Weekend Street/Reflections

 

Another sunny early spring afternoon today, and I went for a walk downtown to the city park (Borås, Sweden).

 

They have recently finished a project of reconstructing some of the paths within the park (to make some of the upper parts more easily accessible, I think - but I did not go up to the top to explore that further today).

 

I often walk here, so regular visitors to this blog will no doubt recognise some of the views and buildings - but I can never resist taking yet another photo on a good "reflection" day...

 

Besides what happens in nature, one of the true signs of spring is to see the terraces of the street cafés along the river full of people again...

 

... and also people sitting on park benches, and on the stone steps leading down to the water.

 

This is a bit blurry because it's a selfie reflection photo taken towards one of the curved and tinted windows in the café building in the park.

 

 The big green bunny is looking a bit extra sad as he seems to have damaged one eye over winter.

 

 

Could this be the smallest crocus in the world?? It was only about the size of my thumbnail, and definitely the smallest one I've ever seen in this corner of the world, anyway...  I might also add that it was also the only crocus in bloom that I found on my walk today.

 

I also passed by these snow drops planted along the river on my way back home, though. 

 

Linking to Weekend/Street Reflections #215

Progress

The difference that one sunny day can make this time of year... (Photos from the same flower bed as in yesterday's post.)

Today must also have been the warmest day here yet this year, + 11'C (52'F). Even if it's likely to get colder again next week, spring is definitely making progress.

My strained knee is better but I did not feel not sure it would be up for walking all the way into town and back just yet. I managed my usual short Friday walk in the opposite direction to dispose of some recycling stuff in the right bins though; plus a bit of an extended detour on the way back.

 Cars waiting for a train to pass at the railway crossing.

View from a shortcut woodland footpath connecting two streets.

Signs of Spring

 

Snowdrops can now be found in several flowerbeds around where I live, but today I also found the first tiny buds of yellow and blue crocuses in a particularly sunny spot. (In spite of the sun not really showing its face much this week.)

 

A different sign of spring could also be seen and heard around my neighbourhood today:
A street sweeper collecting the winter gravel from the walk/cycle paths.

Snowdrops and Soap Operas

 

Strong winds blowing + a slightly overexerted knee has kept me mostly indoors over the past few days. I've been out for occasional short walks (as just keeping still is not good either) but I have kept close to home. 

At home, I may have been following a few too many newscasts and discussions (on both radio and TV) about the latest developments in world politics - hoping to hear someone come up with explanations that make sense; but so far I can't say that's happened. (Not making sense in my brain, anyway.) It still feels more like watching a soap opera; but knowing that unfortunately this one is supposed to be "real".

"A soap opera is a television or radio program that airs in episodic series. This means that each episode continues telling a story, which, in turn, tells more of the last episode's story. A single story on a soap opera can be told for weeks, months, or sometimes even years."
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soap_opera

I prefer the fictional kind. Those may sometimes be hard to make sense of as well; but there it doesn't matter, as one knows from start that it's all just pretend anyway...

AI generated image.

 

Sunset Skies

 

The sunset skies outside my windows around 6 pm today (Sunday) drew my attention away from the news on the TV screen for a while... Full of their own kind of "drama"! (Photos taken from my balcony.)

Curtains

 

Another sunny day with "spring in the air" feeling yesterday (although frosty in the morning), and I decided it was time to take down my ("winter") red gingham curtains in the kitchen and put up the new summer ones that I bought a couple of weeks ago. (A job also involving washing the windows in the process.)

I've actually been on the lookout for new summer curtains for the kitchen for years, without finding any (that I liked) of the shorter length that I want there. For some reason, the fashion nowadays seems to be floor length curtains everywhere - but I don't find that practical in my kitchen. (One could of course buy long ones and cut them off - I do have a sewing machine - but that's a bigger project, and also feels like a waste of fabric.)

But recently when I searched online, I found these, of the right length, and also available in a store in my town. So I went there to have closer look, and ended up buying them.

Yesterday, when I finally got them up at home, they turned out to be more "see-through" than I had anticipated, with very bright sunlight outside. I'm not 100% happy with that, but I guess it will take a full summer season at least to see how I feel about it in the long run...

 

In the evening, dark outside and light turned on indoors, the impression is a bit different.

