april weather...in march

--It's typical April weather today

My husband described the local weather in Stockholm that April before I moved here. He used the expression "April weather" as if it universally signified a well known fact. However, he knew it was lost on me and explained further:

--You can get any kind of weather in April. It can be sunny in the morning then turn to a snow storm then return to sun, add some hail perhaps some rain, bring back the snow and simultaneouly spout sunshine.

That's pretty much what today's weather was in Stockholm. Well, in parts of Stockholm. At certain times.

Driving northbound on the E4 (they call that leg Uppsalavägen --I am become a motorist) I drove from puffy clouds and blue sky into a raging blizzard where visibilty dropped to a few hundred feet (about 100 yards) and then before leaving the highway at my exit drove out of the blizzard wall back into a glorious day.

One moment of beauty was returning to the house. In a spurt of snow dusting the ground was blanketed in white. It came so suddenly that no others had had the time to drive up our road as I pulled in. Only our footprints and treads patterned the street and our drive as if we lived isolated in the woods...well for a while anyway.

swedish ground hog day. he saw his shadow.

Sweden doesn't celebrate Ground Hog Day nor do they even have a far-fetched equivalent. But were there to be some throw back to Nordic legendary traditions, the Stockholm Ground Dog definitely saw his shadow this morning and we're looking at a long wait until spring.

I remember something about 6 weeks until spring as the time span in the American version, though I can't remember if that is the long or short wait. For Stockholm weather I think I'd be thrilled to know that spring had a chance to arrive in 6 weeks. We don't get to follow the equinoxes as gateways to seasons (nor solstices).

Swedes classify seasons as a measure of meeting a temperature level (above or below) for a number of days in a row. With this classification system you get definitions of tropical summers in Stockholm or possibly a start to the summer some time in July.

Being an agrarian society there's still a lot of modern legend based on days of the almanac, i.e. the days sowing, planting or harvesting should begin or when hunting or crayfish season rounds out. These calendar dates are bigger influences to when it's ok to cast off your winter hat or wear shorts.

I was chastised by a pre-school chum of X's when I came in sandals too early in the spring. I tried to break the yoke of the farmer's almanac on this new generation by asking if she thought it would be ok for me to wear shorts and sandals if the same weather we were having had been in July. She thought so. Maybe she's more receptive to a more liberal seasonal delineation.

Or a Swedish Ground Hog Day.

ice and snow. or lack thereof

The most snowfall Stockholm has seen this season came in November and we missed it being in Boston. We have had a few dustings, some freezing and two big thaws. The most snowfall Boston has seen this season (and probably over a lengthier period of time) has come since we left Boston.

My parents, 80&81, have been shoveling and hacking at ice since we left and we've barely had enough snow to scrape together a mini-snowman which promptly melted two days later in the first thaw.

Winter returned to Stockholm long enough to refreeze the lakes for great skating. But then it departed with a cover of ice on all open areas and secondary roads. This past weekend people could have skated to the neighbor's house. The school's parking lot across the street from us was as close to a skating rink as any could be. I was tempted to put skates on X and let him practice. I would have had we not done other indoor activities.

I see more water and green grass than snow outside my window today. Will winter ever take a true hold?

snow shoveling

I shoveled for the first time in 15 years of living in Sweden. That's mostly because I now have a drive to shovel, but it's also because Stockholm doesn't get much snow.

Snow can fall from evening to morning to evening again and there's barely a build up. Coming from Boston where snow accumulates to school shut down in a few hours I was originally amazed that we never get more than a few inches (around a decimeter) at any given snowfall.

My driveway is long. While I shoveled the melting inch today for fun. I know there will be a day I'll have to do it to get the car out on a cold morning in a hurry. And I don't think I'll be sad that deep snow is rare in Stockholm..

long distance skating

Skating seemed to be the activity of choice for a significant population of Stockholm's outdoorsy type. Already out on the ice I had in mind that my Facebook status update would read that I had strapped on my long blades for the first time in a few years. Several of my FB friends had beat me to it so I got to make comments like "Me too" on their status. Though feeling far from original I eventually posted my outdoor achievement.

The teachers at dagis were also out on the ice this weekend and the morning polite banter revolved around ice skating. Some had skated on Saturday in no wind and beautiful January sunshine and others (like us) braved the wind and overcast skies for a first-time-out-in-ages glide.

It's amusing to consider what a frozen lake signifies in Sweden when compared to a cosmopolitan upbringing in a warning-sign oriented USA. Here people speak lovingly of good ice (smooth and without snow) and prevailing winds for tail-wind journeys of long distance outings, while in the greater Boston area, venturing onto an icecovered lake is on par with the recklessness of running with scissors.

Now that we live walking distance to Stockholm's most popular skating lake, it might be time for an investment in a better pair of skates.

breaking the block

Last post March 27, 2008.

I have been in a slump. Well, that's the only explanation when I haven't had a post in 9 months. Nine months. I could have had a baby in this time.

The trouble with a slump, writer's block, laziness, procrastination or whatever you would like to call it, is; Breaking the block. And the lack of posting perpetuates the void. Every thought of a new post was overrun by a gripping anxiety of what could be big enough or good enough to post about with such a long hiatus.

So here it is. About getting restarted after a stall. Nothing magical, nothing fascinating, nothing thought-provoking. But an official post and therefore a new start.

good journey john aherne

They dived last week, Easter Sunday, Tuesday and yesterday. Then they brought in a ROV. In the end they located his body this morning a few meters from the quayside at six meters depth.

Yesterday at around 5pm I walked from the restaurant he left his coat and phone down to the water. On my way I tried to locate CCTV camera which could possibly reveal a lead. I reflected and noted the ample options of trees, bushes cached corners someone could consider if a need to relieve oneself presented itself.

The distance between the door and the water isn't great, but it required crossing a square, navigating residential buildings and finally crossing a broad cobblestone quay. I just can't fathom the motivation to take that path, without a coat while a private item sat on a bar.

I didn't know John Aherne. I've only once met his friend, Karl Lambert, his friend who sounded the alarm and initiated a thread on the Local.se which resulted in an outpouring of positive thoughts for John as well as wonderful anecdotes by his friends, family and other well wishers. He sounds like a most wonderful man. In taking that walk I couldn't help but try to put myself into the head of man who was at that moment still missing.

John is found.

He has touched a great number of people. Farewell John. May you have a good journey.