Day 8: Happy Birthday Frankie Manning!

Known as the Ambassador of Lindy Hop, Frankie Manning touched the lives of thousands of dancers across the world. It was easy to like Frankie. He lit up any room he entered. He was funny and warm and full of humanity. Frankie was a true lesson in happy, the kind of happy that radiates from within. Just being around him lifted my spirits, every time.

We met at The Cat Club in Manhattan in 1988 but our true friendship began later that year when Frankie began giving me a lift home after those Sunday night dances. We both lived in Queens and as we made our way over the Williamsburg Bridge to the Long Island Expressway and on home, we talked. About dancing, about friendship, about movies, about food, about relationships...about life. I came to know Frankie well and was honored that he regarded me as a friend.

Frankie would have turned 98 today. Hard to grasp that three years have already passed since he left this world for that big dance floor in the sky, just one month shy of his 95th birthday. His spirit still binds together thousands of dancers from across the globe and tonight there are many celebrations taking place in Frankie's honor. Happy Birthday Frankie!

Frankie Manning, November 2008 (age 94!), at my birthday celebration in Forest Hills, NY

Day 7: The taste of summer

It was hot in Stockholm today. Not warm. Not just sunny. Genuinely hot. So hot that I wore a sleeveless top and did not bother to take so much as a shawl with me. A rare and delightful event. It was a run errands kind of day and when I came home I treated myself to my favorite drink of the summer: elder flower soda. Not elderberry mind you. No, the syrup is made from the white flowers of the elderberry bush. Add some sparkling mineral water and you have a refreshing thirst quencher with a unique taste.

Bottoms up!

P.S. What's your favorite summer thirst quencher?

Day 6: Nigglies no more

Nigglies...those "I've been meaning to..." things that you never quite get around to. Every time you run across one, it irritates you, and you say, "I really should fix that." That stain on the wall; the button that needs sewing; the jungle of cables and wires that need untangling; the letter you promised to write; the phone call you really should make; the pile of filing that grows weekly. I'm sure you could add to the list...in fact, it would be fun if you did!

Nigglies steal energy. Taking care of one rewards you with a supreme sense of satisfaction and a new sense of optimism. In my recent whirlwind of spring cleaning, I kept a pair of my favorite slacks, despite the fact that they'd been missing a button for at least three years now. On my walk to Fotografiska today, I passed by one of my favorite clothing stores (Gudrun Sjödén) where I bought the slacks a number of years ago.

Gudrun Sjödén on Götgatan. There are other locations in Stockholm. Check them out.

I decided to go in on the off chance that they would be willing to sell me (dared I hope give me?) an extra button.

Sarah and the button box.

Wonderful Sarah brought out the button box from the back and let me rifle through it. "Of course, we'll give it to you," she said, "if we have one left."

It looked hopeless for a while

Buttons galore...but is the one I need in there somewhere?

but then way down at the bottom of the box, I spotted it!

Home again a few hours later, out came the sewing kit

and on went the button.

I know that every time I put on these slacks, I will revisit this sense of satisfaction with a smile on my face.

One niggly down, the rest to go.

Day 5: What happiness is

This morning, a commercial jingle was occupying my brain, a jingle that claimed "great taste, fine tobacco, that's what happiness is." To each his own, I suppose...and those of you who recognize the jingle also recognize how old it is and how many decades have passed since it was last heard on the airwaves of American television and radio. To wit, from Wikipedia: "The Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act was introduced into Congress in 1969, but it was not until April 1, 1970 when U.S. President Richard Nixon signed it into law. The actual cigarette advertising ban did not come into force until January 2, 1971, as per a compromise that allowed broadcasters to air these commercials during their telecasts of college football bowl games on New Year's Day.^[4]" Advertisers sure know how to make things stick. Wonder how much brain space out there (and in here) is tied up in commercial jingles?

It's laundry day, which always brings a smile to my face. No, really. Seriously. A smile. One of the reasons is the fabulous "drying cabinet" (torkskåp) found in just about every Swedish laundry room. An ingenious idea, better seen than described, leaves your laundered clothing practically wrinkle free in no time.

You simply hang your newly washed clothes on the metal railings, close the doors, press a button and warm air blows down and circulates to dry everything.

Laundry day also means clean bedding. Today, I even opened a package of brand new bedding to celebrate  completion of spring cleaning the bedroom, during which, by the way, I found this brand new set at the bottom of the linens drawer.

And while I'm at it, take a look at my newly filtered windows. It only took me 9(!) years to let some light into the bedroom while keeping curious eyes out. Another ingenious idea (the filters...not waiting 9 years).

Yup, you've come a long way, baby!

Day 4: The flowers that bloom in the spring...

The apple tree in our garden is in bloom!

One of the joys of living in the (self-proclaimed) best bostadsrättsförening (co-op) in Stockholm is our gorgeous garden. On a warm, sunny morning like today, there's nothing like taking my cup of coffee out through the kitchen door and into the garden to enjoy drinking it among the flowers:

and herbs:

Day 3: What counts

Once a week, I volunteer at Mattecentrum, helping kids with mathematics. The national exams are this week and experience tells us that attendance tends to be particularly high at our räknestugor (math labs) on weeks such as this. The anxiety level was pretty high too and the buzz of cramming filled the room. They don't teach math like they used to, that's for sure. Couple that to clearing the cobwebs that inhabit those portions of my brain and I sometimes wonder if I am not confusing these kids more than helping!

Math Lab at Södra Latin

Nerves got to some students more than others. Two young ladies simply blacked out on how to multiply two, two-digit numbers. 94x32. I only know one way, so I rewrote the problem the "old fashioned" way

   94
x  32
_____

and proceeded to show them how to solve it. I always try to give them tips on how to check their answers, if not exactly then at least approximately. In this example, my reasoning was that 94 is pretty close to one hundred so the answer should be somewhat less than 100x32 or 3200. "That's actually quite clever," one said. THAT's when it's all worth it!

Teaching is the art of figuring out as many ways to present or explain the material as it takes for the light to go on in the eyes of every student in the room. That's the challenge...and the fun.

Day 2: Plus ça change...

So many happy memories surfaced as I was preparing...this time on the right day(!)...for Board Games...Yeah! Whenever I take out my Scrabble set, Deluxe Edition, I always think of Judi. Neighbor and friend, who dared be the passenger in my first outing after my newly acquired driver's license all those many years ago on our way to theater class at Queens College. The Scrabble set was a gift from Judi for my 20-something birthday, at my request and with her great generosity. The card is still in the box, which also contained another treasure:

The scoring sheet from my very first game of Scrabble with my niece Sharoni. She would have been 8 years old at the time and did fairly well, the final score being 198 to 210. From the handwriting I can tell that she's the one who kept score, an accomplishment at 8 and one that she shares with my adopted nephew Bruno, who, much more recently and at almost the exact same age as Sharon was then, also rose to the challenge of keeping score at his first game of Scrabble (with me, his brother Axel and their mother Dodi) earlier this year. My notion of what kids should be up to is nothing if not consistent and these parallels tickle me endlessly.

Scrabble also brings to mind Ruthie, who taught me the game as a child and put up with my competitive attitude. I was quite the sore loser it appears. And it reminds me of Joan, sister-in-law number 3 (of 5 so far, but who's counting ;-)) who taught me how to play strategically, much to the woe of many a WWF and Wordfeud competitor these days.

We never did play Scrabble today, too great of an international mix among the people who showed up. We did have fun playing several other games, joking and talking about this and that, and rounding the day off with a meal at the Indian restaurant down the block. And I'm already looking forward to the next occasion in June.