A Field Day

Panorama view from 2015 (my own photo)

Very close to where I live (I can see it from home), there is a large old football (soccer) field. I've lived in this part of town 18 years now, and I don't think I've ever seen a "full size" football game played here (i.e. making use of the whole field). There are junior games played now and then, and practices in between, and occasional school sports days etc are held here. But most of the time, it's just a huge empty space where not much happens except a few people walking their dogs there or jogging around it for exercise. But the lawn gets mowed by machines regularly in summer, to keep the grass short.

If it's a rainy summer, it can be very green - and enjoyed by the local wildlife:

July 2015 (my own photo)

But in hot and dry weather, it does not get watered, and can get very brown and dry: 

August 2018 (my own photo)

It can be a great place from where to just watch the sky:

(my own photo)

And in winter, with newly fallen snow and fog, it can look very dreamy and mysterious.... 

January, 2016

... But it can also be a great place to enjoy walking in snow and making footprints...

January 2013 (my own photo)

January 2026 (my own photo)

A few years ago, the city decided on long term plans to create a long park (green area) more or less following the river through town, making it possible to walk on foot (or ride a bike)  from north to south, without having to worry about traffic. If memory serves me right, about 5 km in total - and turning this field into part of the long park area is included in those plans. It will no doubt be years yet before the whole vision is fulfilled, but just now, the turn has come to "our field"...

   

Image from our local newspaper, 2023

A week or two ago, flyers were put up in the entrances of the buildings around here, welcoming everyone to a presentation of the plans, to be given "on the spot" (in the field), this Tuesday afternoon, starting at 4:30 pm. Living so close, I was definitely curious to know more about the details, so I was at the main gate at the appointed time. And I had expected quite a few other people to be there as well - but found myself alone! Far out in the field, I saw a van parked, and three or four people, who I assumed to be those who were going to present the information. I hesitated to walk all the way over there, though, as I'm still not all that confident about walking long distances on uneven ground... (It was on a piece of muddy lawn that I slipped and fell back in October...) So I waited at the gate for a while longer, to see if more people would be coming. But no. There was just me! ... After a bit longer still, I started walking into the field - and one of the guys back at the van started walking towards me, so we met like somewhere in the middle. I forget his title but he was one of those in charge of the project, anyway. He showed me a couple of sheets with plans of the intended layout of what they're going to do, and explained. In short, it seems that at one end there's going to be a new basket ball court, sort of in the middle also still a football field (but not a huge one), and at the other end an area with two playgrounds for children (younger and a bit older), a public toilet - and a brand new stage structure for outdoor concerts and other events. 

After I got back home, I found an image online of what that stage is going to look like: 

Please not the size of the people they've put inside... It's going to be HUGE! 

Living close by, it's really the noise from presumptive "big events" that worries me the most - I can only hope that they won't be too frequent... 

While we were talking about this, two (2) more women + a dog entered the field and came up to us. I stayed on for a while, listening again as the man started over and pretty much gave all the same information again. The newcomers seemed more positive to the idea of big events than I am - but they were younger than me (one of them mentioned she was likely to have like 15 years left before retiring from work), and I also don't know where in the area they live (perhaps not as close as I to the field/park)... After a while, their conversation with the "planner" drifted off to other parts of town that I'm less familiar with; so I just said thanks for the info I had been given, and went back home to contemplate.

From what I could see from home, not many more people arrived in the couple of hours that the van remained parked in the field. I'm still surprised at that, as no doubt the transformation of that field into a public park is likely to affect all of us living here. Not that there is anything I can "do" about it, but for my own part I still find it better to have an idea of what it is they're planning, rather than just wondering over the next few months what on earth it is they're doing... 

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Field Day - AI summary:

A field day typically refers to a special day of outdoor sports and athletic competitions organized by schools or community groups. Figuratively, it means an occasion or opportunity for unrestricted fun, activity, or criticism—most commonly heard in the phrase "to have a field day".

The term is used in a few different contexts, including both literal and figurative meanings:

School Events: A day when classes are canceled so students can participate in outdoor games, relays, and athletic contests.

The Idiom (Have a Field Day): To seize the opportunity to criticize, mock, or exploit a situation. For example: "When the scandal broke, the newspapers had a field day criticizing the mayor."

Military & Professional Use: Originally a military term for a day of outdoor exercises, drills, or maneuvers. 

Pansies and Violets

Arrangement of garden pansies in large round planters at one of the entrances in the old cemetery. Earlier in the spring the pansies were combined with daffodils, but the other day when I passed, I noticed that the withered daffodils had been removed and more pansies added instead. Everything looking fresh, neat and colourful!

