The Twisted Gypsy

The final days in Sweden are kind of a blur. As a matter of fact, now being back in Florida, I am beginning to wonder if any of it happened at all. I think the sun is melting my brain.

There was a birthday party for Madelene, Emelie’s sister…

Yes, Harry attended. Why shouldn’t a 3 year old get to party?

He entertained us with his mad computer skills.

I am lusting after that camera that Madeline is using. Ugh. There is nothing like an amazing camera. To prove it, I think Madeline woke up to a hundred pictures that I shot on that thing. Now, I am obsessed with figuring out the best camera of that quality for the money. Suggestions?

This is Pontus. Any questions?

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We went to see Maria sing like a rock star on a gay boat. Okay, okay, it is just a gay boat on Sunday nights, but that is apparently what everyone calls it…lovingly. Just outside of the window of the boat (where the music is blasting) there was a giant group of birds gathered on the water. I couldn’t help but think that they were all gathered there because they are indeed party birds and they too wanted to rock.

White spots=birds

“I don’t want to be anything other than what I’ve been tryin’ to be lately…”

Umm…then the night got too crazy to remember to take pictures.
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A last day walk through the city:

The ice finally gave in and broke…

Of course the sun came out so brightly that day just to prove that it actually could and also so I would not spread the word to the world about the Swedish winters.

Go ahead, comment away.

So long, Stockholm. See you in the summer light.

Is it cool to write R.I.P. about someone you actually know that just died? Is that kosher? Wow. If it is, I had no idea. However, I have seen/heard it 3 times in the past month, in all seriousness. So now I must know what others think. Commence the poll.

I am back in the United States- Ft. Lauderdale, to be exact. I feel equal parts alien and happy.

It is Friday.

I have the ‘first whiff of spring’ sniffles.

Sometimes I touch a pan when I know in my head it is still hot, but I do it anyway.

It is my mom’s spring break and we have talked almost everyday. Awesome.

Only one more week here in Sweden.

I hope my skin remembers the Florida sun.

What a great start to the year.

Going to Chicago in April, so good.

Soon, I will remember what it is like to be alone everyday…and that is okay.

Staffing the summer workshops gives me a belly ache. Oh how I hate to let people down.

Need a shopping spree.

Same clothes everyday for 3 months

Same two pairs of shoes.

Goodbye cute winter coat!

Everyday happy.

Birthday party for Madeline tonight.

A nap perhaps?

Yes.

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So, I have be trying to acquire some new skills and make myself do things I am slightly apprehensive about doing. One of the biggest things I have started doing is to write grants for Lovewell. For some reason, the grant world has been some big, scary thing to me. Well, I actually know the reason, there are so many damn rules! It seemed to me that it was all about dotting your ‘i’s’ and crossing your ‘t’s’ and putting paperclips in the right place and fitting the exact right amount of words into the exact space all the while trying to really give a good idea of what your organization does and make it seem as if there is some heart involved in a very cold process. For all of those reasons, I have shied away from writing them…until recently. Last week, I completed my 8th full grant proposal on the wings of being informed that we had just received one of the bigger grants that I had submitted an application for just before the holidays. I must say, that that small accomplishment in a field that I was very trepidacious about entering gave me some sort of new energy about just leaping. The older we get, the harder it is to do new things. Ugh. I don’t want that to be true…and so now, I look for more conquests.

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As I count down the days until my return to the States, I am trying to take sometime to really drink this place in. Once you have spent any decent amount of time in one place, you inevitably begin to take it for granted.

Here. A short stroll through Stockholm:

Sankt Eriksplan: The homestead.

This giant rabbit was just hanging out in a small patch of grass in the middle of the city. You can’t really tell how big it is from this picture, but it was like one of those rabbits at the county fair. Yeah, you know what I am talking about! I wanted to take it home, but no, I was shot down.

A view from the apartment window, last week, of (hopefully) the last snow storm of the season.

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Last week, we went to see a Finnish fiddling concert. Funny to say, huh? Anyway, I was amused that their name was JPP. Yeah, JPP, but pronounced “Yee Pah Pah.” I sincerely hope the boys in Joe’s Pet Project will consider pronouncing JPP like that in all future gigs.
Check them out:
click here

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Riding on a very bumpy bus.

It is nighttime here.

The bus has wi-fi.

Fancy.

Watched “Phoebe in Wonderland.”

Sent many e-mails.

Listened to “The Gloaming” and got excited about going back to the farm in May to write another show.

Used the bus bathroom.

Ate dried fruit.

Still 2 hours to go before Stockholm.

What about dinner?

Forgot.

Talked to Mats and Margie.

