Hot (Skywatch Friday)

 

15 July (from my balcony, shortly before sunset)

Even here in Sweden we now seem to be in the grip of the European heat wave, with temperatures up around 29-30'C (85'F) in the afternoon - and even hotter in direct sunlight, of course. (I put a thermometer out on my balcony for a while in the afternoon today and it went up to around 40'C/104'F...) So just now, between noon and sunset, the best alternative is to keep balcony doors and windows shut, and all blinds and curtains drawn - and fans going in every room. (No I don't have A/C. Very few Swedish homes do, and especially not rental apartments. In general, our houses are built to keep heat in, not to let it out.)

I find the heat very tiring, so have had to cut my walks very short the past few days. And my sleeping pattern is even more upside down than usual, as I've also fallen into "siesta" habits (i.e. sleeping in the afternoon). Sometimes for much longer than intended, and even making it hard to recall what day (or time of day) it is when I wake up again! 

 Below are some more evening "skywatch" photos from my own balcony

14 July

The last three were all taken within the same minute last night (18 July), close to sunset.

 Linking to Skywatch Friday

Hot

 

While here in Sweden we haven't had summer temperatures as high as the southern parts of Europe (and are not very likely to end up there either), we have had a few days a bit above my own "comfort zone".  

On Monday morning it was still quite pleasant, though, and I went for an "early-ish" (as in before lunch) walk into town, and bought Swedish strawberries from a stand in the main square.

 

Yesterday was warmer still, but as it was laundry day for me, I didn't really feel it all that much until after 4 pm, when I was done with that and went outside... "Not a cloud was in the sky", and it was beautiful - but I cut my walk short (and did not go out again later, either).

Today I woke up to 26'C indoors (in spite of fans going all night and a window or two slightly ajar); and outdoors feeling clammy, with threat of thunder. I decided to go out before lunch rather than later, and again that was no doubt the right decision. This time I found my strawberries (and a few other things) closer to home - there is a small "corner" grocery shop only 5 minutes away, which I've come to appreciate more and more... They don't have "everything", but they do have a wide assortment of fruit and vegs. This time of year, with a lot of it on display outdoors, it also almost gives me a feeling of being on holiday somewhere exotic, without going through the actual hassle of travelling!

Tonight there are weather warnings for thunder and heavy rain in the southern parts of Sweden, including the area where I live. Not having to be out in it, no serious worries for my own part, though. (Better keep my windows closed, though!)

 If I'm finding it too warm even at 26'C (78.8F), I dare not even think how I'd feel about 46'C (114.8F), like they've been experiencing in southern Spain and Portugal...

 

(Map from one of our major Swedish newspapers, DN, 1 July)

A Summer Walk

Summer weather with sunshine, blue skies and temperatures around 23'C (73'F) or so arrived (as forecasted) on Thursday - just in time for high school graduations and summer holidays. 

One definite sign of summer was that when I went out for a walk, I kept coming across half-naked sunbathing people lying flat on the grass in half-hidden places - desperately trying to update their tan for beach parties and whatnot... (I refrained from taking photos, so you'll just have to use your imagination!)  - I should perhaps point out that on that day, my feet were taking me along some different paths than my usual ones around the cemetery, though.

 Summery view from down by the river.

In the little park by the dam and waterfall, some potted palm trees have been added to create an extra exotic feeling. Our very own Palm Beach! (Bathing in the river not recommended, though. At least not in this spot.) 

Lupin(e)s. Loved by some (me included), regarded as "invasive" by others. I associate them with summers in my grandparents' garden, there were lots of them along the railway bank close by, and quite a few had been allowed to invade their garden too...

A surprise "sculpture exhibition" awaited me in a roped off plot of grass (wasteland?) along my way. As I haven't been going in that direction in a long time (at least not since last summer) I have no idea how long they've been there. 

 

In the background, I also spotted some bird houses on tree trunks.

Nearby, there is an old red wooden house, which now looks abandoned and empty - but the yard also unusually tidy, and the lawn seems to have been mowed! The sign on it reveals that it used to be a glazier's workshop. (Not sure what that light phenomenon to the left is!) 

 

Views from a bridge across the river. 

