International Rose Test Garden in Portland

spring rain

113 I love what the spring rain does to the colors outside my windows. It is raining in Stockholm today and I was sitting in a meeting, listening to a colleague complain about the weather, and I thought: I can’t understand this. Yes, with the non-stop clouds and rain in November, but now? The moistureContinue reading “spring rain”

Portland (ii)

101 The snow is melting now. Big puddles of water everywhere. It makes me think of spring. And flowers in the spring. Flowers after a heavy late spring rain. I can’t wait. This is a time of biding. // Few flowers beat the rose for beauty. Voluptuous, soft, fragrant. And after a summer rain, theContinue reading “Portland (ii)”

Portland (i)

82 One of the big tourist attractions in Portland is the International Rose Test Garden, a meticulously manicured garden with over 500 different rose varieties. It is cared for by the Portland Rose Society, a non-profit founded in 1889. Hanna and I went there on a rainy Monday morning in 2012, but I was soonContinue reading “Portland (i)”

notes from 2018

73 States of emergency, since March, today restrictions were tightened even further. My mind wanders off in associations, one crisis makes me think of another. In the notebook from 2018: “Hot summer, dry, an extreme high-pressure system stuck, looming over our parched Nordic soils. I find it tough. July, walking through the groves, seeing treesContinue reading “notes from 2018”

rain

15 Oh, how I love the rain. The smell of it, in spring. After a month of none at all. A sigh of relief, from the wood anemones, budding roses, the birch outside my make-shift home office window with leaves just about to open. Thinking: Maybe this means we aren’t heading into another summer likeContinue reading “rain”