Frosty Shadow Shot Sunday

 

Frosty weather this weekend. Yesterday the roofs and lawns stayed powdered with frost all day, and the sun also seemed to go to bed unusually early, so I ended up just staying in. Today was a bit sunnier, and after lunch I decided to at least venture out as far as the dustbins (at the corner of my building) - and take it from there. I stayed out for about 20 minutes walking (slowly) along sunny parts of the street + nearby paved footpaths. The bridge leading over to the old cemetery is always a tricky spot as soon as frost hits, though, and that turned out to be true today as well. So I decided not to cross that. 

 After all the rain lately, some of the nearby lawns have sprouted (if that's the word?) lots of brown mushrooms, of unknown kind to me. When I was out on Friday, I first mistook them for wet leaves - until I realised that some of them really were too thick!

Nov 14, 2025

Today I noted that some mushrooms had been "frosted"! Not sure I've ever seen that before!

Nov 16, 2025

 

 PS. I don't think there is a "Shadow Shot Sunday" linking site any more; it just popped up in my memory when snapping a couple of shadows on a Sunday...

Knee Sleeves and Algorithms

 

When I emptied my postbox yesterday, I was happy to find a speedy delivery of a pair of bamboo knee compression sleeves that I had ordered; hoping that they might be a softer alternative to the synthetic ones I've been using so far (not around the clock, but when for example out walking). I've not wanted to wear those directly on my skin though, so have either worn them with a thin tube bandage underneath, or on top of cotton leggings. 

I've also experimented with using the cut off upper parts of a pair of super elastic 'diabetic' bamboo knee-highs (saved from an old pair where the feet got worn out) over a piece of tube bandage on the knee; as a lighter kind of support (at home and in the night). 

The bamboo sleeves I ordered now turned out to be thicker and far from as elastic as the diabetic socks. But I tried keeping them on over night, and they did remain surprisingly comfortable. 24/7 use may not be recommended with these either, but I think they'll be a useful "middle" alternative to the others. 

As soon as you start searching for anything like this online, though (and even more as soon as you actually order something) - it seems to trigger like half a million internet algorithms (for example on Facebook) to say to themselves: "Oh, look, she's interested in bamboo knee bandages! Hooray! Surely she'll not just want one pair! She'll want at least half a dozen - no, make that a full dozen... And all from different companies..."

And the thing with these bamboo knee bandages sems to be that no matter what company or distributor I check out, and whether they claim that the bandages are available in sizes from XS to XXL, or boldly state that "one size fits all"; and whether the sleeves are kept in stock somewhere locally (and may land in your postbox in a couple of days), or shipped directly to customer from China (in which case delivery is more likely to take two weeks) - I notice that every image of them looks the same. They all seem to be in grey and white, with almost exactly the same pattern. Just possibly marked with different labels.

Which makes me imagine one gigantic bamboo-knitting factory somewhere in China, producing billions and billions of these, and shipping them out to an endless number of retailers all over the world, who in turn do their best to sell them on to billions of people with knee problems... (Some of us possibly ordering some from different companies to compare - only to find them all the same??) 

   

   

Fog and Frost

 

Friday ~ 10 a.m.

Yesterday (Friday) was a very grey, dampt and foggy day here, even if the rain had stopped pouring down. Sunnier weather was forecasted for today - but also risk of frost and ice. 

Having given my knee and feet plenty of indoors rest for a couple of days, I decided to try my (in "normal" life) habitual Friday afternoon "recycling" walk. (It's often a good time to go, because then the bins have usually been recently emptied.) It went well, so no regrets.

Saturday ~ 10:15 a.m.

This morning, I woke up to sun and blue skies - but also frost-covered ground. Past noon, it's still frosty in shadowy places. I'm not sure if we're ready for that yet ("we" as in me and my knee!) Not sure yet if I'll be going out at all - but if I do, it won't be far, and I'll try to keep in the sun...

 

Extras

 

Today was Delivery Day for me - as in my usual every-other-week delivery from the supermarket. Having unpacked everying I had ordered, I found myself myseriously left with an extra bag, containing a strange mix of things which I had not ordered... 

 

Had it just been one or two of the smaller items, I'd just have taken them for what Janice of the blog Jabblog the other day called "free gifts". (Actually I was amused to note that the pink "goodies" bar seemed kind of similar to the sweets she blogged about - claiming to be "95% fruit"...) 