 

On my way back home, casting a glance up the hill beside the road, the impressive roots of these tall old pine trees caught my eye - doing their best to keep the trees in place in spite of the erosion on the sandy hillside...

Buttercup (Ranunculus acris) is a common roadside/grassland wildflower here.  

 

Another young bird (I think possibly a jackdaw rather than a crow this time?) resting on the lawn under some trees near my building - also looking a bit like it just fell from the sky and was contemplating how to get up there again. (I didn't witness the actual fall this time, though, so it may just be my imagination jumping to conclusions...) 

 

Linking to Skywatch Friday and Weekend Reflections

Summer Starts Here

We've suddenly taken a jump from spring to "early summer", which inspired me to get my old plastic carpets up from winter storage in the basement, to once again be laid out on the floor of my balcony. That is a slightly bigger job than it might seem, as they can't just be laid out there, or the first gust of wind would soon turn them into flying carpets. So they have to be fastened in various ways to prevent that from happening. I have come up with a solution involving clothes-pins tied to the railing, plus my green bench parked on top of the inner one, plus a few pieces of duct tape... Every year I wonder how many more times I'll find it all worth while (the acrobatics involved not getting easier with age!) - but the thing is, the balcony floor is metallic, and when the summer sun gets hot, so does the floor (plus it reflects glaring light as well). But with the plastic carpets on top (old ones that my mum used to have in her kitchen), I can walk out there barefoot in summer if I like, and it also reduces both the glare and noises from moving my chair about etc.

I got two new parasols last year, and I have three "holders" for them on the railing that I can shift them between as the sun moves across the sky. (The balcony faces south-west.) I can only use the parasols when there is very little wind though, or else they turn inside out, or might even do a Mary Poppins and fly away...

Most of the time it's really either too hot, too cold or too windy, or too noisy to sit out there much. (18 balconies on the same side of the house, and a frequently used lawn beneath...) However, today I was able to sit there for a little while in the late afternoon and enjoy the "fruits of my labour" - listening to music in my wireless earphones. I decided to sign up for a cheap summer offer from Spotify again (three months for the cost of one), just for the convenience of it this time of year...

Unter den LInden

 Unter den Linden is a famous avenue in Berlin (where I've never been IRL) - but I have one or two streets lined by Linden trees (Tilia) much closer to home. One is the path along the west wall of the old cemetery where I walk almost daily. Just now, walking there, one can hear the big old trees constantly "humming" or "buzzing" over one's head, as they are full of bees and bumble bees collecting nectar from the flowers... I wish I could transfer the sound to the blog as well, but you'll have to make do with my photos and your imagination...

 

 

 

 

I find that humming sound quite comforting, as it proves a lot of bees must have survived the strange long period of heat and drought we had this spring and first part of summer. July has started out cooler, and rainy... This weekend the sun is back, but forecasts predict more rain next week as well. 

 

Yesterday, I also walked into town for a few errands, and took the way through the park.

Hot Update

 

The hot and dry weather continues. Writing this around 6 pm on Thursday, and it's still 28'C (82'F) outdoors (and 25/77 indoors).  My legs are telling me they wouldn't mind going for an evening stroll, but my head is saying no. We tried that yesterday but even though keeping in the shadow as much as possible, it still just felt too hot! At the moment it's not until after sunset (around 10 pm) that the outdoors temperature drops below that indoors - and that, for other reasons, feels too late for me to be out and about.

The azaleas have dropped almost every flower now, and the rhododendrons are about to give up now too.

There are millions of elm seeds covering the cemetery right now. We'd be wading in them if not for churchyard workers/gardeners doing their best to keep things neat... (I took the photo of this heap because it's shaped almost like a heart!)

So I'm still in that dilemma that I think I've already sighed about before: Everything just now is best done in the early morning - and that includes sleep...

There are still daily reports of fires from the countryside and forests around our town - and buildings too. The other day, there was one just a couple of streets away from where I live. It seems the damage there was limited to just one flat though (and I don't know the cause). 

As for the big fire in the city centre on Friday last week, the whole top floor  of that building with twelve flats got totally destroyed, and even shops on the ground floor are still closed. I haven't been down to the city centre myself since it happened, I've just seen photos and read about it in the local newspaper. 

