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. 

Busy Day/Week

 

I've managed to be quite "busy" lately. First it was the decorating for 1st Advent last week (cf my previous two posts). Then I spent quite a large part of the 1st Advent Sunday writing my Christmas cards to be sent abroad, as I wanted to get those posted on Monday. (Just now it feels like I've been writing about this already? - but I think that must have been as comment on someone else's blog.) Luckily I had enough cards with envelopes left over from previous years - and stamps too. 

So on Monday, I think around 11 am, I went for a walk to the nearest mailbox - which is situated by one of our small local grocery shops, about 10 minutes walk away. (Just now, perhaps more like 15 minutes.) It's one that only gets emptied on weekday mornings - but when I put mine in, I could hear that the box wasn't empty, but probably about half full. So hopefully my cards got sent on their way the same day. I know that the cards within Europe are likely to reach their destinations in just a few days - but sending mail "overseas" is more of a gamble...

That mission accomplished, I went back home and continued to write my cards to be sent within Sweden - which will all be of simple postcard format this year, as that was what I had left in my stash... I won't need to post those for another week or so; but just as well to get them written while I was "in the mood". 

Tuesday was laundry day (afternoon) for me, plus cleaning the bathroom. A combination that tends to keep me busy enough without adding very much else to the mix.  Between my turns down to the basement I usually just watch TV or read.

Today, Wednesday, was set aside for bigger adventures. After having put off an appointment with my dental hygienist twice in November (and some other errands in town as well) - because of my knee making it difficult for me to get anywhere - I decided it was time to test my stamina to "be on my feet" for a while. Not to overdo things, I decided I had better take a taxi to the dentists' to start with, though. From "knee point of view", that was probably a good decision; but it was still another taxi adventure in the sense that most  streets in the city centre are either car-free or one-way - and the driver, speaking broken Swedish, also didn't seem to actually know exactly where the street was (so I had to try to explain!)... In a wide roundabout way he finally did get me there, though! 

The actual appointment with my dental hygienist went smoothly, though. No unpleasant surprises, just routine treatment. 

Not many steps from my dentists' to the main square, where I stopped to take a photo of the big Christmas tree:   

 

 My next errand was to my favourite Tea Shop, situated right by the square. (They also sell coffee, but I only drink tea.) Not having been into the city centre for a couple of months now, nearly all my tea caddies at home were empty! So I made both a shop assistant and myself happy by buying no less than six different kinds of tea (100 g of each). (Three black tea blends, one green tea Christmas blend, and two different Rooibos tea blends.)

Just round the next corner, there's the bookshop; and I made a short stop there too, to buy a pocket calendar - and some more Christmas cards, "just in case" (or else for use next year!).

On the same street is my favourite Pharmacy, and I had a loooong list of both prescription medicines and various other stuff that I have been running out of (or almost) over the past couple of months... So that took a while; but now I have stocked up prescription stuff to last me a couple of months at least, plus some other necessities/favourites as well.

So far, so good... Now remained the question of how to get myself (and all my stuff) home. When I made my plans, it had seemed a good idea to take a certain bus from a small square not very far from the pharmacy. It doesn't run all the way to where I live - but then no bus does. But this one would take me to a stop some 15 minutes walk from home; and as I walked that distance back and forth the other week, I counted on being able to manage that. 

What I had not counted on, though, was having to wait nearly half an hour for that bus - because not only had one just left when I arrived at the bus square, but then the next one turned out to be almost 15 minutes late, and over-full (and with a super-stressed driver shouting at everyone!)  However, while waiting I managed to find a bench in a bus shelter to sit on - and then, even more miracously, also a seat on the bus when it finally arrived... (The fact that I was heavily burdened + leaning on a stick may have helped, but I'm not sure!!)  I rode on that bus for two stops, and somehow also managed to get off unharmed (phew!)... And in spite of being rather tired by then, the last 20 minutes walk from that bus stop back home felt almost like a relief compared to the long wait + short bus ride... (In retrospect I'm thinking that "knee and all" it might have been quicker for me to walk the whole way back home from town - but I just didn't quite trust my stamina for that, with a full backpack + an extra bag to carry as well.)  

Anyway, next time I go into town, I don't think I'll try that particular bus again... 

The next thing on my "list" is that I really need a haircut... My hairdresser is in the same street as my dentist - but it just felt too much to try and coordinate that + all the other things on one and the same day. 

1st Advent Sunday

 

Besides my electric candles in the windows (cf yesterday's post), I also still have my adventsljusstake (Advent candle holder) with four real candles in a row - one for each Advent Sunday - sitting on the table in my living room. These days, I'm rather careful when it comes to trusting myself with real candles, and only light those when I'm going to be sitting still for a while - but on the other hand not feeling so relaxed that I might nod off...! 

I've even contemplated switching to battery candles in this one. But I think that would just look weird - at least the first three weeks, until you can have all four of them lit! 

I know that Germany also have the four candles for the Advent Sundays (but usually in a wreath formation), but I'm not sure how widely spread this tradition ever was - or is - in other countries.

 

1st Advent Preparations

 

 

The rest of the week since Monday has been rainy, and I have not been out for any more "long" walks. But I have still been "on my feet" quite a lot just pottering about at home...

Tuesday was Laundry Day, and between my turns to the laundry room I also visited my storage space in the basement to collect my Advent decorations. Some readers who have been following this blog for years may recall that I tend to put up my Christmas decorations gradually during December. For 1st Advent, I usually start with switching my kitchen curtains and some other textiles; plus replacing various window lamps around the flat with electric candle holders and stars. This year, because of my injured knee, I decided to abstain from the curtain project, and just keep the ones that I bought back in spring - but exchange the green ribbons for red ones. I did manage to get the window stars up in the kitchen + study without climbing - just using a long grabber.

Ever since I moved to my present flat (17 years ago) I've also been used to having one electric candle holder (each with 7 lights) in each window; which means four of them. I recalled that the one in my living room stopped working some time after NewYear last winter, though. I was hoping that a whole set of new lightbulbs might fix it - but it did not. And even worse: The kitchen one now turned out to have given up as well! 

As I'm no electrician, my skills don't go beyond switching light bulbs - so both those candle holders had to go back down to the storage room, at least for now. Pity, as both those are kind of special and my favourites... 

However... This was also my week for ordering stuff from the supermarket, and they also have quite a lot of Christmas things. So I added two new ones (standard size and design, and not very expensive) to my order. A red one for the kitchen (see the photo above), and a white one of the same model for the living room (below). They arrived with my groceries on Thursday, and thankfully turned out fully functional. A bit smaller than my old ones, but I'll no doubt get used to that. 

The candle holders in my study (above) and bedroom (below) are lower and bow-shaped.

 

 The orchid on the left has decided to spring some new flower buds in time for Advent.

This small nativity scene is simple and made of plastic - but it's been with me nearly all my life! It was given to me in my early childhood by two "old ladies" (as they appeared to me back then), cousins of my maternal grandmother. They worked in a gift shop and used to give me various ornaments for Christmases and birthdays, some of which I still have. And this one has ended up in my "1st Advent box".