 

However, since the bag also contained... 

• a normal size bag of rye bread
• a 3-pack of Taco spice mix
• a weird narrow stick labeled "ölkorv"( = Swedish name for German Bierwurst  = "beer sausuge" in English) (something I've never tasted)
• a small roll of wine gums 
• a mascara
• a small jar of skin cream 
• a small bag of instant coffee
• a small bag of some weird porridge powder (baby food??) 

... I found myself puzzled by the strange variety of stuff, and assumed I must have received someone else's bag by mistake...  

 

So I called the store to ask. But it turned out that they were indeed having some kind of "campaign week"; and as I had been one of the first 150 people to put in an online order this week, I had received all these various "gifts". (The campain thing had totally passed me by when I put in my order, I just went by my list of things I wanted/needed...)

 

I have received free stuff before on a few occasions, but never this many different things all at once. And the only things among them that I might have considered buying myself, on special offer, is the bread and the Taco spices (although I prefer a different brand). 

Conversing with my Knee

 

Photo from last week

Raining today, and I'm not feeling at all tempted to go outside. Which today is probably in my best interest anyway, as I think I managed to be "on my feet" a bit too much on Monday and Tuesday. On Monday another short walk to/in the cemetery; and yesterday was laundry day, and even if I tried to mostly just rest in between my turns down to the basement laundry room, my knee seemed to be complaining. I still can't claim to be 100% fluent in knee language, but it does tend to use a mix of increased heat, swelling and and pain to express displeasure... So today I decided to mostly keep my feet "up" + take Ibuprofen to keep down inflammation. (Kept to Paracetamol the first weeks because of the bruises, but Ibuprofen more effective against inflammation.) And I won't make this post any longer, because sitting at the computer means "feet down", even if not putting weight on the knee...

 

 

Broad Road vs Narrow Path

Another very grey November day here - but not raining. So in the afternoon, in spite of the greyness, I managed to persuade myself to get out for a short walk again. For the first time since my knee injury (a month ago) I chose to go over to the old cemetery - where normally, I walk almost every day. ("over" in the sense that to get there, I need to first cross a pedestrian bridge over a railway, and then a road) 

To enter the cemetery from the nearest corner, there is also a short flight of stairs involved. (Down to enter, up to leave.) As there is a sturdy railing on one side, I managed that without problem. (I also bring one of my walking poles as support as soon as I leave my own flat.) 

Having come down those stairs, I have a choice of paths. I have to confess that just now (...contrary to Biblical recommendations...), I tend to choose the broad road over the narrow paths - because most of the latter are full of wet, slippery leaves... *

 

Anyway, I was out for about half an hour - just walking slowly on paths close to home, but trying to practice "normal length steps". Still a long way to go before I'm also back to normal distances, though.

*/ PS. When searching for the words used in the title of this post, the search engine took me back to my own blog, the same cemetery, and a wintry post from March 2023... 

Déjà Vu - "A Good Story Never Gets Old"

 

 

 In a recent post (Resting) I shared the message in the image above, which I recently received from my Audible app. If you are in the habit of going back to check answers to comments, you already know what audio book(s) it was that gave me that "déjà vu" comment about having listened to the same audiobook "at least 20 times". It appeared after I had (again) recently finished Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, read by Stephen Fry. 

It's also very fitting that the message appeared on my screen just under the "Night Owl" badge - as it is at night that I'm most prone to re-listen to old favourites, rather than start something new. I've long been in the habit of falling asleep listening to audio books - and also to continue to listen if I wake up later in the night. And nowadays, I also need to rest my eyes in the daytime now and then (as a change from all the "screen time"...). I usually set the app on timer - but if I forget, a book may sometimes continue to chatter away for hours in the night without me being aware of it... (So some of my Audible awards may not really be quite as well deserved as it might seem!)

Anyway, the Harry Potter series (especially read by Stephen Fry), but also for example C.S. Lewis' Narnia series, and a number of other "classics" and series that I like - belong to my favourite "night time" listening, because I know them well enough for it to not matter much if I miss parts here and there. What does matter with audio books (especially in the night!) is that I also like the voice and rhythm etc of the person reading, though...

