Wordless Wednesday
Författare: Leya
LAPC#222 – Mountains are Calling
Amy is our host this week, and she hopes we will share our joy and pleasure of visiting/climbing mountains. I know many of us are mountain lovers, so we are looking forward to seeing your responses! Be sure to link to Amy’s original post and use the Lens-Artists tag.
In the mountains, there you feel free.
– T. S. Eliot
…blue glaciers and
mocca coloured, volcanic Iceland. They are calling to me with their special light and fresh air.
On top of the world is the Himalayas, an impressive mountain range. Here seen from northern Bhutan.
A holy lake in Tibet. The landscape is vast and it took some time for my son to walk down to the water. Lower mountains here, but still impressive. The clouds seemed to hang right above us, almost touchable, and the contrasts were bright in the thin air. This is about 3000-4000 meters above sea level.
Hiking mountains is so much more than the spectacular views – it is meeting other hikers, photographing flowers, animals, and different landscapes.
― Jeffrey Rasley
Many of us seek the mountains to be alone. To shut out the world and just BE. Silence is rare in this world.
Go where you feel most alive.
– Unknown
So, mountains are calling me because of their beauty, for peace of mind and soul…for moving my body at a pace that suits me, for spending time in the glory of nature. And for photography.
I will finish with other ways of loving mountains… bungyjumping, kiteflying, skiing, rafting, aso…today there are endless activities to try in the mountains if hiking is not your thing. In New Zealand you can get it all.
I cannot thank you enough for last week’s explosion in flowers! You sent us just what I had hoped for – an abundance of glorious flowers! For once, you could indulge in lovely flower images without regret (!), and many of you pointed out the impossibility in chosing favourites – because we love them all! ♥
Next week, John will host LAPC #223. Be sure to visit his site for loads of inspiration. Until then, stay safe and be kind.
Macro Monday – Asters
Silent Sunday
Thursday Thoughts – Douro River
From Porto, a boat trip along the Douro river into the beautiful wine district was a must. The Douro valleys have a microclimate allowing for cultivation of olives, almonds, and especially grapes, which are important for making port. According to our guide, the region around Pinhão and São João da Pesqueira is considered to be the centre of port, with its quintas (or farms/estates) along the steep slopes of the river valleys. Today, many of these are owned by multinational, reputed wine companies.
The grapes had been harvested two weeks before we arrived, so the fields were empty – but still eye-catching.
We went by bus to the vineyard where we were going to eat and try their wines. With those lovely views everywhere, you could not fall asleep…
…neither on the river nor on the bus.
The rolling green hills and the blue sky – all softness and harmony.
The vines were almost always combined with olive trees – giving a soft silvery touch to the landscape.
Finally, as our trip was coming to an end, we inhaled the magnificent view from Quinta S Luiz before entering the bus again.
Of course we had delicious Portuguise food and nice wine along with it. Strolling through the wine cellar of Quinta S Luiz, I found ”my” vintage wine – but I did not buy it… maybe I should have…
Wordless Wednesday
Macro Monday
Silent Sunday
LAPC 221#221 – Flower Favourites – and Why?
I must have flowers, always, and always.
― Claude Monet
This week I hope will bring some colourful joy to us all – we will have more Favourite Flowers than ever! And, should it not be flower season where you are, you are welcome to share other beautiful or interesting plants that you love. If there is a story to go with them, we’d love you to share it with us.
My first choice, in the header, must be a Cattleya Iwanagaara Appleblossom – this was my favourite for many years, but sadly it died last year. Then…tough choices for me as I love many flowers! I will not complain if you too find it difficult…
I love the white Magnolia in my garden. Maybe the reason for loving these flowers has to do with its extreme fragility in our climate. The first Spring flowers, the anemonies, can take several days of frost and bad weather, but most years we lose the magnolias after a day or two – because of the cold.
Our greatest favourites in Sweden must be the shy blue anemonies. We even poke around last year’s leaves in order to find the first blue buds… And, it’s a yearly competition to show the first photo on facebook or instagram…
Sweden and the other nordic countries are rather cold places, so when Spring arrives with the light and warmer temperatures – our first flowers are always the most loved ones.
While the blue anemonies grow rather scarcely and are more of solitaires – the white wood anemonies fill the whole forest with their little faces turned towards the sun – just like we do. They bring out people of all ages to walk in the forest and admire the magic.
As you probably know, wild flowers and grasses have a special place in my heart. In my garden I have many wild summer flowers, and not only for the insects – they are for me too. I love their delicateness, often in contrast to the bigger and sturdier cultivated flowers.
Among cultivated flowers, Miss Willmott’s Ghost is a favourite of late, I just love the silvery whiteness and its sharp needles – and the story of course. How Miss Willmott loved this plant so much that she secretely spread it everywhere in people’s gardens…
The colour of plumbago is heavenly. Ever since I saw the first one, in my teens, in a little village somewhere in the Mediterranian, I was caught. Finally I can have this beauty at home, as my glasshouse makes it possible for it to survive winter temperatures.
And then, one of the strangest flowers…
Callistemon – or bottlebrush. It was love at first sight, 1986 in Nepal. I brought home a twig and made it live, but coming back from one of our travels I found it had died. I have bought several ones over the years, just to see them die during winter, but now they survive happily in the glass house.
Asters are the last ones to flower before winter, and that is a good reason to love them, because they have to endure cold and rain, frost and sometimes snow. Sorry to say, they don’t look this brilliant in 2022. We have had too much rain and too little sun this autumn.
I guess this is what is left before winter, a much appreciated plant firing away its last flames of autumn. It’s even clinging to my washing line – so, no clean wash there right now…
If you love a flower which happens to be on a star, it is sweet at night to gaze at the sky. All the stars are a riot of flowers.
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
For winter then? Well the only flower growing here then is…the frost rose. I don’t know what you call them – if you have them where you live – but my grandmother always said they were frost roses. I wonder if there will be a renaissance for them in our homes this winter…?
Now we are looking forward to seeing your favourite flowers and plants – and don’t forget the stories (if there are any) – I know it will be a colourful and interesting parade! Please link to my original post and use the Lens-Artists tag.
Sincere thanks to Patti for a marvelous challenge that really got us testing and thinking over our photography. I think we all learned something from each other!
Next week Amy will be our host, so be sure to visit her amazing site for inspiration and details! Until then, stay safe and be kind.
Thursday Thoughts – Porto and the Waterfront
As much as I love the alleyways and narrow, cobbled streets, Porto has a beautiful waterfront too. We walked and we took a boat trip to see the colourful houses from a distance. And we were not disappointed.
…or walking up from it – was always a treat. I even met some dogs enjoying the shadow.
Colourful and happy houses makes the wanderer happy too!
The bridge across the river made for beautiful views all over. The city looks delightful any time of the day.
A boat trip along the river is always to be recommended. I am not a boat person, but you will see all the bridges and the waterfront up close.
So far we had only walked the Porto side of the river. Another day we would walk the Gaia, where there are many good restaurants and all the wineries.
Gaia photographed from another bridge. We couldn’t get enough of the river – or the many bridges. We’d had a delightful day, so thank you for coming along!
Leya 
Du måste vara inloggad för att kunna skicka en kommentar.