Progress of Autumn, and Things To Do

 

Where did September go? In many ways, and not least because of mild and sunny weather, it was a month that felt more like the end of summer than the beginning of autumn. Now October is upon us, however - and it seems to come with a long list of Things To Do.

It started already on Monday this week, with having to get up early and go out for a walk without even having had breakfast first - something which I can assure you is not my usual habit. It pretty much only happens when I have to go and have fasting blood tests taken - which was also the cause this time, for an "annual" doctor's "follow-up" appointment coming up in a couple of weeks. The "annual" has in later years been replaced with at least 18 months but I can't think of one word for that. The "follow-up" part is also not quite what it used to be, since nowadays it seems to be a new doctor every time. But a general check-up of  chronic condtions and prescribed meds, anyway.

I've also had reminders about upcoming vaccinations (flu+covid), but I'll have to book a separate appointment for those. And I need to get a haircut, but I don't know where to fit that in until some other things are over and done with...!

On today's to-do-list was Laundry Day + putting in an online order of groceries for delivery tomorrow. Usually I choose delivery on Thursday or Friday, but this week I needed to make it Wednesday, because on Thursday or Friday - at any time during either of those days - I have been forewarned to expect a visit from plumbers to install new taps (faucets) in both kitchen and bathroom. (They'll be doing this in all the apartments in my area, all in one fell swoop - not just mine.)

I hate (ok, strong word...) fuzzy time indications like "between 7.15 on Thursday and 16.00 on Friday" (even if I suppose it must be implied that I can probably relax between 16.00 on Thursday and 7.15 on Friday!) ... They say the job as such will only take about 20 minutes in each apartment; but not knowing when those 20 minutes will be still makes it problematic to plan the day(s). Of course I'll have to be up and dressed at 7.15 (way before my usual breakfast time) "just in case", plus I'll be worrying that they'll ring on my door just as I'm in the bathroom, or preparing lunch, or whatever... And I predict that  I probably won't settle down to much blogging until it's over and done with!

 

Autumn is happening fast now. The two photos at the top were taken on Saturday, on my walk back home from visiting the market in town. The photo here at the bottom of the post shows the same trees today - only three days later. (It should be added that these trees are among the very earliest to turn all yellow, though. I don't know what kind they are.)

Autumn Street Market, Part 2

Another sunny autumn day here; and I decided to challenge my "crowd phobia" by going back to the market (cf yesterday's post) and try to snap some more photos. This time bringing my separate Sony camera - as I found it difficult to take photos with my phone in the crowd yesterday.

It wasn't really much easier today, though. Besides probably even more people today than yesterday, there were such sharp contrasts between the bright sky and the deep shadows down among the market stalls that my camera had serious difficulties handling that. I had to do a lot of editing on most of the photos when I got back home, to get them to show anything but silhouettes! But hopefully they'll give you a somewhat better idea of the market street life - which in itself is very different compared to an "ordinary" day in our city centre...

Photos in the order that I took them: 

 Approaching the city centre - not yet having reached the market area around the square.

Those who had dared drive their cars into the very heart of the city centre on this day probably regretted it ... But once there, they would have no choice but to continue (very slowly...) along the few narrow one-way streets still open for traffic! 

Entering the area arond the square, surrounded by market stalls. I'd say probably at least 1/3 of all the stalls were aimed at children, selling colourful toys, sweets, balloons, caps etc. 

 

I think this stall was selling strawberries, but they can hardly have been Swedish ones, as that season must be over since quite a while back.

 Various food trucks in the square - but I had had lunch before going into town...

 

No child should have had to go home from the market balloon-less! 
... or at least not from lack of balloons for sale ...

No lack of cuddly toys either... As I'm not a grandparent, I haven't got a clue what any of these are, or what's a "must have" or not at the moment!

 

I could happily have bought any one of these baskets, though - if not for for the fact that I already have quite enough baskets of various kinds and sizes around my flat for covenient storing of  this, that and whatever...

