super boy

I liked the movie.

Dan says they need to go on
the Maury show or
Jerry Springer to
find out if it's his kid.

I say he was a little young
to be the dad of a
5 year old.

nothing like ice cream

I fully intended to have
a healthy lunch of sushi.
But the Korean lady
only accepts cash,
and her ATM machine
didn't work.
So I had to go to 7-11
for something to eat.

So that's what remains
of my lunch there.

Boy was it good.

star jones vs. star wars

Credit where credit's due.
Thanks Dan.

don't try this at home

I put strawberries in a pan, in olive oil.
Salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar.
Then spinach.

Not great... Turned out way too acidic.
Maybe onion would have helped? Chicken?

Or my latest favorite: a roasted piece of pig.
Pig goes with everything, that's what I think.

I have also learned recently that Americans too,
not only the Swedes, have apple sauce
with their pig. That's seriously good stuff.

Now I am thinking a Chinese twice cooked pork
thing, with apple sauce? That should be good.

your better than average monday

Second day of summer school.
A total of four hours
of me doing blah-blah.
One very tired basketball player.
One broken down Xerox machine.

And one blooming orchid.

It does that several times a year,
actually.
A girl gave it to me
when she graduated
(years ago).
Thank you Mai.

And right now I got a very nice
compliment in an email.
Thank you Adrianne.

an afternoon in the park

I came upon this scene today.
Right then and there,
to me, it looked
exactly like this:
In one of my art history
classes for our final
papers our teacher
gave us one rule:
that we could not
write about Seurat's
An Afternoon on
La Grand Jatte.
"I am NOT reading
another paper
about that one",
he said.

dan's rules of america (cont.)

#3. In America, pancakes are "fat".*


*To me this means fluffy,
from having baking powder
(or is it baking soda?)
(I never remember)
in them.

distraction.

one more.

at least there is a project runway marathon on bravo

I DID get up at 8AM
to see the match
between Sweden
and Germany.
When there were
ten minutes left
of the game
I went back
to bed again.

Crying myself to sleep.

mirror

The trail was closed
so I went to the park.
It looked like a
post card there.

I was also reminded how
Americans like to ride
their bikes for exercise.

They put the bike in the car,
drive to the park,
and ride around all
dressed in
spandex biking outfits.

I never get used to this.

Swedish people ride their
bikes when they need to
get somewhere.
They wear their
ordinary clothes,
and everyday shoes.

And then when it rains
your hair products
melt down into
your eyes,
coating your
contact lenses.

yellow. oleander. blue.

view.

Picture perfect.

inte saft

Midsummer drink.

I got a dress today (well, 2 actually)

One thing I like about Macy's
is their Eastern European
and Latin American
and Middle Eastern
immigrant sales people.
They are friendly.

And they are the same
at Bloomingdale's,
for that matter.

Lots of eye make-up,
lots of powder,
lots of heavy perfume,
lots of bracelets,
and super friendly.

Or maybe I just like
anyone with an accent.

grattis erik, 13!

6:30 pm

In the backyard.
In the freezer.

ten to 3 in the afternoon, in the shade in the backyard

thanks god!

dear god

I am scared and I am super sweaty. My boyfriend says my team is playing like a bunch of sissies. That the English are pushing them around like a bunch of bullies. That Sweden is getting pummeled. Please help.

half time

I need to google and find out the real names of those Swedish players. Not even my wildest imagination can make sense of the American accents of the play-by-play guys on ESPN.
And in the second half I really want to see Zlatan.

so it's a soccer summer after all

My people are playing
England in
about two hours.
I found the game on ESPN.
I am so watching this now.

door

I am sorry, I am recycling.
But I have been watching
3 TV shows and
I have been busy.

That house is good looking
though.

(The shows were
Wife Swap,
Supernanny,
and
How To Get The Guy.)

sidewalk

some kind of flower

fence

sunday afternoon

Los Gatos, Calif.

and the award goes to: yahoo maps

I learned today that if you get married, raise two kids, get divorced, and your husband remarries, then when your kids graduate from college, it's your job to print out driving directions from the campus to the restaurant where you all will have lunch - and print them out for everybody.

