Festivities

Lens-Artists Challenge #360 – Found at the Fair/ Market

/ Leya / 104 kommentarer

You’re only here for a short visit. Don’t hurry, don’t worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way.

– Walter Hagen

We have all been to a market or fair at least once when we were children. Some of these are still fun to visit as grown-ups, even if we don’t buy anything. It is the joy of an abundance of fruit and vegetables, flowers, people…And often everything for sale is elaborately exposed.

Here are some of my summer memories from such events. Enjoy the season and the smiles, and then – I’d love to see some of your memories too! They can be from any fair, Farmers’ market, Christmas market, or maybe a carnival? From your own country or from abroad – feel free to choose whatever you have in store!

Life is a lot like jazz… it’s best when you improvise.

– George Gershwin

Ystad Jazz festival last week – Good music, lovely people and beautiful, creative art! (And ice cream of course…) Jazz maybe attracts mostly grown-ups and elderly people, but they do bring their children and grandchildren too. (And dogs) Hoping they will get hooked on the feeling?

Life itself is the most wonderful fairy tale.

– Hans Christian Andersen

Every year there is jousting at Hovdala castle – our nearest castle just 10 kilometers away. I used to go when one of my students was in the competitions. Fun for all ages. Knights, horses, castles and fair ladies!

To me, flowers are happiness.

– Stefano Gabbana

Finally, Madeira – the lovely land of flowers. When we visited for a week in June, we came upon several different fairs and markets. They have quite a few over the year. One of them had a sustainability theme. At the harbour they had put up big hearts for life and painted recued PET bottles as a ceiling.

A big Thank you to John for another turn of learning last week! I truly enjoyed seeing examples and tips. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with this week! Next week we will have another chance of ”Looking Back”, with Sofia at the helm. Be sure to visit her beautiful site for more!

Until then – stay calm, be careful and loving.

Winter Solstice – The Light will return

/ Leya / 38 kommentarer

Today was the shortest day of the year in Sweden. 7 hours. Now the light is returning, some seconds a day and then a minute and then…

Thank you for 2024 – I wish us all positive thoughts and a New Year of hope for the world.

Happy Holidays!

and for you who celebrate:

Thursday Thoughts – The Corso

/ Leya / 28 kommentarer

The Dahlia Festival is not only flowers – but decorated floats in annual parades called Corso. In fact we saw more than 20 of them in this little town. They were really well made down to the finest detail. The people here start in April with ideas and sketches, then they make the figures and paint them. When the Dahlia season arrives in September, the floats are decorated with flowers the same colours as they were painted in.

I’ll post a couple of the floats, and also a video I made on one of the most impressive ones. You will see that the actors take their work seriously!

First there was a children’s parade, where the floats were drawn by children as well.

Then came the bigger floats made with impressive reality look.

And of course they also were more and more architecturally impressive.

Anubis was one of my favourites.

And finally, the great lion – well, they couldn’t have made it more fascinating than this!

I hope you enjoyed the show!

Midsummer in My Garden

/ Leya / 17 kommentarer

The old apple tree is now covered in wild honeysuckle and clematis Paul Farges. Finally we have reached 21 C after having a very chilly start to June. Which also means the strawberries are awake and we eat some every day! It is the old Sengana from my grandmother’s plants.

Wishing you all a wonderful Midsummer – if you celebrate it or not! In the Scandinavian countries it is a major feast with dancing and singing, good food and good friends gathering.

We celebrate the light and Mother Nature thriving – once more. A beautiful time of the year.

Lens-Artists Challenge #299 – Hopeful

/ Leya / 38 kommentarer

To live without Hope is to Cease to live. – Fyodor Dostoevsky


Patti, coming back from Japan, this theme could not have come at a better time for me. Because, when I was 7 years old, I read a book titled: Sadako vill leva. The great impression has lasted throughout the years, and coming to Hiroshima to see her, her family and the story unfold in real photographs was overwhelming. Strong feelings and many tears.

The Day of the Bomb – in Swedish Sadako vill leva (Sadako will Live) .

Seeing her own folded cranes set my tears run free…so much hope and effort put into each and every one of those beautiful cranes.

In the Peace Park, Sadako meets us with thousands and thousands of cranes, folded by children from all over the world. In Sweden we still send cranes from school children when they have read her story. They all want to help her reach her goal – and LIVE.

