Solid Block of Ise

The seasons pass without us being able to affect them at all.

Spring is a very brief affair up in the northerner parts of Sweden, it’s usually taken care of in about a month or so - from start to finish. The first tinglings usually show up here in Umeå around the end of April, and by the end of May it’s full summer. I personally don’t like the first part, the slush and mush that covers everything as the snow melts more quickly than it can be dissipated. But I do love the other half of it, the dry half, the half when grass starts to grow again and the trees sprout leaves. I love how you go from wearing heavy jackets and pants to shorts and t-shirts in the period of just a few weeks.

Summers are absolutely gorgeous up here. Anyone who thinks that summers up in the northern parts of Sweden are chilly affairs have obviously never been here. Even though Umeå is quite a bit south of the arctic circle we get a similar phenomenon to the midnight sun, and there’s no lack of warmth. The great summers are mostly thanks to the gulf-stream, making sure that we get shorts-inducing temperatures.

Fall (autumn) is something that I both love and loathe. I love the first half, the dance of colors that takes place in every tree. I love taking walks and soaking it all in. The other part is not so great though, and I think most people who experience it will agree with me. It’s the part where all the leaves have long since fallen off, and the darkness of winter has arrived, but not the snow. It’s very cold, very wet, and there’s no snow to reflect the light at night so everything is a compact darkness.

That part ended last night. As I was getting ready for bedways I took a gander out the window. It was snowing. I had no choice but to go out and snap some quick shots of it.

And today it lookes like this. I was lazy and took this shout out through the office-window, but it still looks a lot more inviting. I’m doubtful as to whether this snow will stay put, I think the ground is still too warm to make it last. But it sure looks cozy, and more snow will fall.

UPDATE: As I suspected it didn’t last very long. I was surprised to find the snow still here the day after it arrived, but the day after that it had turned to slush and later the same day it was all gone. The first snow never lasts.

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This work is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 Sweden License.