My habit of listening to audio books goes way back, long before mobile phones and apps. It even goes back to before mp3 and CDs - to cassette tapes. I remember borrowing cassette books from the library, and also buying a few of my own. Even back in the 1990s, while I was still working, I liked to just rest and listen sometimes - and did not mind listening in English as well as Swedish. And then I had a neck/shoulder/arm injury that led to early retirement, and also to difficulty holding books to read. And that was still before the days of Kindle and e-books became an option. 

As for Harry Potter, I didn't read the first of those books until a few years after it was first published, and didn't really get "caught up" in them until the middle of the series. (I might write more about that some other time.) Before HP, I already had a few other favourites on cassette or CD/mp3 that I may well have read/listened to 20 times. One of those is the Bristish classic Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome, read by Ian Carmichael. I originally got that book as Swedish paperback back in my early teens. I do think I read it before, or in connection with, our first family trip to England (London) in 1969. (My Swedish copy was printed in 1967, and has an image of the maze at Hampton court on the cover; and we visited Hampton Court on that trip in -69). Later I bought and reread it in English. And then at some point I got it recorded on cassette tapes, with Ian Carmichael reading; and then transferred from cassette to mp3/CD. And nowadays I also have it in my Audible library. (Two different versions even! but I still like Ian Carmichael best.) I've have no idea how many times I may have reread or listened to that one. Considering that it's been on my favourites list for around 55  years, it probably beats Harry Potter!

Skywatch Friday

 

This tree (I think some kind of crab apple tree) is one of very few trees in my neighbourhood still holding on to some leaves (and even green ones!)

 - - - - - - - - - 

We had a rare glimpse of a bleak November sun and blue sky today; and I took advantage of that for a walk to the nearest small convenience store.  Glad to be able to report to regular followers that I did notice an improvement in my injured knee compared to the last time that I walked the same way, 2½ weeks ago. It's also been exactly 4 weeks since my unfortunate fall; and when I got back home I tried (for the first time since then) to also walk up the first "half" flight of stairs (I think 9 steps) from the entrance to the 1st floor in my building. That felt ok (one step at a time); but not to "overdo" things, I then took the lift/elevator from from there up to the 2nd floor where I live.  

Linking to Skywatch Friday 

Resting

 

A rain-free day today, but very grey - until the clouds began breaking up in the afternoon...

 I've been having a lazy/sleepy day, and have not been out at all, except for a little while on my own balcony - taking down my trellis ('privacy screen') with the fake leaves (which is not recommended to leave outdoors through winter).  It's lightweight and was just fastened to the railing with pieces of gardening wire; so not even a 10 minutes job, in dry weather. (All live plants out there already taken in and/or got rid of.) 

Photo from June 2024, when I bought it

I also haven't really been "doing" anything indoors today; except heating some soup for lunch, washing up a few things, and reading some blogs on my tablet. (Just now sitting at the computer for a little while, putting together this post, though.)

If anyone is wondering what else I do for entertainment when just resting, half-sleeping and doing "nothing", Audible sent me a reminder the other day. I'm pretty sure what Déja Vu book(s) they are referring to with the "at least 20 times". Do you know me well enough to dare a guess?? And do you have favourites of your own that you keep returning to? (audible or text)

Autumn and Health Updates

 

/Photo from November 2023/

"Autumn is the season that teaches us to let go."  

On Monday we had a glimpse of sun and blue sky here for a while, in the middle of the day; which inspired me to try a long overdue walk to the nearest "recycling station" (for packaging waste) some 300+ meters or so from home. 

I usually go every weekend, but now it had been 3+ weeks (the last time was the same day that I fell and hurt my knee - just after leaving that spot!). Walking there and back usually takes me perhaps 20 minutes, now it took me 40. Besides me now walking very slowly and keeping my eyes on the ground (looking out for wet leaves), it also turned out when I got there, that every recycling container was already over-full... (No doubt a few more people had been taking advantage of that short break in the almost endless rain lately!) I only "just" managed to squeeze in the contents of my own bag too, in their respective containers... (But I did get it all in, and did not just leave things on the ground - as I hate when others do that...)

No photos, as I had enough to cope with just handling myself and my main "mission". 

It was my longest walk yet since the fall. My knee is still not back to "normal", neither in colour nor size. But the swelling has gone down enough for me to now be able to wear a compression knee bandage over cotton tights... (which makes it easier for me to put it on vs take it off...)

