Susan Palmer's Exquisite Now

Stuff gets done here

recent posts

  • Going wide, doing deep

    The last several days we’ve been getting the hang of public transportation in Stockholm, not just buses and trains , but ferries too. Here’s a view from the ferry of Djurgarden Island, its popular amusement park and its old sailing ships.

    And a quote that caught my attention recently, from American entrepreneur Naval Ravikant, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Ravikant

    “Think for yourself, not of yourself. Think of others, not for others.”

    A parting shot: the escalator up from a very deep subway track:

  • Worry less, joy more

    This is what 70 looks like on me.

    I’m in Stockholm with my genius partner Craig, who asked me what I wanted for my birthday while we were at the Royal Palace. I requested a box of chocolates, which we found conveniently in the Royal Palace gift shop.

    This is typical me, slightly disheveled, sweets on hand.

    When I started this blog many years ago, I titled it “Exquisite Now” because I wanted a reminder to be less of a procrastinator and more of a getting-things-done person. Being in the moment — whether it’s the beginning of something, the messy middle of something, the tail end of something, or just the drifting ordinariness of a rest between somethings — I wanted to know joy, not worry.

    Joy, I’ve learned, is just a thought away. Sometimes the gap to get there is large and sometimes it’s tiny. I hope, as I start my next decade, that I retain that thought for when it’s needed.

  • Failure first

    Meet the Brunkeberg Ridge Tunnel. Stockholm has a ridge running through it, thanks to ice age shenanigans. As the city grew up on either side of it, crossing it was a pain, especially in the age of power by horses. Then this genius entrepreneur talked the powers that be into letting him build a tunnel through it. Naturally the damn thing took a lot longer to build and cost way more than anyone expected. When it finally opened in 1886, nobody wanted to pay the toll required to use it. The builder couldn’t recoup his costs and went bankrupt. The city took it over and it’s still in use today, 139 years later.Check out the above link for a cool description of the tunnel’s construction, which involves the ingenious use of ice.

    We happened upon the tunnel and walked it this week. It’s weirdly fun, popular with bikers and walkers, another tool in a contemporary city that supports non-car infrastructure.

    Doesn’t it make you want to travel to the past and tell the guy who dreamed it up that time was his project’s friend?