The Veghead Zone

Seems like a bad dream

2023-10-11T06:39:44Z

I’m going to make an(other) exception to my rule about this blog. Never post about anything negative in my private life.

At the moment I’m homeless or between homes, because that feels a little better to call it.

I don’t know from one day to another where I’m going to sleep or even if I’m going to get something to eat.

Since it’s getting colder now it’s scary to face a night outdoors. At least it’s harvest season. Sometimes I have found apples.

I never in a million years imagined this could happen to me.

Friends and relatives have helped me before but the few I have can’t help anymore.

Ironically, I just got a job (freelance, distance). Unfortunately, it will be two months until I get paid. Also, I don’t have any place to sit and work, unless I can get money for somewhere to spend the night.

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Creepy

2021-06-22T16:04:11Z

Close to where we live now, there are trees covered in suffocating vines and one that has been damaged several years ago. In the big gash, there’s an area of crazy growth. The branches look like a long snake’s nest. It’s creepy, like something evil invaded the poor tree. Or you might choose to view it as the tree defending itself, healing itself.

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Lazy?

2020-09-06T21:41:51Z

All my life I’ve been told I’m ’lazy’. My closest relatives/family members have said ’it’s like it hurts her to...” (do whatever chore I had to do). And: ”All you do is sit and talk (or read)”. Frankly, I’m really tired of hearing those words. It’s as if people who are more active feel they have a right to criticize those who are different from them. I realize that society favors those who are quick and active over us who tend to sit and think. The former are probably more useful. Be that as it may. I have begun to resent being described that way. I’m low energy. I tend to be pensive and think before I act. Is that necessarily bad? So from now on, I’d like to ban the word ’lazy’. Call me a low energy person. I can live with that. My dad was one too, and my aunt (his sister). In return I won’t call the high energy people hyper.

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Autumn

2020-08-27T14:07:53Z

I guess autumn has come. It’s much colder now and today it’s rained quite a lot. Normally, I’d be a bit sad, but these days with global warming and forest fires, I’m rather pleased. Except it’s quite cold at night. At least that’s quite easy to do something about. As long as it doesn’t rain too much it will be ok. I’ll just need my warmer clothes and my boots. I’d love a couple of new books too, but we’ll have to see about that. The kids always need so much and naturally, they have to come first. If I bought all the cute clothes and boots and so on that I find for my kids, I’d probably go bankrupt.

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Disappointment

2020-08-12T11:47:38Z

I was looking forward to getting my phone back. Now it turns out that the local repair shop won’t fix mine because it’s too old. The same goes for almost every unit we have. They’re old, but still good, except of course that the children have broken the screens. I’m so disappointed. I could get a new phone, but not here, since I don’t have the necessary bank documents. They’re only valid in Sweden and right now I’m not allowed to go back if I want return here. Well, under certain circumstances I could, but that would be very difficult so I hope I won’t have to. At least this situation can’t go on forever. Sooner or later things will have to go back to normal.

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So hot..

2020-08-02T10:33:42Z

It’s so hot right now. I thought it would be getting cooler. It felt as if autumn was coming. Clearly I was wrong. We try to spend time outside every day (except the weekends, when we try to get things done in the apartment.) I really hope it’s going to get cooler soon.

Maybe I haven’t mentioned it, but my phone is broken (the glass). The repair guy has been on vacation in July and now I’m looking forward to getting my phone fixed. I might even share some photos then, but I can’t make any promises. My phone is so old and doesn’t take any really good photos.

