Allure In Rain.

This past weekend simply rained away. After cold, autumn like days with strong winds, the week concluded in heavy precipitation.
As I recovered from my initial irritation, realizing I had to spend my free days indoors, dreaming of the non existent sunshine - I realized that there was a certain hidden beauty in rain.

It was clear that the vital liquid revived my surroundings. Everything turned supple and lush and seemed revitalized and incredibly green. Indeed, even the colours of flowers appeared more vibrant and brighter than in sunshine.

I gave into the urge to walk out onto our lawn barefoot, in between the downpours, laughing and feeling giddy like a school girl. Do you recall how fun it used to be to get soaked?
Greeted by that incredible fragrance that rain leaves behind - a blend of wet soil, perfumes of bloom and humid air, I saw natural beauty, as drops of water lingered everywhere, like crystal beads strewn onto the stalks of grass, leaves of trees and shrubs and the petals of the early summer bloom.
Nature is alluring and surprising in any weather and in any season. All we need to do is to notice.

Pearls Of Water.

After a very cold, breezy but sunny week, it is raining. It is a gentle, spring rain that is so vital for plants and flowers, as they continue on their renewed cycle of growth.

A drizzle at the best, when the wind is absent and the air saturated with earthy scents of soil and fresh foliage. As it drenches my surroundings, it leaves behind drops of water, resembling scattered pearls, as if some gentle being passed through in a hurry, leaving behind magical beads of a precious necklace...

Relaxing Autumn Saturday.

Autumn has arrived and there is no way back. It has been a very rainy, windy and cold first week of September. Although the 1st of this month has been written into history as the warmest September day ever, the first week of this month must certainly has a record of its own, but a less flattering one.

In some way, Saturdays like these are also very cosy. Sitting in front of the fire, with a hot cup of coffee, while looking through my old photographs, holds a certain magic, I admit.
Batcat of course enjoys these quiet afternoons. He certainly knows how to relax and it is always highly contagious. As soon as I light the fire, he makes himself comfortable in front of the fireplace, falling asleep on the sheep skin. That is of course after he has hunted enough raindrops on the window pane and observed the world outside for a while. A very exhausting task, if you are a cat.

We are wishing everyone a very relaxing Saturday afternoon.

August Rain.

My terrace after today's late summer rain.
(Please click the image to enlarge.)

A Thunderstorm.

I am not sure how I feel about thunderstorms. They both frighten and fascinate me. Yesterday morning, I awoke to the sound of a thunder in the distance. Thunderstorms are not uncommon in Denmark, but severe ones are.
This one turned out to be severe.

As I was having my breakfast some thirty minutes later, heavy, tropical rain was already pounding at my window panes. It looked like someone was poring water straight down from the skies. I immediately noticed that my cat started to behave strangely. He seemed very upset and anxious, crouching in the corner, his eyes large and dark as the night. I talked to him with laughter as he has experienced multitude of thunderstorms previously and has never acted this way when they were approaching. I guess I was becoming a bit nervous myself at this point, as the air grew suddenly very still; despite the fact that the rain has receded, menacing, low clouds were just overhead.

The thunder was by then really close and I could feel the storm was about to pass over my house. As I was finishing that thought, I was almost blinded by a strange electrical light and within a fraction of a second almost deafened by the incredible roar that followed, while the whole house shook. At this point, Batcat had already found shelter under my bed.

I am not sure if I received a direct hit, or if it was the neighbours recently renovated house and the brand new flag pole that was the target. All I know is that it scared the living daylights out of me. I learned later in the day that this was one of the worst thunderstorms on record in Denmark and it gave rise to destructive tornadoes further up north, something unheard of in this part of the world.

I feel that any powerful phenomenon in nature is fascinating, particularly when it can be watched safely. Thunderstorms are definitely natural light shows that fall under this category.
Already as a child, we were told that they were very dangerous and stories about "Balls Of Lightning" were circulated in our family, claiming to have been experienced directly by my aunt and cousin in their cottage in the Czech countryside. The lightning ball rolled down over the roof of the cottage; a scary encounter during a hot summer night about thirty years ago. Apparently in some of the neighbouring houses it even entered the house and flew across the room injuring its occupants.
I became severely afraid of thunderstorm when living in North Carolina and made sure I was never ever caught in one while outside.

