With all the heartbreak, sadness and worries - five months of limbo life during corona, and extra intensely yesterday - it's more important than ever to fully experience and savoring every little detail of the good days. Like day before yesterday's magic meet cute. And a day like today.
My mother desperately needed to get out of her apartment, now dramatically void of the comforting pitter patter of tiny furry feet and lovable purrs. So we went for a walk down to the suburb center again. This time the goal was simply a fika at the new location for the cafe we visited on that rainy Friday a couple of weeks ago.
The new location is this house, Villa Skoga, built in 1926. Back then my suburb, Kungsängen, wasn't a suburb of Stockholm, there was no highway, no train station, just a pretty rural area a few miles north of Stockholm. It's really fascinating to look at old photos from back then. And also quite dispiriting, given how many lovely nature areas and farmland that have been destroyed for consolidation of dwellings and industries.
A lot of nature resources have been demolished only these almost 30 years I've been living here, and looking at the pictures it's difficult to grasp all the changes, with little or no respect for nature that has happened since then. And the human species obviously still don't connect the dots, as financial growth just isn't possible in a world with shrinking and and limited resources. It's 2020, and we're still heading straight into climate catastrophy on high gear...
But I digress. It wasn't at all this I was going to write about. The climate emergency we're living in is just constantly present in my mind.
The area of Villa Skoga is obviously densely populated now, with mostly charmless block of apartments, businesses and conveniences. The villa itself is still pretty, its location not. But I think the renovation is rather nicely done. It's suppose to become a blend of offices for small companies, a coffice, cafe, and a business hub basically. It can be a good thing.
The interesting thing, for me personally, is the fact that my grandfather actually worked as a landscape gardener at Villa Skoga back in the beginning, many many many years before I was born, before everything changed. And now his grand-daughter lives here. And today she enjoyed her first fika in the garden, he once designed, but which doesn't look anything like it anymore.
The fika was however very enjoyable. I'm glad they had at least one vegan cake (sticky chocolate cake), which was very good. No dairy-free whipped cream though. And only one boring looging plantbased sandwich. Plus a vegan bowl with non-specified ingredients. Ie, a lot of room for improvement to veganize more things deliciously. We need to have a chat, I have suggestions!
I also had my first coffee in five months. Oat latte. It was nice, but the espresso needs to be stronger for perfection. As I've become so sensitive when it comes to drinking black tea, and alcohol, it's very difficult to get to sleep when I do, I have an inkling it'll be the same this evening after coffee. WOrth it though.
Apart form a good fika and a lovely long walk - no walking nazis this time - to clear the body and mind, the best thing today was the weather. On the chilly side, windy and +17C but with the warming sun it was the perfect combination of refreshing and summer.
Hot, stuffy weather just makes me feel sick these days. I find the sun so much hotter and difficult to cope with, as well as inhibiting compared to when I was a kid. Back then we didn't dealt with global warming and a collapsing planet in the same way. It was easier to breathe. Easier to live and feeling hopeful and carefree. It's truly difficult imagining how it must be to be a child today, only having a very bleak future to adapt to, given the rapid pace we're heading there. Sorry, digressing again.
All and all, it was a good day, a simple yet much needed soul soothing day to be savoured. And lo and behold, I didn't really dress like a granny toddler.
Slowfashion, OOTD and shoe per diem:
Blouse, Marimekko
Denim skirt, Levis
Vegan sneakers, Adidas
Re-Kånken, Fjällräven
And nature was green and full with pops of colours, bird twitter, insects buzzing and butterflies fluttering. It doesn't get much better than that, right? Right.
1 comment:
What a good idea this is, Pia, taking your little mum out for a sunny walk to enjoy some tasty treats. Exercise is indeed a remedy for grief, and sugar is said to be good for shock -- I know from experience that losing two pets in one week is both a mental and physical blow.
I also favor your excellent plan of offering elderly pet lovers a "free" older cat or dog, with the provision that the animal can return to the shelter if the owner is no longer able to care for it. Here in the States some shelters offer a "permanent foster" option in which they retain ownership of the pet -- and responsibility for vet bills and medical needs, special diet food -- while the animal lives in a private home. This works especially well for pets who are diabetic.
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