Light and Dark

The sun keeps shining - but the same cannot be said about the basement lights ...

We're having another glourious September week, with afternoon temperatures reminding more of high summer than autumn. 

On Monday I walked into town for a haircut, and also could not resist snapping a couple more reflection photos.

On Tuesday I walked in the opposite direction, to the supermarket for a few things (no photos).

Wednesday (yesterday) was Laundry day for me, so then I did not go far from home - just a turn around the neighbourhood when I was done with that. 

 

Red berries in the old cemetery;
their name unknown to me.  

Before that, my laundry afternoon was a somewhat spooky adventure this week, though. First of all, the lights in the (windowless) basement corridor weren't working. They're of the kind that are supposed to come on automatically when sensing movement - but yesterday only the one just opposite the lift (elevator) was functioning... It was ok inside the laundry room itself, though.

When I got back up to my flat, I made an online report of that, and also a separate report of having noted that the dustpan was missing from the laundry room cleaning equipment. 

Next time I got down, both brooms had disappeared as well! So then I thought okay, someone must have borrowed them all temporarily... (Why first only the dustpan, and then also the brooms, still mystifies me, though!)

However, when I got back down the last time to collect my final load from the drier, all three cleaning tools had been replaced. It was not the same old ones that had been put back, though, but different ones. Definitely not brand new (very far from) - but also definitely not the same ones. I can only presume that the service staff must be keeping a secret stack of old runaway brooms and dustpans somewhere and circulate them when needed...

AI generated image

 (As for the lack of light in the corridor, after my first wander in the dark, the next times I went down I brought a pocket flashlight with me...)

Swedish whitebeam tree. There are several of these around the housing estate and street where I live.
 
Today, I walked into town again in the morning - this time for a pharmacy errand - and on the way, I noted a definite change of colour now in certain trees...
 

In the afternoon, I also went for a shorter walk to the nearby district library again, to return the book I borrowed last time, and look for another (ended up borrowing two). 

 

This time, I also remembered to take a photo of an interior detail that caught my eye already on the first visit - these wonderfully decorated dark door frames... Most of the doors have been removed to enable visitors to circulate through the rooms, but I also noticed one now with the door still there, and closed.

Not easy to do photographic justice to, but enlarged and with some adjusting of colour you can see the pattern:

 

Let There Be Light

 

Monday afternoon walk

Wintry weather this week inspired me to get started with my Advent decorations a few days earlier than planned. (Looking at the dates, not really earlier than usual though, as Advent comes "late" this year, with the 4th Advent Sunday coinciding with Christmas Eve.)

Anyway, it struck me that I would have more time for decorating on Monday-Tuesday than I would have later in the week. So I started with the kitchen and bedroom yesterday; and continued with the living room and study today. 

Kitchen

 The kitchen is always the biggest project because there I also change the curtains.

Bedroom

Study

Living room

Balcony

Back in my childhood, as well as in my first flat back in my 20s, we/I just had one window star, in the kitchen (the same kind and colour of paper star as I still have in the kitchen), and one electric candlestick, in the living room. 

Ever since I moved into the flat where I live now, though (15 years ago), I've had the setup that I do now.  (Except that I've had to exchange one or two candlesticks over time. But this year - so far! - I did not even have to play "find the faulty light bulb" with any of them...)

Glad to have them all back up once again, to brighten up the December darkness.

(As usual, I will be adding my other Christmas things week by week until Christmas.)

 
In honour of the freshly fallen snow (so far only a very light layer) and outdoors temperatures now around -7°C (19°F), Barbie and Skipper have donned matching winter jackets + knitted hats (all made by my mum back in the 1960s). (Skipper only had summer shoes in her wardrobe, though, so I had to make her a pair of snowboots out of cotton pads and surgical paper tape...)

 

Today, just a short walk outdoors before lunch (photos from around 11:30 am).

The Light from Within

It's been one of those autumn weeks when the light seems to be coming from within the trees rather than from the sky above... 

(Photos from Sunday 22nd through Wednesday 25th October.)

December 13 - Friday - St Lucy's Day

From Lund Cathedral (Skåne, Sweden)

On 13th December here in Scandiavia we celebrate Lucia or St. Lucy's Day; a festival of light which in the past coincided with the Winter Solstice.

Lucia is celebrated in both private and public contexts. In most towns in Sweden, an official Lucia with a number of maids are elected at the beginning of December. They then spend 2-3 weeks visiting public places like hospitals and nursing homes, singing traditional Lucia songs and Christmas carols. Churches and schools and workplaces etc often have their own Lucia celebrations on the 13th of December as well.

 

Classic Lucia illustration by Jenny Nyström (1854-1946)
(God Jul = Merry Christmas)

St Lucy was a 3rd century martyr in Rome. According to legend she brought food and aid to persecuted Christians hiding in the catacombs, wearing a candle-lit wreath to light her way and leaving her hands free to carry as much food as possible. Nowadays she brings coffee and saffron buns and ginger biscuits - early in the morning while it is still dark.

(If you write Lucia into the search box on top of my blog, it will bring up more Lucia posts of mine from years gone by.)

Thoughts on a Foggy Day

Chasing fog has a lot in common with chasing rainbows. (I.e. when you get to the point where you thought you’d be able to catch it, it’s no longer there, but has moved further away...)

Walking (in the fog) along a familiar short path with apartment buildings on one side, you don’t really expect to suddenly find a tepee on the other! But there it was…

In a novel I’m reading at the moment, Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen – a romance novel with a light touch of magic to it – there is a character, an elderly woman, who keeps bringing people strange gifts: “When Evanelle brought you something, you were usually going to need it sooner or later.” It seems my brother must have the same kind of magic as Evanelle; because the chain of coloured LED lights he sent me for Christmas has already come in handy. (When he bought it, he did not know anything about my problem finding more replacement bulbs for my old chain of lights – which lasted over Christmas, but broke down again today.)

