Oh the Places You'll Go...: Advice from U2 and happy Halloween!

I heard the best advice today on my run from the one and only U2. It's funny when you listen to an old song that you used to know all of the words to, but years later the song feels new, because you have experienced so much since then. It was just me, the dark periwinkle clouds, the deep golden fire of the sun peeking through the clouds, but covered just enough to provide the perfect balance of light and dark where the clouds are backlit by the sun, almost like the candle in a jack-o-lantern, and the wet, rain soacked country road. Oh, and the occasional horse, and sheep. It was spectacular. I sat stretching in the middle of the road while "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out of" was playing. Bono's voice was blasting though my ears, then first déjà vu and a flashback to high school, then a strong, almost heart wrenching pang of homesickness, and then that moment....the one where you hear the words, but you don't just hear them being sung by the artist, no. You really hear the words, and they mean something more now than ever. It was like the moment when I snap the shutter at that absolute perfect second, and I know it wasn't really me who snapped the shutter, it was a "God sighting." Gerald used to call it that, when Lydia and I would bring in loads of fantastic pictures from one day. Then it was just me and the silence in the middle of the road with the sheep staring at me while I sang as loud as I could "you've got to stand up straight and carry your own weight.......you've got to get yourself together. You've got stuck in a moment and you can't get out of it" My run today was the best I have felt in a long time.

You can lisen to the song here:

http://youtu.be/hX28s-5VXzM

School was cancelled today, but I studied anyway since I was there. I learned some Chinese from my friend, and met a Colombian woman in my class whose son lives in Miami, small world. After my run I decided to make banana chocolate chip bread and pumpkin and cranberry muffins for Anna Carin's parents to enjoy, especially the pumpkin on such an American holiday. Kjell, Anna Carin's dad made the most mouth watering, traditional Swedish "panbiff" with potatoes from the garden, steamed carrots, and cucumber salad vinager....all topped with hand picked, homemade lingonberry jam from Gunilla, my mom's friend in Stockholm. The jam provided the perfect sour zing to the savory, full, and satisfying flavor of the meat, which was from the local butcher down the road. I haven't had meat in a while, and boy was it good. So to end a traditional Swedish dinner, we had traditional American dessert for fall and Halloween! We didn't carve a pumpkin today (but hopefully this weekend! And I have my pumpkin candle lit right now as I write!) but we DID get trick-or-treaters! Here, in our small little town! We didn't have candy, but the kids were so cute yelling "busa eller godis!!" Anna Carin's parents loved the cakes, especially the pumpkin, they said it was a flavor they hadn't had before and we enjoyed them with tea (pumpkin rooibos from good old trader joes) and watched "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" which was one of the better films I have seen I a while. Finally, and most exciting, I booked my tickets to Cologne, Germany today to see this girl....and guess how much they cost? $50 round rip. yup, $50.

(That's us on warmer days, in the tropics, on the beach in Hawaii...we're dreaming now)

Oh, and my room smells like spicy fall, I'm wrapped in a wool blanket, and the flickering candle provides just enough light to finish off a cozy, Halloween night. Happy Halloween!

For pictures, I don't have many, but here are a few. My pictures of dinner and today are on my camera and on account of computer problems, I can't upload them yet! But I dug around and found some photos for you to enjoy anyway. The scenery photos are from my run a few days ago.