When I started writing my book, I really did not have much of an idea of what it would entail. You would think that after working as an editor and writer for 20 years, I would have been more informed. And I was, to a degree. I had already been writing every day and spending a lot of time editing other writers. And thanks to working on deadline for all those years, I was also good at staying disciplined and at the computer.

But the actual day to day of writing a book is hard, much harder than I would have imagined. It’s a cerebral process and I often feel like my brain hurts at the end of the day. As I am writing a memoir, I spend a lot of time not only describing what the landscape around me looked like, but also figuring out where my head was at a particular moment in time: how did I feel, what was I thinking when that lion jumped on the buffalo right next to my jeep on a South African safari. (For the record, I cringed, buried my head on Robert’s shoulder and then looked again, much as you do when you pass by the scene of a horrible car crash.) Plumbing my memories and diaries for why I felt so compelled to live abroad, for the layers of reasoning behind quitting my perfect job and why I continue to feel the need to travel is actually like going through analysis. I know the resulting book will be worth it, but for right now, the process is hard.

A boat on Lake Mälaren last week. This time of year gets me thinking about boat trips on Stockholm's archipelago.

I am not sure exactly where my desire to live abroad and travel came from. My family vacations growing up were usually to Michigan – one state north of Ohio – and were fishing trips with an extended family of grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. They were a lot of fun, but they certainly were not what you would call taking a grand tour.

Mostly, I blame my desire to travel more extensively on reading Jane Austen, Henry James, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. Their tales of jaunts in Britain, France and Spain spoiled me, making me want to go to these places as well. The bulk of my travels started after college and I have had the chance to travel to some exciting and interesting places around the globe, especially after moving to Europe. Luckily for me, Robert is a traveler too and travel is where a good portion of our income goes to. Now we just need to work out where to go next.

This street sign in my neighborhood always makes me laugh.

You know that you are having an off day when you walk into spinning class and realize that your bike shorts are inside out. (And with bike shorts, it’s rather obvious when they are inside out. ) There’s nothing truly wrong with me, but it’s just one of those days when things aren’t going quite the way I want them to. My plans with a friend were canceled and I was grumpy as I had turned down two other fun options. And I finally realized that I could not go on a beach trip with a group of old girlfriends in May. I just kept hoping I could make it all work out. But I can’t.

I did not realize that the sandwich I bought for lunch was not the one I ordered until I got home and started to eat it. Plus a bird has left a messy dive bomb on the skylight above my desk. I am guessing that it was one of those blasted seagulls.

And don’t ask me why, I feel a bit better now. I think I just got bored with whinging.

Crocodiles: yet another thing that will kill you.

For my book, I have been writing one of the chapters on Australia lately. It’s been a good escape to “travel” down under to write about my many trips there, especially since Stockholm seems to be eternally gray and snowy these days.

A big memory of my first trip was continually hearing, “watch out, that will kill you.” From snakes and spiders to sharks,  jellyfish and crocodiles, Australia seems to have an inordinate number of things that are in the world’s most deadly category. When we went hiking, I had to look out for brown snakes. When we swam, I had to watch out for box jellyfish and sharks. And depending on where we were, crocs were a problem too. I had to look out for brown spiders even while just hanging out at Uncle Peter’s place.

It made me feel quite jumpy as the trip went on, but I noticed that Robert and all his Aussie mates were pretty casual about all those killers. And the next time I traveled down under, I also became rather inexplicably casual. During my last trip – my seventh – we went swimming at Bondi Beach the day after a shark bit off someone’s arm.  I’m not sure if I had adapted to my surroundings or just gone mad.

It has been a frosty start to the new year in Stockholm. An icebreaker regularly clears a path through frozen Lake Mälaren. Photo by Robert Corkery.

I am always amused by how busy the gym is this time of year. Classes that normally have 10-15 people in them are suddenly overbooked. Today there was a long line of people hoping to get into the class that I had luckily pre-booked in anticipation of the crowd. It is my annual new year’s defense strategy.

As a general rule, I do not make new year’s resolutions. Instead, I try to be good about going to the gym year round, for instance. What I do enjoy doing at this time of year is taking a look back. I think it comes from all my years working in magazines and writing editor’s notes.

Thinking about this, it hit me that I have been writing this blog for over a  year now. In that time, I have had 20,000 views from 26 countries, including 28 states in the US and six cities in Australia and even countries as far flung as Romania, Thailand, Venezuela and Argentina. Given that I have for the most part been writing about my life in Sweden, I am not surprised by the many readers in Sweden. But I am surprised by all the others. So thanks to each of you for reading.

As I got into my seat for the flight from Paris to Stockholm, I did not fit. Well, I did fit, but just barely. And it was mighty uncomfortable. My thighs were squashed into the seat arms as tightly as canned tuna into a tin. The situation was also mighty horrifying and embarrassing.

“Oh my,” I said to Robert, “did I eat so much over the holidays that I can’t fit into an airplane seat?”

Luckily, Robert quickly noticed that my seat was significantly smaller than normal. It was the middle seat and seemed to be child sized. Luckily again, the flight attendant was then able to make my seat the appropriate size. So while I did perhaps overindulge during the holiday season, I did still fit in my airplane seat. Thank God for that.

I spend a lot of time noticing the differences between my life here in Stockholm and life in the US. But in reading an article in the New Yorker yesterday, I am reminded yet again that every region has its quirks, especially in regard to food. My hometown of Cincinnati is fanatical about something called Skyline Chili. Basically, this chili is made with ground beef, tomato sauce and chocolate and is typically served up over spaghetti and topped with a fluffy mound of cheddar cheese. On the side, you have oyster crackers. Amusingly, the combination of chili, cheese and spaghetti is called a three-way.

Sounds terrible, doesn’t it? But this combo is something I grew up with and as kid, I was surprised to learn that people from other parts of the country did not know of Skyline. Now I have to have it every time I travel to Cincinnati. And while locals love it, the chili has never really caught on in other parts of the country. I think just the idea of it turns many people off. But I am proud to say that my Aussie husband Robert will happily dine there with me now. And that’s  in spite of his initial reservations.

Check out the article here: Cincinnati chili.

You may have noticed things look a bit different today for my blog. Thanks to my friend Lisa at Lisa Hazen Design & Editorial, I at long last have a design for my blog and also a web site all rolled into one.

We have done what Lisa calls a “soft launch” which means there is still some tweaking to be done to the site in terms of the overall look and I have a lot more content to add. But the blog is still there, as well as lots of new things to check out as well. Let me know what you think.

I went to buy a pumpkin at my local grocery yesterday and found the rack which they had been on just the day before was now laden with Christmas wreaths. And as I went out today to buy vampire teeth for my Halloween party, I was surrounded by Christmas decorations.

Halloween has not even happened yet but it has already been preempted by Christmas. I can’t keep up. Making matters worse, a security guard was managing the line at the Buttericks party store which went out the door and well down the street. As I already spent one hour in line today picking up my China visa, I did not get my teeth.

Sunset in Stockholm. It looks like the skater is leaping from rooftop to rooftop. Photo by Linda Pinkham.

While the daylight hours are getting ever shorter here, the light remains spectacular. The low angle of the sun in the sky softens and warms the colors, thus creating the most amazing sunsets.

The view in the photo is from Junibacken on the island of Djurgården.