Søren Markvard Riis

Got up at 4:30 this morning for no reason except I'd forgotten to turn my alarm off, so I've had 4 hours of just sitting by a warm fire, planning a dinner party and occasionally taking my cat for walkies in the garden. (He can go out alone, but he likes it when I go out with him, especially in the dark. Which is challenging for me, considering that he's a black / invisible cat.)

2025-11-16 09:09:42 UTC

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I'm still trying to catch up with all the vaccinations an adult ought to have (my immune system having been basically re-set when I had to have a stem cell transplant after a particularly heavy dose of chemo), so I get jabs every other month.
Covid, 'flu, rubella, mumps, smallpox, tetanus; there are a lot of vaccines to get through!

2025-11-16 09:05:59 UTC

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I feel like a bit of an outsider, having never had covid... (I get every vaccine, though! Because with my somewhat dilapidated immune system I'd be in for a rough time I I caught something.)

2025-11-04 06:38:36 UTC

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The local shop opens in 25 minutes, so by then I will go shopping for something to cook for the next few days.
And if the weather dries up I have to find 24 good hazel or sycamore rods in the garden and cut them to size so they can become faux Christmas trees in the garden, set up as tripods with fairy lights wrapped around them. Because we're having our first Christmas shindig on the 22nd, and that's not far away...

2025-11-03 15:27:19 UTC

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Had a very MONDAY sort of Monday at work so am planning on doing bugger-all this evening.

2025-11-02 13:49:47 UTC

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My great-grandparents and my grandparents on one side are buried with large field boulders as their grave stones.
I like the idea of farmers being buried under stones that sprouted from their own fields - and that they themselves set aside for their future use...
https://cdn.masto.host/helvedenet/media_attachments/files/115/480/411/243/981/284/original/f231a10f1fae4b04.jpeg
https://cdn.masto.host/helvedenet/media_attachments/files/115/480/412/330/176/735/original/78df67f90569442a.jpeg

2025-09-14 07:08:49 UTC

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On my way home from work - to do more work from home. I can’t wait for Monday!

2025-09-03 18:45:42 UTC

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Chemo, stem cell transplants and multiple surgeries can have many side effects... And I'm getting most of them fixed.
And to revert to your original post about masculinity: A long period of illness, multiple surgeries, and heavy medication can make it almost daunting to even contemplate getting back to being a sexual, masculine being. Not having sex for 3½ years has a certain impact on how one sees oneself.

2025-09-03 18:38:28 UTC

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I really, really hope my penis isn't the most interesting part of me as a person... ;-)
But I wish it would just get on with it and heal up! 20 stitches still in place...

2025-09-03 15:02:13 UTC

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Comfortably fragile, I'd say.
(Possibly influenced by my constant focus on my penis since I had minor surgery on it last Tuesday and it's still... Sore? At times painful? Weirdly present in my consciousness? Honestly, I haven't been giving this much thought to my genitals ever, not even as a teenager!)

2025-08-13 05:28:15 UTC

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I’ll just spend the day making 60 portion-sized cakes for my wedding on Saturday. As you do, right?

2025-08-10 06:01:20 UTC

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I need to mow the lawns (approx. 1500-2000sqm), clear the kitchen after a dinner party last night (none of the china or glassware or silver is dishwasher-safe), change the cut flowers in the library, do some clothes laundry (I'll do the tablecloth and napkins from last night another day when I have time to iron it all and starch the napkins), and basically pretending I'm every possible downstairs-job from Downton Abbey.

2025-08-02 06:37:12 UTC

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Honestly, I’m preparing to make my own wedding dinner for 50+ people, and part of that is working out the logistics of getting things cleaned and off my work surfaces!

2025-07-30 07:19:10 UTC

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And now I feel obliged to post an up-to-date pic of the flagpole sans nots on the pennant, considering the last one was from the archives and showed a somewhat different weather from what we have these days...
https://cdn.masto.host/helvedenet/media_attachments/files/114/940/960/324/575/501/original/68db6b9d7416d47b.jpeg

2025-07-30 06:20:27 UTC

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Admin/customer service/logistics for the local newspaper so kind of perfect for me. And the people who interviewed me seemed nice, so hopefully it will be good!
Also, in Danish we have "vimpel" and standard" for the sort of non-flags you fly from a flagpole, and since vimpel is the most commonly used I just... Well, brain not working.
Though confusingly in Denmark we have the "classic standard" and the "modern standard", the modern being shorter. Ours is a modern at only 4 meters.
https://cdn.masto.host/helvedenet/media_attachments/files/114/940/733/462/290/194/original/13e4f4641983ff86.jpeg

2025-07-30 05:59:51 UTC

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Untying knots from the wimple, doing laundry, digging up some potatoes and doing some other preparations for tonight's dinner. Also, vacuuming and dusting of as much of the house as I can be bothered to. Possibly washing the kitchen floor.
Très domestique, but hey; I've got to enjoy this stay-at-home existence while it lasts. (I start a new job on Friday.)

