The Worries of Tomorrow

In spite of the quotation I just posted - "do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself" - my thoughts will not quite let go. Home care staff phoned at noon and assumed I knew my dad has a hospital appointment tomorrow. I did not. I also don't know how long they have known; or how long dad himself has known. Anyway, now I can no longer claim ignorance, and will have to accompany him. That is, they are going to put him in a taxi and expect me to be there when he arrives and take it from there. Dad himself has no idea what kind of specialist it is that he is going to see or why (I talked to dad after I talked to the staff). I have some idea, but am confused, since I thought this was something that had already been dealt with and decided not to proceed with. I'm trying very hard just now to postpone the worries until tomorrow. Actually not so much worries about what the specialist might have to say - that I can postpone until I know. What my mind is circling around is the details of how to get dad and myself through the practical procedures and the maze of hospital corridors tomorrow. I might be able to be of some intellectual support, but when it comes to physical support, don't try to lean on me...! Waiting is not what I'm best at, either - in a physically upright position.

Quotation of the Week (41/09)

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
--- For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
The Gospel of Matthew 6:27, 32-34 (NIV)

Perspective Matters

Last Tuesday, I wrote a post about Walking My Camera, and coming home with a lot of pictures. I only showed you a few of them, though. Now I'm going to take you on a walk with me around the same lake, where there is also a bird sanctuary. The reason for this is that besides some unusual birds (which I don't have the names for) I also at one point had a very surprising sight of something completely different. For a moment, I almost thought Aliens had landed - and then I'm not talking birds! The Thing was Huge, and because of that there were two things about it that surprised me: One was that I had not seen It the last time I walked around the same lake only a few weeks earlier. The other strange thing was that only a moment after I saw It this time, It was out of sight again, and did not reappear.


We start from the south end of the lake, and walk north along the west side.


12:11 Here are some birds I don't know the name of.



12:13 Approaching bird sanctuary.



12:15 Black swans are not a common sight.



Some birds are kept within fence.



12:27 The north end of the lake.



12:36 Now we're on the east side looking back across the lake at the sanctuary.



12:38 Further away from the sanctuary.



12:40 Further still. All peaceful and quiet.
12:45 Next time I turn round to look back, there It is:



A few more steps... And It was out of sight again! Spooky.



12:48 Back at the south end of the lake. No It in sight!

Of course It is no space ship, even if it does seem rather 'alien' in these idyllic surroundings... The only reason for UFOs entering my mind in connection with It was really a recent discussion with someone... ;) It is here to stay, because It is part of a new district heating power plant, at quite a distance from this idyllic lake. And only visible from a certain point of view, if you walk around the lake anti-clockwise. Last time, just like now, I walked round clockwise; and then you don't see It at all, unless - like I did now - you happen to turn around and look back at exactly the right (or wrong) spot!

Cinnamon Roll Day

Picture by unknown photographer

4 October is Cinnamon Roll Day in Sweden. To let the cinnamon roll have its own day is  a tradition that only goes back 10 years... But the tradition of the cinnamon roll itself is said to go back to the 1920s, after the first world war. Most people prefer it with coffee, or milk. (Myself, I'm a tea-person...) At a traditional Swedish afternoon coffee party, several kinds of sweet pastry are served. The cinnamon roll is usually one of them; and if it is, that is what you start with (before the biscuits and cakes).

I'm afraid I did not bake the ones on the picture. In fact, I did not even take the picture... But I did bake an apple-cinnamon-cake yesterday, using apples from the trees at my dad's house.

In case LinkWithin does not suggest it automatically, here is a link to an older post of mine about Swedish coffee traditions.

Walking - Far, Long and High!

Yesterday, I went too far. Or walked too far. Or too long... Whatever. It got a bit too much, anyway. It's still a delicate balance between exercise and over-exertion, with my neck problems...

Today I've tried to make up for it by staying in, and even on top of my bed a good part of the day. Heavy rain outside seemed to support an indoors day, too... However, I did go out for a very short walk to a shoe shop nearby - to buy myself a pair of expensive, but hopefully better walking shoes... (The very ones in the picture above.)