The scientist in me is always interested in cold facts and therefore I can not help but quote the first few sentences about lightning, as listed by wikipedia:

"Lightning is an atmospheric discharge of electricity accompanied by thunder, which typically occurs during thunderstorms, and sometimes during volcanic eruptions or dust storms. In the atmospheric electrical discharge, a leader of a bolt of lightning can travel at speeds of 60,000 m/s (130,000 mph), and can reach temperatures approaching 30,000 °C (54,000 °F), hot enough to fuse silica sand into glass channels known as fulgurites which are normally hollow and can extend some distance into the ground. There are some 16 million lightning storms in the world every year."

Interestingly this means, that in the immediate vicinity of a lightning bolt, the temperatures are about 3x higher than the surface of the sun. I find it utterly fascinating, that such high temperatures can be created, even for a fraction of a second, here on Earth. Likewise, the fact that to this day it is not completely clear to scientists how lightning forms amuses me.
And I guess we all know that the safest place to be in a thunderstorm is inside a car, thanks to Mr. Faraday and his cage.

In recent years, more serious injuries and fatalities than ever before are reported as a result of lightning even as far up north as Scandinavia. Hoverer spectacular these natural events might be, I guess eventually one should at all times express a deep respect for nature and never underestimate its hidden fury.

Mr. Toad.

Recently, the lovely Jill posted some fun pictures of a toad, called Charming, which lives around their house.

Well, it so happens, that I too have such a tenant living on my terrace. I am not calling him Charming though, he is simply called Mr. Toad.
I will have to conclude that he is a perfect tenant. He is quiet, non intrusive and keeps my patio free of annoying insects such as mosquitoes and flies. I see him very rarely; only notice movement between my flowerpots from time to time, or among the plants, when I water them. Sometimes he startles me when he jumps, but all this I accept and find amusing.

The other day Mr. Toad was out and about and almost looked as if he was enjoying the sun. I guess even frogs and toads think we have had enough rain by now.

Taking It Slow...

Last week we received large amounts of rain. It has been raining almost non-stop for days. Particularly last Saturday was unusual in the fact that it was very wet, but also very warm. The rain felt almost tropical, which I do not recognize this far up north.

I am not sure if it is only in my mind, but nature is changing. The climate today is not that which I recall from my childhood. We experience a much more severe weather when it comes to rain and wind and temperatures as well. On many occasions, there are also articles in the newspapers about sightings of species of animals that are not common at these latitudes. Insects that usually live in warm climate are often seen here. Just the other day I read about a cicada sighting, an insect that is absolutely not native to Scandinavia.

I myself made a little unusual discovery on that particular wet Saturday. The rain brought out snails; we always have large amount of these. Mostly slugs, the black and even the red "killer" slugs that consume everything in their way and are a nuisance to every gardener.
On my terrace I could see an unusually large snail (of the edible kind, I believe;), one that I have never seen there before. As seen on the picture for comparison, our Scandinavian snails are much smaller. The large one is very common in central Europe, but I have never seen it here before.

Even though snails are savages when it comes to flower beds and vegetables gardens, I still like them. I like to watch them and their slow-motion moves, and at times their relentlessness on getting where they are going and not giving up until they reach the destination. No matter how long it takes.
Their perseverance and a way of "taking it slow" are so contagious. At least I think so.

Magma Stone.

I am really having a difficult time accepting that we are loosing light. Every passing day gets shorter, loosing more minutes to the night. It is unbelievable that already now we get one hour less daylight than a month ago.

However, that is the yearly cycle up here in Scandinavia and a natural way of things. I guess I am feeling the loss a bit more intensely this year, due to the absolutely horrid weather we are having. July has been terrible weatherwise; a total disappointment. We have received a lot of rain lately. Too much at this point and my flowers are not happy anymore. They need water but they also need the vital sunlight; without it they look sad and lifeless. They loose colour and become soggy and slowly wither away. Or rot away would be a better description.

There is one positive factor though, which makes up for the dark and rain. The early evenings bring back the candle light.
Yes, I love candles and I burn through hundreds of them in the winter season. In the summer most of them are forgotten in drawers and cabinets, but slowly, the need for them starts to return.

