Hexagon Season Again

In spite of having had very nice weather for a long time, – and nice means sunshine on this usually very wet coast, – spring is still some way off, it seems. As soon as the sun dips below the horizon, temperatures drop and the frost bites again.

But there are moments, – like this afternoon, – when it is possible, even enjoyable, to sit outdoors and sew.

I am working on my “let’s-find-out-if-it-is-possible-to-join-hexagon-flowers-without-folding-the-paper-templates” project. I have cracked the code on how to, but have not written up the instructions yet.

Since this is my out-of-doors project, it is slow going.

If the nice weather continues for some days, I should be able to get some more sewing done, as it is too early to do any gardening.

A bunch of snowdrops are blooming, plus three crocuses, – the rest is still under the snow at the moment.

The sunshine is nice, though, and if it could just stop snowing and freezing in between, we could have real spring in quite a short time.

Eldrid

Power to the Sun

Today the sun is back at our house after the winter, – or rather: it should have been.

At the time it was due to peek out from behind the mountain ridge, it was quite overcast, – so I am celebrating with the photo at the top instead, even though it was taken last year.

Now we just have to wait for the clouds to lift, then we can have sunshine on any day after this one. Feels good!

Eldrid

Sun-day…

.. when the sun is due back at our house, was not quite successful this year. The sky was almost clear, just until half an hour before the sun was about to show its face above the mountain edge. Then the clouds gathered in that very spot. The photo below was the best I got.

But we’ll get over it. It would have been only a few minutes anyway.  From now on it is fast forward for a couple of months, – if we are lucky (no clouds) we will have 45 minutes tomorrow, and more than an hour on Monday. The sun will probably also make it very clear that the windows need cleaning.

Springtime, – here we come!!!

Eldrid

Sunset

Today was the very last sunset before winter, – seen from our house that is.

Because of the mountain to the south, the sun will not shine here till the 13th of February next year.

I am already looking forward to the spring.

Eldrid

Trees gone

Many years ago Asbjørn, my husband, planted three small trees in a corner of what was then his parents’ garden.  Later we built our house nearby.

The trees grew year by year, – at one time they were just the right size to be decorated with Christmas lights, but that soon stopped.  The branches were so wide, we had to cut some of them away to have access to what was now our garden on the other side of the  trees.  Trimming and trimming every year, we managed to keep this archway open.

At one time we were determined to cut the trees down, because they were now too tall and cast a lot of shadow in summer.  Our youngest daughter protested, – she had set up “house” with her friends among the branches at that time.  A compromise was reached, – we cut the tops off, and she kept the branches she needed.

The trees continued to grow, – never mind their tops missing.  The top branches just turned upward and each tree had now three or four tops.  Asbjørn risked his limbs once more and climbed up to cut the tops again, and also a third time.

With both our daughters now grown up, we once more were talking seriously about cutting everything down. 

The photo above was taken in May three years ago.  The shadows are long and deep onto the front patio where we can sit sheltered from the west wind.  There were always two or three swarms of mosquitoes underneath the branches, and at this time a couple of magpies were also nesting in one of the trees, so they could not be cut down till the nest was empty.

Finally it happened.  The other day our kind neighbour, Asbjørn’s cousin, came by, bringing his chain saw, and together they brought the trees down, without any damage to the lilac bushes or plum trees that we very much would like to keep intact.  Well done.

They had quite a job cutting and carrying away all the branches.  The front patio is much lighter already.

Here everything is cleared away, and the trunks cut up and placed to one side to be cut into firewood later, – all in good time.

I am looking forward to a lot more sunshine here, and a lot less mosquitoes, and I hope to be able to sit outside and sew even if the west wind is blowing.  Having more than our share of rain and cold weather, we take care to enjoy all the sunshine we can get.

Eldrid

Sun Day on a Friday

One of my favourite days of the year: the day the sun will shine into our living room again after a long and dark winter.

Yesterday the sun was shining on the tree tops close to our house:

Photo taken out the window.

Today I was looking forward to having the sun shining in through that very window.  But some clouds came in the way and almost prevented any sun at all.  Finally, at almost the last minute, the cloudes cracked a bit:

At 16.20 the first and last rays of the day shone on our wall:

 

Definitely sunshine and shadows on the wall.

Later the clouds disappeared and we had a beautiful sunset. 

If the weather permits, we will have at least 20 minutes of sunshine tomorrow. 

My husband’s grandmother, who lived here all her life,  used to smear some butter on the outside wall of the house on the day the sun returned. I have not got an explanation as to why she did this, other than she said it was to keep the sun happy. 

Maybe some of you would know more about this kind of tradition?

Eldrid