This week, Tina’s challenge is all about inspiration. What inspires you in life? Go to Tina’s fabulous post for more inspiration – and I am sure you will be lingering there for a while…
I am a nature person and an animal person. I prefer walking in nature and being together with animals instead of people. Nature is all inspiring and the foundation of my thoughts and choices in life. Nature is real, animals are honest and straight forward. Humans can seldom measure up to that.
When I was a child there were always cats in my home. As an adult, always dogs. They listen, they do not judge you, and they are faithfully loving till the end. I believe it is essential for a child to grow up with animals around, to watch them and to learn from them how life and death works. They teach you how you should treat everything living. Furthermore – it is a scientific truth that people feel more calm and stable with animals around. In Sweden we have specially trained dogs to go visit elderly people regularly. Some homes for the elderly have a ”house cat”.
To me, reading and books always mean inspiration, film and photography as well. There are so many things to be inspired of…what is inspiring for you?
Thank you as always for your support of, and commitment to, our challenge. We hope you’ll join us next week when Patti brings us challenge #116 on her Pilotfish blog.
Leya 
A fantastic collection of images. I love the dog’s blue eyes and the pink flower although I’ve not idea what it is.
So happy you liked them – and the flower is inside the Medinilla Magnifica I featured some days ago!
This is a lovely post. And you’ve managed to take a ‘different’ photo of la Sagrada Familia. Quite an achievement!
Well, maybe not what is usually showed – but special!
Lovely post — images and words
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Inspirational photos. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for commenting.
Lovely set of images, AC….hope to speak to you tomorrow
Sue, we will.
Great
Such beautiful pictures Anne Christine. And I enjoyed reading your thoughts about pets, I have always had a pet or two living with me. They give so much and ask for so little.
True – and your dogs are magical beauties as well.
Thank you 💕
Hi, AC. Your images of the dogs and cats are wonderful! Your view of the Swedish landscape is stunning. I totally agree that children can learn so much from animals. Their honesty, emotional intelligence, and way of living in the moment are inspiring and teach us so much about how to live. I wish we had seen La Sagrada Familia when it was completed. I can only image how stunning it is. Truly inspiring, I agree. Take care and thanks for sharing these beautiful inspiring images.
Thank you, Patti for always being supportive and positive!- and I too wish to see Gaudís masterpiece finished. They say it will be in 2026. With corona and everything I don’t know…if it will be or if I will ever go there again.
2026!?! Oh! I thought it was finished already. It was really under scaffolds when we saw it in 2006.❤️. Take care. Sending hugs your way.
Thank you, Patti! So…maybe we should visit in 2026? See you there…
😊. I’d love to do that!
Coffee or tea? Maybe wine – Barcelona!
What a beautiful dog! Lovely eyes. The cat looks a lot like one I currently own. Mine has a bobtail. I too am a nature and animal person. Can’t imagine life without them!
True – I cannot imagine that either. And the gasp when I saw that dog´s eyes! Astonishing.
Love all these and the quote as well. 🙂
janet
Thank you, Janet.
truly an inspiring post, Ann-Christine! your photographs are simply beautiful! 🙂
Wilma, you are a gem! Thank you!
What a beautiful, tender and loving inspirational post for this week. 😀 😀
♥♥♥
Gorgeous photos of your fur babies Ann-Christine!
Gorgeous furry things – but not mine, unfortunately!
😊🐈🐕
Love the animal portraits! Sometimes I wish I had the talent to become a pet photographer. Maybe your images could be my inspiration. 🙂
John, that I take as a compliment!? They were both beautiful creatures…and willing to stay in focus. My own dogs are NOT.
Your camera loves the animals too, Ann Christine. Your subjects are real characters. There is a man in Canberra who takes his alpaca in a small car to visit the elderly in aged care facilities. What a hero! My children have always had pets. Our dogs are very demanding, but my grown up boys look after them with such patience. As you say, caring for others who depend on you for their happiness and welfare teaches valuable life skills.