In a flower bed outside a building in my neighbourhood, I found these smaller ones below, which I think I'd call violets rather than pansies - although they are larger than the even smaller wild ones that I normally think of as violets...

The Wikipedia article on Pansy tells me that...

Modern horticulturalists tend to use the term "pansy" for those multi-coloured large-flowered hybrids that are grown for bedding purposes every year, while "viola" is usually reserved for smaller, more delicate annuals and perennials.

The name "pansy" is derived from the French word pensée, "thought", and was imported into Late Middle English as a name of Viola in the mid-15th century, as the flower was regarded as a symbol of remembrance.

Postcrossing Anniversary - and Apple Blossom

 

Ornamental apple trees in my neighbourhood blossoming now...

 - - -

On Friday, I  received the email below from Postcrossing.com. How time flies...! ;)

Today’s the day — it’s your Postcrossingversary! You joined Postcrossing 13 years ago, and we’re floating by with balloons and fanfare to celebrate this magical occasion.

Did you realize you’ve been teleporting joy across the globe with tiny rectangles of paper for 4748 days now? You’re a special kind of postal magician ✨, and we hope you’ll keep enchanting mailboxes everywhere in the years to come!

Postally yours,

The Postcrossing team

I have cut down a lot on postcard-exchange with strangers all over the world via Postcrossing in later years, but am still keeping my account open by sending a card now and then. (And the system is self-regulating, so when one does not send, one also does not receive.) - When I first joined, back in 2013, I sent a lot, because the reason I started at all was that I had inherited a lot of still usable stamps from my dad that I didn't know what else to do with. (And I had no need of selling them for money.) I learned about Postcrossing from other bloggers (primarily from John Edwards, aka Scriptor Senex, who sadly passed away two years ago); and decided that the most fun I could have with those stamps would be to send them out into the world on postcards. After all, that was what they were made for...  Looking back, I'm glad that I did it when I did; because since then, postage has just kept going up, up, up... Now being almost ridiculously expensive. With the old stamps of low value that I still have left now, I'd need so many for one single card abroad that it wouldn't even leave room to write the address!

Over the past 7 months I have sent very few postcards or letters at all, as after my famous fall back in October (famous in the sense that I keep mentioning it!), even the nearest postbox has seemed a long way away. That distance seems to have shrunk a bit again with the arrival of spring, though - so having received this reminder of my Postcrossing anniversary, I decided to "celebrate" by sending at least one card this weekend. One has no say in where to, but the address allotted to me this time turned out to be in Russia. Now I just hope that the post office staff over there are good at reading our Western alphabet, because my printer went on strike and I couldn't print out the Russian version. (As i often do when sending card to countries not primarily using the Latin script.)

Anyway, after a rainy weekend, the sun came out for a bit this afternoon and I was able to go out and post the card.

If you were ever a writer of letters and postcards - are you still keeping that up, or have you switched entirely to using the internet for written communication?

Skywatch Friday

 

12 May, 2026 - 19:02

15 May 2026 - 20:15

15 May, 2026 - 20:15

15 May, 2026 - 20:16

It's been a week of swiftly shifting skies. This afternoon after lunch I managed my usual "recycling walk" and even got a glimpse of the sun. Right after I got back home, it was raining again, and I could even hear thunder rolling... 

Linking to Skywatch Friday

Ascension Day

We've been getting some rain this week, and the temperature has dropped as well - but nature no doubt welcomes the rain, and the trees keep getting greener every day now. The photo above (from today) is from an alley in the cemetery, lined with tall birches. And below are some budding azaleas I found back on Monday - I haven't been back to check on those since, but I suspect cooler and cloudy weather has probably slowed them down a bit.

Yesterday was laundry day for me, and as it started raining before I was done with that, I didn't bother about going out at all. 

Today is Ascension Day, commemorating the Ascension of Jesus into Heaven. Still a public holiday in Sweden; and traditionally a day for outdoors early morning church services and picnics. 

Back in 2021, I wrote a post including some old photos and memories of such occasions in a distant past. - Today, with rainy and rather chilly weather, I doubt a whole lot of outdoors Ascension Day celebrations were taking place around here, though.  (For my own part, I settled for just a short walk after lunch, between showers.  And even for that, I donned one of my winter jackets again...)