Both GB and Scriptor recently posted pictures of a statue called Dream, which I gather is 20 metres high. That beats the biggest one I have to offer with more than 100%. It's still kind of impressive, though, this 9 m high statue by American artist Jim Dine. It's called Walking to...  (google and thou shalt find) There was more debate about him before his arrival, than there is now. Both the size of him and his lack of any connection whatsoever with the place where he stands were much discussed. Why Pinocchio? Why Jim Dine? Why Disney? But he's been there a while now and we're kind of getting used to him...

Raven's Wordzzle Challenge #83

The Slumber Party Mystery
Chapter 31 - Coffee with Diana

Raven's Wordzzle #83

 family, cheese cake, 20 years ago, refrigerator, laugh and the world laughs with you, bath brush, zombies, African violets, butterflies, holding hands, monsters in the closet, roughly, bowling, menu, Pennsylvania

Coming out from the General's room in the hospital, Lieutenant Skittles ran into Diana, carrying some African violets and a big bag that seemed rather heavy. He found himself quickly running his hand through his hair – his mirror image in the morning had showed him a hairstyle resembling a bath brush. Other images also fluttered through his mind: The poster in Diana's room with the text "laugh and the world laughs with you" and her water colours of magenta butterflies in the drawing room at her grandfather's house…

"Oh, it's you!" said Diana. "What are you doing here? Any news? Have you been talking to Granddad? What did he say? Is he okay?"

"Eh… roughly…" said Skittles, not quite sure how to answer all this, since he had not been able to make any sense out of what the General had said.

"Not talking about zombies, was he? Or monsters in the closet?" said Diana. He sometimes gets these nightmares… Morning really isn't his best time of the day. By the way, are you officially working or just here anyway?"

"Eh…" said Skittles again, since he had not checked with his boss yet if he could count his visits this morning as work or not.

"Morning not your best time of day either, is it?" said Diana. "Tell you what, I'll just drop these off with Grandpa, and then you and I go down to the cafeteria and have a cup of coffee. You wait here for me!" She disappeared into the ward, and Skittles found himself waiting for her in the corridor. Why it should seem natural just to obey orders from this girl, he had no idea. He tried to get irritated, but instead, an image of her and himself holding hands fluttered through his mind… So he waited. Ten minutes later she came back out; still carrying the bag, which seemed as heavy as before.

She saw his glance and laughed. "I'm going bowling after this," she said. But come on, we still have plenty of time for that cup of coffee."

She led the way without problem through the maze of corridors and elevators down to the hospital cafeteria, while chatting on about everything and nothing as if they had known each other for years. At the cafeteria counter, after a quick glance at the menu, without asking Skittles what he wanted, she ordered two cups of coffee, and two pieces of cheese cake, cold, from the refrigerator.

Sitting down at the table, she said: "Now, you already know a whole lot about my family. It's only fair I get to know something about you, too. You needn't go back to your birth, but tell me something random from – let's say, 20 years ago. Where were you living then?"

"Pennsylvania," said Skittles.

Defrosting

They say that when there are lots of Rowan berries, it is going to be a cold and snowy winter...

Today, however, Nature and I are defrosting. There was no frost when I looked out of my window this morning. But at noon it was still just around 7-8°C outside and cloudy, and I decided to tick one thing off my to-do-list: Defrost the freezer.

So right now, all my frozen food is packed tightly together in bags on the balcony, while I'm listening anxiously to the sounds of cracking melting ice inside my freezer. Or rather, I'm waiting for those sounds to stop. I daren't open the door to check until it's gone quiet, because I'm counting on a kind of defrosting diaper thingy to do the worst part of the job for me. I've used it (a similar one) before and it was like a miracle. So I'm hoping for a repeated miracle, and no flood on the kitchen floor.

But of course, as soon as I put my food outside, the sun decided to come out of the clouds again and shine on my balcony. Which I normally would not object to, this time of year - but right now I kind of wish it would go and hide again, just for a couple of hours longer...

Now if you'll excuse me... I think I'll have to go out into the kitchen and put my ear against that door...