I don’t remember this so clearly from my years in Chicago, but here in Sweden, one really lives after and by the seasons. I find myself looking out for the annual marker of the start of each season and feeling such satisfaction when it’s noted.
Spring: pied wagtails
Summer: clouds of gnats hovering in the summer evening air
Fall: sugar beets on the side of the road (fallen off trucks)
Winter: Advent candelabra
Yesterday, I saw my first pied wagtail, so now it’s OFFICIALLY spring. The lacy tracery of bright green leaves wasn’t enough. The lush pad of fresh grass didn’t do it. Daffodils and crocus and snowdrops: just harbingers. It’s the Pied Wagtail that officially ushers in the spring.
One week of Anders being gone is done. It’s the weekend, and it took forever to get here. Today has been pretty lazy…I haven’t done anything of note. Tomorrow I have to get up early and take Karin to an all-day karate judging thing her soccer team is doing (don’t ask me, I don’t know either) and on Monday, Martin and I have to get up at the crack of yawning to get him to the train station on time. I figure I’ll just go on in early to work and leave early too so I can come home and collapse 🙂 It’s just me and Karin most of next week and she’s never home either, so: house to myself! Yay!
Martin and I are going to see The Avengers: Age of Ultron today, we’re leaving in about half an hour. Karin didn’t want to go with us; she’s hanging out with friends instead. I feel like time is whirling away from me. It’s already the end of April. That’s CRAZY.