Refrain.

Refrain: 

I found out that i am part Swedish this past weekend. Not much, but enough to be a true son of northern darkness:  

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BstHbbpq07s 

Ha! I have a minuscule amount of Swedish in me, but enough to know that 99% of my family has blue eyes. 

tycker du inte?

I also immediately purchased this book: 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CAwQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Faw%2Fd%2F1500346721%3Fpc_redir%3D1410499517%26robot_redir%3D1&ei=UmMaVO-3MqzCsATrkYCQBQ&usg=AFQjCNFmWDGDhecjp2A8PsInTccWnIIM4Q&sig2=zIw8IkgNciSv1Yjf9Db7-w

Holy crap, so much link!

Literally the minute i heard of it's release.

A powerhouse. One of the best collections i've read since a Poe anthology. No kidding.  

If Bartlett keeps going with his surreal horror, he will surpass Lovecraft and carve out a grotesque nicé of his own among the greats of the horror genre. 

I have not read such cringe inducing material since Clive Barker's 'Books of Blood.' 

I do find myself reading this twisted tome, mostly in the morning, with a fresh mind. It seems to give me an odd and detached perspective on the day. 

Wow, lost my train of thought. 

Anyway, dad: if you are reading this. Thank you for your ever expanding wisdom and kind words. 

I don't see you enough and elsie doesn't either. 

But that is ok, you have nothing but free time now and you did your bid. 

By the way: Terri and Remy told me you don't look a day over 55. Could it be our Swedish heritage!

Every time we hang out it is a lesson in how to be a better person and how to handle almost anything. I hope my happiness in my life has been an example of the fact that you did the best in raising myself and Jeff. 

So  here was my (slight) refrain. 

wind.

I used to gauge the fall by the time when the students came back or came here. 

I would traverse the traffic, the pointing fingers of the oblivious parents, and the swell of the air as around 50,000 kids flock to the happy valley for a 'higher' education. 

But, this year was different. 

I only noticed the shadows getting longer as the days grew shorter. A stark contrast to a rather bland summer,weather wise at least. 

Let's just admit that this was very mild as far as summers go, shall we?

Again: this year was different. 

I have been more focused on my family and our needs. I have been focused on our life and where we fit in to the whole scheme of things here in the center of the universe.

This world- this big vast world-is made for the young and the adventurous. 

The curious and the bold.

Personally, i am some of these, but most of all, i am a patient observer on the cusp of my middle age. 

Wether this gives me passage to dream, create, absolve or venture again, i hope it is with the same wide eyed magic if having more dreams than reason in this crazy world. 

We live to exist only to exist to live. 

Pinwheel.

    Elsie, 2 years 11months (L)

    Elsie, 97 years (R)

    

This is why i do the best i can each       day. 

For these moments. 

I am the luckiest spud alive.