I suppose this post is overdue, as I know there are people still waiting to hear. The notification of selections for Ph.D. positions in Uppsala and Stockholm were made on Wednesday, and I did, in fact, get a position at “my” university, Uppsala University. I’ll be working on the country house project, examining economic and… Read More News!

We wish you peace and joy in every season. (Kind of like the peace and joy I managed to enforce for a few minutes here. 😉 )

Yesterday was Lucia Day, and of course, I did the obligatory baking of lussekatter, or saffron buns. Then I put a few on a festive holiday plate and photographed them by the light of the Christmas tree. After that, we feasted until there was nothing left on the plate but crumbs. Speaking of things Lucia,… Read More Lucia

Tage and Petra played in Christmas concert this morning with the other kids at their school who play instruments. Unlike in the States, they don’t have a band class, but instead have lessons individually or in small groups. It was fun, then, to see them all playing together in the show’s finale, with the beginners… Read More A holiday gig

One of the many things about life in Sweden that I’ve embraced wholeheartedly is a love of saffron. In keeping with my newly rediscovered domesticity, I whipped up a batch of these saffron-lemon cookies the other day and managed to get a festive picture before they were all devoured. These are from a recipe that… Read More A tasty treat

You guys, my house is so clean. For real, people who’ve been here would hardly recognize it. It’s not spotless by any means–we do, after all, have seven people, two dogs, and two cats living here–and to be completely honest, I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who would say that it isn’t… Read More Keeping myself busy

So yeah, I guess I’ve been putting off blogging long enough. It’s not that I’ve been avoiding it, really, just that nothing’s really happening around here. I’m still waiting to find out whether I’ll get a Ph.D. position (seventeen days until the decision is expected!), and in the meantime I’ve been doing a whole lot… Read More Overdue

Last fall I was on the commuter train from the airport to Uppsala, and there were two men sitting next to me, talking. One was sixty or so, and the other was probably about my age. They were speaking Swedish and the older one had a marked accent. At first I thought the younger one… Read More It’s a little bit funny

We’ve got almost all of our Christmas shopping done, and it feels good to have got it sorted on the early side this year. Usually I do like to have it all taken care of before Thanksgiving–some years I’ve managed it even before Halloween–but the past couple of years, when I was in school and… Read More Holiday talk

I did stay up for the game on Wednesday night, and it was absolutely worth the loss of sleep. It was an amazing game, one of the best I’ve ever seen, and I’d have been kicking myself forever if I hadn’t watched it live. It was nearly five o’clock in the morning by the time… Read More Saturday