.
Click the pictures to really see them!
For more pink fluffy skies, visit: Skywatch!
HAPPY NEW YEAR if you are celebrating one!
Let the f(e)asting begin!
So it’s that time of year again: the day to feast before fasting starts. Also known as Fat Tuesday or Pancake Tuesday.
(In honour of the Swedish tendency to mix up the two days, I’m writing about Tuesday on a Thursday. It makes sense, right?)
To celebrate the beginning of Lent, the Swedes eat a Lenten bun called a semla – from the Latin word semilia, which means flour. (Hey – I knew that studying Latin would come in handy one day! Yes, I was the poor klutz who had double Latin every Friday at school.)
Just look at those buns – delicious! (Well, except for the cream, which I don’t like. But apart from that….)
In the olden days, people ate plain wheat buns soaked in milk (called hetvägg – which means …er.. hot wall – don’t ask me why!)
Then about two hundred years ago, the modern day bun took shape: the bun is spiced with cardamon, and the top is cut off. Hollow out the inside of the bun, fill with almond paste, top with whipped cream and put the lid back on. Dust with powdered sugar.
And enjoy!
Pub crawling – on ice
Every year – if the ice is thick enough – there is a skating race that starts right on our lake and finishes 30 km further south at Stockholm. The race track follows ancient winter trading routes that the Vikings used to take when going from Stockholm and back hundreds of years ago.
Here’s Oscar waiting for the first group of skaters… (You can always click the pictures to see a bigger version.)
The race is called The Pub Race because when the Vikings followed this winter trading route, there used to be lots of inns where they could stop and warm themselves up or spend the night.
And here they come!
Nowadays, the 30 km race takes place without a pause… although at one point, the skaters have to take off their skates, cross a road and then run down a field in order to get to the next body of water.
Some people take it very seriously…
…While others are in it for the sheer fun of skating.
To enjoy other parts of the world, please visit: My World!
Freedom
Oh, to have a large expanse of ice-covered lake to run on.
The wide spaces just call to you – beckon you
To unfurl from your winter hibernation and
Stretch those legs so that you are
Flying across the ice with the wind in your hair.
Nothing beats the sheer pleasure
Of that flying freedom.
Not even the fact that the human is blowing on her whistle and wants us to come back. Now!
(Yup – those obedience lessons really paid off!)
Oh – and you know the drill: click the photo to see it in its full glory…
For more obedient pets, go visit: Pet Pride!
The dancing sky
Have you ever noticed how a bad mood is like a threatening, moody sky
That wakes up on the wrong side of the clouds
And drapes itself with frowns
Only to see things from a new angle
To find the light in the clouds
And transform itself into a beautiful blue butterfly
Of sun and puffy clouds -
Under which the vibrant girl in the pink jacket
And her dog
Can dance and twirl in joy?
Moods can lift almost as quickly as the changing sky.
Making the breast of things
The wonderful singer Lhasa de Sela died at the age of 37 from breast cancer. This got me thinking that it was time to book myself a mammogram. After all, caught in time, breast cancer doesn’t have to be a killer.
I had heard vague rumours about the procedure but nothing to worry about. Although perhaps that sign in the changing room that said something about using air pressure and ‘the breasts can stand it’ might have been a warning…
I took off my top and stood there in front of a gleaming white machine with see-through plates. I soon found myself hugging the machine in some kind of weird pole-dancing posture while the nurse grinded the plates against my breast bone while jamming my breast uncomfortably between the plates.
Now, as flat as a pancake is not an expression I normally associate with breasts – well, not since school anyway! As the plates squashed together mechanically so that not even a pin would fit in there, the nurse came and tightened them even further for good luck – and I had the rather disturbing experience of feeling my boobs run out onto those plates like thin crepes.
After two X-rays, I started putting my top on. “Hang on!” the nurse cried out merrily. “Two more to go!” Ah – they squash the boobs laterally first and then horizontally. “Some people take aspirins before they come!” she said. (Now you tell me!) By now my boobs were running over those plates like batter. Who knew they could get that thin – and bounce back to normal size afterwards?
Five minutes and it was all over. And to be honest, a visit to the dentist is far more painful!
So, if you are aged 40 or above, make sure you book yourself in for a mammogram. After all, it’s all about one of the most important things in your life: your health!
Snippets of life
People are fascinating, don’t you think? One week in November last year – before the snows came - I had the pleasure of observing a range of wonderful characters on the streets of Stockholm, Sweden. It was a fantastic day, with the old cobblestones turned to shimmering gold.
And as I wandered the streets, I observed the following people:
Russian clown escapee? Very tall, gangly bone-thin man with the large black Cossack hat atop fly-away blonde hair and all-too short mustard corduroy trousers ending just above the ankles. Short enough to reveal a pair of elegant ankles encased in scuffed, comfortable-looking boots.
Waiter fashion victim. Oh baby-faced youth! You look as if you should be at school, dreaming about girls and video games instead of clearing plates at the local Asian restaurant with your Adidas nylon sports trousers so low down on your buttocks that the tops of your thighs would be showing if it weren’t for that deliciously long shirt you’re wearing.
Woman fashion victim. Brown buckled knee boots with sandy-coloured harem pants tucked inside. I wonder if we were really designed to have our crotches hanging around our knees?
I definitely need to get out more often! If only to gather more blog fodder…
To enjoy more of the world, please visit: My World!
It’s the simple things
It’s the simple moments in life that transform an ordinary day into something extraordinary – like unexpected beams of sunlight. Or the generosity of others.
The delightful Soul Aperture came up with the ingenious idea of getting people to write about the simple things in life. She donated one dollar for every comment or post that people linked to her challenge and ended up giving 180 dollars to a charity in Haiti.
I missed out on this last weekend, but Enchanted Oak has taken up the challenge once again and promised to donate two dollars for each participating blog to Heartline, a charity in Haiti. So, if you feel like writing for a great cause, then meet the challenge head-on here.
The simple things in life – a celebration:
The goodness of…
a kind friend, an affectionate dog, the taste of rain on the tongue
the cooling of clear river water on hot summer feet
Conversation, love, a needed hug
Compassion and kindness and
The unexpected generosity of a warm spring day,
The smile of a stranger,
A kind deed that goes by unnoticed but brightens the day of someone who needs it.
The sheer delight of…
Snowflakes on eyelashes,
Sun shimmering on snow,
Handfuls of dazzling sunshine and the laughter of children.
The perfect cinnamon swirl of my daughter’s ear,
The pearly rainbow of a shell,
And the radiant toothy smile of my son.
Big brown puppy eyes, glorious sunsets
Family, friends, a warm home.
Small children’s hands in mine,
The whisper of I love you.
Of rainbows and marshmallow skies
For one glorious day this week, the clouds disappeared
And let the sun frolic in a sky that was
The fragile blue of a jay’s wing.
And floating up high were delicious marshmallow clouds
That beckoned and said, “Come, take a sweet sticky bite of the day!”
Not to be outdone, the sun gleamed and glittered
Leaving a trail of sparkling rainbows
Like laughter
To lift up the spirits so that I shouted out in joy.
For more glittering skies, please visit: Skywatch!
Silken painting
I opened my front door, took a walk on the ice…
… and rubbed my eyes in disbelief.
Someone had rolled out a silken scarf and created a masterpiece with delicate, loving brush strokes
In pearl, and grey, and white and black.
(This colour photo is straight from the camera. Wondrous!)
For other wonderful peeks, please visit: My World!
Who says what?