Sunday, January 22, 2012

"I felt you leaving through one thousand yawning miles"

This is how good my preserves still look after a year - I am feeling quite proud.
This is 2012's first strawberry blended margarita- Zok said 10 for taste 6 for presentation because I forgot to put sugar on the rim of the glass.

This is what our farmers market produce looks like, pretty for certain, but tastier even than it looks.

This is where I currently skate- locally- I like to listen to 'The Who', and practice turning the "other" way. I like the wind, and I dislike the tan lines I get from wearing safety gear.

This is where I sit on the beach.


Sunday, January 15, 2012

"I just had an idea, but its very fragile."


I am very busy eating a container of blueberries each day. Blueberries are in season, cheap, and found everywhere, but I like this store that is on the way to the tip. Tip- means junkyard, or dump, but also handles recycling, green waste and has a second hand shop.


Sunday, January 8, 2012

"On the smooth brown hair was a hat that had been taken from its mother too young."






Here I am- on my back watching the intricate way that clouds move, change shape, and re-form again.

The only sound is bird song and waves.

I should be at the beach but somehow I can't quite go those extra few hundred yards...yet.

I ate a lunch comprised of the best tasting fruit and vegetables that I have had since well since the last time I was here.

Australia like California is a place of fire. There is always a feeling of its dangerous landscape, not 'if' the fire comes but 'when' the fire comes.

There is always this threat of natural disaster lurking in the landscape of paradise.

Whereas Stockholm, Stockholm has buildings older than both any building in either California or Australia.

A city of cold stone, persevering through the ages.

Here at the end of the globe where the phone never rings, pajamas are de rigueur and the second bottle of wine practically opens itself, there is always time enough to think about unanswered questions.

So I try to remember what happiness is here.

I fill the house with flowers cut from the garden.

I open the windows and doors to let the winds scatter sand through the house.


I try not to feel guilty about months of activity reflected in the guilt of my untended garden.

I look for solace in the plants that thrived under the conditions of neglect.

The butterfly bush, kangaroo paw and the lilac tree.

I promise myself that tomorrow I will return to the ocean waters and all will be washed clean.



Monday, January 2, 2012

"All aboard the night train."



We had friends over during the early darkness for home made Mexican food.
This is one of the only meals that Zok lets me do any cooking for.
I made beans, spanish rice, and flour tortillas.
Zok made steak fajitas, sauted peppers guacamole, and churros! (Well the churros need some work as this was a first attempt, I will put up the recipe when we get them right-still tasty of course).
Our guests came with beers, and very cute presents.
Also we finally had an excuse to open the nice bottle of tequila we lugged from 'who can remember' duty free airport shopping.
I decided in my mid-thirties I could no longer drink cheap anything out of plastic anything, so I bought some glasses second hand so that we could drink all night from glassware.
We had a really nice long dinner followed by watching fireworks from a roof top in town. We packed up our cold (Swedish people really do store their drinks on window ledges and balconies to keep them cold) beer and champagne and glasses and headed for the train station.

The night was perfect.
Really cold and clear, with just a slight moon.
Someone from our building put lights all through our courtyard.
Many businesses or people having parties announce the party by setting out these large candles at each side of the door. They are large and round, and do not blow out, they look a bit like the large citronella candles that come in a tin.
Fireworks are legal and sold all over the city.
In my years of taking New Years Eve off, coupled with living in a country were only professional displays of fireworks are allowed (think Sydney Harbor Bridge), I missed how fancy store bought fireworks have become.
From our vantage point on the roof we could see miles of skyline so that fireworks were going off at every point we could see.
We also had some going off right in front of us, at eye level.
Chinese lanterns were filling the sky minutes before the fireworks started.
Honestly, the sight was one of the most beautiful artificial displays I have ever seen.
I also had a feeling of being a part of a large city- all of us doing the same thing at the same time.
It was a lovely moment in time.
Of course my iPhone camera could not do any of these images justice.
Going home after midnight, the trains and train stations were filled with people.
Just as Zok was stating how terrible it must be for the train drivers, our driver's voice came over the loud speaker, full of good cheer and pep he shouted "All aboard the night train!".
Happy 2012 all.