Easter Monday

 

It's Easter Monday, which is still a public holiday here in Sweden (and in several other countries too, I think). For my own part, Easter "celebrations" have been very modest this year, though - as I've hardly been out at all, nor had any visitors.

On second thought, that last statement is not 100% true. On Friday afternoon, someone  tried to pay me an unannounced visit, exactly during that half hour or so when I was out on that day (for my usual weekly walk to the recycling station some ten minutes away).

When I got back from that short walk, I found a pot of small daffodils sitting outside the door to my flat. No card attached, so it had me puzzled for a while who had brought them. I was contemplating putting a "thanks to whoever" on Facebook, when the benefactor called me. It turned out to be a friend still not using neither computer nor smartphone (so a message on FB wouldn't have reached her anyway). I thanked her of course - and the daffodils really were a nice surprise, as I had not got round to buying any myself. (No flower shop nearby, and when I was in town last week, other errands took priority.) 

I did not say what at the same time I thought to myself: that paying someone a surprise visit is not really the best idea these days - even if statistically, I'm likely to be at home "more often than not". 20-30 years ago, this person and I were neighbours. These days, we are both 70+, don't live in the same residential area, and our paths rarely cross spontaneously. So really better from several aspects to call first... 

With the weather forecasts for the rest of the weekend in mind, I also did not suggest that she'd "pop by" another day soon instead. 

Storm Dave from England had announced its arrival in advance (via the weather people on TV etc), and did not care one bit that most people might prefer some peace and quiet for Easter. The whole weekend was very windy, with Easter Sunday the worst: the wind noisily rattling the windows on the south-west side of my apartment all day yesterday, and including quite a bit of rain, too. (Luckily I had taken the warnings seriously, so had removed the plastic tarpaulin from my wooden bench out on the balcony and tied the bench itself to the balcony railing - not leaving the wind much to "play with" this time.)

Today it's been sunny again, but still with capricious winds blowing. I took out a bag or two to the bins by the corner, but felt discouraged from walking further. From national and local news I've also learned that quite a few trees have fallen over roads, trains and buses have been cancelled, and electricity and internet have been out for people in some areas. For my own part, power and wifi have been working the whole weekend, though.

So as blog readers may have noticed, I spent pretty much the whole Easter weekend  finishing my 1983 time travelling project instead. (With some food and TV in between.)

The Times They Are A-Changin'

 

Late on Easter Eve, before going to bed, I made an inspection tour around my flat, setting my manual clocks + watch to "summer time"... (I nearly always forget at least one. If I did this year too, I have not yet discovered it.)

Did I hear someone ask "How many clocks does one woman need?" Answer: As I don't like to wear a watch at home (only put it on when I go out), I have clocks in every room. An alarm clock beside my bed. One standing on the cooker hood in the kitchen. A wall clock in the hall (can also be seen from some positions in the living room, and from the bathroom if the door is open). Another one on the wall in my study. And an extra smaller clock by the TV in the living room. 

Somewhat to my surprise, I actually did manage to wake up in time to be able to get myself off to the Easter Sunday church service as well (at 11 am in the same church I also visited on Thursday and Friday). Again not raining, so also a nice walk there and back.

Photo discreetly snapped at the very end of the service.

 

▲Things that caught my eye on my way back home.▼

On Easter Eve (before my clock round) I watched Shadowlands, an old favourite of mine (from 1993) which I managed to find and buy on DVD some time ago. It's based on the growing friendship, love story and marriage between the author C.S. Lewis (played by Anthony Hopkins) and a Jewish American woman, Joy Davidman Gresham (Debra Winger). Their time as husband and wife was cut very short by Joy getting cancer - but at the same time, that was also what brought them really close. (If like me you're a C.S. Lewis fan, my guess is you've probably already seen this film at some point.)

Easter

 

 

Easter 2016

 

 

 

Easter 2014

Easter 2023

When I can (health and other circumstances allowing), I like to celebrate Easter in church. In recent decades, that has usually meant going to this one - Caroli church, the oldest church in Borås (built in 1669, but has been through some repairs since then), belonging to the national Evangelical Lutheran Church of Sweden. (The union between state and church was dissolved in 2000, but it still retains a special status in some respects as national church, compared to what we call "free" churches.) Liturgically it is "high church", reflected in the order of worship, the garments worn by the priests (nowadays many of them women), and using the word "mass" (mässa) for communion services.  

