this is not a travel story but it might turn into one some day. what it is is a request, in particular to that swedish sloth...
i am renting a small recreational vehicle for a week starting august 12 in order to travel through southern sweden. it will be me, two 14-year old girls and a young flat-coated retriever named emily. (the girls are my daughter and her friend, so cut the fugly comments mc.)
slothy, where to go? do you / does your wife have a favorite lake? i have a book on the subject but i am sure you know better than some fat german tourist-writer.
thanks -- also to anybody else who knows about it.
mobile sweden
the southernmost region of sweden is called Skåne - I'm no Skåne expert but I'll get you some tips...
i guess you'll get to Malmö first, maybe you drive over there from copenhagen on the bridge. nice and a bit pricey, but should be well worth it if you're staying for a few days. Malmö is sweden's third largest city, and has lately turned into a bit of a music production studio - maybe you'll bump into a Cardigan or two while you're there.
Lund, an old picturesque university town, it well worth a visit too, it's not far from Malmö.
I would of course highly recommend a visit to Flyinge, an old stud farm/ horse clinic/ event center/ show place dating back to the 12th century, it's open to the public I think every day of the week. They have a lot of beautiful horses, buildings and so on. Even if you're not a horse fanatic you'll probably like it and it's not very far from Malmö either. You can read more at flyinge.se.
The southeastern area of Skåne is called Österlen, and it's very nice, may be a good idea to drive along the coast, and you should find some very nice villages, beautiful scenery, beaches, fishing huts etc.
There are of course lots of places but it depends how much driving you want to do and what everybody is into. Let me know if anybody on the travelling team has any more specific requests.
i guess you'll get to Malmö first, maybe you drive over there from copenhagen on the bridge. nice and a bit pricey, but should be well worth it if you're staying for a few days. Malmö is sweden's third largest city, and has lately turned into a bit of a music production studio - maybe you'll bump into a Cardigan or two while you're there.
Lund, an old picturesque university town, it well worth a visit too, it's not far from Malmö.
I would of course highly recommend a visit to Flyinge, an old stud farm/ horse clinic/ event center/ show place dating back to the 12th century, it's open to the public I think every day of the week. They have a lot of beautiful horses, buildings and so on. Even if you're not a horse fanatic you'll probably like it and it's not very far from Malmö either. You can read more at flyinge.se.
The southeastern area of Skåne is called Österlen, and it's very nice, may be a good idea to drive along the coast, and you should find some very nice villages, beautiful scenery, beaches, fishing huts etc.
There are of course lots of places but it depends how much driving you want to do and what everybody is into. Let me know if anybody on the travelling team has any more specific requests.
as it turned out, i didn't go there -- nothing is working out as planned.
they say that is where the fun is (as in: wherever things just happen!, as opposed to whatever you might have in that stupid little agenda book in your mind) but i could do with a little bit of predictability nowadays.
my dear mother fell and broke her hip in july and is now spiralling into a slow, sad and unpredictable pattern of dementia. i have been trying to take care of her so i cancelled the great trip i had booked with my girlfriend and the trip i had planned for sweden, as above. my brother the phoney is doing fuck nothing, of course.
as of today i have a great lady from eritrea in my employ who is taking care of mom, thank goodness. this will surely kill me financially but i think i need to regain some degree of sanity. this sounds whiney, sorry -- as a matter of fact the new science of happiness says taking care of ones own is one of the things that makes life rich and rewarding. i agree. yet: rich and rewarding it may be but a dose of superficiality on the side would go a long way right now.
they say that is where the fun is (as in: wherever things just happen!, as opposed to whatever you might have in that stupid little agenda book in your mind) but i could do with a little bit of predictability nowadays.
my dear mother fell and broke her hip in july and is now spiralling into a slow, sad and unpredictable pattern of dementia. i have been trying to take care of her so i cancelled the great trip i had booked with my girlfriend and the trip i had planned for sweden, as above. my brother the phoney is doing fuck nothing, of course.
as of today i have a great lady from eritrea in my employ who is taking care of mom, thank goodness. this will surely kill me financially but i think i need to regain some degree of sanity. this sounds whiney, sorry -- as a matter of fact the new science of happiness says taking care of ones own is one of the things that makes life rich and rewarding. i agree. yet: rich and rewarding it may be but a dose of superficiality on the side would go a long way right now.
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tony ballard
- Big Ears
- Posts: 15
- Joined: Tue Aug 16, 2005 12:19 am
You are a good man. Make no doubt of that.
I am sorry that your mother is ill. Nursing, even when it only involves light duties and great rewards, such as it does for me when my children are sick, is a draining task. Caring for a parent is infinitely harder. Doubly so if there is a degeneration in her mental faculties.
I doubt that there is a soul here would accuse you of whining. If you feel guilty that you are not doing enough or doing absolutely everything you should all the time, then could I remind you that, if you love your children -as I do mine, you do yours and your mother did hers - then all you need to know is that they love and care for you. No parent wants a child to be a martyr to them.
Take a break. Have a beer. Be a good son.
I am sorry that your mother is ill. Nursing, even when it only involves light duties and great rewards, such as it does for me when my children are sick, is a draining task. Caring for a parent is infinitely harder. Doubly so if there is a degeneration in her mental faculties.
