Our World Tuesday: Congratulations & Celebrations

Yesterday it was 394 years since Borås received its town privileges – 29th June, 1621.

Since 1990 it’s been a tradition to celebrate this day with cake served in the main square at noon.

A bit of rain does not stop true Boråsians from queueing for (free) cake!

Each year, an "ambassador" for our town is also appointed on this occasion. This year the honour was given to Leon Rytz, 88 years old, born in Poland, and a survivor from German WWII concentration camps like Treblinka and Bergen-Belsen. In 1945, after the war – aged 18, and having been imprisoned in various camps since he was 14 – he came to live and build a new life for himself in this town and country. Here he met a woman from similar background (also from Poland) and they got married and started a family, and later a business. Not until decades later did they start talking publically about their horrible experiences from the past.

It was a very moving speech he held yesterday at the ceremony, even though he kept it short and did not go into details. (It would have been well worth going to listen to even without cake!)

I noticed quite a few new immigrants (and perhaps refugees) present at the celebrations in the square. I hope they may have felt encouraged by the speech to believe in a hopeful future for themselves in this country too. And for the rest of us, it was a powerful reminder as well (at least it was for me):

If the tradition continues, who will be standing on the platform to be appointed “ambassador of the year” for this town in 2085? Maybe someone who came here as refugee in 2015 from Syria or Somalia…

Mosaic Monday: Lilacs & Rhododendron

A rather chilly spring and early summer here this year has meant an unusually long flowering season for some plants - for example lilacs and rhododenron. In the old graveyard where I often go for a walk, I found these two intertwined – a dark purple lilac tree, and a tall pale rhododendron, with its petals now dropping to the ground like snow. (This was Friday last week.)

Mosaic Monday

Secret Gardens in Early Morning Sun

Laburnum – Golden Chain
In Swedish we call them “gullregn” = Golden Rain

 

Linking to:

Weekend Reflections

Passing by a familar river view today, it struck me that there was something strange about it. It took me a moment to figure out what it was.

The thing is that in this little dam below the bridge, the water is usually always kept in motion – but today it was still.

Usually there is a waterfall running over that edge, splashing and spluttering as it hits the level below; and  no clear mirror images to be seen in the dam either.

▼ Below is an older photo of how it normally looks. ▼

Weekend Reflections # 300

 

 

 

 

 

Hopscotch & Roses

Scanning through recent photos for the colour red (for Friday My Town), these are what I came up with – from a short walk last weekend.

Actually what caught my eye in the playground was not really the locomotive (I’ve seen it before!), but the hopscotch course drawn in the sand. I’m not sure I’ve seen one of those since back in my own childhood!

And a rose, of course, “is a rose is a rose is a rose”…¹
even if it might smell as sweet by any other name.²
(It’s “ros” in Swedish too, though.)

¹ Gertrude Stein
² Shakespeare

FMTSO: The Colour Red

Good Fences

The street name on the sign is “Churchyard Street”.

▲ This is the walkpath inside the wall.
▼Three months ago, it looked like this:

What a transformation takes place in spring/summer!!!

(I don’t know the name of that plant growing on the wall.)

Linking to:

They Grow Up So Fast

I saw the gulls again today, on the lawn just outside my building – this time together with their proud Mum (or possibly Dad, I’m not really an expert!); but already looking a little less “babyish” compared to last week.

- Come on, bro, there’s a whole world out there to explore… what do you think lies beyond that fence??

- Mum, are you still there…?

 

Quickly Changing Skies

After a quick visit to the hospital on Tuesday, the sun was shining when I came back out; and I decided to walk from there “downtown” (it’s all downhill from there to the town centre). 

I did not have my camera with me, but I had my good mobile phone, so I decided to take some photos for the blog. There are some very nice (and kind of ‘posh’) old houses and gardens in that part of town.

It was one of those days when the skies change very quickly, though. I hadn’t walked very far before dark clouds began gathering.

By the time I was passing by the early 20th century church halfway down the hill, it was raining. Rather a cold shower it was, too!

Luckily, the community centre with library, theatre, art museum and café was close by… So I decided to seek shelter there and have lunch and a cup of tea while waiting for the rain to pass.

After I had finished my lunch (a delicious chicken casserole) it was still raining, so I decided to also take a peek at the current exhibitions in the Art Museum.

I have to admit though, that I find it rather difficult to really appreciate works like these:

Or even this:

… even if the red makes it more cheerful, and I guess it might liven up for example a boring corridor – but does that make it Art? (just asking!)

The one below, however, I liked, even if not cheerful:

Actually at first that man on the floor looked three-dimensional to me – but on closer inspection he turned out to be as flat as the background painting on the wall!

Eventually it did stop raining, and I could continue my walk downtown.

New apartment blocks being built.

(Enlarged and ‘HDR-edited’ section from the same photo to show you the decoration on the green wall.)

The sky still looked rather dramatic when I got down to the river in the town centre, and I decided to take a bus the last bit back home.

All in all this was a Good Day for me, though; because what happened at the hospital in the first place was that I had that ‘mole’ thing on my neck removed, which had been a kind of hovering cloud on my personal sky for months. When at long last I finally got to see the dermatologist, diagnosis and treatment only took about five minutes! It was not a cancerous growth, but a benign sebhorreic keratosis. Most of it came off easily and then she applied cryotherapy (liquid nitrogen) on the rest – and now, 4½ days later, it’s all gone.

So honestly – it hasn’t really bothered me that the Midsummer weekend too has been rather cloudy and rainy and on the chilly side. It’s been good anyway!

 

Friday My Town

Skywatch Friday

Weekend Reflections