Tag Archives: holiday

Spain, Loss, and Writing

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Our one week in Spain turned out really nice. There was quite a bit of running after the Imp as there was an open pool in the garden, but between three adults it worked out well. We took it easy most of the time, lounging at the house and in the pool, with only trips to the grocery store and twice to the beach. I think everyone just wanted a break, and it was lovely. The Imp, unfortunately, decided during the holiday that she hated the car seat, the highchair, and the buggy – so we had quite a few battles whenever we needed to go anywhere!

The Imp enjoyed the pool.
Lovely visit to the beach.

I’ve already booked my next holiday, which will be a trip back home to Sweden in November. Sadly it’s due to wanting to attend the funeral for my grandmother who passed away a couple of weeks ago. She ended up in the hospital while we were in Spain, but seemed to be doing better as we came back. I was on standby to book a ticket to come home sooner if needed. Then suddenly she took a turn for the worse, and then she was gone. It’s all very sad, but I’m glad that at least I can make it for the funeral. It’s instances like these that bring it home that I’m far away from my family, and it makes me miss them even more.

In completely unrelated news, I’m trying my hand at writing fiction again. It’s been absolutely forever, other than some fan fiction a few years ago, and currently, it feels about as easy as squeezing water from a rock to get the words to flow – but I am persisting. Hopefully, the writer’s block will subside if I can keep at it. I just need the Imp to sleep a bit better, so that I have more time to actually write. To sort of get myself back into it, I’m not jumping right back to my old Regency series, instead trying to write a little novella with a Christmas theme (still Regency romance). I’m considering publishing a chapter every week or so on Wattpad and/or blog as I finish them. Then for Christmas 2020, I’ll have it revised and properly edited, and maybe release it as an e-book.

We shall have to see how it goes. I only started yesterday so I only have one chapter so far. Wish me luck!

Still here (sort of)

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I’d like to write more often, but as the Imp apparently detests sleep I get very little time to do… well, anything. She seems to sleep in 45-minute intervals most of the time. The day time naps often end up being only that, but sometimes I can get her back down for an additional 30-45 minutes. It’s hard to get into the swing of anything though when you’re constantly interrupted.

At night time it varies. Right now she’s teething, so she’s been going to bed between 10-11 at night, then waking constantly all the way until morning. I’m very much hoping that these teeth will come through soon because I’m exhausted (and I suspect that she is too, not that she’d ever admit it).

So, what’s been going on over here since eh… May? Oops!

Well, we went to Sweden to visit my family for a few weeks, which was lovely. We had some really good weather and had time to meet most of the family. Then my mum and aunt came back with us so I wouldn’t have to fly alone with the tiny terror. They spent a few days here in England before flying back, and I was happy to get to show off some good British weather for once! (Last time they were here was when the Imp was newly hatched, and the weather was dreadful.)

At the end of July, we attended the wedding of some friends of ours, and the Imp was actually amazing and sat through the whole ceremony without trying to escape (her usual move when we’re still for too long).

August seems to have passed by without much notice. I had a birthday but didn’t really celebrate other than the boyfriend taking me out to dinner (which was nice). Now in September, we’re planning a trip to Spain, which will be the first time the Imp will travel somewhere that’s not just hanging out with my family, so we will see how that works out! Sadly the boyfriend couldn’t get time off work, so he has to stay home, but we’ll be meeting my step-mum and little brother (soon 10 years old) there. And we won’t have to fly alone, when we realised the boyfriend couldn’t get time off, we roped his mum into coming along for an extra set of hands for the tiny terror.

Now I shall stop boring you because I doubt anyone really wants to know what’s been going on. It’s really more for my own records, and abysmal records they will be! But it’s better than nothing. I think?

Photo from the other day when we took a little trip to the beach. Sadly the summer warmth seems to have left us now.
The Imp admiring Sweden on Midsummer’s Eve.
The Imp and The Boyfriend <3
Durdle Door, visited this when mum and aunt came to visit.
As much as I miss Sweden, the south coast of England is quite beautiful.
A little break during a boat trip in Sweden.

Christmas 2018

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The boyfriend and I made an agreement years ago that we would spend every other Christmas and New Year’s with my family in Sweden, since it’s only fair.

