hej igen! hi again...

kanner nastan for att skriva lite pa svenska nu efter att ha just varit dar, men da forstar inte manga vad jag skriver...

i'm back from sweden. while i was there the leaves started turning from green to yellow. the weather was perfect. clear blue skies and sun, though not hot.

so many things i love and miss about sweden. the first things are, flying in, the green and lack of ugly grey buildings everywhere. stepping into the airport, the air. it's amazing how different the air is. and the light. the air and the light are two elements that are strangely significant for me. those and the language. i feel at home in this air, light and language. i wish this other home were not so far away and didn't require a planeride to get there...

i've always struggled between choosing to live here or in sweden. over the years i've just become more entrenched in the U.S. and i can't write well in swedish, which frustrates me. and the lack of queer visibility is also stifling in sweden. but here, i feel so cut off from sweden. there aren't a lot of swedes around to talk to. i don't know any here. i love that i can read swedish blogs (like camilla's, karin's, tuula's, hanna's, jenny's, and sara's) and see bits of sweden/swedish culture/swedish people through the computer.

some other things i love about sweden:
*the moss on the stones (which i think happens farther north here too, like in washington)
*the general sensibility of the people
*allemannsratt
*lack of an overwhelming amount of massproduced products (although that is changing each year that passes)
*the small size of the country - makes government and everyday life seem so much more manageable. more possibility to effect change, keep track of news, more possibility of connection...
*swedish design
*fika


mom and mormor

and of course my mormor is a huge connection for me to sweden. she is the reason i've gone the past four years to visit. she is not doing so well now. it was very hard during this visit to see her suffer. she has become very quiet and tired. i spent many hours each day sitting with her in her quiet. but even so, she still managed to tell me the things that matter.

(more pics to come... may have a fika series and a self portrait series and an entry about my aunt's artwork among other things.)

(soundtrack to the visit was death cab for cutie's transatlanticism. so good!)

looking forward to checking out all your blogs that i've missed while away...

till sverige!

see you at the end of september.


photo by Staffan Brundell
vi ses!

self portrait tuesday: body parts

so i started out going by kath's theme of body parts and trying to take a photo of my skinny (in comparison to the rest of me) fingers, but it ended up being an eyeball/nose picture instead. it's not flattering, but i like it for some reason.


and here was another in the group that i liked because it looks like i'm some kind or weird creature who can wrap their eyes around their head! watch out.

i'm starting to get the pre-travel jittery excitement feeling. like i drank too many blended coffee beverages. of course i've already had trouble sleeping for a week because i dread flying, despite the fact that i've flown all my life. andrea's 9/12/05 post is appropriate...

ps. i just found these on six and a half stitches. wow!!!

cupcakes

cupcakes for a party. i had forgotten how fun it is to decorate cupcakes!


erica making each cupcake unique.

i think arc from port2port posted this link a while ago to all cupcakes all the time. wow. there are some beautiful cupcakes on there!

pet to blog: show me tummy!

yummy tummy
and a little bit crazy

weekend pics

here are some pics from the weekend. (i'm taking a little break from self portrait tuesday. i'll start up again when back from sweden in october.)

vegas waiting for her ball to be kicked, in stalking position


sandy snoot


feet


here is my new shelf from ikea. i can't fit a nightstand by my bed, so this shelf will be it. right now with some gee's bend quilt postcards. this is a typical pinky shot too, sneaking under the covers.


CUTE. my friend fin eating a labor day meal.

quilts for katrina

here's my square for quilts for katrina

2 links

1. check out ana's most recent collage ladies. scroll down a bit.
2. i found laboratory 5 while perusing the wonderful things folks have donated to the etsy shop for hurricane relief. my favorite items on the lab 5 site are the paper quilt cards they donated to etsy. see one below.

update

just updated the mecozy shop. the bears are now for sale there.
have a good weekend!

pet to blog: videos! and hurricane relief effort

i finally started using the video feature on my camera. here are a couple of my first ones.

1. pinky purring. you don't hear the purring over the background noise until the last 3 seconds of the clip. make sure to listen at the end!

2. pinky demonstrating his rollover technique. i'll try to get the slower rolling back and forth version at some point.

3. first ever camera video - vegas wagging. it makes me laugh because it's a somewhat typical christina and shash exchange in the background while vegas just stands there being so dog.

had to post some fun videos to contrast the sad news of the hurricane. as all are saying, it is unbelievable and tragic.

i plan to donate some crafty goods to the Crafters United, Creative Minds Join Forces for Hurricane Katrina Relief. you can donate goods for sale at Etsy or purchase goods. money goes to the Red Cross for hurricane relief efforts.

you can also donate directly through the Red Cross as you probably know already.