Postcards for the Weekend - Gratitude

A yet unsent Swedish card of thanks:
“Thanks – from the bottom of my heart”

Postcrossing card from Russia, Sakha (Yakutia) Republic
(December 2016)

Text printed on the back:
Diamonds are, quite literally, the main treasure of Yakutia. The republic’s export accounts for almost a quarter of all the diamonds produced in the world. Yakut diamonds are considered to be some of the best out there, valued for their outstanding quality and purity.

The woman is wearing the national costume of the Sakha people.

I thought of this card for the Gratitude theme because she looks like she’s holding those precious diamonds like a gift… And of course it also made me happy to receive such a beautiful card!

 

 

Yesterday I was having a look in a box of old postcards (sent to me in the past), and found this – which I have to confess I did not remember at all.  It’s a card of thanks from the Royal Court to graciously acknowledge that the card I sent to His Majesty King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden for his 90th birthday (in 1972) had been received by him. He did not sign the card of thanks personally, though… But I guess on one’s 90th birthday a king may be excused for just having a secretary type the address!

Gustaf VI Adolf (11 November 1882 – 15 September 1973) was King of Sweden from 29 October 1950 until his death (which occurred less than a year after his 90th birthday). He was succeeded on the throne by his grandson, Carl XVI Gustaf (born 30 April 1946), who is still our king.

I have absolutely no idea what may have been on the card that I sent 45 years ago. I wonder if it’s still kept in the Royal Archives somewhere…

 

Thankful Booking Through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday is a weekly meme about books and reading, hosted by Deb:

“It’s Thanksgiving here in the U.S., so … what are you thankful for this year, reading-wise? New, favorite books? New gadget for reading? New comfy chair? Bonus time to read? Just the mere fact of BEING a reader? Having the internet to share ideas/recommendations/conversations about books?”

As I live in Sweden, I’m not celebrating Thanksgiving this weekend. (There is a Thanksgiving Sunday in our church calendar, but that was back in mid October, and it’s not a big one in our traditions.)

But of course there’s a lot to be thankful for whenever one takes the time to stop and think (as I know one or two of my blogging friends are actually in the habit of doing every Thursday). And with a theme like books and reading, and all those suggestions already given by Deb… it’s certainly not hard to join in. In fact I am very thankful for all of those things she mentions. (My chair is not new, but it’s still comfy!)

For a number of years I’ve had increasing difficulties reading printed books because of a combination of neck pain and eyesight problems.  As regular followers of this blog know by now, one solution for me has been audio books (which I still much appreciate).  But the Kindle Touch I bought a couple of months ago now also makes it easier for me to read a bit more “with the eyes” again – another reason to be thankful. On top of that, the Kindle also gives easy access to a lot of free classics; and as I do love English classics, that goes on the thankful list as well. As does being able to discuss and share books and reading experiences with others on the internet.

Now to some titles I’ve especially appreciated in 2012:

Kate Morton – The Forgotten Garden
Terry Pratchett – Snuff
Audrey Niffenegger – The Time Traveler’s Wife
Tea Obrecht – The Tiger’s Wife
J.K. Rowling – The Casual Vacancy
Hope Mirrlees – Lud-in-the-Mist
Mitch Albom – The Time Keeper
Mitch Albom – The Five People You Meet In Heaven

At the top of my blog is a tab My Book Reviews: there you will find links to some of my book reviews.

I don’t write a review of every book that I read. For example, I don’t usually see much point in mentioning Swedish books and authors here unless I know they’re also available in English translation. I also often find it difficult to summarize books I only listened to (one disadvantage of audio books is that it’s harder to go back and check details). So the ones I do end up writing reviews of are only a selection from my total read.

Booking Through and Thankful Thursday

Booking Through Thursday is weekly meme with questions about books and reading, hosted by Deb. Last week there was no BTT post, and it turns out ‘Sandy’  and a 5-day (!) power outage is to blame for that.

