monday funday

i was worried all night about the middle of the night uber i'd ordered for sabs to meet her 6 a.m. flight from newark and so i slept very restlessly. i dreamed that i had put regular gas in husband's diesel quashqai. and then i dreamed that i was reaching into a cramped space to lift out what i thought would be a kitten and i found it was a none-too-happy baby possum. scout, who hadn't been around for over a week, chose to meow plaintively at the window at a little after midnight. so when the dulcet tones of husband's north korean telephone (it's a huawei, which, i realize, is chinese, not north korean, but calling it north korean is so much funnier) called out that it was time to wake up, i wasn't ready. it felt like i'd only just gotten to sleep. plus, i didn't want to be in trouble for the gas tank thing. it wasn't the best start to a monday morning, which can be sketchy in and of itself. so i ate chocolate chip cookies for breakfast and made a pot of tea. i went to sit down at my freshly-renovated desk area to get to work and found scout sleeping in my chair. i couldn't possibly disturb him, i mean, what if he never got comfortable again? so i moved the chair over and brought in another one. let sleeping cats lie, they say, right?

* * *

some moron in the white house (there are so many), did not realize this was satire.

as of right now

a most pathetic attempt at winter. big, wet flakes falling from the sky in clumps, to join puddles of slush on the ground. dismal. grey. depressing. this may be the reality of our winters now in a time of climate change. they say we've actually had such a shattering effect on the earth that we've entered a new epoch, the anthropocene. i hate to always talk about the weather, but it somehow looms large and always affects my mood and outlook on the world. on the bright side, at least it indicates a connection to nature.

* * *

as of right now...

current netflix obsession: person of interest
drinking: carrot and apple juice
enjoying: alone time
should not have: driven for 4 hours today. turns out my back's not ready for that
appreciating: the little wood burning stove care package husband made for me (split logs of just the right size, some small bits to get the fire started, firestarter blocks and matches in a cool basket made of a recycled tire)
in need of: lip stuff
missing: my aunt's funeral. my dad's older sister. and the person who taught me to drink white russians. she had a long and full life. i'm sad to miss out on the stories.
best new accessory: bose wireless headphones
disapproving of: the pressure the danish education system places on 14-year-olds to decide what they want to be when they grow up already at 14 (hell, i still don't know.)
need to stop: listening to true crime podcasts (sword and scale). i'm probably going to have nightmares.
need to start: going to yoga
thankful for: good friends
loving: foggy mornings

* * *

sean penn interviews el chapo, the mexican escape artist drug lord in rolling stone.

he may be a self-professed luddite, but he can write.

* * *

an interesting read on the facebook algorithm. 

but let's face it, they are still pretty evil.

* * *

war & peace - digested.

arbness between coughing fits

i haven't got the heart to clean the outside of that window. those are frieda's muddy pawprints on it and i can't bear for them to be gone. not quite yet. i did, however, clean the inside of it, which you probably can't really tell by looking at this photo. maybe in the spring.

if the "recipe" calls for a box cake or store-bought dressing or jello or box pudding, it's not a recipe.

we finally saw star wars: the force awakens today. i enjoyed it, but i wasn't wowed. if you ask me, it all felt a bit too familiar...remote desert-y planet, cute, quirky droid containing a big secret, everyone tries to get their hands on said droid, guy in black helmet with voice modifier in torment, wise-cracking indiana jones type shows up, a visit to an out-of-the way quirky pub run by a woman who is ET's cousin by the look of her,  big battle where against incredible odds, a ragtag fleet defeats the baddies, ending left wide open for continuing sequels. along the way, echoes of lord of the rings with the odd horde of nazis thrown in. it's an odd mish-mash symbolically. highlights? adam driver as kylo ren, that badass rey girl, finn the former stormtrooper and carrie fisher as general leia.  and of course, harrison ford as han solo. there is comfort in familiar things. 

i hadn't had a bad cough in a several years, but i've got one again now. it keeps me from sleeping any appreciable length of time in a row. it gives my stomach muscles a good workout. and i'm very grateful it didn't happen a month ago, because if i'd had to cough like this right after my back surgery i'd definitely have insisted on being taken to the vet to be put down.

that's come up a few times of late.

i spent a lot of 2015 not sleeping enough and it seems to have continued into 2016. i hope to remedy that soon.

numbers 1 and 4 on this list are so much me. i'm going to try to remedy that this year.

i am not worried

things about which i am not worried:

~ putin.

~ the ukraine.