I love that photo of the Sagrada Familia. What imagination Gaudi must have had. As always, your landscape and flower photos are beautiful and powerful. An inspiration to us all.
Tracy, thank you for a lovely comment again. I am glad your boys love the dogs and are loved back. And What a wonderful man with the alpaca! Heart warming, so glad you wrote about him to me! I hope to see Sagrada Família finished in 2026 – but maybe I will not be able to go…and maybe they haven’t been able to finish the work. Time will show.
Stay well my friend ♥
What a lovely inspiring post accompanied by your beautiful photos. I agree with you about nature and animals.
jude – thank you. Someone said – watch out, I love animals more than people.
I have fond memories of my cat Sooty that I had a a child.
♥ Was he black and white? My favorite childhood cat was. Måns.
All black. Hence the name Sooty
I thought so.
I love your C.S. Lewis quote. I also love the work of Antonio Gaudi. When I was around 12 or so, I got a pupil’s calendar (almanac). Besides the calendar, the schedule, the timetables, and room for notes it contained some pages about Antonio Gaudi for that year. I was amazed by his work depicted and explained in those pages. A few years later I got the record ”Gaudi” by The Alan Parsons Project, a whole record inspired by the art of Antonio Gaudi. The inner parts of the album cover again showed some parts of Gaudi’s genius work and made me wish to see it with my own eyes. Finally, in February 2014 I was in Barcelona. I used the tag ”gaudi” to make all the posts to be found easily https://solaner.wordpress.com/tag/gaudi/
Ah! Never heard of that record! Sounds fantastic! I will go for your Barcelona trip – thank you!
You’re welcome, Leya 😊
What a lovely blue eyed dog! And the cat pose is purrfect 🙂 🙂 It’s a sad fact of life that many dogs here are not treat as valued pets but left to roam and ward off intruders, especially out in the countryside. I think it would upset you, hon. Your shots from nature are always inspiring.
Thank you, Jo – and yes, often dogs and cats are not very well looked after abroad. but I think in recent years I have seen a raise in standards for some. ♥
Beautiful images and text. Yes, dogs are definitely wonderful companions and friends. They inspire us to be more like them–faithful and loyal!
They do! Thank you, Anne.
Hi Leya – love the nature and pets and words you gave us!
And the uplifting quote from CS Lewis reminds me of some of his heftier and deeper quotes – because often when people quote him – to me it seems they choose the deep ones – it you reminded me that he was was all about living a full and rich life and so let’s dream and stay inspired
Yes, let’s dream and stay inspired. I hadn’t heard thar quote before, but I liked it very much.
🙂
Beautiful and inspiring images and post, Ann-Christine.
Thank you, Jane. I am a bit incoherent right now, but happy you liked my post.
Great photos, great insights. Well done.
Appreciate this, John. ♥
Such a beautiful, thoughtful post Ann-Christine. I agree whole-heartedly about children growing up with animals. They learn responsibility, love, and sadly they learn to deal with pain and loss. But the love one gets from an animal is truly unconditional, and what could be better than that? Thank you for taking the time to join us this week – it is you who are the inspiration this week.
♥ Thank you, Tina for your always encouraging and positive words.
These images are so touching and lovely. Nature and all its creatures are never ending sources of inspiration and you capture the essence in each photograph. The tiny macro shot really caught my eye 😊
Thank you – I have become a real lover of macros in later years. Glad you like them too!
You’re most welcome. 🙂
Beautiful photos – your pets are adorable!!
Thank you, Nora – but they are not mine!
Lovely photos
Thank you.
Love that first photograph.
Thank you, Khurt.
Great post, and I love the pet photos! 💗
Lisa, thank you. I just loved that dog’s eyes.
Those eyes are very cool!
Wonderful sources of inspiration in these photos.
I can feel inspired by all those things too. Lovely photos
I am glad!
🙂
Thank you, Anne. Glad if that shines through.