I’m glad to see Deb and BTT back in the bloggosphere again this week. Her inspiration for the questions of the week is not too hard to guess at:

1. How do storms affect your reading? Do you go for comfort reading?

2. How do you deal with power outages? Do you read by candlelight? Flashlights? Use a self-lit e-reader or tablet? Skip reading altogether for the duration and instead play games with the family?

This reminds me of how very fortunate I am in this respect. I don’t think I’ve had to suffer a 5-day power outage in my whole life. In my childhood we did sometimes have power outages in connection with stormy weather, especially in winter, but I doubt we were ever without electricity for more than 24 hours in a row, if even that long.

Since I left home at the age of 20 (back in 1975!) I’ve been living in town(s) and I can’t recall having had to be without electricity for more than a few hours. In the countryside people have to be prepared for longer power outages in the winter, but in an inland town like where I live, if there is a powercut it’s usually back on before one has time to get seriously worried. 

So I really can’t remember the last time I had to deal with the question of reading in a power outage.

I do have a couple of flashlights (and I know where they are), and spare batteries and candles and matches, and (just checked) also a small radio that works on AA-batteries (which I try to always keep a supply of). I even still have one or two old cassette tape players/recorders that run on batteries too, and a few old cassette books sitting on a shelf… so if not enough light to read, and if not wanting to use up the battery in my smartphone or computer, I might give those a go.

I really am thankful, though, to be living in a country and place where I very rarely have to think about serious emergency strategies. Even in the worst winter storms, so far I’ve always been quite safe just staying in. (And for that I do try to keep prepared.)

As for the first question… Yes the weather does affect my mood, and thus also what I feel like reading or watching. It’s not quite predictable though – I can either choose something to take my mind off what’s going on outside, OR it can be the other way round, i.e. I choose something that is worse than what is going on where I am. I’ve noticed, for example, in my choice of films… that I’m more drawn towards watching snowstorms in the winter, and hot climate films in the summer, than the other way round. Maybe to remind myself that “it could be worse” ?

(The photos in this post are all from my own archives.)

Home Sweet Home

My home has been “upside-down” the last week…

“Factually” I was only expelled from home for about eight hours on Thursday (because of a change of windows in my flat, see previous post). It was a fine early autumn day at that (chilly winds, but sunny), and I tried to make the best of it. And yet it felt like an awfully long day (with nowhere to lie down for a bit of a proper neck-rest); which made me realize how lucky I am, not only to have a place to call home at all, but one where I feel at home, and normally quite like to spend as much “hometime” as I usually do/need to.

I don’t mean “realize” like in never having thought about it before (because I have); it just hit me a bit more forcefully than a normal day, as I found myself aimlessly wandering some unknown streets in town, with Paul Simon’s “Homeless” popping up in my head…

So when I got back home in the late afternoon, to my upside-down home, and was met by another realization – that new windows do not equal clean windows, but windows that need extra cleaning before anything else can be done – I decided not to complain but just take my time about it… and be thankful… First of all that the building is being kept in good repair; and second that the timing was “as good as it gets” with this kind of thing. (I much prefer September to December, which is probably how long it will be until they get through all the buildings on the estate.)

I was actually back on wi-fi already on Friday, but my computer has remained “off” the whole weekend, as I’ve been putting my energies towards restoring my home to normal.

Now I’m off to the dentist’s; life goes on…

Thursday, but not Thirsty!

… Thankful for Water …

On Monday there was a notice put up on the entrance door where I live, to inform all tenants that on Thursday, we would be out of tap water between 8 am to 4 pm because of some repair work.

Had this been back in my working days (when I was away from home during those hours anyway) I’d just have shrugged my shoulders and tried (but probably failed) to be prepared for hissing and splurting water taps when I got back home again.

No longer working and with nowhere to go (at least nowhere I’d feel comfortable to spend a whole day in mid winter!), my first reaction came close to (a moment of) panic.