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'Corona Chic'?;)

2020-06-24T14:43:43Z

Since the Corona/Covid 19 crisis began, I’ve read a lot about what you might call ’Corona Chic’, which I assume is ironic. I’m not usually very chic, but I do try my best (according to my own taste, not the latest fashions). Since this started I have mainly been wearing a tank top and either sweatpants or leggings (the apartment is far too hot). Normally, I try to get a haircut maybe twice or three times a year, since I have quite long hair. Usually, I fail and sometimes i only get a real haircut at an actual hairdresser’s maybe once a year or even once every two years. The stress of being a busy mom. :) Now with the risk of getting infected, I’ve decided that from now on, I’ll try to do without professional haircuts. I try to cut it myself, but the ’styling’ must be done by my sister - who can see what’s she’s doing. It’s not that big a deal anyway. A scrunchie helps me keep my hair away from my face.

I do hope I won’t need to go to the dentist. That would be really complicated. Fortunately, no one in my family has needed any medical help, medication or dental work (although I do have half a tooth after I bit into a really hard snack when I was out traveling). After my children broke my glasses, I have even ordered a pair without trying them on, using my old prescription (though sadly, because of the so called postal services in Scandinavia, I haven’t received them and I’m still not sure if I’ll get them at all. 50 euros wasted.

What are you guys doing about your personal style these days? Do you risk getting a professional haircut? Do you go to the dentist? I assume I would try to find a way of going if I was in severe pain, but fortunately, I haven’t been. Do you choose a more relaxed clothing style? Or don’t you ever bother about fashion? My mom has an idea that being into fashion, haircuts, make up or even enjoying elaborate meals is being vane and self centered. She thinks you should ignore the body as much as you can, but she does enjoy her tea and sandwiches and occasionally a bit of chocolate. My sister and I have tried to discreetly buy her new clothes but she tends to put those away and then use her old clothes, thirty years old or more. Hopefully people won’t think we’re mistreating her. She says that people should mind their own business, but that’s something Scandinavians have a hard time doing.

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Adventures of a Vegan Vamp

2020-06-24T14:42:57Z

I don't normally review books here at all, but since this book has Vegan in the title, I thought I might post this here anyway.

The book turned out to be fun, interesting and well written, so I felt I had to review/comment on this one.

Adventures of a Vegan Vamp: Volume 1 (Vegan Vamp Mysteries) Paperback
by Cate Lawley

Blurb, sort of:

Undead and vegan? Not the afterlife this girl had planned. Waking up thin is one thing. But waking up gaunt, hangry,and undead makes for a very bad day. Mallory's killer better hide, because she's just discovered blood, meat, and dairy don't agree with her, and a future with no cheese is grim indeed. She's out to find her killer...and maybe a vegan cheese that doesn't melt her nose hairs. Click to see how Mallory conquers a killer hunger while hunting a deadly vampire.

Since I’m vegan myself, I thought this was funny. Not that Mallory is strictly speaking, vegan. More like vegetarian, but it’s still quite fun. And normally I don’t even like vampire stories. This was a bit different. Not so much of the cliches. Well, since I don’t read vampire stories I can’t say for sure what they are like, but I think there aren’t that many cliches in this one. Mallory is ok. Maybe not someone I love, but I definitely liked her enough to keep reading.

The book isn’t free anymore, but in paperback it’s not that expensive and if you sign up for an Audible trial, you can listen to it for free anyway. Personally, I’m not that much into audio books either, but I know many people are.

So if you like mysteries and books that aren’t that dark and depressing, I think you’ll enjoy this.

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Morning news

2020-06-21T08:55:33Z

Today, I read the morning paper online. There were primarily two things that struck me.

One: one man wrote in his column about the ’hug greeting’. It will have to go, so like my daughter does to all kinds of things, he says bye, bye to the hug. Great. I’ve never liked being hugged by all and sundry. Cute guys, sure, my adorable kids, of course, but that’s about it, really.

