Squirrel Nutkin

Seeing a squirrel probably does not count as a sign of spring, but I don't think I've seen any during the winter, so it made me happy to notice one again yesterday (in the old cemetery where I often walk, and which is also where I usually - sometimes - come across squirrels). I think he's still in his winter fur, with the large ear-tufts. (I'm still in winter coat and hat myself!)

"The red squirrel sheds its coat twice a year, switching from a thinner summer coat to a thicker, darker winter coat with noticeably larger ear-tufts (a prominent distinguishing feature of this species) between August and November." [Wikipedia]

Searching my own blog for previous squirrel posts, I find that I seem to have named all of them "Squirrel Nutkin" (after Beatrice Potter's story, first published in 1903). Ah, well. Might as well stick with the tradition! ;)

Easter Greetings from the Past (Sepia Saturday)

For Easter, I decided to go hunting for Easter cards in my great-aunt Gerda's postcard album from her years in America (c. 1903-1910). (All the cards in that album are Christmas, New Year, Easter and Birthday cards etc.)

Left: At Easter 1902, Gerda was still living with one of her sisters in Sweden.
Right: At Easter 1903, she had emigrated to Chicago. (Probably in late autumn 1902.)

 

Left: Although obviously an Easter card, this card was sent  in October 1907 (to Gerda in Chicago, from a Swedish friend living in Rockford, also in Illinois).
Right: Easter Greetings 1908, from the same friend.

 

Left: Easter Greetings 1908 from Gerda's brother Gustaf, living in Galeton, Pennsylvania.
Right: Easter Greetings 1908 from a friend in Chicago.

Easter Greetings 1910 to Gerda in Chicago, from a niece in Sweden.

In my "Swenglish" family history blog Greetings from the Past (recently revived again after a rather long slumber) I explore these and other old postcards in more detail, as part of the family history puzzle - especially the lives of my paternal grandmother's older half-siblings, as they are the main recipients and senders of the early postcards. 

...

Linking to Sepia Saturday 564
(even if my "link" to the prompt picture this time is rather weak)

Stairway to Heaven

 Continued from Good Friday (yesterday)

Turning back home again from my walk to the lake yesterday, I decided to take a "shortcut" which is at the same time also a little bit of a challenge. 

I used to climb this footbridge over the railway a bit more often in the past, when it was a convenient shortcut for me to a garden centre on the other side of the tracks, where I used to buy plants for my balcony in spring. But that garden centre closed (moved) a few years ago, and now it's been a while since I last went that way. But back when I did, the first time in early spring also used to feel like kind a "fitness test" after winter...

It's quite a sturdy construction, though, and I appreciate that it has "closed" steps. (Not fond of heights, I hate the "open" kind of stairs that you can see through...)

This time, I manged to walk up the 40+ steps in a flow without stopping, which in my book (with asthma and allergy etc) means passing the test. ;)

Views from the top, looking north-east (towards the city centre):

View looking south-west, and with the stairs leading down again on the other side:

Safely back on the ground again. By now my knee was muttering a little; but on the other hand (I told it), not all that much further to walk before being home again. The alternative would have been the "long route" in either direction to a road crossing - on flat ground, but a longer walk.

Good Friday

 

Good Friday came with Good Weather - blue sky, and "spring in the air". 

I decided I wanted to go for walk somewhere a little bit different from where I usually go, so at the railway station (above) I crossed the road bridge over the tracks, and on the other side turned left, to get to the little lake near our museum park. (The museum buildings are  up on the hill across the lake - hidden by trees in the photo below).

Originally, I had in mind to perhaps walk around the lake - but when I got there, I decided against it, because of.. 

... the incredible amount of spring tree pollen in the air right now... (I'm allergic...)

So, I decided that just continuing along the side of the lake where I already was, would probably give me more than enough of that stuff to inhale...

.... but would still provide an opportunity to snap some views with the camera...

 

Zooming in the playground on the other side of the lake, and the seagulls swimming in the water. Flocks of gulls always come here (inland), from the coast, along the river, this time of year. They can be a nuisance sometimes; but to me, they're also a sure sign of spring.

 I've reached the southern end of the lake now.

Instead of rounding the lake, I took another way back home. More photos in another post.

The Art of Amusing Oneself (Happy Easter)

 

Yet another Easter when we're told to keep distance and stay in our own bubble... How many people are there in yours? In mine there are... let's see... Me, Myself & I... 

 

We're still doing our best to cheer ourselves up by playing with the decorations, though!