farewell november, welcome december 2024

 

Keeping this short. (I hope…)

November went past like swoosh. And that it’s December and already Advent II on Sunday feels crazy.

A few notes on my last upbeat post on ’every meeting has a meaning’ - turned out, as far as I can tell so far, that serendipitous meeting with what I had hoped was a fabulous mentor, not to be. 

I’m thinking my hopes for something uplifting, new and wonderful, a positive push forward and lots of inspiration and support, was just to expect too much alas. 

People who are rather self-obsessed and not really interested in a meaningful dialogue but seem to prefer monologues, they’re not my kind of people.

I feel quite deflated and disappointed. Thought we had an instant click. I had so looked forward to the mentoring. But apparently she didn’t understand the assignment. Or, as said, my hopes for meaningfulness were too high. 

Ah well, maybe something good will come from that connection somewhere along the line. Not just in the shape and quite instant form I had longed for here and now.

But that disappointment aside, November held some other clearing and cleansing practical, tangible things that I feel make room for positive change. Sometimes getting rid off stuff and cleaning home space feels so kathartic. And for that I am ever so grateful.

Universe has my back in unexpected ways, and small steps are better than no steps at all. Positive change WILL come, not just here and now. 

So in the meantime I will try my best to enjoy December (so far snow, rain, ice followed by bare ground, and then it starts all over again, climate emergency style). 

And give my heartfelt thanks to all good things November brought, unexpected, heartwarming as well as disappointing and costly. Because disappointments are always great teachers.

Please bring sparkles and joy, December, that would be ever so sweet and appreciated.

Yours truly 🩷

every meeting has a meaning

 

The day after my birthday (a couple of weeks ago, see a recent post) I had a serendipitous meeting with a woman (a few years younger than my mum) outside the local grocery store within walking distance.

She lives on the same street as my mother used to live before she moved into my dwellings in 2023. And they’d previously met and chatted.

Myself I met this woman prior to that, in 2019/20 just before the pandemic when we started talking at a municipal business owners sustainability meeting we both attended back then.

Also met her son back then, he and his wife had just started an aquaponic large scale farm. —

Unfortunately the combination of growing vegetables and fish farming is so very off-putting and obviously unethical for someone who believes we must stop using, abusing and consuming non-human animals for human purposes.

Especially since growing vegetables with aquaponic measures most certainly can be done w/out involving animals trapped in water tanks. —

That business aside we had a really good chat and I got a ride home in a Tesla (a company I detest with a founder I find a loathsome excuse for a human being, but the car ride was my first time in an electrical vehicle and that was cool).

We never did meet up again after that. And then came the pandemic. And then everything else happened, and my life just got distinctively smaller. (Alongside many others I imagine.)

But that post-birthday Saturday I noticed a woman with a really nice mustard-yellow coat walked past little mum and I when we began lugging home our groceries. The woman then turned around and said ”Hi!” because she saw little mum and then me and thought it was silly not to say hi, and instead just keep walking (like most of us usually do).

We started talking. And it just ’clicked’ somehow. She randomly mentioned that she had just read about a spiritualistic and healing society in Stockholm and would I be interested in going?

Isn’t just a wonderfully weird thing to ask someone you’ve only met once, and that was a few years ago?

Every meeting has a meaning.

As it happens I have attended a few spiritualistic meetings and seances after M’s passing. And some of those meetings have been truly eye opening and heart warming.

The pandemic came and after that I haven’t really felt inclined to go, for various reasons.

But this invite peaked my interest again. The society in question was new to me, but was founded in the early 1900s, and the first meeting was a healing evening, free of charge. So basically it was a no brainer to go and see how the people, the place felt.

Turned out it was a very unpretentious gathering, in a very nice part of the city that I’d never explored before. The healing session did absolutely zero for me. But the evening as a whole was just lovely. 

The non-stop talking as we walked, on the buses, on the trains was really uplifting and inspiring. We laughed a lot and I decided she should be my professional mentor, and she happily said yes and felt flattered.

Unfortunately she got a bad cold a few days later, so we haven’t talked further about this or set any strategy. But that will happen.

This makes me happy, grateful and excited for new beginnings. And new thoughts and inspiration entering my space.

Which is of course feels even better given recent devestating international events. Something positive to look forward to, to focus on.

Regarding the negative events on the political arena, I have decided to again stop consuming news for a week or two (long term readers of this blog might remember I did that for an extensive period years ago. It worked wonders for my brain and well-being). The local Swedish news I may allow myself to have a look/read at now and then though.

It will be hart impossible to avoid all international news of course, LinkedIn posts will be difficult to not see. But I need not open any articles. Or doom scroll social media. I can focus of things that makes me feel good and happy.

