Oh, now this is much better!
The last couple of days have been unseasonably warm. One of my friends today said that she heard that yesterday was the warmest day on record for Sweden in the last century. I believe it. When we were driving to Boliden at one point the thermometer in the car said that it was +9 C! This is not a reasonable temperature for this far north this time of the year--it is supposed to be winter already. This afternoon it was raining, and nearly all of the snow was gone from the yard (though every place anyone has walked or driven or done anything else to compact the snow it was solid, very wet, ice), and there were even standing puddles! Ick! (Note: the work we did on the yard this summer was worth it--none of those puddles are anywhere near the places we walk, unlike what happened when we bought the house last year.)
However, tonight while we were at dance practice it finally cooled back off enough to permit the rain to turn into snow. So now we have a wet snow accumulating on top of the wet ice and sticking to it just enough to provide traction and nice, safe footing. It is now possible to walk without fear of falling, and the ground is once again white and beautiful, and I am much happier. Not that it is actually cold, mind you, it is only 0 C, but so long as it doesn't go above zero again this snow should stand a chance to stick around. I sure hope that it does.
Dance practice was fun--since it was the last of the season we were in costume. There were only six of us in attendance, but we enjoyed dancing, and ate pound cake with raspberries and cream. I love dancing, but I am not going to try to run dance again next semester--the most we ever got to show up on a given week was six people, a couple of times it was only 4, once no one showed up besides lord_kjar and I, and one other time we canceled in advance because the ones who usually make it knew in advance that they wouldn't be able to. If we get more people showing interest in the future we can try again then. I still have the Swedish Folk Dancing, after all. So it isn't like I am not doing any dancing.
After dance the huge fluffy flakes of falling snow was so pretty once I got home I got out my spark and went for a a quick ride/kick down to the end of the road and back. Fun! It is a 20 minute walk to do that distance on food, but kicking down the road with one foot on the sled runner meant I could go there and back in 12 minutes.
Now I need to go do my yoga and get to sleep--our choir has its annual Lucia performance in the morning, and we need to gather at 06:30 to get ready for the 07:30 performance. Then we have a second gig at 09:00 at a business across the street from the uni before I can really start my work day. Then, in the early evening we have one more performance, and then a choir party at our house, so it will be a musical day.
However, tonight while we were at dance practice it finally cooled back off enough to permit the rain to turn into snow. So now we have a wet snow accumulating on top of the wet ice and sticking to it just enough to provide traction and nice, safe footing. It is now possible to walk without fear of falling, and the ground is once again white and beautiful, and I am much happier. Not that it is actually cold, mind you, it is only 0 C, but so long as it doesn't go above zero again this snow should stand a chance to stick around. I sure hope that it does.
Dance practice was fun--since it was the last of the season we were in costume. There were only six of us in attendance, but we enjoyed dancing, and ate pound cake with raspberries and cream. I love dancing, but I am not going to try to run dance again next semester--the most we ever got to show up on a given week was six people, a couple of times it was only 4, once no one showed up besides lord_kjar and I, and one other time we canceled in advance because the ones who usually make it knew in advance that they wouldn't be able to. If we get more people showing interest in the future we can try again then. I still have the Swedish Folk Dancing, after all. So it isn't like I am not doing any dancing.
After dance the huge fluffy flakes of falling snow was so pretty once I got home I got out my spark and went for a a quick ride/kick down to the end of the road and back. Fun! It is a 20 minute walk to do that distance on food, but kicking down the road with one foot on the sled runner meant I could go there and back in 12 minutes.
Now I need to go do my yoga and get to sleep--our choir has its annual Lucia performance in the morning, and we need to gather at 06:30 to get ready for the 07:30 performance. Then we have a second gig at 09:00 at a business across the street from the uni before I can really start my work day. Then, in the early evening we have one more performance, and then a choir party at our house, so it will be a musical day.