Yesterday evening I lit for the first time in several months a few candles here and there around the house. Among others, my "Magma Stone". A very unusual and so very intriguing candleholder, which I received from the students in the lab, when I turned forty a few years ago. A lovely gift and frequently in use in my white house on the hill.
Strikingly Scandinavian, its design is rugged and pristine, carved in a form of hollow lava stone, made out of dark clay with coloured (orange or yellow) inside. When the candle is placed inside the stone and lit, the stone resembles magma.

I have placed it high up in my kitchen, which is open and connected to my living room. When it gets dark, the stone glows orange and spreads a warm, almost magical light.

Rhapsody In Rain.

Jackmanii' Flowers.

I was up very early this morning, or rather up late last night. Lying in my bed at 3AM, I watched the sky turn rosy red in the far east, as the sun was rising. The somewhat clear skies turned cloudy as I was falling asleep a few hours later and although I woke up to the sound of light rain in the late morning, the day did offer some sunshine in the afternoon.

In some way I like those rainy Sunday mornings. There is no rush to go outside, nor feeling guilty to be missing out on the sunshine. Instead it gives me time to sleep in and bake some fresh bread, prepare coffee from freshly ground beans and curl up in front of the television, watching my favorite movies. Today I watched - again - my favorite tragic story of all times, "Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet". I have dedicated a post to this movie in the past and those who have followed me for a while know two things about me; I am a hopeless romantic and I love this movie. The copy I saw today was a birthday gift from the Irishman, as strangely enough, I never owned the movie until now.
Did I tell you that he just "gets me"?

This week the rain that has been absent for such a long time was welcomed by the nature. No matter how I miss the heat, I have to conclude that the Scandinavian weather is perfect for agriculture.
Likewise, the rain had brought my Jackmanii clematis into bloom! Yes, the first few flowers can now be clearly observed. A reward for me and all of you that have been patient enough to follow this crazy update of mine.

Batcat is oblivious to all these changes in weather and nature and continues to love to relax. He has adopted a new habit in the past two months and that is to jump up on my bed at exactly 4AM each morning sniffing my face and purring loudly, demanding attention.
I can set my watch according to this new routine of his.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful and easy Sunday.

A Little Bit Of Everything.

I have once heard that a good day is a day when we laugh a little and cry a little. I have not really laughed or cried today, but the sky definitely has. It has been a very odd day weather wise, or perhaps maybe one should say it has been a normal Scandinavian summer day. Light years removed from the hot and sunny Saturday a week ago, today it has been more April like. We have had rain and sun, windy and wind still, blue skies and dark grey skies and temperature moving up and down on the scale.

In some way, I miss the tropical heat, but then again, as it has cooled down, I feel again up to moving around the house and finally get to do some gardening and much else that has been neglected around here for the past month or so. Sometimes even rainy summer days can have their benefits, which are mostly visible in the nature, that is once again green and fresh.

Ruled By The Weather.

This weekend was weather-wise a total washout. That is the problem with Scandinavian spring; it's timing is always off. We can have a warm working week and a rainy weekend. One can never be sure of the sunshine. Weather is often a heavily discussed topic and it rules our lives up here north to a certain degree. Forget planning any parties or any celebrations outside, it can be a gorgeous warm summer day on a Friday, but comes Saturday, it will rain and be very cold. I remember discussing this with a Spanish born woman, that lived in Belgium. She told me, how surprised she was upon moving to Brussels, to find everyone always discussing the weather at work. This was something unheard off in Spain, where the weather is stable and rarely a topic for a conversation. However after years living there she now understand how an unstable climate can rule one's life. She too now turns on the TV in the morning just to watch the weather forecast, like everyone else.

So, as a back up plan I always have a few activities that I save for those rainy weekends. Here is my top five list over things to do on a rainy spring Sunday:

1. Sleep long.
2. Watch favorite romantic movies (or right now all those 250 channels on my TV).
3. Organize my wardrobe and try on new and old summer clothes so I am ready for warm days when the sunshine returns.
4. Sort out my pictures and photographs.
5. Make myself a hot cup of coffee and just look out of my windows and rest my eyes on the beauty of nature, while day-dreaming.

There you have it. Those Sundays are actually quiet relaxing.

Below is my weekly update on the growing clematis. The changes are not as obvious as previously, but upon a closer examination, the difference a week has made is noticeable nevertheless.