23.12.2024 Through a glass, darkly.

 ~o~

 

   Monday 23rd 41F/5C. A wet and windy morning is promised clearing slightly from the NW.

Up at 7.10 after a quiet night but with weird dreams. 

 8.15 63F/17C in the room. The stove is lit with more scraps of wood and a briquette. I hope to be able to collect a trailer full of logs this morning. 

 9.40 That's good. The wood place is open from 10am. 

 10.00 Whoops! I just had chest pains after moving the trailer! 

 12.00 Returned from collecting a trailer full of logs. They were very generous. Even dumped their normal bucket for a smaller one. To ensure the logs all fell within the upper cage. I covered the load over with the fitted tarpaulin to avoid any loss on the way home. I have many weeks' worth of stove fodder now. A huge relief.

 We dropped in on a village charity shop. Where I found a brand new, plastic mixing bowl. Just like the ones we use in the cooking classes. I had nothing large enough in which to whip the eggs for the omelette yesterday. Now I have. 15kr is about £1.67 in olde money. I was ripped off! They cost only 39kr for two from IKEA! Grr?  

 13.00 The sun has broken through. However briefly.

 15.30 All thanks to my interior designer, restaurateur, house guest. I finally have some of my wife's Finish glass on display. My visitor carefully washed it all. While I dried. The cabinet glass was cleaned of tobacco stains and streaks. Then the collection arranged in a far more pleasing manner. Than I could ever have achieved myself.

 It really needs more light to reach the bottom layers through all those glass shelves. Perhaps some LED spots set wide apart and angled inwards. There is nowhere sensible to fix self-adhesive LED strips. Though individually adjustable spots could be attached to the cabinet's front uprights.  Something I have seen on modern, commercial, display cabinets. 

 The single top light gives the cabinet a tantalizing air of mystery. Almost outdated museum-like. LED strips proved to be much too harsh. Despite the bright, even lighting. They stripped the contents of period authenticity. Probably 1960-70s.

 Photography required the cabinet's glass doors to be opened, the cabinet light switched off and a forced flash setting on the phone camera. Then slight trapezoidal adjustment in image handling software to get the cabinet sides parallel.  

 Dinner was sausages, eggs and mushrooms. I cooked. My visitor washed up.

 ~o~