2025-07-28 14:17:46 UTC

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But why would you want to postpone an orgasm? Surely you should just enjoy it and then carry on!

2025-07-25 21:53:21 UTC

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I suspected as much... Still, it's a nice enough legend, so I shan't go about disavowing it! (Unlike the ridiculous crusader myths and stuff that basically belongs in a Dan Brown novel... We do get that sort of tourists!)

2025-07-25 19:36:11 UTC

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Do you know of any extant evidence of Burgundian tribes actually settling on Bornholm? Or is it all legend?

2025-07-22 06:43:01 UTC

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Getting ready to have a Mastodon friend over for coffee later this morning, the counting up tableware for the wedding to see if we have enough - and rolling a few tablecloths in preparation for the same. Very demure!
https://cdn.masto.host/helvedenet/media_attachments/files/114/895/510/104/632/188/original/59f4b536e137edcd.jpeg

2025-07-18 05:46:59 UTC

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This would be as close as I get to that image...
(From when I was preparing Christmas dinner for two some years ago. I believe I was roasting a goose that year...)
https://cdn.masto.host/helvedenet/media_attachments/files/114/872/620/541/619/374/original/e7c64fbf3c58d01b.jpeg

2025-07-18 05:34:48 UTC

Nå, så prøver vi igen...
Præsten var syg, da hun skulle komme her til en bryllupssamtale torsdag i sidste uge, så nu kommer hun i eftermiddag i stedet.
Så jeg har sat en halv liter fløde i ovnen, så der kan være scones med jordbærsyltetøj og clotted cream til eftermiddagsteen.
Og jeg skal også i gang med de indledende øvelser til en omgang boeuf bourguignon i aften når hun er gået.
Hvor højt scorer jeg som pan-europæisk 1950er-housewife i dag?
Også: Vasketøj og rengøring. Og stryge en dug.

2025-07-17 05:32:32 UTC

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Hand-brushing cat fur out of the rugs/loose carpets in the living rooms. Because it's more effective than vacuuming, but it does take some time to go over some 50sqm of piled rugs.
(Eventually I should build some sort of stand in the garden so I can give them a good beating - but for now getting rid of the cat fur will have to do.)

2025-07-10 15:09:35 UTC

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I found these two beauties in the sweet Williams I had picked for the sitting room... Each was just under 2cm long, so some fairly chunky little critters.
https://cdn.masto.host/helvedenet/media_attachments/files/114/829/562/816/536/752/original/868113d049ba2b63.jpeg

2025-07-06 06:04:47 UTC

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(Joking, actually; I never really liked weed. I'd much rather have a G&T. Also, if I actually wanted to get high in a mellow sort of way I have morphine in the medicine cabinet.)

2025-07-06 06:00:30 UTC

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It wouldn't be my first Camberwell carrot...

2025-07-06 05:48:01 UTC

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Done sorting through the linen for the wedding. Now breakfast before I start weeding in the 25m long dahlia border in the front garden.

2025-06-29 12:22:00 UTC

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Me, purely because I have no kids. Mind you, there are interesting stories to tell about my parents, so perhaps...

2025-06-20 07:39:24 UTC

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You sound so cute when you write about her...
#RelationshipGoals and all that!
(The first time my boyfriend visited my flat he spent the night - and was woken up the next day by my cat literally biting his arse. I dare say he did not feel safe after that. And now he's living with me and my cat anyway, so I'm guessing he must like me. Also, my cat hasn't bitten his arse since, so that probably helps.)

2025-06-19 05:44:16 UTC

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It's sunny in Østermarie so I'm doing laundry.... And plan to put a bolognese on.
(Having solar panels means I try to use as much of the free electricity as possible.)

2025-06-18 05:38:52 UTC

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A double-portrait of Dick Van Dyke?
https://cdn.masto.host/helvedenet/media_attachments/files/114/702/752/191/662/232/original/b98962eb8f55a40e.png
https://cdn.masto.host/helvedenet/media_attachments/files/114/702/751/594/905/238/original/0a0c944a85e497eb.png

2025-06-17 06:24:43 UTC

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Sorry, luv; I'm taken! ;-)

2025-06-17 06:21:20 UTC

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And now you've just provided the perfect entertainment for lying in bed!

