om livet på en ö i Medelhavet
Archive for December, 2009
Didn’t get much sleep last night
06034 days
by Emma
in Living in Malta
Yesterday I was feeling very homesick and sad, so I went to bed early. But after just one or two hours Gizmo started to wake me up. He was restless and wanted me to pet him constantly. There was some thunder, lightning and strong wind that made some noise and that probably kept him awake.
After 3 hours of being half asleep half awake I had to get up. I went out on the balcony and took down the laundry from the lines. I didn’t want it to disappear in the wind or get soaking wet if it started to rain! I also checked that windows were closed and after about one hour I went to bed again. After just some 20 minutes a heavy rain started and keept me awake even longer (but at least the laundry didn’t get wet again).
Now, this is what I call a gingerbread house!
46034 days
by Emma
in Living in Malta
…I think I need to practice on my gingerbread-house-building skills… ain’t this amazing?!
Foto: Tomas Jakobsson, Länsmuseet Gävleborg
Pepparkakshus i jätteformat
Entrén
I år är det tionde gången som konstnären Margareta Persson designar och bygger ett pepparkakshus i jätteformat. Några av de tidigare husen har stått på museet och några i restaurangmiljö. Denna gång är huset större än någonsin – ett mäktigt pepparkaksslott! Med stjärnprydda torn och tinnar, stämningsbelysning och 145 (!) spröjsade fönster står det i länsmuseets entré och sprider pepparkaksdoft och julkänsla.
My tower is crumbling in Malta’s humid air
26034 days
Only a few days has gone by since I made the tower and it is already falling apart. The gingerbread is soft and spongy, and the sugar-glue dissolves slowly. I’m surprised if it stills stands on Monday.
What should I do? Any suggestions?
Moonshine over Malta
06035 days
by Emma
in Living in Malta
View from Mdina
I went to Mdina tonight, for coffee and chat with a friend. It’s almost full moon and as usual I tried to capture it with my camera, but as usual, the view is much better in reality.
I love to watch all the glittering lights and the string of boats at the horizon…
Interesting article about life in a wheelchair
06035 days
by Emma
in Living in Malta
This is something I’ve been thinking about – how does people in wheelchair get around on this island? I’ve seen the parking spaces for people with disabled badge, but it must be a nightmare to shop. My little every-day-shop around corner has a narrow door where I don’t think a wheelchair could get in unless they open both doors (as they actually do in the summer). Just inside the door they have ice-cream, milk, water and vegetables. If you want to pay for your items or buy anything else you have to take 4 or 5 steps down to the rest of the shop.
This is something I’ve seen in a lot of places here in Malta and I hope they’ll do something about it.
Facing life in a wheelchair
On any given day, I can hop into my car, drive to work, find a parking space, alight and rush up the stairs to the street and then onto the office.
I had never noticed the scheme of events in detail; it’s usually just one rushed blur, which I loosely called a “commute”, until I tried to spend a workday in the life of a wheelchair-bound person – specifically, wheelchair-bound me.
It’s not only in Malta people don’t pick up their trash
06035 days
by Emma
in Living in Malta
Plocka upp skräpet Gävlebor!
Gävle är näst skräpigast av åtta kartlagda kommuner
GÄVLE I centrala Gävle kan man hitta 240 380 skräpföremål på marken en vanlig vardag.
Nedskräpningen i åtta svenska kommuner har kartlagts. Av dem är Gävle den skräpigaste kommunen, näst efter Göteborg.
– Det handlar om att ändra människors attityder. Det är inte okej att skräpa ned, säger Annette Lundgren, projektledare för Rena Gävle.
Sad news. The only shop and pub in Lingbo is closing down
06037 days
by Emma
in Living in Malta
Lingbos enda matbutik och pub i konkurs
Lingbo De båda systrarna försökte länge hålla rörelsen vid liv trots bristande lönsamhet. Men till sist tvingades de ge upp.
Let’s build a gingerbread house!
26037 days
Since I hade plenty of dingerbread dough left, I decided to build a gingerbread house.
First I had to cut out the different pieces I needed.
Let the pieces cool down.
The smaller pieces got a little burned, but it will have to do anyway.
I think I have all pieces now.
The corners must be separated from the wall.
So, all corners at separated from the walls now.
I melted sugar and used it as glue.
The first 3 sides were easy to put toghether.
It was difficult to add the last side without getting burned on the sugar.
First corner piece in place.
All 4 small corners added without any problems.
Corner walls
All corners walls are added now.
The roof is put in place. The hole is for the antenna.
I had to add reinforcement on the roof for the heavy antenna.
Looking good!
I had problems with the antenna, it almost went throught the roof.
Almost ready now!
Time to decorate
I'm done with the decorations.
Portomaso Business Tower as gingerbread house
Falling star
06037 days
by Emma
in Living in Malta
- Falling star
When I woke up this morning the star in the study was on his way down. I have no hook to hang it on, so I’ve used tape. Maybe it wasn’t my most brilliant idea, but it seemed to work at the moment… and it actually lasted more than 2 days anyway.
1/2 Easter egg + green cone = Christmas tree on Bay street
06038 days
by Emma
in Living in Malta
Bay street version of a Christmas tree
This is not the most beautiful Christmas tree I’ve ever seen. It falls into the same category as the Christmas tree at the hotel in Thailand -06, I think. The “almost-better-than-nothing” category.
But a tree that I do like is the one in my hometown Ockelbo: Vackraste granen finns i Ockelbo.