~ the coming nutella shortage (we have an 8 kilo stockpile).

~ ebola.

~ the middle east (i probably should be worried about this).

~ running out of gin (we were just in germany and i stocked up).

~ aging gracefully.

~ bills.

things which worry me a little bit:

~ finding the right shampoo.

~ what if i never find the right shampoo?

~ that my daughter's camera is way better than mine.

~ pixel-wise, mine still has that thing where i choose where it focuses.

~ the size of the new iPhone.

~ what if i never get to cape town again?

things which i worry about a lot:

~ stepping on kittens (i have an entirely too vivid picture in my head of the result of this).

~ cats getting run over.

~ there whereabouts of the feral hen.

~ how behind my child is in math and german thanks to the school she used to attend.

~ how can you know as a parent how bad a school really is?

~ will karma bite that dominatrix principal in the ass? (i know it will, but i'd honestly like to know when.)

~ with the amount of tax we pay, why couldn't our local school get its act together?

* * *

ahh, the jazz life in manila.

* * *

remind me again why we don't live in the world's most liveable city anymore?

* * *

and speaking of which, why do we lie about where we live?
(in my defense, i did live in copenhagen at one time and sabin was born there.)

* * *
the secret life of pronouns.
because words matter.

arbness: on lost planes, the fear of not knowing and which bond catwoman would prefer

i sit here at the computer, frieda on my lap, lying on the red curly sheep fleece pillow that is all of the cats' favorite bed, so it seemed appropriate to use a recent photo i took of another catwoman, this one perhaps much cooler than i am as i sit here, wearing my now beloved norwegian sweater which i found in a second hand store for 50kr, a comfy pair of pants and slouchy warm socks. (how was that for a very long sentence?) catwoman is very cool, canny and fearless. 

i am still voraciously reading every article i can find about the disappearance of that malaysian airlines flight and as i write this, there is still no news. what happened to the plane and all those people? how can a plane just disappear with scarcely a trace in today's connected world? and why is it so fascinating to us? why can't we stand the uncertainty of not knowing what happened and where it is? is it the people who are lost? oddly the articles i've been reading in places like the new york times and the guardian have had little mention of the passengers. is it our own fears of flying? i honestly don't have any, despite having some kind of feeling for years and years that i will die in a plane crash. is it just the 24 hour news cycle and endless access to information, no matter where we are, that has us obsessing over the lack of an answer? why are we riveted by this story? i flew malaysian airlines once, from KL to chennai. the worst part was a long layover in KL and no access to a lounge because none of the star(ve)alliance carriers cooperated on one there. alas, my plane carried me safely to chennai, where i didn't really want to be anyway (it being one of the most uncharming places on the planet). but really, where is james bond when you need him? i'm thinking pierce brosnan is the right bond for this case. it seems like it could somehow be a media-driven thing and that seems right up the alley of the brosnan bond. daniel craig is too deep and dark and mysterious (now that i think about it, maybe he is the right bond for this mystery). i suppose in the end there will be some shallow answer worthy more of roger moore as bond than either brosnan or craig. 

and while we're on the subject of bond, i think catwoman would probably like pierce brosnan as well. wonder woman, on the other hand, i'm not sure...

* * *

a couple of really cool articles on the cinematography of the LEGO movie...

here and here.

* * *

rené redzepi on copenhagen in the guardian.

random friday thoughts in the haze of a headache

three days of headache in a row. at first, i chalked it up to too many new year's eve libations, but now that we're on day 3, it's just a really, really pesky headache. i'm impatiently waiting for my new job to begin and feel in a state of limbo anyway, so it kind of fits. so i putter around, doing laundry, knitting, reading a bit, pinning on pinterest, perusing the interwebs and just generally not getting out of my pajamas. so, i thought i'd share a few of the things i've stumbled across, as well as my knitting progress:

there's a new blogging platform called marquee. it's in beta. i love the very clean, simple look of it and the way it scrolls. i discovered it through narratively, they're using it for their platform. i requested an invitation (they're still at that stage) and just got it, so i'm going to play around. i'm thinking of using it as a place for more creative writing endeavors, rather than therapy, like around here. i'll link you up once i'm ready. but in the meantime, check it out and request an invitation, it just might be the next best thing.

* * *

and speaking of narrative.ly, read this story about how hard it really is to give it all up and move to a farm.

* * *

my sister sent me a link to a new blog called soundtrack of a life. it's only a couple of days old, but already i like the premise...storytelling and conjuring of memories through songs. it wasn't that long ago that the storyteller made me think about this whole way that songs are intertwined with memories (or is it memories with songs?).

