Scandinavian Bleak

I’m a huge fan of Scandinavia – Denmark, Norway and Sweden – and IMHO its people may be the most uniformly physically beautiful race in the world. Indeed, throughout The Claire Saga, I allude to the physical similarities between the Centaurians and Scandinavians, including their “Nordic blue” eye coloring.

There’s plenty of precedent for that: https://scandification.com/nordic-aliens-and-nordic-extraterrestrials/

Although, my extraterrestrials were a different kettle of fish, hailing from Proxima b.

In the case of Scandinavia, my familiarity is purely theoretical. I know it exists but I’ve never actually been there.

My knowledge of the Scandinavian countries comes from watching a ton of mostly Scandinavian detective shows – like The Bridge, The Killing, The Valhalla Murders, Bordertown, Wallander, Artic Circle, with an occasional mystical one like Trollhunter – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trollhunter – or Ragnarok – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ragnarok_(TV_series) – set in those countries on the BBC channels I subscribe to on Amazon or Netflix. A lot of them are presented with subtitles, which is like reading a movie. I’ve become quite adept at it, melding the written words with the cadence and speed of the speakers, and enjoy the experience just as much as any English language movie.

The one constant to all of the Scandinavian shows is the fact that sunshine is a rare commodity. At its brightest it is muted. But most of the time, if it is is not actually overcast or snowing, the sky has this crystalized fog that diffuses the light. Now I remember being told by a photographer that overcast days are the best days to film because it diffuses the shadows in the film shots. So filmmakers must love Scandinavia.

But I’ve also noticed that the winter sky in NoCo (Northern Colorado) shares a lot of visual similarities with its Scandinavian counterparts.

Don’t get me wrong, when the NoCo sky is clear, there is no bluer or sunnier sky in the universe. Indeed, on those days you can go outside in shorts and a t-shirt.

But if its overcast, or worse, like yesterday, a crystalized fog, the day can be just as bleak as the bleakest Scandinavian winter day.

I thought about that yesterday when I was scanning the property to find Claire and Honey and spotted them sleeping – and looking quite dead – under The Ladies copse of trees out front. All the scene needed was some police tape cordoning it off.

Luckily, it was just a temporary scene, as the mules were back on their feet and grazing away under The Old Man copse shortly after.

As bright as the sun was shining yesterday, it was muted by the NoCo/Scandanavian bleak winter atmosphere.

But there were no shadows in the shots.

Enough observations. Time to get on the good foot.

Today is hay humping day at Casa Claire. I am down to two bales in the storeroom.

Tom Collins will be delivering twenty more bales to get me through to the new year.

Hopefully, it will be a sunny day, even if it is in the twenties.

Now you fine, five readers go take care of your weekend errands.

Do your weekly shopping, dry cleaning run, and chase your kids to their sporting and other events.

Engage your family.

Have a family dinner. Go visit some friends.

And if you get a moment to yourself, read a book. You never know where it will take you.

I’m going to head upstairs and cuddle some kitties and do my rounds.

Let’s hope the sun breaks through.

And no matter what, let’s make today a great one.