Weekend Reflections

 

Weather-wise, it's been a strange week. On Christmas Eve I woke up to a fairytale-like world covered in snow. On Christmas Day, the snow gradually melted away again. On 2nd Day Christmas (Friday), the lawns outside were all green again; but in the afternoon the fog gave way to a glimpse of sun and blue sky. I did get out for a little while then - but kept to the street where I live, as the footbridge over the railway (leading to among other things the old cemetery) still looked treacherously icy. The photo above was taken zooming in a house across the railway (which runs in a valley down below, invisible from this perspective). 

 

Yesterday afternoon I had the laundry room booked and did not go out. 

Today, Sunday, offered sunshine and blue skies again, and around noon I went for a walk down to the river and back. Good to see some water reflections again! :)

 

Linking to Weekend Reflections 

On the whole I've had a "quiet" Christmas - apart from the fact that some people (youngsters?) around here now seem to be treating the whole month of December as a time for playing with fireworks and/or bangers. It's literally been going on almost every afternoon/early evening since 1st Advent, and I hate it. As I never actually see anyone at it - just hear them!!! - I can't say if they're keeping within what's lawful or not. Whether legal or illegal, it makes me jump every time though, and is making me generally nervous! (And not in the least looking forward to New Year's Eve...) 

Christmas Skywatch

 

 

On the morning of Christmas Eve - quite a surprise! - I woke up to trees and ground covered by a layer of white snow, which lasted all day. (No sunshine, though.)

In the morning of Christmas Day, it looked almost like we could be getting a sunny day...  That too ended up mostly grey, though - and it started to thaw a little. I wasn't out any further than to take out a couple of garbage bags, though. Photos taken from my balcony.

 

This morning (Boxing Day in Britain - here in Sweden "annandag jul" = 2nd Day of Christmas), the snow was all gone; and the sun still hiding behind fog.

Linking to Skywatch Friday

White Christmas

 

Christmas Eve is the main day of Christmas celebrations in Sweden - as in the day when Christmas presents are exchanged and opened. And in families with children, Jultomten (Santa Claus/Father Christmas) often comes knocking on the door in the late afternoon or early evening, to deliver them in person.  

What I had not expected this year was a White Christmas - except maybe just a very thin layer of frost on the ground. But I was in for a surprise this morning, when I got out bed and looked out of the window to find that it had snowed during the night. And it has kept on snowing a little on and off since then (writing this around 11:30 am).

I'll neither be going anywhere, nor having visitors; but as usual in later years I'm hoping to have an online video session with my brother later on in the afternoon. (I'm saying "hoping", fingers crossed, because the app we used to use has closed, so we'll be trying a different alternative this year - without having tested it beforehand...)

Tomorrow I may be catching up on blog reading and commenting while most of my international friends are in turn probably in the midst of their most intense family celebrations... Anyway, however you'll be celebrating, I wish you all a Happy Christmas!

The Sun Is Back!

When I first woke up this morning, the sun wasn't up yet, so not much use even looking out of the windows. I was also tired, so went back to bed and my audio book... And fell asleep again... Next time I got up, and looked out of the window, I could hardly believe my eyes. Instead of the usual grey that has been hovering over us all December so far, there was blue sky, fluffy white clouds, sunshine - and frost on the ground! Quite an impressive winter solstice transformation since yesterday!

 

 Best to make use of the sunshine while it lasts! I thought; so around 11:30 I set out for a walk to get the most out of the daylight. 

Although the sun is "back", it still doesn't go very high over the horizon even at noon... 

The fact that the sun was showing its face inspired me to expand my walk beyond the old cemetery. One thing I cannot order with the home deliveries from my usual supermarket is flowers. (They sell flowers in the store, but not online.) And the nearest florist's is downtown in the city centre - still too far for me to walk to (considering that if I do, I also have to walk back home). So I've had no red poinsettias or amaryllis etc at home to brighten up the gloomy first three weeks of December. 

However, today it struck me that about half way between home and the city centre, there is nowadays (since some time back in early autumn, if memory serves me right) a Lidl grocery store. So far I've only been in there once, shortly after they opened. But now I checked their ads online, and it did indeed seem like they might have some seasonal flowers. So that's where I steered my steps today. 

And I found what I sought. I bought one large and one small poinsettia, and also an amaryllis - still just a bud, but showing signs of perhaps even producing a second one later on. (They had taller ones, but those would have been difficult for me to carry home - as I was using two walking poles, I had to choose flowers that I could fit into my backpack...)

 

4th Advent Sunday / Winter Solstice

 

4th Advent Sunday today - and also the Winter Solstice. 

As I've mentioned before, the month of December so far has been unusually dark here this year - or at least so it has seemed. Yesterday I heard some additional statistics on the radio: In our capital Stockholm, it has been the darkest December since1934. So it has also very probably been the darkest month that I myself (born in 1955) have ever experienced! (Even if I don't live in Stockholm, but closer to the west coast.) 

Anyway, with the Winter Solstice behind us, even if still cloudy, we should now at least be able to look forward to a gradually increasing amount of daylight again!

I decided to celebrate the Winter Solstice with decorating my little Christmas tree...

... and by waking up the ten Santas sleeping in the tiny house on my kitchen window sill. Someone wondered on a previous post how they all fit in there, and if there was magic involved. My answer is that the magic lies in the camera perspective...