Sorry folks...

No 55 today... I have been working so hard this week with my school assignments, and on top of that I have been doing some teaching too. In addition, a lot of things have been going on with my family as well. I have been really swamped with things to do, and even though this has eaten a lot of my energy, it has given me some in return as well... I haven’t been able to write anything for my blog though, and I haven’t had time to visit you guys much either and I am sorry about that…

I decided to google for the perfect picture to use as I try to write a post that will allow you to get an image of what has been going on in my mind recently. This class I am taking, Nature and sustainable development, has been messing with my head big time. That is not always entirely a bad thing. But the other day as my teachers decided to be a little bit "spontanious" and give us another three (!) heavy lab assigments due next week, this is how I felt:

And this is how I feel still. I am hoping it will pass during this weekend.

55 - Fall on me

it’s wet and wild

it’s good for me

i need it in order to grow

going out there and letting it embrace me

taking shelter from it or letting it cover me

breathing it

smelling it

listening to the music it brings

heavy on the rooftops

gentle at the windows

fall on me

beautiful rain

Theme Thursday: Pets

Just imagine I’d be doing a blog post about pets… Since I am in a desperate need for a break from current school assignments, I have decided I’ll give it a try. I will not, however, use that picture. Somebody commented that it had too much cuteness in it. I agree. That picture was a massive cuteness OD. And I will not even go there…

So what can I tell you about pets? I am not really a cat person. Cats always seem so much smarter than me, and I’m worthless dealing with that… Birds in general, in my opinion, should not be kept in cages. Fish belong in the sea. Rats are far too intelligent to be held hostages by humans. Turtles belong in the wild. But I do love dogs. I really love dogs. And they love me. Dogs are like that, they love everyone… I believe that if some people were more like dogs, this would be a better world. But then again, if that was the case, I guess a lot of people would end up getting arrested too, since dogs seem to enjoy making love in public…

One day I want to have a dog of my own. A big dog. A Scooby-Doo kind of dog. We will take long walks together. I will train him. I will try to challenge his abilities. He will not be allowed in my bed, but it’d be OK to put his bed in my bedroom. If he doesn’t have a lot of gas. In that case his bed will be put somewhere else. A big dog eats a lot of food. A lot of food costs a lot of money. A poor teacher student doesn’t have a lot of money. And therefore, the dog part of my life will have to wait until I get a job. Or until I retire, maybe, considering I really want to be able to actually spend time with my dog too, not just leave him at home all by himself all day while I’m at school working and teaching. Dogs deserve people who care, people who love them and cherish them. Until I get a dog of my own, I’ll just continue hugging other people’s dogs and let them lick me in my face.

Closing up on beautiful growing things

Trying to focus...

Happy orange

Some more orange...

A promising bud

Some green with a spin

A flower that kind of looks like an UFO or something...

 

Beautiful rain

Wet wet wet

 

Time for me to wake up and smell the flowers...

A message

there is a red light blinking on the answering machine

we decide to erase it but it keeps returning

how strange

but, then again, if it’s broken, we can always go out and buy a new one

right?

there seems to be a message here

but we are just not seeing it

maybe we don’t want to

maybe we don’t have the time

maybe we are just to busy

minding our own business

preparing dinner, mowing the lawn and preparing for soccer practice

there are tsunamis, oil spills, deforestation

erosion

piles of garbage

smog

and earthquakes

floods

volcanos and ash clouds

there is hunger and malnutrition

there is obesity - people dying from eating too much

but why should I care?

I feel fine. Most of the time.

and all the stress

there are status symbols, status updates, status pressure

we climb higher, go faster, build bigger, work harder

mother Earth

we inherited her

now we are draining her

raping her

she is screaming “no”

again and again

but nobody seems to listen

we pretend we don’t hear

and carry on

doing what we do

minding our own business

the way we always have

and the red light is still there...

if we would push play

I think we would hear her crying

55 - Just do it

The candles were lit, the meal had been fantastic. “I need more than this”, she told him, looking straight into his brown eyes. “You and I have been together for fifteen years. We have been on this rollercoaster ride through heaven and hell, your hand in mine, my head on your shoulder. Now marry me.”

Theme Thursday: Mystery

you work so hard

to act mysterious

to stay out of it

to take no part in it

to not get involved

to not let yourself be affected

to not have to feel

to not have to know

I am trying to figure out what goes on in that head of yours

To me it is a mystery

why act cool when you are burning up inside?

why look away when you should look me in the eye?

why leave, why now, why at all?

to me you are a mystery

and you always have been

I used to think we were so much alike

chasing shadows,

and dreams,

and shadows of dreams,

and dreams of shadows.

But maybe you went on living

and I am the one still chasing shadows?

It is a mystery.

A good rule to live by

I completety stole this photo from the Internet. I confess.

Today as I was assigned an English class to teach I went to Vadsbogymnasiet, the school where I work, with a smile on may face. Well, there’s usually a smile on my face actually, that’s just the kind of person I am. Anyway, I was very excited to get to have this opportunity to interact with a bunch of high school kids. The bell rings, and into the classroom two kids enter. Two. And that’s it. Two young male specimens. …(Hmmmm, I suddenly feel like I am discussing Biology here, but I am really not. It must be that course I am taking at school right now, the one about Nature and Sustainable Development, that is affecting me…) Anyway, moving on here with the story… My two students look at me a bit awkward as they inform that the rest of the study group all have decided to leave school early today since last class had been cancelled anyway.

First I feel a little frustrated considering the NSU's (No Show Ups). But then I start thinking… And instead of feeling anger and frustration because of the NSU's I decide to focus entirely on the SU's (Show Ups). These two students are here for a reason. They may be a part of a study group that is difficult to motivate, but they are still here. They want to learn. I am their teacher. Therefore, I will teach.