I feel the same way about the handshake. I know we’re meant to shake hands to show that we trust the other person. Way back, people had to lay down their hand weapons to shake hands so obviously you needed to be able to trust whoever you greeted like that. We even have an architectural detail in our churches called ’the weapon house’ - the hallway, entrance hall etc. Where, apparently, our ancestors had to lay down their weapons to enter the church. It shows how much our society was dependent on weaponry for defense. The extreme right have made a big deal out of the handshake as a ’Swedish’/Aryan thing. Muslims don’t want to shake women’s hands, apparently. So naturally, the authorities need to force these foreigners to shake hands like ’real people’. ;) Note the irony here. I do not feel that way. There’s quite a bit of resistance to burkas and things like that too. There’s an old Swedish saying about needing to know your ’Pappenheimers’, meaning know your friends/allies. If someone’s wearing a burka, you know she’s religious. I think it’s far better to know what people are about, than have them forcibly hidden behind a behavior that isn’t natural to them. Same with handshakes. Besides, they’re unhygienic, even when there’s no Corona virus, no flu, nothing in particular.

The other day, I ran into a slightly eccentric man. My sister’s met him too. He asks where you’re from to get you to start to talking to him. He inevitably leads the conversation to football, because that’s his passion. So we talked a while. He asked about my son’s name and took his hand. A few seconds later my son was sucking his fingers. I consoled myself with the fact that there’s basically no corona virus here. It’s an extremely safe place and I really doubt this man had travelled lately. So I guess my son will be ok. But it was disgusting. I wish I’d had some disinfectant with me.

I’m rooting for the Bhuddist greeting. Pressing your hands together and bending your neck. I’ve seen some humorous suggestions about shoving each other with the elbows (mostly suitable for young men, I think) and a sort of ’foot shake’ that looked funny, but any kind of physical contact brings you too close to the other person. So, the Bhuddist thing. Respectful and hygienic.

Another thing I read about is the fact that Sweden hasn’t shut down our schools (except for the high schools). It was a conscious decision that other countries never tire of criticizing Sweden for. And by the way, I get furious when our neighbors criticize us. It gets really personal for me, despite the fact that we moved away from our home country because of the change it has undergone. Sure, Sweden may be wrong, or other countries may be. I’m sure it’s far too soon to tell. Even if it was a mistake, people make mistakes. It’s hard to know what to do when something completely new hits you. Only very few people with experience of the Spanish flu are still around. None from decision making circles. Who could have known what would be best to do? All we have is the advice of the experts.

Anyway, now people are saying that closing down schools and teaching kids online has cost millions. Ok, maybe so, but if that’s true, I say they weren’t doing it right. Sitting at home would have helped me enormously and I’m sure my kids, particularly my son, would benefit from it too. Lower rents and fewer people employed would also save money. I realize that some people are hyper social and thrive on the company. I didn’t and I know my son won’t. He basically doesn’t care much for other kids. Except for cute blonde girls, but that’s another story (did I tell you about his ’date’?). If you can save yourself from the risk of infection, surely it’s better to stay at home than venture outside where people might be infectious?

I’m beginning to prepare for a life without social contacts, maybe for the foreseeable future. As long as we can manage to finish our loooong move. Get all our stuff collected and above all, a good piece of land. I very much doubt there’ll be travel or outings or actual shopping in our future. Whatever money we have we’ll spend on our home. Now I guess I’ll never meet ’Mr Right’. :/

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Midsummer

2020-06-19T09:47:15Z

Today it's Midsummer. It’s a major holiday around here (in Sweden and Finland, particularly) but since we don’t have access to any cabin/cottage or even a house of our own with a garden, we won’t celebrate much. Midsummer is supposed to be celebrated in the countryside with lots of flowers and green trees. This town is quite green though and relatively small so I guess we’ll get some of that Midsummer feeling anyway, but no seven flowers to put under our pillows to see if we’ll meet Mr Right anytime soon. LOL. No music and no dancing and no little frogs (it’s a song that’s sung at Midsummer). Actually, it was once an English song mocking French soldiers, apparently. Hence the ’frogs’. I had no idea until a Swedish historian blogged about it a few years back.

