How much water do you use in a day?

My über green week has begun and I was curious on just how much water I use in a day and it did not start out well. I put a basin in the sink when I washed up and wow! That was a lot more water than I thought I used. I got a bucket and I could actually use that water to flush with. So I got some more buckets and collected some snow outside and I’ll use that water to flush with (yes this is extreme but I’m going to be a green as I can this week). It’s just noon and I feel I’ve used more water that I should in just one day. I like water, I should take better care of it.

Things to do

1. Buy a water boiler thingy, they say it takes less energy to use that than to boil water on the stove and when you think about all the tea I drink I guess it’s a good thing.
2. Switch laundry detergent to a soap based one. (I have to confess I have no clue what my laundry detergent contains at the moment)

Green Life

I’m going to have a little green experiment this week, starting Thursday… We talk a lot in Sweden about the environment and how bad it is, we all have to work together and blah blah blah, just talk and no one cares what so ever I’m afraid.

I’ve seen plenty of people throwing paper in the trash instead of the recycling bins, you can’t leave this neighborhood without passing one of these bins and since most people take the car every morning to work why not take some paper along with you and throw it on your way?

Then there are people that still have their Christmas lights up… sigh. And they also have lots of decorative lights on their house and around the garden. Yes it looks warm and inviting but also a little like a theme park. Yesterday when I was out on my walk I noticed just how many lights people have. It’s not practical light but purely decorative, they are on the house, in the roof, in the drive way, in the walls, in the trees, on the trees, they are everywhere. Do you really need all of those lights? 10 – 15 years ago the only lights people had was one in the driveway and one above the door which is pretty darn practical when it’s jet black outside but apparently that is not enough anymore.

Then there is this one family that has had a fire lit close to every day this winter. Yes it’s cozy but every day? Come on! And it’s not a fire to warm up the house, just one of those things for ambience.

I’ve also been thinking, now when everyone build these glass boxes, insisting that it’s a house it must take more energy to warm them up a cold winter. Windows are as isolating as a wall is, are they? They also have much higher roofs which means more space, more space to heat and let’s throw in some windows in the roof as well. Doesn’t sound like the best design if you think about the environment but maybe there’s some fancy new technology that makes it all good, what do I know?

On Greenpeaces Swedish website there are ideas that you can do in your neighborhood to make it better… here are a few of them.

• Organize a “Clean up the beach” day. (Ha! No one would show up, well maybe some would show up and take a dip and ask if I was a criminal doing community service.
• Start a composting system. You can sell the soil to a gardener or a plant nursery to cover the expensive. (Well, I guess I could try to inform people about composting. Here people take all their garden trash and throw it in the wood and think Mother Nature will just make it go away. They throw whole Christmas trees there… are they retarded or do they simply don’t give a damn? I think it’s the latter I’m afraid.)
• Organize a tree planting campaign. (Ha ha ha ha!! People here HATE trees and cut them down and builds pools, wooden decks or lawns.)

I feel pretty damn alone in my neighborhood… I once said I didn’t want them to demolish a small patch of wood because I liked to watch the birds and the answer I got was something like, “Birds? Who gives a fuck about birds?”

Neighbors, everybody needs good neighbors…

(Yes, that show made it all the way to Sweden) If you could pick your neighbors, what a joy! Who would you pick and why? There are six houses beside mine on our little street and here are my neighbors if I could pick them.

1. Oscar Wilde. There is some view into this house but hopefully not that much (they haven’t moved in) but I can picture Oscar living there and I would spot him sitting in a chair in front of the fire when I make tea (from the kitchen I can see straight into what probably is the living room). I would wave and he would raise his cup or glass, maybe wave me over for some tea or a brandy.

(Oscar dressed for Ms Marples annual spring tea party)

2. Who do I want to stare at all times? Johnny Depp or maybe Dita von Teese but then I would stare at them all the time and they wouldn’t like me so… maybe Batman/Bruce Wayne? He would never live there because it’s too small but let’s say he would. I’m sure he would come up with something clever to avoid the whole situation with the view straight into each other’s houses and I’m sure I would like Alfred. (Bet Oscar would love if Robin moved in next door.)

("Hurry up and get dressed, we'll will be late Master Bruce")

3. Beatrix Potter. I’m sure she would take good care of the yard and make it nice for birds and other animals and I’d ask her for help with building birdhouses ect. She doesn't seem to be hard to live close to, a very nice and calm person. (I base this on the movie I saw, could be a bitch but I doubt it.)

(Beatrix waiting for her husband William to hurry up)

4. Hmm… can’t come up with anyone at the time, let’s pretend it’s vacant for now. Any idea’s who could move in there?

5. The Bennets of course. Mrs Bennet seems like fun and she would fill me in on all the gossip, especially if they live next to Oscar Wilde and Batman. I love Elizabeth and Jane and hopefully we would be friends and take walks across the neighborhood.

(Red alert! The Bennets are coming!)

6. Miss Marple maybe… a nice lady and she would like the place I’m sure. I think she would be a wonderful neighbor and I can picture myself stopping and chatting a little when I take the dog out, and he would like her too since he loves little old ladies.

(Miss Marple and friend is waiting for the guests in the garden, they probably just spotted Oscar)

Imagine the tea parties with the neighbors! I want these neighbors! I'll pretend they live here... imaginary friends, that sounds healthy.

Time Flies…

When I look at the stuff I wrote in the beginning… let’s just say that I’ve changed a bit (what was I thinking? No taste what so ever). When I first started out writing here it was supposed to be about tea but that doesn’t happen very often so I’ll try to do it more because tea is wonderful.