2025-06-17 06:12:15 UTC

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Call in sick for a job center appointment and then go back to bed. Possibly with a cat.

2025-06-14 05:48:45 UTC

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I'll be going to Folkemødet in Allinge, just to see what it's like to be there but also to meet a stranger off the internet/Mastodon.
I hope she's as nice in person as in writing - but I can't imagine why she wouldn't be, of course. Generally I imagine most of the people I interact with online would also be worth interacting with in person.

2025-06-07 07:30:58 UTC

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I also inherited this little bit from him, though it's much younger... A medieval tiny cauldron that was found in 1939, but when I inherited it I kind of knew I had to let it go. My axe heads are lovely, but medieval metal objects that are complete or mainly complete are Danefæ so ought to be handed over to the National Museum - which I did.
And I had the pleasure of seeing it at the 2020 annual exhibition of Danefæ finds.
@npub187s…yrm8
https://cdn.masto.host/helvedenet/media_attachments/files/114/640/876/879/924/732/original/de796501ab50bbcc.jpg

2025-06-07 07:21:24 UTC

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That was more or less my gut instinct.
(I mean, I *say* I know next to nothing, but... I did have my grandfather as a grandfather! He had a small, curated collection of finds from the fields in his book case, and 2 large cupboards and a dresser full of pottery, arrowheads, fossiles and other less presentable "stuff" in the attic of the old farmhouse. Very exciting for a nerdy kid! And also, an educated farmer is not the worst role model one could have.)
@npub187s…yrm8

2025-06-07 07:03:44 UTC

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I know next to nothing about axe heads, but I love these two beauties that I inherited after my grandfather who found them in his fields.
https://cdn.masto.host/helvedenet/media_attachments/files/114/640/793/272/674/004/original/876af3a06d7c2047.jpeg

2025-05-30 06:15:46 UTC

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Good morning!
It's rainy and grey here, so the cats and I are occupying the sofas in the library for now. If the rain stops I might plant out my dahlia seedlings today, but otherwise it can wait until tomorrow...
Enjoy the gaming - the pictures from yesterday looked like a really enjoyable event!

2025-05-20 12:57:28 UTC

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Nå, men jeg har forkælet min bøvlede krop med en tur i vandet…
https://cdn.masto.host/helvedenet/media_attachments/files/114/540/268/610/382/644/original/bd8c5561d16a4a31.jpeg
https://cdn.masto.host/helvedenet/media_attachments/files/114/540/268/805/733/298/original/424d560d63d721ab.jpeg

2025-05-20 10:10:52 UTC

Var ved lægen i dag. Dum læge. Hun sagde ikke det, jeg gerne ville høre.
I stedet sagde hun det, jeg selv regnede med; at det absolut ligner brok, og at jeg lige skal henvises til det kirurgiske ambulatorium for at få det tjekket m. ultralyd og så videre.
Så min stakkels/fucking irriterende krop er ikke helt lappet sammen. Og måske kan det ikke fikses, og måske kan det fikses med endnu en mave-operation.
*suk*

2025-05-15 08:37:16 UTC

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Hvis man vil indføre hot-desking, burde man da i det mindste sørge for et keyboard og en skærm ved hver plads... Det andet virker jo... Dumt?
@npub1huh…qp9x

2025-05-14 06:32:59 UTC

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It looks amazing! I hope somebody has found a way to market it as an up-market speciality so it can be commercially viable to preserve the breed. After all, animal conservation societies can't really afford to keep breeds alive in any meaningful numbers. Sad but true.

2025-05-08 05:32:44 UTC

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Today is more gardening. First, cleaning up after having torn down an ugly sort of dog patio at the back of our house (shards of old, brittle plastic roofing all over the lawn, plus lots of wire mesh that needs to be rolled up for reuse at some point), and then making a makeshift trellis for growing sweet peas around the vegetable garden - and planting out sweet peas, because they're quite frankly threatening to take over the spare bedroom where they currently live!

2025-05-06 05:55:35 UTC

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Obviously that's part of the pleasure of it; knowing that after 3 years of being sick and fragile and not knowing if there'd even be a future, today my body can do most things I want it to. (I still need to work up my strength, but the gardening should take care of that!)
I remember watching lilacs bloom in 2022 and laconically wondering if I'd be around to see them in 2023. And now I'm planting lilac saplings, planning to see them bloom in 2026 or 2027 or whenever they're ready!

2025-05-06 05:44:39 UTC

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I need to dig out a trench to plant a lilac hedgerow towards the neighbour in the front garden. I did half of it yesterday, so I'll finish today.
Also, I need to rake over the 25m long soon-to-be flower bed in the front garden so it's ready for sowing/planting when the risk of frost has passed, and ditto for the second half of the kitchen garden. And generally just do a lot of soil-work.
I really enjoy working with soil and making it better...