Later, back home, I snapped the shot below through a window. I'm pretty sure those leaves must have had "help" to gather themselves that neatly below the tree... ;)

Yesterday (Tuesday) was laundry day for me, which is still quite enough "being on my feet" for me for one day. (Still some sorting and ironing left for me to do today.)

Since the week after my annual primary health care check-up, I've been self-monitoring my blood pressure at home (morning and evening, three days per week), reporting the results to an HCC nurse via an app - a new way of communicating with them, recently introduced. (I've been using my own monitor, as I have one since before that they "approve of". Otherwise one gets to borrow one.) That's been a relief in the respect that I've not had to transport myself to the HCC to do it (which I find stressful even in normal circumstances, not to mention just now, when I'd have to take a taxi!). But still a bit stressful anyway. And as my values have been "borderline" (perhaps also affected a bit by my "knee situation"?), I've not been feeling sure how the doctor (new to me) would choose to interpret them. But today I got a message in the app that she found them OK, which means I can just continue taking the same meds as before, and in the same dosage. (I guess she also weighed in for example that my blood tests were all good.) So the official monitoring has been declared over for now. A sigh of relief from me, as I know from previous experiences that adjusting medication can be quite a trial in itself... 

Mystery Image

 

Can you guess what you're looking at?

A Quiet All Saints' Day

 

With the arrival of November, I changed the arrangement in my brown vase - and added a couple of more owls... (Cf. a previous post here.)  The bigger owls (on the other side of the bowl) will remain where they are at least until it's time for Christmas decorations, I think.

During a break in the rain, some time before noon, I took out a couple of bags to the bins at the corner of my building, and extended that walk just a little bit - without photo stops, as it was pretty much the same round as on Friday.

Did not have to put much work into preparing lunch, so instead I decided to put that effort into baking a tray of my favourite cocoa/blueberry muffins, which is something I haven't done for a few weeks either. I've changed the original recipe so that I replace 3/4 of the sugar with stevia sweetener, and half the amount of wheat flour with oats.

 

November

 

November is upon us, and I'm feeling like it's kind of knocked me out already. Although I suppose it's really October that I should still be blaming - with my unfortunate fall outdoors three weeks ago... Looking back at photos, I can see that my body has been slowly but faithfully working away at getting rid of most of the massive bruises I contracted (all over my left leg + right foot). Which is probably what a lot of my energy has gone to, even if my knee still neither looks nor feels back to "normal"...

Yesterday, 31st October, was pretty much rain-free even if overcast, and I managed a short walk outdoors, but stayed within my "immediate surroundings". (I think I was out for about 20 minutes, but walking very slowly.)
 

 

Besides still consciously thinking about every step, walking outdoors now also means keeping my eyes firmly on the ground. So to look around me just now means "full stop". And if I want to take a photo, I'd better stop somewhere where I can also place put my walking pole somewhere safe while I use the camera... (Like leaning on a park bench.)

In the early evening, I had one Halloween "scare" that made me jump (fortunately I was lying down on my bed when that happened!) as someone rang my door bell. I did not get up to open, as I assumed it must have been some kids - even if I can't understand how anyone got in, as the entrance is kept locked 24/7 these days. As far as I know, the only kids in my entrance of "that age" belong to a Muslim family, and I'd be very surprised indeed if their parents had allowed them to go trick-or-treating among the neighbours...

This morning it wasn't raining either, and we even got a few unexpected glimpses of the sun. But I felt I had to prioritise the indoors adventure of a proper shower, including washing my hair. (Taking a "full" shower is another thing that has gone from like a few minutes routine to demanding at least about an hour or so of careful and tiring preparations, concentration, and "after-care"...) 

Having managed that rather exhausting project successfully, and having decided to stay in the whole day, I celebrated by just putting on cotton tights (straight on my skin!) - rather than wide trousers covering a variety of bandages - for the first time in three weeks... 

Skywatch Friday

 

 

 

Photos from Tuesday 28th October, 
(from my balcony, around 4:30 pm)

 

 And that's just about as much of the sun as we've got a glimpse of this week, I think!