I hope you are able to do that too.

Because also great things are coming.

Kindness is key. 

happy world vegan day 2024 ~ world vegan month

Vegan hot chocolate with whipped oat cream, the purrfect celebratory drink on this fine day.

Cheers! 

🌱💚🌱

six vegan soups

In the last shivering hours before October ends and we say hello to World Vegan Day and World Vegan Month, I give you six vegan soups that all will delight any tastebud.

Comfort food at its best and fairly easy to make, all of them. Not sharing any recipes in this post (put I’ll be happy to do so if anyone asks). And to be honest I mostly wing it when it comes to something as simple as a lovely soup. No specific measurements. Just focus on a few ingredients and spices.

The ’soup’ above is a wonderful, mild but flavourful red noodle curry with tofu. So satisfying, so delicious.

Here we have a hearty soup of ren lentils and carrots. Onion, garlic, coconut milk and just because I had them in the fridge airfryed already - tofu.

Sweet potatoe and carrot soup. And a little amount of red lentils, garlic, onion and vegan iFraiche. 

Potatoe leek soup. Garlic and iFraiche again.

Mushroom and leek soup, with some dairyfree cream added at the end before I mixed it.

And just in time for Halloween, pumpkin soup. Also added was oven roasted carrot, onion, garlic and a little red lentils for texture. A tin of coconut milk before blender.

Next plan is making some green soups. And possibly Ukranian borstj.

And one favourite of mine, root veggie soup (potato and carrot, onion, garlic) with vegan mince and strained tomatoes. So. very. good. So. very. moreish.

Hope this left you inspired to make a really great vegan soup and celebrate this fabulous month!

Do you have any favourite soup? Care to leave a comment about it?

the joy of blue faux fur 2024

 

A cosy, preferably colourful faux fur of great made to last quality has been high on my wish list for many many years. For various reasons I have never find one that ticked all my boxes. Until now. It’s blue and I love it.

And it’s second hand (but obviously hardly, if at all, used). Which is another great box that has been ticked with this dreamy purchase.

The story of this blue beauty began this spring, when I first spotted it at Swedish second hand site Tradera (where I make most of my second hand buys and sells).

The photos then definitely showed a pretty grey/brownish faux fur coat. Brand my favourite one, Marimekko. And I knew it screamed my name, even if I had wanted a colourful faux fur coat the brand equals quality and long lastingness, and a more neutral colour would of course mean my colourful shawls and scarves would have a perfect background to play with.

Still, it felt weird to invest in a fluffy winter coat at the brink of summer. I also felt the price was tad high for second hand, even though I fully realise the original price of a Marimekko coat of this kind would have been conciderably higher. But we all enjoy a good bargain, don’t we?

After a few months of no sale, the seller put the price down. And I was just about to put a bid in, when someone snatched it just before my eyes. Bu hu hu ad finitum.

So imagine my surprise and delight when the coat was again listed in September!

But as the new seller/previously snatched it before my eyes buyer had used both the photos and text from the original buyer, I got a bit suspicious. Asked for new photos and description.

Promptly I got photos of this BLUE not grey/brown coat, saying she had been very surprised when she got it as the photos clearly showed a different colour. The word ’dark blue’ in the original text isn’t something you notice. And why the seller wasn’t more open with the photos being very misleading colourwise is just plain weird.

The type of misleadingness that can give bad reviews.

That said, I didn’t hesitate a second when I saw the perfectly gorgeous colour. And I even managed to get the price down a bit more, w/out being offensive. Well done me! 

And it turned out to be even more gorgeously perfect when it arrived. It’s so fluffy, oversized and with a really clever button mechanism. Love the quality and attention to details, as usual when it comes to Marimekko.

And I’m not even the least bit paid to say this.

The wait for my perfect faux fur coat has SO been worth it.

Once upon a time I always said that my favourite colour was pink, followed by red. But if I’m honest my wardrobe has never had many pieces of those colours in it.

I still concider green (especially apple green) my favourite colour, and I do have a few pieces of that in my wardrobe.

However, if I’m honest, the colour I’m subconsiously drawn to regularly is blue. I’m not sure if that has any deeper meaning, but in Sweden the blue political block is conservative and generally stands for quite the opposite of my values, and sense of decency so I guess I’ve never been comfortable in admitting that blue might be a favourite colour of mine… Which of course is ridiculous. Blue is a lovely colour, with a wide range of hues. That’s it.

And now a few words on the most surprisingly fact of all about this blue faux fur-post - it’s the third blog post in three days in a row. Shocker. 

