This is so cool!

American Glass Paintings

Oh how I like. These are from New Orleans St. Louis Cathedral.

Don't stop me now

Three years ago I realized that in order to do some extra shifts as a doctor I desperately needed wheels. The Internet was full of alternatives and I was puzzled. Finally dad offered his help and before I knew it I was the proud owner of a beautiful Toyota. (Though I didn't really own it. I owned a long payment deal, but that's not the point.)

I loved that car! It meant freedom. I could go and do what I wanted. A whole new world opened. 

Gradually that car became natural part of my life. I used it everyday. On holidays I did amazing road trips. I've eaten and slept in it. Used it as a dump or a closet. Done my make-up and changed outfits. And music. There is nothing like driving your car on a summer night listening to your favourite band. 

And that car never failed. I always got home safe. Not once did it break down.

Here comes the but.

I started to wonder what it would be like to live without a car. I was surprised how hooked I had become. Even with more eco friendly alternatives to make a trip again and again I ended up on taking the car. I gained weight. And then there's the money issue with taxes, insurances etc.

Last August I said it out loud. "I'm thinking of selling my car."

For the last few weeks I've been cycling to work. It's not always pleasant, but I've enjoyed it anyway. A whole new home town has opened to me with the public transport and calling a cab is quite normal. I can't believe how easy it feels - a transition of this magnitude. (Though snow and cold cold winter are coming so regrets are likely.)

I'm not saying that I'll never buy another car. But this kind of change is refreshing.

All the leaves are brown

Thank you Lord for colouring this chilly time of year.

Best bit of the day

 This is amazing. Rokia Traoré knows what she's doing.

Food for the soul

Enough with the traveling for a while now. These are from Sculpture Garden at New Orleans. One of the best parts in town. 

From the top by: Robert Indiana, Jaume Plensa, Coosje van Bruggen and Claes Oldenburg, Arman

Big easy

Rainy day in New Orleans gives a good reason to stare at your laptop. I've had a wonderful holiday here, seen and done plenty. People in the South are friendly and open. I've been talking to strangers the past week more than last year altogether.

Everywhere you go one way or the other the discussion is turned to Katrina, the hurricane that hit here hard in 2005. You can still see the results of the storm nearly anywhere you go. Abandoned houses big and small, remnants of various buildings and sad looking port.

There's also sunnier topics, plenty of them. I've been watching one family nearby in the neighborhood lifting their house. It's literally raised on poles so that if the water level goes up they'll be safe. I like that kind of attitude. "Come what may but we'll make it."

Louisiana baby!

Quick change from Africa to the South. Here's my theme song for the past few days. Overwhelmed.

Wild Africa... well almost

 Don't do safari if it's rainy season. These were my top shots. 

We had fun though.

Oh and saw some of the cast from Lion King.

Girl in Lilongwe

Feeling like a hick in a big city right now. I'm not a fan of countryside living but just realized that's what I've been for the past weeks.

Lilongwe is a growing town with international dwellers. ..And that's about all I can say of it. I have a sense that the foreigners either work here or consider it a s a place to fill their stocks right on their way to visit a safari or the lake. Pretty much my strategy as well.

But it does feel good to watch TV in a long while and eat oranges. (Yeas I can be lavish.) Guess if I had friends here who knew good places to visit, would make it a whole different experience. In a way that's the case where ever you go in Malawi, or that's at least how I feel. Annoying as is can be that's also a way for people to connect. I've made good friends here thanks to needing their help and advice.

Yesterday someone asked me what I think about Malawi. My response was full of positive adjectives and none over exaggerated. Living here is not all rose pedals, but there's so much good that it helps to get through the rougher stuff.

I Heart Lake Malawi

My eyes are hurting for this beauty. 

No wonder the first missionaries tried to settle down around here.

Only downside being bilharzia, Lake Malawi is incredibly beautiful. 

Thank you God for creating it.

Fly me to the moon

This view was waiting for me couple of weeks back as I got home. 

I'm one lucky girl.

Meet my imaginary Boyfriend

It’s not easy to be a woman blah blah blah. This week I’ve read about human trafficking, domestic violence and how men in power grope very single woman they meet – just because it’s possible.

After those my own encounters seem small but nevertheless they have been from awkward to plain disgusting.  If you’re a single woman travelling around and most of the time in countries that haven’t heard of the women’s movement, you allow yourself one or two white lies.

