New Header for Summer 2016

Bock in SecondLife's art-director, Tomais Ashdene, has created a new awesome header for the summer season of 2016.

Tomais also suggested I change the background, which I was rather hesitant to do at first because it always screws up something else. When we had tried out a few - that buggered up the blog - we finally found this transparent background with a sort of paisley pattern. I like it alot.

I Long for Tomorrow

December 22, 2015, is the date of the Winter Solstice this year.

In my first life hometown (Lund, Sweden) the length of the day between sunrise and sunset will be only 7 hours and 54 seconds.

After that the the days will keep on getting longer day by day until we reach the Summer Solstice on June 21, 2016, when the length of the day will be 17 hours, 32 minutes and 42 seconds.

Ten more bloody, glorious hours of daylight to sooth our souls! And we are starting our move towards it after tomorrow!

In SecondLife, Tomais and I decided not to change Southern Charm to winter this year. I couldn't stand the thought of darkness and cold in SL too and besides our Royal Gardener Butch Diavolo is indisposed at the time being.

Emergency Aid

New York City is having one of it's coldest winters ever and it seems never-ending. This video is posted to help keep my brother Dej warm and to remind him that spring and summer are on their way.

Relaxing

It's been a hectic time with much going on in both my lives. When my husband yesterday came up with the amazing idea that we should just sit on the back porch of the barn and relax I jumped at it.

My English Bulldog Bilbo was there also, whimpering and pining for Dej, who is visiting with his mother and first life family over the holidays. After a while he realized it wasn't helping and went to lie down and catch some sleep.

After Tomais had logged for dinner, I went up into the skies and took into Inventory all the summer and autumn landscaping we had stored up at 1,500 m and 2,000 m in the hopes that the lag that has hit Southern Charm since we started the snowing would lessen, at least a bit.

The Shortest Days 2014

In my hometown of Lund, Sweden, today sunrise occurred at 08:35 AM CET and sunset at 03:36 PM CET. We had daylight (sort of) only for 7 hours and 57 seconds. Tomorrow on December 22nd we will have approximately the same times for both sunrise and sunset but the day will be less than a second shorter.

After these two days the days will get steadily longer everyday until the Summer solstice occurs on June 21st 2015, when we will have daylight for 17:32:40. Further north in the country the swings in daylight are even more dramatic, where the sun never rises or sets North of the Polar Circle.

It isn't at all strange that we Scandinavians go crazy with mood swings during winters and summers.

New Blog Header For Summer

This is my new blog header for the summer, isn't it simply beautiful? The picture is called "Tan lines" and is by my talented husband Tomais Ashdene.

My tan lines have been generously provided by my friend and fellow blogger Ricco Saenz. You can find Ricco's blog here, Second Sighting (and in my blog roll, of course)

Backlash

Photo by Smedenborn on Flickr

The summer in Sweden has come to a sudden standstill with heavy rains and thunderstorms - at least in the southern parts of the country.

Short summer rains can be reinvigorating and clear the air, but when it just goes on day after day it is really uninspiring. I am feeling moody.

For the first time I feel like I am fleeing my first life when I decide to log into SecondLife for a chance to wear my sun glasses.

Sweden - Closed Due to Summer

When I was at Elfay´s show this weekend I was chatting a bit with my friend Diana as usual. Somehow we got to the subject of vacations and I understood that she was puzzled by the fact that I - being a lawyer - could take a five week vacation.

The easiest way to explain this is to point to the fact that Sweden for a large part of it´s modern history (1936-1976, 1982-1991 and 1994-2006) has been ruled by the Social Democratic Party of Sweden.

One of the main pillars of the party´s ideology has been "the welfare of the people" in all aspects of life. They are thus rightfully considered the main designers of what once was "The Welfare State" where the citizens were always under the benevolent protection of the state, from the cradle to the grave.

This welfare state began crumbling in the 1990´s and is since then slowly being dismantled, piece by piece, to expose the surprised Swedes to the market forces.

However one of the benefits created that has not yet been removed is the Holidays Act. According to this law all employees are entitled to a holiday whether employed by the hour or the CEO of a company. (No employed person is excluded, even the Swedish Prime Minister takes a vacation.) Everyone who is employed is entitled to a minimum of five weeks vacation, four of these weeks they are entitled to receive continuously during the period June-August.

During a period of about six weeks (July - mid August) Sweden comes close to a complete standstill. Only the most essential services are maintained and the workforce of any given company is reduced to half - or less - it´s usual size, some companies even choose to shut down completely for a month.

I think one of the main reasons we Swedes accept these conditions is that we ourselves wouldn't want to lose our summer vacation.

Summer is important to us Swedes, just saying!