Read in May

As I have already mentioned a number of times by now, the month of May was hot and dry, and the air filled with various kinds of pollen. Being allergic to pollen, this also means it’s not been a good month for reading for me, as my eyes get itchy and tired. So I have mostly been listening to audio books instead.

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First, after writing my review of it last month, I decided to listen again to The Fifth Doll by Charles N Holmberg. It has kind of an intricate magic/fantasy plot and it did come together a bit better for me when I listened to it a second time… The background setting is definitely Russian, by the way, and relates in time to the period around the Russian revolution (1917).

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To Die But Once by Jacqueline Winspear
(14th in the Maisie Dobbs series, 2018)
Audiobook narrated by Orlagh Cassidy (10:29 hours)

(I read the previous book in this series on Kindle back in February.)

Spring 1940. With Britons facing what has become known as "the Bore War" - nothing much seems to have happened yet - Maisie Dobbs is asked to investigate the disappearance of a local lad, a young apprentice craftsman working on a "hush-hush" government contract. As Maisie's inquiry reveals a possible link to the London underworld, another mother is worried about a missing son - but this time the boy in question is one beloved by Maisie. (Publisher’s summary)

I liked the audio narration by Orlagh Cassidy, a good performance which was easy to listen to. As for the story, I believe it catches a lot of the spirit of the early years of the war: the general pressure felt by both men and women to “do their bit” in various ways – but also some people (as always) keen to look out for their own interests first, and caring less about the effect for others.

(I bought this audiobook with my monthly membership credit at Audible.)

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The Mistake by K.L. Slater (2017)
Audiobook narrated by Lucy Price-Lewis (8:26 hrs)

This is the kind of thriller that keeps the reader in suspense by going back and forth in time to tell the story. In the past, eight-year old Billy goes missing one day, flying his kite – and two days later is found dead. Someone is convicted of the crime; but Billy’s elder sister Rose still never stops blaming herself for not looking out more for her little brother. As a grown-up, she has a good job and is helpful to her neighbours, but her thoughts keep wandering back to those days of her youth, around the time of her little brother’s death; and her own teenage priorites and relationships back then. And one day, sixteen years later, while doing some cleaning for a sick neighbour - she makes a discovery that shakes her, and that might turn history upside-down…

Not the best novel of its kind that I’ve ever read; but the outcome did turn out less predictable than I suspected at times during the reading.

It is also a story that makes you consider the tricky ins and outs of manipulative and controlling relationships.

(I bought this one cheap at ‘Daily Deal’ price.)

Rhododendron & Sunshine

The sun keeps on shining, the temperature keeps rising, and Nature is still “ahead of itself” here…

These photos were all taken between 1-2 weeks ago. The rhododendrons are losing their petals already; and the lawns have lost their freshness too (looking dry and burned in many places).

My flat (as well as the Outdoors) gets very hot in the afternoons and late into the evenings. I don’t want to complain (it’s not all bad and could be sooo much worse!), but I do have to “adjust”. The problem is that the morning is really the best time for everything right now: whether catching up on lost sleep, going for a walk, shopping, cooking, cleaning, using the computer…  All activites ideally need to be fitted in like between 9-12 am (which is not really possible).

So far, not much change predicted in the weather. Might possibly get a a few degrees cooler some time next week – but who knows.

Borås has a reputation for being the rainiest city in Sweden. Well, at the moment we’re not living up to it. We hardly had any rain in May. Last week we had one quiet rain shower on Monday afternoon, but that was it. On Tuesday we officially reached the highest temperature in Sweden that day: 29,8’C. 

We’re in the south-west part of the map. Not much use trying to specify by saying “close to the sun”… ; )

Postcards for the Weekend – Anything You Wish

Sharing four postcrossing cards which all came “flying in” during the last week of May.

From Finland – a Postcrossing Fairy postcard
(Artist: Virpi Pekkala)

From Turkey – a beautiful butterfly

From California, US – an intriguing piece of art named “Between the wings”
(Artist: Sulamith Wülfing)

From Germany – A fairy dance
(Artist: Gertrud Dieckhoff)

Postcards for the Weekend 88: Anything You Wish

Shadow Shot Sunday

This month of May seems determined to go to history as the warmest, sunniest and driest since anyone started keeping records. At this rate, we may have Autumn by Midsummer!

Actually, this weekend I had a sense of autumn already, as it was windy (although still hot and dry), and all the elm trees around town seemed to have arranged to let go of their seeds all at once… Whirling around in the air like snowflakes; and then rustling along the streets with a sound reminding of dry leaves in autumn.

(If anyone is wondering about the lollipop shadow behind mine – it’s a traffic sign.)

Quite a few of these seeds also land on my balcony; and even seek their way indoors through open doors and windows… Well, at least - unlike various tree pollen! - they’re too big to inhale… ; )

I have sooo many pictures, and soo little time that I can comfortably spend in front of the computer in this kind of weather… I was out at the lake Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon. On Monday I stayed two hours, the other days only one hour. On Tuesday it felt worth it, but on Wednesday it felt almost hotter out there than back at home! - and nowhere to sit in the shadow. I think these horses in their paddock found it a bit hot as well.

However, out on the little peninsula, in the half-shadow under the trees there, I was happy to find some lilies-of-the-valley growing.

A Breath of Air

Never think of air as “nothing”. You’ll miss it when it’s not there!

In the midst of the long spell of warm weather we’ve been having in May (I think three weeks now, and still going on), the ventilation in my building has been off, as they’ve been working on installing a new ventilating fan up in the attic. In the meantime, we’ve had to keep windows and balcony doors open to let in fresh air. I suppose the timing could have been worse – but it’s still been a rather trying experience. The lack of fresh air and air circulation has been noticeable; and with open doors and windows, and all the kids of the block spending the afternoons and evenings outdoors (on the lawn on the balcony side of the building), it gets very noisy too.

Normally, I can shut out a lot of noise by closing the windows and balcony door. But these past few weeks, closed doors/windows has also equalled “no air”… So headaches whichever option one chose! (And I haven’t got the stamina to keep out and away all day myself either – especially not late into the evenings…)

I’m not writing this to complain, though – just to say that I’m now drawing a sigh of relief! … Because yesterday when I came back home (from spending the afternoon at the lake), I noticed when I came in that the flat actually felt rather nice and cool and “airy”… And soon understood that yay, ventilation was back on!

It’s not “air conditioning” as such (i.e. not controlling the temperature). I suspect it’s still likely to get too hot in the flat sometimes, especially if the nights get sultry as well (so far the nights have been rather cool even if hot in the daytime). But for now at least, I find myself just happily taking deep breaths of air even indoors : )