bodil vs. sven: same storm, different name

storm outside - red velvet mocha with whipped cream (including cream cheese) on top inside.

a storm is raging outside. the incompetent danish meteorological institute (which pretty much just makes shit up as far as the weather is concerned) has dubbed it bodil (a name usually applied to middle aged women with asymmetrical haircuts wearing capri pants with three-quarter length boots). they say it's tapering off and i guess there are less creaks and groans coming from the roof at the moment, but it doesn't really seem over. a big piece of the roof of the oldest part of the house (the bit we want to tear down anyway) came off. husband was out there for over an hour on a ladder, battling some big boards into place. if a section of roof had to come off, it was a good spot, over a little "alley" between the two houses (the old part, where my kitchen is today) and the length of the house that was barn (where the new kitchen is slowly taking shape). we'll have to see it in daylight tomorrow.

unfortunately, all of the work husband did this summer, building a drying barn for his wood has come to naught, as that structure came down and now looks like kindling. he actually saw it happen, but there wasn't a thing he could do.

of course, there is much talk about the storm on facebook. one of my facebook friends expressed that he was tired of the media totally exaggerating the storm (tho' personally, i don't think they're exaggerating at all) and thought it was ridiculous that the trains were all canceled. the big bridges are closed as well and even the smaller little belt bridge is closed. i commented that it certainly wasn't exaggerated out at our place. then one of his friends remarked that well, "this time the storm was a woman, so..." remarks like that make me tired. it seems sexism is alive and well in denmark, but not in sweden, where this same storm is called sven.

after the storm

one of three trees downed on this particular road

we had a big storm blow through yesterday - with hurricane force winds (up to 54 meters/second in some places). since we consult the norwegian weather (not the danish, they haven't got a clue - i seriously got a warning via my DMI iPhone app 5 hours after the storm had blown through and was over), we knew it was coming and we battened down the hatches, so there was very little damage around our house. a few branches here and there, but even all of husband's tarps covering various projects stayed put (he's a good battener). at one point, the roof made some seriously ominous creaking sounds and i thought perhaps some of it would go, but it held and there's no sign of any damage to it this morning. this old house is sturdier than it looks.

people are really quick to clean up, especially if one of their trees is blocking the road. this morning, when i ran sabin to school around 7:30, the tree above already looked like this, all neatly stacked and everything:

tho' the storm really only lasted a few hours, it brought the country to its knees. 50 trains were stranded on the tracks around denmark, due to downed power lines and trees over the tracks. DSB, the railway, says it will be at least a week before they are back to their normal schedule. i'm very glad i wasn't on a train yesterday. they also closed the big bridges, both to sweden and the one between sjælland and fyn (storbæltsbro, the one i photograph all the time, for my instagram friends). it was a good day to be working at home, that's for sure.

actually, it's kind of ironic, the chimney sweep who came today (they come once a year as part of what you get for your property taxes and because it's mandated by law) left more of a mess behind than the storm did:

i find the whole chimney sweep thing in this country deeply, deeply strange. they dress like a soldier from the civil war, they don't knock on the door, but basically just break into your house, completely unannounced and apparently leave a giant, black mess and then leave again, without even leaving a card to let you know that they were here. i happened to notice his vehicle out front or i wouldn't have realized it until i saw the big, black mess and bag of ashes in the furnace room. and our furnace room is pretty orderly because it's quite a newly done room with a brand new furnace and husband has the wood all neatly stacked, not to mention that it was just tidied up on the weekend because of the halloween party. i think the guy is a real ass for leaving it in the condition he left it. i've written him a letter, since i don't have his phone number and i hate calling people anyway and told him i expect him to come back to clean up after himself by november 1 or i'm both writing to the municipality to inform them exactly how he does his work (he did this last year too) and sending him a bill for my time spent cleaning it up. and i can tell you that he's not going to like my hourly rate. 

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i had to try to photograph the wind, but wind is really hard to capture. the blur in this sort of shows it and you can see that the little mini greenhouse that fits over my herb bed was in motion:

there's something really cleansing and freeing about a good storm. it clears the mind as well as the trees of all their leaves. i'm sure i'd feel differently if anyone around here got hurt, but thankfully that didn't happen. so we just relish that all the cobwebs (internal and external) were swept away.

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seriously inventive flower arrangements.

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amazing feather art.

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and i love these illustrations featuring everyday object. 

and the sun breaks through

it's been a stormy week weatherwise and although i often feel that the weather reflects my mood and pause to wonder if i'm causing it, this week that hasn't been the case. i have definitely felt the sun breaking through a cloud that's hung over my head for the better part of the past few months. one that i strangely didn't really realize was there until it dissipated. how is it that we're so inside of ourselves that we can't see what's really going on?

i feel so happy that the mild depression i've apparently been in is lifting. and it's lifting just in time for blog camp berlin. and i feel truly excited and happy to be leaving tomorrow morning on the train. i've got energy again and am ready for loads of laughter and talking and catching up and getting to know a couple of new people in person. tho' thanks to the blogosphere, they already all feel like old friends.

i don't know what adventures lie ahead the next few days, but i'm looking very much forward to them, whatever they are...

happy weekend one and all...may the sun break through wherever you are.