A Brit in Sweden

[Danik 2016]

The German equivalent would be "die goldene Mitte"(the golden middle way).
Gebet

Herr! schicke, was du willt,
Ein Liebes oder Leides;
Ich bin vergnuegt, dass beides
Aus Deinen Haenden quillt.

Wollest mit Freuden
Und wollest mit Leiden
Mich nicht ueberschuetten!
Doch in der Mitten
Liegt holdes Bescheiden.


Eduard Moerike

In English

Prayer



Lord, grant me what Thou wilt,
Be it happiness or woe;
It is enough to know
That both from Thy hands flow.

Would that Thou not wish
To overwhelm me
With joy or grief!
'tis in between
Where sweet contentment is.


Translation: Charles L. Cingolani Copyright © 2007

http://www.cingolani.com/1em.html

[Dreamwoven]

I have 2 pairs of ski sticks, one with rubber ends for normal use, and one with metal ends for when it is snowy and cold (see post #112 above).

[Dreamwoven]

long-johns
outdoor trousers (waterproof)
mittens
woollen hat.

Other layers can be added for colder weather.

[Dreamwoven]

I've always had the thought that Sweden was a very informal country. But in the last 20 years or so I have had that illusion well and truly shattered. At the baptism of a royal child recently the Swedish church seemed just as much "High Church" as any other country.

[Dreamwoven]

We are having a cold winter so far. Temperatures round - 3-5 celsius. Today the temperature is round -8 celsius, though the forecast for tomorrow is plus degrees (!). I guess we will see...

[Dreamwoven]

Well, after a load of snow and below freezing temperatures today it is +2 celsius, rain and the snow is melting.

[Dreamwoven]

Very odd weather we have here. 6 inches of snow though much has melted now. But Gävle has had no snow at all, and further south nor has either Uppsala or Stockholm.

[Dreamwoven]

That was yesterday. Today snow is falling everywhere. Roads treacherous.

[Dreamwoven]

This looks like today will be the second day in a row I will be stuck indoors, it snowing again and temperature is zero celsius, we have had another few inches of snow.

[kiz_paws]

I hear ya ... we got a goodly dump of snow the other night and yesterday everyone had to dig themselves out. Not a crisis, just the usual for these parts.

Funny, and I never thought much before, but not only do we need to have machines to cut our grass (and many have riding mowers these days), but we need machines to clear the snow off the driveway. Both costly machines. However, having said that, I actually enjoy manually shovelling, provided the weather is not too bitter.

[Dreamwoven]

We don't have private snow-clearing machines, they are far too expensive, but we subscribe to a snow clearing service that we get when snow falls. It came round early this morning and a few days earlier when we had 6 inches of snow #127 above.

[Dreamwoven]

Today is the third day of advent, Lucia. The Swedes seem to have taken over this Catholic holiday complete with Saint Lucia a female wearing a crown of candles, and singing hymns. My guess is that Canada has something similar with its Catholic French. But its just a guess.

[Dreamwoven]

The other day I watched the Nobel Dinner on TV. What incredible pomp and circumstance! Even trumpets with flags hanging from them being blown. I understand why Bob Dylan didn't want to come to Sweden. The country has become the scene of such a formal do. The dinner lasted some 5 hours, male waiters rushing around with trays of food, a rather sick focus on what guests were wearing (most especially women), on "creations".

[Dreamwoven]

I did a search for Lucia here: http://www.asna.ca/resources/st-lucia-learn.pdf

It is a Canadian website, about Santa Lucia in Sweden. Very curious...

[Dreamwoven]

Today is the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. Daylight only came at around 9 am and the sun set at around 2.30 pm. This means it never warms the air up enough, so the ice never melts this time of the year, it is rock-hard. Need to use our grips, too, and stamp each step to make sure they do indeed grip the ice. So the ice is very slippery to walk on. As a Brit in Sweden my walks become shorter and less sure-footed. Our drive is not particularly steep, but going downhill on the way home is very tricky for me to negotiate. Look forward to when spring comes so I can increase the amount of time I walk.