 

And yet another photo this morning, with a grey sky as background. Now I'm also thinking that the impression may change again once the trees outside are back to being covered in green leaves.... (In summer, from my favourite place at the kitchen table, I see nothing but green leaves when I look out the window!)

 

 Close-up of the clover pattern
 

I also bought a matching table runner - it's a different pattern (tulips) but "matching" in that it has the same shades of green and red/pink as the curtains (but also a bit of yellow added). 

 

(I can also use the table runner in my living room if I like.) 

 

* * * * * *

Below, for comparison, a photo of my old kitchen curtains taken last spring.

Photo from 2024

Those curtains too have a flowery pattern printed on white; but they are a thicker quality of cotton, more opaque than the new ones. I still like those too, but I've had them a long time, and somehow I feel the pattern and colours have begun to feel a bit outdated. And probably also by now a bit (gradually) faded from having been exposed to several sunny summers + washed a few times. Anyway, I felt I wanted a change - and the new ones will no doubt be staying up through this summer at least... 

Luckily, I do not feel any need or wish to change the curtains in any other room! ;-)  

Skywatch Friday / Weekend Reflections

 

 

A grey and foggy Thursday morning turned into a beautiful sunny afternoon with a definite feeling of "spring in the air"... I made use of it for a walk into town for some errands, but of course also had to make a few stops for reflection photos...

Skywatch Friday

 Weekend Reflections

Snowdrops

 

I had better luck in my search for signs of spring today, as I found some snowdrops in a flower bed in my neighbourhood. Not the kind dripping down from above, but the kind springing up from down below! :)

 

Do Not Be Hasty

 

I'm trying to recall what I've been "doing" over the past three days, but I'm coming up with nothing. The icy weather conditions that kept me in on Friday went away, and just turned to grey and wet and muddy. I've been out for daily short walks around the cemetery for a bit of minimum exercise, but no more.

 There was one afternoon (Sunday?) that seemed to inspire various invisible birds to a new kind of spring-like intensity in their singing - but that's as close as I've come to finding signs of spring so far. Trees and flowers are still biding their time...

Some of the big old moss-clad trees kind of remind me of the Ents in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings story. (The ones in my photos above are all lindens, if memory serves me right.)

“But I spoke hastily. We must not be hasty. --- I must cool myself and think; for it is easier to shout stop! than to do it.”  

 

(This one I nicked from somewhere on the world wide web...)

Whatever I did over the weekend, or today, none of it was done in great haste. On Friday I had groceries delivered, which did inspire some cooking on Saturday (pieces of chicken baked in the oven with various herbs + pieces of mango, to then be frozen again in portions). I also took the vacuum cleaner for a walk around the flat. Most of Sunday I ended up in front of the TV, catching up with five episodes of a British detective series (Ludwig) that for some reason had escaped me. (Sixth and last episode turned out not to be available here until next Saturday, though. So I have no alternative but to practice some patience with that!) 

Today I logged into my bank account to pay some bills, but ended up having to fill in a long questionnaire that they claimed necessary if I want to continue to use their services (=access my money) at all. Like: Where does my money come from, what do I intend to do with it, how much do I think I'm going to use my credit card, do I intend to send any money abroad, and will I be withdrawing any cash - and if so, what am I going to spend that on?? - Made me wonder who on earth they think I am... Some kind of oligarch?? And will an AI bank robot be checking up on my guesses vs actual transactions at the end of the year?? (As far as I can recall, my "business" with foreign countries over the past 15 years or so has been solely with Amazon/Audible, buying e-books and online audio books...) 

 

Mackerel Sky

 

Mackerel sky is supposed to forecast that the weather is about to change. This photo was taken yesterday afternoon, and it was indeed followed by snow/rain/slush/ice during the night and morning. As nights had been very cold for quite a while, the change to milder temperatures meant icy and slippery roads and streets. Weather warnings were issued, and in the morning, many trains and buses were cancelled. Luckily I did not have to go anywhere. I had ordered a home delivery of groceries, which even arrived on time (around noon), in spite of the icy streets. 

My local newspaper, on their website, reported about extremely icy conditions in our city centre in the morning, though. Below are a couple of "slippery slope" screenshots that I snapped from their video:

 

 

Linking to Skywatch Friday