Lilacs (Syringa) / SkyWatch Friday

 

Intense blue sky today (Thursday 28 May). I went for a walk in the afternoon to post a birthday card. Along a side street I passed, I noticed this house surrounded by an incredible "hedge" of lilacs (syringa) in bloom. (In Swedish we call them syrén.) In the background you can see that there are lilacs all along the opposite side of the garden as well. 

Yesterday, I also took the photos below of a "cluster" of lilacs in the old cemetery. Standing there, it did look to me like branches with two different colours of flowers are actually coming from the same trunk down at the bottom. Not all easy to tell! - but googling it now, AI informs me that lilacs can indeed be grafted:

Yes, lilac trees can be grafted. In fact, many commercial "tree form" lilacs (where a shrub is grafted high onto a single trunk) and unique multicolored varieties are produced this way. Grafting is done to change the plant's growth habit, control its size, or combine multiple flower colors onto a single base.

A bit more about Syringa (Lilacs), from Wikipedia:

Lilacs are small trees, ranging in size from 2 to 10 metres (6+1⁄2 to 33 ft) tall, with stems up to 20 to 30 centimetres (8 to 12 in) diameter.

The usual flower colour is a shade of purple (often a light purple or "lilac"), but white, pale yellow and pink, and even a dark burgundy color are also found.

The genus Syringa was first formally described in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus and the description was published in Species Plantarum. 

 The genus name Syringa is derived from Ancient Greek word syrinx meaning "pipe" or "tube" and refers to the hollow branches of one species. - The English common name "lilac" comes from the French lilac. 

Linking to Skywatch Friday

Step By Step

 

Today the clouds seemed less "compact" than they've been lately, and before lunch I decided to go for a short walk over to the old cemetery. Almost a week since last time, but the weather and snow conditions are still pretty much the same. The temperature has steadily kept below zero even in the daytime, and the nearby streets and the major cemetery paths are for the most part dry and clear of snow and ice.

In the cemetery, I practiced a bit of walking without actively using my walking pole with every step. (I.e. from time to time I just held it hovering a few cm above ground for a while, without setting it down - but ready to do so if needed.) I also made mental note that my knee still does not like the slightest downhill tilt - while slightly uphill doesn't seem to bother it as much. (Worth remembering when choosing where to walk...) 

 "Mirror, mirror on the wall..."
Mirror portrait from the lift back home 
- me dressed in full winter gear...

Skywatch on a Wednesday

 

From the same bridge today, the first photo looking north, and the second one south.

And why not "wrap up" with this view at the eastern end of the same bridge...

I suppose just some renovations going on here; but it made me think of the works of Christo and Jeanne-Claude - artists famous for wrapping various kinds of famous buildings and other landmarks in fabric...  For example the Berlin Reichstag building (1995); and an installation of 7,503 gates made of saffron-colored fabric in Central Park in New York (2005) - and many more examples can be found in the Wikipedia article linked to above. I also see there that Christo died in 2020, though; and his partner already in 2009. So I suppose I can't blame them for this one... ;-) 

Sunset Skies

 

The sunset skies outside my windows around 6 pm today (Sunday) drew my attention away from the news on the TV screen for a while... Full of their own kind of "drama"! (Photos taken from my balcony.)

Tornado Sculpture / Skywatch Friday

Sculpture 'Tornado' (Borås, Sweden)

This sculpture has been standing near the railway station & Travel Centre for at least 10 years. It has probably appeared on this blog before, even if perhaps not recently. Last week when I happened to be passing by, it caught my camera eye because of how the clouds in the sky seemed to almost rise out of it... It wasn't a particularly windy day though! ;)

 

Skywatch Friday

… or rather Skywatch Saturday, as the photo was taken this morning…

I forget what this type of cloud is called, but I’m not sure I’ve seen it combined with sunrise before.

Skywatch Friday

Sunrise view from my kitchen window,  8:30 ~ 7.30* a.m. (yesterday)

A sign of spring, even if still very much winter outside! :)

*Sorry, seems I never set my camera back to “normal” time over winter…
Not much point in doing it now (back to “summer” time in five weeks…)

Shadow Shot Sunday

Cold and frosty weather today, - 6°C around noon, when I took me, my shadow and my camera out for a walk. It’s been a while since any of us saw the sun; maybe that’s why I had such a loooong shadow, too?

Last night before I went to bed, I also noticed that I could see the stars in the sky from my balcony, which is even more rare in the city. I turned the camera towards the sky. On the screen, I could not see anything but black. But I pressed the button anyway…

Then, on the computer, I used the Picasa auto contrast + some extra shadow, and got this:

To which I can only say “wow”.

Now, of course, I’m wondering if you are able to also see the same on your computer screen as what I see on mine. I.e. more stars than I can count… And proof, I guess, that my camera sees more than I can see with my bare eye (and glasses)…

Skywatch Friday

Winter sky from my balcony today at 17:00 (5 p.m.)

More Lake Reflections

More photos from the same lake as last week. These are from my second visit, the next day (which was last Friday). On that day, I only spent one hour there, but that was still time enough to explore the narrow little peninsula of woodland sticking out into the lake from the beach. (See map below. The path around the peninsula is only about 400 m altogether.) The photo above is from out on the point. The ones below were taken along the path there and back. 

 Mainland to the left of the bay, peninsula on the right
- red dotted line marking the path.

 

 

  

Back on the mainland - peninsula to the left.

Linking to:

 

  

Skywatch Friday – Lookout

On our way back to town after our day out in the countryside the other week (visiting an old mill and a wood sculpture museum), we also made a short detour to a lookout spot high up on the hills west/north-west of Borås, from where you get quite a good view over the city. Unfortunately it suddenly started raining just after we got there; but at least I managed to snatch these two views before we had to leave (rather in a hurry!).

It’s not all easy to find one’s bearings straight away, looking out over the whole city from an unfamiliar perspective; but the new ‘skyscraper’ built a couple of years ago does stand out as a landmark (so far the tallest building in town, even if competition is being planned). I see the top of that tower from where I live as well – which is somewhere to the right of this photo, out of view!

Sharing with Skywatch Friday

Revisiting Familiar Grounds

Last Sunday, while my brother was visiting, we had made an appointment to meet our aunt and uncle for lunch at a place about half an hour’s drive from town. We took a bit of extra time getting there, though, as we wanted to make a couple of short stops in the neighbourhood of where our parents used to live.

First we went down to the beach by the lake close to our former house. It was a very windy day with risk of rain, so the beach lay all empty when we arrived.

(Photo edited as painting in Paint Shop)

We also had a look at our old house (sold two years ago). In the past we would have had to cross the railway and walk up close to the property and peek through a high hedge to see more than a glimpse of the roof… Now the house can be seen from a distance because trees and hedges have been cut down, opening up the views. The house itself still looks much the same - except that we have never really been able to see it from afar like that before. So familiar and strange at the same time! I’m glad the trees and hedges did not have to be taken down while our parents still lived there (the secluded garden was one of the things they loved about the place). But for the new owners and for the future, probably the right thing do – starting afresh, creating the garden they want. And none of our business any more, anyway!

We also stopped at the village church and made a tour around the churchyard to check on the family graves.

New cross added to one of the old graves – in memory of my dad’s cousin, whose funeral I attended earlier this year.

Memorial chapel.

Peaceful countryside surroundings.