2022 has been a bit more stable than the previous two years, and yet still very much under the influence of the pandemic. The “hibernation” we all went into in 2020 is hard to wake up from. For example, I rarely want to go the grocery store in person like I used to. Instead, I […]
As the involuntary hibernation of the pandemic starts to ease up, go away, take a back seat to normalcy, I also realize that I need healthier habits at home. Not many years left until sitting at home day after day is the new normal, so I want to fill that normal with something better than […]
Mossy rocks in a stream. Moss has its own scent, a bit musty. Moss, by its nature, must grow where there is plenty of moisture, and that usually means a rainy area or where a stream splashes onto rocks. Moss on rocks, moss on trees, moss on fences, moss on logs. Dark, green, cushioned, moist, […]
I’m in my 60s! How strange! But I honestly am excited about this decade I have soundly joined. Oh, there are changes. One eyebrow has started to hang intermittently. The body just isn’t as firm or flexible as it once was, but it’s still healthy and does what I need it to do. Honestly, I […]
There weren’t many people on the plane from Los Angeles so I could stretch out across five seats and actually sleep as we crossed the Atlantic. Earlier in the flight, I had been allowed onto the flight deck just as we were flying over a nighttime St. Louis, glowing like a green and gold octopus […]
It is now 6 months since I last actually worked at the office and not from home. All these months of different routines, of exception, of waiting, have lead to a sort of lethargy. Perhaps some other things, too, have played a part, like it simply being winter. The lengthening days and warmer sun do […]
Happy New Year! It’s funny how much hope is generated just by swapping out a used up calendar with a brand new one. But there’s always hope in fresh starts, and anticipation, in a blank page, a new morning, the first stitches of a crochet hook. My usual New Year’s Eve ritual was ignored. I […]
I was born in 1960. My 60th birthday is next week. It is my turn to be utterly baffled at this change of decade. I have watched others turn 60. They all tell me that turning 50 was no big deal, but turning 60 was. I could tell that 60 is a bigger shift than […]
“Wow! It takes such strength to say what you said!” I was dumbfounded. I didn’t understand. It wasn’t like I had to argue with myself, calm shaking hands, take a deep breath, before telling my coworkers I have anxiety. I just said the words. It seems to have mattered more to my listeners than to […]
I have moved from the prologue of this book of adventures that is now me and on to the first chapter. In the month that has passed since you last heard from me, I have created an altar (inspired by a Daily Om article), I have do Sanskrit chants like “Asatoma Sadgamaya” (spelling varies wildly) […]
I’ve lost my way. Again. Once again I find myself looking for home. I wonder what my ball and chain are, what is weighing me down. The Universe cracks me up. It never fails to throw every single clue at me. Last night’s tarot card draw gave me The Fool. A card that means both […]
So maybe this change in routine has affected me more than I realize. Maybe my sheltering in place is no longer due to a virus but a depression. I like the social distancing. Maybe a little too much. I think it may be depression because I don’t do anything at home. Earlier I wrote about […]
This April is being spent at home, mostly indoors, away from loved ones, away from strangers. 2 meters apart indoors, 1 meter apart outdoors. Riding in cars and buses is limited or not doable at all. So, I invite you to Aprils past. The following photos are from various earlier years. Kvarven On the point […]
It’s been almost a month since I’ve been at the office. As it happens, my lunch gang all live near me and today we meet for lunch outdoors. It’s one of those classic April days: Still winter in the shade, darned near full summer in the sunshine. A day that’s hard to dress right for. […]
Did you know that “mistakable” is the English word that includes the entire history of the English language? Neither did I. I was listening to “Språkteigen”, a Norwegian radio program on language and Norwegian dialects, and the organizers of a “word exhibit” were interviewed. The exhibit consisted of a single word from each language on […]
“Dugnad”. Google translate says it means voluntary work. I live in the land of “dugnad”. It is actually unpaid work, usually for a common cause. (And pronounced sort of like “doog-nahd”.) Dugnad is not always pleasant or even voluntary. Certainly jokes abound about creative efforts to get out of doing dugnad, born out of how […]
Will you look at that? I can’t remember when last my refrigerator was this full! It’s all planned, too. I mean, I have meal plans. The authorities and grocery stores in Norway implore us all not to hoard; there are still regular deliveries. Hence I plan my meals and buy only what I actually need […]
The internet, as usual, is full of advice to those who have to stay home these days, quarantined or just social distancing or because school/work is closed. One suggestion is to pretend you have an invisible coworker and everything annoying is due to that coworker. Dirty dishes left out? It’s the invisible coworker’s fault. Somebody […]
It takes a Chinese virus to get me to write again, apparently. So, basically, my attempts to wean myself off bad habits and onto good ones have failed. I’m trying again. That was the update. The current event is the coronavirus. Late February the thought occured to me that this is our time’s Black Death—and […]
That diet I’m on, where I deleted every game on my phone? Yeah, I put some games back. Something in a comment about not coloring every picture. I was compulsively coloring. Every. Picture. So Happy Color is back, and now I deliberately color only the ones that are the kind I like to color (mostly […]
A Roll in the Universe 