And Now For The Weather

Still recovering from *a bit* of a post-holiday right leg problem (probably due to a whole lot of walking in cities and elsewhere plus just too much time in the car) hence not feeling very inspired to write possible Pulitzer prize winning blog posts (as if ever...) I thought I'd muse a bit on the issue of weather.

I'm not much of a weather girl in general, I'm more of a *it will be what it will be and please make it be season appropriate* kind of gal. But since the weather is completely raining cats and dogs at the moment here in the Stockholm vicinity, and has been since late afternoon showing absolutely no sign of petering out, rather quite the opposite, it sounds like it's going to rain cows and horses any minute now, the weather business is quite obviously a muzak that just won't go away. Hence blog post will be weather-inspired.

But no fear, at the end of this gloom and rain post there will be sun and colour once again through a few of my favourite holiday pictures. Oh yes, there where a whole lot of camera-action going on, some turned out very less than great, some are just silly keepsakes for undersigned's eyes only, others turned out quite alright - despite of the weather and light being very less than friendly for photo purposes - and then we have a few that I'm quite pleased indeed with. Although my next definitely must investment is a new camera lens, since despite the good pictures I did miss some lovely opportunities due to insufficient lens, bummer.

And now, back to the weather. Once again we played Swedish benevolent weather gods on vacation and brought good - if you like it sunny and hot around +24-27 C - weather with us to England and Scotland. Although not appreciated by everyone it seemed, there was some distinct grump and growl going on here and there at our pit stops, ah, can't win them all...

But whilst we thought the weather was remarkable there, it turned out that Sweden (as well as other parts of Europe) apparently suffered from yet another heatwave, with temperatures around +35 C. Somehow I'm rather glad we missed out on that and instead we had perfectly agreeable temperatures and just very enjoyable weather, dash too much of air humidity, dash too much of heat haze, but all and all pleasant indeed.

This holiday was pretty much about revisiting favourite places (Yorkshire, York, Scotland, Edinburgh, Skye) as well as experience a bit of new stuff here and there. The problem, such an I-country one, is that if you travel to the British isles by car there's just too darn much to see. Everywhere. Behind every little bend a castle emerge, or a scenery that takes your breath away and from time to time even give more than misty eyes, one oh-and-ah-picturesque hamlet after the other wherever you drive. And there's just so much you can fit into one trip. And we're always kind of on a very tight travelling schedule as it is. And...

Then there are sheep. Everywhere. At least in Scotland. More than at least on Skye. Plus cows. All shapes and sorts. Adorable. Every single one of them. Happily roaming the vast countryside. Ruling it all. Until we demand a wee bit of access to narrow road. If they decide it appropriate they jog-trot aside giving a miffed eye. Since I'm no farm woman I do find the amount of sheep poop and the bountiful scent exuded slightly... um, overpowering.

Other than that I absolutely adore and love it all, it's just so peaceful, rural, back to basics, relaxing, a whole other lifestyle without the musts and so completely without a glitzy city surface. Just these hills, mountains, open fields of every nuance of lush green imaginable and then some. Wide open spaces for miles and miles, add some mysterious, alluring, deep, dark lochs, oh and sigh it's just so breathtakingly wonderful... Why can't travelling be easier, Scotty-beam-me-up! Or would easy access mean too easy?

From weather reflections to travel musings to pictures, here are some colourful holiday swoops -

Electric blue wicket outside Dunvegan, Skye

Cute old fashioned mailbox with a view on Skye

Electric blue peacock at the House of the Binns, outside Edinburgh

Part of an amazing garden in Yorkshire

Everything green in Wicken, Ely

Colour meet at the pier in Harwich

Stunning geranium in electric blue flower boxes in Harwich harbour