A Cold Day in Southern California

Since we got here, the locals have been complaining about the unseasonably cold weather. There were a few days where it was just dumping rain, but otherwise I'd have to say the weather was beautiful. A cold day in Southern California is like a beautiful spring day in Skåne, so I certainly can't complain.

We spent three days taking care of business in San Diego (checking on our house, meeting the new tenants, talking to the property manager, mortgage broker, accountant, etc.) The good news is that the value of our house seems to have stabilized at about what we owe on it. The bad news is that we can't refinance it yet. More good news is that our new tenants seem nice, and they seem to appreciate our house and will hopefully take good care of it. More bad news is that besides not paying rent for four months, they broke some lamps, ripped the new vinyl flooring in the family room, stole our spare refrigerator from the garage, and their dog ate our sprinkler system.

We also got to visit with several of our friends, get our hair cut, go shopping (me) and junkyarding (my husband). Back at my mom's house, we've been relaxing, walking, eating, shopping, and finally writing my Christmas cards. I also got to visit with an old friend from music camp that I haven't seen in over 20 years. What a trip! This skinny little guy who was rather the class clown has grown up and become a respected and well-loved hight school music teacher--the kind of person who leaves a positive mark on all the kids he works with.

Now it's time to start packing. It will be interesting to see if we have a net gain or loss of suitcase contents. Early Tuesday morning we leave for Boston. As of last night they had a foot of snow on the ground and it was still coming down. I hope it lasts. It sure would be nice to have a white Christmas.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Cold Front in California

Since we arrived safely in Los Angeles on Friday afternoon, everyone's been talking about the weather and how cold it is. I guess it's a good thing that they pointed it out, because otherwise I might not have noticed. Rain has been predicted, but it's been mostly sunny anyhow. Temperatures have ranged from 6 to 14 C (43 to 57 F), certainly not shorts weather, but very nice compared to Skåne this time of year. This cold and rainy weather is expected to last all week, so I guess I won't be coming home with a tan this year.

We were so exhausted by the time we arrived around 3 PM on Friday that we didn't do much more than eat dinner and go to bed. Going to bed at 6 PM turned out to be a huge mistake since I woke up at 3:30 AM. The worst part is that Lina had already been up since 2 AM.

I managed to sleep until 7 AM today, but I'm fading fast now, and hope I can keep myself away until 8 PM.

The Sky is Falling in San Diego

Yesterday an F/A-18 military jet crashed into a neighborhood in San Diego. I was shocked to read this in the local Swedish paper because it takes more than just tragedy to make the news around here. The angle was of course Top Gun, the movie and the fact that the school exists (or at least existed) in reality. Top Gun was for training the elite naval aviators, and now Miramar is a Marine base, not Navy, so I'm not sure if they're now training elite marine aviators there instead.

Even though I don't live there anymore, I feel like this hits close to home. I always liked the military aircraft, especially the fighter planes. The first house we owned in San Diego was near Miramar, and I enjoyed watching the planes. Even when I was in college, I would make a point of enjoying the planes. I would go to the airshow almost every summer, or at least to someplace in the vicinity where I could have a good vantage point to watch the finale, the Blue Angels. I even liked the movie Top Gun. It was one of the first I bought on video tape, even though I'm not much of a Tom Cruise fan. The planes overhead would make me feel proud and safe. The best of the best were watching over me.

That one of these planes crashed into a neighborhood, killing people and destroying homes, is truly unfortunate. There is quite a bit of open space on Miramar surrounding the runways to provide a buffer for just this reason. What a shame that these planes will no longer evoke a feeling of safety.

Just Two Things

JUST 2 THINGS

You know the drill. Post it on your own blog or e-mail it if you want.