First of all, shouldn’t an important message like that be put in everyone’s letterbox instead of just on the entrance door? Because there might actually be old or sick people living on their own who might stay in their flat for three days (especially in the winter cold of -10°C we’re having at the moment) and so never get to see the warning…

So I muttered on about that to myself for a while. But of course I never got round to calling the landlord’s office to complain – since, after all, I had seen the message...

Half way through the 8 waterless hours  – I’m beginning to realize that I still over-panicked “just a little” in my own preparations. I just had no grip how much water I’d need to get through a day with none coming out of the taps! So before going to bed yesterday I filled just about every bottle and jug and bucket that I had… Don’t really know what I was thinking!!!

(I shall probably have to keep flushing the toilet manually the rest of the week to empty those buckets in the bathroom!)

Well - at least it serves as a reminder to be truly thankful for one of those everyday things it’s so easy to take for granted in this corner of the world: Clean, fresh, cold or hot water from the tap, any time of the day.

It strikes me that my somewhat over-panicky preparations may be subconsciously related to childhood memories. In the village where I lived then, whenever there was a power cut (likely to occur in the winter storms), we also had no water. So dad used to go round putting cups over the levers on the toilets etc, to remind us not to use them. This morning, just before 8, I found myself doing the same thing… Having just realized, going through my mornings routines, how much of it we do automatically, without really thinking about it. Flush the toilet, wash our hands, brush our teeth and clean the toothbrush under running water; fill the kettle in the kitchen; rinse out a cup or a glass; fill the sink to do the washing up… etc.

To finish off this post… a favourite family photo of my paternal grandparents, proudly posing at the water well on the property where they were about to build their house back in 1930:

Thankful Thursday: Back ON !!!

Another extremely wet day today. There was a short break from the worst downpour in the afternoon though and I managed to take a quick walk to the nearest convenience store to post my Christmas cards and buy some fruit and vegetables.

The good news is that my internet connection is back ON without any more breakdowns since 3 PM yesterday.

Some people were wondering how I managed to blog at all while the frequent breakdowns were going on. The answer is Windows Live Writer. Since I prepare my posts off line, even if the connection happens to go down just as I try to publish, I don’t lose the post. So was able to try again whenever the connection was back on. Commenting directly online was a bigger problem!

As for what caused it, I don’t know. Only that it was nothing to do with my appliances, nor was the fault within my apartment. (I have cable internet).

Btw – having my Android phone as “emergency exit” now makes me feel less panicky when things like this happen. If the cable or computer fails me I can at least still check my email and let people know, using the 3G. ;)

Booking Through Thursday: Thankful

Each Thursday, Deb at Booking Through Thursday asks a bookish question, and readers put their answers on their own blogs and link up. Thanks Deb for keeping the book-discussion going. :)

What book or author are you most thankful to have discovered? Have you read everything they’ve written? Reread them? Why do you appreciate them so much?

I’ve been taking part in this meme almost every week for about 1½ years now. Inevitably, some topics tend to get repeated after a while. Even when the questions vary slightly, my answers tend to frequently sneak away in the direction of certain authors/ books/ genres which have remained my favourites for a long time.

Last year too, around American Thanksgiving, the question was about authors and books we are thankful for. You will find my answer here: Worth Reading More Than Once. And some followers of my blogs will probably know my favourite authors by now even without peeking!

So instead of writing yet another tribute to C.S. Lewis and/or J.K. Rowling, I’ll mention a book and author I’m thankful to have just recently discovered. In fact I finished the book only a couple of days ago, and before I bought it, I had never even heard of the author. But as it turned out I enjoyed it enough to feel curious try another one soon. Lucky for me it seems she has written four so far (not in a series but each their own story).

It’s not very often that I just go into a bookshop and buy a book without having heard of either the title or the author before. With this one I did just that, though. Went into the bookshop to browse around without anything specific in mind; and came out with The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen.

Here’s the cover and blurb that made me buy it:

Emily Benedict came to Mullaby, North Carolina, hoping to solve some of the riddles surrounding her mother’s life. Why did she leave her hometown so suddenly? Why did she vow never to return?

