Animals

Lens-Artists Challenge #196 – Humor

/ Leya / 52 kommentarer

John is a man of great humour, and a brilliant word juggler – this week he is our guest host. ”I hope, as this is published, we can still find at least a corner of our lives for some humor. ‘We must keep our sense of humor, sometimes it’s all we have left.’”

Go to his site for inspiration! I will try my best to find something in my archives…but I don’t have many laughing people, instead it will be mostly words and signs that made me laugh. And dogs of course.

The first gallery is from China and New Zealand – fun wording and signs. I too wish car explosions were forbidden everywhere…And who would want to keep in touch with the evil looking figure on the sign?

Great fun is to be had every day if you have animals around. My dogs (almost) always make me smile. Totti was a funny dog, he had his favourite chair, and once he had occupied it – no one could remove him from there. His daughter, Belezza, was fast as lightning, but obviously Totty never was…Swoooosch, and she left him bewildered, sitting, lying or standing…take a look at the expression on his face!

Special thanks to Anne for hosting last weeks colourful contributions! They really brightened up our days. For this week, your good humor will be greatly appreciated! We look forward to seeing your responses. Please remember to link them to his original post , and to use the Lens-Artists tag to help us find you. Next week’s host will be Tina, but until then, why not follow John’s advice…

”Stay well, stay safe, be weird, wonderful, shapely and designed, follow your bliss, celebrate your celebrity, be choosy and serene. Have a good year, and above all, keep your sense of HUMOR!”

Thursday Thoughts – Magical Horses and Dragons

/ Leya / 16 kommentarer

The visit to Gothenburg some weeks ago included ”Universeum”, a house for practical experiments and for animals and plants from all over the world.

Don’t we all love these little creatures? I remember from early childhood a series about the little seahorse. It was one of the first TV-animated series I really loved. I was glued to the screen.

According to Wikipedia, a seahorse is any of 46 species of small marine fish in the genus Hippocampus. Hippocampus comes from the Ancient Greek hippókampos, itself from híppos meaning ”horse” and kámpos meaning ”sea monster”.

Seahorses also feature segmented bony armour, an upright posture and a curled tail. Along with the pipefishes and seadragons (Phycodurus and Phyllopteryx) they form the family Syngnathidae. I am not that familiar with the names of sea creatures, but I do love these two. After some thinking, I remembered a visit to the Blue Planet in Denmark that Vivi and I did some years ago. I photographed a seadragon then, and – I found it after some searching. I hope you enjoy!

In the header – the cranes are here!

Lens-Artists Challenge #185 – Change

/ Leya / 62 kommentarer

Until he extends his circle of compassion to include all living things, man will not himself find peace.

– Albert Schweitzer

This week, we’re delighted to welcome John Steiner as a new member of our Lens-Artists team. For his topic, he asks us an interesting question: What does change mean to you? John has some clever answers worth visiting!

The opener shows the change we all are waiting for now – at least here in the northern hemisphere. But it will not arrive for another two months…

Change is inevitable, and I believe Charles Darwin says it best: ”It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who will best manage change.” But survival comes at a hard cost too. I have chosen changes from my own life. A mixed bag of joy and sorrow – Life is.

I love photography, even though it sometimes has to rest for a while – now much due to covid times… This photo is from a dam close by, always an autumn hiking treat. With different possibilities in computer programs, you can play around and get almost any change you want. Photosketcher used here. It is nice when you are in control yourself, isn’t it?

My hiking interest is huge – I have to visit the forest every day for dogwalks and fresh air that will keep me breathing and happy. Some favourite paths are gone, but other areas have become new favourites, and new trees will be planted where the old ones once stood.

In the autumn 2020 we finally decided for a glass house. The old stump from the big birch tree had to go – and make room for so many other plants. I have never regretted building the glass house, because all my special plants will easier survive winter. (And you might get some nice pictures of them too…)

Lastly, some changes are not wished for at all, but belongs to our closest circle of life. I lost my dear mother in 2020, and I lost sweet Totti. Little Milo has now grown up to be my handsome number 1 companion.

Many thanks to Amy for her ”Travels Have Taught Me” challenge, where we learned a great deal from your travel lessons! Next week, we’ll be looking forward to Sofia Alves’ challenge topic. Be sure to visit her beautiful blog!

Lens-Artists Challenge #173 – Interesting Architecture

/ Leya / 98 kommentarer

Tina’s challenge this week is all about interesting architecture. As I guessed you would all have fantastic examples of modern buildings, I decided to focus on the birds and the bees…and only a little about human buildings. The opener shows weavers’ nests in the Amazon, Ecuador.

I am always impressed by magnificent woodpiles – and my grandfather was an excellent builder of these. But, while they often are set behind houses or hidden in a barn in Sweden, I found this special display in Switzerland. Elegantly leaning against the house and beautifully framing the window. One of a kind.

To me, one of the most interesting Nordic building is Hállgrimskirkja in Reykjavik, Island. It looks almost like a spaceship icicle with smaller icicles attached to it. Everytime I visit Iceland – it is a must see again.

In Sweden we only have one skyscraper – Turning Torso by the famous architect Calatrava. I never liked it – despite it being beautifully built, it doesn’t fit in among the older buildings in Malmoe. I believe storks have better ideas about how and where to build a high rise building…Modern too – electrified!

Magpies often build high as well, and their nests are very intricate. They are durable, domed structures made of sticks and twigs and contain an interior mud cup and lining. Every nest has got two entrances – one close to the top and one from the side or under – and it can reach more than 1 meter in height. Not the nest to the far right though, that is a small but sturdy bird’s nest found during a winter walk.

The three middle pictures show the enormous European hornet’s nest we had in our summer house last summer. A fantastic and elaborate construction. Finally, my last image is from Bhutan and a monestary covered in bees’ ”pouches”. As the Buddhist monks care for everything living, they were happy to have the bees and their nests hanging there.

We thank you for your beautiful responses to last week’s “A Day in My Week” challenge – what a terrific variety of amazing days you shared with us!

We hope you’ll join us this week with some interesting architecture from around the corner or around the world. Be sure to use the Lens-Artists tag to appear in our reader, and to link to Tina’s original post.