2018 was the Imp’s first Christmas, and a Sweden year, so on 21 December we dragged our asses to the airport and flew to Sweden. The Imp handled the flight brilliantly, much better than during the summer! She only complained a bit when her ears were undoubtedly hurting during the descent.

We’ve been staying with my brother in his house, but celebrated Christmas at my mom’s flat with a mountain of gifts, great food and company.

A few days later we traveled the three hours to my dad’s where we celebrated New Year’s. We had a great time!

We’re now back at my brother’s until we go back to England on the 21st. On Thursday the Imp’s grandma will arrive from the UK and spend a few days before travelling back with us.

Happy Easter

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Today it’s Easter but I can’t help but think that Mr. Weather has mixed up the holidays. Obviously he thinks that it’s Christmas and not Easter considering that it’s freezing cold and we got 2 ft. of snow the other day. On the actual Christmas though, we didn’t have as much as a snowflake. One might think something isn’t quite right.

I did eventually make it to my mom’s but not until today – Saturday – since yesterday it was simply too awful outside to make the drive. Snowstorm in March sucks…

Today I’m going to eat lunch at my grandma’s together with my sister who’s come up from Helsingborg to celebrate Easter. Then later tonight we will have dinner at my mom’s. We’re probably going to walk past my new apartment (the one I will be moving to in June) so that my sister can see it at some point as well.

Bailey is happy to be back in Ed where he can bug his sister Bella. And he loves the snow! (While I on the other hand do not.)

Midsummer

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The nights grow short and the darkness never quite settles. That’s what Swedish summers are like. While winter is nothing but an endless darkness, our summers are light and the nights are short. This has been a time for celebration dating all the way back to the time of the Vikings. Midsummer (or Summer Solstice) has always been celebrated in Sweden, and while it’s also the day of John the Baptist, this was celebrated long before Christianity reached this area.

Originally Midsummer was celebrated to worship and pray to the Norse Gods of fertility, Frey and Freya. Lambs were offered and there were big celebrations, in the hope that this would please the Gods and the crops would grow and the women would bear children.

These days it’s quite naturally not like that. It’s more of a holiday where family get together to eat something nice (usually BBQ and later on there should always be a strawberry cake!) and meet. Or some people (usually the younger generation) go to the campings along the coast where they celebrate by getting really, really drunk 😉

On midsummer you will see a lot of midsummer poles. Basically a pole, looking somewhat like a cross dressed in leaves and flowers. You’re then supposed to dance around it, but these days that doesn’t happen as much as it did only 100 years ago. Back then it was a great place for people to meet 🙂

Midsummer is also a time for old superstitions (which we have a lot of in Sweden, even if we no longer believe in them.. remember our Easter celebrations?!). For example, it is said that a girl should walk across the fields before darkness falls and collect seven flowers, one of each kind and not more than one on each field. She has to pick them in complete silence, and when she returns home she’s to put them under her pillow, and she will then (hopefully) dream about the man that she will eventually marry.

Then you have the old folklore telling us of Näcken (a Water Spirit) who would normally spend his time in the rivers, playing his violin and trying to entice people to him. He would then capture them and bring them down to the bottoms of the river with him, and they would never escape. On Midsummer’s Eve he was able to disguise himself as a man, a violin player (hint, anyone?), who would come and offer to play at the celebrations. It was important to deny him, because if you danced to his playing on this night you were never able to stop, but you would dance until you died and he would collect you. (In some stories it was the devil instead, but since the Water Spirit’s origin is older, I’m tempted to say he was the one in the original stories.)

There was of course a way to determine if it was a real violin player, or if it was the Water Spirit. If you took a good look you’d notice that one of his feet was in fact a hoof!

Well, that’s some basic information on Midsummer in Sweden 🙂 Personally I celebrated it by having a BBQ with my family, and my grandma had made a very delicious strawberry cake!

Holiday

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I forgot to mention! I’ve just returned home from a two week holiday in Florida visiting my friend. It was great to be over there again, and the weather was simply so much better than the dusky, rainy and gray Netherlands.

It’s quite sad to be back home really. I’m already panicking about going back to work on Tuesday. I feel like I wanna have a tantrum like a four year old and throw myself down on the floor yelling and kicking, screaming ‘I don’t wanna! I don’t wanna!’

That’s exactly how you should feel, right?

