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.  

Much Ado about a Small Parcel

 

It's been six months since my knee injury back in early October. I've come a long way since the initial stage when the whole leg was blue and the left knee resembled a balloon.  But I still depend on wearing knee sleeves on that knee for support, plus using a walking pole/stick when I go out. And I'm still struggling to figure out the "right balance" between  "being on my feet" vs resting, during the day. 

I'm using two different kinds of knee sleeves. When I go out, or am on my feet a lot at home, I prefer a compression one in synthetic material (on the left below). Luckily, I already had those (having had milder "on and off" problems before), so could use those right from start after my injury. (Which helped to keep the swelling down - and the doctors I saw shortly afterwards seemed to approve.) 

    

After the injury I also bought the grey ones to the right, made of bamboo - softer, "airier" and more comfortable to wear in the night. (I'm actually surprised how much that helps to keep the knee steady during sleep.)

With spring/summer and warmer weather ahead now, I thought it might be a good idea to order yet another pair of bamboo sleeves, as I imagine they may also be more comfortable than the synthetic ones in hot weather. However, when I checked the website where I had bought the old ones, that company did no longer have them in stock... 

... But if you have ever googled anything even once, you know that a lot of products will prove to be available from more than one company... (My FB ad algorithms have been actually been showing me very little but knee sleeves and compression socks all winter!) 

I found some looking very similar, from another Swedish company, which did seem to have them in stock for speedy delivery. They also seemed to promise to deliver parcels to the most convenient place for the customer - which in this case should have been by "letter" directly to my own mailbox. (As that had worked with similar deliveries from other companies before.) At worst (I thought), I might have to go a covenience shop in my own neighbourhood to pick it up (~300 m away). 

Big Groan from me when yesterday I received a text that the parcel had arrived at a (for me) very incovenient shop around 2 km away - across the city centre from where I live, and up a rather steep hill... 

Ah well. This morning was neither wet nor windy, and as it was Saturday, the buses shouldn't be crowded. I walked to the nearest bus stop (~300 m), took a bus from there to the railway station, where I changed to another bus that took me (via the city centre) half way up the hill towards my goal. Got my parcel (which could indeed easily have been made flat enough to be sent by regular mail) - and managed to refrain from complaining to the shop assistant (as it wasn't his fault)... 

Out on the street again, I decided to try a downhill walk back "downtown". I managed it - but learned that walking downhill still requires "baby steps". So it took a while. 

Back down at the bus square (on flat ground by the river), I got on a third bus to take me two stops further along the river; from where I knew it would "only" take me another 15 min or so to walk the rest of the way home. 

All in all, the whole outing took me about an hour and a half. 

However, the content of the package did turn out to my satisfaction. The new bamboo  sleeves (I ordered two) seem to be the same size and quality as the old ones, and feel the same. So at least I won't have to return them - and hopefully it will be a while before I feel need to buy more... 

Left: New - Right: Old

 

The photo at the top of this post was taken from about half way down the hill from the shop - turning back and looking uphill. (If anyone wonders about the windowless brick wall on the right, that belongs to a church.)

 

Spring Preparations

 

Yesterday: Crocuses in a flowerbed in my neighbourhood.

Today I decided to put what energy I had into getting started to "make spring" on my balcony. So I got the plastic rug, my chair, and  the trellis with fake leaves (bought last year) up from the basement storage room. With pauses in between, I also got them in place during the day. (Fingers crossed that April has no plans to throw another storm at us!) 

No live flowers for a while yet, as frosty nights are still likely to happen. I also plan to keep it simple - not too much messing about with "growing things"... But I'll buy some geraniums later on, they're easy to move around depending on the weather, or even take in if needed.