It's getting brighter!

For long time Maria has been biking both to and from work in dark. This starts to change with sunrise around 7.40 am in mid-February. Sunshine on the treetops met her this morning - there's definitively hope for the bright time again :-)
The disadvantage with clear sky: It's wintercold!

Snow day

Today there was a class 2 warning of the snow storm hitting most of Sweden. Here we might get 40 cm of snow, but the wind will probably be the worst part. Hard time to keep the bike paths open, since the wind forms new snowdrifts all over in a short time and make the paths unpassable.
Questions you asked yourself: Will I be snowed in at work today? Or blown a way?

Of course this was a day were you had to go somewhere after work, a planned meeting downtown. Maria biked there from work, but Olle gave up having unplowed bike paths in front of him. On the way home Maria struggled in the snow and had to walk most of the uphill part. Snow-trudging is workout in itself. For the last part she biked on the streets, instead of the snowy bike paths. Probably the cars didn't like it so much.

Thursday morning Maria biked to work as usual, since it take so long time to walk and the bus is probably not trustworthy in time or too overfilled in this weather. She used the street part of the way, before she found a plowed bike path (taking an alternative way to work, but plowed). Within the University area the paths were nicely plowed, as usual.

Winter vehicles

Olle took a stroll in the neighborhood the day after we came back. It seemed like the amount of snow that had fallen when we were away was about 1/2 m. Some of the bikes/cars in the area don't seem to have been looked after for a couple of weeks...

Short winter days

Olle took a walk to Nydalasjön today. The sun does not rise that much above the horizon this time of the year.
The pictures are taken about 11:30.

Winter equipped bike

Yesterday we bought a studded tire for Maria's bike and today we placed it on the front wheel. A new experience for us to have winter tire also for the bike, but several of Maria's friends praise it. Olle biked all winters in Lkg without any special tires. The winters in northern Sweden are longer though, so Maria feels it might be worth the investment. A comment will come further on...

Time for studded tires

Today we started the day with forgetting that it was no longer Daylight Saving Time. We would have been able to sleep one hour more than usual, but instead we started the day a little bit earlier. The main project of the day was switching tires on the car since winter road conditions is approaching. The studded tires have been laying around in the basement since May, but today we had to carry them up to ground level. It was quite easy to remove the ordinary tires, but the winter ones were a little bit harder to fasten because of short bolts. Eventually all four tires were exchanged and we took the car for a ride to see if the bolts were tightened enough (and also to get some food and other articles for the winter).

The bad thing with normal time is that it gets dark already before 4 pm, and it will get even worse as we get closer to the end of the year. Hopefully it will get better when we have some snow on the ground, but on the other hand I guess that we can try to avoid that for another month if possible.

First snow of the season

When we woke up this morning there was something white on the grass. Evidently, the first snow has arrived. It also seemed that most of the lake Maria is biking next to was covered, which means that it also had an ice cover. Perhaps not that thick, but still. Since it is still just October, most of the snow had melted away by noon.

Fall is here!

Or is it winter? Anyway, now the night frost is here, covering both the ground and roofs.
Just a week ago the first snow seemed far away during the warm (late-summer) days, but not mornings like today. The premier snow has arrived early October other years, but in my opinion it can wait like two months more.
Maria brought the fall coat from the storage this morning. Biking without gloves is not a possibility anymore, or you won't feel your finger at all.

Summer flowers

On the way home from Maria passes several spots of flowers this time of the year.

Red and white clover within the University area.

The harebell ("blåklocka") next to a biking bridge.

The area of both pink and purple lupin flowers is so inviting.

Spring turns to early summer

This time of the year there is a mix of spring and early summer flowers, especially in the north where the spring comes late, but summer should be in time. Maria could not resist immortalizing them on the way to/from work.

The spirea is now like big white bushes.





We haven't noticed the white mats of Anemone nemorosa ("vitsippa"), maybe the species isn't so common in the north. Anyway, there are white stars at the edge of the wood, what we think is Artic starflower ("skogsstjärna").







An up-to-date picture from Maria's bikepath to work. Now for some months the green is next to you, and there is not any view of the lake or the car road much longer. Some peaceful minutes, often for yourself.







One interesting thing here within Umeå is the tree areas left behind look like forests, not arranged parks. It's hard (for us) to remember if this is a phenomena of northern Sweden or something all over the country. The following photos are taken just next to the student apartments, but could be from a dark forest as well. Marsh Labour tea ("skvattram") and (European) blueberry are in bloom.

And just when you have started to take in all spring flowers in full bloom, the early summer flowers start to appear here in town.
Isn't it a little bit early for Woodland geranium ("midsommarblomster") ?
And the Cow parsley ("hundkäx") is turning white as well.


(With reservations from being wrong in some species, we are not experts.)

Never ending evening

Grill party tonight with the choir Olle joined a couple of months ago. After the dinner everybody gathered around the fire place and songs in four part harmonies were sung until it was too cold to stay (lovely to listen, Maria thought).
To stay until it gets dark doesn't work too well here in the northern part of Sweden during the summer. Because of the clear skies, it never really gets dark, not even in the middle of the night (the photo is from 1 am). So using that rule, you will stay up all night long.

Sunset from the balcony

Our balcony is facing north, but at least we can enjoy some "sun" from it. At 10.30 tonight we couldn't resist the nice colors. Still pretty light outside at this time.

Yes, green trees

... at least the trees start to develop leaves. The mountain ash ("rönn") is earlier than the birch.


During our trip downtown, we enjoyed the first icecream of the year. Sunny, but a little cold (around 12C). The view is the City Hall Boulevard with the train station at the end.

Last snow...

On the way home from work Maria saw some small patches of snow next to the biking path. It's in the woods, but not in a hidden/shady place. Anyway, in the middle of May it is quite late to see snow (we are not living in the mountains).
(When passing the same spot following Monday the snow was gone).

The following three pictures are taken from our living room during April (10th, 20th and 30th).






The last picture is taken Tuesday this week (12th of May) :-)

Leave buds start to burst

The spring is slowly coming to northern Sweden as well. The birches will probably get greener in the nearest weeks.
Some smaller bushes on the way home from Maria's work have started developing leaves.