I doubt that there is a soul here would accuse you of whining. If you feel guilty that you are not doing enough or doing absolutely everything you should all the time, then could I remind you that, if you love your children -as I do mine, you do yours and your mother did hers - then all you need to know is that they love and care for you. No parent wants a child to be a martyr to them.
Take a break. Have a beer. Be a good son.
ah tony, i am not a good man (i have done too many mean things to be that) but you certainly are a very, very kind bloke. your warm words made a big difference to me.
sometimes friendly advice, put exactly the right way, gives you this slight reality shift and you can see your life from a better perspective. at least, that's what happened to me when i read your post.
actually, i was drinking rosé and feeling self-pity when i posted my sob story. i guess there is a place in life for that.
thanks again.
sometimes friendly advice, put exactly the right way, gives you this slight reality shift and you can see your life from a better perspective. at least, that's what happened to me when i read your post.
actually, i was drinking rosé and feeling self-pity when i posted my sob story. i guess there is a place in life for that.
thanks again.
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mccutcheon
- New York Scribbler
- Posts: 4996
- Joined: Tue Oct 03, 2000 8:01 am
- Location: NYC
- Contact:
hmmm
And Mr. Tony told me he was sick of all the niceness on the site. I'm glad he can see when to pick his fights. Now let me have it for this comment.
ok mc, give us some comic relief (or is it comic release? no, but it's sexual release. although -- sexual relief as such sounds good too).
in particular, i am looking forward to some jokes about incontinence. for a starter, here's one i told my parents some years ago. first, the punch line: they didn't like the joke one bit.
it's during the 1996 clinton vs dole campaign. the news is that hillary is pregnant. bob dole, indignant, tells the press: "that is quite simply a fabrication. i can tell you that i will be the only person in the white house who wears a diaper".
in particular, i am looking forward to some jokes about incontinence. for a starter, here's one i told my parents some years ago. first, the punch line: they didn't like the joke one bit.
it's during the 1996 clinton vs dole campaign. the news is that hillary is pregnant. bob dole, indignant, tells the press: "that is quite simply a fabrication. i can tell you that i will be the only person in the white house who wears a diaper".
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tony ballard
- Big Ears
- Posts: 15
- Joined: Tue Aug 16, 2005 12:19 am
Martino,
no comic relief from me. About six weeks or so ago I was on vacation up at a lake in Michigan. Me and Mrs Tommy got into one of our trademark rows. I went down to the basement to sulk for a few hours. There was a fridge down there with beer in it and no kids. Perfect for sulking. After about five minutes I realised I didn't have anything to read. I wasn't going to go back upstairs and have a reasonable conversation so I had to find something at hand.
I think I have mentioned that my Father-in-law is a devout christian. I was staying in his place and I knew that the bookshelves were stuffed with religious books. I saw the name C.S. Lewis. The volume entitled ,"The Screwtape Letters." The Screwtape of the title is a demon resident of hell. The book consists of his replies to a trainee demon who is at large in the world of men. It is deliberately folksy and almost impossible to get irritated with, even if you disagree with every premise it is based on.
Finally, I will get to the point of this rambling. Screwtape mentions individuals that care about the world at large passionately but the nearer people get to them the less love and compassion they have to give. He mentions that they are particular favourites of his and that they supply endless fun when they invariably show up in hell. I had to put the book down for a moment. Now, I don't think I'm off to hell but I couldn't agree more with him. The measure of the man really is in how he treats the ones he loves. In my younger days I would have said that a large part of my character could be assumed from how I thought the world at large should be treated, (ie my politics, my beliefs) now I don't think that is true.
I once heard Garrison Keillor end one of his tales from Lake Wobegon with something along the lines of........and all the cliches are true and you learn this, you can never repay your mother.
no comic relief from me. About six weeks or so ago I was on vacation up at a lake in Michigan. Me and Mrs Tommy got into one of our trademark rows. I went down to the basement to sulk for a few hours. There was a fridge down there with beer in it and no kids. Perfect for sulking. After about five minutes I realised I didn't have anything to read. I wasn't going to go back upstairs and have a reasonable conversation so I had to find something at hand.
I think I have mentioned that my Father-in-law is a devout christian. I was staying in his place and I knew that the bookshelves were stuffed with religious books. I saw the name C.S. Lewis. The volume entitled ,"The Screwtape Letters." The Screwtape of the title is a demon resident of hell. The book consists of his replies to a trainee demon who is at large in the world of men. It is deliberately folksy and almost impossible to get irritated with, even if you disagree with every premise it is based on.
Finally, I will get to the point of this rambling. Screwtape mentions individuals that care about the world at large passionately but the nearer people get to them the less love and compassion they have to give. He mentions that they are particular favourites of his and that they supply endless fun when they invariably show up in hell. I had to put the book down for a moment. Now, I don't think I'm off to hell but I couldn't agree more with him. The measure of the man really is in how he treats the ones he loves. In my younger days I would have said that a large part of my character could be assumed from how I thought the world at large should be treated, (ie my politics, my beliefs) now I don't think that is true.
I once heard Garrison Keillor end one of his tales from Lake Wobegon with something along the lines of........and all the cliches are true and you learn this, you can never repay your mother.