Day 115: Haircut...of sorts

Today, the trees in our garden got trimmed by a pomologist. There is a specialist for everything and trees are no exception. It is always instructive and fun to watch Björn trim our trees and explain the fine art. They do look somewhat bare now but he assures me that they will produce fewer but bigger and tastier fruit next season as a result. Made me happy to send him on his way with a bag full of apples that he picked from the crown of the apple tree (which we could not reach during our recent apple picking session).

Day 114: Finding the silver lining

Phew. Let me cut right to the chase and say that directly after I called and ordered the locksmith to change my locks, I found out that Fotografiska had found my portfolio. I immediately canceled the locksmith and could not wipe the happy grin off my face.

Back where they belong

It's easy to find happy when things go right. To my great delight yesterday, between bouts of unbelievable frustration (not to mention annoyance with myself), I found myself noting what I had to be happy about anyway. The portfolio/key fiasco should not, and did not, discount the fact that I had helped students at the math lab, gone for a brisk walk, witnessed the amazing view outside of Fotografiska, saw a glimpse of the  Christer Söderholm exhibition, got in a second brisk walk back to the school, managed to convince some students there to let me in through the locked doors and the janitor to open the remaining locked doors, hung out while waiting for the janitor and saw a second art exhibition in the corridors of Södra Latin and spent a lovely evening with a friend talking theater and life.

This morning, after a leisurely breakfast with said theater friend, off I went in the rain back to Fotografiska to pick up my portfolio. I took the opportunity to spend substantially more time at the exhibit and then made my way home to my warm and dry apartment, one I could open with my keys! Before I even took my coat off, I put the extra set of keys in their proper storage place, a system that works perfectly as long as I follow it. Fortunately, the lesson was not an expensive one this time. Yet another thing to be happy about!

Day 113: Finding happy in disaster

I get to spend the night at Ulricha's which really is the silver lining. But what an evening in that cloud!

Off I went from the Math Labs tonight feeling happy and full of life. I had helped a couple of students, one with converting from base 16 to a binary number and another with expanding expressions, and I had an opening at Fotografiska to look forward to. On top of all that, I was feeling particularly pleased with myself for walking the couple of kilometers to Fotografiska, and at a brisk pace at that.

The exhibition, btw, is fabulous. One to return to again and again, taking it in sections. An amazing body of work. And as a member, I can go as often as I please...one of my favorite investments over the past couple of years with the highest ROI to date. But I digress...

It's a good thing too, about my membership, because I had not been there for longer than 10 minutes when I realized that I did not have my portfolio. It's just a simple plastic case with a zipper and looseleaf rings inside. I use it whenever I volunteer at Mattecentrum, so it has scrap paper, pencils and a whole bunch of solved equations. Tonight, however, it also housed my house keys.

My last ray of hope is that one of the other volunteers found it and took it home for safe keeping. Waiting with baited breath for a mail or a phone call...

Day 112: Cesar rocks

Shed a tear or two watching the 100th episode celebration of The Dog Whisperer, especially when Cesar got to meet his childhood hero, Lassie.

In the meanwhile, the smell of freshly baked apple cake wafted in from the kitchen. I'm not much of a baker, meaning I rarely do it, but I could not pass up the opportunity to use some of the many apples we picked in our garden on Sunday. I doubled a cupcake recipe and turned it into a cake. Here is the result...who's coming over for cake and coffee? Otherwise, I hope it freezes well!

Day 1/11: 9/11

We all have those certain moments in life that we will never forget and some of them are communal. For example, although I was just a kid and not even living in the U.S.A. at the time, I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I first heard the news that John F. Kennedy had been assassinated. Many years later, although I was no longer a kid and again not living in the U.S.A., I remember vividly sitting in my office chatting with a cousin in Israel on AIM when he told me what was happening. I quickly picked up the phone and called a good friend in NY. She was sitting in her office and while we were still incredulously discussing what had happened, the second plane hit the Twin Towers.Of the many posts about this historic date on Facebook today, this one by one of my FB friends is the one that I liked the most, for its hope and positivity.

"I'll never forget, but I think this will be the first #sept11 where I don't spend all day feeling heartsick. Work for peace everyday."

Amen to that!

Day 110: Newborns

Bruno #1 holding Bruno #2

Amazing how quickly you forget that lovely, cuddly, soft feel of a newborn. And they grow so quickly that you have to take every opportunity to cuddle with one. My closest friends are all beyond the childbearing phases of their lives so my contact with newborns has diminished dramatically over the past few years. That's why I was so happy to hang out with some friends yesterday while friends of theirs visited with their 6-week-old. This photo was taken after I reluctantly handed the baby over to his namesake ;-)

Day 109: Farming!

Yum!

Or as close as I ever get to farming anyway ;-)

Today, we picked apples from the tree in our garden. What a luxury in the middle of town to have a fruit tree growing just outside my kitchen. One of the neighbors even brought along a makeshift apple picker that he devised himself to help us reach the really high fruits. And another had a nice long ladder that we used. It's surprising just how many apples this one tree produces. The birds had gotten to quite a number of them, about half, and we sorted our harvest into two bags, one for eating and another for cooking. Apple sauce and apple pie, here I come!

Our official taste tester (left) and her dad with his home made apple picker

Good for cooking (left) and eating...help yourselves!