September Leaves & Skies

 

These are the last of my photos from last weekend (Saturday). This week has been rainier. I've been able to continue my daily walks (sometimes with, sometimes without camera),  without getting drenched; but I haven't been going far from home. 

Indoors, in between everyday chores (and reading, internet and TV etc), I've been digging into a bit of my own family history again. If you're interested in that, keep an eye on my other blog, Greetings from the Past. Since last autumn I've been posting fairly regularly there most weekends, linking to Sepia Saturday. (There's a permanent link in the sidebar of this blog, if you're reading the website layout.)

The Colours of Autumn, continued...

  Continuing my Saturday walk; to a little park by a dam and waterfall in the river.

Rowan berries

 

 

 OK, now I want to know if anyone else sees what I see in the next picture (below)?

A gentle green giant sitting down to rest on a park bench...
(Once seen, I can't un-see it!)

Views from up on the bridge, looking south vs north.

 

 

 

Keep Walkin' ...

 If anyone is wondering, I'm still fever-free and haven't developed any cold symptoms. So I suppose I can count "whatever-it-was" over with. (Cf the two previous posts.) But I'll probably be staying home most of the week to come anyway - as it seems we're now headed for a more rainy period. And it's also my regular home-delivery shopping week.

Yesterday (Saturday) was still a quite pleasant autumn day, though - mild and still, even if the sky mostly overcast. I took advantage of that to sweep and remove my plastic floor mats from the balcony - a job which is preferably done in dry weather. And we're now well past the "barefoot" season... I still have a chair out there that I can use if the sun pops out on an afternoon, though.

I also went for another walk in the neighbourhood - with my proper camera, to catch some more autumn colours. As I'm not sure what the week to come will be like, I think I'll save some of the photos "for later"... (like the Queen and Paddington Bear with their marmalade sandwiches)... But here are some to start with - from a modern block of apartment buildings by the river.

Autumn Collage

 

The image above was the result of letting Picasa3 lay four of my photos on top of each other. I love it - wouldn't mind it as a tapestry on my wall!

Update on yesterday's post: No fever this morning, still no nose/throat/cough symptoms, and I'm feeling pretty much back to normal. As it may have been covid19, I'll keep away from shops and other people for a few more days. But a solitary short walk doesn't seem likely to harm neither myself nor anyone else. So while there was still a bit of sun in the early afternoon today, I went for a walk to the recycling bins (as I usually do on a Friday), followed by a turn around the old cemetery.

 

Covid or Not Covid?

 

White orchids in my kitchen window, one sunny morning a week or so ago.

I was just about to start looking at booking an appointment for my 5th covid booster shot around this weekend - but I think I may have to postpone it for a bit longer, as today I started to suspect that I may have caught a touch of the "the thing itself"... Even if no typical (cold) symptoms so far; and no idea where I may have picked it up. (No doubt I've been in and out of a shop or two; but only briefly.)

Yesterday was Laundry Day for me, which for me involves a few turns down to a common laundry room down in the basement. No special problems with that yesterday (the room was empty and clean when I got down there, the machines in working order, and I didn't have more than normal to handle) - but somehow I felt I got more tired than usual. On the other hand, I'm kind of used to a varied degree of aches and pains and fatigue, without always being able to pin down exactly why. So didn't think all that much about it.

After I was done with the laundry, I also persuaded myself to go out for a short walk. But in the evening I was still feeling unusually tired, and went to bed early. Also had a bit of an upset stomach - but not too dramatic. Slept okay - in fact, probably woke up less often than usual - but still felt exhausted in the morning + headache + muscle aches. Didn't exactly feel hot (nor cold), but decided to take my temperature. Was a bit shocked to find it to be 37.8'C (normally 36.5), as I still had no other symptoms of infection (nose, throat, cough etc). Well, at least that confirmed I wasn't just imagining things! Spent a bit of time googling covid symptoms (again). I already know they can be very vague, though, and not the same everyone. So I didn't end up much wiser. Took some paracetamol and decided to stay in for the day and see how things developed. 

As I had had frozen chicken fillets thawing in the fridge over night, I had to prepare those (for roasting in the oven), tired or not. And chop various ingredients for a salad. That went okay; and I've also been eating pretty much as normal, even if perhaps feeling a bit less hungry. The temperature went down after I took the paracetamol. I stayed in all day, but in the afternoon did some "vacuuming exercise" (which was also on my to-do-list for today). So can't say I've been feeling all that poorly. Now it's evening. I still haven't developed any "cold" symptoms. Maybe I won't. I guess I'll just have to take one day at a time for a few days - and stay away from other people. (Well, I had no special plans anyway. Except trying to get that 5th covid shot!)

More Autumn Colours

 

Autumn is still in progress, slowly changing the colours in nature.

 

Some trees have turned more yellow than others.

 

Flower bed in autumn colours along the river in the city park.

 

The water lilies are still in bloom, and like Monet I never grow tired of them... ;-)

Sunset clouds from by balcony (Sunday evening)

Yesterday I took down my two parasols from the balcony rail - the afternoon sun is no longer so hot that I need them. Gradually I'll also be taking in some other items from out there; but no need for that just yet.

Last week I also started shifting some clothes between the wardrobes in my flat and my storage room in the basement. Not all of my clothes go through that procedure - only the most wintry vs the most summery items. But the time has definitely come when I'm not going to wear shorts or sleeve-less dresses again until next summer; and I may soon find myself needing a thicker jacket on a windy day. Plus, I have to confess it's also a good idea to do a seasonal inventory of what I already have, before I might get tempted to buy something new - only to realize later that oh yeah, right, I already had something rather similar... ;-)

In Memoriam

Today I watched Queen Elizabeth's funeral on TV, live from Westminster Abbey in London. 

