Icy Cold

 

Another cold and sunny day today, and I took my Sony camera for a walk down to the river to look for more ice and reflections. (It has a better zoom than my phone camera...)

Taking a photo of my own shadow taking a photo of... etc... 

 

 

Weekend Reflections

 

For Valentine's Day (Swedish: Alla hjärtans dag = All Hearts' Day) we had one of those rather rare cold winter days of sunshine and blue skies, and yet no ice/snow on the streets. And this big heart is once again in place in the square, right in front of the old court house in the background. (It has been moved around between a few different locations since last February when it first appeared.) 

The water level in the river is low, due to construction work on a bridge going on upstream. From the spots of ice along the temporary "beach" (not normally visible!) you can tell that it is really quite icy cold even if there is no snow or ice to be seen elsewhere!

 

Looking back towards town on my way home.

As you can see from the reflections in the river it was a very still day - no wind blowing.
 

 A frozen shallow pond, on the other side of the path along the river that I was following.

I was glad to be able to take advantage of the sunny day for a walk. Today we're again back to cloudy and grey - and also a bit of snow whirling about outside my windows just now...

 Linking to Weekend Street/Reflections

 

Playing with Tulips

 

I divided the large bunch of tulips that I bought yesterday into two vases, and put one in the kitchen window, and the other on my living room table. 

And today I took photos and played around with them in Picasa...

 

 

 

♥ All Hearts ♥

 

In Swedish, St Valentine's Day (14 February) is called Alla Hjärtans Dag = All Hearts' Day. Celebrating this day wasn't introduced in Sweden until the 1960s, though, and it wasn't until 1985 that it got officially added to our calendar.

So special decorations for Valentine's Day was not in the traditions back in my childhood and youth. February is still definitely a winter month here though, which means I usually keep some "Christmas red" in my indoor decorations at least past the mid of this month.

Yesterday, I recalled that I had seen these red hearts in an easily accessible drawer (i.e. not packed away with the Christmas things), so added those to my fake spruce branches; and also put a table runner decorated with hearts on the coffee table. 

This afternoon I also went for a walk to the supermarket and bought myself a bunch of red tulips. (No one else is likely to do it!) They're only buds yet, though, so will probably be more photogenic if I wait a day or two. 

The weather is also getting more winter chilly again here. No snow on the ground at the moment, but even with a bit of sunshine and blue skies this afternoon, it was still definitely wintry/icy cold, and no real sense of "spring in the air" yet. 

I'm prepared for when that feeling hits me, though... Last week, on my outing to the shopping centre across town, I bought myself a new set of kitchen curtains for spring/summer. But I probably won't be putting those up just yet. For now, it's enough to know that they are there in my wardrobe, waiting... 😉💕

 

 

School Shooting in Örebro, Sweden (4 Feb)

 

Some of you following this blog will probably already have heard through your national media about a very tragic event that took place in the city of Örebro in Sweden this week (Tuesday 4 February): A school shooting in which eleven people were killed - including the perpetrator - and six more physically injured. It is said to be the deadliest mass shooting in (modern) Swedish history, and has of course been dominating the news here all week. 

The shooter has been identified as a 35-year-old Swedish man, whose motives for the attack are still under investigation. He is believed to have acted alone, and then also killed himself. 

The school is an adult education centre. I think it was not until yesterday that all the victims were officially identified. They were all from Örebro (or around there). Those killed were seven women between 32 and 68 years old, and three men between 28-48 years old. Yesterday, five people were also still in hospital, and two of those still in intensive care. (I have not heard the latest update.)

Of course the whole city of Örebro is in shock - as usual, the closer to home something takes place, the more one "feels" it... Knowing exactly where it happened, knowing the victims or witnesses, or their families and friends etc. Or, until the victims are identified, wondering if one perhaps knows them...

For my own part (as far as I know), I don't personally know anyone directly affected; so I'm "just" one of all those who wonder what makes someone do something like that, and what can be done to prevent something similar to happen again - etc, etc. (Stricter regulations on firearms will most likely be one result, already proposed by the government.)

My main sources in English for details in this post:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Risbergska_school_shooting

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce3lpp9we4jo

The image at the top was cut from a photo in the BBC article. People have kept leaving flowers and candles outside the place where it happened, all week.