Spring Flowers, Fashion & Memories

 

Daffodils and pansies in a flowerbed along the ground floor of the old town hall (where there is a restaurant with an outdoors terrace outside).  

Two shops or 'establishments' had balloons on display outside - I don't know why.

Yesterday (Saturday) seemed a good day for going into town for a couple of errands. One of them was to hand in a few items of clothing at a charity shop; and thus having things to carry already on my way to town, I took a bus part of the way. (It doesn't save me much time, but it does save me a few steps, which hopefully my knee might appreciate.) 

Having disposed of my bag of old clothes at the charity shop, I went across the square to where they sell new ones... And actually found what I was looking for: a long and wide denim skirt, with elastic waist. For summer, I might have preferred it in a slightly thinner material - but on the other hand, being sturdier, it can be used all year round. Anyway, it came close enough to what I had in mind, and I bought it. My main purpose for wanting to add this item to my wardrobe just now is that it will cover any kind of leggings, knee sleeves, bandages or support stockings etc that I might need to wear underneath it...! 

I remember when midi/maxi length skirts came into fashion back in my youth - it was 1970-71, when I was 15 years old and in the 9th and last year of our primary school. When the autumn term started, the midi/maxi skirt fashion had not yet reached Sweden - or at least not the town where I was living then. But we had two new students arriving from abroad - two sisters, who had just moved to Sweden from Austria (probably Vienna) - and they both came wearing midi length coats in some red shiny material. And at our graduation, the next summer, I myself was wearing a midi length skirt with buttons down the front, and shorts underneath... 
 

On my walk back home, I was glad to see more spring flowers spreading and brightening up both lawns and flower beds.

Scilla

 

An old grave in the cemetery re-used as flowerbed, with yellow daffodils and crocus.

 

Houseplants

 

 I haven't got all that many houseplants left after this winter; and some of those that have survived are looking rather tired - including one of the African Violets. The lighter blue one has at the same time been in bloom, but with most of its leaves drooping and not looking well at all. I'm not sure if I managed to over-water it, or under-nourish it! Anyway, today I decided to re-pot that one (even while still in bloom) and cut off the lower drooping leaves that made it look sad and tired. Remains to be seen if that will do the trick... 

While I was at it (messing about with pots and soil), I also planted a Coleus ("painted nettle") plant shoot that has (barely) been surviving the winter on water only, in a tiny glass vase. (Bottom right in the collage.) The rest of its mother plant died back in winter... 

Behind the African Violets in the collage above, you also see a bigger glass vase with some green leaves in it.  Close-up of the same below. These are my Mystery branches, which were included in a bouquet of flowers that I got for my 70th birthday back at the end of August. Some of the other flowers in that bouquet I was able to dry and save that way. But these green branches just remained the same, and I left them standing in water just to see what would happen. The answer is: Nothing. 7½ months later, they are still standing in water, an looking just the same. They have neither formed roots, nor withered - and look and feel much like they might just as well be fake...

Google Image search has identified them as Ruscus, and further research tells me that what looks like leaves are really phylloclades - "flattened, green, photosynthetic stems or branches" - while the true "leaves" are the minute, scale-like things on the middle of those. Totally weird! But I'll continue to leave them in their vase for now, just to see if anything happens at all... 
 

In my living room window (below)  I decided to add some "properly fake" pink lilies in a coloured glass vase, just for a bit of colour, until perhaps I get some live splash of colour there...

Skywatch Friday

 

 

 

Skywatching from my balcony on Thursday evening (16th April, 2026).

Linking to Skywatch Friday 

 

Too Early, or Too Late?

 

Spring is still making slow progress here... But today I noticed these tiny green leaves on a garden hedge I passed on a walk to the main post office (some 15-20 minutes away) to post a parcel for someone's big birthday towards the end of the month. 

When I got back home and looked at my calendar again, I realised that in my head, I had somehow been a week ahead of myself, and needn't have posted that parcel until next week. Ah well... Better too early than too late, I suppose!(?) 

"Better three hours too soon than a minute too late" 
(Shakespeare, the Merry Wives of Windsor)

"Early is on time, on time is late, and late is unacceptable" 
(Origin unknown)

Whether spring is early or late here this year, compared to "normal", I'm not really sure. They say that meteorologically, "spring" arrived already at the end of February - but it hasn't felt like it in nature. When I look back at photos from last year, we had magnolias and cherry blossoms in bloom in early April. This year, I still haven't seen any trees in bloom.

Men At Work

 

Back in March, I wrote a post about Dutch Elm Disease, in connection with seeing a sick tree being taken down in the cemetery where I often walk. Ever since last spring, I've also been seeing a sick tree closer to home, and wondering when that might be removed. Over winter it has become even more obvious that it's not going to miraculously recover. So when today I woke up to the sounds of a chain saw at work, it did not take me long to guess what was going on. When I looked out, the tree was already felled, and they were cutting  branches to later have it all moved by that green machine to a truck to take it away.

In the background, by the fence, there is another tree obviously suffering from the same thing. That one is not on the grounds of this housing estate, though, so I suppose "someone else" is responsible for having that removed. (Probably also more difficult to get to that one, as it's on the wrong side of the fence with a steep railway bank beneath...)

My view in that direction is "opening up" more than I'd prefer; but I can see the necessity of having the sick trees removed.