Day 298: Personal gallery

Visited Erik today. He is close to 90 and quite on the forgetful side these days. Gave me pause to wonder to what extent my brain will function at his age (assuming I live that long, of course). His body is in good shape...not surprising with a lifetime of skiing, and ice skating, and cycling, and canoeing behind him. (Of these, he has only given up skating so far).

Turns out that he has a friend who stops by several times a week to check in on him. A friend who looks at Erik and sees a grown man. A friend who takes things in stride and remembers the person Erik has been. That makes me happy.

The photos are of the hallway outside Erik's apartment which Erik has turned into a gallery of his interests and handiwork. Very homey and quite inspiring. That also made me happy.

Day 297: Mamma said there'd be days like this...

...there'd be days like this my mamma said!

Silver Lining

Forgot to blog on day 297. Bummer.

Happy I remembered that I forgot though...there's always a bright side.

Day 296: Easter decorations

Easter comes relatively early this year, toward the end of the equally early Pesach. Hard to miss in this town with Easter feathers on sale and Easter decorations abounding. These consists mainly of twigs adorned with colorful feathers. Today, I passed by a store window displaying some in my favorite color (accompanied by yellow). Very cheerful, very Swedish. Made me happy.

Day 295: Good read

Potato chips, veggies and dip at my side, I spent a luxurious day with a book. Hours upon hours of reading. A hard cover book with a built-in ribbon bookmark. Borrowed from the library. The kind of book that envelops you in a world so rich and real and moving, that you wish you could step into it and meet the people involved.

When there were only about 50 pages left...I put it down. I was not ready to have it end, wanted the experience to continue. Soon after, I was pulled back in, drawn by curiosity, missing the people, wanting to see how the story resolves. Although I think I know. But still...

Day 294: Reliving the joy

In January, I attended the wedding of my cousin's granddaughter to her long-time beau. Weddings are always special and this one held a particularly special place in my heart. The bride and groom know why...let's just say I had a little hand in planting the seed.

Today, I watched the wedding highlights video and was soon blubbering at the memories and emotions it evoked. How lucky we are to be at a day and age when we can capture such occasions not only in photos but in action as well. And how lucky am I to have such a fabulous family and the means to share happy occasions with them.

L'chaim!

Day 293: The morning after

One reason I love having people over is waking up the following day to a clean apartment, dishes washed, floors sparkling. As an extra bonus this morning, sunshine was streaming through the windows!

Day 292: New horizons

Today was the monthly board games Sunday at my place and this one was extra fun as I discovered not one but two new games (new for me)...and I like them both. I look forward to playing them both again and hope their owners come to the board games Sunday in April!

Category 5

Saint Petersburg

Day 291: Three outings, two naps, one visit

A day chock full of stuff. In the morning, off I went to the opening of the Ruud van Empel exhibition at Fotografiska, including an interview with the photographer and breakfast. (Outstanding coffee, btw.) This began way before my usual wake up time and included a 2 kilometer walk in each direction, hence nap number one when I got home.

Then a one kilometer walk to meet a friend and her daughter for lunch at our favorite Mexican place...OK it's the only Mexican place...in Stockholm. More walking back to my place where we hung out and played a lot of peek-a-boo. When they left to go home, on came nap number two.

Woke up in time to go off to the Improvisation & Co. theater where I spent a good couple of hours laughing and enjoying the antics...and in English no less.

So, now I'm ready for nap number three...that I hope will last until morning ;-)

Day 290: Good day, sunshine

The sun is shining, it's a crisp springwinter day...springlike aromas in the air yet temperatures still close to the freezing point...and hocus pocus everything's just a bit brighter. Couple this with the resolution of a conflict among neighbors in our building and you've got what makes me happy today.

To celebrate, I am indulging in an oh-so-bad-for-you-but-tastes-sublime bag of chips and a glass of elderberry soda. And a movie.

Happy Friday everyone!

Day 289: Stockholm! Why?