* * *

i'm off to make salmon and spinach quiche for dinner. happy weekend everyone!

friday randomness

little chocolate-colored flowers from the garden on the windowsill. i've been collecting acorn caps every time i go out to the barn as well, to try my hand at lisa's famous felted acorns. i want a more natural look to our christmas tree this year.

i thought the raspberries were finished after we had a couple of frosty nights in recent weeks. but they were most decidedly not finished and the frost seems to have rendered them sweeter and more delicious than ever.

* * *

in the wake of the recent weeks of madness in the US congress, i find myself wondering what passport i will have when the US completely falls apart? will illinois issue passports themselves? or south dakota? or arizona? and what will the requirements be? place you were born? where you last lived? where you hold your driver's license? or will i qualify for asylum in denmark as a stateless person?

* * *

have you seen these fabulous dressed sculptures? they bring hipster to a whole new level.

* * *

i'm missing the child, but she's having a wonderful time in st. petersburg. and thanks to the wonders (and ubiquitousness) of wifi and FaceTime, we've been speaking to her daily. things have most definitely changed since i studied in russia nearly 20 years ago (holy crap, it was nearly 20 years ago!)

* * *

our local scouts hold a big two-day flea market every year at this time and i can't wait 'til the doors open at 2 so i can go to see what treasures are there! photos will most surely follow.

* * *

happy weekend, one and all.

an assortment of bottled-up thoughts

an assortment of bottled-up thoughts are tumbling through my head after a weekend of mad amounts of cooking (on saturday, i made chutney, pickles, raspberry jam, bread, ricotta, lasagne, garlic mushrooms which i picked myself in our forest and a plum cake). i did it all while watching doctor who on netflix (except the walk in the woods to pick mushrooms, i took a break then). i'm not sure i'm fully onboard with the doctor. there are a few too many zombies and crude robots with funny voices for my taste. it leaves it seeming a bit cheesy in a way that becomes tiresome after awhile. so today, while patching up all of husband's work jeans and shorts, i went over to the spinoff - torchwood. i think it's a bit more up my alley. but how great is netflix? what did we do before we had it?

* * *

i'm pondering ways of displaying my minifigure collection. i think i need a new typecase drawer, as i don't want to use the "official" display cases made by lego. i wanted husband to make me a little shelf that goes all the way around the ceiling, but he's not really that keen on the minifigure collection. something about plastic junk we don't need that i tuned out. there are worse things i could collect. shrunken heads, for example. or human teeth. or toenail clippings. it could be much, much worse.

* * *

this morning, a friend on facebook posted this piece on the power of language and the power of appropriating someone else's terminology (e.g. racism) and i found myself thinking about it all day. i've had racism on the brain of late, as i look around at denmark and find it becoming increasingly racist (just check out this proof). i've also been uncomfortable using that term, as i feel it's reserved for the black vs. white discussion and have hesitated to appropriate it more broadly. in the danish context, it's less about skin color and more about general xenophobia - fear of The Other, many of whom are as white as the danes. i've wondered if racism as a term really applies. but when considered in terms of power, oppression and privilege, it is in many ways racism which is on the rise in denmark. and if we don't use that stark terminology to point it out, we contribute to allowing it to happen (remember what happened last century when no one spoke up against a little moustached fellow named hitler?).

i do realize that this isn't what the ambiguously-gendered jamie of the article is saying - s/he's saying that outside of the black-white context, we shouldn't go bandying around the word "racism." but i think we not only should, we need to (tho' i agree with the examples given that it is a misuse of the word on the part of a bunch of whiners who have been slighted by someone). because racism needs to be stopped and it needs to be said, out loud, that it's not ok. 

oh, and i completely disagree with jamie that anyone's mind will ever be changed by a discussion on facebook.

* * *

a month or so ago, i came across a reference to ray bradbury's zen in the art of writing and ordered it from the library. i've not read any bradbury before (perhaps the odd short story back in school), but it is absolutely uncanny how i keep running across him all of a sudden. zen in the art of writing is a marvelous little book and i've got to own it, not just have it from the lbirary, it won't do to be without it. i am already making lists of nouns as he advises and can't wait to see what kind of stories come out when i sit down to use them.

then, on friday, i came across this spoken word piece by corin raymond and who does he refer to but ray bradbury? it's an hour long, but very much worth it. play it in the background while you're cooking or ironing or sewing or painting, it's about listening to it anyway. after listening, i ordered fahrenheit 451 and dandelion wine from the library. how can i have gone this long without reading them?

and then just now, i sat down with infinite perspectives, a book on the history of mapmaking. and who do you think wrote the foreword? ray bradbury. 

this can't be a coincidence. 

