More Weekend Reflections

 

 

The glorious early autumn weather has continued over the weekend. On Saturday I avoided the town centre through, as I knew there would be a big running competition going on, and crowds of people was not really what I was in the mood for. Today, however, I counted on things being a lot calmer - and they were. Above is the swimming hall situated in the town park, reflected in the river.

 

In the comment section on my previous post, someone wondered if the decorated building above (and below) is a parking garage. No, it's not. It's an apartment building.

Part of the building in the photo below, however, is a parking garage:

 

Walking on along the river, at the entrance to a walkway under a bridge I discovered another mural that I can't remember having seen before. I'm not sure if it's an official or an unofficial one - I could not see any signature. Somehow it reminded me of the recent media reports from the SpaceX Spacewalk...! 

Under the same bridge, there is an older mural which is definitely at its best on a calm day like this, when the river is very still, acting as a mirror...

A bit further on, this summer's art installation of floating sculptures is still there. (I think until the end of this month?)

 

Photo from the other side of the river.

I have a few more photos from today's walk, but will save those for another post, and will instead finish this post with a couple of photos from home:

On Saturday afternoon, I sat for a while in the sun on my own balcony.
Most sunny afternoons during summer have been way too hot for that...

My harvest of (cherry) tomatoes (to the right) has not been overwhelmingly impressive; but I have been able to pick a few now and then, and I may get a few more before it's over.

My indoors autumn/fall decorations are subtle, compared to what I see on certain American blogs... Basically they just consist of a touch of orange in my vase of fake flowers, a couple of orange candles, and my two ceramic owls...

 (The larger of the owls is hollow and one can put a tealight inside it. Preferably a fake one.)

Meike asked after Barbie and Skipper, who willingly agreed to pose for another photo. At the moment, they're both in classic outfits rather suitable for nice sunny early autumn weather. Trousers/jeans and tops for both of them sewn by my mum back in the 1960s. And In the background, you see a trivet with an image painted by my water colour artist friend Lena. (Link to a post from last summer when I visited an exhibition of hers.)

 

Weekend Reflections

 

We're having a lovely early autumn weekend here. The 'unnatural' heat has given way to much cooler temperatures, but at the same time it's been sunny. Both Friday and Saturday have been really lovely. Photos from a walk downtown yesterday.

Linking to Weekend Reflections

Evening Skies

During the heatwave we've had over the past two weeks or so (breaking old heat records for September - but it seems to be over now) it was much to hot to sit on my balcony in the afternoons (or even have the door open). But around sunset there were some interesting skies... 

I used my separate camera for all of the photos below; and they are straight out of the camera, with no editing. (Time = summer/daylight saving time.)

26.8 - 20:03

29.8 - 20:05

30.8 - 20:52

3.9 - 19:58

 

 

6.9 - 19:52

 

6.9 - 19:52

6.9 - 19:52

6.9 - 19:53

 

7.9 - 19:59

8.9 - 18:43

"Autumn glows upon us
like a splendid evening;
it is the very sunset of the year."

Mary Russell Mitford

- - -

Linking to Mersad's Through My Lens Nr. 450

 

Library (2)

 

The unusual September heatwave is breaking up, and we had a bit of rain on and off today. After lunch (and the rain just then more off than on), I went to explore the interior of the new district library (cf. previous post for photos of the exterior).  

Indoors it turned out to be a bit like a labyrinth on first impression, with several small rooms opening into one another in various directions - but turning out to lead round more or less in a circle, ending up back at the reception desk facing the entrance. I only snapped a couple of photos where there were no people at the moment. 

I spent about half an hour trying to get aquainted with how they have organised the books (by genre etc). I also picked one book to borrow, as I also wanted to update my library card and get (re)acquainted with the current registration system they're using. As I also told the librarian at the desk, it's been a while since I last borrowed a physical book - my loans lately have all been e-books and audio books online. I knew I had updated my online data not too long ago, but (as I suspected) it turned out that I also needed a new physical card. 

Even at this small library one can now also borrow and return books by "self scanning"; and as the librarian at the desk happened to have some temporary trouble with her own machine there, I also got an instruction in that.  Either way, the procedure at this small library felt a lot less daunting than all the machinery one has to face at the main library these days. (Cf my post from 2012 that I also linked to in my previous post.) Because of the premises, it also has quite a cosy old-fashioned feel about it. I will probably continue to drop in now and then just for that, even if the bulk of my actual reading is likely to continue to be by digital downloads... ;-)

Library

A Big Happening in my little world took place this week: My neighbourhood got its district library back. 

When I first moved to where I live now, 16 years ago, there was a district library only five minutes walk from home for me. A number of years later (I can no longer recall exactly when), they had to leave those premises, and ended up being merged with another district library - too far away and in the wrong direction to serve the purpose for me. At the time, it was actually easier for me to get to the main library downtown (but up a hill), by bus. The main library, however, had by then already got rather "impersonal"... (Searching my blog now, I found this post from September 2012 describing that.) So ever since the nearby small library closed, I've really not frequented any physical library much, but mostly kept to Kindle and Audible + now and then some online library services.

The reason that the district library is now (temporarily) back in my neck of the woods is that the building where they resided over the past X years is now about to be torn down and replaced by a new assisted living facility for elderly people. After that project has been completed, I understand the library will probably be moving back there. But meanwhile, they have now moved into a charming old wooden building some 7-8 minutes walk towards the town centre for me. It used to serve as a preschool, but has now been empty for a while.

They opened on Monday, and yesterday afternoon I thought I'd go and check it out - only to find that on Fridays they close early. So I had to settle for just having a good look around the outside to start with. Good opportunity for that, though, as there were no people about!

I'll be returning to check out the inside another day. Even if I prefer reading on Kindle and "by ear" these days, I'm looking forward to some browsing - and just a place like that within easy walking distance, not least in winter.

