kareina

This week slipped by as quickly as weeks tend to do, with the added complication of not having had the energy to put everything away last Sunday after Norrskensfesten, which meant that every day I would see the remaining pile, realize that I didn't have time/energy to do all of it, so instead I would put away one or three items and call it good in addition to everything else that was on for the day. My main focus for the work week was work--my ICP-MS wasn't behaving, and I wasn't getting passing performance reports and it took half the week and a few calls with the guy who did some routine maintenance of it the week before before I managed to get it working properly (we switched to the brand-new, never before used cones before it would behave--it will be interesting to see if he can see anything wrong with them when he is here again later this month).

Monday evening was Nyckleharpa night. None of the girls who normally ride with us were up for going this week, since they wanted to rest after Norrskensfesten, but David and I made it and had, as always a delightful time. It has been nearly seven years since I moved to Sweden, but I am still as much in love with Swedish folk music as when I first arrived and got acquainted with it. Tuesday Ellinor was still tired, so I went to gymnastics on my own and had fun, but I was also tired, so I left a half an hour early and did some grocery shopping. I managed to finish a UFO that evening--a pair of socks I started in February 2015 using the Dalarna stitch of nalbinding and some lovely 35% silk 65% merino wool blue and black yarn.

Wednesday evening I had time to do some cooking (made a lovely risotto: cooked up some small pumpkins I had bought a couple of weeks back with some left over grated carrots from Norrskensfesten in water and then used the immersion blender on them, then cooked the rice in that plus butter and a bit of extra water and added a bit of dried nettles, some left over hard boiled eggs from the event, some almond meal, and some almond slivers, and then, when it was otherwise done, drained a can of artichoke hearts, sliced them and added them to the pot. Yum! I also did a green salad using spinach, baby silverbeet leaves, purple and orange carrot, shelled fresh peas, cucumber, tomato, avocado, and alfalfa sprouts), which has been feeding me the rest of the week (the first half of the week I mostly ate left over soup and bread from the event).

Thursday was Frostheim social night, so I just stayed on campus till time for the meeting. There were five of us there this week, two of whom hadn't been at Norrskensfesten. I worked on a pair of wrist warmers to match the socks I finished on Monday--back when I first started those socks I had started one, decided that it wasn't big enough to fit my leg, and set it aside and started over. Now I have decided that it is a fine size for the cuff on some arm warmers.

Friday I managed to get most of my personal stuff from Norrskensfest put away during the day, and in the evening I went to Pire practice for the first time in ages. As luck would have it, I didn't get to do much acroyoga there, since tonight happened to be the time that the new students were to show off the choreographies they have been working on all term, followed by blindfolding the new people, leading them through and around obstacles, to a place where they can try their hand at playing with fire instead of just the practice toys they have been using. Then we all went to Ellinor's apartment and hung out for the rest of the evening. It was a nice, relaxed night. The others ate store-bought pizza, but, of course, I wasn't hungry that late. However, I did suddenly get inspired to bake, so I asked Ellinor if it would be ok, and she let me use her ingredients to make a batch of cookies. They were impressed that I didn't use a recipe or measure anything, just tossed stuff into a bowl till it looked right and baked them. They tried to argue that I could only do this because I have so much baking experience. I admitted that yes, I have been baking for at least 40 years now, but I was making up cookie recipes when I was 10--this is a skill I have always had and was good at the first time I tried.

Today I had considered attending one of two conflicting folk music things that were available, but instead just stayed home. I managed to finish putting away all of my event stuff, did some laundry, and finally started on the Frostheim task I had been putting off--dealing with the ceramics. Frostheim has a large box of hand-made ceramics that lives at my place. After Hägnan this summer it had been packed into the box still wet and when I opened the box a day or three later, it smelled of mold. So I washed everything in bleach water, tossed the bubble wrap that had been cushioning them from one another, let it all sit out to air for some days, and finally repacked it with fresh bubble wrap. I considered using cloth bags instead, but our sensechal said to just buy more bubble wrap. When I opened the box at Norrskensfesten there was a slight mold smell, which became a bit stronger when I took things out of their plastic. Therefore I decided that stronger measures are in order.

This time I put as many pieces as would fit at a time in a pot, filled it with water, and put it on the stove. After giving them a bit of time to boil I then rescued them, rinsed the pot, and re-filled it with more. It took all day to get the full set boiled, and they will sit out on a clean towel for a day or three. I need to go shopping and pick up some cheap fabric and make some bags for each piece, and then put them back into the chest till next time we need them. I will make certain that the bags are washable. With luck this won't be an issue again.