The liturgy at Easter is especially "dramatic" - at least in this church, which holds church services every day throughout the Easter weekend. In the evening of Easter Thursday there is a Mass, ending with the altar being stripped bare from all decorations (candles, flowers, altar cloths), and all lights being turned off so that the congregation leaves the church in darkness. On Easter Friday (11 am) a service without communion, and the only decoration on the altar a vase with five red roses, representing Christ's wounds. No musical instruments used, but the choir sings a cappella. On Easter Saturday there is a Midnight mass, which starts in darkness, but includes the lights being turned back on, and the altar getting decorated again, to celebrate the resurrection. (I've only attended that a few times in the past, but it made deep impressions that I still "carry with me".) On Easter Sunday, a joyful mass with the organ and other instruments back in use, together with the choir. There's also some kind of service on Easter Monday (this year a musical service in the late afternoon). 

It's probably only like once or twice that I've attended all these different church services (on one and the same weekend); but they still all form a unity to me now, even if I only go to one or two (or even none). 

This year (so far), I went to the Maundy Thursday mass (at 6 pm) together with my friend E. It was raining, so on my own I probably wouldn't have gone; but she lives on the outskirts of town and has a car, so came and picked me up (and delivered me safely back home after as well). Today, Easter Friday, the weather was rather pleasant for walking (not sunny, but also not raining); so I walked to the 11 am service and back. Ran into another old friend there after the service and chatted with her for a bit. 

I'll not be going to the Easter Eve midnight mass. Whether I'll make it to the Sunday service remains to be seen. Besides the weather, it also depends on how I cope with the dreaded annual switch to Summer Time, which this year unfortunately happens to coincide with Easter! (Extra tough challenge for anyone set on attending both of those church services...)

(Repeating one of my AI-created stained glass windows from an earlier post.)

Easter Sunday

 

Easter Sunday turned out another beautiful day with sunshine and blue sky, and I ended up attending today's church service too, in the same church as on Good Friday (cf. previous post). The church was not full, but there were more people attending than it seems from this photo... I arrived in good time and I snapped the photo before the service started. The choir was singing today as well, but now accompanied by both organ and piano (in contrast to Good Friday, when they sang acapella). 

If I'm to go by my blog, it may have been as long ago as 2017 that I last went to church for Easter. (During the pandemic, 2020-22, I know I did not.) Funny, though: I note that it was also at Easter 2017 that I was last in the process of changing laptops. Then it was Windows 10 that made me change from an even older one to the one I'm now referring to as "old"... A now I'm dealing with Win 11... (Wondering if it will be Windows 12 in 2029?)

Good Friday

 I spent most of Thursday initializing the set-up of my new ASUS laptop. While on the one hand some parts of the process were "automatic" (perhaps even a bit too much so), some things are still giving me a bit of a headache because the only manual to be found is one obviously made to cover several unspecified sub-types of this kind of laptop (some with features not available on mine) - and based on Windows 10, while mine has Windows 11... 

While getting to know the new laptop, and trying to get that set up to my liking, I've decided to still keep my old one connected as before to my bigger screen, extra keyboard and mouse, printer etc. So this post is still written from the old one. Even so, I found my head spinning today, as suddenly I found my Firefox browser to have changed to showing my bookmarks from Microsoft Edge. On Thursday, on the new laptop, I know I allowed Edge to sync with Google Chrome; but I also installed Firefox as alternative browser there, and can't recall having allowed that to sync with either of the others! (I've been used to using different browsers for different tasks and was planning to continue that way...)

(If you're feeling confused just reading this, that's nothing compared to what's going on in my own brain...!)

Yesterday, Good Friday (in Sweden known as "Long" Friday), I decided to take a break from the laptops. (Didn't go completely offline as I also have my phone and tablet, but I kept to more relaxing kind of reading.) 

I also went for a walk to the old church downtown and attended a Good Friday service.

 On my way there, I passed by this hill full of crocuses. (The house on top is a school.)

"A little something" growing out of the old stone wall beneath.

That's the tower of the 17th century church sticking up in the background. The rounded building to the left is an old textile industry building (nowadays offices and such - maybe also apartments now, I don't quite remember).

The church seen from the other side (and a spoon-shaped sculpture).

I did not take any photos inside this time as it was the traditional solemn kind of Good Friday service (and it did not seem right to take photos). They always have several services over the Easter weekend in this church. A few times in the past I've taken part in them all so I'm familiar with (and appreciate) the symbolism of the liturgy. On Thursday night the altar is stripped bare of decorations and flowers etc. It remains bare on Good Friday, and then there is also no music being played in the service, just the choir singing acapella. Then there is a dramatic midnight service on Easter Eve, starting in total darkness but then bringing back candles, flowers, all the lights... (Very "powerful".) And then a joyful celebration service on Easter Sunday, focusing on the resurrection. 

