On the Road Again (Västergötland, July 2015)

A ‘problem’ with taking lots and lots of  photos on your summer holiday trip is that afterwards it gets so hard to choose which ones to blog, that you never get round to it…

On the other hand, it makes a nice change when you suddenly remember these photos in the dreariness of late winter.

On the non-existing third hand, however, you may then realize that you no longer have any idea what exactly you’re looking at!

But never mind… Let’s go back again to July 22, 2015…

Our last stop was the lock at Brinkebergskulle, Vänersborg.
We are now driving east from Vänersborg towards Lidköping.

The landscape south of Lake Vänern  is mostly flat, but with some ‘table’ mountains/hills adding a bit of drama to the scenery:

Halleberg, with an average height of about 90 meters above Lake Vänern and the highest point 155 meters above sea level, is also Scandinavia's largest old hill fort, dating back to the 3rd and 4th centuries AD. It is now part of a large Ecopark area also including Hunneberg (another table mountain nearby).

In the Middle of Nowhere (apologies to Grästorp municipality), there is a lay-by displaying a Viggen aircraft.

A dilapidated old cottage (also in the middle of nowhere)

I don’t remember what church this is – we did not stop here. This is a typical countryside view in these parts, though – quite a few church towers sticking up which can be seen from miles around - and many of them white.

Here’s another church where we did stop to have a closer look - but I don’t remember where that was either…

I’ll be linking this post to Mersad’s Through My Lens meme.

Hibernation Art

Today it's been snowing and sleeting all day from a leaden sky, with temperatures around freezing point. I’ve not set foot outside. In the afternoon, I think some time around 2:30 pm, I lay down for a while to listen to an audio book. Feeling really cold I even pulled the duvet over me… Woke up around 5 pm, with the talking book (a Swedish crime novel) still chattering on… way ahead of me… Must have slept deeply for over an hour at least - had to rewind several chapters before I began to recognize the story! (Usually I set a sleep timer, but obviously not this time.)

The picture is an overlay collage of four different photos taken from my window earlier in the day (before I lay down to rest…). Actually I think the result represents the day quite well.

Winter and Summer Reflections

Photo from Tuesday this week when I had to go into town early on a cold morning. The building is an indoors swimming bath, situated in the town park just by the river. 

I’m really tired of winter… Below are some pictures from summer. The tree in the middle below is the same as the one above, but seen from the other direction, looking towards the city center.

(PS. This building is not the pool I used to go to; that was at the hospital... This one is an ‘adventure’ bath,  and I’m not really a mermaid at heart… I prefer calm waters…)

Friday My Town – Skywatch Friday – Weekend Reflections

Ruby Tuesday

Few things make me feel as cold and ravenously hungry for the rest of the day as having to go out without breakfast (or even a drink of water) on a cold winter morning (-10°C = 14°F)…

Today was one such day. Had to go into town for some fasting blood tests for a medical check-up (seeing the doctor next week).

Just getting dressed for the expedition takes some planning, when the outdoors part requires multiple layers of clothing, while the indoors part involves giving lab staff quick access to your bare skin…

To look on the bright side: by mid February it’s no longer pitch dark at 7:30 am, and even if the morning was very cold it was (going to be) a sunny day; and moreover, this week is winter sports holiday week here, which means the bus was not crowded with school kids as it usually is that time of day. 

There was also no queue to speak of at the lab at this early hour in the morning; and the procedure really went rather smoothly. Wise from experience, I had brought a picnic breakfast (small thermos of tea + sandwich) to consume immediately afterwards, before I put on all my outdoor gear and ventured out again. Thus revived, I managed to walk home – where I immediately felt in need of a second breakfast. Two hours later, a bowl of hot chicken soup; followed by yet another pot of tea, and a piece of chocolate…

About three hours past lunch, a glance at the clock on the wall in my study confirms that hooray, it’s Tea Time! Off to put the kettle on again!!! … And with this cuppa I’m definitely craving hot toast with marmalade, and cheese… and a banana… and another piece of chocolate…

(I always look away while they draw the blood… Beginning to seriously wonder now how much they took!!!)

((…and what to have for supper…))

…

Photos: Geranium in my living room window.

Ruby Tuesday Too

Book Review–The Devil’s Sanctuary

Marie Hermanson (born 1956) is a Swedish writer and journalist who has written several intriguing novels with a surrealistic touch. Her earlier novels have not been translated into English, but this one, which I just recently listened to in Swedish, has. So I thought I’d mention it here. The Swedish title is Himmelsdalen – ‘Paradise Valley’ – but in English it has been named The Devil’s Sanctuary. This in itself I think reflects the duality at the very core of this psychological thriller: The difficulty (sometimes) of deciding what is what, what is good or bad, truth or lie – and even perhaps who is who…

Daniel and Max are identical twins, with a complex relationship ever since childhood. The story starts out with Daniel going to visit his brother while he is staying in a recovery clinic near a small village in a secluded valley in the Alps.

On the surface it seems more like a peaceful holiday resort than anything else, but when Daniel is asked to take his brother’s place for a few days, his perspective begins to change… 

Be prepared for some twists and turns (or ups and downs) before you get to the end of this novel!