But in a place where unexplained lights skip across the yard at midnight, where the wallpaper in your bedroom changes so suit your mood, and where a neighbour bakes hummingbird cakes in the hope of bringing back a lost love, Emily will find that the answers are not what she expects…

In fact one of the things I found most enchanting about this book was the fact that until the end, I too did not have a clue what to expect, or even quite in what ‘genre’ to put it. But I also liked her use of language, and after finishing the book I have half a dozen little sticky notes sticking out it, marking quotes… Like:

He’d meant – absolutely – everything he’d said at the time, all caught up in the fantasy come true. But adolescence is like having only enough light to see the step directly in front of you, and no farther.

or

‘I’m homesick all the time,’ she said. ‘I just don’t know where home is.’

 

 

Thankful Thursday

It’s Thursday evening, and the rain has been pouring down since early afternoon. Never mind. I’m thankful that it was not raining yesterday. We had good weather for the funeral  - neither wet nor too hot. And everything else went according to plan as well.

I’ve just been emptying the memory card from my camera into the computer. For now I’ll just share two pictures with you. The first one (above) is of the church where the funeral took place. Several ancestors on my father’s side are buried in the cemetery there, and now also both of my parents.

The second photo is of a bouquet of flowers of the same kind that I chose for the coffin and grave decorations. I ordered an extra bouquet for the memorial gathering after the service. Afterwards I took it home with me. I did the same thing at mum’s funeral. Somehow I find it helpful – can’t quite explain why.

Some people find lots of flowers at a funeral to be a bit of a waste. Myself I’m thankful for the flowers making such a bold contrast to sadness and darkness of mind. (For the same reason I’m also thankful that both of my parents’ funerals came to be held in the summer rather than in the winter.)

I’m also thankful for the people who came to pay their last respects by attending the funeral; and for those of my own friends who I know have been “with me” from a distance by sending kind thoughts by cards, emails and blog comments. Three of the cards I received by regular post actually came from far-away friends I’ve made in the blog world and have never met face to face. Isn’t that amazing? You know who you are – a special thanks to each of you. It was very comforting to receive your ‘tangible’ greetings.

Thankful Wednesday*

Thanks to everyone who has been sending prayers and thoughts my way over the past week or two. How ever that sort of thing works, it seems to be working rather well at the moment, so please keep it up! :)

Not that I don’t have my moments of frustration. Today, for example, I was convinced I had booked the laundry room in the afternoon. Well – almost convinced. Just to make sure, I went down there in the morning to check. Turned out that I had made a mistake and had missed my laundry time yesterday! But – tomorrow afternoon was still free, and so was I, so never mind.

Instead of washing, I got my hands dirty today, getting rid of the pansies on my balcony (which were withering in the sudden heat wave that hit us this week) and replacing them with some new plants. (Photos some other day, they’re still in the camera and I’m tired, so for once I’ll do a post without picture.)

In the early evening I spent about an hour searching every nook and cranny of the flat for my pocket diary. Big mystery! It seemed to have vanished into thin air. In my second round of searching I took the opportunity to tidy up a bit at the same time, since I had to lift everything anyway in case the diary was hiding underneath.

Then the phone rang (again) and this time it turned out to be the clergyman who will be holding the burial-service for dad (in two weeks). I had been wondering to myself if I’d have to go out to the village to meet him in the parish hall or something. But it turned out he lives only a few blocks away from me in town and he’ll be coming to me instead. We agreed on tomorrow morning around 10. Since I had just tidied the whole flat looking for the diary, that seemed as good a time as any. Considering the heat we’re having just now that will be the best time too – before the sun hits my living room in the afternoon.

After I put the phone down, I went back into the study and found my diary neatly tucked away exactly where I usually keep it. Just about the only place where I hadn’t looked! (Did I mention my brain does not work very well in temperatures close to 30°C?)

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* Some blogging friends do Thankful Thursdays. I’m hoping I’ll still have reason to feel thankful tomorrow as well. But for now, I’m taking one day at a time! ;)