Mormor

My grandmother passed away yesterday. Over the last year she seemed to grow more and more tired of living so it didnt come as a complete surprise. But it marks the passing of time so I wanted to celebrater her life with some of her sayings and doings.

• I got two names from her - Eva Aurora.
• She was a leo and maybe that explains her love of getting presents (even if it was 10 pairs of stockings infividually wrapped).
• At the summerhouse she'd cook for an army, irrelevant of if we were 4 or 20 people there. All lovely food.
• At Christmas she'd make me special food as I didnt like the Swedish Christmas fare - kaldolmar and flaskpannkaka.
• For midsummer she and mum and Chris would make our midsummer wreaths, mainly with daisies that she really wasnt keen on.
• Her favourite tree was the birch, so we had to save all the birches around the summer house.
• She used to work as the kitchen manager at Danderyd's hospital and it was a treat for me and my sister to get to go to work with her, stir the massive pots, make 20 liters of dressing and help out in the washing up room.
• She made my dresses when I left school and college, trying unsuccessfully to pass on her knowledge to me.
• She was incredibly proud of all us grandkids and if watching us perform would (quite loudly) point out 'That is my grand child' to our horror and embarrassment.
• She had a great set of pins which unfortunately were not inherited by mum or me and my sister.

Some mormor sayings - in Swedish and untranslatable:

(efter taklagsfest pa landet, morfar sager att de alla mar sa daligt pga all klorofyll i luften)
"Klorofyll? Snarare Fylloklor!"

Om vackra man:

"Med honom i sangen o en back ol skulle man inte vakna torstig."

Packing

What does a girl need when going to Maui?

Am thinking of packing soon...

3 bikinis
1 bathing suit
1 pair of shorts
2 dresses
1 skirt
1 pair high heeled shoes
1 pair sandals
4 tank tops
3 tshirts
1 sweater
1 pair linen trousers
pant and bras

Anything else I need? Travelling with handluggage only so cant bring too much. Just a few books and a comb, make up, toothbrush and sunnies. And a couple of handbags. Hmmm.... Wonder if it will all fit...

Augusten

Augusten Burroughs was fabulous, we could have listened to him all night. I bought Running with Scissors and got it signed. Am pleased. Didnt say anything clever to him, just thanks that was excellent. Cathy though asked a question, so I am quite impressed with her...

Barb also got her booked signed which is great as she now can stop regretting not stealing the signed copy of Dry from the library.

Brighton Festival

Brighton Festival is over today, I have done more this year than last which is good, but still not managed to get round any artists houses. Although that is probably good as we dont have any space for any more paintings.

Today we are going to see Augusten Burroughs, something we are quite excited by as we love Running with Scissors and his other books.

Yesterday we did the sewer tour (v good!), Friday Jarvis Cocker talking about songwriting and then a comedy show at the Udderbelly. Last week I went to the Embassy Court tour and then to a gypsy orchestra concert. Both great.

I am quite looking forward to spending the evening in my chair watching tv though. Feel like I have had too much good food, wine and company over the last couple of days so deserve a bit of mind numbing tv time. And a salad.

Heja Sverige

I got to vote yesterday so did the only patriotic thing really and voted for Sweden. Although she does look like a freak and I cant understand how anyone can choose to use make up the way she does. And I reccon without make up and if she ate something she would look less like a man in drag.

My favorite last night was Lithuania. The hair. The trousers. The wind machine. Lovely.

But overall favorite still Bosnia Herzegovina. Along with France.

Voting

Am not happy. Watching Semi Final one of two for Eurovision, assume so is the rest of the world? Anyway, I cant vote today!! Only allowed to vote for the second semi final on Thursday. Moping moping moping.

I wanted to vote for Dustin the Turkey. And for the interesting man from Bosnia-Herzegovina. And the nice man from Israel who was quite fit and had a wonderful voice.

But most were quite shit, as is customary in Eurovision. I think Belgium deserves a special mention. Along with with Azerbaijan.

I amwatching it on BBC3 with the singalong function activated so I have also been able to admire the innovative use of English. Its not always clear what they are trying to say, but hey form is always more important than content in Eurovision.

Best gimmick? Russia having an ice rink on stage along with the World Skating Champion. Weird and unfortunately not covering the fact that the man just cant sing that well.

Tan

Apparently it just looks like I wizzed off to Bahamas over the weekend and got a great tan. That is according to two men I work with who both thought it was a real tan. Havent asked any girls yet, but see it as a good sign that its not a complete obvious fake. But reccon men are unlikely to notice...

Spray

I have been spray painted. Its B's fault. She told me the beautician did a deal, two St Tropez sessions for £40 and I am such a sucker for a bargain. So I booked up and tonight I am sitting in my black stolen from Virgin pyjama and smell of self tanning lotion.

I am orangey-brown all over. I have dark brow streaks on my neck which I do hope will go away tomorrow when I shower (have to leave it for 8 hours before showering says the info note that I forgot to bring home). I am back for the second session next Thursday before going out with the book club. At least I will make them laugh and as its a gift to be able to make people laugh I should be greatful. But I am just orange and a bit worried.

Visitors

Whohooo! LM is back in the country and we had breakfast today at Carluccios. I reccon within 20 min she had realised why she left the country in the first place, she is just so easy to wind up that its hard not to...

Anyway, its nice to have her back as its a year since we held her leaving do at Hotel du Vin and Komedia, starting with some gambling on the pier of course.

She missed out on a great concert last night though. We saw (and danced to) a rumanian gypsy orchestra for two hours. I am in pain today but its worth it. Love, love, love it. And it reminded me of how much I love the Kusturica films and their soundtracks. Need to go buy some dvd and cds I think...

Eggs

In the future I always want my eggs gently baked at 63 degrees centigrade for an hour.

Loong weekend

We had a long lovely weekend in Stockholm. Spent Thursday walking around trying to find an open museum to check out - no go. Dinner with parents at Snovit, what we in Sweden call a 'sylta'. Friday we did get into a museum, Historical Museum, and it was good but not super exciting (JD disagrees, he loved it). We went on an archipelago cruise with dinner in the evening which was v nice. All tourists.

Sat and Sun we were in Bredsand, did some gardening and shredding of branches with mum and dad's new toy. Sooo much fun... Now its back to reality and working again. Lunches booked out every day, trying to see as many friends as I can in a few days. Tomorrow night we are going to see the local football derby between Djurgarden and Hammarby. JD has decided he is a Hammarby fan. Good for him...