Anyway, had a really good time in Florida. It was over much too quick though. I’ll have to go back soon since my friend was busy with work a lot though, so I didn’t get so see her as much as I would have liked to.

Some thoughts after my holiday:

1. I prefer manual transmission on my cars. (I’ve never managed to smash someone’s head against the dashboard in a manual one.)

2. Automatics do have the advantage of freeing up one hand. Drinking Coke in the car is a whole lot easier when you don’t have a gear-stick to maneuver.

3. The weather is much better in Florida. (Why do I live in NL?)

4. Some dogs don’t know when to stop.

5. There are people who I don’t mind giving a back-rub.

6. My sister can be really quiet when she doesn’t know people. Who would’ve known? I thought I was the shy one…

7. America has drive-thru EVERYTHING. Is there any other country which has a drive-thru ATM?

8. I cannot shoot pool to save the life of me.

9. Mudslides are the best drinks ever. How could I NOT have one this time?

10. I want to go back.

They Met in Paris…

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Ok, admittedly that title doesn’t really mean anything, but I have a weakness for putting something odd for a title. (In case you haven’t noticed.)

During the Easter weekend I actually did go to Paris, but contrary to what the title above might suggest I didn’t meet the love of my life or anything. In fact I met up with my sister (who’s studying in another city in France) and we spent the weekend sightseeing and chatting.

The weekend started Thursday when I took a fast train down to Paris (3.5 hours. I have to say it’s quite neat to be able to go to another country in that kind of time. Especially considering that 3.5 hours is usually the time it takes me to travel just between my mom’s town and my dad’s back in Sweden.) Anyway, I arrived in Paris and had to find my way to the hotel at the other side of the city, where I was going to meet my sister. Did I mention I don’t speak any French?
So, me being the lackwit I am sometimes of course I manage to get on the metro in the wrong direction. (I realised this the moment the doors were closing. Way to go…) I had to travel one stop in the wrong direction and then I jumped up and went across and took the metro in the correct direction. (Feeling very smart, naturally.) Once I got off close to where the hotel should be I wasn’t sure where I was. In fact, I thought I was at a certain spot on the little map I had printed of the neighbourhood where the hotel was, so I walked in the direction the hotel would be according to the map.
Of course I didn’t realise that I actually wasn’t where I thought on the map, and I went in the completely wrong direction. Finally I managed to figure it out, only to find out that I’d been standing at the corner of the street where the hotel was.

I don’t think I need to point out that the weekend obviously didn’t start out all that well. Fortunately I can laugh about my own foolishness, so chuckling a little to myself (and probably getting some odd looks in return) I went down the street to the hotel.

The hotel we stayed at was decent, although the room was tiny. (I’ve heard that’s normal in Paris though.) Breakfast was kind of boring, but that’s also normal at many hotels. At least the neighbourhood was quite decent with lots of restaurants, movie theatres and shops.

During the days we did lots and lots and lots of walking. (My feet still ache at the memory!) We didn’t get around to seeing as much as we’d have liked to, but at least we got a few things in.
Some of the things we saw:
– Notre Dame (Quasimodo, where were you?)
– Sacre Coeur
– Montmartre
– Galeries La Fayette
– Le Louvre (although we didn’t have time to go inside, will have to go again!)
– The Eiffel Tower (and it’s big…)

We saw a few more things, but those are the things that I can remember right now.

On the whole I found the trip to Paris very nice. We had gorgeous weather with 20 degrees two days making it feel like spring had finally arrived. (Until I returned home to the Netherlands at least…)

Otherwise I’m doing ok. I got a new job so I’m biding my time at my current one during my resignation period and waiting for my replacement to be found and start working so that I can train them. (Dance, monkeyboy. Dance!)

I got a week between the two jobs, so I’m taking the opportunity to go home to Sweden and visit my family. I’m looking forward to that very much. I got a really cheap return flight, so that’s great.

Ok, this is getting long winded so I better stop before I put someone to sleep. (If I haven’t already.)

Oh, I’m proofreading and editing my manuscript and I keep thinking it’s crap. I don’t know whether writers normally feel that or if it’s just me. Or maybe it really is crap. I don’t know. I still plan to get it as good as I can though and then I will send it off to some publishers and start collecting rejection letters.