If we’d hurried up a bit maybe we could have celebrated Midsummer at a campsite. We placed an ad for a piece of land to put a mobile home on (not a camper van), an actual movable house or rather cabin or cottage. A nice man with a small campsite replied and we might move there. It’s a bit ’the back of beyond’ but that actually sounds quite charming. It’s on a small island, and I’m not that keen on the sea and the sky like that, though it’s also isolated but with a shop nearby (how nearby is a bit hard to tell from looking at the map) and there’s a bridge and a ’bicycle ferry’. I’ve never heard of anything like that, but I guess the term is self explanatory. There’s a church and some hills with a famous cave in the area. If the rent is ok, we’ll probably save a bit of money at least, which is very welcome. Of course, it’s having something of our own that’s the main thing. Now we’ll miss Midsummer in the countryside but that’s ok, we’re not really partygoers at the best of times. We’ll just have something nice to eat and drink (flavored mineral water).

We also have some things to see on tv. Right now, we’re watching some old episodes of Lewis and hoping that the second season is new to us and Vera, Poldark, The Durrells and Dublin Murders. When my children leave me time to do it, I read. I have dowloaded a bunch of books, not only from Amazon but also directly from authors whose newsletters I subscribe to. I mostly enjoy reading their newsletters and most of the books have turned out to be at least relatively good.

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Nothing Ever Happens

2020-05-10T11:35:47Z

I’ve written so many posts since our isolation began, but posted only one, since the trouble is, nothing ever happens.

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Getting a bit scared

2020-04-02T09:17:21Z

This far into the crisis, and having listened to the grim news from Sweden, we've become more nervous and wary about being infected. My mom is quite old, even if she's very healthy. And my sister and I are a bit overweight and used to have high blood pressure after our pregnancies. Not anymore though. The last time I had my blood pressure checked it was as low as ever, before getting pregnant (and suffering from pregnancy toxicosis). I think maybe I had a touch of white coat hypertension, since testing at home, lying comfortably on a sofa doesn't show anything like as high results as they used to when I went to a clinic.

We try to keep our spirits up in different ways. My mom got a set of balls of yarn and a crochet needle, but she says she'd prefer to knit. I would too, but right now I'm doing other things. My sister and I have been exploring in Second Life and will now try to get our homepages/blogs up and running. Well, mostly we'll start over but even that will take a bit of work. New themes or not, for instance. And since I finally have access to my new/ish computer, I have started downloading free e-books. Unfortunately, my children have massacred my old Bookeen Cybook Odyssey. :/Even if anyone could find spare parts, this time it's beyond salvation. And we need to keep an eye on our expenses right now, so no Kobo (which is what I want this time) for me. My mom needs a new phone because - you guessed it - the children smashed her old one as well. Besides, it was a faulty phone to begin with.

At least ordering food online has worked out quite well. From one company. Another won't deliver in this city. Very odd since it's quite big. Another one just cancelled our order today, when they were due to deliver for the first time. Wrong address, they say. Ha. I wonder if it's because this used to be an ancient storage building where no one has ever lived? My sister has been in a chat with them and we'll see how that goes. We just found out that one of our favorite chocolates are sold by the company we get regular deliveries from. So naturally, we'll need to get some of that as well. Unfortunately, Denmark doesn't seem to have our very favorite brand available online. Typical. There's always something. But in the grand scheme of things, I guess that's nothing much to get worked up about. Just like our favorite beverage (if you can call flavored mineral water a beverage) is only sold in Sweden. It's completely delicious. Mineral water with real fruit or berries added. Our favorite is strawberry, closely followed by raspberry. I wonder if we could import it. There are other things we'd like to get as well, but maybe the tea shop delivers to other countries. I have developed a craving for Ahmad's strawberry and apple teas. And I found out that they have raspberry tea as well. At least Denmark sells my other favorite tea brand Pickwick. They have a delicious strawberry tea too. Can you tell that I love strawberries? :) There's also the kind of candy you take for a sore throat. We call them throat tablets. There are several different flavors but we prefer strawberry.

