Friday, December 7, 2012

Day 198: Out of hibernation

Took the train out to the 'burbs today to have dinner with my Sweeties and their dad. It's about a 10 minute walk from the subway station to their house, through a residential area along tree-lined paths. In other words,  clean snow all over the place...the paths were lined with it, laden tree branches sagged under it, and children frolicked all around.

After three days in the great indoors, it felt great to trudge through the snow with my ever so wonderful cleats keeping me safely grounded and protected from slipping.


Winter...this type of winter...makes me happy.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Day 197: Dagens musikal

Attention ALL lovers of musicals. Here is a blog you will not want to miss.

Not mine. But mine.

This is today's happy...one new musical a day for 365 days. What an incredibly fun project this sounds like. I wonder what the next 365 will be to surface.

So, without further ado, I present my friend Johan Rudebeck, www.musikaldiggaren.se Hop on board, it's day 1!

Because you've got to
ac-cen-tu-ate the positive...



Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Day 196: Oh the weather outside is frightful...

...which makes the fact that construction of two balconies in my building was started today incredibly amusing. It made me laugh out loud when I saw the workmen out in the garden building scaffolding in the midst of a snow blizzard. Ya gotta love the Swedes! A plan is a plan and weather be damned! But then, a picture's worth a thousand words:



Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Day 195: Hot potatoes

I've been accused by my colleagues of sending (too) many mails. Don't know if it's because it's true or for some other reason. I'm a fan of mail in a professional network and on this project I've been introduced to Dropbox and Basecamp, helpful tools to help keep people in sync. Down side is that everyone has their preferred communication style and inclination to learn ceilings, I think.

But that's neither here nor there...my day brightened considerably, even as the sun started setting at around 14.00, by conversation after conversation with the incredibly professional production team that I'm part of and help to coordinate. God, I adore theater people. And the process of making it all happen. What a privileged life I lead. (And by "God" I make no religious concessions whatsoever..."god," as we all know, "is in the details.")

Which brings me right back to the subject of e-mails. I honor my god of details. It's what gets me through the days. That, and the music, which never fails me.

Listen for yourselves...on Spotify for example :-)

Photos-of-the-day

My toasty wool socks from Riga come...
...in handy when the thermometer reads like this!

Monday, December 3, 2012

Day 194: Slip sliding..no way

Let me tell you what I am happy about right now:

  1. After freaking me out by displaying a message that my user name and/or password was/were incorrect, it turned out that when I typed in both the password and the captcha phrase, I could log on after all. Phew.
  2. In an hour-long phone conversation we were able to settle the contents and order of the program for Assassins. Efficient, aren't we?
  3. Before leaving the house into the icy winter weather, I both remembered to take my cleats AND remembered where I stored them at the end of last winter.
On that last point, allow me to rave about this wonderful winter aide that enables me to venture into the great outdoors unhindered. I actually do not mind winter weather. The cold does not bother me much...you can always put on another layer of clothing. What terrifies me is the ice and the risk of slipping. It's happened to me once (resulting in a rather severe black eye) and it was not an experience I'd care to repeat. So last year, I bit the bullet and purchased a pair of cleats. They are made of rubber and fit snugly over regular shoes. Without them I would surely hibernate the winter away.


Sunday, December 2, 2012

Day 193: Parlez-vous...?

After a month long hiatus from the Language Exchange meetup, I dived right in...to the kiddy pool. Sheesh, how hard can it be? I mean it's a language I used to parler fluently. But no sirree, those words are just stuck in there and refuse to come out.

It was a relief when the Swedish session rolled around and I could be in my element again, although I still find it somewhat bewildering to be the "language expert" at the table. Today one of the other hosts corrected an error I made...that was sooo nice, does not happen often these days which I attribute more to Swedish politeness than to my flawless speech.

After biting cold temperatures on the way home, I am now happy to be home and warming up supper.

Bon appetite!
Smaklig måltid!

P.S. Today's photo has no direct connection to the blog...it is just so fabulous, I had to share it!

Or whatever you say in your local language... :-)