Merry Interregnum!

The week between Christmas and New Year’s is my favourite time of year. The hubub of Christmas is over, and the froufra of New Year’s is still a few days off. The fridge is overflowing with delicious left overs, there’s a pile of new books and dvds just begging to be enjoyed, and there’s usually no where you absolutely *have* to be. It’s a time for loafing on couch.

And for walks in the woods.

How are you spending your holiday week?

Snow!

On Saturday we got our first little taste of winter – it snowed all day, but it was so wet that the next morning there was just a wee dusting of snow on the ground.

Enough snow to wet the appetite and make it actually seem like December after a November that often felt more like September. The weekend snow stayed around – we actually had 3 days in a row with temps below 0. I had a couple fun days of biking to work with snow on the ground (but not on the roads) for the first time in 11 years (the winter of 98 I rode all winter long. I was 23 and not yet entirely convinced of my own mortality.).

But this morning, we woke to this.

Now that’s snow! Nearing noon now, it’s still snowing and looks set to continue all afternoon. It’s very wet snow – which makes for very messy roads, but also plenty of snowmen opportunities (I saw two on my way to work).

Definitely no temptation to bike this morning, walking was enough of an adventure. The major temptation was to stay home and curl up on my couch with the beasties and wrap my outsides around some hot apple cider and spend the day watching the snow in front of the windows get higher and higher. But I resisted and left the critters to keep the couch warm without me.

things worth celebrating

1. Glorious, unseasonably warm, sunny, Sundays! This is now the third week in a row that after a cold and damp Saturday we’ve got a Sunday warm enough to throw the windows open!

let’s try that again

Somehow I’ve let more than 3 months elapse since last posting here. Ooops. Suddenly getting a job in another country, packing up everything I own, including 4 animals in varying states of health, finding a place to live, moving, etc, etc are all perfectly good excuses (especially as it took me 2 weeks to get an internet connection sorted at home and I only recently found my camera usb cord for transferring photos). But it’s still rather unfortunate. The first month or two on a new place is precisely the time that’s most interesting to document.

At this point it would make no sense to try to revisit all the impressions of those first days and weeks. But I can still note a few.

impromptu morning hike

With the sun rising a little after 5am these days, I’m generally awake and walking the dogs by 6am. It’s lovely to be up and out while the neighbourhood is still quite quiet and the temperature and humidity are still low. I don’t go out to the office that often in the summer, but when I do, it’s nicest to do it first thing in the morning, so I can be done my workday by 1 or 2pm. 

So this morning I set off at 7:12, well-breakfasted, happy with my outfit for the day, and generally feeling pretty pleased with myself for being in transit so early. As I went to get on the bus, I suddenly remembered it was now July and I would need a new transit pass for the month. The driver was in a good mood, so he waved me through. Fair enough, I’d be able to get my new pass at the subway where I transfer to my second bus, so I got on board.

About 18 minutes later, we pulled into Vendome, I got off, and headed down into the metro to queue up for the automatic guichet.

waffling my way along

I loathe travel planning. Not all of it, of course. The initial ‘ooh, I get to go to …’ is lovely, and it’s always fun to look up my destination on google earth, look up local weather conditions to start thinking about what to wear, start learning some basic vocabulary in the local language, etc. It’s all very exciting and romantic and makes a great distraction from whatever I’m supposed to be doing instead.

left luggage by flickr user paul_likes_pics

The part I hate is when I have to stop just thinking about it and playing around with various options and actually commit to buying tickets and booking accommodations. If I could possibly get away with walking into the airport with my luggage and buying the ticket at the counter then and there, I would. Having to buy ticket weeks and weeks in advance just feels so wrong and confining and frustrating. The upshot is that I often pay more than I should have for a ticket due to leaving it too late.

So I am very proud to say that I bought my ticket today for a trip that starts on July 22nd. That’s nearly a whole month away. That’s probably the longest in advance of a trip I have ever bought my ticket. I’m already starting to worry that maybe I should have waited a few more days, because what if I change my mind or need to do x or y or…

But the change fee is pretty high, so I am just going to have to make everything else work around it. I’m flying to Paris on July 22nd and coming home on August 13th. I still have to buy all the plane and train tickets that will get me from Paris to Dusseldorf to Osnabrueck to Berlin to Poznan, then two weeks later back to Berlin then on to Nijmegen, and back to Paris via Dusseldorf, but just having settled the transatlantic bit is a huge step for me. I feel almost like a responsible adult.

Of course I have barely thought about preparing my talks and lectures when I get there, but there’s still *lots* of time for that…

me time

This past weekend was only the second one I’ve had to myself in June, and is the last weekend I’ll be home alone until mid-August, so I was determined to be as hermity and homebody-ish as possible. Besides the usual weekend chores (vaccuming, laundry, washing dishes, running errands) and a decent amount of time spent curled up with a book, a cat and either a mug of tea or a glass of lemonade (depending on the ambient temperature) in the papsan, most of my weekend was spent at my sewing machine and/or my cutting mat.

This makes more sense when you realise that my sewing room is also my guest room, so this was my last chance to have unfettered access to it for ages. Also, the long lingering cool spring has turned the corner into the warmer, muggier summer weather (still cool enough not to drag out the a/c, but I’m sure that it won’t be long now). So it was high time I got working on several of the summer dress revisions I had planned.

make a joyful noise

A few of the things currently making me very happy indeed:

• The peonies are out! my number one favourite flower ever, growing just below my bedroom window. Bliss.

 



• My snazzy new folding bike. I couldnt resist this one when I saw the craigslisting. Too cute. I just love the bright red seat. I’ve decided to call her Lolly (as in pop).



• Impromptu weekend at a cottage by a lake. How lovely to get out of the city and spend time with some delightful people. The dogs were in heaven.


Stella and Charlie rest before dinner

Other, even more exciting things are promising to come soon, but these are quite enough to be going along with. I hope summer is bringing wonderful things to you too.

Just a coincidence?

Yesterday, Apartment Therapy posted about Linnea’s Color Coordinated Closet.

Linnea's closet

Now, anyone who has seen my home knows that I am all about the colour coordinated closet.

Linnaea's colour coordinated skirts and shirts

 

It’s not as obvious with the skirts, and the colours in the photos aren’t great (it’s raining today, so light is an issue), but I’m just a wee bit obsessed with organising my clothes and accessories by colour.

So should we extrapolate from this data and conclude that all Linn(a)ea’s have colour coordinated closets? 

shoes and bags

Or should perhaps Apartment Therapy was just celebrating my birthday in their own special way. Either way, the excuse to spend time enjoying all the colours in my closet is very much appreciated on a rainy, grey day.

this little piggy

I am completely in love with this needle felted boar by Victor Dubrovsky.

old boar needle felted from wool

More shots of this fellow, as well as oodles of other wonderful pigs, dogs, cows, sheep and birds can be seen here. Thanks to craftzine for sharing. I like the owlet almost as much as the grizzled old boar. The eyes on both critters are just wonderful.

Have I mentioned that it’s my birthday tomorrow? ::hint,hint::