 Not part of the market as such, but I loved the sunflower decorations put up in the window of my favourite tea shop by the square.

There were "hats" (??) like these hanging from any number of market stalls, but I did not see any children wearing any... (Nor any grown-ups, for that matter!)

 

 

 

I did not buy anythng today either - except an ice cream to eat on my way home, but that was not from a market stall!

Autumn Street Market

 

It's the last weekend in September, so time for the annual autumn street market. (We have two major market weekends here - spring and autumn.) The autumn weather just now is perfect for it, so I went for a stroll into town to have a look around, even though there was nothing special I wanted.  
 

Basically there are, or used to be, three kinds of market stalls that I tend to feel drawn to at these events: Socks, handbags and postcards. (My camera is also drawn towards balloons! But I never actually buy any of those...)  

There used to be a stall selling cheap postcards (plus some other "paper" stuff), always at the same corner of the square - but they haven't returned after the covid years, when the whole market was very much reduced. I guess the increase in postage has contributed to not many people being all that interested in buying and sending postcards any more. (Even I don't send very many now - and I still have a good supply left from earlier years.) 

There were several stalls selling handbags, but I had sternly reminded myself before going out, that I'm not in need of any new bag at the moment. (On the contrary, I have a bag full of  bags that should be handed in to a charity shop!!!) 

My favourite sock stall was in the same place as usual - but I had also checked my supply of socks before going out, and realised that I also have a good supply of socks bought at previous markets, that should last me at least until next spring...

So I returned home without having spent any money at all. Moreover, when I checked my camera, I realised I had only taken two photos! The market was simply too crowded!

Linking to Weekend Street/Reflections 

PS: Went back the next day, with my other camera. More photos in my next post.

The Times They Are A'Changing

Once upon a time (1624-1998), the town where I live (Borås) had a Regiment (of the infantry kind). When I moved here to live, about 40 years ago, the regiment was still active; but I'm not sure I ever went to have a closer look at the buildings until after they were "demilitarized". But it's not all that far from where I live now, so over the past 16 years, I've probably been walking that way perhaps at least once every two years or so. Anyway I've watched the area change and grow... Initially, just the old regiment buildings converted to house businesses and apartments instead. Then some modern apartment buildings added in between the old ones. And from there it has continued to develop to a whole new housing district... Today it occurred to me that it had been a while since I last checked it out, so I decided to walk that way again and check out the newest additions. Doing so, I realised that now it really must have been more than just one year since I was there last. 

 Just approaching the old main regiment buildings from below, they still look pretty much the same. There are even still a couple of cannons standing in front of the main building, to remind of "old times". 

 

The old entrance gates have been kept, too.

 

But behind the old regiment buildings, there are lot of new buildings now.

 

Still a bit of a mix between new and old here and there...

 

But there are whole streets of new tall apartment buildings added! 

Who are all the people living here?? And do they like it?? I haven't got a clue!! 

Statistics tell me that the town's population has increased by 18.6% since 2000, though - and is now around 114 000. And in another decade, the number is expected to have grown to 140 000 (at least according to Google AI).

On my way home I had to pause at a railway crossing to wait for a train. So did a lot cars (no doubt in a lot more hurry than I was). I did not take any photos of the queues waiting on both sides of the crossing; but they were long... Which made me realised that I also happened to be out in rush hour traffic (around 4 pm) - which is something that I normally have the privilege of being able to avoid, these days.

While waiting, I was also pondering the political changes we've been through since the old regiment was closed in 1998. Back then, Sweden was in a phase of disarmament. Now, we're part of NATO, and in a phase of strengthening our defense again... Not sure if there will ever be a new regiment stationed just here again - but old military training grounds in the area are still being used. (We just recently had a such a weekend when constant shooting cold be heard "in the background" from where I live.) 

 

 

Shadow Art, Pretty In Pink, and the Anatomy of Socks

 

Sitting in my TV chair by the window, I happened to glance the other way, and my eye caught this shadow, which seemed very appropriate as a celebration of the Autumn Sun...