So quiet.

Dude snoring.

Where is the snack cart?

Forgiveness:

Letting go of the grip that something has on you…

Not excusing the act, just being free from it…

Stop dwelling on the details of the events surrounding the hurt…

No longer having to think the worst…

Stopping the snowball effect of negative feelings…

The changing of old patterns and beliefs…

Finding compassion and understanding…

Forgiveness: The gift that keeps on giving.

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For some reason (which is hard to define because it is the first time in my life I do not have a television) I have been consuming large quantities of entertainment. Here is the latest list:

Breaking Bad-Season One (Thanks Hank and Em!)- You all should really check this show out. There are only 7 episodes in the first season because of the writers strike last year. Season two is just starting to air now. The best thing about this show is that you start cheering for the politically defined “bad guy.” I find myself saying things like “Yes! Make more meth!” Yeah. Watch it.

Frost/Nixon- Two thumbs up.  What more is there to say?

Kungar Guld (KingsGold)- A Swedish musical about the Swedes who came to America during the gold rush. Umm…sitting through a show that is not in your language is really weird. I understand enough Swedish to know what is going on and that combined with the live action, I can keep up with the story line. However, I do find myself letting my mind ‘wander’ and by ‘wander’ I mean make up my own stories in my head. This generally leads to confusion and conversations after the show that  start with “You mean when he was singing that song while panning for gold, it wasn’t about him wanting to join the circus?”

Man Men (season two)- Okay, I wasn’t totally hooked on the first season, but I know admit that this series really is good. Well written, well acted, well done. Katy, no sass please.

Elegy- This movie is based on a play. I want to say YEAH! but I have to say NEJ!

Nip Tuck (season five)- yeah, yeah, some people think this show is gross and raunchy, I get it. However, I am hooked. This show is like a car wreck. I can’t help but watch.

Then She Found Me- Helen Hunt starred in this movie and directed it. I give it two thumbs to the side.

Bolt- I admit it.  I liked it.

Låt Den Rätte Komma In (Let the Right One in)- This is a Swedish vampire movie that I believe they are getting ready to remake in America (which is weird because it just came out in Sweden.) Anyway, do you like vampires? Watch it.

Twilight- Vampire movie #2. Boo. But, in its defense, I did not read the books, so I understand I could be wrong.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas- This film is beautiful. Yes, it is another Nazi movie, but it written from the point of view of a child of the regime. It is not gory, just simply haunting.

Changeling- Thought I would not like it, saw it with a bad attitude, I was wrong.

Lost- Season ‘whichever one they are on’- Okay, I got a little cranky at the beginning of this season, but would now like to publicly state that I still support this series.

Rachel Getting Married- What was the fuzz about?

The Visitor- Hmm…it was okay. Slow film, nothing bad to say about it…just…okay.

Brothers and Sisters-Season 3- I laugh.  I cry.  It is better than Cats.
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My friend, Cecilia, just came back from a trip to Africa where she was visiting another friend, Anna, who is living there for a year. The stories she had to tell about her adventures had me captivated. She wrote a giant blog entry about it and posted some of her beautiful photography. Go check it out, even if you don’t know her, this post is great:

http://cisselisississi.wordpress.com/
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The Norrström River, right up the street from my apartment, on a royal blue night.

My father, the avid tennis player, took a freaky spill last week on the tennis court. How hurt can you possibly get playing tennis you ask? Well, apparently, very. Here is a clip from the e-mail my mother sent ‘announcing’ his accident:

“Late Wednesday afternoon two old cronies (Frank-66, Don-75) were playing doubles with two young 20 somethings! Frank stretched for a long one and fell. Two dislocated and fractured fingers and 14 stitches later, he is on pain pills, is packed in ice and is on antibiotics. Tuesday he will go to the orthopedic doc to see if he has to have surgery.”

“The emergency room doc said he was lucky he did not tear the ligaments when the fingers came out of the sockets as that is often what happens with that kind of injury!!! One of the “20 something” players that was his partner when this happened is our chaplain at the high school. Frank wanted me to ask him this morning if they got the point!!!!!! The answer given by the young priest was delivered with a smile, “yes we did!” Frank expressed my sentiments exactly when he told the two young physician assistants working on him in the emergency room, “aren’t you two worried?……..because when you get older you are suppose to get smarter”!!!!! AMEN!!”

So, with my totally flubbed up knee (which I now believe to be a torn meniscus) and my father’s dysfunctional arm, half of the Gilchrist family is out of commission. This is not a good thing for that International Family Sports Tournament we were going to play in this summer. I guess we will have to postpone it until 2010.

No clumsy comments, please.