All in all I haven't done much this week. On Monday I think I managed an afternoon stroll around the cemetery. (I must have, because I seem to have photos to prove it.) On Tuesday morning (well, before noon anyway), I walked to the supermarket for a few things. I forgot to bring a bottle of tap water with me (which I try always to remember when I go out in hot summer weather). So I bought a bottle at the store. Tried to open that on the way home - but could not manage to get it open! Now I've added a piece of anti-slip (rubber) material to the necessities to carry with me in my handbag... ;)

Yesterday was my weekly laundry day, and even with both the tumble drier and the drying cabinet going in the basement laundry room, that felt cooler than upstairs, so I did not mind! I also took the opportunity to wash my duvet, as at the moment I don't use it anyway - just an empty cover... (Washing and tumble-drying it went well though. So it's ready for use when I need it again...)

Today's only adventure was a short stroll to the recycling bins and the nearest small convenience shop in the late morning. Like 7-8 min away but I still found myself criss-crossing to keep in the shadow as far as possible.

The next few days seem likely to continue in a similar pattern: My main job still being to try and keep both myself and my flat as cool as possible...

Dramatic Graduation Day

Yesterday, Friday 9 June, was Graduation day here in Sweden. Every country has its own traditions to celebrate high school / upper secondary school graduation, I suppose - and here it includes wearing special white hats, running out from school class-wise, getting greeted by friends and family on the school yard, and then go riding around town on the back of lorries or other open vehicles, making a lot of noise. We did this even back in my day (49 years ago), and they're still doing it - just making even more noise these days (or so at least it seems to me...)

At my own graduation (7 June 1974), it was rather chilly, and even raining. Yesterday's graduates here got perfect weather for the event, sunny and yet not quite as hot as earlier in the week. Myself, I did not know any student (graduate) personally (it's been a long time since I last did); but when I went out for a walk in the afternoon, I could hear the noises from far off, and decided to go towards the city centre and see if I could get a glimpse of the parade of vehicles. Actually I did not have to go very far at all to suddenly find myself in what seemed to be the centre of total chaos - which somewhat surprised me, as I seemed to recall that it's usually another street that is used for the main parade. Where they were driving now they were also mingling with lots of ordinary buses and cars not having any other choice. It seemed a bit odd (and not very well planned) but on the other hand, it's been years since I was last "attending" the event, so I didn't give it all that much thought (just "inwardly shook my head" a bit)...

Photos taken on my way downtown - a parked vehicle in a nearby street + a close-up of a lot of litter ('confetti'...) on the ground... (Who's going to clean that up, I wonder?!)

Ooops - suddenly here is all the action, and they seemed to be basically driving back and forth between two roundabouts at each end of a street also quite busy with normal traffic...

You have to imagine the noise: Constant honking of car horns (and possibly other instruments as well), plus hundreds of people shouting or singing at the top of their voices... 

For the top and bottom left photos in the last collage I went up the hill (to the right in the bottom right photo) and took the photos looking down from an old cemetery up there. Then I went back home, as I felt I had seen (and not least heard) enough, and found no reason to continue down to the city centre. 

 In the other cemetery, closer to home, sprinklers are on in various places pretty much all day now, because of the drought.

I took this shot of the football (soccer) field close to home, to show you just how dry the ground is when not being watered... And another dry "roadside" photo below:

Along my walk, more than once, I also heard sirens, which could mean either police or fire engines. Both seemed likely enough, on a day like this...

Checking my phone after I got home, I had an 'SOS' message, indicating a fire in central town. I checked the local newspaper app + local radio to find out more. At first it seemed to be "just" a fire on a balcony of an apartment on the top floor of a building (started by a barbecue) - but it soon spread over the whole top floor. All those living there had to be evacuated, and customers in the shops on the ground floor as well - and other shops in the neighbourhood had to close too because of the smoke. People living in the area were advised to stay indoors and shut doors and windows; and visitors to leave. The fire proved hard to put out, they worked on it all afternoon and evening and it wasn't until very late in the evening that it was considered safe. The top floor I understand was totally demolished, and probably apartments below damaged by smoke as well, and perhaps even the shops down on street level.

