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I danced in the rain again. The drops were big and plentiful. Like having a shower under the open sky, washing the salt from my ocean swims off my skin. Then sitting in the rocking chair, watching the rain slowly recede, while the feeding of the young took place behind me. Families are complicated things,Continue reading “stories from Koster: With the smell of grateful earth in the air (3/8)”

I’m sitting on a cliff, watching the heavy clouds come rolling in. I’ve been walking on the bedrock outcrops today and discussed fieldwork methodology with my cousin Ellen. Been swimming twice. But all the while, we’ve been waiting. The heat has been pressing, choking, strangling. Everything is yellow here. The water in the well isContinue reading “stories from Koster: The second day, waiting for rain (3/8)”

Waves and wind sculpture what uneasy tectonic plates left here millions of years ago. The lines and curves, soft surfaces and rough edges, all collaborating to feed my gluttonous eyes. It fills me with a kind of calm. This thousands of years art piece on a million year canvas. There’s no rush. Time will tell.

The heat followed us here. The sun went down in the Skagerrak, and I went for a swim with dad. Families are complicated things. I knew that. I just haven’t been reminded for some time.

I’m on the train. We’ve been traveling across Sweden, east to west, through this very patchy landscape we get in the middle. Small fields, golden among the otherwise dense green of early August. For five hours I’ve been sitting here. There’s only half an hour left. Then, the ocean. My head feels weird. I thinkContinue reading “thoughts on a train (2/8)”

Now I’m on the road again. Sitting on a train, headed west. To Strömstad, the home of the Smith clan, my paternal grandmother’s father’s family. Our end destination is Koster, a group of islands just outside of Strömstad. As a matter of fact, the most western community in Sweden. After that comes Norway, Scotland, andContinue reading “going analogue”

During my North America trip in 2012, I ate blueberry bagels with cream cheese almost every day for breakfast, and sometimes for lunch too, during the periods when I wasn’t wwoofing. It became my favorite thing. Since then, though, I haven’t really had them. They aren’t a thing here, you can hardly buy them anywhere,Continue reading “breakfast memories & longing”

I’ve been having them coming from all directions now, the ideas. For thesis, future travel plans, short stories, knitting projects, paintings. I’m overwhelmed, can’t get started with anything. Can’t go to sleep at night. I need to choose something, and stick with it. I made a pillowcase. Borrowed Anna’s sewing machine, and actually made two.Continue reading “under siege”

I’ve bought a new pair of sandals. It’s so warm now, but we get shock summer rains too, and none of my summer shoes can handle getting wet. Also, I will need comfortable shoes for the field work in the fall. A new pair of shoes needed. Don’t I look like a dork. But toContinue reading “stories told by shoes”

One of the new inventions that the right-wing coalition implemented after they first got into power in 2006, was to introduce a tax reduction on something called “household-related services”. I won’t get into detail about it, but basically it’s now way cheaper to redo your kitchen or hire a cleaner than it used to be.Continue reading “the favorite pastime of the Swedish middle class”