The chicken pox has turned out to be sort of a non-event here, at least so far. Only Petra has come down with it, and after a day or two of discomfort, she hasn’t been much bothered. The worst of it was undoubtedly that she had to miss a classmate’s birthday party yesterday. I’ve heard… Read More Pox, et cetera

Plenty going on around here lately. Last week was Halloween, of course, and this year was probably the most Halloween-like I’ve had since moving to Sweden. We had a lot of trick-or-treaters, relatively speaking, and they all came on the right day, instead of over the course of many days, as is often the case… Read More The fun never stops

Yesterday I made a whirlwind trip down to Uppsala, where I attended and participated in an essay-presentation seminar and grabbed a quick dinner of some very tasty vegetarian samosas before making the long trip home and collapsing in my bed just before midnight. This morning I was up at six and out the door at… Read More On the move

This morning at breakfast, Petra asked me out of the blue, “What’s racist?” “Hmmm,” I stalled, trying to think of an explanation appropriate for a first-grader. “I suppose it’s if you’re mean to someone or don’t like them because of where they come from or what color their skin is. It’s not nice.” “I would… Read More At the kitchen table

Wow, it’s like I just dropped off the face of the earth or something. Things have been busy, busy, busy here, and up until this afternoon I was spending every spare minute I could find working on a big essay for school. It’s almost the entire grade for the class, so I needed to put… Read More Re-surfacing

She’s fine, truly, but I can’t believe I let such a stupid thing happen. 🙁 Yrsa has always been really good about leaving hot things alone — just a warning will steer her away from anything that we tell her is hot. After five kids, though, I really should know better than to trust the… Read More Toddler versus hot tea

I was up at 4:30 this morning to catch a 6:30 flight down to Uppsala. Not unexpectedly, I’ve been dragging all day. I foresee an early bedtime tonight. We’ve had lots of excitement at home these past few days, with my bff, Debi, and her family — husband, teenage son, and the cutest little Jack… Read More This and that

Yrsa and her new best friend, Milo:

Yesterday afternoon Petra and I made a trip to town for some lunch and shopping and one-on-one time. Our last stop before heading home was Jysk, where she’d seen some slippers she wanted. It turned out to be a fortuitous stop, for not only did she get the slippers, but she was also treated to… Read More Saturday

I’ve been trying to deny it, but there’s just no escaping the fact that fall is well and truly upon us. Leaves are falling from the trees, early mornings find the car windows frosted over, and more often than not, these days, we’ve got a fire going in the wood stove. I walked with the… Read More Seasonal