The two photos below I found online; published by one of our national evening tabloids.(Aftonbladet)

 

 

I learned later that the outbreak of the fire was why the graduation parade had to be redirected to the "off centre" street where I came across it - which explains the mix with ordinary traffic in that totally chaoitic way. Normally they would have been using a street now suddenly needed for fire engines and other rescue vehicles.

 

Some time after I got home, a sweet teenage girl from the Muslim family living above me knocked on my door to tell me they would be having a graduation party in the evening, for her brother - "just so you don't have to wonder what we're up to". I said I would probably have been able to guess :) and told her about having been out to see the parade. It was she who first confirmed for me that they'd have to move the parade because of the fire.

Fortunately the smoke from the fire was not blowing in our direction, but I ended up keeping my windows and balcony door closed most of the evening anyway - which also pretty much shut out noise from celebrating neighbours both indoors and outdoors. As for the family above me, I continue to be amazed at how little noise they normally make. I long ago lost count of how many children there are (or have been) in the family, because ever since they first moved in (many years ago now) there's seemed to be a constant range of them from babies to upper teens (with older ones moving out and new ones born). But I rarely hear anything from them except sometimes coming or going up/down the stairs (but they often use the lift which I don't hear). Even with their graduation "party" now there was just a bit of music in the early hours of the evening (and with my balcony door closed I hardly heard even that) + a little bit of extra noise from feet running back and forth over my head for a while. None of it lasting very late. I kind of doubt that anyone else but this particular family would even have thought it necessary to issue "warnings"!

To finish off this post, here is a collage from my own rainy graduation back in 1974. Me and my classmates were riding on that truck in the two bottom photos. However, as I recall it, we were pretty much just sitting down quietly rather than jumping up and down and shouting... (But then we were a rather well-behaved all girls class all through those three years!)

I did not have a graduation party, nor did I go to anyone else's, because the next morning, I was off on 3 weeks holiday to Britain with my parents and brother - the last long family holiday with all four of us.

Summer Heat

We've been in a long period of unusually sunny weather and drought in the southern parts of Sweden this spring/early summer. Not all that noticeable yet in the still fresh greenery in our town parks (being watered regularly), but on the news there are daily reports of fires, and farmers getting increasingly worried about their crops etc.

Yesterday was one of the warmest afternoons here so far (~27'C/81'F); which means I've now entered the stage of constantly trying to keep the sun and heat out of my flat, and spending my time indoors in summer semi darkness with blinds down, curtains closed, and fans in every room (not all of them whirring around the clock, though).

The kitchen (morning sun) is the only room where I don't need to keep the blinds down all day. The top left photo is my bedroom window (also morning sun), where on top of blinds I also have 'blackout' curtains drawn in the night (and still half-drawn in the daytime). In the living room (bottom left, afternoon sun) I have a blackout curtain in front of the balcony door (and two parasols outside, when wind conditions allow). In the study (also afternoon sun) no blackout curtains (as then I wouldn't see a thing in here) but blinds down around the clock  + now  the white curtains drawn as well... 

The major downside of hot summer weather is that the best time of day for getting anything done (whether indoors or outdoors) is the morning. Unfortunately, that's also the time when I usually get my best sleep...

In the mid afternoon on hot summer days, I often end up sitting behind drawn blinds and curtains watching episodes of the British TV show "A Place in the Sun", i.e. Brits looking for homes (or holiday homes) in places like southern Spain or Portugal. More often than not, they seem to enter a flat or house and immediately react with complaining that it's "too dark". Myself, I think what I'd look for first of all in that climate would be air conditioning and ways to seek shade...! ;-) (In Swedish homes AC is rare though, as the summer is after all fairly short - and sometimes also more rainy than sunny.)

Yesterday was laundry day for me, so I also spent parts of the afternoon down in the (fairly cool) basement, and didn't go out until 5 p.m. - and then just for a stroll around the nearby cemetery with big old trees providing plenty of shadow.

 

Today (one or two degrees cooler) I may venture out a bit earlier (soon after I've pressed "send" on this post). Will probably still be seeking shadow rather than sun, though...