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. 

* * *

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.

* * *

seriously inventive flower arrangements.

* * *

amazing feather art.

* * *

and i love these illustrations featuring everyday object.