1. Two names you go by:

a. Lani (pronounced with an a like in cat)

b. Lani (pronounced with an a like in car)

2. Two things you're wearing now:

a. long underwear

b. jeans

3. Two things you would want [or have] in a relationship:

a. someone who makes me smile

b. someone to talk to

4. Two of your favorite things to do:

a. eat chocolate (or good food in general)

b. spend time with friends

5. Two things you want very badly at the moment:

a. Sunshine

b. Warm weather

6. Two people who will fill this out

a. Tammy already filled this out

b. Betty?

7. Two things you did yesterday.

a. Made jam

b. Finished insulating the attic over my gallery

8. Two things you ate yesterday

a. homemade pecan butterball cookies

b. pasta with homemade meat sauce

9. Two people you last talked to:

a. my husband

b. my daughter

10. Two things you're doing today

a. laundry

b. chopping firewood

11. Two things you're doing tomorrow

a. laundry

b. packing for our vacation in the US

12. Two favorite holidays:

a. Halloween

b. Christmas

13. Two favorite beverages:

a. chocolate milkshake/malt

b. cream soda

14. Two people no longer alive that you'd like to talk to.

a. my husband’s grandfather

b. Winston Churchill

Lice

My daughter has lice again. I could just scream. Or cry. With so much stuff going on getting ready for Christmas and our vacation, I really don't have time to deal with this. I guess I should try to think positive--since this is the second time, I know what to do, and at least I should be done doing it before we leave for our vacation. Last time was just before our vacation to Norway, so even when we were dead tired, we still had to comb every day.

Even thinking of lice makes my head itch. To be on the safe side, I treated myself and husband too. Part of the routine for ensuring a louse free house is washing or freezing all the bedding, clothing, and stuffed animals that she's come in contact with. I've been doing laundry all weekend, so I'm pretty much caught up now. Does anyone know how long do the stuffed animals need to be in the freezer? Good thing I'm not doing any entertaining here before Christmas, or I'd never be able to cope with a freezer full of toys.

Happy Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving in the US. There is no such holiday here in Sweden, and I miss it. I like the idea of giving thanks and spending a day reflecting on what we are thankful for. After all, we really have so much to be thankful for.

Since today is not a holiday here, I celebrated Thanksgiving last Saturday with our Danish friends from San Diego at their house in Denmark (less than two hours away). Our friends are going through some tough times now and did not have time to prepare a special meal, so I did the shopping and whatever I could do ahead of time. I didn't have all that much time either, and since we were only 4 adults and 2 kids, I kept it relatively simple.

The menu:
a special Swedish smoked sausage
stuffed mushrooms
broccoli casserole (my mom's recipe with artichoke hearts--I substituted cauliflower for some of the broccoli)
stuffing with mushrooms and celery (also my mom's recipe)
herb-roasted turkey breast (recipe from Rachael Ray)
gravy
lingonberry jam (instead of cranberry jelly which we couldn't get here)
baked yams and potatoes
sour-cream apple pie
pecan pie

The turkey breast turned out really well; even my husband liked it, and he usually hates turkey. I cheated and used frozen pie crust, and that was a big mistake. Unlike the stuff I used to get in the US, this was hard, didn't taste good, and it was almost impossible to use since the roll stuck together when it thawed. It didn't matter so much though since we were all so stuffed by the time we got to dessert.

To make the day extra special, there was snow for the "kids" to play in. Snow is pretty uncommon where they live since it's on the coast. We had a few inches here, but there was pretty much none in Malmo and Copenhagen. Luckily, they had just enough for a little sledding.

Farewell Winter Wonderland...

Welcome back Skåne. The snow that we've been enjoying since Thursday is now gone. In just a few hours, the temperature shot up to 43 F/6 C and the snow (only a couple of inches, but enough to cover everything and allow for snow play) melted leaving mud, ice, and fog in its place. The snow had done so much to lighten the landscape. Now that it's gone, it's so much darker. Sunrise is at 8 AM and sunset at 3:30 PM--well, they would be if you could see them behind the clouds. At least I don't have to scrape the car.