The sun

Today the sun rose at 5.31am and it will set at 8.39pm here in Lund. The days sure are getting longer. But it's much darker here in Lund than in Boden where I grew up - there the sun rose at 4.04am today and will set at 8.59pm. In Brugg, where we lived in Switzerland, the times are 6.14am and 8.32pm...

Springtime

Now spring is really here. A couple of weeks ago, the ground in one of the parks on the way downtown was covered in blue, scilla. I just learned that another name for these flowers is blåstjärna which translates into blue star. Beautiful name for a flower that really shines like a star in the sun!

The scillas are slowly fading now and instead it's the wood anemones that take over. I really like them. These spring flowers are something that I didn't grow up with at all since they don't exist in the northern parts of Sweden. My mother, born somewhere in the middle of Sweden did miss them a lot when she lived up north... Her favorite is the Hepatica and when she was here we spotted them downtown, outside a restaurant. But I haven't seen them anywhere else here in Lund and according to my flora they don't thrive in here in the southernmost parts of Sweden.

Now all the trees really start to burgeon so very soon it will be very green here. In the north of Sweden they still have lots of snow and will have to wait another month or more for the green leaves...

Sofiero Palace

My mother has been visiting the past week. Since she came by car, we made a few excursions. One to Ikea in Malmö and one to Sofiero Palace outside Helsingborg. The garden of the palace has been designated the most beautiful garden in Europe 2010, but since the spring is so slow this year, hardly any flowers were blooming there now. But it sure was a beautiful place and we might go back there later this spring.

Heart of crocuses

Someone planted crocuses in the shape of a heart along the bikepath between downtown and our place.