Our ski passes and ski rental are valid for another day, and we could have gotten another good four of five hours of skiing in. But the weather is getting worse rather than better – even windier, even wetter – and it really isn’t looking the least bit tempting, so we’re packing up and driving home instead.

Adrian’s snowboarding technique is improving steadily, and is now actually better than his skiing, I think. He is faster and more stable on the skis, but pretty much just snow ploughs straight down, whereas on a snowboard he gets pretty nice curves in now.

Anyway, he was feeling confident enough that he and Eric also got onto blue slopes. The longest slope here in Stöten, “Mormors störtlopp”, is green and gentle one, and very nice if you want an easy and relaxed ride – as a skier. But the topmost bit is a long, flat, narrow section that is not at all good for snowboarders. Ingrid and I have had plenty of time to explore the pistes, and found a blue run that we thought would fit the snowboarders’ needs as well. So we could all go down together, for the first time this trip. Which was nice – and gave me great photo opportunities.

The weather was no better today than before. Still windy and with low clouds and lousy visibility at the top. Around lunchtime we got some sleet, and while that stopped for a while, it later came back as almost-rain.

One thing we re-learned yesterday is that about 90% of all Swedes head for lunch just after noon. It’s almost like a law of nature. Water flows downhill, fire is hot, lunch is at twelve. Making use of that knowledge, we made sure to be out on the slopes between twelve and half past one, to make the most of the empty slopes and the almost non-existent lift queues. Skiing is best with no other people around.

The weather today was cloudy again, with such high winds and bad visibility at the top that the lifts to the top were shut down in the afternoon. Here’s the staff taking down the fencing around what, in the morning, was the queueing area for one of the two seated lifts.

Like yesterday, Eric and Adrian were snowboarding on the lower, gentler slopes, while Ingrid and I zig-zagged down the blue pistes. Ingrid kindly took some photos of me as well. I was also there.

Here we are, skiing and snowboarding in Stöten.

Adrian went straight to the snowboard option this year and managed it like a pro.

Ingrid wasn’t feeling a 100% so she took an easy day today and stuck to skis – and even went so far as to go down the blue pistes with me, instead of challenging herself on the red and black slopes.

Here’s Adrian gliding past our house in the background (and our car is also among the ones parked in the background). We could probably save money by living further away, but the convenience of being easy walking distance from the slopes is unbeatable. Someone feels tired and wants to go home early? Someone wants to sleep in and join us a bit later? No problem. No driving, no need to manage who’s where when.

Eric and Adrian stayed in the lower, broader, green slopes, while Ingrid and I took the big lift up to the top. This is her:

The weather conditions at the top were pretty bad, with low clouds and a fair bit of wind. At times it was difficult to see where the pistes even started. Aim between the neon orange sticks and assume that the piste will continue without any sudden changes, and hope for the best.

But there were beautiful views as well, and even the occasional moments of blue skies.

All knackered after hours of skiing:

Off for a half-week of skiing in Stöten. Today was mostly a day of driving, and then getting ourselves situated, picking up our skis, etc. I forgot to take a photo, so I’m borrowing this one from tomorrow morning. This is our small apartment in Stöten – a small kitchen/living room combo, and two small bedrooms with bunk beds. It’s OK, for a few days, but with last year’s stay in Kläppen fresh in our memories, this doesn’t really compare. The sofa in particular is uncomfortable no matter how we try to sit in it. But! We’re no more 50 metres from the nearest piste, which is worth quite a bit.

It was more or less light outside still when I got home after a full day in the office. We’ve finally gotten to the point where each day feels just a little bit lighter and brighter and easier than the one before.

The stitch sampler is more or less done. Our next shared project will be a free embroidery on the theme of “Stockholm”. I have some ideas but they need to ferment a little while longer before I can make decisions and buy materials.

For today I’m just embroidering nothing in particular. I have a second-hand pillowcase that I bought at a charity shop for 30 kr that I’ve been decorating with simple, meditative running stitch. It might turn into a project bag when I feel done with it.

I also did some work on the self-portrait I started some years ago. Mouths are tricky.