I don’t know how many years have gone by since that happened. But quite a lot of them I suspect. Maybe writing more regularly posts can be a sign of me being a year older, wiser, albeit more jaded but also brimming with things to share. The good, the bad, the inspirational.

Not sure yet. But don’t be surprised if there will be more vegan food inspiration posts soon, as World Vegan Day and month will arrive on November 1.

Also, I do take joy in every little kind comment left here. I haven’t replied to any forever though, and that’s not because I am unappreciative it’s simply because Blogger/Google has not ’allowed’ me to log in and reply or comment. And to try and possibly fix it has not been on top of my mind in this world and life of mine.

So to everyone concerned; 

thank you, thank you, thank you! 

💚💚💚

the beginning of max 5

Early in October I got an email from Sweden’s largest environmental non-profit organisation Naturskyddsföreningen (of which I’m of course a member) - Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC).

They had launched their latest campaign Max 5. Ie buy no more than mx five new produced garments during a year. That’s the limit to what the world can handle. (It does not include under garments or socks, but no need for most of us to go bananas with that either.) 

Long long gone are the days when I bought a lot of newly produced clothes. And for as long as I can remember it has been slow fashion made to last. 

Still the only sustainable fashion is second hand and has already been produced.

If my memory serves me right I think it has been said that we already have enough clothes produced on this planet to last for 15 generations. Which is gobsmackingly crazy.

I don’t want to be part of this crazy unsustainable circus that is the fashion industry.

But I still find quality clothes and fun, colourful (duh) design intriguing and irresistable. And a wonderful way to express myself in creative ways.

But I don’t exactly NEED new clothes in my wardrobe. I can mix and match plenty with what I already have and love.

So for the year to come I will settle for max 5 new pieces in my wardrobe. (Of which one will definitely be a pair of casual trousers, I have already set my eyes on.)

The very last thing I bought before I sign this (voluntary) agreement (no police will fine me if I step out of five of course, but I will certainly punish myself with shame), was this wonderful slowfashion Marimekko denim skirt.

It’s produced in a much more sustainable way than regular denim (one of the most water intensive/wasteful industries there are) and is made from 80% organic cotton and 20% recycled cotton. The Unikko print (my favourite pattern) makes it even more special.

I got it as an early birthday gift for myself, and I have already used it plenty and with much delight.

As it is a unisex garment it isn’t really made for curvier bodies, but it does look great open over a t-shirt too. And going up a size means it would be ridiculously large over shoulders and have too long arms, so I’m fine with curve flaw.

It goes superbly with that blue organic cotton skirt I got past spring.

In fact that skirt has already been my most used garment this year. It’s lovely. And it haz pockets. Of course.

I got myself another top notch piece of clothing prior to my birthday too. But it’s second hand, and there’s a little serendipituous story behind it, so it surely deserves a post of its own.

To come. Or to be continued. That is the question.

💙

happy birthday to me 2024

 

With a lot of unexpected unpleasantness and problem solving lately I continue to feel jaded and tired. Not very birthday mood-ish.

Life is a constant struggle. 

And somehow the rewards are few and far apart.

No matter how hard you work for positive change.

With yet another year added to my life (and one year closer to death), that is my dispiriting and realistic conclusion of life in general.

But I still wish for peace on earth. And more kindness. 

Peace as usual begins on your plate and so does kindness. 

I also fevereshly wish for Climate Action NOW - which coincidently also has a lot to do with what you put on your plate… 

As far as wishes for myself as a multipotentialite individual looking for a positive change in my professional life, well, my search description from earlier this year pretty much still sums things up! 

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/piaktw_newjob-communication-vegan-activity-7182965401008357378-RyY6?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios

(And no recruitment frauds does not count as great news…)

Come on Universe, and make an October birthday gal extra happy, will you!

october 4, 2024 - a day of many meanings

 

October 4 = Kanelbullens dag - Cinnamon Bun Day, it may be a Swedish tradition, but it’s such a lovely day so after all these years I hope it has spread far and wide in 2024.

This year I baked my vegan cinnamon buns myself again. They turned out lovely. 

Unfortunately I burnt a finger pretty badly on hot pearl sugar. Fingers crossed it’ll heal well.

My recipe for vegan cinnamon buns you can find here on blig if you hit the search button.

October 4th is of course also World Animal Day. And as always, if you claim you love animals you do not eat them in any way or form. Going vegan is the only way to stand on the right side of history. For the animals, for the planet, for your health.

And last but not least, October 4 is also All Animal Saints’ Day in Sweden. Today I remember these two (and all those 🐱🐱 who went before them), Pelle and Zigne, father and daughter. 

