Waiting for Magic

I’m still waiting to be connected to the new fibre optic broadband. 1st April turned out to be joke… Well. Not happening, anyway! Since the website still said nothing different today, I did give it a try; but no success. I thought maybe I needed to change some settings or something … But when I phoned my new internet provider, they said the reason it wasnt’ working yet was that the cable has not yet been connected for this area. They hadn’t got any new date yet either. (They’ve now promised to call me when it should be up and running.) Well – as long as I’m not cut off from the old one, I’ve no reason for serious complaints, I suppose…

Waiting…. (new router)

In the meantime, I’m still adjusting to my new chair.

What’s not included in the Manual is the Complete Home Makeover that a Rolls Royce kind of Chair requires:

‘Exuse me,’ it complains, ‘but this carpet that you have here is really not at all what I was designed for. Who ever heard of a rag rug on an office floor?! I can’t get around on this knobbly old thing without getting stuck half the time! Besides, how long have you had it, anyway?! Looks like it’s been through a lot. I’m almost embarrassed to be seen with it!’

I made a quick calculation and had to admit that after 37 years of service, the blue rug rag was probably due for retirement.

So while my brother was here for Easter, we made a little detour to a carpet store.

 

The Chair was pleased when it was introduced to the new Carpet. ‘Just my shade of red!’ it exclaimed. ‘And so smooth… We´ll get along splendidly, I think.’

And so they did. The next day, in the daylight, they ganged up on me and made hints about the curtains.

‘I’m not saying anything about the brownish red,’ said the Chair. ‘That’s almost the right hue. But the other colours… They may have been all right with the old rag rug perhaps, but with the new carpet… It all gets a bit much, don’t you think?’
‘I absolutely agree,’ said the Carpet. ‘There’s way too much green, and they’re too dark, and the pattern kind of clashes with mine. You want something lighter… Also matching my colours, of course – but not so much as to take over!’

So there was nothing for it but take a walk into town to the department store.

‘Hey,’ the Carpet shouted after me as I left. ‘See if they’ve got any with birds on them!’

Fortunately they did.

The curtains were too long and had to be shortened a bit, but the Chair and the Carpet kept cheering me on while I did the job. When I finally got them up, we were all happy – for a little while. Until the Curtains noticed the ironing board cover…

‘Really!’ said the Curtains. ‘That’s one very dominating ironing board cover, isn’t it? Steals all the attention…’
’But it’s not all that long since I bought it,’ I protested. ‘The old one was all worn out, you wouldn’t have liked that either…’
’But those colours… what were you thinking?’ said the Curtains. ‘Big blobs in weird colours on black?!’
’There wasn’t much to choose from!’ I defended myself. ‘And it almost matched the old curtains…’
’Well, we’re not happy with it!’ said the New Curtains, curling up in extra wrinkles. ‘We really don’t need the competition. You’d better get something more neutral.’

‘All right, all right…’ said I. ‘I’ll see what I can find. Anything else when I’m off to the stores again anyway?’
’Yes,’ said the Chair. ‘Do get another one of those sheepskin pads for me, will you? Surely you want one for the neckrest as well as for the armrests? I can’t believe you didn’t think of it at once. You know by now that when I get cold, you do too…’
’You’ve got a point,’ said I.

 
New ironing board cover in white and grey.

Warming sheep skin pads for the chair.

PS. While in the department store, my cellphone beeped. It was my coffee table calling me from the living room, requesting a new table runner…

Bring on the Spring

There’s still winter outside (we’ve had a couple of sunny days, but the nights are still very cold). Indoors however, it is MY decision when spring begins… So in my kitchen, spring began yesterday. This means putting up my yellow curtains, spreading my lemon-and-oranges tablecloth, and buying a bouqet of tulips to celebrate.

The pattern on the tablecloth is designed by a Swedish artist whose work I like very much, Lena Linderholm.

You’ll probably be seeing a lot of these tulips… They were so expensive I have to make the most of them!

To Separate Light From Darkness

I’ve kept myself busy today with a curtain project. Not as advanced as it may look from the pictures – all I did with the sewing machine was to hem to the right length. The eyelets at the top were already there ;) … Nonetheless, I’m glad to have the machine and to be able to do that much.

My bedroom faces north east. When I moved in (3 summers ago) I put up light white curtains, which have been good in the winter time, because then the nights are long and I like to get as much light as possible into the room in the daytime. But in the height of summer, when our days are long and the nights short… I get the sun right in my eyes very early in the morning (in spite of Venetian blinds). Last summer I put up a pair of darker ones that I had; it helped a bit but they weren’t really made to draw, and I wasn’t 100% happy with the solution.

Now in a shop I found these in a cheerful green but still supposed to be “blackout” curtains. They have a layer of white on the back which is supposed to reflect the incoming light back out and so keep the room cooler, as well as dark. They are also easy to draw and push back. (Luckily I have window sills that go into the wall instead of sticking out.) They were rather expensive, and I had to get a new curtain rod as well. But I’m hoping they’ll be worth it. So far at least I’m very pleased with how they looked when I got them up. I was a little hesitant about the colour in the shop – I didn’t buy them at first sight, but thought about it for a couple of days and then went back to buy them. But now that I got them up I think it was just the right shade of fresh “nature” green which goes with almost anything.

ABC Wednesday–F for Fashion, Fabric, Factory, Furniture

How fortunate for me that the letter F just happens to fit right in with my series of posts from our fabulous Textile Museum.

On the first floor of the museum there is a permanent exhibition of all kinds of old machinery from fabric factories and fashion industry.

Familiar face?

On the second floor, there is just now a flashy exhibition of 60’s and 70’s Swedish Design including furniture as well as frocks.

It tickles my fantasy what that sofa really looks like?

Maybe it’s just another piece of fold-it-yourself
corrugated cardboard furniture!

This bedframe seems to be of more durable design.

To see what F’s other friends have found,
go to ABC Wednesday

To see all posts from the Textile Museum on this blog,
click the label Textile Museum.

Boots On the Table, Please!

Ah, fill the Cup! What boots it to repeat
How time is slipping underneath our Feet.
Unborn To-morrow, and dead yesterday
Why fret about them if today be sweet?

'Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam’ (11th century)
translated by Edward FitzGerald (1809-1883)

---

For Straight-Out-Of-the-Camera Sunday