There is a lot of good energy right here. Positive energy. Ambition. Power. The power of knowledge. Chatting with these kids I feel fortunate. They are making me become the teacher I want to be. Seeing them, hearing them, reaching out to them, getting through to them, helping them out with verbs and guiding them through the mysterious mazes of linguistics I feel alive.

In life in general, we will encounter both kinds of people. There will be NSU's and SU's. As long as we focus on the SU's we are OK. As long as we wish for more of them and less of the other kind, we will be doing just fine. I have one thing to ask from you who read this though. I want you to be honest. Think hard, dig deep into your mind, focus... Promise me to make sure you love what you do. And that, if you don’t, you go do something else. There’s a good rule to live by, right there.

55 - 35

 

Age is only a number

Youth is an attitude

Age comes with growing

Wisdom comes with age

Halfway to seventy

Feeling no fear

Embracing possibilities

Faith, love and hope

In between young and old

I am me
I am here

I know where I have been

I know where I’m going

Tomorrow

I’ll be thirty-five

Theme Thursday: Pink

Think pink, you say? Is that a dare? OK, here we go...

This is my very favourite kind of flower. I don't know the name of it though, not even in Swedish. I know I have said this before, but if I was a flower, this is the flower I would love to be. This is a flower with an attitude...

In my opinion this woman is really cool and also very talented. And she is beautiful too. This is a woman with an attitude.

Pink roses in the shade... Kind of wants me want to... eat them, actually... Wow, that feels strange... What is wrong with me?

To all the women out there... Feel your breasts. Or have someone do it for you.

Another nameless flower I found right next to a lake. She was begging me to take her picture... She actually said: "Please, please, pleeeeeease, take my picture, make me famous...!"  So I did.

Hey, teacher! Leave those kids alone...

It's funny I'd say that, considering I am studying to become a teacher and all.

... all in all we're just another brick in the wall...

...and that is that.

And finally, some pink blåsippor... I took this photo a couple of weeks ago.

Oh, how I love the first signs of spring...

Amazing...

In my dreams I sometimes find myself tasting the salt from the Atlantic as well as the Pacific, climbing snowcapped mountains, walking trough endless forests looking Laura Palmer realizing the owls are not what they seem, expecting to meet grizzly bears… Through wild rivers I am going white water rafting knowing it will probably kill me… On a park bench I sit chatting with Forrest waiting for the bus. He asks me if I would like a chocolate, and he is telling me stories.

I am playing hide-and-seek in the corn fields, looking for signs. And looking for Mel.There’s Laura Ingalls and her sister Mary. Next thing I know, I am sitting in the shade from huge oak trees in Savannah, sipping an ice tea. Fireflies gather around me. I find a turtle out in the wild, and I name him Arthur before I release him. I feel I am part of a road movie that doesn’t end. There is waterskiing. There is a white church. There’s my youth. “Hey Youth, where have you been hiding all these years…?”

There is the farm house with the porch that goes all the way around, huge trees on the lawn, a horse, two dogs, and a typewriter. I am guessing a laptop would work too. There is Brandon, Brenda and Kelly asking me if I want a ride. But nah, I’m not a city girl, and I’d much rather walk. Besides, I am really looking for Dylan anyway. He’s a lot more mysterious. There’s the house with the three cats. There’s that boy with the braces. Oh, and there’s the heartbreak. There’s the guitar. And the fireflies, they are everywhere, circling. Little lights bringing such comfort.  There’s the first song I ever wrote. There’s the guy who tried to cook for me but started a small fire instead. And there’s me in that truck stop in the middle of the desert. Finally me and Clint ride out into the sunset together.


Waking up I realize I have been dreaming, but closing my eyes again I can still see you. Even the fireflies. Amazing.

Crazy Eight

A blogging friend of mine PattiKen asked me to come out and play...

Here's the game we're playing:

1) Go to your photo files, select the 8th photo folder.

2) Select the 8th photo in that folder.

3) Post that photo along with the story behind it.

4) Then challenge 8 blogging friends to do the same.

Here's my crazy 8th:

I took this photo in October 2008. In a park close to where I live there is an old cabin that desperately needs some love. The colors have faded, and even though I like the shade of green on that door the way it is right now, I know the colors must have been a lot brighter back in the old days. Give me some paint and let me care for this old cabin... Let me show it that I love it. I have a feeling there is a lot of history here, and that there are stories that want to be told.

I nominate the following 8 to play (if they feel they have the time, I will definitely not hate them if they decide not to play...):
 
1. Eternally Distracted
2. Jiorji
3. Michael
4. Cheeseboy
5. Hostage
6. Goddess
7. Foxy
8. Jstar

These are some of my blogging friends out there, people whos blogs I gladly follow. They all have interesting stuff to say and share. You are welcome to check them out.

Peace and love/
Jo

Just having a little fun with fruit

Monday... With lots to do on my "to do"-list I decided to focus on the stuff that matters, the heavy stuff, the really important stuff... which is updating my blog obviously... I have decided I think it's about time you and I share some fruit. If there are any sensitive readers out there, I might have to take the opportunity to warn you however. Some of the photos in the bottom of this post may be considered a bit offensive... Now, I know you all will scroll down to have a look at them anyway, but please remember, I did warn you.

Here we go again, I just love green and yellow...

Lemon

The lead vocalist and her backup...

Don't you love that shine...

Go green...

I like traffic lights... (Monty Python)

Red and tasty...

That's a nice pair of... satsumas... you've got there

Now... what is this!? OMG...

This is definitely crossing the line....!