Friday. Fredag. Fimmtudagur. Fríggjadagur. Vrijdag. Penktadienis. Piektdiena. Venerdì. Innit...

It's Friday and, for the first time these last two weeks, the pale November sun is shining. Let's hope it all sets the tone for the weekend.

Det är lax på skärbrädan och Bilbo dreglar. There's salmon on the chopping board and Bilbo's drooling.

When you say the word 'mat' (food) to chatty Bilbo.

After having seen Famke Janssen act only in English in (often pants) American films, I have now seen her act in her native Dutch in the trailer for 'Amsterdam Empire'. It felt sort of cool. Leuk hoor!

I'm a total disaster with people. Thankfully, we have lots and lots of forests in this country because in a forest - that's where I'll end up living one day.

Innan brukade jag läsa om vädret och titta på väderprognoserna för att skingra tankarna. Dock nu, när man vet att det borde vara vinter i halva landet och man läser att det fortfarande är höst i så gott som hela Sverige istället, får jag andra tankar, och inte så glada sådana heller. Var är trösten?

I'll never tire of saying this: "A Good Year" is a gem of a novel: eerie Cypriot folklore, Christmas, desire and love. It's a lovely read that has everything for the season ahead.

The beauty of the names of the months in Lithuanian lies in their connection to nature, its cycles and seasons. 'November', for example, is 'lapkritis' ('lapkričio mėnuo') and literally means 'month of the falling leaves' - from 'lapas' (leaf) + kristi (to fall). I think it's beautiful.

@dannybate.bsky.social Your book finally made it all the way up north to Scandinavia and Stockholm! This reader is delighted!

When you want to take a selfie in bed, but your cat steals your show.

#Caturday That's how he rolls.

Wild Halloween here.

No trick-or-treaters knocking on my door this year. Some have grown up, others have learnt there's no point trick-or-treating Mr Scrooge.

My dad died on this day 10 years ago. Odd how it feels like he passed away last year and ages ago at the same time.

The weather's been dismal, to say the least, this last week. It's surely no coincidence that the Icelandic noun 'drungi' denotes both 'gloomy weather' and 'drowsiness', 'gloomy mood'. Semantics imitates life.

Veel succes vandaag, Nederland. May reason be with you.

Today I discovered that the name of the White Sea in old Icelandic was 'Gandvík': 'Bay of Magic' or 'Enchanted Bay'. It has a very "Lord of the Rings" ring to it because the 'gand-' in the name of the sea is the same as in the name 'Gandalf'. It comes from Old Norse 'gandr' - 'something enchanted'.

Norske reker! (Norwegian prawns. You can only cook them if you talk to them in Norwegian).

Det är fortfarande strömlöst och alldeles uppenbart att jag måste skärpa mig och börja preppa lite snart. Jag har beredskap 0 och krismedvetenhet 0. Jag skäms, som sig bör.

Massive power outage in Stockholm. I was at the gym, on a treadmill, when everything went dark and silent. It's sort of exciting. Now I'm home, trying to find updates as to when power is expected back on.

Dagens middag: risotto med stensopp och salsiccia. Today's dinner: risotto with porcini and salsiccia.

Porcini! In Swedish they are commonly called 'karljohansvamp', but another name, and personal favourite, is 'stensopp' which is also the Norwegian name for this delicious mushroom (spelt 'steinsopp' in Norwegian).

Söndagspromenad i det gråa höstvädret.

I can't feel my legs and my feet any more, but he's not been well tonight and I don't want to disturb him.🩵

Even nice people can be cunts. It must be human nature.

There was something almost Blade Runner-esque about Fatbursparken this afternoon. It was very atmospheric. (The weather was obviously totally lousy, but 'inget ont som inte för något gott med sig' as we say in Swedish, the equivalent of English 'every cloud has a silver lining').

It's started raining and I just said to a friend that rain is just the worst, to which he replied, with great precision: "No. The worst is sleet and wind hitting you in the face at a 45-degree angle in November." Can't argue with that and love his attention to details.

Lazy #Caturday

Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl is coming to Stockholm & will be at Kulturhuset for an interview to launch his book in Swedish. I booked my ticket and will take my copy of the book in Icelandic with me for him to sign. Provided I'll be brave enough to even ask him to. My shyness always unfailingly thwarts me.

Yesterday night I had a drink with my Latvian friend Ildze at my place. We had a glass of sparkling wine, and then I showed her a book in Latgalian and asked her how much she could understand. She was thrilled, and so was I. I got to hear Latgalian live for the first time ever, in my living room!

I had forgotten how great a song "Dreaming" by Goldfrapp is.

The stunning colours of the woods in the autumn surely must be nature's way to make up for the compact, impenetrable greyness of the weather.

It's cold outside, and I'm making a warming, hearty red lentils soup with smoked bacon, chestnut mushrooms, celeriac, onion and carrots, crème fraiche and topped with fresh parsley. The smell of smoked bacon and mushrooms cooking in melted butter is fantastic!

The Literature Prize of the Nordic Council 2025 has been awarded to Vónbjørt Vang from the Faroe Islands for her poetry collection "Svørt Orkidé" ("Black Orchid"). Til lukku Vónbjørt og Føroyar! #books #bøkur #Literature #bókmentir #Norðurlandaráðið www.norden.org/sv/literatur...

Released a new ALILI episode yesterday, about the show's first sign language! ASL is the beloved language of Aidan Elliott-McCrea (the linguist behind @wordfamilyfriday.bsky.social), and he gave me both a great intro to ASL and heartfelt social messages too. Listen here: pod.link/1703401848/e...

Family and friends keep me well fed, in both the body and the mind. @mrapollo.bsky.social erg bedankt kutlul! Wat een lief cadeautje!

Det är kyligt och löven faller. Jag ser redan fram emot säsongens första snö. 🥰

I had the pleasure to sample Pineau des Charentes for the first time tonight. I had it well chilled to go with duck rilettes and onion confit on toast, and it was a taste sensation. Reminding a bit of port wine, it will go perfectly well with the roasted chestnuts I'm preparing, too. It's lovely!

French food demands French wine. Not that I'd hesitate to have this wonderful Lirac with Italian food or an Amarone with French or Spanish food. Food and wines are all about combinations and variations, after all. Skål/cheers/alla salute/ á la santé! 😊🥂

I had no suitable bread to toast for tonight so I made some. Making bread is such a wonderful activity.😊

I have developed an addiction to French food. Pâté? Rilettes? Confit? Oui.

It's been quite the (shitty) week, but last night we had the first frost of the season. The trees and the grass were beautifully glittery in the sunshine this morning. The temperature is yet again dropping quickly, I'm done in and I have excellent company so no need to go out tonight. The company👇

Spotted this scene on my evening walk after work. It's so beautiful, the warm glow of the autumn.

It's definitely time to start using scarves and gloves. 3 degrees this morning, 4 now. No frost yet, though.

Having an ok birthday night - considering it's Monday - listening to a Norwegian podcast about dialects, cuddling with Bilbo and, soon enough, diving into a novel. All the best.

Today I turned ...um... older, so I decided to treat myself to not going to the gym. Because I'm worth it.

I made some delicious 'minestrone' for dinner tonight, that hearty vegetable soup hated by almost all Italian kids. As I also made some rather nice bread rolls today, I had a couple of those with Branston pickles and cheddar as accompaniment to the soup. Would do it again, sorry nonne!

This one didn't quite get the final shape I had envisaged...