2025-04-30 08:44:26 UTC

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In that case better not risk it with another lunchbox failure!

2025-04-30 07:56:10 UTC

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In the grand scheme of things, *is* national security really more important than what's in the lunchbox?
I know there are arguments both ways, but really... A delicious, nutritious lunch is important!

2025-04-30 07:39:07 UTC

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I mean, haven't we all done stuff we needed our partner to forgive us for? Yesterday I gave my boyfriend a pasta salad as his packed lunch for work - for the second day running! And I didn't feel great about it, but I was lazy and thought I'd get away with it. So that's sort of like plagiarising a dissertation, right?
(I did better today. I was frying up croutons at 6am this morning.)

2025-04-16 11:19:32 UTC

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In Danish flæsk can mean pork (usually pork belly, but it's also used for pork mince) - but also "fatty tissue"...

2025-04-15 11:29:28 UTC

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It's quite exhilarating to see these things so quickly after they've been unearthed. Thank you for sharing!

2025-04-07 13:20:12 UTC

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Erhm... The women of Denmark have always been safe from my attentions!
But I think my boyfriend would quite like it if I got fit enough to have sex again. (Cancer, chemo and ostomies with complications can be quite the mood-killer! But now I just need to recover after the last surgery - and then have some minor procedures when my main surgical wounds have healed completely in hopefully a month's time.)

2025-04-07 13:08:03 UTC

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I haven't had sex in 3 years... So... There's that... And I'm definitely not asexual!
But it's really weird to think that at some point I *will* have to start thinking about actually having sex again, once my body is in a state for that.

2025-04-01 13:32:04 UTC

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Igelkott shelter! Igelboda sounds like a good home for igelkottar.

2025-04-01 05:32:42 UTC

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I’ll be in Sweden in 20 minutes - but only to get on a coach to Copenhagen for a 15-minute hospital appointment. I’ll be home by 20:30 tonight…

2025-03-26 12:19:05 UTC

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I love old books... My oldest is from 1817, so a respectable age - but sadly it's nothing very interesting. Just an old Bible.

2025-03-20 08:19:52 UTC

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Because the world is at times a serendipitous place: Just now there was a single magpie amongst the rooks enjoying the sunshine on the front lawn! I smiled. :-)

2025-03-20 06:08:15 UTC

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Here on Bornholm it's sunshine, rest, continued recovery after surgery (though it's frustrating that I can't just be 100% already!), taking the kitten out in the frosty garden and seeing him rather confused by a very large hare slowly jumping across the back lawn.
Could be worse, could be better. Will become better and better over the coming weeks. I just need patience. And sunshine and cats.

2025-03-18 10:40:22 UTC

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They do seem such intelligent birds, which is probably what makes them so entertaining.
And that rabbit situation sounds absolutely hilarious; I can't help imagining it with my adult cat as the rabbit and our kitten as the curious young magpies, since that's more or less how they behave.

2025-03-18 10:30:36 UTC

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Magpies can be a bit annoying - but they're also so much fun to watch, and strikingly beautiful. We don't have them in the garden, though, so I don't have to worry about the annoying noise and can just appreciate them when I see them.
(We do have a large colony of rooks just behind our garden, though, and I'm growing to love them in spite of the noise they sometimes make. After all, if I can't get rid of them I might as well love them, right?)

2025-03-14 07:27:11 UTC

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Language-shaming is such a great way to underscore your own superiority towards others... Especially if it's somebody's second language.
Drug gangs are bad for many reasons. I'm sure their proficiency (or lack thereof) in written Swedish is not one of them.

2025-03-13 06:10:07 UTC

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Jeg har haft lymfomer i underlivet, der blokerede for mine tarme - og nu hvor canceren er overstået skal jeg så have lappet stomierne sammen, så min krop kommer til at fungere normalt igen.
(Det her er sidste runde i næsten 3 år med sygdom - og der var en længere periode, hvor lægerne ikke helt troede, det ville gå.)

2025-03-13 02:26:34 UTC

Kan ikke sove for smerter, og nu er der under 2 timer, til jeg under alle omstændigheder skal "vækkes", så det er ikke til at vide, om jeg når at sove inden da.
Men i det mindste bliver jeg altid så dejligt veludhvilet af en time eller to i fuld narkose, så det går nok.
Det er bare trælst, at stomierne ønsker at sige farvel på denne måde. Og der er ikke så meget jeg eller nogen anden kan gøre, andet end at vente til operationen.