 

 

 

...

Our little systems have their day;

   They have their day and cease to be:

   They are but broken lights of thee,

And thou, O Lord, art more than they.

We have but faith: we cannot know;

   For knowledge is of things we see

   And yet we trust it comes from thee,
A beam in darkness: let it grow.

...

From In Memoriam by
Alfred Lord Tennyson 
(1809-1892)

I was not even born yet when Queen Elizabeth II was crowned; but from documentaries and films and TV-series I recall that her coronation in the same church was the first to be televised in full.  

Even more people in all corners of the world now being able to follow her funeral live from their own homes, in full colour and filmed from all angles, made me ponder about how technology has continued to develop during the span of her reign - and my own life.

 

Reeds in the River

 

This week they've been cutting reeds in the river. The first two photos are from last Sunday, when the reeds were still there (and lots of them, in some places). The last two are from Tuesday afternoon, when I noticed several piles of cut reeds along the shores - and the surface of river itself looking unusually "clean" for the time of year.

Reminds me that I should make an appointment with my hairdresser to tidy myself up a bit too! ;-)

Autumn

Autumn colours keep creeping in day by day now - starting with the trees growing in dry spots that did not get quite enough rain during the long hot summer, I think...

With all the votes from the election counted, we 'sort of' have a result now - even if it's still hard to tell what exactly will follow. The 'right-wing' bloc ended up with a clear but narrow majority in the parliament: 176 seats vs 173. The 'old' prime minister (Magdalena Andersson, leader of the Social Democrats, who became our first ever female PM only nine months ago) has handed in her resignation. But she and her government will remain as interim government until a new one has been formed. That is now up to the new PM candidate, the leader of the Moderate party. Not really a straight-forward task, though, as one of the four parties in the new constellation is the controversial nationalist party, the Sweden Democrats (who were actually more successful in this election than the Moderates). I'll leave it at that for now, as political analysis and speculation isn't really my strength!

 

Still Waiting..

 

... for the final results of the Swedish election held on Sunday. They are still doing some re-counts, and waiting for votes from citizens living abroad. It's not really likely that the last votes will change anything; but as the balance is very tight, it's all the more important to make sure they really get it right. We probably won't have the final result until Thursday.

As things stand since Sunday midnight, it looks like we're probably going to have a change of government, and a new prime minister; as it seems the right-wing bloc of parties will have one more seat in the parliament than the left-wing bloc. (However, that's no guarantee that it will prove any easier to form a stable government than after the previous election four years ago, when we had a similar but reversed situation.) 

The biggest worry (for all but themselves) is that the right-wing nationalist 'Sweden Democrats' party has grown to now be our second largest party, after the (left-wing) Social Democrats. According to what was said before the election, it's still the leader of the Moderate party that's the candidate for the post of new prime minister, though.

Personally I'm still wishing for some Vote-Counting Fairy to swing a magic wand to give our current prime minister (since nine months) another chance after all. But it's not looking very likely at the moment. 

 

An Artsy Saturday Afternoon

Besides today being Election Day in Sweden, it's also been Art Gallery Weekend in Borås. Alas all the art galleries open and buses running in a loop between them doesn't mean I've got the energy to visit them all... So I settled for a walk to the Textile Museum (and back), Saturday afternoon.

 
In the entrance hall, I noticed this new 'bench', shaped like a clothes peg. Rather clever!

One of the exhibitions upstairs, about a local wallpaper company, was the same as on my last visit back in March.

 

The new exhibition is entitled 'Pattern-Mania' (Swedish: 'Mönstermani') and is about 20th century Swedish Textile Design - especially printed patterns from the 1920s onward, through the 1990s.

 I arrived in the middle of a guided tour going on, and sort of kept on the outskirts of that - hearing some of it, but at the same time moving along at my own pace... All photos taken with my mobile, as I didn't have my other camera with me.

Many of the patterns were displayed in the home environments they were designed for - like kitchen, living room, bedroom etc.

Other displays focused on special holidays or time of the year:

 

This wall of clothes reminded me of how I loved to play with paper dolls as a child :-)

Speaking of childhood - did you wonder about those coloured balls in front of the building in the first photo? I had a closer look at that installation on my way back - and found it rather 'disturbing'...

 

They're made of castaway soft toys! A sign nearby says that the thought behind it is to make us think about what becomes of the things we throw away...

" TEDDY ORBS. - Do you know where your old teddy bear is? (Most people don't, so don't be ashamed!) This work of art consists of old teddy bears that have been deconstructed and reconstructed to a collection of colourful spheres. The purpose of this work of art is to provoke the viewer to think about where their old teddy bears are, and how they get rid of them. / Felicia Hansen, Instagram: @felicia_oh."

I'd recommend parents and grandparents with young children in tow to give this outdoors installation a wide berth if they don't want to end up in trouble, though... Back in my childhood, we were patiently persuaded to let worn-out cuddly toys be respectfully sent to retirement up in the attic, with lots of assurances that they'd be much happier there!

Across the road from the Textile Fashion Center is the University. They've recently had a new mural painted to replace an old one that had to be removed in connection with necessary repairs of the wall. The old mural (also an eagle) was so popular that they hired the same artist to do the new one, though. He made the new one similar but still a bit different. For comparison, if you like, have a look at the old mural here. (Post from 2015.)