Winter Skywatch

 

20th February at 07:16

Thursday and Friday were of the kind that kept me "busy enough" without blogging. Thursday was laundry day for me; and on Friday I had a delivery from the supermarket booked between 10-13. For a change, they had put me almost first on the list rather than last, so I got my delivery already around 10:15; which also gave me time for a walk around the cemetery after lunch. The weather forecasts for the upcoming week being rather gloomy, I thought I had better seize the opportunity. It wasn't as sunny as the previous day but also not quite as cold, so kind of nice anyway.

I did not make a lot of photo stops on that walk, but I noticed that a second bird feeder has been put up on the other side of the same tree as where the "little red house" one is. (Cf my "calendar photo" for February.)  I think the green one is meant for the bigger birds... 
 

I also stopped for a photo of the one family grave of ours in this cemetery - belonging to my maternal great-grandparents. (That grave is still officially in the care of my aunt, who lives elsewhere, but I keep an eye on it as I often walk by there anyway). The hares seem to have been visiting (actually, there are very few spots in the cemetery not covered in hare tracks!) - but I don't think neither old spruce branches nor dry heather is in their diet. The winter grave decoration seemed as intact as can be expected after nearly four months... 

Late last night, before I went to bed, I noticed that it had started snowing outside again - but very tiny snow flakes. There were weather warnings issued along the west coast, but the "warnings" not stretching quite as far inland as here. This morning, I did wake up to the sound of snow ploughs outside; but so far it seems we only got just about enough new snow to cover old footprints on the lawns. (2-3 cm)  

As it's hard to predict whether the next shower will be snow or rain, or the next few days predominantly icy or slushy, after breakfast I took out a couple of bags to the bins, and then "a few extra steps" (10 min or so) in the immediate neighbourhood in connection with that. I don't intend to go out again today; and tomorrow will depend on how the weather develops.

 Linking to Skywatch Friday

Mid February Sunrise

I happened to wake up just in time to catch the sunrise this morning... Photos taken from my kitchen at 7:41-7:42. (The sun soon followed my own example and went back to bed, though - and remained hidden the major part of the day...)

Skywatch: Sunrise

 

30th April: I happened to be up just at the crack of dawn - 5 a.m. - to snap this sunrise. (I'm not really an early riser though, so went back to bed afterwards...)

Linking to Skywatch Friday

The Rising of the Sun

 

 

Yesterday morning I happened to wake up (and get up on my feet) just as the sun was rising. Snapped these photos through my kitchen window around 6:25 am ("summertime"). 

 

Sunrise and 'Daylight Saving Time'

In general, I'm not an early riser; but yesterday morning I happened to be temporarily up on my feet just before 6 a.m. Looking out of the window in my living room, I was met by this view - slightly alarming at first sight...

Just sunrise and trees, though, reflected in the windows of the next building!

Walking over to the kitchen, on the other side of the building, this was the view:

  Playing with the window reflections in a collage:

Yesterday, when I took these photos, the sun rose at 05:51.
I went back to bed afterwards - the Sun did not. 

Between yesterday and today, the Sun too seems to have had second thoughts about rising that early in the morning - so today it didn't get up until 06:48. 

Yes - Daylight Saving Time is back again - or "summer time" (sommartid) as we call it here in Sweden. (And as usual, I don't see the point of it...)

Remains to be seen what clock I may have forgotten to change this time - usually there's at least one, which I don't discover until later...
 

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…)

December 14 - Frosty Morning

Sunrise from my kitchen window this morning.

 

 And from the living room.

 

 

Went for a walk around the old cemetery nearby.

 

No, they are not ski poles... They are walking poles!

I have not been on skis since I was 12 - and even then I was no good at it...

Linking to Mersad's Through My Lens

Start of the Day (FMTSO+Weekend Reflections)

Alas, this week neither I nor the Sun have been in the mood to get up and start the day early. So I picked this photo from my archives.

When the sun does choose to show its face in the morning, I can see it rising over the horizon from my kitchen window (which faces north-east).

This photo however, was taken from my living room, and shows the sun using a window on the next building as a mirror. (Almost exactly a year ago.)