Linking to Skywatch Friday

Autumn Leaves and Balcony Gardening Jobs

Photo from a few days ago

Do you recognise this object (the long red one)? And if you do, what do you call it? (Really, finding the correct names for various household objects and tools in English - and what's BE vs AE -  is among my worst "blogging jobs"...) One suggestion seems to be "grabber/reacher aid". Anyway, I got this one, and also a shorter one, a long time ago, in connection with other physical problems; and still find them useful in many situations. I hesitate to use them for "dirty" jobs, though. But today I got inspired to put a plastic glove on this one - and with that solution, was able to use it to pick up wet plant leaves from the balcony floor without having to bend myself too much...

It's been raining a lot lately, and it still doesn't feel like a good idea to try to exercise my injured knee outdoors for very long at a time. This morning I decided to put what little energy I had into another project instead: Getting rid of the last two plants still standing out on my balcony floor - two rubber plants, almost as tall as the railing, and by now half-withered and no longer in a condition that made me want to take them inside. (I have one healthy plant of the same origin indoors already - plus a cutting - and that's quite enough...) 

The indoors rubber plant

The big leaves on the outdoors plants were dripping wet, the pots heavy with rainwater, the stems too thick and tough for my secateurs to just easily "snip"; and I needed three plastic garbage bags (of normal "kitchen" size)  to pack the remains in. (All while still having to "think" about every movement and position.)  I managed to get it done, though - and then put the plastics bags in bigger paper carrier bag, and then used the wheels belonging to a shopping caddy to get that down in the lift (elevator) and out to bins at the corner of my building... (And then there were the pots to clean... But I got that done as well, a bit later.)

I suspect that this year may have been the last time I tried to have any live plants bigger than a few geraniums (each in its own small pot, easy to take in/out) on the balcony.

Squirrel

 

Squirrel zoomed in from my kitchen window yesterday. I suppose he was looking for something edible among the brown leaves. (Whether he found anything, I can't say!)

The coat of the red squirrel varies in colour with time of year and location. It sheds its coat twice a year, switching from a thinner summer coat to a thicker, darker winter coat with noticeably larger ear-tufts (a prominent distinguishing feature of this species) between August and November. /Wikipedia/ 

Looks to me like this one has put on its winter coat!

Taxi Adventures

Normally, it's extremely rare for me to take a taxi to get anywhere. The few times I've done it, it's usually been health related - like to or from the hospital. I'm used to walking the distance from home to the city centre and back; and taking the bus when it comes to longer distances within the city. Compared to when I first moved to the street where I've now lived for 17 years, the bus communications have deteriorated a lot, though. For one thing, there are fewer bus stops along the whole line, and for another, it doesn't actually go into the very "heart" of the city any more - I only have a choice of two different stops on what I regard as the outskirts of the proper city centre.

And in my present predicament, with a knee contusion and doctor's orders not to walk too much until that has healed properly, pretty much the only alternative is to take a taxi when I need to go into the city centre - including my primary health care centre. I have one or two friends whom I might ask to drive me, if there is a special reason - but then private cars aren't allowed to drive everywhere in the city centre anyway... while taxis are... 

Today, I had an appointment for "double vaccination" at the HCC. It's only a 10 minutes drive (if even that), so not all that expensive to take a taxi. I pre-booked one to get there, and it arrived in good time. That journey did not get a five star review from me though. First, the driver almost slammed the door on my injured leg before I had managed to get that properly into the car... He managed to stop at the last second though (before the door actually touched me). But it was close enough to give me a scare! And then, he also didn't drive all the way up to the entrance to the HCC (which is kind of up on a little hill), but stopped to let me off in the street below. (Two weeks ago, the taxi that I was in then did drive up to the entrance, without any special request.) I guess I could have demanded that he did - but then I suppose he'd have had to drive round the whole block again; and I wasn't in arguing mood, and knew that I'd manage the walk (not up the staircase, but up the driveway). So I said nothing -  just made mental note to myself to be sure to give clearer instructions from start next time...

My appointment was att 11:15 and to my surprise the waiting room on this day was nearly empty; the nurse came to fetch me even before 11:15, and the two jabs were soon over and done with, and I was free to go...

