Choral Singing and Autumn Colours

Following a rainstorm last week, we were blessed with another couple of beautiful sunny days this weekend, with autumn colours beginning to show. I had no specific goal for my walk this afternoon, but along the way decided to extend it into the town park. 

When I got there, I could hear music. It turned out there was an open air choir concert going on - something we've not been spoiled with during the past 1½ year... I recalled I'd probably seen something about it in the local paper - to do with a choir festival this weekend, and also with Borås celebrating 400 years as a town. As the weather was nice, and it wasn't too crowded (totally possible to "keep distance") I ended up staying around until the end, i.e. about half an hour. (I arrived in the park shortly after 3 pm. Don't know if they had started at 3 or earlier.)

 

 

 

Below: Autumn colours on my way back... Nature seemed to be "singing", too!

Weekend Street - Autumn Market

 

Next week, on Wednesday the 29th, Sweden intends to lift the last of the corona restrictions, like how many people are allowed at various kinds of events, and in restaurants etc. This weekend, in Borås, felt a bit like a "dress rehearsal", with the autumn market still reduced to around 1/4 of its usual size - and yet definitely feeling crowded compared to anything I've seen in the last 1½ years. For my own part, I decided I'm not yet feeling ready to venture in among market stalls  - so just snapped a couple of street photos from the outskirts. 

Linking to Weekend Street/Reflections # 35

Tapestry

The arts and crafts shop that arranged the event in yesterday's post also has a small gallery for exhibitions. What is on display there varies from time to time. Earlier in September I popped in one day to have a look at some tapestries - woven wall hangings. The artist's name is Birgitta Jönsson and her theme for the exhibition was "summer".

I especially liked the big one of a small tortoiseshell butterfly.

These were made with bicycle tubes!

Editing my photos now, Carole King's song Tapestry came to mind for me.
(The album is an old favourite of mine , I have it on CD.)

My life has been a tapestry of rich and royal hue
An everlasting vision of the ever-changing view
A wondrous, woven magic in bits of blue and gold
A tapestry to feel and see, impossible to hold

https://youtu.be/JM07lUytXA0

Flax Processing

Walking into town on Saturday, I passed by an arts and crafts shop, where they were having a kind of exhibition outside, demonstrating the process of turning flax into textile fibres. 

 

I'm afraid I did not stick around long enough to pick up all the details, but here is a short YouTube video from the open-air museum Skansen in Stockholm, showing the process, and including the correct terminology.

 

I hope the link works; if not, you'll find it here:
https://youtu.be/2_ToT0dxX-g 

 

Linking to:

Inspired Sunday

 

Today elections are held in the Church of Sweden, i.e. the Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. Liturgically and theologically it is "high church". It was state church from the Reformation until 2000, and is still the largest Christian denomination in Sweden with over 5 million members. It is an open national church with a democratic organisation, including the right of members to vote in elections, which still resemble political elections. To which extent they should continue to do so is one of the questions debated in later years; but for now, that's how it is. In the church elections, candidates are listed either with a political party group, or with a 'non-political' group (there are more than one of those as well). I'll refrain from trying to explain further, as I'm rather confused about it all myself!

Back in the previous century I usually didn't bother to vote, but in later years I have. The possibility to vote in advance in this election opened two of weeks ago, and I went to do so one of the first days; in the parish house next to the church above. It is the oldest church in town, dating back to the late 1600s. In later years I've attended church services and concerts here every now and then; but not since the pandemic.

On my way back from voting, I took the opportunity to go into the church and play tourist - i.e. wander about a bit and snap some photos with my phone. (I think it is usually kept open in the daytime on workdays; but I don't normally pass by it.)

If you wish , you can light candles for prayer.

A "christening" tree - a rather modern addition .They add the names of recently baptized people on it. (I've seen similar trees in other churches visited on holidays in recent years.)

If all goes to plan, Sweden will be lifting the last of its corona restrictions at the end of September. For my own part, I'm still feeling a bit hesitant about "crowds", though. Not sure yet when I'll feel ready for a well-attended church service or choir concert...?

Memories from Devil's Bridge (Sepia Saturday 588)

 

 

The prompt for Sepia Saturday 588: "a covered bridge going to who knows where"

I can't recall that I've ever been on a covered bridge like that one. However, in the past, I have been on a lot of old railways and steam trains, because of my dad's love of them. Most of our family holidays (by car) back in my teens, both in Sweden and in Britain, involved visits to various railway museums and other remains of old railways and station houses. 

The combination of railway + bridge brought back one such memory in particular: From Devil's Bridge in Wales, visited on a family road trip in England and Wales in 1974.

Postcard (1974)

We went there by steam train from Aberystwyth, through the Vale of Rheidol:

Ticket (1974)

Postcard (1974) -  Rheidol Valley

I'm afraid the only photo of my own from Devil's Bridge is not really blog material - even after an attempt to enhance it digitally - but here it is, anyway:

It shows my parents (well, dad's cap and mum's jacket) having climbed down to some lower platform beneath the bridge, to look down on the river (Mynach) - and perhaps also see the construction of the bridge(s) from below.

Wikipedia is more helpful when it comes to reminding me of details:  

The bridge is unique in that three separate bridges are coexistent, each one built upon the previous bridge. The previous structures were not demolished. The top one (from 1901) is an iron bridge. Beneath it are two older stone bridges, the oldest one from medieval times. This Wiki photo shows the construction more clearly than the old postcard:

Photo from Wikimedia Commons
(geograph.org.uk 2005)

According to folklore, the first bridge was built by the Devil - hence the name.

According to legend, the original bridge was built after an old woman lost her cow and saw it grazing on the other side of the river. The Devil appeared and agreed to build a bridge in return for the soul of the first living thing to cross it. When the bridge was finished, the old woman threw a crust of bread over the river, which her dog crossed the bridge to retrieve, thus becoming the first living thing to cross it. The devil was left with only the soul of the dog.

Besides the postcards in my album, I have another souvenir to remind me of the visit to Devil's Bridge - a piece of jewelry I bought in a gift shop there. I guess one reason it has stuck in my mind where I bought it is the contrast between the name of the place vs the item itself: a Celtic cross.  It is one I have worn quite a lot over the years, as it has a very clever design - it can be used both as a pendant and as a brooch.

Rainbows and Water Lilies

 

"It took me time to understand my water lilies. I had planted them for the pleasure of it; I grew them without ever thinking of painting them." / Claude Monet

“Where does the rainbow end, in your soul or on the horizon?” / Pablo Neruda

 

Stop and Smell the Roses

 

Photos from the rose garden in the town park (last week).

“Take time to smell the roses.” – Proverb

“The world is a rose, smell it, and pass it to your friends.” – Persian Proverb

“Those who don’t pick roses in summer won’t pick them in winter either.” – German Proverb

“The rose is a rose from the time it is a seed to the time it dies. Within it, at all times, it contains its whole potential. It seems to be constantly in the process of change: Yet at each state, at each moment, it is perfectly all right as it is.” – Paulo Coelho