Small triumphs

Today hasn't been a great day. Suffice it to say that when I think back over the really hard days I've had since the move, and honestly there haven't been that many, they have tended to be Fridays. Most people rejoice over Friday. For some reason, I don't. There are lots of reasons I won't go into why today was low but the big one is that today at home would have been a special day for me. Day #2 on my top 5 list of favourite days at Hawthorne. But you don't need to read about that. Let's get on with the triumph.

Sunday v-e-r-y e-a-r-l-y, (3am? 2:30?) we're leaving on our superquick driving trip to Prague and Berlin. I wanted water soluble markers to write on the plasticized maps. You know, the washable kind you use for overheads. So, I hopped on the tram to Nordstan, tried Staples. Permanent markers only. Went to Akademibokhandler. Found what I thought were water soluble pens but wanted to check. Here's the triumph: I asked the clerk all my questions in swedish! I didn't do the language panic flip. I did the entire conversation in swedish. Was it perfekt? Probably not, but he understood me, and I understood him. And that, after all, is all that matters.

Enjoy Halloween. With luck, we'll celebrate a belated Halloween with a haunted walk in Prague on All Saints Day.