Between Seasons

 

Today I got out for an "early" walk, as in around 10 a.m., before it got too hot. We're still in that rather unusual September heatwave, which at the moment seems likely to last into next week. At the same time, certain trees are turning more and more yellow already, and also dropping quite a few leaves to the ground. The sensations one gets from one's eyes vs the warm air touching one's skin don't quite add up, somehow.

 

Who drops one sandal on a footpath without noticing??
(It's not a really small child's shoe.)

 A high summer flowerbed starting to look a bit "wild"...

 

Time is Out of Joint

 

 

 

Photos from a flowerbed in my neighbourhood, snapped about a week ago. I was surprised to see the pansies, as they are normally spring flowers!

A Shakespeare quote comes to mind: "The Time is Out of Joint"... (Hamlet)

Another proof of that is that today is 4 September, and in the southern parts of Sweden we are setting heat records for this time of year, with temperatures around 28-29'C (82-84'F)

Laundry day for me anyway, so I had a good excuse to just stay in. Even with the dryers going, the basement laundry room felt nice and cool compared to my balcony...

Colour

At the end of yesterday's post I mentioned that from recent visits to a couple of clothes shops in our town centre, my impression was that we seem to be facing a rather "beige" autumn... (Which did not really appeal to me at all.)

In the hope of finding other options, today I took the bus "across town" to my favourite clothes shop in one of the malls there. To my relief, there I was indeed met by a wider and more colourful selection. I ended up buying two items from their end-of-summer sale (a thin pink cotton cardigan with zipper + a dark blue T-shirt with print), and three from the autumn collection: Two T-shirts with long sleeves (one burgundy and one dark green), and one pair of stretchy burgundy trousers. Those are all basic colours in my wardrobe since before, and the new items therefore easy to match with older ones.

The downside, I suppose, might be that no one will actually notice I bought anything new! (The upside, though, is that I'm pretty sure I'll feel comfortable in them.)

 

 

Quote/image copied from I'm not sure where...

Hello September

 

September is traditionally counted as an autumn month here, even if weather forecasts seem to indicate that in spite of a few yellowing leaves here and there, summer intends to go on for at least another ten days or so, with temperatures around 20-26'C (68-78'F), and only occasional rain showers.

Yesterday and today the weather has been very pleasant - sunny but not hot. Yesterday I walked into town once again, in spite of nothing but a glue stick on my shopping list. (I would have bought that the day before if I had known then that I needed it - but I didn't discover until that evening that my old one was all used up and needed replacing...). Stopped for an ice cream in the park on my way home; and took the photos above on my walk along the river.

Today I spent part of the (late) morning catching up with some correspondence (of the postcards and letters kind), and then after lunch went for a walk to post the results. 

On the radio I've been hearing people talking of the start of autumn as "Girly New Year" (Swedish: "tjej-nyår") - apparently something trending on TikTok at the moment. I don't use TikTok - but from the radio comments I understood it to refer to a trend that even I remember from my own school days: Just like we make new year resolutions at New Year, autumn is another time of Fresh Starts. As we go back to school or work after summer holidays, we also (perhaps especially girls??) tend to make new resolutions (about losing weight, eating healthier, studying more, or whatever). And to help us along, we tend to also like to get New Things... You know: new fresh school books, and pens and notebooks and and bags; and also some new autumn clothes, and shoes, and whatever...

Even though I'm now 69, I still feel it myself: It's in the very air, this time of year. The stationery I bought the other day is proof enough! And on top of that I'm also feeling a certain urge to go shopping for clothes etc. I have had a look in a few shops downtown but didn't see anything I really wanted (alas, so far we seem to be facing a rather "beige" autumn)... So a bus trip to the shopping malls across town may be coming up as well.

Birthday and Bargains

 

Yesterday was my birthday, and I still have some friends across the world who take the trouble to send me greeting cards by post! (Thank you!) 

Even more greetings kept dropping in during the day via FB and Messenger etc, and they were of course appreciated too.

I also spent a lot more time talking on the phone than I normally do in a week - not least because one friend called with whom I don't chat all that often, but when we do talk, we usually end up talking a lot!

Otherwise I did not really do very much. Weather warnings had been issued well in advance for that day, for both high temperatures and high risk of thunder and torrential rain. So I had ended up deciding beforehand to just stay home - and if staying home anyway, I might as well also order my usual grocery delivery for that day... At least that would bring me a lot of "parcels" to unpack! (haha)

The delivery arrived early, so after that I also managed to fit in a half hour walk - before lunch, before it got "too" hot, and before the expected rain. As it turned out, however, the rain and thunder passed us by here... The afternoon just kept on being hot and humid.

This morning we were back to fresher air and cooler temperatures again, though - a much more pleasant day for a walk downtown for some belated "birthday shopping" (and no need to even bring an umbrella). 

 

My main errand was to the pharmacy - not all birthday-related, but besides a couple of prescriptions I also had a number of non-prescription things on my list for which it turned out that I could make good use of various membership discounts (one of them birthday-related). Checking my receipt now, it seems I ended up with an astounding $37 discount in total.

After that I popped into the book shop next door, because they too had sent me a birthday discount offer, and I decided to make use of that to buy myself some 'luxury' stationery, which is something I haven't done in a long time. So I bought these, below (which should last me a while, as I don't write all that much by hand nowadays).

Adding up the discount from the pharmacy + the discount from the bookshop, I actually got these luxury items for ... nothing! (Now that's the kind of magic math I enjoy...)

Before I returned home, I also went to my favourite tea shop and stocked up on three kinds of favourite teas. (No discount, but never mind! - I just love the atmosphere in that shop...)

Photo from 2011, but it still looks pretty much the same!