Amazing characters. Lovable tykes. Much loved, forever missed. ❤️💔

I will however never forget or forgive the nastiness the Swedish authority Länsstyrelsen (The County Administrative Board) put us through after Pelle escaped from the garden and fell sick, during the pandemic in 2021. 

I never got to say goodbye. I was put through hell, based on lies, by the shoddy Swedish legal system, but I won the appeal in the end. With great help from a friend. 

(The trauma and the story I blogged about during the time it took place, 2021-2022. So if you didn’t read about it back then, search for it in blog and you will find.)

But I’m certain Länsstyrelsen happily put other pet owners through similar hells regularly, just because they can. Never mind the real animal abusers, the factory farms and alike. Pet owners are such easy targets. It’ll tick statistics boxes for the authority.

That ordeal and that pitiful, heartbreaking ending has forever tainted the pure joy of having lived with and loved Pelle for 16 years.

And Zigne passed away in cancer in 2021, on October 13. Only a few weeks between the 💔 diagnose to her dying (just 9 years old). It went so rapidly, I still can’t fully grasp it three years later.

On Alla djurhelgons dag today, I remember the loss and the trauma that followed. Living with pets means you will have to brace yourself for the loss that will eventually come. 

The trauma that followed in the loss of Pelle is something that you could never, in your wildest nightmares, have expected. It has left scars for life. And not scars I feel has made me a better human. But they will remain a part of my life forever.

I wish it wasn’t so. 

But I’m blessed for having them in my life for all those healthy, happy, joyful years together. And for that I am grateful.

By for 2024, October 4.

~ happy 19th blogoversary to me ~

 

I may not treat it with the TLC it deserves these days, but I still love my little outlet on the internetz to vent, rant and let my frustration and anger out in cyberspace.

As well as share my delights and little pockets of joy (in an increasingly ungraspable world).

Baked a little vegan apple cake to celebrate a bit today, September 8, 2024.

Mostly organic ingredients of course. And apples from a neighbourhood garden. Aquafaba is way better than eggs. And the same goes for serving it with whipped oat cream and not cow’s cream.

The world is a better place for every time we chose not to use and abuse animals for what we eat and drink. Period.

That little 1 candle I got for the blogoversary 12. I still have the 2 left. Next year I might splurge on a 0 to match. 

I think I’ve done a decent job over these 19 years, if I may say so, and of course I do.

Life has changed drastically in some ways since then, in others surprisingly little, but at least in blog I can trust. And so can you, even if not as regularly as it once was. It still is here, alive and kicking (now and then).

Thank you for reading, please enjoy the cake! ~ 🩷📝🎂

farewell august, welcome september 2024

Or bye bye summer, hello autumn, as September is the official first month of autumn in Scandinavia. 🙏🏻👋🏻

Just like July August has been offering too many hot days in combination with surprising rain showers as well as heavy rainfalls (my roof is not happy…) with thunder and lightning.

Climate emergency is here.

And it has had an heavy impact on some parts of Sweden ever since the horrific summer of 2018. Yet too many ignorant people voted for a government that blatantly fight to make things even worse. 

The incompetence is mindblowing.

It’s 2024, but according to the Swedish government it might actually be 1984, business as usual rules as does selfishness. 

And I know, the same kind of ignorance and stupidity is seen all over the world, in politics as well as in everyday life choices. It’s hugely disappointing. Frustrating. Infuriating. Heartbreaking.

But what have I been up to this August, apart from being angry at the state of Sweden and the world?

Wrote a LinkedIn article about the recruitment scam I told you about in my last blog post. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/piaktw_recruiter-newjob-scam-activity-7231540510782312449-r6Yo?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios

It hasn’t gathered nearly as much arrention as I expected. Which is really weird. Like most things on LI are I suppose. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Go ahead and give it some much appreciated love and attention if you wish!

Club of interest might want to know that as the continued summer debacle of no commuter trains but replacement buses went ahead for the umpteenth year (+15 of them… 😱) and the whole ordeal ended on August 12.

So just as usually these past 8 part June and the whole of July, I spent most of my days reading. I’m currently 15 books ahead of my reasonable goal of 50 books read in 2024 on Goodreads.

Some decent reads, some blah ones, but no mindblowingly great ones yet. Four months left to get at least one but preferably two 5🌟 reading experiences. Fingers crossed.

Here are my books picked for September. ☝🏻

I know I won’t be able to finish them all of course. But I hope I might finish two, I focus on the 14th novel in the wonderful Isabel Dalhousie-series. Edinburgh, Scotland, philosophy and human interaction, well-composed slow reading at its best. They never disappoint and put me in a good mood of appreciating the little things in life, we often take for granted.

