It feels more like Autumn today than it has been previously. It's very windy. The temperature has fallen slightly, but not enough to warrant any drastic changes in my clothing, but we do need to make sure that our jackets are on etc. The leaves on the trees are still predominantly green.

As I walked to work today my hair was virtually all over the place, but I somehow like that, and I laughed when I saw Christine Marie Larsen's drawing of the woman caught in a storm. That's probably what I looked like too. :)

Politically it's a bit windy still as well, although the worst tremors have subsided after the election. People are still talking about it, however, and everyone is wondering what the new government will look like.

The results in the Swedish general elections are not at all to my liking. I'm extremely sad to see that fear, intolerance and egotism have had the upper hand.

Let's hope that the 94.3% of the Swedish population, who did not vote for the racist party, will continue to stop them and say "no" to all of their attempts to gain power and spread a message which throws the principle I find the most important into stark relief. All people are equal and ought to be treated as equals, regardless of where they were born. Please support Aftonbladet's initiative Vi gillar olika (We like difference).

Autumn colours are beginning to show in the trees around our apartment, and pumpkins for sale can be found on the big square. The big issue today is not the autumn per se, however, it is election day in Sweden and this is in focus everywhere right now.

My youngest son accompanied me to the voting station, a nearby school, and we discussed the different parties and voting procedures on the way there. We talked about ideologies, ideals and values, about issues that tips the scales in favour of one particular party, and the fluctuating moods in society. Four years ago there was a clear aim for many Swedes to make sure that then prime minister, Göran Persson, did not stay in power. His credibility was at an all time low. This year the mood is slightly different. The country seems more polarized. Some are happy with the current government, some would like to see a change. What seems to be the same regardless of (established) party, is the expressed wish to keep xenophobic parties out, a sentiment I symphatize with completely. I certainly hope their influence will be smaller than polls have predicted.

I personally look for credibility on issues I find crucial. It is essential for me hear that people are to be treated decently, that people are not to be let down, and that the politicians in charge value this and are honest in their commitments.

...catches the worm. They say. Anyway, it has indeed been a wonderful morning. We had a late breakfast and now T. is on his way to a highschool reunion dinner. My oldest son is away too, which means that our family is spread out over three countries at the moment. My youngest son, who had a bit of an accident yesterday as he accidentally clashed heads with another boy, and I are looking forward to a nice and slow weekend. Both T. and my oldest son will be back tomorrow.

I think I'm going to spend a few hours reading and then we'll see. Tomorrow I have decided to bring my youngest son with me to vote in the elections.

The autumn holiday takes place in early November this year and we have decided to spend it on our favourite island. This is a place of roaring waves, an amazing beach where we went looking for amber, and beautiful, small villages with thatched-roof houses. T. has spent summer after summer on this island as a child, and I went there for the first time in the summer of 2008. It was indeed a lovely place.

T. and his parents have described it as a much quieter place in the autumn and winter time. There is less people of course, the ocean is more wild, but the place is just as lovely and perhaps even more genuine. We have just booked a small cottage and I do look forward to going there again.

The solid pine bed we have right now was custom made for my parents in the 1970's. It was given to me in the early 1990's and has accompanied me on every move I've made since then (five so far). The possibility to screw and unscrew all the screws in it has diminished for every move, however, and the last time we moved, we realized that it has become time to look for a new bed.

This morning T. and I began to discuss for real what kind of bed we would want. Both of us like simple designs but we also want it to be practical and not too expensive. We would want to be able to have storage facilities underneath the bed. Additionally, the bedroom we have right now is not a big one, which means that we'd probably have to settle for a 160 cm wide bed at the moment and have the possibility to upgrade at some other point in time when we live in a place where we intend to stay.

Most of the things in the image above has been found at IKEA, except for the left box underneath the bed, which was found at Jula, and the wonderful ivory Buddha from Aspen Country.

This is T.'s favourite chocolate. I do enjoy nibbling on it as well, so I can't complain. The marzipan is really soft and the plums and the dark chocolate taste amazing. A really good combination, which has been our treat after a wonderful chicken, rice and mushroom sauce dinner this Saturday evening. The chocolate works very well with some white wine...

This morning I listened to an interview with Swedish-Finnish author Märtha Tikkanen. She was promoting her new book, which she has been thinking of and planning for many years. Tikkanen told us about an episode, which she has discussed in previous interviews as well, a dream she dreamt at the time when her own children were small and family life was busy. In her dream she saw a woman dressed in black by a window. As she approached her and the woman turned around, she realized that she was looking at an older version of herself and commented that she could hardly believe that there was such peace and quiet around her.

Years later, when her husband had died after a long illness and their children had moved out, Tikkanen went looking for a new place to live and had decided to return to the neighbourhood in which she grew up. The real estate agent had lent her the keys to an apartment that actually was too big and too expensive for her, but she went there nonetheless. When she entered it, she recognized the place by the window she had seen in her dream so many years ago. The address was vaguely familiar as well and she called her aunt to confirm her suspicions. The apartment had indeed, in the 1920's before Tikkanen herself was born, belonged to her beloved grandmother. She brought her aunt to the apartment and she could tell Tikkanen where her grandmother had slept and what it had looked like when she had lived there. Tikkanen later brought her own father there as well, and as they entered the apartment he told her that this was the place where he and her mother had been married.

Realizing that this apartment had played such an important part in her family's history, Tikkanen didn't hesitate to buy it. She stayed there herself for 24 years. Another outcome was that she decided to write her grandmother's story, a book which now has been released. I think the story behind it is interesting and the story of the turbulent relationship between her grandmother Emma and her husband Uno seems equally so. I'll put it on my reading list.

Today it is possible to pre-order this year's glögg. As you can see, 2010 is a golden year. The glögg has been flavoured with saffron, a typical Christmas spice here in Sweden.

Images from Blossa.

Years ago, probably some ten years, I bought a long cashmere coat and I've worn it every winter since then. The colour is camel, which for instance works very well with jeans, and it's really nice and warm. Bearing this in mind, I was really happy to see that camel is back in fashion now.

These are a few things that caught my eye: A poncho, a pullover and jeans treggings from H&M, a cashmere shawl from Kalda of Sweden, make-up from Bare Escentuals, my favourite necklace from Edblad & Co. and a pair of suede boots from Ellos.

I've always said that this blog will be about everything in my life except my work. I decided to make an exception, since I wanted you to see what it looks like in the office I borrowed today. I will probably use it approximately one day a week in the upcoming months, and I have to say that I like it far more than I like my ordinary office. This feels a lot more like "home." The view is not that bad either.

Margaret Atwood is one of my favourite authors, but I've never read Alias Grace before. It's very well written, as always, but the tone is rather different from works set in a not too distant future like The Handmaid's Tale or Oryx and Crake.

A muffin and a cup of red rooibos Kusmi tea are not a bad combination while reading, and in this case I will have to say thank you to my youngest son, who decided to make a whole plate of wonderful chocolate muffins yesterday. He made them for his outing earlier today and brought four huge muffins with him to share with his friends. Luckily there was one left for me as well.

A colleague of mine had a baby girl last Sunday. Big congratulations to the entire family!

Images from H&M and Sagobella.