Glimpses of the Sun have been very short and far between lately. This was yesterday morning ~9:30, on my way to the supermarket.
Most days now I don’t even think of bringing the camera when I go out on my errands. Besides the lack of light and colour in November, it’s rather difficult to handle the camera and an umbrella at the same time…
Now that looks better… Ah what possibilities we have these days to ‘upgrade’ (or fake) our memories…
Linking to…
As some of you might remember from other blog posts of mine in the past, in Sweden at Halloween we tend to focus mostly on remembering the dead by lighting candles and putting winter decorations on the family graves; and less on pumpkins, scary costume-parties, and candy-collecting (even if that tradition is growing more common here too, in the younger generations).
It was never my favourite holiday, even if over the past few years (after the deaths of my own parents) I feel that I have perhaps sort of come to new terms with it.
From this year on, for me, there will also be something else to remember and celebrate about Halloween.
As it happened, Friday 31st October 2014, became the date when The House (originally built and inhabited by my paternal grandparents; and later the home of my parents in their retirement years) was finally signed over to new owners – a young couple who are about the same age now as my grandparents were when they bought the property back in 1930:
I may have posted the above photo before – it’s one of my favourites. Standing together at the well on the site where they are going to build their new home, looking into the camera, they seem to be looking both proudly and happily into the future!
So I printed out a copy of that photo and gave to the new owners when we signed the final papers on Friday.
My own last (very brief) visit to The House took place last Monday in the company of my aunt and uncle. We also visited the graves of my parents and grandparents in the village churchyard and lit candles there. Weatherwise it was a very gloomy day, and for both practical and emotional reasons it felt good to have their company on this occasion, so I’m thankful that happened to fit in with their travel plans.
Yesterday, on All Saints’ Day, I went for a short walk to the cemetery near where I live, and just lit a “one for all” candle on the grave of my maternal great-grandparents there (see the collage photo above). (What I mean is that I lit one candle in that spot, but let my thoughts go briefly to “everyone” in the family tree.)
Walking back, I passed by the remembrance chapel, which on this weekend stands open for visitors. I don’t think I’ve ever taken photos inside before. I’ve been inside once or twice before (also at Halloween time) but then there have been other people there and I’ve not wanted to disturb them by taking photos. But yesterday it happened to be empty, so I took the opportunity.
Friday My Town Shoot Out this week asks:
Does your town have a zoo? Do you have a pet?
Do you own farm animals or live nearby them?
This Friday share with us animal life from your town, city or village.
I don’t have any pets, and there are no farm animals grazing close to where I live – but my town does have a zoo, and the FMTSO question reminds me that I still have unposted pictures from my last visit there (back on my birthday in August).
One of the enclosures at our zoo where you are almost certainly always guaranteed a good show is the African Savannah. Especially the giraffes and the elephants are usually very obliging when it comes to posing for photographs.
Today has been an Indoors Wednesday for me.
The primary reason was not the weather - even if on that account it was actually a rather good day to have a reason or two not to go out. Those reasons can be seen above: A new fridge and a new freezer being installed.
That’s one of the advantages as well as disadvantages of living in a rented apartment. You don’t have to decide vs don’t get to decide about these things yourself. They either happen or don’t, as the case may be. In this case, I got notice last week that is was going to happen; and further notice on Monday, that it was going to happen today, some time between 8-12 a.m.
Which meant that I was up and about around 7 a.m., just in case. But of course they did not turn up until around 11:30.
On the whole I guess it went smoothly, even if it got a bit more stressful for me than I prefer… Having to hurriedly clean away I-don’t-know-how-many-years worth of grease and grime that had been hiding under and behind the old appliances (while two strong guys carried the old ones out and the new ones in). I’ve lived here six years, but there were things living under the old fridge that I’d never seen before…
Question of conscience: Do you pull out your kitchen appliances every year and clean behind them???
The manuals accompanying the new appliances tell me, of course, that I should.
They also tell me, in visual language, that it’s okay if my new fridge sounds like a cat…
… but not if it sounds like a bear.
Remains to be seen how we’ll get along. So far this afternoon it’s mostly been me roaring like a bear, rather than purring as a cat. This because I’ve not yet got used to the fact that the new fridge only has one, big door; while my old one was a fridge-chiller with two doors that opened separately. (The lower half supposedly keeping a somewhat higher temperature, suitable for vegetables and fruit etc.) What has happened a number of times this afternoon is that I somehow manage to hit my toes with the door when closing it… (being used, I suppose, to being able to stand closer to the cabinet when I only had the upper door open).
I also have a slight grudge going on with the new freezer, which still lacks a proper “front” (which also means it still lacks a handle!). I was given a vague promise this will be added “another day”, apparently by someone else… Until then, I have to open the door by gripping around the edge of it. On top of that, the new freezer also turned out to be a little bit smaller than the old one… And as my old one was more or less full, you may be able to guess some of the initial consequences. No? Okay then: I had to have a bowl of ice-cream for dessert after lunch. And a couple of packets of very icy frozen veggies (with best-before date expired and half-thawed and re-frozen at least once before) had to go…
Minor troubles. Hopefully we’ll learn to get along…
No chance of “live” shadows today, I’m afraid,
so I’m using a photo taken about a week ago…
