How Beautifully Leaves Grow Old

“How beautifully leaves grow old.
How full of light and color are their last days.”
– George Burns

Another sunny afternoon today, and after lunch (at home) I felt inspired to take the bus to the shopping centre "across town". Once there, however, I found that I had quite lost the inspiration for any actual shopping. After just a very quick look into a couple of shops, I just decided on a long walk back home instead.

 Passing by Jaume Plensa's House of Knowledge sculpture at the Textile Fashion Center.

Ooops... The bridge I'd normally have passed over on my way back is being re-constructed, a job that is not only currently causing major traffic chaos in that part of town, but not even allowing pedestrians to walk that way now...

 Sitting down to rest for a while on a bench, and staring at these... well, whatever they are... (Looking magically "silvery" in the backlight this time of year, anyway...)

 

Reching the city centre, I decided that my usual walk through the park, along the river, and across the old cemetery was undoubtedly still the nicest alternative (avoiding other various construction work going on here and there).

 Some trees have dropped all their leaves now.
Others have quite a few left still.

Autumn leaves floating on the surface of the river.

Wading ankle-deep in leaves in the old cemetery (not everywhere, but in some places).

 

Linking to Skywatch Friday

Leaf Blowing Season

 

View from my window this morning

Probably a bit of frost during the night, followed by a bit of wind this morning... Now the leaves are dropping fast from the trees! Leaf blowers were already hard at work on the lawns outside my buildning when I got up today.

For me today was laundry day, so spent mostly indoors. But I was able to get started an hour early, so also finished early; and had time for a sunny afternoon walk afterwards. Today I enjoyed that special autumnal feeling (and sound!) of literally wading in dry leaves practially all the way around the old cemetery...

 

Certain trees have lost practially all their leaves, while others still have plenty left.

A comment on my previous post reminded me of a report that was published back in September, to do with which of the 20 largest cities in Sweden are the "greenest" - as in having the most trees and the most green areas etc. Comparing a number of different parameters of that kind, a study showed that Borås has the greatest tree cover in relation to its surface area (52 percent), but is also at the top when it comes to the percentage of inhabited green space (58 percent). In total, we ended up as No 5 on the list. Although all the greenery is one reason that I like living here, I don't think I would have guessed!

"Autumn is a Second Spring"

"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower"
– Albert Camus

Yesterday after lunch I walked into town to get my seasonal flu + covid shots. My health care centre is in that building behind the trees. Things were well organised this year: No problems neither with registration, nor having to wait too long; and the procedure itself went smoothly and quickly (but without feeling rushed). There was a bit of light rain when I walked back, but no wind to speak of, so that was no problem either (I had an umbrella).
 

After a bit of rest at home, I went out again later for a shorter walk to the nearby branch library to return a book and borrow another. As I've mentioned before, we just recently got a small library back to my part of town, after it's been gone for a number of years. Probably only back temporarily but I intend to make use of it while it's here...  

Unfortunately it is difficult for me to read books with small print these days - one I returned now I ended up also borrowing online as audiobook to be able to finish it... (A Swedish book not available in English, so no use going into details here.)

I still like to browse around for a while when I'm there, though, because what I still find easier among "tactile" books is to just browse around without a clue what I'm looking for!

Today I woke up with two sore upper arms after the injections, but otherwise feeling okay. (No fever etc.)  After a lazy morning och some lunch, I went for a walk to the supermarket for just a few items, and on the way passed these magnificent RED rowan trees...

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns." - George Eliot
 

Just Walkin'

Above: Friday - walking around the old cemetery

Below: Saturday - walking into town and back

On Saturday afternoon I also spent some time preparing a post on my blog Greetings from the Past, for the Sepia Saturday October theme "Special Times". You can read that post here. It goes a bit beyond my personal family history - but it was my grandfather who took the photos!

Autumn Reflections

Sunday 6 October

 

Tuesday 8 October

Wednesday 9 October

 

Wednesday 9 October

The past week here offered several opportunities for river reflections combined with autumn colours. :)

Linking to Weekend Street/Reflections #194