* * *

amazing albanian women who have lived as men for their whole lives.

the wind has blown my thoughts into confusion

i seriously blinked and then it was thursday. where has this week gone? i'm nowhere near ready for my family to arrive, but am looking forward to it anyway. they'll just have to live with the chaos of this old, falling down house. tho' my cooking mojo has been nowhere to be found, a visit to the awesome butcher in farre and some wonderful smoked meats made locally by a friend make me think that i can at least wow them with some components of various meals.

husband is sick. really sick, as in horrible chills in the middle of the night due to his high fever. he has been in the big, comfy chair all day, under three blankets, watching netflix and drinking sprite. he's covered in a shiny glaze of fever sweat. it's not a pretty sight. i really hope he's better by tomorrow when they all get here!

the wind has blown today like a hurricane and yet the weather folks didn't say a single word about it. i was actually lifted off the ground at one point when i went outside. not really. but almost. it was that bad. i hope it stops and the weather shapes up before they land at 5:35 tomorrow. at least there's a tailwind for their trip.

we're actually happy there's no end in sight to the teacher lockout, as it means we won't have to take sabin out of school to go do fun things with family. but honestly, if i hear one more parent complain on facebook that they don't have any babysitting for their kids, i'm going to scream. is school really just babysitting to parents in this country? i haven't seen one iota of concern by a parent that they're worried their children are falling behind on what they should be learning. i know i said this already the other day, but it really gets my goat.

speaking of goats, i'd like to have one. then i'd make goat cheese. and i'm sure that would help my cooking mojo immensely.

on that note, i'm off to make up beds so people have somewhere to sleep when they come.

ponderings as the holiday winds down

questions i'm currently pondering:

~ will spring ever come?

~ what is the shape of now?

~ what is the feeling of now?

~ what is the look of now?

~ what do i want to be when i grow up?

~ tho' i've read lots of complaints out there about daylight savings time, i still love it. i'd rather have my light at the end of the day, thank you. it cuts back on television time and lets you sleep a bit longer.

~ what will i read next?

~ will i ever really be able to quiet my mind and meditate? (and will it help if i do?)

~ as much as i think the notion of coaching is a snake oil worthy of p.t. barnum (there's a sucker born every minute) or scientology, do i actually need one? or would it be better to just go running?

~ is it ok to be a snob? 

~ is it ok to assess the blame in order to avoid taking on someone else's bullshit? (husband says yes and i'm inclined to believe him.)

~ how can i introduce play into my everyday? and is there a way make a living doing so? (without involving too many children.)

~ i need more happenings in my life. and pop-up shops. and restaurants. and quality coffee. and organic veggies.

~ how can i be a better friend to me?

~ when will i stop using that essie nail polish that destroys my nails?

~ do you think you are drawn to the things you need, just when you need them?

~ where is the outrage in the danes over the coming teacher lock-out? (it starts tuesday and will last indefinitely.) and what do people do who don't have a child old enough to be left home alone in front of the internet with her iMac?

~ why don't people don't write letters like this anymore?

What is needed is constant work, day and night, constant reading, study, will…. Every hour is precious for it…. Come to us, smash the vodka bottle, lie down and read…. Turgenev, if you like, whom you have not read.

that's not quite true, i have read turgenev. and my bottle of choice is gin.

but of course, chekhov wasn't writing to me.

* * *

how fabulous does this version of alice in wonderland look?

with art by yayoi kusama.

circles are everywhere, i tell you. everywhere. it's the shape of now.

friday confessions and some long-awaited ship pictures

in light of the new pope (is it just me or are you also humming don't cry for me argentina every time they show him on television?) i thought i'd revive my old friday confessions (tho' i remind you that i am not catholic - i was always a little envious of the catholics, just having to say a few hail marys for their sins and then going along their merry way):

~ one thing i love about living in europe is that you can wear the same clothes two (or even three) days in a row and no one thinks anything of it.