Decemer 18 - Battery Candles

These are especially for Sandra the Madsnapper, who posted about her own battery candles recently. Mine are a bit different, as they have no bulb sticking up, pretending to be the flame. Especially seen from the side, they look very real. And when touching them, the outside feels just like real candles too.

I'm not quite sure I would trust the Madsnapper with my fake candles though...

... because when these are not lit, they look so much like real ones that someone might actually try to light them by putting a match to them...

I'm not kidding! A few years ago I put one of this kind in a lantern on my parents' grave for Halloween. It seemed like a good idea, because they also have a built-in timer. From when first turned on, they will burn for five hours, and then will put themselves out for the next 19 hours, and turn themselves on again automatically at the same time the next day. So will burn every night for a few weeks without change of batteries.

However, I did not get to visit the village churchyard again until months later; and then when I took the candle out of the lantern, I deduced from the sooty marks on it, that at some point in between, someone (probably some old friend of my parents from the village) must have tried to light it with real fire - not realising that it was a fake one! Ooops...

So since then, I have not tried using these kinds of candles on graves again!

I often use these two on the table in my living room by the sofa, though - because it's safe to leave them burning while I go to and fro; and no fear of anything catching fire if I sit nearby and read a newspaper either. I do light real candles too, sometimes - but only when I feel it's safe... :)
  

In the Dark (Friday My Town)

One week of November has gone by already, here in Sweden we are back on winter time since two weeks, and darkness is falling earlier with every day…

I went looking for some new winter decoration lights for my balcony; and fell in love with this little tree with white LED bulbs that in the daytime look rather like snowberries. As bare branches somehow look less “christmassy” than spruce garlands, I decided it would be OK to put it up already for Halloween… So I did!

So far we’ve been having mild and rather still autumn weather. I’ve tried to tie the tree tight to the rail – but it remains yet to be seen when proper winter storms set in (as no doubt sooner or later they will) if I’ve done a good enough job of it!

…

Yesterday, while I was tapping away on my computer writing an email, the display on my screen suddenly changed; and resolution, size and font and whatever went bigger and distorted – for no reason at all, as far as I was aware of. I then tried to restart, hoping that would fix it - but was rebuked by the computer, who (strange how personal appliances suddenly get when things like that happen!) told me I was not allowed to do that (implying that even worse things might happen if I did). Apparently It had much more important stuff to deal with than my email.

So I left it alone for a while and went away to do other things. When later on I found it had turned itself off, I tried waking it again, only to find it was still in a grumpy mood – showing the same weird display. I made some attempts at setting it right, but to no avail. At best I managed to get the text back to somewhere close to the right “height”, but everything was kind of flattened out and elongated sideways. Round icons for example weren’t round but oval. So I gave up and went to bed…

This afternoon I gave it another go. Alas no mircale had happened over night. It took me three hours or more of continued trial and error to get the settings back to looking right. For starters, I could not for the life of me remember (nor find) what my screen resolution had been before it went wrong…

Finally it seems I managed to get it right, though. (Note to self in case it happens again: 1600 x 900). Hopefully I’ve learned something about various other settings in the process as well. But I still haven’t got a clue why it played up in the first place! (Anyone else out there who had similar problems with display settings in Windows 10?)

Friday My Town – Darkness

Winter Days / Lucia

Winter Days [Friday My Town Shoot Out]
How does your town prepare for the coming winter season?
What do your homes look like when the nights are long and days are short?

On 13th December here in Scandiavia we celebrate Lucia (St. Lucy’s Day). In the past (before calendar reforms) this feast coincided with the Winter Solstice, so is a festival of light; and I guess one reason that although the origin is Italian, the day is still celebrated here in Scandinavia because it fits in well with our other Advent/Christmas festivities to brighten up the darkness that otherwise reigns here during the month of December.

Lucia is celebrated both in private and public contexts. In most towns in Sweden, arranged by charity organisations and local newspapers, an official Lucia with a number of maids (often six) is elected at the beginning of December. They then spend 2-3 weeks visiting various public places (like hospitals and nursing homes) singing traditional Lucia songs and Christmas carols.

Borås Lucia 2014 was officially crowned last Saturday. As usual the ceremony took place in the Main Square in front of the Court House – starting at 4 pm, just as the shops close (on Saturdays).

15:41
There are extra market stalls in the square all December.

16:02
A new decoration this year is a double bow of lights with a mistletoe hanging down in the middle – for anyone feeling in romantic mood…

16:21
Lucia and her six maids stand on the stairs of the Court House and sing. Alas in the dark it is hard to zoom in and get clear photos…

 

Classic Lucia image by Swedish artist Jenny Nyström
(1854-1946)

More City Lights

Some of you might remember that back in mid October I posted about A New View in my town. Yesterday that new part of the walk along the riverside was officially inaugurated. The ceremony took place at 4 p.m., which is when darkness falls here this time of year.

Instead of cutting a ribbon, they tied one together…

… as a symbol of the new part of the walk connecting previously existing possibilities to walk along the river.

The plan is that in 2018, it will be possible to walk close to the river all the way through town, for about 2,5 km (~ 1,5 English miles).

In the old days of textile industry, the river was lined with textile mills, and chemicals from the dyeing works used to colour (and pollute) the water in the river. Now, coloured spotlights are used as a reminder of that not-so-pretty history of our town, and the changes it has gone through more recently to become more of a post-industrial centre of commerce and culture. Which, in a way, is kind of how it all began back in pre-industrial times… When the town was founded in the early 1600s, it was as a trading-site!