This morning, I attended a workshop along with some 30 other non-Swedes sponsored by the City of Stockholm. The title of the workshop was the same as the title of this blog, and the purpose was to collect input from foreigners as to why they have chosen to settle in Stockholm, what we love about the city and ways in which we believe it could be made even more attractive to professionals and business people.

It was an interesting and stimulating few hours and I was struck by the decidedly positive vibe in the room. Over the years, I've experienced a great deal of bitching and moaning from folks who've moved here and, frankly, it's gotten tiresome. So it was refreshing to be in a room full of people whose basic attitude toward living here was positive. Not to say that they did not see much room for improvement, but even those suggestions were made with a positive tone.

It was a great way to start the day!

Day 288: Memories

The last of my relatives in my mother's generation died this afternoon...a wonderful, generous and steadfast man. He lived a long life, was 90+ years old, lived to see his grandchildren grow into fine young adults, and had the respect of everyone in our family.

It's hard to be sad for him...mostly I'm sad for his daughter (my cousin), his grandchildren and myself. I know we will all miss him. In thinking about him now, I find myself smiling at many fond memories. He visited my mother many times in NY...I can see them now, around her kitchen table, he playing solitaire, she meddling. And I visited him whenever I was in Israel where he often sat at the kitchen table playing solitaire. I remember, too, a much younger Tzvi standing guard at the bedroom door to ensure we youngsters went to sleep, when we would much rather have stayed up all night talking. Random memories. Lots of love.

May he rest in peace. And if there is an afterlife, I expect there is a big family reunion happening there tonight.

Me, my brother and Tzvi, Haifa, 2008

Day 287: Call Me Maybe

LOL! So a few weeks ago a FB friend posted a link to a YouTube video with the comment "What to do when you're bored in Afghanistan?!" The video shows U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan doing a lip sync version of Carly Rae Jepsen's Call Me Maybe. For some reason, for the past few days, that video and the song have been on my mind. Today, I decided I had to find it again and watch, if only to be able to let it go.

Could not find the link on my friend's wall. Went into YouTube and searched. At first, I had no luck because, as it turns out I was had the title wrong. When I finally figured that out, I got many hits. It turns out that this video is actually a cover of video that the Miami Dolphins Cheerleaders recorded. So it took me a while to find the one I'd previously seen.

In the meanwhile, I got to watch a number of different versions, including the Miami Dolphin Cheerleaders original which made me appreciate the version posted on FB even more. I found myself laughing...and also quite moved. These guys (actually in quite a number of the videos I watched) put themselves out there, were obviously having a great time doing it, and put quite a bit of thought into their versions. And from the wide spread of talent, it looked like everyone got to be in the video, sense of rhythm notwithstanding. Now that's democracy.

So, without further ado, here they are:

The Miami Dolphins Cheerleaders

The U.S. Army in Afghanistan

A combo video that compares the two

Day 286: A girly topic...

Sometimes, I wonder where ideas come from, especially practical solutions to everyday challenges. For example, what first made me think to use rubber gloves (you know, the yellow dish washing kind) as an aid in opening jars? Or the egg slicer to cut boiled potatoes into slices for home fries? Or creating a grocery list from a recipe using cut-and-paste into a calendar entry?

Today's idea was to test shaving my legs before going into the shower using the built-in-shave-gel razor I've owned for several years now on dry legs. How is it that it never occurred to me before that this should work perfectly (which it did btw)? And why did it occur to me today?

I have no answers to these questions. Still, I'm delighted to have done the experiment and made the discovery which will ensure clean shaven legs much more often in future. I am sure you are all delighted to know this too... ;-)

Day 285: Being prepared

Yesterday afternoon, a former colleague and friend who lives in Linköping called. She was in Stockholm attending a course and her dinner plans (as well as a place to spend the night) fell through. I was so happy she called and, of course, invited her to spend the night.