~ i am a crazy chicken lady. the antics of our chickens endlessly amuse me and i even tell stories about them. in public. the silly chicken that was sitting on 16 eggs out in the horse barn freaked out the day it snowed (it was her on the roof of the little rabbit condo) and didn't go back to the eggs, but ended up very high up in a birch tree. she even spent the night there and it was -10°C! i think she had one of those moments we all get as parents, where for one shining second, we get a very clear picture in our heads of how much work is ahead and she just freaked out at the prospect of all 16 of those eggs hatching. yesterday, i counted the eggs again and noticed there were 17 (someone's helping her out). and now, this morning, she's back on the nest. they'll never hatch, as she was off them for a good 36 hours and it was cold! but there she is. my confession is that i find this utterly charming.

~ frankie is a weirdo of a cat. he comes running when he hears running water or the vacuum cleaner. most cats run and hide, but not frankie. i confess that i find this charming as well.

~ i'm doing the oprah-chopra (that rhymes better than what they're calling it) 21-day meditation challenge. i've had a hard time shaking off a cough (surprise, surprise) and the notion of perfect health appealed to me, so i thought i'd give it a whirl. i have learned so far that i can't meditate to save my life. my mind refuses to be quiet and just let me concentrate on my breathing and the mantra. it flits off in all directions and i keep having to drag it, kicking and screaming, back to the meditation. i wonder if i'll get better with practice or if i'm just not cut out to meditate?

~ i miss how i used to be able to write things that were effortlessly funny. i'm not funny anymore and i miss it. and i don't know how to get it back. am i too content to be funny? or did i just lose my mojo?

~ i forgot all about sharing the rest of my photos from the port at esbjerg, so here they are:

a little ship being repaired in the dry dock

barges

an adorable old wooden boat. and those chains...swoon.

a little lighthouse ship that's now a museum.

rusty and gorgeous. i kind of want to hug it.

the island commander

such an interesting coincidence that the island commander was in esbjerg last week when i was there. i was onboard this very ship when it was brand new and in the harbor in oslo during nor-shipping in 2009. this. exact. ship. it's a PSV (platform supply vessel), carrying all kinds of things back and forth to the offshore oil rigs.

* * *

happy weekend, one and all! i'm off to a weekend embroidery course with artist anne brodersen, together with my bloggy (and real life) friend elizabeth (of landanna).

the view...

...from sunday night.

~ chickens can fly way better than you think.

~ weekends are too short.

~ ticket to ride is the best game we've come across in a long time. it's a real, old-fashioned board game, where you sit at the table as a family. kind of risk meets the railroads. awesome.

~ so many good books, so impossible to read them all at once.

~ it's really good to have horses on the property again.

~ a smattering of snow makes a huge difference on how light it seems outside.

~ there's a lot of violence on buffy, but most of it seems necessary. it's what happens when you live on top of a hellmouth.

~ i'm glad i don't live on top of a hellmouth.

~ it's lots of fun looking at brochures for brand new cars. neither husband nor i have ever had a brand new car. it'll be the first in our family in generations. and today, we ruled out the ford. and by we, i mean husband, because i didn't go along and didn't want to. tho' it's fun, it was way better to stay home making things together with sabin.

~ facebook can be fun at times. and really make me laugh.

~ pinterest has ruined the acronym DIY for me. (i may have mentioned this before.)

~ whenever i do an outdoor activity with husband (helping him with heavy lifting, stringing an electric fence), it makes it feel like we are really in this together. not to say that i don't otherwise feel that, but i feel it acutely in moments of manual labor. and on friday nights when we talk over our week over a bottle of good wine and a nice dinner.

here's wish you all a good week ahead. i've got that sunday evening feeling and i'm ready to face it head-on.

a bit random for today, but it's been grey and dreary for days

small stone :: four

chickens pecking in the herb beds. a little half-grown grey cat stalks, doing the pre-launch wiggle of her haunches and then running straight for one little black hen. she aborts at the last minute, not daring after all. and the chicken gives her a good scolding.

small stone :: five

looking at a friend's photos of armenia on facebook. hearing the echoes of memories not my own in the beautiful, evocative images. feeling provoked to tears.

~~~

vignettes of memories:

going to a bar in kazan with my russian (tatar?) girlfriends. it wasn't something they did often (or ever). all i really remember is their big, round eyes and the decor - which was faux cave, draped in plastic plants.

defying the last of winter in kazan (apparently my brain is in kazan) with long, cutoff jeans shorts on an april day. 

stuffing myself and my backpack onto a VERY busy tram (also in kazan) and at one point, being held up completely by the surrounding crowd, as my feet left the ground.

what is it about watching living daylights (the first bond with timothy dalton) that reminds me of kazan?

