Entries by TATIANA

This year's temple at Burning Man got announced - Temple of the Heart.
The lead artist is a girl from Kraków Poland, Ela Madej. She lives in San Francisco now.
The Temple is designed to look like an upside down desert flower and the stem is going to reach up to the sky. The Temple will have traditional Eastern European lace patterns. I am very familiar with those, every window in Poland when I was little and later on when I would visit had white thin lace pattern curtains.
Ela says, "When I was growing up, my beloved grandma had a huge rose garden and we would all collect the petals to make rose preserves. Grandma passed away when she was 80. Grandpa outlived her by almost 17 years.
He never stopped taking care of her roses and making rose preserves.
Still today, I think the smell of rose preserves must be what love smells like. That's why the centerpiece of the Temple features giant roses."
There will be a rose altar in center. Beautiful! I am so happy that this girl from Poland that also loves going to Burning Man is the lead artist of the Temple this year!

Right now there are some amazing pieces of art in Portland. I do not know who put them there but thank you for doing so......they are so pretty. Since Christmas I have been down to the park blocks by the art museum to see this several times. Each time I am hoping it is still there and not destroyed. The disco ball. The tree.

Can you see the moon in between the branches? There are messages around the trunk of the tree. This so remind me of Burning Man. It makes my soul happy.

And the flower. I love this flower!

The last day of 2022 is over and so is the first. On the last day I did some shopping during the day. I have a hang up with that certain things should be done and taken care of before the new year starts. Usually the things I want done end up being too many and have to wait. Sometimes for several months because I procrastinate.
I can always find a good reason to do nothing at all. But I got certain things accomplished. Something that I absolutely must do is to start the new year off clean. So my hair must be washed and my body scrubbed. Clean is good. Another thing that I always do is take the trash out. Very quick and simple.
No trash from 2022 can be in my place when 2023 starts. I prefer for things to be tidy and clean too but my place is rather messy right now which is unusual but whatever, I just do not have the energy right now.
These Nike Cortez went in the trash the last evening of 2022. I've had these for over a decade and they definitely seen better days, both soles were coming off. I pretty much dress and look like a bum when I am out and about doing errands simply because I just do not care. The less people look at me the better. Bye Bye shoes.....



On New Year's Eve I went to a small gathering of friends but honestly it was rather dull. Some people there were just.....meh. Being meh on New Year's Eve is like? I happily got home at around 11 pm and spent the last hour of 2022 in bed by myself, drinking tea. When the clock struck midnight I was reading affirmations. A very very calm New Year's Eve.
On New Year's Day I visited a friend and we did say Happy New Year to each other and I had some pink champagne.



I went for a couple of walks too that day. One in the evening and the little Christmas feeling I had is completely gone by now. It makes me feel a bit sad to see people's Christmas decorations out still because I remember childhood Christmases and how excited I would be. Often there was lots of snow and being out sledding and playing in the snow especially after sun down was almost magical. The sky was full of large soft snowflakes that slowly made their way down from a sky full of stars and I would look up and catch the snowflakes on my tongue. After playing outside for several hours I would walk home tired and content. The time off from school felt long and was full of play either outside in the snow or inside. I don't have those sparkly childhood feelings about Christmas anymore. Things are grown up now and often stressful. But I am glad I have those memories from the past.



Well it is 2023 now. Yeay.....I guess?

I went and had some tea the other day in solitude. So nice to just sit there and not have to engage with anybody besides myself. I went to Smith Tea, first time there.
I picked three macarons to have with my tea. Lemon, chocolate and pistachio.
And my order number was 11. That is my special number as well.



The day after I signed off on a project I have been working on for months. It is now done. There was tea in that Starbucks mug.



It was time for tea this evening too. Ann stopped by so we had some Earl Grey and gingersnaps. In Sweden gingersnaps are called pepparkakor and it translates to pepper cookies. Yummy.



I'm in bed, finished up 30 minutes with my legs inside these compression boots.
I have been thinking about getting a pair for a while, so I decided on these.



I am yawning. I think I will be sleeping soon. Tomorrow it is the last day of the year.....wow. Already?

Today it is Boxing Day here in the US but in Sweden we call this day Annandag Jul which translates as second day of Christmas and it is a holiday in Sweden.
It rained hard basically all day. I did not get up until around 11.
I barely moved all day, I just lounged in bed, ate and then I did decide to go to work so I took a bath and washed my hair, because I felt bored. So I am at work right now in the dressing room. Ready to go home and sleep.
This year I gave away Swedish dish cloths (aka Swedish sponge cloth) to several people as Christmas gifts. I use them myself, they are great.
Read alllllll about them here and you need one as well if you do not have one yet! I mean.....we were using these in Sweden when I was a kid. Less waste. Environmentally friendly.

https://ecologieliving.com/pages/whats-a-swedish-dishcloth



And then I gave away these Swedish Angel Chimes as well. Same here, grew up with these at Christmas time only though, since childhood. Angel Chimes are very pretty.
Tomorrow December 27 used to be called Tredjedag Jul......third day of Christmas and used to be a holiday as well until it wasn't anymore. Well it should, December 27 should be a holiday all over the world. For a very good reason.

Christmas Day or Juldagen as we say in Sweden is almost coming to an end. I am in bed (as usual when I write the blog) with achy legs and feet because I was on my feet for most of the day today.
Spent several hours at the Portland Art Museum with the Pet Pack. One of my few wishes this Christmas is that ALL animals have good lives. Please be kind to animals. And I wish for peace.
No wishes for any gifts, I have everything that I need but I did get myself some things that I have been wanting for a while and I will show you what when they get here.
And when I walked out from the Portland Art Museum I walked out with this little Christmas tree. I got if for free and I will plant it in the forest with all of its tree friends after it spend some time inside with me.
So this is my Christmas tree this year. Cute!