Skywatch Friday

 

Wednesday, 10 June, 2026 (21:25)

Thursday, 11 June, 2026 (22:40)

Linking to Skywatch Friday

The Gentle Approach

or "When you feel like quitting"...

Here is an example of a YouTube video by the "PT guy" I mentioned at the end of my post yesterday. I think in this video he pretty much sums up his general "attitude", which is what has made me also try to practice some of his advice in other videos about gentle movements and exercises etc. 

- Gentle Approach
- Aiming Low
- Remember Your "Why"

 

 

I Walk in Beauty

 

A rhododendron tree of unusual colour - in the old cemetery.

 

"Now I walk in beauty. Beauty is before me. Beauty is behind me. Above me and below me. Around me and within me."
- Traditional Navajo. 

 

Some of the purple rhododendrons that were first in bloom are already fading and dropping a lot of petals to the ground; after a rather windy and rainy week. Others are still in their prime, though:

 

Because of frequent downpours, I haven't been straying far from home this week. Yesterday I had the laundry room booked in the afternoon and did not go out. Today was delivery day (from the supermarket), but they came an hour earlier than usual, and after lunch I braved a half hour walk around the cemetery and managed to get back dry...  

 

I'm still using my walking stick when I go out, but in the cemetery I sometimes practice keeping it "off ground" for a while now and then, when walking on smooth paths without too much debris. In certain situations, like on uneven ground, walking downhill, or crossing streets, I still feel need of it, though. - And when crossing streets etc, I also kind of feel that it serves to tell drivers and other pedestrians not to expect me to be able to hurry! 

 

A couple of months ago, a friend whom I haven't seen in person since last summer, ended a text message with hoping that I have "a good physiotherapist"... I didn't find the mental energy just then to explain that I don't "have" a PT in the sense of meeting one at my health care center. However, that's not the same as lacking advice about useful exercises. These days, you really only have to google "knee problems" or "knee bandages" once, and if you're also using Facebook, they will immediately start feeding you not only daily commercials for knee sleeves etc (how many do they think one person needs?!), but also physiotherapist videos. Some of those just annoy me, but some have actually proved helpful. Besides the exercises as such, I find that it's very much a question of the PT's "attitude"... My favourite so far is one British guy whom I'm actually following now (while others still just keep turning up anyway). If anyone is curious, you can also find this guy on YouTube: his name is Josh Trevorrow. (I might try to share some video here another day, but just now I'm too tired for the technicalities.)   

The First Week of June

 

The first week of June offered rather "mixed" weather, with high risk of showers most days - so I've mostly been keeping to short walks. On Wednesday 3rd June, I managed a walk into town for a few errands and back again without getting wet, though. 

 

On my way  home, I passed by this really massive hedge of purple rhododendron in the park (photos above and below):

 

Besides stocking up on tea from my favourite tea shop, and a few minor things from the pharmacy - all of which I managed to fit into my small backpack - I also visited a flower shop to buy two flowering pelargoniums. Maneuvering a walking stick with one hand these days, one extra bag is as much as much as I can manage!

As I'm not (at least not yet) sitting on the balcony much, I placed the pelargoniums indoors for now. One in the living room (above) and the other one in the kitchen (below).

 

 

 

This time of year, I have a very green view from the spot at the kitchen table where I always sit - for example at breakfast. 

 

I bought a new black tea blend with strawberries, mango and lemon in it to try out. (I like it!) (A direct translation of the Swedish name to English would be "strawberry straw"...) 

 

Thursday afternoon was laundry day for me and I don't think I went outdoors at all - but from the laundry room down in the basement I could enjoy this "different" view of the rhododendrons outside (through a small window high up on the wall):

 

 

Friday the 5th was rather rainy, but dressed in a raincoat I managed my usual "recycling walk" + a visit to a small shop on the way back to buy some fruit & veg. (Fresh strawberries included! I think probably Dutch rather than Swedish, though.)

 

6th June is Sweden's National Day and a public holiday with  traditions attached. There are usually celebrations in the city park in the afternoon and I assume that was probably the case this year as well. The weather that afternoon also turned out rather good. But personally I didn't quite feel up for a walk into town just to mix with crowds of people this year. So I just went for a quiet stroll on my own in the cemetery, where the azaleas were still in full bloom:

 

 

 

 

And in the evening I watched parts of the national celebrations in Stockholm on TV. Below is an official photo I copied from the royal family's website, of them traditionally joining the crowds at the open air museum Skansen in Stockholm:

Princess Madeleine and her husband Chris O'Neill; Prince Carl Philip with his wife Princess Sofia; King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia; MrAndreas Norlén (Speaker of the Parliament), Crown Princess Victoria with son Prince Oscar and husband Prince Daniel. The queen and the princesses all wearing a national folk costume in yellow and blue (the colours of the Swedish flag).

Busy times for the royal family just now, as the King and Queen will also be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary next weekend. (They got married 19th June 1976, but as in 2026 that date happens to be Midsummer Eve, the official celebration will be held the weekend before.) 

 

Here We Go Again...

 Troubleshooting, part XWZ (...sorry, I lost count...)

 

 

(Re-using an AI-created image from 2024.)

I'm back in communication with my printer/scanner. 

Since my last round of trying to fix it, I've been suspecting that the problem must have something to do with an old unfinished printing job mysteriously stuck in queue, and refusing all attempts to just remove it the usual way (via the printer app).

 

Today, I first tried uninstalling and re-installing the printer; but that didn't fix it either. So... then I let AI guide me into mysterious chambers I wouldn't have a clue where to look for on my own; and eventually, having emptied one such folder of four files that I had no idea what any of them was - "abracadabra", the printer was immediately willing to both print a test document, and to scan a postcard... Phew! 

Unfortunately, having finished that job, I discovered that in the process, I had instead managed to lose contact with my File Explorer. It had decided to follow the example of my Firefox browser recently, and shrink to a size so small that it's useless (as I can't see what to click on). I suspect it did that in revenge, to punish me from consorting with AI and getting encouraged to fiddle with files and settings a normal non-tech user isn't supposed to dare muck about with... 

While the Firefox window problem could be fixed by uninstalling and reinstalling that browser, I'm not sure that procedure can be applied to File Explorer. (?) However, my new chum AI assures me that there are alternatives to File Explorer to be found. I think I'll have to read up a bit more on that before I try it, though.

Meanwhile, I think I have at least figured out how I can reach my documents and photos in other ways. So for the moment, I'll take the Scarlet O'Hara (Gone With the Wind) approach to further troubleshooting: "I can't think about that right now. If I do, I'll go crazy. I'll think about that tomorrow."