A local tradition in Borås is that our annual Spring Market is held on the Friday and Saturday following Ascension Day. Tomorrow I have a delivery from the supermarket coming in the middle of the day, though; and the weather forecast for Saturday so far isn't looking inspiring for market visits either. Ah well - "one day at a time"...

Weeping Silver Pear

I have long been wondering what kind of tree it is that is home to the "red birdhouse feeder" in the cemetery. Last year when I posted about it, someone suggested that it was an olive tree. Now the tree is blossoming again, and also another tree of the same kind in a different part of the cemetery. So today I took some close-ups of the blossoms and uploaded those to Google Image Search/AI, which gave me this answer:

This plant is a Weeping Silver Pear (Pyrus salicifolia 'Pendula'), a popular ornamental tree known for its silver-green foliage and white blossoms in spring.

Flowers: It produces creamy-white, bowl-shaped flowers in clusters during mid-spring.

Foliage: The leaves are long, narrow, and lance-shaped, covered in a soft silver felt when they first emerge.

Growth Habit: This variety is known for its weeping or drooping branches, creating a distinctive aesthetic often likened to an olive tree.

Hardiness: It is highly tolerant of drought and heat, making it suitable for various urban environments and gardens.

A Spring Walk in the Cemetery

 A lovely spring afternoon yesterday (Saturday), and I took my new walking stick for a 'test walk' around the old cemetery nearby. I was out for about an hour, just walking slowly up and down randomly chosen paths, stopping here and there to look at the greenery and flowers, listen to birds singing, and snap a few photos. 

Huge horse chestnut tree

 

Maples are developing leaves now, while dropping green flower petals to the ground.

Google image search identifies these trees/bushes as Amelanchier  ('häggmispel' in Swedish). Lots of these in bloom around the cemetery just now. 

... And Spiraea shrubs ...

Flowerbeds with purple pansies by the chapel. 

Also pansies planted on many graves in spring, including that of my great grandparents. (Photo from another day, when the light was right for that particular spot.) Cared for by cemetery gardening staff, paid for my aunt, but I'm "keeping an eye" on it for her... 

Flower bed of 'Narcissus poeticus' in the memorial grove.

PS. The new walking stick served me well enough as light and comfortable support on a walk of that kind. (You can see a photo of the stick here if you missed that earlier post.) 

Troubleshooting Continued...

 

Earlier this week I blogged about my sudden problems with the Firefox browser - which has been my No 1 browser used with this blog for many years, until a few days ago it suddenly refused to turn up any bigger than approximately the size of a stamp on my computer (laptop) screen.

As other browsers were working as they should, I've not been totally shut out from blogging - but I don't like unsolved mysteries, so it's still been "bugging" me.

Today I had a bit more time on my hands, so had another go at trying to "fix" the Firefox problem, by uninstalling and re-installing that app. Had to seek instructions on how to do that, but it worked. And after re-installing I did get the program up to full size on my screen again, managed to log in, and my basic settings and bookmarks etc seemed to have been saved. 

I also managed to log into my blog ok. Or so it seemed - until I ran into a new problem that I can't recall ever having encountered before. Clicking the "Sign in" on the main page of my blog would transfer me straight to the "design" page instead. What it would not do was sign me in to the comment section on the main page... So while I could create new posts, I could not reply to readers' comments! *groan* 

So more troubleshooting was required. Probably another hour or so of futile searches, but finally I came across a tip about making sure to remove any "additional" safety settings to do with blocking tracking and cookies etc. And yes! Somewhere in the setting up process I must have allowed some such extras; because after removing a couple of "suspects" of that kind, I suddenly did get back to being logged in properly, including being able to add comments.

I'm writing down this primarily as a reminder for myself, but perhaps this kind of thing may be behind commenting problems occurring for other people on other blogs/browsers as well? So if you feel yourself inexplicably "locked out" from somewhere - the "security" settings on your browser may be one place to look into... 

Now I'm just hoping that when I finally click "Publish", this post (written from Firefox) will not only appear on my blog - but also allow comments, both from others and from myself...

PS. Photo from a walk in the cemetery today. Do you get why I chose it for this post?

 

Skywatch Friday

 

Saturday, 2 May 2026 - 19:56

Sunday, 3 May, 2026 - 20:30

Wednesday, 6 May, 2026 - 20:21

Wednesday, 6 May, 2026 - 20:21

I was going to link this to Skywatch Friday but find myself unable to. Not sure if this has to do with changes on that website, or with my own switch of browser for this blog. No energy to look into that just now! 

Linking to SkyWatch Friday

(Saturday: Seems to be working now...)

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...