When various members of your extended family then call your daughter for those same directions while she is trying to squeeze in a little celebration of her own on her graduation day, then all you can do is throw your hands in the air. And you will say, to no one in particular, but loudly: I made directions for everybody!

sabor. soap. tvål.

Santa Clara, Calif.

smell that ocean?

Santa Cruz is on the other side of
those mountains there.
That's where everyone is going.

I am frustrated

I was part of a ceremony
for Latino graduates today.
The president of the university
made a speech, in which,
among other things,
he apologized to anyone
who had been mistreated during
their four years at the school.

And that was a somewhat
unexpected way
to recognize rasism.

The question is also whether addressing
the issue before addressing
the graduates
would have been a good idea.

breakfast

rules of america (cont.)

#2. If you are not from America,
you can't make up
"rules of America".

making it clear

In the interest of full disclosure I want to disclose that the rules of America are formulated by my American citizen boyfriend, who, among other things, likes chocolate very much.

the rules of america. (learned the hard way.)

#1.
When you give someone chocolate,
you don't get any.

what color is it naturally?, she asked. I don't remember, I said

You reach a certain age and you realize
your hair has been every length imaginable,
twice.
So then what do you do?
You find a new hair stylist.
So I did.

The only other time
I have looked like this is
when my friend Monica
had cut my hair,
in 1989.

Lots of compliments,
like it a lot.

Picture to follow.

yellow

I don't know what these are
but I am using them to tell
Kathy thanks
for the
bananabread.
Thanks Kathy!
That stuff is super tasty!

one yummy lunch

bread cut into cubes
oil
vinegar
sugar
salt
pepper
garlic
sundried black olives
sundried tomatoes
lettuce
chicken

it's like a drug (and I am a cheap addict)

My apologies
to anyone
who does not
share my love
for photoshop-induced
overexposure.

I just can't
help myself.

on the oversized IKEA pillow

This stack of papers
is just sitting there
waiting for me to read.

Swedish link

Ooo this is FUNNY:
http://konsum.wordpress.com/

now the teacher is procrastinating

Right now
I should be writing
a final exam.

an email

Someone asked:

So, is there any news from the homeland on the draw with T&T in the first round match? Swedish fans looked like there was a death at the end of the match, while the T&T fans looked like they had just won the tournament.

And the answer to that is that, no, there isn't any news. Papers and websites are full of complaining and there is a lot of use of the word 'fiasco'. But if you didn't see the match you don't learn a thing.

end of the steak

Now in a stir-fry.
It was good.

I wonder if that's a pompadour heel?

Those same shoes,
homemade photo.
(And I kind of like
the way the sun is
messing it up.)

there was a sale at macy's

I had a haircut today.
Then I got these shoes:
I really really
like flowers
on black.

Hair looks
alright too.

dinner

Same salad as yesterday.
Now with steak.

salad

I made a salad earlier.
It's all gone.
It's gone because it was good.

I fried sundried tomatoes,
chopped-up
sundried black olives,
and garlic
in olive oil and
balsamic vinegar.
Then I poured that over
arugula and butter beans.
Roasted pine nuts.
Salt, pepper.

the potion

Water, baking soda,
lemon juice.
Homemade remedy
for when
you ate too much.
Or had too much
hot chocolate.

min lilla my-mugg

Once I had a thick hot chocolate
that was really really good.
Another time I had a hot chocolate
with rhum and nutmeg
that was really really good.
Trying to recreate those two things
all in one
I made this just now,
using cornstarch
and nutmeg.
It's thick, and it tastes OK.
But it lacks a certain
I don't know what.
Maybe fat?

Whipped cream
on everything.

o6-o6-o6

Day of the Swedish Flag.
Happy Flag Day!

thanks to gregorio we know this

Once,
in the 1970s,
Jesus had a haircut.

the best berries

When I was a kid
you could buy
a strawberry flavored
powder
and make
strawberry flavored
milk.
It was pink
and it was sweet.
It was the best.

climbed that mountain again

I cleaned the windows today.
And the shower.
And a venetian blind.

My back hurts.

But there is a smell
of summer wind in
the house.

And environmentally
friendly
cleaners.

california poppies

silicon valley

it's down there

yesterday's lunch

Strawberries, mushroom,
pine nuts,
fancy lettuce
with a French name
(checked the box: mache).

It didn't taste that great.
The idea was better than
the result.
Bland.