Dental Visit + a Walk in the Park

 

The huge tree to the right is a horse chestnut tree

A bit cooler in the air this week compared to the weekend, but the sunny weather continues, and each day just now is "greener" than the previous one. I walked into town for my dental appointment, and had time for a little detour through one corner of the park. The sky was incredibly blue - most of the photos in this post are straight from my phone without any editing. 

Much as I expected - knowing the broken tooth had a very old crown attached - it turned out that I was in for a major dental job. As soon as the nurse started poking at it (very gently), it all came apart and the old crown came loose. As I noticed already on Friday that "something" had happened, it's almost a miracle that I managed to keep it in place for nearly five days! (I avoided to chew on that side, and was also very gentle with the toothbrush.)

I was also lucky in that the dentist + a specialist nurse had time straight away to do the scanning + other preparations for having a new crown made. With various holidays coming up in May it will probably be 3 weeks before I get it put in place; but in the meantime I've have a temporary plastic filling to cover the remnants of the tooth. I'm advised to abstain from hard and "chewy" food, though - but I've already been practising that for a few days by now! (I'm foreseeing using my "mixer" more than usual...) 

After an hour in the dentist's chair, when I finally got up I was feeling kind of dizzy, so sat for a while in the waiting room sipping a glass of water afterwards, before going out. 

I walked home through another part of the park, and along the river.

Close-up of the flowerbed by the river...

The "later" kind of cherry blossom trees are now also in bloom...

Before continuing towards home, I crossed that bridge in the photo above, and on the other side made a little detour to a shop which I hadn't visited in years, but where once upon a time I had bought an item which I was wondering if maybe they might still be selling. Actually I didn't even know if the shop would still be there. (I had not been able to check, as I had also forgotten its name!). But it was still there, and when I asked, they even had what I was after, which was this: A (foldable) walking stick. 

I have a similar, all black one since before (bought over a decade ago when I had some temporary trouble) but this one seems to have both a better rubber tip at the bottom, and a sturdier handle. So I bought it.

All winter since my fall back in October I've consistently been using at least one (sometimes both) of my taller "walking poles" outdoors. But with summer and warmer weather, too warm to wear gloves, and mostly feeling need of support in "certain situations" now, I'm thinking that a stick like this may sometimes be enough. So I was glad to find that shop still selling them. (Sometimes I do still prefer to be able to "see and touch" before buying!) 

Troubleshooting

 

I can't recall just now what it was that I really intended to blog about today. When I turned on the computer, I got caught up spending hours on "troubleshooting" instead, as the browser that I normally use with this blog suddenly refused to show up any larger than that very small square on the bottom of the screen in the photo above. No idea why. It's never happened before, and none of the tips I googled so far works - either because I can't find (see) the suggested thing to click on, or because clicking on it doesn't help. 

I asked AI for advice of course, but it just "pretended" to be helpful:

Key Steps in the Troubleshooting Process:

Define the Problem: Clearly identify the symptoms—what is the actual vs. expected state.

Gather Information: Speak with users, review data trends, and check error messages.

Identify the Root Cause: Isolate the issue by narrowing down possibilities (e.g., checking hardware connections or software settings).

Develop a Hypothesis: Guess the most probable cause based on information gathered.

Test and Fix: Implement a solution, but do so cautiously to avoid making things worse. 

I'm thinking that uninstalling and re-installing from scratch might perhaps fix it - but I'm too tired to try to "cautiously implement" that just now.

Luckily my alternative browser used with this blog did work (showing up full size) - but here I found myself logged out from things, so that took a while to sort out as well.  

Tomorrow is another day; but then I have an appointment with my dentist for a different kind of  troubleshooting. Back on Friday I somehow managed to lose a very tiny corner of an important tooth, of which the major part is already "fake". I'm not in pain, but I have no idea whether the dentist will find it a simple quick fix or  if it will turn out a Really Big dental job. All I know is that it won't self-heal! - so better seek help ASAP...

Entering the Month of May

 

Above, my photo calendar picture for the month of May (photo from mid April, 2025).

As we enter the month of May this year, there are also still cherry blossom trees in bloom.

On Friday 1st May (Labour Day and a holiday) I did not go very far, but just went for a stroll around the estate where I live. Even so, I caught quite a few "signs of spring":

 Narcissi, grapehyacinths and dandelions together in one flowerbed. (I'm guessing the dandelions weren't planted, but I quite like them in the mix...)

 

A single tulip next to a park bench where I sat down for a while.

 Cherry blossom in the playground park. 

 

On Saturday 2nd May, I took a bus into town and after my errands there walked back home through the city park and along the river.

