visingsö
the pages remaining in this slim folio are slowly dwindling down and the end of this journey seems imminent. the days seem less and less eventful as they pass by and the sand is picking up speed falling into the hour glass, counting down my time. i can almost catch hold of each individual grain as it passes by. a restless night, awoken by the early scandinavian sunrise. the island is becoming increasingly desolate as tourist season winds down. fewer and fewer tourists litter the well-trodden paths and a silence hangs in the air - even the horses outside seem to be coming to terms with the calm of autumn setting in. the weather has shifted since my initial arrival and marks a distinct break between the two halves of this adventure. a slight unease coursing through my veins this morning as i stirred and started into my morning routine. a quiet, contemplative morning and i realized that i am actually going to miss the act of making my own meal as i start each new day. there is something so satisfying about accomplishing even a small, mundane task when facing the day. i'm finally getting to relish in normal, everyday tasks for a change. i can definitely find happiness in these things, once i have the luxury of indulging in them. endless repetition of ordering soil sample bags, counting out groups of twenty, setting up sample strips, running a series, recording, repeat. i have an incredible sense of what three and a half minutes feels like now. when the edges of my consciousness start to lose focus, go numb, i would stop for a cup of coffee, a break in the cycle. torrential rain came and went and the outlook for an enjoyable evening outing was dim at best. before i leave, i want to bike back down to näs at the far south end of the island and read, laying on the smooth sand stones, lost in another's story while simultaneously living out my own. waited for tina to come back with groceries after work ended at 4:30 and cut myself with the cheese slicer fixing myself a snack. between my clumsiness this morning at work, the cheese slicer cut, and tom's insistence that my nausea was the result of lyme disease, i was not a happy camper. nota bene: katie and i inspected my body for the red ring of death, but i'm all clear! no (deadly) tick problems for me. mike cooked pasta at the big house and we discussed the arrangements for our day off tomorrow. tina invited to visit the museum excavation outside of jönköping, but today is day seven with no break, so i wasn't ready to sacrifice my one day of freedom. katie and i are going to bike down to the harbor and spend some time in gränna to run our last set of errands, tying up loose ends before we leave. i'm not sure what work will be filling our days once (and if) we finish chemistry, but this is our last hurrah. after dinner, all of us staying at the cottage went for a walk to the mulberry orchard despite the ominous clouds rolling in - it was our first time doing something all together not work-related in a while. we all came back smiling and in good spirits. got online and caught up with an old friend, saw more e-mails filling my inbox serving as more reminders that there are only nine more days standing between me and the start of classes. time for skype with various parties scattered across the southern states - texas, mississippi, alabama - and then off to bed.
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