Holding on to hope

Like a good Swede, and Minnesotan, I'm going to talk about the weather.

This week is the first week where when I wake up in the morning it is still completely dark.  I get up, drink coffee, get dressed, eat breakfast and read through the morning news before the sun makes an appearance.  And we haven't even turned the clocks back yet!  What is even more troublesome for me was this morning's head line, "Season's first snow set to smother Stockholm." Smother?  Really?  Are the newspaper writers intentionally trying to instill trepidation in reader's hearts?  Because it's working.

There was a moment when my heart did a jump and then slowed its pace all within one sentence: "The snow is arriving about a month earlier than normal (WHAT? WHY?! IS THIS A BAD SIGN?) but weather experts said there is no correlation between an early snowfall and a particularly harsh winter."  Well, I certainly hope not!  I have been pleasantly surprised (along with everyone else in Southern Sweden) at the warm sunny weather.  It has not been the cloudy rainy fall I was promised for which I am eternally thankful.  I may be a bit dilutional, but I think I may be the charm that has brought such a mild and spectacular fall to Sweden.  With this logic, how can we possibly have a particularly harsh winter?  Every time I make this suggestion when people begin to talk of the horror of winter, they give me a little indulgent smile while shaking their heads and telling me there is no way winter won't be harsh.  That is the definition of winter in Sweden.

But I'm going to maintain some hope.  Just as at the very end of the article great news was made, "The weather is better down south with Malmö enjoying temperatures of 20C (55 degrees)." No smothering snow for us.

Sun and changing colors