But yesterday was Good Friday, so a low-key service "at the foot of the cross". There weren't a lot of people attending but it was a beautiful and quiet service and I love listening to the choir singing acapella. And with the astounding blue sky outdoors too it felt like just the right way to celebrate this day. After I got back home I also spent the afternoon mostly just reading and resting + listening to music. I chose an old CD with music from the Oberammergau Passion Play - which I had the privilege of attending on a journey to Germany back in 1990.

 On Thursday, I bought some yellow tulips for my living room table.

I also received this beautiful Easter card from Swedish friend.

Glad Påsk - Happy Easter

Dinosaur Easter Eggs (?)

 

Yesterday I went to the supermarket for a couple of minor things I'd forgotten to order with my home delivery last week. Inside, I was met by these giant-sized Easter eggs... I'm afraid the photo doesn't quite do them justice as it might just as well be a trick photo to do with camera perspective... But these eggs really were enormous, I doubt I'd have been able to embrace one of them round the middle! So in my mind I started imagining  "Jurassic Park" kind of scenes, as to the size of the creatures supposed to have laid them... ;-)

Today I went "across town" again, hunting for a different kind of Easter Surprise for myself. Not egg-shaped (and probably would not fit in one of those giant eggs above either), but who knows what awaits inside... (Well. Windows 11, for one thing!)

Yes, it's my new laptop. Charging its battery while I'm still using my old one to write this; but  I'm thinking it's probably best if I wait at least until Thursday to actually "open" the thing to get the start-up process going. Tomorrow I have other things to do (like laundry), so won't be able to concentrate.

After a good deal of 'headache' and online research, I came to the conclusion over the weekend that I probably won't be able to find exactly what I wanted (i.e. really just a "healthy" version of my old one - lol)... For example, my old laptop has a built-in CD/DVD reader/burner, and a built-in SD card-reader, which I've found useful. (Especially the card-reader, since that's how I transfer photos from my separate camera to the computer.) But all the newer models (at reasonable price) seem to aim to chiefly to be slim and light and skipping too many "extras". So the last few days I've been googling alternative solutions, involving external accessories, ports, cords and adapters instead... Phew! 

After a final pep-talk with my brother on the phone yesterday, today I gathered my collected documentation and took the bus to a shopping center across town, where two of our big "tech" kind of stores are situated. At one of them I recently bought my new phone. Today I went to the other one, because that's where they were supposed to have the laptop in stock that I'd decided on - an ASUS, same brand as my old one. And to my relief they did have it. Well, I should perhaps hold back on the "relief" until I see how I actually get along with it! But at least I was able to give a reasonable impression of knowing what I wanted when talking to the sales guy, and the purchase as such did not take up a lot of time. ;-)

Opening the box at home, the only instruction I found included was to charge the battery for at least three hours before starting the thing. I then went in search of an online manual, but can't find one for this exact model. On my new phone I was met by a set-up guide once I turned that on though. Perhaps something similar will happen when I press the magic button on this one? 

Meanwhile, my old laptop is still working, so hopefully I'll have time to figure things out!

 

Easter Decorations

 

It was only the other day that I realised Easter is coming up already next week... Yesterday I got my little box of Easter decorations out of the cupboard where it's been hibernating since last spring, and put the contents up in their usual places. (Compared to Christmas, that's a job quickly done, though!) And today I used them for practice with the new phone camera. The real colour of the table runner is as in the photo to the right - in the photo to the left it comes out too blue.

Some of the paper Easter Eggs have 'GDR' or 'German Democratic Republic' printed inside them, which means those at least go back ~35 years or more. Nowadays I don't fill them with anything - I just use them as decorations! 

They fluffy yellow chickens I think have been with me since back in my youth as well. 

The tray in the background has nothing in particular to do with Easter - it shows the town of Eksjö in the province of Småland (with a lot of charming old wooden houses), where I also bought it on a holiday trip some years ago.

The two chicken candle holders I've had since childhood, the rooster I found later.

Kitchen window: Egg, chicken, rooster...
The rooster was my mum's.

 And my mum embroidered these -
now hanging on the door to my kitchen.

 

Easter Weekend Walks

I haven't really "been anywhere" or done anything special for Easter - but the weather has been mostly sunny, and a bit of colour is beginning to come back into the world...

