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...)