It was a great surprise and a great pleasure to visit Gdansk in Poland this weekend. The city centre has been totally renovated and built up from the ruins of WWII. A fantasy of soft pastels. Just in time for Cee’s challenge!
Byggnader
Weekly Travel Theme: Inviting
Few things feel as inviting to me as this old veranda, these delicate flowers and the two open doors…And this place is no more. Maybe that is why.
Få ställen känner jag som så inbjudande som denna veranda, den skira blomsterprakten och de öppna dörrarna. Och allt detta finns inte mer. Blommorna är borta och så är verandan. Kanske därför känns det så.
WordPress Photo Challenge: Night time
Night time from WordPress – strikes me as maybe my favourite time in urban areas. Mild air, not that many people, no rush…
Transporting? When I started choosing photos I saw they were about walkers, railroads, boats and cars. But they are all standing still, not moving, frozen. No adrenal ferocity. I can feel the smoothness in the air – not a wind. I hope you can feel it too.
Natt – kanske den skönaste tiden i storstäder. Ljumt i luften, inte den där dagliga stressen där blodet pumpar och adrenalitet stiger. När jag ser på de bilder jag valt, ser jag transport, men rörelse i stillastående. Fotgängare, tåg och räls, båtar och bilar. Alla står de stilla i den sammetsmjuka natten – inte en vind. Hoppas du också kan känna det.
For more strangers in the night…click here.
Uglies or Beauties?
A walk in a Blekinge forest with Totti – and I found quite some junk among the trees. Do I only see ugliness in these things…or maybe there is something more to them? I don’t like things being thrown out into nature like this, but this morning I decided to find some beauty in them instead. Just to not be the usual angry and disappointed one…And, it worked for me. Does it work for you as well?
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Buildings
Buildings can be serene and beautiful too – not only functional. I have chosen the glass building covering an old cathedral in Norway, and a tree building for birdwatching in Sweden. Both are new, but somehow naturally fit into their environment.
For Cee’s challenge – Buildings – Hamar, Norway, the Cathedral ruin totally under glass cover.
The bird watching centre – Hornborgasjön, Sweden.
So…I’ve been playing around again…
As I’m having wonderful students this year – too – I’m rather busy with my big classes! I try to blog, and try to read as many blogs as I can as often as I can …Thursday evenings though, there are usually some hours free – and today I have been trying Fotosketcher again. A way to relax before the Big Day. There’s the Big Election coming up here in Sweden this Sunday, and as I’m responsible for the election held in my area, I will be very busy that day. Fun, but a lot of responsibility. I have been doing this since the 1980’s. This year I guess everyone expects there to be a totally new government on Monday morning.
Now to my pictures…which one turned out the best? Technically? Colours? Your preferences? The flower and the beach are from Blekinge, Sweden. The building is the Edinburgh Parliament and the cat – was watching me from a window at Greyfriar’s, Edinburgh.
Köge – in FotoSketcher
I have been using FotoSketcher on these two from Köge, and I wonder what you think about them? I want to thank Lynne Ayers at Beyond the Brush for inspiring, and giving facts about the program. I enjoy using this immensely. There is much to experiment with.
Lastly – two orchids I got from a young man who graduated in June this year. They still stand here in my home, in the same place. The big phalaenopsis hasn’t lost a single flower!
Cee’s fun foto Challenge: Metal or the Season of Autumn
This week Cee is asking us for something metal or from the season of autumn – my choice is The Kelpies in Falkirk, Scotland. Impressive metal sculptures that took my breath away this July.
The Kelpies, made by sculptor Andy Scott, stand 30 metres tall in the 350 hectares Helix recreational space in Falkirk. They are the world’s largest equine sculptures and towering over the Forth & Clyde Canal they form a gateway to the canal entrance. These sculptures are meant to pay tribute to central Scotland’s working horse heritage on the canals from years gone by. Read more about them in my post here.
For more entries, click here.
And, thank you Cee for featuring my entry on Harvest last week!
Weekly Photo Challenge: ZigZag
Lines in a window and through the window – some of them zigzag and some not. You see what you want to see.
And then – why not a crane doing a shrill scream? Do you see the lines as I see them?
For more zigzag, click here.
The Falkirk Wheel and The Kelpies – Masterpieces
The Falkirk Wheel
Let us start with my last day in Scotland for this time. Our flight home was moved to the afternoon, so, we went west from Edinburgh to visit The Falkirk Wheel, which is the world’s first rotating boatlift. The lift links the Forth & Clyde Canal with the Union Canal, connecting Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Detta hjul är den första roterande båtliften i världen och ingår i Skottlands ambitiösa kanalprogram. Union and the Forth och Clyde är nu en oavbruten länk mellan Glasgow och Edinburgh. Hjulet svingar båtarna mellan de två vattenvägarna!
If you want to try the wheel you can take a trip on these boats. Unfortunately they were not available when we visited. Vanillarock shows great shots of the wheel at work here!
Om du ville pröva hjulet fanns möjligheten med dessa turistbåtar. De hade ännu inte öppnat när vi var där. Vanillarock visar den i arbete här!
The Kelpies
More fantastic engineering – or rather spectacular, beautiful art – are The Kelpies by sculptor Andy Scott. ”The original concept of mythical water horses was a valid starting point for the artistic development of the structures.“”I took that concept and moved with it towards a more equine and contemporary response, shifting from any mythological references towards a socio-historical monument intended to celebrate the horse’s role in industry and agriculture as well as the obvious association with the canals as tow horses.”
Som en tribut till de hästar som troget arbetat för människan, bland annat vid kanalerna, står dessa 30 meter höga jättar vid varsin sida av the Forth & Clyde Canal och bildar en portal till dess ingång.
The Kelpies stand 30 metres tall in the 350 hectares Helix recreational space in Falkirk. They are the world’s largest equine sculptures and towering over the Forth & Clyde Canal they form a gateway to the canal entrance. These sculptures are meant to pay tribute to central Scotland’s working horse heritage on the canals from years gone by.
Hästarna är konstruerade av skulptören Andy Scott. Skulpturerna påbörjades i juni 2013 och stod klara i oktober samma år. Invigningen var dock i april 2014. De är världens största hästskulpturer.
Built of structural steel with a stainless steel cladding, The Kelpies weigh 300 tonnes each.
Vi uppskattade stålplåtens tjocklek till ca en halv centimeter – och hästarna väger imponerande 300 ton vardera.
Construction began in June 2013, and was complete by October 2013. The Kelpies are positioned either side of a specially constructed lock and basin, part of the redeveloped Kelpies Hub.
Please click the photos to enlarge!
Läs mer om arbetshästarnas historia här. Read more of the working horses history here.
Leya 
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