Travels with my Art

Paintings and Photographs inspired by Travels Around the World

Life in Sweden – In the depth of winter, I learned within me there lay an invincible summer

Albert Camus once said: “In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer”. Trudging through the snow alongside the frozen canal this morning in sub-zero temperatures, I think I understood what he meant.

The different seasons are undoubtedly one of the benefits of living in Sweden. Changes throughout the year in the weather are normal of course in the Northern hemisphere, but the further north you go, the more significant the contrasting seasons are.

These changes make a great deal of difference from winter to summer, especially in Sweden.  Another significant difference in Scandinavia is the duration of daylight in Stockholm, the shortest day is about six hours and the longest nineteen hours.

And while I was taking photographs this morning of the fiery sun rise over Åkers canal, just outside my house, I thought about the Camus quote and that was right, inside you even on the darkest days, are the brightest memories of summer. So here are some seasonal shots of the canal, throughout the Swedish year.

Winter

Winter sunrise along Åkers Canal

Winter sunrise along Åkers Canal

 

A Snowy walk across the bridge to the local shop.

A Snowy walk across the bridge to the local shop

 

Spring

Wood Anemones carpeting woodland floors

Wood Anemones carpeting woodland floors

 

View of our house in Slussbrovägen, from across Åkers Canal.

View of our house in Slussbrovägen, from across Åkers Canal

Summer

Cycling across the bridge over Åkers Canal on a summer morning.

Cycling across the bridge over Åkers Canal on a summer morning

 

The banks of the canal in summer full of yellow iris plants.

The banks of the canal in summer full of yellow iris plants

 

Autumn

Jogging along the canal on an autumnal day.

Jogging along the canal on an autumnal day

 

Long Shadows on a sunny autumnal afternoon in Stockholm.

Long Shadows on a sunny autumnal afternoon in Stockholm

 

I will finish this blog post with a quote from the amazing Finnish writer Tove Jansson, who constantly makes references to the seasons in her literature.

Tove Jansson in 1956

Tove Jansson in 1956

 

“The quiet transition from autumn to winter is not a bad time at all. It’s a time for protecting and securing things and for making sure you’ve got in as many supplies as you can. It’s nice to gather together everything you possess as close to you as possible, to store up your warmth and your thoughts and burrow yourself into a deep hole inside, a core of safety where you can defend what is important and precious and your very own. Then the cold and the storms and the darkness can do their worst. They can grope their way up the walls looking for a way in, but they won’t find one, everything is shut, and you sit inside, laughing in your warmth and your solitude, for you have had foresight.”

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2 Comments

  1. lenalimhamn January 12, 2017

    Thank you for amazing beautiful posts. Good to enjoy a cold dark winterday in Skåne

    • alidunnell January 12, 2017

      I am glad you are enjoying reading them… no one believes me back home in England at the moment, but I really am envying the cold, dark, rainy and misty days… I guess the grass is always greener:) Ali

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