Banana Guards are the talk of some of my friends’ blogs lately, so a picture of this rare specimen seemed topical. I don’t know how well you can tell from the picture, but this is a whole lotta banana … from end to end it measures 24 centimeters (that’s 9½ inches, boys and girls!). I’m… Read More Too Much Banana for Just Any Old Guard

So tonight is Midsummer’s Eve here in Sweden. Nationwide, it’s probably the biggest party day/night of the year, but as usual, we’re not partaking in the festivities. Olof says he’s never been a big Midsummer person, so I haven’t been able to get the hang of how the celebrating is properly done. I don’t guess… Read More Holiday

So, we can all sleep well tonight now that Sweden didn’t lose to England. (Of course, they didn’t win, either, but why split hairs?) After sitting through the entire game, I’m more than ever convinced that I’ll never be a soccer fan.

It’s both impressive and terrible how dirty the face of a runny-nosed baby can get. Even armed with ten-packs of tissue and fistfuls of baby wipes I can’t stay ahead of the snot. It’s all over her hands and face and clothes and my hands and face and clothes and just about every other surface… Read More Hide-and-Seek

Earlier this evening I stood by the window and looked out at the sky. “It might rain,” I judged. Tage stood beside me and took an appraising look of his own. “It might not rain,” he said. It’s hard to say whether he has an interest in the weather, or merely in being contrary. Either… Read More Does he know something I don’t?

The first summer I lived in Sweden I got a pair of Skechers sandals and they’ve served me well over the past five years. Lately, though, the velcro straps haven’t been holding as well as they should and rather than try to repair them, I decided that a new pair was in order. (For the… Read More Out with the Old, In with the New

It’s hot today, the first real hot day of the year. According to the thermometer outside my living-room window, it’s 84°F (30°C) in the sun. It’s too hot to be comfortable in the sun–and, anyway, we’re heeding the standard advice to limit sun exposure between ten o’clock and two o’clock–so the little kids and I… Read More Scorcher!

Helena and Melanie came over yesterday afternoon for fika, and I talked them into staying until the wee hours with promises of dinner and drunken debauchery. It was good times.     For the record, there was no Jack Daniels in Tage’s shot glass, but after he slammed it he did go to the TV… Read More Raise a Glass

Read an interview with Michael Berg (the father of the young man beheaded in Iraq two years ago) on the implications of the killing of Abu Masab al-Zarqawi. Any commentary by me would be superfluous — suffice it to say that he’s my new hero.