Sunrise Silhouettes

We have another very cold week behind us. I’ve not been out much except for going  to my physiotherapy in the rehab pool at the hospital (two mornings a week) or grocery shopping (usually a bit later in the day).

The photo above was taken with my phone camera when going to the bus stop last Monday, at about 8:50 in the morning. The one below with the proper camera from my balcony on Friday morning at 8:15 (just sticking my head out very quickly for the photo…)

Over the weekend the sun has not been getting up, but has pulled the clouds over its head, shaking down some more snow over us. (Not so much that it make’s much difference though.) I’ve mostly been following it’s example – wrapping myself in blankets and escaping to other worlds by magic (books).

Monday Update

 Short health update: Got to see a doctor at my health care centre today (not my regular GP but another one whom I know since before). I got to do expiratory tests before and after inhaling cortisone through a machine for a while (which did bring some relief), and a quick blood test. She then prescribed a 5-day-treatment with cortisone tablets (besides the basic asthma inhalations I already take regularly).

It has been my own feeling as well that it’s basically been a virus infection taking its natural course but with asthma complications going a bit beyond what I’ve experienced before. For a while I thought it would be enough to just take extra inhalations of the ordinary meds, but hopefully the cortisone tablets will be a better alternative to help calm things down.

I’m really, really longing for a night’s “undisturbed” sleep! Not expecting that to happen immediately, but I do think I’ll be less worried tonight, feeling a bit more reassured about what “is” and what “isn’t” going on!

Meanwhile, you may try guessing what the picture is!
(It’s not an x-ray of my airpipes!)

Early Hours

(Sunrise last Monday at 7:40, through my window.)

And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
~ Genesis 1:5 ~ 

Good News: Time was “back on” again this morning! The radio-controlled clock was still standing still when I went to bed last night, and seemed quite “dead”… but in the morning when I went to check, I found it innocently ticking away and showing the correct time again as if nothing ever happened. (Except the clock was still lying on my ironing board; which is not where I usually keep it!)

I guess it just needed a break!
[laugh, please]

 

 

How Come The Sun

Yule Goat: “A ubiquitous symbol of the winter holidays in Scandinavian countries. A throwback to Pre-Christian times, the Julbock is a Pagan Yule symbol that was gradually absorbed into Christian holiday customs.” (Definition from tyda.se)

We are having a very different early winter weather this year compared to December 2010, when we actually had snow in Santaland (=the town square) the whole month of December.

Statistically it’s quite normal for this part of Sweden to be snow-free for most of December; but because last winter was so very wintry, I think most of us – whether we love snow or not – are feeling a bit surprised that this year we got the exact opposite and that so far it has instead been unusually mild for the time of year.

From photography and blogging point of view, last winter was certainly more “interesting”. On the other hand, from walking point of view I do appreciate that the streets are still bare. On the third hand (don’t you sometimes wish you had one?) rain and strong winds don’t really make long walks very tempting anyway.

A sunny day back in mid November

Some days now it seems hardly to get light at all. I wake up, my inner clock keeps telling me it’s still night (whatever all the other clocks around the flat may have to say about it!), I go back to bed “just for a little while”, and oops, before I know it it’s almost lunchtime. By the time I’ve actually managed lunch, it’s getting dark again, and then the inner clock tells me it’s evening and the day nearly over. It’s a strange life. I always suspected there is a Moomin troll inside me… They go into hibernation in the late autumn and don’t (usually) wake up until spring!

Officially, sunrise around here just now is at 08:35 and sunset at 15:24 (3:24 pm). Most of this week though the sun seemed to be in worse mood than me and refused to get out of bed at all. Even for lunch.

While I wrote that last sentence, a few rays of light sought their way in through the window of my study. I just had time to think the thought “maybe I should take a short walk…” and then the sun drew the cloud curtains again and went back to bed; and rain started hammering against the window with renewed energy.

At the back of my mind, the lyrics by Tom Paxton pop up…

How come the sun didn't make it today?
Is it tired of what it's been shining down on?
Could it be God didn't wake it today?
You couldn't blame him.
Sometimes it feels like the sun just comes up out of habit,
And goes down as quick as it can.
These days you just have to grab it as it goes by.

Listen to Mary Hopkin singing it at YouTube:
How Come The Sun