I bought scraps of a nice wool fabric a while ago, with the plan of turning them into a skirt. Decent-sized pieces that had been pinned in the shape of a ladies’ suit on a shop window mannequin. I was picturing a scrappy, patchwork-y skirt, pieced together from differently shaped parts.

I quickly realized I’d need to bind all the edges, or the fabric would fray with all the handling. I struggled to find a bias tape that would work with the fabric – the tapes I looked at were too red, or too purple, or too muddy brown. Then I found this linen bias tape which I thought looked decent. But now I think it was a mistake – it’s too bright and sticks out too much. Should have gone with one of the darker colours after all.

Next problem – the bound edges were all stiff, which I hadn’t expected. When I started assembling the pieces, the fabric didn’t drape any more but sort of stood stiffly.

And the pieces I cut weren’t any good, either. I didn’t achieve a patchwork-y look at all. I didn’t want to bind and sew too much, and didn’t want to waste fabric, either, because I didn’t have very much of it. So I made the pieces quite large. Put together, they just looked boring.

At this point I can’t see any way of rescuing this and making anything I’d actually want to wear from what I have in front of me, short of undoing absolutely everything and starting all over. And even then I’m not sure I could fix all the problems. This is no fun at all any longer, and while I don’t like throwing away things that could be something, I’m not going to force myself to work on something I won’t enjoy. This goes into the recycling bag.

Ballet evening at the Royal Opera.

Lukáš Timulak, Totality in Parts. Had all the right pieces but left me cold. During the intermission I was doubting myself, trying to figure out whether I just wasn’t in the right mindset for modern dance today, or maybe I was too tired from work to appreciate it properly.

It was just… boring. There is the “individual vs. group” angle, dancers moving as a group and then breaking out of it, but there really isn’t anything new about that. And I didn’t like the “language” it uses – and it’s definitely not just this work, it seems to be a certain style of dance that some choreographers prefer – that is all slouchy and dragging and “drawly”. I think of it as the “bad posture” school. The body seems to hang and be dragged along, rather than moving with energy. Pelvis forward, sternum back; leading with the elbow and letting the arm hang; toes turned inwards; shoulders rounded. A similar style is present in fashion photography as well, with a kind of world-weary, blasé, slouchy look.

The only thing I will really remember from Totality in Parts is the decoration on the far wall, with 512 lights arranged in a spiralling circle, pulsating and fading.

Then came Emma Portner’s “Bathtub ballet”, and all my doubts left me. Nothing wrong with my head; I just needed a better show to look at. Twenty-five bathtubs lined up on the stage, and seven dancers doing everything possible with them. It sounds gimmicky, and it almost could have been – “look, here’s yet another thing I can do with a bathtub!” – but somehow it wasn’t. There was an energy and a curiosity here that was just totally engaging.

And there is SO MUCH a bathtub can be used for. You can be in it alone, or together with someone. Bring water, or soap lather, or a duck. Lie, sit, stand, balance on the edge, arch across it. Hide in it, and reduce your body to a pair of legs, just a graphical combination of two articulated lines, really, paring off everything else. Stand it on end. Remove its bottom so you can pour yourself through it.

(c) Nils Emil Nylander

Aftonbladet’s review finds Portner’s piece meaningless and banal, an agglomeration of loose ideas, a technical exploration without meaning. Whereas Timulak’s piece is existential.

Expressen likewise appreciates the existential message of Totality in Parts, its expression of the loneliness of each individual dancer, a reminder that we are small atoms in a wide universe. Whereas the 45 minutes of Bathtub Ballet is too long for a single idea.

Dagens Nyheter likewise uses words such as “weighty”, “mystical” and “powerful” to describe Totality in Parts, but finds the bathtub idea too artificial, sees it as an unnecessary obstacle to movement rather than an interesting exploration.

What can I say. I disagree with them all. I’m not looking for a deeper message in every single ballet; they don’t all need to tell a story or impart commentary on the human condition and our existence. I just want the performance to be interesting. Bathtub Ballet does interesting things with the scene as a whole, and the enclosed space within each tub, and parts of the human body.