~~~

is america in decline? and how much does it have in common with europe?
read more here.  

~~~

i really like maria konnikova's thoughts on language.

while you're there, stay and read more of her blog posts, you won't regret it.

~~~

have you read j.k. rowling's casual vacancy?
what did you think?

assorted arbness and some links to good stuff

i bought a 2013 calendar today. i haven't actually had a paper, real calendar in several years, but i found i wanted one. the electronic version i carry in my phone just isn't the same. maybe i was just feeling old school, but whatever it is, it feels right to start penciling (and i am using pencil) onto the smooth paper. what about you - do you have a real, paper calendar or just an electronic one?

* * *

normally i think mindfulness is a load of fluffy crap, but some of the advice in this post spoke to me.

and i always make my bed.

in fact, i start making it even before i get out of it.

* * *

literature makes you weird. and amen to that.
anything that makes us think outside of our accustomed modes of thought is most welcome.

* * *

interesting piece on etsy on npr (and also on wired). i have my doubts as to how well they actually "investigate" those sellers selling chinese crap. and we know they don't do anything about copycats. and don't even get me started on what they allow as "vintage." and the former CEO's quote about "curating his entire life with handmade" made me throw up a little bit in my mouth. i basically have trouble reconciling the hipster idealism with the actual practice on the site - empty plastic child's paint sets sold as "vintage" and rustic furniture churned out in a factory in indonesia. i'm not convinced that etsy is the answer.

pinspiration no. 4 + a bit of randomness

we awoke to a sparkling frosty morning, so i had to run out and grab some bokeh. soon the frost will be totally gone and i won't have another chance for months and months. right? the frost will go soon, right?

then, i settled in with pinspiration no. 4 and a cup of tea. the sunshine was bright and kept beckoning me outdoors, so progress was slow.

our baby bunnies are 3 weeks old today and are VERY active now. i cannot tell you how much we enjoy our bunnies - way more than i ever would have imagined. and baby bunnies? they're like miniature, whole complete rabbits. perfection.

and my pinspiration no. 4 dragonfly. here's the beautiful original i was inspired by. it was hard to cut into the vintage cross stitch, but i like how it turned out, tho' it's far from the perfection of the originals by mr. finch. it's an interesting exercise to basically indulge in someone else's art. which in my view (and picasso's) is perfectly ok if you're not doing it for commercial gain. this, for me, was an exercise in forcing myself to cut into a vintage textile, as well as to find materials around me to work with...some waxed cord as feelers and some little wire legs. for the body i used a bit of cotton that was trimmed off some old curtains and had been soaked in black beans at one point. as you can tell, most of that "dye" rinsed out. it was a good exercise for me in many ways - both freeing and yet awkward. but it has pushed my thinking towards making something entirely my own.

but in the meantime, it looks very pretty on the branch i hung on the wall in the living room a few days ago. and i'm learning a whole lot from this making something i've pinned on pinterest thing.

* * *

i listened to this on repeat (more times than i care to admit):

it seems a little lame to be enamored of belgian house music, but there you have it.
i mean really, belgium?

* * *

and i'm longing for something like this in my community.
nice to know it's good to be bilingual.
and tho' we already knew it, it's hip to use natural dyes.
oddly, this seems like me. in danish.
and this is an interesting question to ponder.
ikea. more than just crack meatballs.
blown away by this work.

on the guardian and immigrants and words and passive aggressive status updates

whenever i don't blog for a few days, i end up feeling intensely bottled up with all kinds of small, unrelated thoughts. luckily, the genre of blog lends itself well to that.  it's dreary and a bit cold out this morning, so i feel justified in staying tucked up in bed with the laptop and a big mug of tea (which husband just delivered to me), and getting all those niggling little thoughts out onto the page.

i read an article in the guardian about the food revolution and all those celebrity chefs like jamie oliver and nigella lawson, who claim to be down-to-earth, but actually have full-time gardeners and housekeepers that enable them to live their "normal" lives. class warfare (bitterness?) is rife in the article and i'm on the whole unconvinced by the arguments, tho' glaser makes some interesting points. i turn to nigella and jamie's cookbooks time and again and don't find them the least inaccessible to either my daily cooking needs nor the everyday shelves of my grocery stores. it strikes me as a classic case of trying to make a mountain of a molehill. and at the end, it's apparent she's trying to sell her own book, which is precisely what she denigrates jamie and nigella for doing. hmm....