After lunch on Saturday, I walked into town and back, with my camera.

Scilla on a sunny slppe

Tussilago (Coltsfoot)

Pansies had been planted out in the park for Easter

Easter Tree in the main square

Various items on display outside a shop

Unauthorised graffiti rather than "art",
but still kind of hard not to smile back at...

Old stone cross with shadow in the old cemetery

 

Pansies near the chapel in the cemetery

 

 

In the afternoon of Easter Sunday, I went out without any special plan, but ended up taking a partly less familiar route - up a street over a hill and down on the other side. I hadn't brought my separate camera, but I had my phone...

 

 

Crocuses

 

 

A mural on a vacant demolition site. This is an "authorised" mural, painted at one of our art festivals some years ago - but back then, one had to enter an enclosed courtyard to see it. Now the old building that was facing the street has been torn down, giving a different setting to the artwork (plus some later graffiti added).

 

 

Walking back towards home along the river, I spotted a bird not usually seen there - an  oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus).  Or actually, two of them - as can be seen in the following photos. They are waders, and just now the water level in the river here is unusually low, after a long dry period with very little rain. Normally, they wouldn't be able to wade in this spot, I think! I regretted not having brought my proper camera, as in the glare of the sun, I couldn't really see the screen of my phone! But I snapped some random shots anyway, and they came out "ok".

 

Easter Greetings from the Past

These Easter cards, copied from my great-uncle Gustaf's postcard collection, are all from around 1916-17. In my Greetings from the Past blog you'll find the same cards one by one, together with the messages written on the back (pretty standard "Happy Easter" greetings, most of them). 

Then I started to also play around with them in Picasa3, putting them together two and two in collages - and decided to share those here.

And if anyone is wondering what witches have to do with Easter, here is the background:

In Sweden and Finland, there were old superstitions about witches flying on their brooms to Blockula (Blåkulla) on the Thursday before Easter (Maundy Thursday / Skärtorsdagen), to meet with the Devil. When this was no longer taken too seriously, children would dress up as witches or old ladies (or old men) and go door to door distributing Easter greetings, and receiving treats in return - rather similar to British/ American Halloween traditions. There also used to be fires and fireworks on Easter Eve (originally to keep witches or evil spirits away). 

Back in my childhood (not quite 100 years ago - but 60!), visiting my grandmother at Easter, I'd sometimes dress up as a Witch as well. Or at least I did once! 

Photo by my dad or granddad; background drawing by my mum:

(If you think you've seen this before, you're probably right.)

On Easter Eve, after dark, my dad also used to set off a few fireworks in my grandparents' large garden. Traditions change, however, and nowadays, around here, bonfires are more common on Walpurgis night (30th April), and fireworks on New Year's Eve. I also don't usually see children dressed up as Easter witches now - except sometimes when the city has arranged a special Easter parade in the town square in the afternoon of Easter Eve.

I can't remember dressing up for Easter at home in the village where I lived with my parents - but that might be because we usually spent the Easter weekend with my grandparents. I do remember making "Easter drawings" at home though, and dropping those anonymously in the postboxes at friends' houses. (I had some playmates and classmates living along the same street.) I probably also received some. Those Easter drawings were always folded as triangles - no envelopes needed.

Easter Greetings from the Past (Sepia Saturday)

For Easter, I decided to go hunting for Easter cards in my great-aunt Gerda's postcard album from her years in America (c. 1903-1910). (All the cards in that album are Christmas, New Year, Easter and Birthday cards etc.)

Left: At Easter 1902, Gerda was still living with one of her sisters in Sweden.
Right: At Easter 1903, she had emigrated to Chicago. (Probably in late autumn 1902.)

 

Left: Although obviously an Easter card, this card was sent  in October 1907 (to Gerda in Chicago, from a Swedish friend living in Rockford, also in Illinois).
Right: Easter Greetings 1908, from the same friend.

 

Left: Easter Greetings 1908 from Gerda's brother Gustaf, living in Galeton, Pennsylvania.
Right: Easter Greetings 1908 from a friend in Chicago.

Easter Greetings 1910 to Gerda in Chicago, from a niece in Sweden.

In my "Swenglish" family history blog Greetings from the Past (recently revived again after a rather long slumber) I explore these and other old postcards in more detail, as part of the family history puzzle - especially the lives of my paternal grandmother's older half-siblings, as they are the main recipients and senders of the early postcards. 

...

Linking to Sepia Saturday 564
(even if my "link" to the prompt picture this time is rather weak)