My little white lie got big. These days it’s living a life of its own. Yep. It’s my imaginary boyfriend.

Last time today I was asked, if I’m single or not. The question came from a man who was very friendly but his motives to hear my answer were… Let’s not go there. Anyway I’ve been saved so many a times by the loveliest man in the world. (Who usually is staying in a nearby town or waits for me just around the corner.)

Meet Jayson. Lovely Brit who has even lovelier accent. He’s dark haired and has a great personality. He always laughs at my jokes and what’s even better makes me laugh. We share a passion to work in developing countries in the health sector. He is the one. And I’m not ashamed. Though if Mr. Right comes along I’m ditching Jayson.

Is it winter somewhere?

This was only two months ago.

Thank you Fia!

I met these wonderful pieces by Fia Backström last year at Stockholm's Moderna Museet. 

Guess who is missing her artsy hobbies

Ultimate choices

Back home I’m guided by my desires. I’m not proud of it or particularly think it’s the right way to live. Guess it just happened. If I feel like having chocolate, I go and buy some. If this book doesn’t interest me, there are thousands more at the library. Music, clothes, make-up, spare time activities are all a chain of feel-like-doing-it-this-ways.

This habit is there because of the numerous possibilities we’re surrounded by. It is so easy to get adjusted to it and end up thinking this is the only way to live. When there are so many alternatives where to pick one’s favourite it is also fairly easy to change one’s mind. Heck, if it ain’t good enough maybe the next one is. I’d say this is one of the reasons good old commitment to just about anything has become old-fashioned.

Once again I’ve been taught by movies.  (Guess I haven’t had the time to read books. )This time Mr. Nobody – a wonderful flick where making a decision is shown as a path paved with limitation and oppression of the individual. It was unsettling to recognize my own way of thinking while watching it.

But now I’m under the African sun and here life is oh so different. I’m down shifting though back home I was laughing at the very notion. If I want milk there’s only one kind – if any and I need to buy it before 6 pm from the nearby shop. In various level my life is now limited to one or only a few alternatives and I’m loving it.

This may sound like silly views of a posh westerner and in a way they are. But the pace of life here though being hard is more human in some sense. My palpitations are gone and at night I sleep like a baby despite the army of crickets and bats screaming behind my window.

I’m not deep enough to the local culture to say whether or not the viewpoint to decisions and commitment to them has shifted to the direction as back home.  It probably has a little or very soon will. After all it’s a small world we’re living in.

Mongolia in pics

I experienced this wonderful country in June, which was an early summer for the locals. It is a big country. Trust me. Did some bumpy car travelling. But the people are warm and proud of their history. This is how I saw it.

And naturally found myself once or twice at a hospital. Just kept my eyes open.

No horses this time.

My Green Thumb

For years I've dreamt of it. Every spring when I realize winter's been beaten, first rays of light peak in and the snow turns to mushy ponds the idea creeps to my head. I'd love to do it. This year for the first time ever I made it happen. Got myself a garden.

Some phone calls and bribing of my sister later I was a happy farmer. Out came rubber boots and tools from my parents shed. Loved it. I went crazy with buying seeds. There was no stopping me.

Then I got to the hard part. I wasn't afraid of getting my hands dirty. But boy how stiff and painful my back and thighs were. For days. One could have started a pottery business with that soil. I ended up carrying bags of dirt and recruiting one innocent preacher for the job as well.

What else is there to do after planting? I thought to myself and flew over several time zones. Coming back I had to separate the wilderness from my cute small saplings. Another stiff and painful back.

Nature did most of the watering and I thought this is going splendid until I had to declare a war. Bloody snails invaded my garden. What did I do? Gave them beer.

A friend at work told me the only way to get rid of the bastards was to drown them and the smell of beer attracts them like mad. Turned up these were all members of the temperance association. What a waste of lager. Eventually I gave up. And my plants have done fairly well.

Tomorrow we'll collect the harvest, have a party and I'll brag about it to any poor soul come my way. Made my dream come true.

What I drank today

Doesn't really matter. If you've got a cup like this.

Cute 'eh. Reusable, sustainable and frankly nice to show-off. For more here's their website.

DIY

Late morning. Promised myself today I don't need to do a thing. It's Easter and I can relax. Two hours later had this necklace on my hands. Hama beads are so much fun.