some days are like that

it's been one of those days. you know the kind...where you're running around, doing a million errands and tho' it seems like there must be a rainbow there on the horizon, you simply can't focus on it properly. all the further ahead you can see is the next item on the list. pumpkins: check. cat food: check. return library books: check. green market which is the only place they have sweetened condensed milk: check. smashed screen iPhone to repair: check. 

although technically speaking, and in terms of the list of things that must be done for our saturday halloween party, i got a lot done, it felt like spinning my wheels. why is it we can't appreciate the little things? especially when collectively, they do add up to quite a lot. 

i also got a bee in my bonnet for my next knitted blanket (because i want to make another one) and was stymied in my attempts to buy yarn by three yarn shops. one, where they didn't have the colors i had in mind. and the other, because it wasn't there anymore and i didn't have time to go look for where it had moved. and a third one i didn't stop in because there was no parking nearby. i'm sure they would have had precisely what i was looking for. *sigh*

* * *

i spent the evening helping with a political event. there are municipal elections coming up in a few weeks and the women candidates for the city council (which is more like a county commission in american terms) were doing a speed dating evening and i agreed to help. my help extended to pouring glasses of white wine. i'm pretty good at that. it was also interesting for me to talk to the candidates. not very many people came, so i got plenty of chance to do that. i felt both educated and dismayed. this multi-party system they have in denmark (there were candidates from 6 different parties there and all but one of them had all of their own teeth) is quite fascinating. each party does manage to have its own personality and i would say the candidates that were there fit the profile (tho' the missing tooth was a little counter-intuitive), even tho' at the municipal level politics is something completely other than what it is at the national level. only a couple of the candidates that were there were already on the city council, so it was interesting to hear why the new folks wanted to get involved. and i probably did legitimately get closer to knowing who i want to vote for in a few weeks. because yes, as a foreigner, i can vote. i am a permanent resident and can vote in municipal and regional elections, but not national. danes are democratic like that. it's part of why they're so happy.

* * *

this series of photos of an old japanese lady and her cat are magical. 

we might have to name our new white cat fukumaru.

* * *

it only took about 8 hours before the first bossy, righteous dane reared her ugly head in the pinterest translators group. *sigh* i guess it was bound to happen.

but mostly, it's really interesting following the threads in the group (which is secret, sorry, i can't share), 

also for finnish. some serious language intricacies are being discussed in a very interesting way.

* * *

i might have to drag out the old canon AE-1 and try some freelensing to shake things up photographically. problem is, i'm rubbish at getting the films developed, so who knows when we'll see the results.

haven't even made a dent in my list

it's one of those weeks. the list was long (two pages) and tho' i steadily worked on it, there are very few items that can be checked off. many of them just take time, but it's also because i did a lot of things that weren't on the list at all (maybe i need to put them there and cross them off to feel better). but on the whole, it leaves me here, on friday afternoon, feeling like i didn't accomplish much of anything this week. and a dull headache, i also have a dull headache. and it's been cloudy all morning, tho' they promised sunshine. the danish weather people suck, they just make shit up instead of actually trying to predict the weather. seriously, if everyone were as bad at their job as the danish meteorological institute (institute no less, the nerve!), this country would long ago have gone under. the norwegian weather service, however, says to expect sunshine later today, so i imagine my mood will improve. and now i'd better get back to that list...

happy weekend one and all!

a friday that behaved like a monday

it was a friday that was like a monday. everything ran 15 minutes behind. the horse's minor scratch turned into a strange hole in her leg that warranted 3 stitches and a course of antibiotics and we have no idea what did it. and when it started yesterday, there was definitely not a hole, tho' i somehow feel like a neglectful parent not to have noticed it, even after soaking her leg in a bucket of warm, soapy water and wiping it down with a soft cloth.  i just thought she had scraped a bit of hair off and was being a drama queen. she's given to that at times.

i also had to go to bilka, which is the closest you get to walmart in denmark. it wasn't pleasant. i nearly lost my will to live. nothing is where you think it will be, everything comes in the wrong size and any employee you can locate for help is already talking on some weird retro walkie talkie thingie and ignores you. i never did find the hamburger buns, since apparently they're not kept near other bread in bilka's brand of logic.  never did find marshmallows either. and the balloons they had completely sucked.

the weather's turned cold. molly loves to be outside, but was surprised by the frost on the grass this morning and when she came in, she snuggled on my lap for an hour to warm her feet. that was a real highlight of the day.

the team in india that's building the website i'm writing totally dropped the ball this week - there was apparently a festival. and tho' it was beyond my control, it makes me feel like i failed and let down my client. that isn't a good feeling. 

we're hosting our 5th annual halloween party tomorrow night. last year we bought a trampoline. this year, i went and got a bb gun. as one does. that bit of today went right. but i suppose it could go oh-so-wrong tomorrow when we turn the children loose with it.

i don't know about you, but i think it's time for a glass of wine.

i'll take a do-over please

they don't call it hump day for nothing. this day felt full of humps. small, annoying ones. the kind that leave you feeling you didn't get anything done, despite doing many small things. i think it was my attention span as well. it was short. so i could only do small tasks before wandering off to some other small task.  not a terrible, horrible, no good very bad day, but just a rather blah and wasted one.