This must be getting boring so I guess I'll stop now. How are you hanging in there, my friends and followers?

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Long, boring post

2020-03-28T11:51:58Z

Being stuck inside most of the time, I've grown increasingly bored. Normally, I'd at least help tidy up, do the dishes and best of all (no irony) do the laundry. However, since the house isn't the least bit childproof, I have to stick to my son like a leech. Poor thing, he's probably tired of me by now. All I can do is, once in a while, keep an eye on what's going on online. The problem is, whatever is going on, it's not going on in my feeds and on my dashboards... :)

Under other circumstances, we’d be exploring our new neighborhood, but as it is, we can just go to the shops a few times a week. We try to go outside as little as possible. There’s a patio outside but it’s not very nice. You get the impression every neighbor can see us there. It’s also a bit bare. Everything’s very monochrome. Mainly grey with a bit of black here and there. When were at Lidl we were eying an orange tree longingly, but it’s quite expensive and right now, we need to keep an eye on our expenses. There were also violets or pansies in a big lilac pot. They were very pretty and not as expensive. We might get those later, we’ll see. I also want more indoor plants. I have a few I had to leave behind but at the moment, with the borders closed, we can’t get to them. I’m keeping my fingers crossed they won’t die. My lovely Monstera Deliciosa that I got for my confirmation died a few years ago, but at least one of its 'children' was still alive when my sister was last back at the house. We might get something for the patio, to get more privacy and some chairs and a table so we sit outside some time in the evenings.

We absolutely need to get more toys for the children. They’re not even allowed to play in any playground so we haven’t even gone out looking for one.

No matter how inconvenient this is, I know there are others much worse off and we just need to think of them and be grateful we’re doing as well as we are.

I’ve already done a bit of exploring in Second Life, so now I’m probably going to look for a concert and try listening to some music.

We took the opportunity of reconnecting with a second cousin that I haven't met since we were both six. I sincerely hope he doesn't remember that occasion, because I wasn't very nice to him then. LOL. It seems not. He seems nice, but we don't have anything in common.

I also decided to try to log on to my email accounts. Sadly, it turns out I haven't logged into one of my main accounts for more than six months and they are deleting it, if they haven't already done so. Even if it isn't completely gone, they can't reverse the process or let me get the same address again. :( So I decided to get a similar one on my other account. No use crying over spilled milk, even though I almost did. Sigh.

I should try to save and then archive my old homepages/blogs and start new ones. No one will be interested in my ancient history. I'll probably change the name too. I'll see. We will probably keep our fan fiction up until further notice but it's not that simple unfortunately. We'll need to change things over quite a bit. Our personal blogs will be easier. I would love to have somewhere to just 'chat'. I have a private blog where I gush over all the cute things my children and nieces have done, that I promised I wouldn't spam my followers with. :) It used to be where I was whining about my life but nowadays I find that I mainly post about the children. I was born to be a mother.

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Yay! Jackfruit!

2019-07-11T17:29:24Z

To most vegans it may seem silly but today was the first time I tried jackfruit (as a meat replacement). In photos, it also looks good ripe. Maybe it tastes like pineapple? Anyway, I loved it. We’ll have it again soon. So far moving has been working out great for us. So much more to choose between in the stores. It’s funny because this country isn’t very vegan in general.

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Trying to be more friendly to the environment

2019-03-03T16:13:10Z

Recently, there was a big media row about an animal rights group behind one of a number of vegan fairs. Apparently, one volunteer is being accused of threatening farmers. The group as a whole is completely against threats and violence and the man in question hasn’t even been prosecuted yet. Unfortunately, the whole affair has led to two different supermarket chains pulling out of (so far) two different vegan fairs. One of them isn’t even associated with the accused animal rights group. Basically, these people are accusing all vegans of being terrorists. This has made many vegans angry. My family and I are among them. We want to boycott both chains. Fortunately, even out here in the countryside, we can still shop in three different other chains plus an independent shop. It’s not ideal because this means even more travel by bus and train to do the shopping, but even if there’s just seven of us and it probably won’t make much difference to the stores, we don’t want to spend our money on people like that.

