Halloween, continued...

 

The most appropriate Moomin tea mug for the season: "The Ancestor" (who in the stories lives in or behind the tiled stove in the Moomin house). And a tea blend named "Autumn Glow" (Swedish: Höstglöd)

 

The Halloween weekend has continued to be grey and damp. Today it seemed to be raining most of the day, and I was beginning to think I wouldn't be going out at all. But then noticed around 3 pm that the rain seemed to have stopped, and ventured out for a short walk after all. The ground/streets in most places are covered with a mess of wet leaves, though - so one has to tread very carefully. Or at least I do - even if also having my stick for support... 

 

This morning I read in my daily local newspaper (which I nowadays only subscribe to in the digital version) about a bit of Halloween chaos in the city last night, as more teens than expected turned up for a "ghost walk" in the city park. A similar event last year had attracted around 650 participants in total, and it seems they had expected the number this year to be about the same. Instead, around 2000 turned up... which the organizers didn't have the capacity to handle... So many hundreds of youngsters were denied entry (after already having been queuing for hours), and then of course some tried to enter from other corners of the park anyway... So quite a bit of hullabaloo, and the police involved... 

 

For my own part, I live about 1.5 km or 1 English mile away from the city centre. Around here all was quiet, and no Halloween Hullabaloo at all - as far as I could notice, anyway. 

 

 

In the Park-To-Be (previously a big empty football field), much closer to home, there's still quite a lot of noise going on daytime on workdays, though. (From machines rather than people, at this stage.) I dare not guess how many mountains of earth/soil have been dug up vs added and flattened out there over the past three months - or how much more of that kind may be required. (Cf a post from early August here - when they were just getting started.)  However, I noticed this week that they have now also started planting some new young trees here and there - which I take as an indication that they must be approaching the intended surface level, at least in some parts of the area... 

 

How much hullabaloo (and of what kind) to expect in this park once it's properly finished, still remains to be seen. I think it will be a while yet before it qualifies as a location for ghost walks, though. Or even ordinary hide-and-seek! ;)

All Saints' Day / Halloween

In Sweden, All Saints' Day (Allhelgonadagen) is a holiday (red day in the calendar) always falling on a Saturday - preceded by All Saints' Eve (Allhelgonaafton) on the Friday, and followed by All Souls' Day (Alla själars dag) on the Sunday.  

Traditionally, our All Saints' weekend is a more solemn affair than the American Halloween, and mostly to do with visiting and decorating the graves of our ancestors and loved ones. In later decades we have imported some of the Halloween traditions as well, though (pumpkins, ghosts, costumes, trick-or-treating etc) - which makes the whole "celebration" a lot more confused nowadays. (At least for us old enough to be aware of the change...)

Opinions also still differ about which day to best fit in the Halloween stuff. Some people argue that it should be Friday (All Saints' Eve); others that it should be 31st October, no matter what day of the week - which this year would coincide with All Saints' Day. 

So far this weekend, I haven't seen any Halloween-dressed kids around, though. But then I don't think I can recall ever having seen any typical "trick-or-treating" practiced in my immediate neighbourhood. (Quite a few of my neighbours are also of Muslim background, so I suppose even less likely to be picking up that tradition.) 

Yesterday (Friday/All Saints' Eve) I woke up to a cloudy and foggy morning. But neither rainy nor windy - which seemed to make a good setting for an "early" (as in before lunch) walk to the nearby cemetery, to light a candle on my great-grandparents' grave there. Back in my childhood we always went after dark - but personally I never really liked that. And these days I prefer even more to be able to see where I put my feet...

Judging by the amount of cars driving into the cemetery already around noon, I wasn't the only one who preferred going in the daytime.

 

 

 

At home, I've never done a whole lot of decorating  for Halloween. I have had some orange (fake) gladioli in the vase on the chest in my living room all autumn, though - and for this weekend (and probably through November) also added my Owls. The candles behind them are the dark green LED ones (with timer) that I recently bought. I feel safer with that kind now, and only sometimes light real candles when sitting still for a while.

 

And of course Barbie and Skipper wanted to dress up a bit. Skipper complained about not having anything orange in her wardrobe; but she got to borrow a skirt from Barbie. They also asked for pumpkins - but I said they had to make do with some brown horse chestnuts, and a separate LED candle...

"Happy Halloween" to all who celebrate!

Walk in the Park

After a rather rainy and windy week (or so), the sun showed its face again today, and tempted me to go for a walk into town after lunch. 

When I reached the main square, I almost wondered if they had had  a particularly bad storm raging there...? But of course they were just in the process of trimming the trees growing along both sides of the square. (I don't know what kind of trees these are.) 
 

I once again visited the charity shop near the square to drop off a couple of items of clothing that I'm no longer using. (As I have no car and can't carry much at a time, I've been having a "gradual" wardrobe clear out...) And before turning back home, I also visited my favourite tea shop by the square, and the pharmacy for some over-the-counter items. And then walked back home through the park and along the river. 

While many trees I see from home have lost nearly all their leaves now, the park still provides quite a colourful autumn display.

These trees are what I call cherry blossom trees (the ornamental kind). I spring they are covered with pink blossoms; in autumn they provide a different kind of beauty!
 

  

 

 

 

 

One of my favourite sculptures, the green rabbit with revolving eyes - which means its facial expression keeps changing. Its official title is "Mate Hunting", and the artist behind it is Marianne Lindberg De Geer. 

I took even more tree photos on my way home, but I think I'll save some for another day - not yet sure how much I'll be getting out and about the rest of the week (or what the weather will be like!) ... 

Leaves Keep Falling

 

It's been a rainy weekend here. Yesterday afternoon I managed a short walk in the immediate neighbourhood, though  - and without getting wet. 

Today I managed to stay dry as well - but by staying in!! ;)

The night between yesterday and today it was also time to turn our clocks back to winter (=normal!) time. I turned all mine (except the internet-controlled devices) back last night, before going to bed. When I woke up this morning I had to double-check though - because in spite of turning the clocks back, I managed to sleep until 10 a.m. ... 

 "Little My" timer (if you don't know her, she is one of the Moomin characters). She is of no help at all with the big twice-a-year time changes - nor with getting up in the morning. But she does sometimes help with reminding me to take breaks from sitting too long at the computer, or to make sure I unplug the iron after I'm done with ironing...

 

Weekend Reflections

 

Linking to Weekend/Street Reflections #300 

Monday this week (19th October) did not only offer blue sky and amazing autumn colours in the trees, but also perfect river reflections... :) 

The photo at the top shows a view across the river to the city park (in Borås, Sweden). The second one shows an old industrial complex along the same river. (Those who have been following this blog will no doubt recognise it from many previous photos - but on a day like this, I can never resist just taking one more...) Not sure what kinds of businesses reside there now, but originally they were no doubt to do with the textile industry.