Right now I’m having the famous “Söderblandning” from the store where it all happened, “The Tea Centre of Stockholm”. I remember reading somewhere that Vernon (the creator) doesn’t like the blend himself, I find that funny, like writing a bestseller and not liking it. Anyway, my first visit at “The Tea Centre of Stockholm” and they had these super cute tins with the store on them. I had to buy them! Six different teas for 299kr which means that each tin cost almost 50kr which I would have paid just for the tin.

But it’s small things like that that makes people buy perhaps more tea than they intended (aka good for business). It can’t cost that much to make these tins and they are so cute! The store smelled of tea when I stepped inside and it was pretty dark and almost gloomy because they have this old fashion vibe going on which is one of the reasons they only accepts cash which is silly because they have plastic bags and carpets with rubber on it so… Cozy but the lack of light almost made me a little depressed. There was a candle or two lit but that was it. I don’t think some proper lights and accepting credit cards would hurt the business.

Birds in the garden

The change in the number of birds is absolutely shocking after the cut the wooded area down! I never thought it would be like this but I am sad and amazed what a difference it is now and the fact that no one seems to care what so ever about it. Due to this I will try and keep an eye out for birds that I see.

I won’t mention these birds:
1. Magpies are doing well but they are scavengers and do well around humans (aka raiding the garbage cans) and I see them on a daily bases.
2. The crows population is smaller, they have moved up on the hill where there are more pines left standing, they seem to prefer pines over other trees. I like crows so I’m a little sad that we don’t have more of them here.
3. Blackbirds are doing well too, one of the few birds that has visit the birdfeeder regularly this winter.

Today I saw a Eurasian Jay which was a nice surprise since I haven’t seen on this winter, also saw a woodpecker and I haven’t seen them either. Maybe they are coming back for spring?

What I’m doing this weekend

Organizing my desk… the chaos! I can’t find anything, it’s such a mess I barely have room for my tea cup, imagine the horror! I need a place for the tea cup, letters that I should answer, bills to pay… what else? Well, I’ll start with that and we’ll see where it goes.

My books are here!

I don’t want to know how much money I spend on books… I think I would scare myself if I looked into it so I won’t.

What did I get?
· “Northanger Abbey” by Jane Austen: Because I don’t have it and need it for my Jane Austen reading.
· “The Bad Beginning” by Lemony Snicket (Swedish): If I remember correctly my friend Shalyn (and her auntie) like the series so I want to give it a go and the first book was on sale so…
· “Sense and Sensibility” by Jane Austen: I only have it in Swedish and I didn’t like it. I will read it in English and hope it’s better.
· “Antigone” Sofokles (Swedish): I was on sale and I have a buddy in Greece name Antigone so I just had to have it.
· “Madame de Pompadour” by Herman Lindqvist (Swedish): On sale and I like history but I don’t read enough about it so this was great. Madame de Pompadour was Louis XV mistress.
· “Bleak House” by Charles Dickens: I liked “Great Expectations” and want to read more Dickens, and I really liked the BBC series “Bleak House” and wanted to read it, I know that the ending is different in the book.
· “Our Mutual Friend” by Charles Dickens: I saw this one on TV and liked it so I want to read it. I love the Victorian era so…
· “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Brontë: I really liked it when I read it in Swedish so I want to read the original version.
· “Wuthering Heights” by Emily Brontë (Swedish): Read it in English and I didn’t like it at all but maybe I didn’t understand as much as I thought I did? Read it in Swedish and I’ll see if I like it better or if I did understand it and still don’t like it.
· “Agnes Grey” by Anne Brontë: I liked her sister Charlottes book so I want to read something from each sister and this was cheap so why not?
· “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall” by Anne Brontë (Swedish): It was on sale.
· “Krigets Färger” by Arkadij Babtjenko: For some strange reason it seems like this book is not translated into English, it probably will be soon. It’s none fiction, Arkadij was only 18 when he was sent to war in Chechnya and this is his story. He works as a journalist now for the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta.
· Mystery book but a mystery author: Birthday present to someone whose birthday is coming up.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

(Pretty poster)

Okay fourth film in the challenge, Germany, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari silent film from 1920, about 50 minutes long so it will be perfect before bedtime. And knock on wood, silent films are never scary so…

Tea: None
Snack: None (because you should snack all the time, and I’m still stuffed since dinner)

Not a good start, 44 seconds and what does somnambulist mean? Sounds like it has something to do with sleep… ah, sleepwalker, okay now I can continue to watch the movie.

(Funny picture, had to show it)

I liked it, silent films are usually very charming and this was no exception. It reminded me of Tim Burton, apparently the light and shadows were painted directly on the set, background ect and I think that could be one of the things that gives it a Burton vibe.

(Very Burton to me with the curles on the wall. The shadow on the wall is a door, pretty neat)

Apparently they did a remake of the movie 2005 and it seems that they couldn’t come up with anything on their own and shot the thing using green screen and used footage from the original film. Be inspired by all means, I can understand that the original movie gets people excited but use that inspiration and do something of you own.

(2005 version)

(Original version from 1920)

Best thing in the movie: Lil Dagover who reminds me of my mom back in the day, without the Leno chin but I don't remember that from the movie, bad ligh hopefully.

And the winner is…

My little Jane Austen give away winner is none other than, Brittan! Who seem to share my fondness of owls and will receive a copy of Emma! I hope more people will have give aways, look through your bookcase and give away the books you don’t need, want or like.