On a related issue, we’ve decided to try using cloth diapers for the children and cloth sanity pads/panty liners. Apparently, all those tiny plastic beads in the diapers won’t disappear for ages if they end up in a landfill. Same for sanitary products for women. So far we’ve tried the diapers. I think they’re ok, especially for my nieces who are ten months old. Not quite as good for my three-year-olds. I thought my daughter was ready for toilet training, but that was probably premature. She doesn’t seem to keep track of what she’s done in her diaper. And the cloth diapers do smell more than the disposable ones. So we prefer using the latter when going out and overnight. At least the diaper pants are cute. I haven’t tried the panty liners yet but I hope they’ll work out. If nothing else it will save money.

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Trying to have a lifestyle that is friendly to the environment

2018-10-29T09:45:35Z

Since I was a teenager, I’ve been trying to live cruelty free. I think, by now, I’ve learned to do it quite well. Ever from the start I’ve been aware of the other aspects of being vegan. Mainly the environment, since in my mid- to late teens, I didn’t worry too much about my own health. Being aware doesn’t necessarily help all that much. You need knowledge as well. Reading the advice in the media can be confusing. Everyone seems to have a different idea of what’s good for nature and the environment.

This brings me to today’s topic: avoiding synthetic materials. For about five years I’ve had a cotton parka that I love. At about the end of April, which this year was the end of winter and the last few days before the beginning of the heatwave, I realized that it had little holes on one of the sleeves. Also, my baby bump had been a little too hard on the zipper. So now I’m going to need a new winter jacket. Since getting my last jackets I’ve realized the risks of micro plastics. My dear old parka has a synthetic lining and my spring- and autumn jacket which may never be needed again if ’the wolf winter’ lasts until the heatwave begins again, every year, was all synthetic. Sadly, enough, because I love that jacket too. It’s so cheerful. So early in the summer I bought another thin jacket. Since it seems to be almost impossible to find an all cotton winter jacket, I’ve been thinking of trying to make do with the thin jacket all winter. It’s a scary thought considering how cold most of our winters are. What do you think? Could I manage to warm myself using layers of cotton? Specifically wearing knitted jumpers and cardigans? Or should I just try to find the money for a new winter parka, with as little synthetic material as I can get? Apparently, there are special bags to use in the laundry to minimize the shedding of micro plastics.

I was also going to ask for suggestions for getting rid of all single use plastics instead of some, but this is getting lengthy so I’ll leave that for another time.

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40 questions and answers

2018-09-11T09:48:38Z

1. Is trust a big issue for you?

Yes

2. What is the last beverage you had?

Since tap water and mineral water probably don’t count, I’ll say tea.

3. Do you own a pair of skinny jeans?

Haha. No.

4. Do you think you’ll change in the next three months?

Yes.

5. Who do you feel most comfortable talking to?

My sister.

6. The last time you felt broken?

Sadly enough almost all the time.

7. Are you in a good mood?

At the moment yes, at least in an ok mood.

8. Are your eyes the same color as your dad’s?

My dad is dead, but yes.

9. Is your current hair color your natural hair color?

Yes, but I’m considering dyeing it blue or green.

10. What was the last thing that made you laugh?

My children’s antics.

11. Do you really truly miss someone right now?

Yes, my maternal grand parents, my dad and my aunt.

12. Are you one of those people who never drinks soda?

Yes.

13. Do you ever write in pencil anymore?

In the past years, not for a long time, but actually this past year, I’ve been making some notes about my children and my nieces in a very cute calendar.

14. Do you believe in love at first sight?

Yes.

15. Who did you last call?

My mother.

16. Did you hug/kiss one of your parents today?

No. I don’t get along with my mother.

