Going into the weekend I had high hopes for getting a lot of work done outside. We’re building some raised beds for a vegetable patch, and I really wanted to get that done so I could plant my seeds. I also have some flower seeds I wanted to plant, and there’s a fair bit of… Read More Is a little sunshine so much to ask for?

Today is Mother’s Day in Sweden, which is probably as good a time as any to share the news that appears to have come as a surprise only to me. We’re expecting another baby — Number Five is scheduled to join us right after the first of the year. I’d be a liar if I… Read More Once more, with feeling

One: there is such a thing as a legless lizard, and two: child car seats have expiration dates. While the second is probably more useful information to have, I can’t help finding the first infinitely more compelling.

The past few days have been nothing but clear, blue skies and warm, warm sunshine. I would swear it were summer if it weren’t for the odd patch of snow still lingering here and there. Even so, the grass is more green than brown these days, and before the week is out the trees will… Read More Greening

One of the bigger stumbling blocks in my kids’ path to full mastery of English is the struggle to understand that it’s not always possible–or advisable, at any rate–to translate words or phrases directly from Swedish. All too often, doing so can render one unintelligible, or even worse, give the impression of startling rudeness. I… Read More Minefield

You know, being the mother of a teenage daughter is hard. Seriously, really, really hard. I won’t elaborate much here, in order to protect the not-so-innocent, but man … I was not ready for all of this. Nothing terribly alarming is going on — it’s pretty much your “normal” thirteen-year-old sort of stuff — but… Read More I need a vacation.

We may not have leaves on the trees or flowers peeking out from between blades of grass — we may not yet have blades of grass, even — but Tage’s red, scratchy eyes and runny nose are signs as sure as any that spring has landed at our stoop.

I’m writing this post on the new smart phone Olof got me for my birthday. It’s a Nokia N97 mini, and I’m more than a little bit in love with it. This little charmer has everything, and it’s all wrapped up in a pretty package to boot.

Hour by hour, day by day, winter is retreating, even up here in the Far North. I hear that snow is forecast for Thursday, but I have a hard time believing it will happen. Unlike most of the rest of Sweden, we haven’t had any new snow for a couple of weeks, and the long,… Read More Recession