 It was caused by the sun hitting the vase with leftover leaves from my birthday bouquet, and casting a sharp black shadow of them on the back of my hoodie sweater, draped over the back of a chair. (The thin horizontal lines are also shadows, from the venetian blinds in the window.) 

To go with the pink theme, I'll also throw in this photo of Barbie and Skipper (mainly for Meike, who asked after them in a comment on my previous post). Barbie is enjoying the luxury of wearing a new pink top that I managed to make for her out of the cuff of a sock. (Skipper says magenta doesn't go with her hair colour, so she'll wait for me to wear out something that would suit her better... Her striped top was sewn by my mum in the 1960s.) 

 

Sometimes, and especially when one is blogging in a foreign language, a blog post may take an unexpected turn before it reaches its end. Like, when one can't think of the name for the upper part of a sock, and has to go searching for it... 

Now I want to know if all of you with English as your first language would have been able to name all seven parts of a sock correctly?? 

"Autumn Is a Second Spring"

 

23rd September, 2025

▲ These trees at a parking area near the river in town are as eager to display beautiful autumn colours in September, as they were to show off cherry blossom back in May. (Photos taken from different angles, but it's the same place.) ▼

19th May, 2025

 "Autumn is a second spring, 
when every leaf is a flower."

Albert Camus 

 

Autumn Equinox

 

Sunday sunset photos from my balcony, yesterday evening - giving a hint of the weather changing from rainy to sunny, but also from summer to autumn. 

The first three weeks of September have offered a mix of sunny and rainy days, but have on the whole still felt more like summer than autumn. 

This Monday morning, however, there was a definite change to cooler air, and need of slightly warmer clothes - in spite of the sun shining from a blue sky.

 And here and there, also a hint of autumn colours in nature now... 

Linking to Mersad's Through My Lens

 

Autumn Flowers

 

 

 

29.8

For my birthday at the end of August I recieved this lovely bouquet of flowers - "all the way from Scotland"... Even if of course the actual bouquet was put together by a florist here in Borås, Sweden. I was quite impressed that they had managed to incorporate flowers to actually remind me of Scotland, though: Thistles (which I recall is the national flower of Scotland) + something resembling heather. (Having done a bit of research now, I think they probably aren't heather though, but some sort of sea lavender.)  

The bouquet seemed to remain totally unchanged for about 1½ week! (I just changed the water in the vase a couple of times.) But then the carnations and chrysanthemum started to fade a bit; and I decided to break up the bouquet. The 'heather' and thistles felt like they had just dried, so I hung those upside down to dry some more for another 1½ week. Two twigs of green leaves still looked just the same, so I put those back in water in a different vase. They still look the same after three weeks!

20.9

Google Image Search identifies these as Ruscus hypophyllum - "a species of shrub in the family Asparagaceae". According to some forums they may remain unchanged for weeks, in water; while other people have apparently managed to get them to grow roots. I guess I'll just have to leave them and see what happens! 
 

The dried thistles and whatever-it-is I have now put in a vase without water, on the shelf by a coastal landscape painted by my friend Lena N; an original water colour of hers which I bought when visiting her exhibition in Smögen on the west coast of Sweden a couple of years ago.

 

No-one is truly sure of how the thistle came to be Scotland’s national flower. A well-known story though attributes the thistle being chosen as the emblem of Scotland to the Battle of Largs (a coastal town in Ayrshire) in the 13th century. A Norse army journeyed to Scotland, intent on conquering the land. The legend has it that they left their ships under cover of night, and were planning to ambush the sleeping Scottish Clansmen. In order to be as quiet as possible, the Norsemen had removed their shoes. However as they crept across the countryside, one of them stepped onto a thorny thistle. His cry of pain roused the Scots, and the warriors rose up and defeated the invaders. 

https://www.nts.org.uk/stories/the-thistle-scotlands-national-flower