17. Who was the last person to call you?

Probably my sister.

18. Ever use a bow and arrow?

Yes.

19. Last time you had a portrait taken by a photographer?

When my sister graduated from high school. I didn’t want to be in the photos and looked grumpy in them.

20. Is Christmas stressful?

Yes.

21. Have you ever had a pierogi?

Yes. I hope that’s the correct spelling. I found these questions on Tumblr.

22. Favorite type of fruit pie?

I mostly have apple pie so I’ll pick that.

23. Occupations you wanted to be as a kid.

Archaeologist, astronaut (lol).

24. Do you believe in ghosts?

I’m not sure.

25. Ever had a déja vu feeling?

Yes, many times.

26. Do you take a vitamin every day?

Yes. Vitamin B12. I had a deficiency and nearly died.

27. Have you ever taken dancing lessons?

Yes, classical ballet. Not seriously, just simple dancing for small children. But I did get to play the king in Sleeping Beauty at the end of term.

28. Is there a profession you picture your future spouse having?

I’ve been thinking about that a lot. It’s hard to guess at an unlikely future, unfortunately, but maybe an archivist, librarian, teacher, architect or engineer.

29. Can you curl your tongue?

Yes.

30. Have you ever won a spelling bee?

We don’t have them but I might have won if we did. When we had spelling tests I usually aced them. Not that I want to boast about it. School was really bad for me. Like in a really good Swedish song: ’real life killed me on the school bus’. It was like that except I never went on a school bus. For me it should be in the school yard or in the class room.

31. Do you study better with or without music?

Without.

32. Have you ever been in love?

Yes.

33. Hot tea or cold tea?

Hot tea.

34. Tea or coffee?

Tea.

35. Can you swim well?

I used to but I haven’t done it in a long time. They say those skills don’t last.

36. Can you hold your breath without holding your nose?

Of course.

37. Are you patient?

Yes.

38. Have you ever won a contest?

Yes, an art contest in high school.

39. Black or green olives?

Black.

40. Do you want to get married?

Yes, if I could find ’Mr Right’.

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The current situation

2018-09-10T07:44:48Z

This summer has given me much food for thought. Mainly it was the heatwave, the drought and the forest fires that were beginning to strike too close to home, but also the hunters that have been shooting close to our cabin.

Also, the political situation is reason for concern. It seems to me that in just a few short years we’ve gone from circumstances resembling those shortly before the First World War to what’s more similar to the time just before the Second. (Even though Sweden was spared both wars in the end, by playing ’hedgehog’. ) Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying we’re heading for an actual world war or even a more limited conflict in Northern Europe. The enemy is most likely smarter than that. At least for now. But there are other serious crises we’re risking. Maybe even civil war. Again, I doubt this will happen in the next year or two, but there are plenty of other scenarios that could unfold that could have equally serious consequences. Foreign powers subverting our election. Acts of terrorism. Desinformation campaigns. Coordinated acts of sabotage against water supplies, electrical companies - maybe even hospitals.

Worst of all, the impending climate collapse. What can you do when forces far beyond your control are at work? Business as usual? That’s what most people here in Sweden want to play at. Barbecue in the countryside and start fires. Fly to Thailand and back again a couple of times. After all, everything is always someone else’s responsibility.

Xenophobia is rearing its ugly head again. Recently, a homeless Romanian man was brutally murdered by minor boys. And most people don’t even care. I’m terrified of the future. At the moment mostly of the results of the election. Anything might happen. When trouble comes looking for my family I hope we can find a safe place to hide.

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Vegan vs plant-based

2018-05-01T15:34:33Z

I recently read an article/blog post about a recent survey where most people apparently said that they dislike the term 'vegan' and prefer the term 'plant-based'. (I'm sorry, but I can't find that link so you'll just have to take my word for it).

If I've understood the differences correctly, plant-based means being more healthy than people who are just vegan. Actually, one definition I read was this: vegans can eat (vegan) oreos but plant-based people can't, even though the oreos are vegan.

