Skywatch Friday

 

Actually it was on Wednesday rather than Friday this week that we "almost" got a glimpse of the sky behind the grey clouds and rain that have dominated the whole week. Not having been out at all for a few days, I grabbed the opportunity for a half hour walk for exercise.

I stopped for a while across the street from the building above, trying to figure out what's going on there. Seemed like some new business is moving into the premises, and doing some changes. Actually, one of the signs outside suggested that it's an old business moving back to the area where they once started out, thirty years ago. The name didn't ring a bell with me though, so no idea what kind of business. Nor do I know if they're moving back to the exact same building or just the same complex. Or what exactly all those triangular thingies in front are for...

As I had no errands and didn't need to carry anything, I took both my walking poles on this walk for a change - mostly just for the extra exercise (for arms/shoulders). We're still having very mild weather. No risk of icy spots just now - but the risk of slipping on a mess of wet leaves is not over...

Crossing the old cemetery on my way back home. 
(Imagine a constant background sound of leaf-blowers at work...)

I'll be linking to Skywatch Friday 

Winter Idyll vs Reality

 

This is a textile Christmas wall hanging that my mother made back in my childhood. I had to find a new place for it this year, because putting it up where I used to have it requires use of a stepladder + quite a bit of "fiddling" - which I don't feel up to this year. Luckily I managed to find an alternative space for it.

I used to have it on display at the top of the door leading into my study:

Photo from 2022

This year it hangs on the back of a bookshelf in the "dressing room" corner of my study, where it was easy to put it up without need of a ladder. The downside is that I don't see it from the living room, as I did when I had it on the door. But on the other hand, I can now get up close to it at eye level to look at details...

 (The combination study/dressing room may seem unusual, but it just so happens that most of my wardrobes are in this room, while I prefer another as bedroom.) 

 

In the "real world" outside my windows there's no snow to be seen. Since Saturday it's been raining more or less constantly - yesterday also combined with weather warnings for strong winds - and I've not been out any further than to the rubbish bins at the corner of the building a couple of times. (Luckily I also haven't really needed to go anywhere, though!) 

Macramé

 

Once upon a time, back in the late 1970s, I took an evening class in macramé. I think it was only one term (or possibly two). Combined with working as a secretary in the daytime, it turned out not the best leisure activity for my neck and shoulders. 

I can only recall making three bigger items - two wall hangings (besides this red one, one of similar size in some kind of silky brownish yarn), and a plant hanger. (The plant hanger I think I later gave to my mum who had a better place for it.)

The red wall hanging has become part of my Christmas decorations. From December until mid February or so, it hangs on the door between my hall and my kitchen. 

 

Macramé is a form of textile produced using knotting (rather than weaving or knitting) techniques. 

One of the earliest recorded uses of macramé-style knots as decoration appeared in the carvings of the Babylonians and Assyrians. 

 It was long crafted by sailors, especially in elaborate or ornamental knotting forms, to cover anything from knife handles to bottles to parts of ships. 

 In England, it was introduced at the court of Mary II in the late 17th century, and in the Victorian era it adorned most homes in items such as tablecloths, bedspreads and curtains.

Macramé's popularity faded, but resurged in the 1970s for making wall hangings, clothing accessories, draperies, plant hangers and other furnishings.

Source: Wikipedia 

 

Penpals

 

We're having a very grey and damp 2nd Advent weekend here in south-west Sweden. I managed to get out for about half an hour on Friday, but the rest of the weekend I've been staying in. 

Wondering what to blog about today, my eye fell on the three Christmas cards that have arrived so far, and which I have put on display in the bookshelf in my living room. They come from three different countries (England, Canada and the US); and all three are from Penfriends whom I've known since Before Blogging. 

I've had penfriends ever since I was 10-11 years old. I'm still in touch now and then with the very first one in Sweden. Few long letters these days, but we still always send Christmas greetings, and birthday cards. We first met through an ad in some comics magazine (I forget whether it was her ad or mine) way back in 1966 - i.e. 60 years ago next spring. We only met once in real life, I think in 1978 or 79. She lived (and still lives) further north in Sweden, and I had been up even further north than that to visit another friend, and going back down south by train, I also visited my penfriend for a couple of days. 

We both had several more penpals; and for a while, long before the internet, it was popular among letter-writing friends around the world to also pass around something called "friendship books", as one way of finding new people to write to. And I'm still in touch with some people around my own age abroad, whom I got to know that way.

One of them is Karen in England, who sent me the Christmas card with the London bus above. I just checked, and we've been penpals since 1985, i.e. 40 years. Fewer long letters exchanged these days, but always Christmas cards, and sometimes other postcards in between. We're also friends on FB; but she does not blog, and I doubt she reads mine. 

The Snowman card to the left above came from Heather in Canada. We met in person in Sweden in the summer of 1985, and have kept in touch by letters/cards on and off since then. (Nowadays mostly Christmas cards + FB.)

The other Snowman card is from Debra in the US (and came with a letter). I think she is probably the last one whom I got to know via one of those "friendship books" passed on via penpals - and also the last one with whom I am still in touch solely by snail mail, and not at all on the internet. Her first letter to me is from Sept 2000 - so 25 years by now.

As I have mentioned before a few times, in connection with various "blogoversaries", it was also a penpal in Australia (since 1985) who first inspired me to start blogging. She mentioned (Christmas 2008) that she had started a blog; and when I went to check that out, I found that to be able to  comment, I had to create a Blogger account of my own. And once I had done that, I got curious to explore further how it all worked... So ended up starting my own first blog in January 2009. And while R didn't keep hers going for all that long (it was mostly to do with a crafts project), I'm still blogging away! (R & I are still in touch, too, but now mostly via FB.)

Come to think of it, the chain of contacts leading to why I'm sitting here right now, writing this, can literally be traced back all the way to my very first Swedish penfriend  - because she was the link between me and a penfriend in England (nowadays living in Australia), who in turn became the link between me and the Australian penfriend who became my link to blogging!

2nd Advent Weekend

 

The white orchid in my bedroom window has opened up its first bloom for 2nd Advent.

 And on a small shelf on the wall in my study, I have set up this nativity scene as usual. 
(I see it "at the corner of my eye" wheneven I'm using my computer.)
 

The original set consisted only of the stable, Jesus, Mary and Joseph, and thre three wise men. I have added the other other pieces later from different sources. The oldest one is the camel - I think I got that one in my early childhood from the same old ladies (cousins of my grandmother) who gave me the small nativity scene that I showed in a post last weekend. 

 

Matthew 2 (NIV)

2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem ² and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

- - -

 ⁹ ... and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰ When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. ¹¹ On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. ¹² And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.