Horse Chestnuts
 etc

I started the day by finishing off the book I was reading; Annie Proulx's "Barkskins". The book starts in 1693 with two men arriving in Canada (New France to them) where the forest comes down to the sea. The book follows them and their descendants right up to 2013, when the old-growth forest has virtually disappeared from the continent (and maybe the world). But the main character in this epic is the forest. In that way it really reminded me of Richard Powers' "Overstory". Our part of Sweden, with its forest, has gone through the same transition described in this book. I'd definitely recommend Barkskins, especially if you have read other Annie Proulx books and liked them. Here's a review that chimes with my reading of the book.

I've done a lot of reading in the last few days because we lost Internet (apart from mobile phones) about 20 minutes after we got home from our Portugal trip and turned it all on. We've had Internet via fiber-optic for the last 14 year but the box on the wall (fiber jack, network terminal, ONT?) seemed to have died.  Today our local fiber-optic provider rolled up with a new box (possibly prompted by a diplomatic call earlier in the day from Jan) and ten minutes later we were reconnected to the world. We hadn't realised how addicted we were to Internet until it disappeared!

The snow has slowly melted and today I was once more emptying water butts and looking around the garden. The kale is still growing (!) showing its toughness and suitability for this climate. A few of the tougher flowers have survived the frost too, for example a whole cluster of harebells.
The chestnut tree has produced a real harvest of chestnuts for the first time. Last year we got the first three examples, but they were stunted and misshapen. This year I reckon there are about 30 real chestnuts, getting ready to fall, together with the frozen leaves. I'll maybe make some washing detergent from the chestnuts, inspired by Jan's brother Dave, but we'll only have enough for a few washes this year.

The day ended with the film "Boy from Heaven" at Film Studio. A beautiful film, though tense at times. I remarked at the end that it was a cross between "The Name of the Rose" and a Le Carre spy thriller, and felt vindicated when reviews mentioned that it made them think of both these examples. Another film I recommend!
Books, Internet, garden, Rose's and films - that's today!