* * *

i got a large photography book from the library yesterday. i wasn't looking for it and just happened past it on a shelf. a photographer named henrik saxgren went around scandinavia photographing immigrants. the book, published in 2006, is called krig og kærlighed - om indvandringen i norden (war and love - on immigration in the north). immigrants were photographed in their homes in norway, denmark, finland, iceland and sweden. he also photographed the camps where asylum-seekers are housed in each country. those make for some very stark photos. and the stories are even starker. i'm not finished with the book (page 104 of 266) and already i feel haunted by many of the stories. long hours in fish processing plants in harsh conditions seems to be a regular theme. not all of the stories are of immigrants fleeing war and strife in their own countries, but there are also tales of love. another recurring theme is men who were lured to scandinavia by tall, beautiful, blonde girls, only to be left stranded by them when the dream bubble burst. unable to go once the fires of love go out because they don't want to leave their children behind, they're left without network or love. i remarked to husband that the same could happen to me, but he just brought me a second cup of tea, so it looks like i'm good for the moment.

* * *

last evening, i got bored on pinterest.

* * *

i was reading blogs yesterday afternoon and i am struck by how often people misuse their/they're/there, it's/its, lay/lie, your/you're. and how often those same people are also homeschooling their children.

* * *

and speaking of words, sewist/sewer/seamstress is causing a big stir and even a follow-up over at the craftsy blog. personally, i hate the word sewist - it sounds made-up and pretentious. seamstress has the weight of tradition behind it and carries a continuity with a historical line of amazing women who sew. and sewer, well, i think that rules itself out in how easily it can be misunderstood as pipes carrying poo.

* * *

in other word-related thoughts, extranjera and i had a little discussion on facebook on friday after i used the danish word mindrebegavede. it is basically the word for retarded, but to my ear, expresses it more delicately - lesser gifted (if i translate literally). i had just heard a tween use the very local colloquial "ik' aw" about 25 times in the course of a 2-minute story. this is the equivalent of ending every phrase with "like, ya know?" and does, in fact, make the speaker sound, well, lesser gifted. so instead of screaming, i put up a little passive aggressive status update on facebook. because if facebook is for nothing else, it is THE place to get all of your passive aggressions out of your system.

* * *

and on that note, i think i'll wander off and find something productive to do. like change around the dining room.  happy sunday, one and all.

monday musings

i'm doing an alphabet month during february for my 366 project - this is yesterday's  photo - S is for sabin, sunset, silhouette. doing a letter a day (if i count the letters of the english and danish alphabets, it perfectly fits a leap year february of 29) is harder than you might think. we're SO bound to those standard iconic words by which we learned the alphabet - a is for apple, e for elephant, k for kangaroo - and it's really hard once one of those has popped into your head to come up with something else. and although there's a camel in my neighborhood, there are no elephants or kangaroos. but S, that was easy.

* * *

it seems that spring is coming...the horse was running and bucking like a maniac yesterday when i turned her out and the outdoor cat is in heat. poor woody, who got fixed two weeks ago, still thinks he can help her out and she's such a shameless hussy that she lets him.  we hope big brother tiger, who is still intact, gets the job done. no farm is complete without kittens.

* * *

it would appear to be possible for a chicken to have post-partum depression. one of our brown hens, who has been nesting in recent weeks, hatched her chick yesterday. but, being a stupid and still young chicken, she left the nest and it froze to death before we realized it was there. honestly, we didn't think anything would come of all that nesting, since half of them were trying to hatch plastic eggs that we had put out to teach them where to lay the eggs. but there was a perfect little brown chick (albiet dead) in the nest and she was making decidedly sad clucking sounds when husband went to close them in for the night last evening. i thought she'd have forgotten all about it by this morning, but she's apparently still in mourning, as the sad clucks continue. poor dear. i've been watching her neighbor hen all day, in case the egg she's on hatches and she wanders away. it is a slightly dumb time of year for baby chicks with temperatures hovering around freezing, but it's quite nice to know that our chickens are working (so to speak).

* * *

i find it hard at times to work at home. too many distractions and not enough discipline on my part. i need to find another place to concentrate (i'm thinking the library).  other times (like today, actually), i get loads done and am very focused - nearly too focused, actually - sitting too long in one position, not taking enough breaks. i wish there was somehow a happy medium.  do you sometimes work from home? if so, how do you discipline yourself? and those of you who have your own little company - how do you keep the terror that it's all on your shoulders at bay?