It seems that most people dislike us vegans for various reasons. I'm sorry to hear that, but it won't make me change my mind. Being vegan is what I'm all about. I'm vegan for the animals. That doesn't mean I'm not also vegan for my own health, for the environment and for other people too, even if they don't appreciate it, but the animals came first. One of my earliest memories is thinking I'd like to live in a world where there were only animals and animal lovers (I wouldn't mind having plants too). I must have been four or five.

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Spring has finally come

2018-04-14T12:22:46Z

And with it spring winds, as you can see if you dare to look at my messy hair! ;)

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Here are 2018’s Top New Varieties of Veggies

2018-03-07T14:40:44Z

Each year, non-profit All-America Selections picks the top new varieties of vegetables and flowers of the year, and they’ve announced this year’s winning veggies.

Read more here.

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Happy Nameday to me!

2018-03-07T10:24:58Z

And to any other Camilla that might be here. :)

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Ordinary winter day

2017-01-13T17:32:58Z

Today has been a bit mixed (of course it's not over yet, so who knows?). Starting with the bad to get that out of the way, I saw something extremely distressing on tv. It was a news segment about the Swedish chef team in some competition or other, I can't be bothered to keep up with these things. Anyway, there was this guy, calling himself a chef, who was cutting a live lobster to pieces. Is that really legal? I was horrified and so were my mom and sister.

Moving on to more positive stuff, I think the highlight of the day was going for a walk with my children, in the bright sunlight this morning. Actually, my sister helped my son walk (he's almost a year old). I took the new singleton buggy for a spin with my daughter, who is slightly less sure on her feet (but pretty good too). It rolled very well and all in all seems to live up to my expectations. The reason I bought it was that my twins have been given appointments with the dentist for the very first time. Unlike the child care clinic that always lets twins come at the same time, the dentist wants them to come on different days. It will be the first time they've ever been apart since they were born. Naturally, I could have brought both kids on both occasions and asked my mom or sister to sit with the one who wasn't going inside, but I thought this might be a good opportunity for them to learn to do things apart.

Finally, this afternoon, I got a text message telling me that my medication that has been out of stock for a couple of weeks is finally back and I decided to go into town to get it right away, since I've already been without it for too long. I'm going to get a headache every morning for a few days at least. :( On the way back, there was this good looking, very polite kid who was waiting at the same bus stop who smiled and told me to go ahead and get on the bus before him. Just a tiny little gesture but naturally I appreciate it after living for far too many years in a vile dump of a town. Here people are mostly great. It makes me sad that I wasted so many years.

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Happy New Year!

2016-12-31T19:57:35Z

I would like to wish my friends and followers a hopefully Happy New Year! 2014 was a really bad year for me and my family and 2015 was the worst ever. By comparison 2016 has been quite ok, even if it's a case of 'too little, too late'. Now I'm hoping that 2017 will be continuing the (tiny) trend of getting better, even though I'm also getting older (ugh). One can always hope. You'll all be happy to know that though I have written a blog post about my appreciation for my babies' buggy, I resisted the urge to post it. ;)

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Happy Holiday Season

2016-12-22T21:56:40Z

Evil. Malignant. Toxic.

Isn't it sad that those are the words that spring to mind when I think of my fellow human beings? Sure, we can be more and better than that, but how many really are?

Tonight my mom watched a show about nature. I saw a little of it too. There is so much beautiful and wonderful in the world, but how long will all that still be around?

Humans of this world are creating a toxic desert. Is that the legacy we want for our children? Really? Or just for 'the others'?

At the moment I'm extremely pessimistic about the future. The way things are going I wouldn't be surprised if we're heading for a major war, but if not outright war, at least big trouble for all of us.

Despite that, I'd like to wish all my friends and followers a very Happy Holiday Season. After all, you can always wish and hope for the best, even if you don't believe it.

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