They say Sadako was hopeful every day and believed she would complete her 1000 cranes – and Live. When her strength was weakened, she folded the cranes with needles instead of her hands, and they were so tiny that you could barely hold them.

Here she is, standing on the monument, holding up a crane to touch the sky. And there is a bell inside the monument that every child wants to let chime.

Her story is only one of tens of thousands from that day, but it tells us something about being hopeful and never giving up – having something to work for and to focus on, and something to believe in too. They say hope is the last thing that leaves you…

I will finish with the Phoenix Trees that stood in the courtyard of the Hiroshima Post and Telecommunications Bureau. The courtyard was about 1.3 kilometers from the hypocenter. Because no intervening object stood in the direction of the hypocenter, they took the full force of the heat ray and blast, losing all of their branches and leaves. The sides of the trunks toward the hypocenter was burned and hollowed out.

Although the trees appeared to be dead, their branches put out buds the following spring. Seeing this new life, people took courage and hope. I think we do too.

So now, it’s your turn. What makes you hopeful? Is it a place, a person, or a beautiful creation? Is it art, music, poetry? We’re looking forward to seeing your creative and inspiring posts. Be sure to link to Patti’s post and include the “lens-artists” tag.

Last week Tina’s challenge inspired you to share wonderful posts of children and young animals– even some of your own. A special thanks to Tina! And what’s up for next week? I, Ann-Christine, will lead, so be sure to stop by Leya next Saturday at noon EDT.

Wishing you a week of sunshine, hope, and inspiration.

Looking for more information on joining our challenge? Click here.

Lens-Artists Challenge #290 – Circular Wonders

/ Leya / 190 kommentarer

There is something particularly special and personal about the circle and how its curves comfortably rule every aspect of our lives.
― Kat Lahr

I spent a week in Nice and surrounding villages – and was greatly inspired by the art and architecture as well as the ongoing Carnivals. Last time we visited was in 1976…a long time ago. Honestly, I didn’t recognise anything at all, but loved what I saw. And the food was delicious.

A feast of colourful life filled our days. In fact I found so many lovely circular items, old and new, that I decided this challenge would be about Circular Wonders. For you to interpret the way you find most interesting!

This carnival in Nice is an old tradition. In 1294 it was first mentioned in writing, in 1873 it was the first carnival procession in France, and in 1876, flower floats were introduced. Today the Nice Carnival is the grandest and most important carnival (more than two weeks of festivities) in the Mediterranean area.

As the old towns and small towns here usually do, Saint Paul de Vence, Menton and Eze, offered lovely cobbled streets and wonderful art galleries, big and small. Fondation Maeght was impressive, and the Chagall museum in Nice was of course well worth a visit.

In my gallery below, the included Chagall is from his Bible series. Fête du Citron (with 140 tons of fruit used for uncountable circles…) in Menton had an Olympic theme. And every morning tables were beautifully laid on the beach – emanating strong spring vibes to a cold Swedish soul.

Wander into the center of the circle of wonder.

– Hongzhi Zhengjue

The next gallery is from the Opening Parade (this year the theme was Pop Culture) and the Flower Parade. Among the flower floats I recognised many fairy tale themes. When I said we were going to the ”Flower Parade”, an elderly French gentleman kindly corrected me – Bataille des Fleurs! Oh well, that sounded just perfect in French.

A circle is a round straight line with a hole in the middle.

– Mark Twain

Circles, half circles…skirts, dresses, hairdos, flowers, umbrellas, candy, and even a nose. Most impressive of these circular wonders, were the cycling musicians from the Netherlands – and they circled throughout the whole parade, lead by a biking conductor! There were all instruments from drums to trumpets and horns – and no one fell off his/her bike… some admirable skills there.

Come out of the circle of time

And into the circle of love.

– Rumi

Et voilá – I will end with some non-carnival flowers found in Nice, Menton and Eze. We had such a fun, lovely and uplifting week. And the icing on the cake was that –

Viveka (My Guilty Pleasures) and I chatted for a couple of hours and had a rosy drink while discussing the festivals and our outings around Nice. Unfortunately she had booked one week later than us, so this was only a short meet before we left.

Cheers!

Now we are looking forward to seeing your fantastic circles and half circles! Be sure to link to my original post and use the Lens-Artists tag. Hope you want to join in!

Big thanks to John, for last week’s brilliant lessons about tools of composition – inspirational posts en masse! Next week it is Patti’s turn to host, so please visit her beautiful site for more inspiration.