... back to the waiting room to wrestle with the taxi app again, to book an asap return journey. This time I did include a specific note to the driver to fetch me "at the entrance"... And I could see it arrive from the waiting room, so did not have to go out before it came. I did not have to wait long, but when the taxi came, it was a HUGE one, more like a van, and I realised I wouldn't be able to climb up in it! However, the driver realised that as well, so immediately went to the back and brought an extra device for me to step on to make that easier. And he did the same when we arrived at my address, so that turned out no problem after all.

The booking app asks for a review after each journey... I wasn't in the mood to write comments on the first one (in the waiting room at the HCC), but I gave the second one (after I was safely back home again) five stars because of "helpful driver"...

As mental therapy for myself, I later tried to get Bing Image Creator to recreate the two taxi scenes.  I'm not giving Bing five stars either; but considering my rather complicated and at the same time insufficient instructions/details, not "too" bad...

(I might add that IRL I was wearing trousers, and my knee bandage wasn't visible to the taxi drivers. Their only visual clues would be 1/ that I was using a stick (walking pole) + 2/ my very slow and careful movements + 3/ that the one end of my journey was the HCC.)

Time and Time Again

 

I searched my own blog for previously posted clocks, and found this one - the Astronomical Clock in Lund Cathedral (in Sweden) - from around 1425. (If you're interested in more details, you can read more about it in my post from 2019, and also in Wikipedia.)

The reason I'm bringing up Time and clocks (again!) is of course that this weekend (here in Europe) it was time to reset ours (again!); switching back from Summer Time (daylight saving time) to what I still prefer to call Normal Time... 

I decided to do my "clock round" early on Saturday evening, rather than wait until bedtime or Sunday morning. All in all I have at least 7 manual clocks/watches to reset. Two wrist watches. Two wall clocks, one in my study and one in my hall. One smaller clock standing on the fan cover in my kitchen. One alarm clock beside my bed, and spare one in my living room. (There is also an 8th one in the old small stereo in my bedroom that has to be reset manually - which I often forget, as I rarely look at that one anyway.)

I made my round among them all, and then sat down to watch TV. 

A couple of hours later - just as all the clocks and myself all agreed that it was time to go to bed soon - it suddenly hit me that I had set all the clocks FORWARD rather than BACK... So I had to do the whole procedure over again - now setting them all back two hours.

Obvioiusly that all got a bit too complicated for my sleepy brain, because today - just as I sat down at the computer in my study to write this post - I discovered that the one on the wall above was still on Summer Time. So I had to pause the blogging project to immediately make another round among the rest of my clocks and watches to check those as well - but they seemed to be correct... 

Ever since this fiddling with time first started (1980 here in Sweden), I have been a firm advocate for going back to "Normal" all year round... Still keeping my fingers crossed that it will happen before I get much older!!

Tomorrow, I have an appointment at the Health Care Centre at 11:15 for a double vaccination. And I'll have to take a taxi to get there - still too far for me to walk. At least as it's not an early morning appointment, I hope I'll have a fair chance of getting it right...

(Note to self: I should also check the time on my separate camera, as I can't remember if I reset that one back in spring or if I decided not to bother...) 

 

Autumn Decorations

 

My autumn (fall) decorations are rather modest compared to what I see on some American blogs - we don't have quite the same tradition here of filling our homes and gardens with ghosts and carved pumpkins this time of year.

An old chest in my living room is my main place of changing decorations with the seasons, though, and the orange candles + fake orange gladiouli have been there throughout October. The other day I added my two owls (which during summer live elsewhere). In the big one you can put a tea candle (nowadays I use battery ones for safety). That one I inherited from my mum. The small one is made of solid concrete (very heavy for its size!), and I bought that one a few years ago, because it reminded me so much of the bigger one!

Today Ginny's blog post reminded me that I actually also have a small scarecrow that  rarely gets to be on display. So I added that to the brown vase for the next week or so. 

 

As scarecrows go, it's not really very scary! 

 

 

If memory serves me right, I got the scarecrowfrom my friend Gunilla up in Karlstad on some occasion. We were close friends since our early 20s. In February it will sadly be three years since she died - shortly before her 70th birthday. (She had a lot of health problems all her life, but in spite of that also managed to spread a lot of joy.) 

 

Halloween in Sweden is primarily a holiday when people remember loved ones who passed away, and visit their graves to decorate them with winter wreaths and candles. I'm not sure I'll be walking even as far as to the nearby cemetery in the week to come - but memories can be honoured in other ways, without going anywhere at all.