That's when I was so happy I'd had my recent cooking frenzy. Dinner was just a frozen plastic container away! Lovely evening with a lovely person AND good food. And there's more where that came from...in my excellent new plastic containers.

:-)

Day 284: Twice blessed

Way back in August, I got the LCD screen of my iPad (1!) replaced. Just a few short weeks later, it tumbled off the bed and on to the carpeted floor and there went the new LCD screen. The screen was not cracked either time, it simply stopped working.

Naturally, I was quite frustrated and annoyed with myself and the iPad and couldn't help feeling cheated out of a working tablet. For months now, I've been debating what to do. Should I take it back to the repair shop? Would I be willing to pay to get it repaired again? Should I upgrade to the latest generation iPad instead? Should I make do with my iPhone alone?

And so the weeks turned into months and I did nothing. Every once in a while, I would look wistfully at the iPad in its gorgeous, handmade carrying case (thank you Dodi) and debate once again what to do. Finally, fed up with my own inertia, I decided to return to the repair shop with my tale of woe. The service person had me leave the iPad there with the promise that they would call when they determined what was wrong with it. That was on Thursday.

When they still hadn't called by 1 PM yesterday, I called them to get a status report. The iPad was repaired and they were surprised no one had called to inform me. Repaired? Without consulting me first? What was this fiasco going to cost me, I wondered? What I said was, "Oh," to which the person on the phone responded, "Naturally, there is no charge since it broke only weeks after we fixed it."

And they say the Swedes aren't service-minded! I picked it up today. As an added bonus, I found the bouquet of roses at the bus stop on my way home. :-D

Day 283: Turnabout's fair play

Over the past 48 hours, I have purchased tickets to two dance performances, two musicals, a movie and an improv club. I am supporting the arts. Now it's the arts' turn ;-)

Day 282: Zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Lullaby and good night...how does the rest go?

Fell asleep at a reasonable hour and slept through the night two nights in a row now.

HAPPY!

Day 281: Audio books

Happily listening to my first audio book ever...and what a treat!

A surprising number of the books we've chosen for book club (in English) are available at the public library in Stockholm. This month's book (State of Wonder by Anne Patchett) was no exception. In fact, the library stocks four copies, all of which are out on loan, no doubt to other book club members!? There was, however, an audio version available. The user reviews on Amazon give high praise to Hope Davis who recorded the book so I decided to give it a try.

The praise is well deserved. Ms. Davis brings the characters to life with just the right amount of vocal variation and reads the remaining narrative in a clear, pleasant voice at a good clip. I'm sure that has a lot to do with how much I am enjoying listening to the book. That and being able to do other things while "reading."

Guess you could call me a late adapter. As they say, better late than never!

Day 280: Synchronous movement

Three bodies on stage, moving simultaneously, identically, to music. Magical. Not easy to accomplish either but these three dancers got it just right. There is something about movement in unison, when it truly is in unison, that I find mesmerizing.

I took a nap this afternoon after getting back from a visit to the Åberg Museum in Bålsta today, and it took a great deal of willpower to propel myself out of bed and out the door for this evening's performance. I am very happy I did.

Day 279: Yemen

Monday evening means Language Exchange - Stockholm at the café. Tonight, three extra hosts showed up unexpectedly so there weren't all that many participants to go around. Half an hour into the meetup, I was ready to pack it in and go home when a latecomer walked through the door. I borrowed a participant from one group and together with the latecomer we constituted a small group and began conversing.

Turns out the latecomer, a woman in her thirties, moved to Sweden from Yemen about a year ago. When I asked her why, she replied that she was a political activist and found it confining to live in Yemen. During the course of the evening, we learned a great deal about Yemen, its political composition, the many problems it faces and the general geography of the region. It was refreshing and uplifting to meet a well-educated, intelligent and thoughtful person from the region who had deep insight into her country's problems and potential.

I learned as much current history from her as she learned Swedish from me. And I left feeling that I had gotten the better part of the bargain.