Now that I’ve changed projects from studying smallholder farmers in the Volta basin in West Africa to bundles of ecosystem services in the Helge å catchment, my fieldwork has become both less time-consuming and less exotic. It is both nice, and a bit sad. Burkina Faso is an incredible country to get to know –Continue reading “my southern Sweden travels”
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leaving a home
In the middle of June, I moved. Left the apartment in Skarpnäck where I’ve lived since I was three, and moved into a new one on the edge of town, close to Stockholm University. Between twenty and twenty-five, I traveled a lot and also lived in Uppsala for a while, so it wasn’t the firstContinue reading “leaving a home”
early spring flowers in a Helsinki garden
Just a couple of days after returning home from Glasgow I went to Helsinki. For work, yes, but still I had time to visit the Kaisaniemi Botanic Garden for my own particular pleasure. I went there with two friends and a toddler. They enjoyed the sunny lawn in front of the greenhouses for a while,Continue reading “early spring flowers in a Helsinki garden”
Sundays are for breathing
I am still on my own in the new apartment. Jessica doesn’t return until tomorrow. I thought: Sundays are good for writing. I had intentions. In the quiet, put words to paper, just like I’ve been longing to do for months. But instead: Watching people walk by on the street outside. Arranging my earrings onContinue reading “Sundays are for breathing”
Glasgow’s backyard jungle
I hope you’re not sick of my obsession with botanic gardens. I’m guessing, without a touch of nerdy love for plants, you wouldn’t have continued reading my writings anyway. So. Here is my second Scottish garden. It has ha familial feel to it. As if, first, it’s a place where Glaswegians come to spend timeContinue reading “Glasgow’s backyard jungle”
I <3 Glasgow. I think
Let me take you back to early May. The reason why I went to Scotland was not to go to the botanical garden in Edinburgh – however excited I was about getting to revisit it. No, my reason for flying over the North Sea was to visit Natalia in Glasgow. And honestly. Scotland is definitelyContinue reading “I ❤ Glasgow. I think”
evenings are getting darker now
And I am home alone. Less than a week ago, I returned from a month-long trip across Europe, sitting on trains watching fields of maize and beech trees deeply rooted in German soils, me rushing rushing on in a blur. There is a lot to write about. I wish I had more days, some emptiness,Continue reading “evenings are getting darker now”
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, revisited
It is raining. I’m sitting in the new apartment, by my old desk, Natalia came to visit yesterday and she said “You’re a city girl now” and I guess that’s true. I live just inside the “tullarna” (=tollgates), as the Stockholm definition of the city stands. I am surrounded by mostly hard-made surfaces and flowerbeds,Continue reading “Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, revisited”
terminally lost
It was lying by the window, curled up, gleaming blue. It must have flown in on a warm afternoon, windows open to let the breeze in, and then not found its way back out. Starved. It’s a purple emperor (Apatura iris), from the right angle the wings take on the depth of the August nightContinue reading “terminally lost”
twenty seventeen, first half
I cannot focus. I have not written, properly, since Burkina Faso the first time. When the people overthrew the despot, in the fall and winter of 2014. It’s not that I haven’t had anything to write about – it’s just. The energy to put the thoughts into words. I have not been able to musterContinue reading “twenty seventeen, first half”
Katja Malmborg 