 Chestnut trees unfolding their leaves.

The main square with the old Town Hall in the background, and fountain in the foreground. The Town Hall was built in 1910, and as the district court has just moved out of there to new premises, it's now under discussion what it's going to be used for instead. 

The fountain has images reflecting the town's history of textile industry.

The round building in the park is a restaurant/café.

 Yellow flowerbed along the river in the park.

The Green Rabbit, one of my favourite sculptures. It's official name is Mate Hunting, and its eyes keep moving (only a little each day) so that they're never quite in the exact same position as last time you passed by... Artist: Marianne Lindberg de Geer.

 

It was a summery kind of day, and people were even sunbathing along the river...

Linking to Weekend Street/Reflections  (More "street" than reflections this time!)

A Royal Celebration

In Sweden, 30th April (Valborgsmässoafton / Walpurgis Night), followed by 1st May (Labour Day and a holiday), is when we officially welcome Spring in Sweden. Among the traditions are bonfires, choir singing, and also student parades.

30th April also happens to be when our present King, Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, was born. This year, he celebrated his 80th birthday with quite a lot of "pomp and circumstance". So on the national level, that kind of took over. (Ordinary local arrangements like bonfires and student parades probably just went ahead as usual, though.)

However one wanted to celebrate, we had beautiful, almost summer-like spring weather all over the country. For my own part, I'm not keen on going out in the evenings these days, so I did end up in front of the TV, following the Royal celebrations instead. A big party was held in the royal palace in Stockholm, with no efforts spared, and lots of foreign royalties and other important people invited. 

Among the advantages one has as only taking part via TV is that one is free to snap as many photos as one likes of the screen with one's own phone. So I did...

King Carl XIV Gustaf and Queen Silvia

  

Crown Princess Victoria,
her husband Prince Daniel,
and their eldest daughter,
Princess Estelle

Prince Carl Philip with his wife, Princess Sofia

 

Princess Madeleine with husband Chris O'Neill

One thing our present day royal family have in common is that they all - including the King himself - married non-royals. Prince Daniel was made prince by marrying the Crown Princess Victoria, and Princess Sofia was made princess by marrying Prince Carl Philip. Princess Madeleine's husband said "no thanks" to the royal title though, and remained Mr O'Neill. (Their children still retain the titles princess/prince, but have no official obligations.)

People giving speaches during the dinner:
Crown Princess Victoria (first), Queen Siliva (last),
Andreas Norlén - Speaker of the Parliament,
Ulf Kristersson - Prime Minister

The King listening to his daughter's speech.

The Queen, Princess Madeleine and Prince Carl Philip

People breaking up from the tables after dinner

The evening ended with a "Tattoo" (Swedish: "Tapto") performance in the castle yard.
(A military term for a drum beat or bugle call to signal the end of the day.)

 

King Carl XVI Gustaf

Sepia Saturday: Sisters

  

In his introduction of Sepia Saturday 824, the host Alan Burnett writes:  

"If you are wanting a theme you can have celebrations or cakes or two splendid ladies - the choice, as always, is yours."

What came to mind for me this week was my own mother (who liked to bake cakes), and her sister, who celebrated her 90th birthday this week. 

Below is a photo of the two of them together, from 1966 - i.e. 60 years ago.

Mum (36) to the left, and my aunt (30) to the right, sitting on the lawn outside the house where we had been living for about one year then. My aunt and uncle lived in the nearby town back then, and my little brother and our oldest cousin (also a boy) were the same age. So the two families used to get together quite frequently.

Later on, my aunt and her family moved farther away, and family get-togethers got less frequent. However, when my dad retired (at age 60), my parents moved back to their home town/area, which was by then also where I lived (and still live). And as my aunt and uncle also had both family and old friends here, we all saw each other a bit more often again. After my parents died (2009/11), my aunt and uncle also still visited me when they were in this area. Since a few years, they no longer drive this far from home, though. But my brother and I last met up with them last summer in Linköping, where they live.

My mum died in 2009, a few months after turning 79; and my dad did not live to celebrate his 80th either. But (as already mentioned) my aunt turned 90 this week. I sent her a parcel, and also phoned her on the day. Her main celebration will be with her own sons and grandchildren this weekend - and it seems that at age 90, she finds that enough. I kind of assume that a birthday cake in some form will probably be part of the celebration, though. What that one might look like I don't know, but here is one that my mum baked for some other occasion in the past (probably Christmas, judging by the table cloth):

PS. My aunt used to read my blog sometimes, but I'm not sure if she still does. I think in the past I've just referred to her and her husband as my aunt and uncle, no names mentioned, so I decided to stick to that with this post as well.

