Wow, the sea is so strange

I have now gone snorkling in the sea. It was so weird! I mean, I know terrestrial biology pretty well, and compared to that it felt like entering an alien world to see all the things that were living down there. I had no idea we had anemones in Sweden, but we do. They're pretty tiny, but very beautiful. And I managed to identify some new-to-me algae, but there's sooo much I can hardly classify at all down there.

Funny how it feels very natural for me to climb up into the trees, but not natural at all to go into the sea like that. I am pretty squeamish about stepping around on the sea bottom, it feels like I am going to be stung/scratched/spiked through the foot or something. But now I was all covered in wetsuit, that did make me feel more safe.

I don't know that I can recommend the experience of snorkeling in late October in Sweden, though. It was cold and drizzly and windy when we got up, and it took a long time to get the sensation in my feet back. Guess I'll try this again in the summer.

Recent reading

Stranger at the Wedding by Barbara Hambly
I have never read Hambly before, and picked this one up because it's a stand-alone and because Jo Walton recced it at some point. And I enjoyed it! It's a fantasy of manners, I guess you could call it. The daughter of the family who was thrown out when she wanted to train as a wizard comes back to attend her sister's wedding because she senses magical danger to her sister on her wedding night. Hijinks ensue. I'll probably pick up more Hambly at some point.

Din tjänare hör by Sara Lidman (Your Servant Hears, not available in English)
Yes, moar Lidman. This is the fourth book of hers I've read this year, and it's the first of a five-volume series about the colonization of northern Sweden. It's set in a village in the 19th century, jumping around between various characters. Also there is foreshadowing that the Railroad is Coming. The book feels as if it's set in a country of the past that's very different from today, but with characters that are also very human and recognizable.