* * *

happy monday, one and all.

tah dah!

i need to think happy thoughts to calm my blood pressure (that thing that i'm almost out of, but not quite is making me a bit crazy), so what better way than sharing a happy skating photo that sabin took of me the other day. we've had several days of meltiness and the ice isn't safe anymore, so this was our last proper skating, probably for the year. but it was glorious!

* * *

read the alabama chanin blog - it makes me happy and inspires me every time i do.

great stories and plenty of inspiration.

it's magic they're making.

* * *

over the past few days, i keep coming across art collectives.

here

and here (be sure to read this while you're there).

what would you do if you were part of an art collective?

(or what DO you do if you're part of one?)

* * *

best line i've read all day:

"the only excuse for not coming is that you hate fun." 

i would so hang out with those brooklyn brainery people.

if i were in brooklyn.

or had ever been to NYC.

* * *

would you believe i spent an hour today, surrounded by all my cameras talking to a local newspaper reporter about my 365 photo project and a photo project i'm trying to get started in our community and that i nearly forgot to take my photo of the day?

* * *

we're going to germany for lunch on saturday.

that's so much less exotic than it sounds.

twisty trails of monday ponderings

~ still coughing.

~ i love inflated titles - so i gave myself one: director of creative services. next time, i'm going to be an idea consultant. tho' i'm still most partial to storyteller.

~ i watched a documentary last evening about the jewelry of cartier and copenhagen's shamballa jewels. they are both equally pretentious, but in very different ways. it got me thinking about the state of pretention in the world these days. i think it's in flux. whereas it was pretentious to consume the right brand, now it's becoming a pretense not to.

~ i want an herbarium in the garden.  one like cadfael has in ellis peters' crime novels set in the 12th century.

~ nothing brightens one's day quite as much as fresh, new moo cards.

~ a couple of months ago, i bought a .dk domain. if i'd known then what i know now, i'd never have done it. you see, there's a protectionist cartel around the .dk domains that makes it impossible to use them without buying hosting in denmark. no google sites, no blogger, no shop site like someammo. they've got it fixed so that you MUST pay a premium for hosting in denmark. it's a protectionist scam i tell you and i feel it's quite outside what i perceive as the spirit of the internet. i will never again buy a .dk domain.   that said, i have given in and paid their mafia-like extortion fees we'll soon have it up and running and i'm going to be pleased to show it to you!

~ i'm tired of this non-wintery winter. i could really use a good and proper snow before it's all over.

~ that said, the return of the light is already noticeable and these balmy days do make it wonderful to go for a weekend walk.

~ did i tell you that i bought a pinto shetland pony last week? her name is pinky. she's feisty and spunky, but overall a good girl and a good ride (tho' you should NOT use a whip on her, as one of the riding instructors found out to her dismay last week). she's a bit small for sabin, but is her birthday present anyway. every kid needs a horse they can PLAY with and our matilde is not that kind of horse. plus, the riding club had need of a small pony for the leadline classes and doesn't have much money. so, i bought her and have lent her to the club for lessons.

~ i love knitting with variegated yarn - i find the gradual changing of the colors very motivating. and my latest scarf is almost done. i may even try to learn to purl on the next one.

~ remember that local community culture group i mentioned?  well, last thursday, i joined the advisory board. i'm pretty excited about that.

~ it's only halfway into the month and already i'm a little tired of using only instagram photos for my 366.

~ and now it's time to go see how many eggs the chickens have produced today. happy monday one and all!

monday ponderings

~ if your 8-year-old child is an incredibly annoying know-it-all and you just drop him off and foist him off on strangers in a public place, what kind of a parent are you?

~ should one or should one not read the books everyone is buzzing about?

~ i'm reading caitlin moran's how to be a woman (see above) and so far, i've learned a lot of new slang for one's private parts and had a vicarious experience of ecstasy (she writes well). and while i enjoy her ballsy writing, i'm not sure that i want to be the kind of woman she describes. right now, she's at a strip club. i'll share more about the book when i've finished it and digested it.

~ i've been writing a piece about foraging in my head for a couple of weeks now and thought i'd reached the point where it would come out onto the page, but strangely, it won't.

~ i hate when that happens.

~ my sewing is going well. i've got three sizes of little dresses (3-4, 5-6, 7-8(at least i think those are the sizes)) now. a photoshoot with them and a beautiful little girl on the horizon. and i've learned a lot about patterns and scaling. plus my sewing is getting faster and neater. these are all good things. i'll be providing some to an actual shop at the end of the week! very excited about that.

~ as you can see, the wildflowers are plentiful and make a fetching bouquet.

~ more thoughts soon....