Brrr...

 

 "Sudden drop in temperature" - AI generated image...

I know I said in my previous post that I'd welcome a drop in temperature - but then I had in mind daytime temps getting down to like perhaps just under 20C - not 12...

On Thursday afternoon we reached 32C here (89.6 F). Today, Sunday, it's not risen above 12C (53.6 F) all day . That's a drop of 20C (68F) in 2½ days... Not sure I've ever experienced that before?!

With unpredictable winds and rain showers reigning outside, I've just been staying in today - trying to let "enough" chilly winds in now and then to get the indoors temperature back to some kind of normal - but not too cold!! 

Thunder and Rain

 

Linking to Skywatch Friday 

On Friday afternoon the heatwave that has been ruling here for the past week started to break up, as thunder and rain showers began rolling in from the south-west. The showers have been brief but violent. The night indoors was still hot and clammy, as one could not leave any windows or balcony door open. Nor can one do so today, even if just going out for a short while. 

I did venture out for about 20 minutes around noon today, just for a "breather". I only walked 10 minutes in one direction and then turned around. The three photos above show my view of the sky on the way back. I managed to get back home dry, but shortly after, a sudden gust of wind blew shut the balcony door with a big bang (I had opened it wide when I got back in) and the heavens opened again. (The folding umbrella I had brought with me on my walk probably wouldn't have helped much.) 

This weekend of thunder is likely to be followed by a whole week of cooler weather (even under 20C) and also quite a lot of rain. Whether one considers this a blessing or a curse probably varies a lot from one person to another! Personally, I welcome the drop in temperature, and I know that nature is thirsting for rain... No guarantee how long it will be before I'll start complaining about it being too wet, though! ;)

Flamingo Fountain

 

Photo snapped off my TV screen, from the news on Swedish Television today. At a retirement home somewhere they have introduced this as a fun way for their residents to "cool off" in the current heat wave.  

 I did contemplate yesterday to perhaps make similar use of the sprinklers in the cemetery. (But then it wasn't yet all that hot, so I didn't...)

 

Today I might have been more tempted, as we reached 31C (88F) here in the afternoon. But that also meant it was too hot for me to walk that "far". I was only out for a very short walk in the morning, to buy some fruit & veg in the nearest small convenience shop. The rest of the day was spent indoors behind closed blinds and curtains, with fans whirring... 

Tomorrow they predict 32C, so I won't be doing much then either! 

Hot Again

 

 

 

It's getting hotter here again - seems we can expect around 30'C in the next couple of days. Today "just" around 26-27, but with the sun glaring from a clear blue sky without a cloud in sight, still feeling too much for me. I've been out twice but only short distances. Before noon I walked to one of the two small convenience shops in my neighbourhood and bought a big box of ice cream (1.5 l, which I was just about able to fit into my freezer, which is rather small and was already rather full of other kinds of food). After lunch I fell asleep for a while; and then in the late afternoon (after some ice cream!) went for a short stroll to the old cemetery, keeping in the shadow as much as I could. Before turning back home, I sat down there for a while (also in the shadow), on a bench in the memorial grove overlooking the chapel, near a little fountain providing a "cooling" sound. 

The next few days for me aren't likely to include any longer outings either.

 

Skywatch Friday

 

   

Wildflowers have been sown on a grassy patch dividing the walkway from the street in my neighbourhood. I think the main purpose is probably to attract bees and butterflies - but I find them very attractive as well! 

   

On the other side of the street you see the stone wall on the west side of the cemetery. Usually I walk on the inside of that wall, which is why I haven't spotted these flowers before!

And looking in the opposite direction, there was a very artistic sky formation! :) 

It's getting warmer again here, but today still not unbearably hot for a short walk before lunch. (I made sure to bring a bottle of water with me, though!)

Linking to Skywatch Friday

Decisions, Decisions ...

 

Today - Monday - was another day of cooler temperatures here (even below 20'C), but no predicted risk of rain. So a good day for me to walk into town again - this time to revisit the optician's and make my final choice of frames for the new glasses. As some readers may remember, I had taken two frames home with me on loan over the weekend. However, while I did like one of those from the shape and colour of the rim, and how they fit over my nose etc, I felt sceptical about the temples (arms), which were very thin - while I feel more comfortable with having those a bit sturdier...

 

https://www.readingglasses.com/blogs/news/parts-of-eyeglasses

 So when I got to the shop I said I wanted to look at some more frames before I decided; and did so, partly on my own, and partly with help from the optician manning the desk. 

