Decisions, Decisions ...

 

Today - Monday - was another day of cooler temperatures here (even below 20'C), but no predicted risk of rain. So a good day for me to walk into town again - this time to revisit the optician's and make my final choice of frames for the new glasses. As some readers may remember, I had taken two frames home with me on loan over the weekend. However, while I did like one of those from the shape and colour of the rim, and how they fit over my nose etc, I felt sceptical about the temples (arms), which were very thin - while I feel more comfortable with having those a bit sturdier...

 

https://www.readingglasses.com/blogs/news/parts-of-eyeglasses

 So when I got to the shop I said I wanted to look at some more frames before I decided; and did so, partly on my own, and partly with help from the optician manning the desk. 

While she and I were just discussing another frame she had just found to suggest to me, someone else suddenly turned up beside me and said hello... It took me a second to take in who it was: My old friend Ewa from Karlstad, whom I've known for almost half a century. (Back in our youth we were both living in Karlstad). She is an optician, too - retired since a few years now, but in the summers she has continued to sometimes take on short term temporary jobs in other cities (for the same chain of shops she used to work for). She last filled in for someone in this shop in Borås last summer; and we met up then. But as she told me then that that was the last time that she would be doing that, I had not expected to see her again this year! But she certainly "came in handy" to continue the discussion of my choice of frames now (while her colleague helped another customer instead). As we've known each other for so long, I could hardly have had a more competent "third opinion" for my final choice. ;) ... To sum up, I ended up deciding on a different frame than the two I had been choosing between over the weekend.

As with all the chatting I forgot to take a photo of it, I won't be seeing it again myself until I finally get it back with glasses fitted - which probably won't be until the beginning of August, as the shop will close for summer holidays for a couple of weeks in between.

The photo at the top is a view across the river from the park that I took when I walked back home from town on Saturday. This one with the thistles is the only photo I snapped today. They grew in another (somewhat "wilder") spot along the river.

Weekend Reflections

 

Yesterday was the first day in quite a while that was just offering "nice" summer weather (neither too hot, nor threatening with rain and thunder). So I seized the opportunity for a walk into the city centre just to have a leisurely look around some clothes shops - without any other more urgent errands to tick off my list. (I think that's the first time in nine months - because of the limitations that followed my fall and knee injury last autumn.) 

The photos above show the outdoor terrace of one of the popular restaurants/cafés along the river - currently decorated with white balloons. (I'm not sure if for some special reason - or just "summer".)

Before I went back home, I did sit down for short break myself - but at the ice cream café in the park on the opposite side of the river:

Before that, I had visited three or four clothes shops. What I was looking for was a pair of wide summer trousers, in a different colour than blue or black (which I already have). In my opinion this is an excellent garment for hot summer days - and not least when one also needs to wear a knee sleeve or two underneath... So I wanted to get another pair before they perhaps go out of fashion again (one never knows!). And in the last shop I visited, I did find a pair of mauve ones that I knew could be matched with a few tops I already had. So after trying those on in the shop, I bought them. Mission accomplished!

Skywatch Friday - After the Rain

 

Today I've only been watching the skies from indoors. A day of moody rain showers here - but that suited me rather well, as I had the laundry room booked for the afternoon anyway!

Linking to Skywatch Friday - USA 250th Anniversary Edition 

(Happy 4th July to my American friends!) 

Eye Test

   

The heat wave here (fairly short compared to further south in Europe) can now be declared over. Today I needed to put on a light jacket for my walk into town, and my foldable umbrella came in useful on the way back. 

The photo above is one I borrowed from myself from a few years ago. Today, with a walking stick in one hand, an umbrella in the other and the rest of my "things" in a backpack, I had no hand free to take photos... ;)  

 

My main errand today was an eye exam originally booked for last week, but which I had to call and postpone because it got too hot for me to go into town.

No such problem today; and as it didn't start to rain until later, I arrived at my destination neither too hot nor wet. 

The result of the examination was that some minor adjustments could this time be made for a pair of new glasses; while at the same time my optician also did not see any need to refer me back to the eye doctor just now, as my problems of "that kind" don't seem to have changed. So I decided to go ahead and buy new glasses; after all I've had my old ones for 5 years.  

So before leaving the shop I also tried on some frames. I ended up taking two back home with me over the weekend, and will go back at the beginning of next week to "close the deal". Both those I took home with me were on sale. I do actually know which one of those that I prefer... But I might also want to have one last look around  next week before making the final decision. After all, I'm likely to be living with my choice for a couple of years at least! 

Recently,  I came across the following two "eye tests" of other kind online. At least I can brag about managing those without running into any major problems. Can you? ;) 

 

 

July

 

For the month of July in my 2026 wall calendar I chose this photo of a typical Swedish rural idyll. It is one I took last year at Bullerbyn - "The Noisy Village" - in the Swedish province of Småland. The real name of the place is Sevedstorp; and it is the village Astrid Lindgren had in mind when she wrote her books about The Children of Noisy Village. And it is the village where Astrid's own father grew up. (You can /re-/read my post about it and see more photos here, in a post from August 2025.)  

In case it's not obvious to all readers, the two containers in the foreground are milk churns (cans), which at small farms used to be put out on platforms like that by the road, to be picked up by a truck to be delivered to the nearest dairy.