I just cannot seem to get myself back into the swing of regular (or even regular-ish) posting. I think part of it is down to what I said to a friend today over coffee: things have been busy but not a lot is happening that feels worth writing about. I suppose that’s really the trick of journaling, putting things down whether or not they seem interesting, but it’s always been hard for me to do.

Anyway, all the kids are finally in school. Yesterday and today I dropped Yrsa off at the pre-school and the whole thing went off without a hitch. She did pee her pants both days, but the teachers don’t seem bothered by that, and I guess it’s to be expected with two-year-olds. I’m figuring they probably deal with worse most days. Brynja thinks it’s pretty great to have her little sister there with her, and I’d be a liar if I claimed not to think it was pretty great myself.

Me, I am positively pining to get back to school. I’ve been doing some work here these past months, but I really need to get to the archives in Uppsala and sit for some uninterrupted hours with all that delicious source material at my fingertips. I make my first trip down next Thursday and come back Friday evening, but I doubt I’ll make it to the archives until the following week.

This will be a busy autumn for me, with at least two days spent in Uppsala every week. I’ll be taking a class on gender theory (in Swedish — eek), and devoting as much of my other time as possible to research. I’m fairly certain I’ll be doing a case study on Teda parish in Uppsala, and I’ve already made some good contacts who are in the know about its history. I’m looking at consumer practices among clergy and their families — hopefully dedicating significant attention to the wives’ role(s) — and examining their interactions in Sweden’s 17th-century class society. Sounds impressive when I put it like that, no? In fact, I’m not at all sure I can do it justice, and I’m intimidated just rereading those few lines. Egad.