While she and I were just discussing another frame she had just found to suggest to me, someone else suddenly turned up beside me and said hello... It took me a second to take in who it was: My old friend Ewa from Karlstad, whom I've known for almost half a century. (Back in our youth we were both living in Karlstad). She is an optician, too - retired since a few years now, but in the summers she has continued to sometimes take on short term temporary jobs in other cities (for the same chain of shops she used to work for). She last filled in for someone in this shop in Borås last summer; and we met up then. But as she told me then that that was the last time that she would be doing that, I had not expected to see her again this year! But she certainly "came in handy" to continue the discussion of my choice of frames now (while her colleague helped another customer instead). As we've known each other for so long, I could hardly have had a more competent "third opinion" for my final choice. ;) ... To sum up, I ended up deciding on a different frame than the two I had been choosing between over the weekend.

As with all the chatting I forgot to take a photo of it, I won't be seeing it again myself until I finally get it back with glasses fitted - which probably won't be until the beginning of August, as the shop will close for summer holidays for a couple of weeks in between.

The photo at the top is a view across the river from the park that I took when I walked back home from town on Saturday. This one with the thistles is the only photo I snapped today. They grew in another (somewhat "wilder") spot along the river.

Weekend Reflections

 

Yesterday was the first day in quite a while that was just offering "nice" summer weather (neither too hot, nor threatening with rain and thunder). So I seized the opportunity for a walk into the city centre just to have a leisurely look around some clothes shops - without any other more urgent errands to tick off my list. (I think that's the first time in nine months - because of the limitations that followed my fall and knee injury last autumn.) 

The photos above show the outdoor terrace of one of the popular restaurants/cafés along the river - currently decorated with white balloons. (I'm not sure if for some special reason - or just "summer".)

Before I went back home, I did sit down for short break myself - but at the ice cream café in the park on the opposite side of the river:

Before that, I had visited three or four clothes shops. What I was looking for was a pair of wide summer trousers, in a different colour than blue or black (which I already have). In my opinion this is an excellent garment for hot summer days - and not least when one also needs to wear a knee sleeve or two underneath... So I wanted to get another pair before they perhaps go out of fashion again (one never knows!). And in the last shop I visited, I did find a pair of mauve ones that I knew could be matched with a few tops I already had. So after trying those on in the shop, I bought them. Mission accomplished!

Skywatch Friday - After the Rain

 

Today I've only been watching the skies from indoors. A day of moody rain showers here - but that suited me rather well, as I had the laundry room booked for the afternoon anyway!

Linking to Skywatch Friday - USA 250th Anniversary Edition 

(Happy 4th July to my American friends!) 

Eye Test

   

The heat wave here (fairly short compared to further south in Europe) can now be declared over. Today I needed to put on a light jacket for my walk into town, and my foldable umbrella came in useful on the way back. 

The photo above is one I borrowed from myself from a few years ago. Today, with a walking stick in one hand, an umbrella in the other and the rest of my "things" in a backpack, I had no hand free to take photos... ;)  

 

My main errand today was an eye exam originally booked for last week, but which I had to call and postpone because it got too hot for me to go into town.

No such problem today; and as it didn't start to rain until later, I arrived at my destination neither too hot nor wet. 

The result of the examination was that some minor adjustments could this time be made for a pair of new glasses; while at the same time my optician also did not see any need to refer me back to the eye doctor just now, as my problems of "that kind" don't seem to have changed. So I decided to go ahead and buy new glasses; after all I've had my old ones for 5 years.  

So before leaving the shop I also tried on some frames. I ended up taking two back home with me over the weekend, and will go back at the beginning of next week to "close the deal". Both those I took home with me were on sale. I do actually know which one of those that I prefer... But I might also want to have one last look around  next week before making the final decision. After all, I'm likely to be living with my choice for a couple of years at least! 

Recently,  I came across the following two "eye tests" of other kind online. At least I can brag about managing those without running into any major problems. Can you? ;) 

 

 

July

 

For the month of July in my 2026 wall calendar I chose this photo of a typical Swedish rural idyll. It is one I took last year at Bullerbyn - "The Noisy Village" - in the Swedish province of Småland. The real name of the place is Sevedstorp; and it is the village Astrid Lindgren had in mind when she wrote her books about The Children of Noisy Village. And it is the village where Astrid's own father grew up. (You can /re-/read my post about it and see more photos here, in a post from August 2025.)  

In case it's not obvious to all readers, the two containers in the foreground are milk churns (cans), which at small farms used to be put out on platforms like that by the road, to be picked up by a truck to be delivered to the nearest dairy.