Focus two is the cli-fiction ’The ministry for the future’. Only 35ish pages in and 600 to go, I’m not sure what I think yet. Too close to home? 

As I have a couple of not yet finished books I read already, I’m just happy if I can finish those AND one of the new ones this month.

Apart from the Isabel Dalhousie book (which I always buy and make plenty of notes in) they are all library books. I’ve certainly rekindled with the joys of libraries after the pandemic. It’s almost addictive. And it’s a complete guiltfree addiction, which is super nice. 

Positive addiction actually. The ”ministry” book wasn’t available already at the library, so I asked for a purchase and got it. Now I do hope more readers will follow. It certainly feels like a book A LOT of people would benefit from reading.

I got this T-shirt in July/August. It’s organic cotton and it’s actually, believe it or not, a painting of Harry Styles by British comedian Joe Lycett, and sold by Greenpeace. Surplus money goes to fighting oil companies.

A) Who doesn’t want a portrait of Harry Styles on the chest?

B) Who doesn’t enjoy a good laugh?

C) Who doesn’t want to help fight the dirty business that have caused and continue to cause havoc on our planet?

D) And who doesn’t relish a super comfy, kindly produced T-shirt?

I got it in a very large size, since I’m always unsure about sizes (size tables are a bit so-so) and I’d rather go oversized that too small. Haven’t figured out how to style the sleeves yet, they’re too long and refuse to stay roll-uped) but I love the quality.

Prior to the return of the commuter trains I had to accompany little mum to health checkup appointments twice. It was a complete shambles, you would think they’d get better at communication, routines, signage and helpers after these +15 years, right?

But no. Not at all. It was a small and stressful hell getting on and off the right bus. And with a walker for 👵🏻 it was extra stressful.

The bus drivers were either reckless drivers or super new at their job. I even had to stand beside one of them and guiding him in the right direction on one of the rides…

We survived the ordeals. And I am so very grateful I didn’t have to commute every day during those months.

On the day when the commuter train were back I accompanied 👵🏻 again to a health appointment, this time in the city. The weather was perfect, I bought vegan blueberry buns to put in the freezer and a big sourdough loaf. 

Then we had late lunch at favourite place Mahalo. It was probably a year since I last was there, and the plantbased food was just as perfect as I remembered it. 

The Knivsöder glass noodle salad with tofu, mango and peanut sauce for me. And for little ’eating like a bird’ mum she had her favourite sweet potato fries with chili dip sauce.

In a week there’s a return visit at the ear specialist, and we most certainly will have lunch at Mahalo afterwards again. Will probably chose the same dishes too.

I was going to write about my recent (peri-)menopausal vegan supplement discovery but realised I wrote about it in my prior to last blog post. So I’ll just add that during month 2 (August) my sleep has turned better, if not nearly as good as it used to be (but of course stress and strains might cause issues with that too, not just a certain time of life), but I’m definitely grateful for at least some better sleep and time might change it even more, who knows?

Another little lovely outing took place last week. We took the bus to nearby Sigtuna. With a car it takes about 45 minutes, but with bus it takes 1,5 hours (where 30-45 minutes is waiting to change bus at a country road alas, but the bus rides themselves are so lovely and void of people that it beats taking the bus - train - train - bus trip that’s a bit quicker).

It was a lovely day. The late summer weather was again perfect. The town quite void of tourists. The houses and sights pretty as usual. And the walk by the lake blissful.

I had planned for a tofu lunch at the new thai restaurant we found last year. (Sigtuna may be the oldest city in Sweden, but it’s also probably the last place that offers a vegan place for food…) But then I suddenly saw this sign about a 100% plantbased cafe with daily lunches! Of course you must support such initiatives!

The dishes that day were spinach soup and aubergine with miso, Asian salad and rice. They were both very flavourful, but I missed having some bread (for the soup) and it certainly would have been good with more aubergine than three small rolls.

Looks like the dishes are more… satisfying on other days, but you rarely choose a day for a visit to a restaurant you didn’t knew existed prior. 

If you ever find yourself in Sigtuna, and want vegan food, go pay a visit to ’Hey Lucie’!

It’s hard to grasp that summer is over (at least if you look in a calendar) and autumn has arrived. It’s especially sad since it isn’t a nearly as enjoyable season as it used to be, prior to when climate change was fully upon us (2018). 

I do hope it will be a beautiful and very enjoyable autumn though weatherwise.

And I have high hopes for something splendid and fabulous to finally happen. To find my purpose, a positive change that brings joy, growth and a regular income again. I am SO SO ready for that.

Bring it, September, bring it on!

🩷💚🩷