Seeking Shadow

A huge oak tree in a park 10-15 minutes walk from where I live.

I got an email yesterday from someone who was worried because I hadn't posted on my blog for a few days. In case anyone else is wondering too, perhaps I'd better put in a couple of photos with a few words to reassure you that all is well! We've just been having a bit of a heatwave, and it's been too hot to spend much time at the computer, that's all.

 
On Friday, I also had a visit from and old friend since 40+ years and her husband. (He's an old friend too by now! but it was her I knew first.) And 10+ years since we last met "in real life". We've been keeping in touch via Facebook, though, so it didn't quite feel like all that long ago... Or perhaps it did... Or not... It seems to me that Time keeps getting weirder and weirder the older I get!!!

Anyway, I got a surprise message only the day before, saying they'd be in my town the next day and could we meet? Taking corona restrictions etc into account, we ended up having a picnic outdoors where I live. (Conveniently, benches and a table in a quiet spot literally "around the corner" happened to be free.)

Looking at the photo that my friend's husband took, some lyrics by Paul Simon come to mind for me now...

Old friends
Old friends
Sat on their park bench
Like bookends
 

---

Can you imagine us
Years from today
Sharing a park bench quietly?
How terribly strange
To be seventy 
(sixty-something!)

Old friends
Memory brushes the same years
Silently sharing the same fears

Time it was
And what a time it was
It was . . .
A time of innocence
A time of confidences

Long ago . . . it must be . . .
I have a photograph
Preserve your memories
They're all that's left you

From 'Old Friends' by Paul Simon

Wayside Magic

Today I decided to take a walk on the outskirts of my end of the city (i.e. the opposite direction from towards the city centre). There too, for a little bit, I can more or less follow the river. On the other side of the combined footpath/cycle path there is a big road, though - so the area is not really as wild and rural as it will appear in these photos. But the camera is a magic tool, and can be of great help to ignore what you wish weren't there!

As the saying goes: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder...

 

 

Rhododendron and Azaleas

Such a burst of colour this time of year in our parks and gardens - and cemeteries! The rhododendron and azaleas above all grow in the cemetery close to where I live, where I often go walking.

Exploring (Weekend Reflections)

Today it's been raining all day, and I've been staying in - mostly doing "nothing". That's not a complaint. Nature certainly needed a good watering; and after a hot sunny week I could do with a relaxing day of just staying in and listening to the rain as well... 

The photos below are from last weekend, when on a random walk into the city, I ended up going to "explore" a block that in the past used to be a textile industry estate, but which has recently been renovated and updated. Some years ago, the main building temporarily housed (among other things) the city library for a while (while the building where that usually resides was getting refurbished). But more recently it has been this old factory's turn to get a facelift. I think it's probably still mostly offices in the old part, but they're also building new flats in the neighbourhood, so it's going to be a more mixed area than before.

Anyway, on this Sunday it looked quiet but also accessible to closer inspection (on the outside) - so I took the opportunity.

I like how they have kept the old characteristics on the building, like this bay window, and the entrances.

 Kontor means "Office" and I suspect this was also originally the entrance to the main office of the old factory.

 That glass wing with the staircase is certainly of later date, though!

A surprise to me was that there was also a passage through to the other side of the building which I don't think was there (or open to the public) before - leading out to a wall with a mural painted a few years ago, but which I've only seen from across the river before.

Now I was able to get views from there to the other side, instead!

They really have done quite a lot over the past decade or two to make it possible to walk along the riverside in the city. (When I moved here to live 34 years ago there were very few places where the public could get close to the water.)

Seen from another point of view, back in the beginning of May.

 

Comings and Goings

In some Swedish newscast recently, it was said that more people than usual here have been getting pets lately - since the corona-related 'social distancing' rules for humans. Not only dogs to take walking, but also small ones like birds and hamsters. (They interviewed one pet shop owner who said they had actually completely run out of hamsters...)

Personally, I've never really been a "pet person"(?); but at the moment, I have birds. Well - I don't really have them. We're just very close neighbours. Mr & Mrs Blue Tit have found their own place to live, and we just share a balcony rail. Which I used to call "mine", until they started to use it as their landing strip/runway - except when I'm out there, in which case they often make a sudden sharp turn and try a different, probably more difficult approach to reach their own doorstep. Which is here:

At first, I just watched them through the window, and noticed how often they seemed to land on almost the exact same spot on the rail every time, only to take off again seconds later. In the beginning, I could only guess; but then one afternoon when I was sitting out on the balcony for a while (and sitting very still), I was able to collect evidence. Their nest is in a vent on the wall next to my flat; and the main entrance seems to be the second slot from the bottom.

Hi kids ... Mummy's home! (...or Daddy, I'm not sure who's who...)

Just checking to see if anyone is watching me before I enter...

Even though I've seen them do it often enough now, it still seems like a magic trick to me. The actual disappearing act is just too quick - not only for my camera, but even for the human eye. 

They don't usually stay in there very long though - just to deliver food to the little hungry ones inside. Then they set off out again.

Wait for it...