i think it's because we've eaten far too much meat and far too much junk lately. when you don't eat right, you don't feel right. pizza last night didn't help, tho' it tasted oh-so-good at the moment. that's the way of pizza isn't it? piping hot from the pizza oven, crisp lettuce on top and a drizzle of ranch dressing. it's quite heavenly then, but later, when the carbs let you down and your stomach feels heavy, you realize you shouldn't have done it. i was just so sluggish today.

our weather hasn't helped. it's the coldest, rainiest summer in memory. and i've been through a lot of cold, rainy summers in this place. the sun came out this afternoon and it was actually pretty nice, but still not nice enough not to need a jacket while i stood on the sidelines of sabin's riding lesson.

husband suggested a little walk down to the lake at about 10:30 p.m. and that at least made the day end on a good note. it was gorgeous and peaceful down there. and when the sun comes out, it lasts for a long time. at least that's something.

some days are like that

"what happened to our summer?" asked samba (strangely, he didn't question the fact that we had placed a chive flower on his head.)

today was cold, windy and grey. we were spoiled last week, i tell you, lulled into thinking we'd have an actual summer this year. but alas, it was not to be. we might even have to turn the furnace back on.

the silver lining was that i didn't want to be outside, so i got loads of work done. none of it including doing dishes or putting away clothes or vacuuming or cleaning the bathroom, which is really starting to need it.  some days are like that.

then the horse got scared of some horse-eating invisible thing while i was brushing her (i blame the shift in the weather) and bonked me in the head with her head. i saw stars. and they weren't the twinkly kind in a clear, night sky. ouch.

i've still got a headache from that.

some days are like that too.

from where i sit...

is it just me or is there a faulty planetary alignment going on this week? something's just off. i'm not sleeping well. and i just feel, well...blah. i'm reading a book that i hate and yet i persevere. what's strange is that i have surrounded myself with inspiration all week and actually feel very inspired on an intellectual level. my inspiration notebook is filled with notes and scribblings, and i'm constantly running to scribble another sketch or thought in it, but when it comes to sitting down and actually DOING any of them, it falls down for me. i can't really get up off the couch or out from in front of the computer. i'm all input and no output. what is it about this week? i can't put my finger on it.

in a way i'm in a holding pattern. i signed a contract for a new job last week and it starts next week. so this week has been the in between week. i should have been eager to get all kinds of things done (like all those half-finished sewing projects i've got going) , but strangely, i just feel i'm waiting. and it's not that good liminal space kind of waiting that i love and have waxed philosophical about on numerous occasions. it's just a really non-productive kind of waiting wherein i have retreated into giant sloth mode:

and i was feeling rather badly about it until i read this. it seems that leonardo davinci was a great procrastinator. he filled tons of notebooks with ideas, but executed very few of them in actuality. it's really only an ingrained weberian protestant capitalist thing that makes us think that procrastination is bad. in fact, procrastination gives you time to work things out in your mind. perhaps all this thinking about the artworks that i've sketched out will make them better in the long run. i mean, who wants to be mediocre? and there are times when productivity breeds mediocrity. as the article says, davinci understood the fleeting nature of the imagination...it's important to get your ideas down while they're there. working them out comes later. to quote the article, "if there is one conclusion to be drawn from the life of leonardo, it is that procrastination reveals the things at which we are most gifted--the things we truly want to do."

therefore, i procrastinate in order to get in touch with my innermost creative self. so there.

blog blahs

i am uncharacteristically feeling blah about my blog. i just can't find any inspiration this week. perhaps it's the heat or perhaps these things are just natural. we're so deep into this home improvement project and that's taking all of my time and energy. i more or less have my kitchen back, so i'm also cooking more and that too takes time, tho' the things i've been cooking have been simple. but it's all keeping me from the computer. 

i finally did that stupid VAT report, which was weighing heavily for several weeks. i am simply shocked at how much money they are taking! yowza! and then there will be income taxes as well on top of it. it almost makes it not seem worth it to work. except for all of the lovely things that i would like to fill our home with and money is needed for those, so i guess i must.

and maybe returning to work next week is also keeping my vibe down. in many ways, i'm looking forward to it, and it's not about not loving my job, but more about that i didn't really get enough done around the house during my month off. i should have and could have done so much more. 

but perhaps my blahs are really about not really having gone anywhere for a month. i have plane tickets in hand for next monday, but it's strange for me not to fly anywhere for over a month!

it's not really as if nothing has happened this week to blog about. i would have thought that the jubilation of having gotten my long-awaited iPhone would have warranted an enthusiastic posting, but i didn't even have that in me. it is a sleek and sexy design marvel--the place where you insert the simcard alone is brilliant.

i discovered some new (to me) music that's making me happy...belanova, a mexican band. it's cheery and bright and puts me in a good mood, but i still feel blah about writing.

and yesterday, i picked up my kitchen aid beauties--an artisan mixer, a blender (which we promptly made 3 batches of smoothies in) and a food processor. all in beautiful red (except the food processor, which is black and which i couldn't pass up because it was a screamin' deal). and so i feel totally inspired to make wonderful things in the kitchen.

i just don't feel inspired to blog. anyone else out there feeling this way or ever felt this way? maybe i just need to give myself a break for a couple of days.