Skywatch Friday

 

Dramatic Moon -  28 April, 21:42 (looking south)

 

 Sunset, 29 April, 20:25, looking west

 Sunset, 29 April, 20:27 - looking north-west

  

Linking to Skywatch Friday, 30 April 2026

Read in April 2026

Two audio books that I listened to in April, both bought with 'credits' included in my Audible membership.  

The Killing Time by Elly Griffiths
Book 2 in the Ali Dawson series*

Release date: 2026-02-12

Audiobook 10 hrs and 33 mins

Narrated by Julie Maisey 

Book 1 was called The Frozen People, and was reviewed by me here a year ago.

Audible's introduction:

Ali Dawson is a police detective who leads a unit that investigates cases so cold her team must travel to the distant past to solve them. But Ali and the team haven't been allowed to time-travel ever since their technical expert, Jones, got stuck in Victorian London.

To distract herself, Ali looks into a present-day case - an apparent suicide of a young man who fell to his death from a high building. She believes the death is linked to a psychic medium called Barry Power, who convinced the boy he could fly. Ali goes to one of Power's shows where he claims to be in contact with Jones.

When Ali notices that evening that her cat, Terry, has gone missing, she decides to go back in time just long enough to prevent Terry from escaping through his open cat flap. A dangerous plan which backfires, and she finds herself once more in Victorian London, where she meets Jones, as well as Power...

My opinion: I still find myself struggling a bit with the time travelling concept in this series - but from her previous books, I know that Elly Griffiths is a good writer; and if this is going to be a longer series, I suppose she may also be planning to develop those ideas further in later books. (The "rules" involved still do not seem to be quite clear even to the characters experimenting with it in the books...) 

Thinking about it now, it also strikes me that in a way, perhaps the idea of time travelling is not really all that far-fetched for an author who already wrote a long series with an archaeologist (Ruth Galloway) as the main character... Those books too do involve quite a lot of "digging into the past", even if in a (literally) more "down to earth" way... (haha)

You can find more info about the author and her books on her own website

 

* * * * * 
 

The Great Hippopotamus Hotel
by Alexander McCall Smith
Book 25 in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series

Release date: 2024-09-05
Audiobook 8 hrs
Narrated by Adjoa Andoh

Audible's introduction:

Mma Ramotswe has a deft hand in delicate cases, and never allows an act of injustice to pass unanswered. So, when it comes to her attention that a matter involving dubious motives has arisen, and that it will require the utmost discretion to resolve, she has no choice but to lend her skills in the arts of detection and reconciliation. She is, after all, head of Botswana’s premier detective agency, but that doesn’t mean she can’t use the help of Mma Makutsi and Mma Potokwane. Meanwhile, Mr J.L.B. Matekoni has found himself in complicated circumstances of his own, requiring not a little of Mma Ramotswe’s time and expertise.

In the end, as each of these predicaments comes untangled, Mma Ramotswe draws on her goodwill and generosity to bring important truths to light – of friendship, honesty and love.

My opinion: I'm quite impressed that Alexander McCall Smith has managed to write yet another book in this long series, and is still able to make them enjoyable - with the main characters still remaining essentially "themselves", but also developing a bit. I always find them quite relaxing reading. (In the past I've borrowed most of them from my local library.)

 

Maple Blossom, Dandelions & More

 

First impression of these trees from afar may be that they it's their leaves that are unfolding already. Getting up closer, though, it becomes clear that it's not leaves, but blossoms:
 

And as I know these trees from other seasons as well, I know they are maples. (They grow in the old cemetery where I walk all year round.)  

Unlike the trimmed forsythia hedges I see from home, some private gardens have forsythias that have been allowed to grow as tall as they please. 

 

In the garden facing the main street, the same house has an impressive cherry blossom tree.
 

It's also dandelion time, and those can turn up almost anywhere!

"I mustn't forget, I'm alive, I know I'm alive, 
I mustn't forget it tonight or tomorrow or the day after that."

Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine 

 I've mentioned (and quoted from) this book before, it's an old favourite of mine - and tends to come to mind for me when I see the first dandelions appearing in spring.

It's set in 1928, in a small town in Illinois, and inspired by the author's own childhood memories. "A magical timeless summer in the life of a twelve-year-old boy named Douglas Spaulding" . The title, Dandelion Wine, refers to the idea (or wish) of bottling memories just like home-made wine.  Each chapter is like a short story in itself, with Douglas sometimes the main character and sometimes just witness of events. I think I have it as audio book as well as in print, maybe time to re-listen again...!