Photo from last year’s birthday, when you turned 84.
Today you turn 85, and you two have been married for 55 years! The sun is shining, and we will make it a memorable day for you – despite the difficult times we are living in.
Memories
Thursday Thoughts – Hiking, but not 2020
For so many years we have hiked this beautiful national park during April…
…but not this year. We used to go the whole family, and all our dogs have made it to the top of the mountain at least a dozen times each. We follow the water for about an hour,
then the track turns around the bend and for a while we walk the footbridges.
I searched my archives to find some memories from years gone by,
and here is something of the early spring loveliness as we struggle up the tough slopes.
On the plateau, old trees have come to rest, and younger ones softly lean over the precipice. We stop to admire before the long walk down to the pond where we started.
I miss this hike, but this is 2020, the year of corona and covid-19.
I will be back though – I promise…maybe next spring.
Listen to Your Heart…
Thank you for the music, and every song, Marie ♥
Tuesday Photo Challenge – Back Catalogue
For Frank this week – a memory. ”…find an image in your back catalog that still grabs your attention and share it!” This is the only time in my life that I have seen snowy apples…our neighbour had not finished his autumn harvest, and suddenly, one morning, it was snowing heavily. I can say I was fast getting my camera out. I still love the sight of those snow capped apples!
Thursday Thoughts – Before and After
This Autumn my daily forest walk ended. Not the walk itself, but everything around me – was not anymore. So, while drying my tears, I decided to find some of all the lovely images from here over the years – and photograph from the same spots today. Not easily done, but I finally gave it a try. This forest and I have a long story together, more than 40 years. I am very grateful for all of these photos. Today I just wanted to give you a touch of how I feel about it. A piece of my life and soul is gone.
Before
After
Before
After
Before
After
Before
After
Before
Before
After
In loving Memory…
Another Masterpiece – Chernobyl
“We are dealing with something that has never occurred on this planet”
My husband and son just returned from Chernobyl last week – very taken with the 2 day tour and all the haunting sights. We all watched this series together this week. If you have not seen it yet – please do.
Among my friends, I have one of the first men who detected and reported the heightened radiation level in Sweden. He still remembers the chills along his spine in that moment. And I remember well when we all got the information from media. (The reindeer up north were forbidden food for many years after…) In February the same year, Olof Palme was murdered…Was this the beginning of the end of the world?
On April 26, 1986, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, Soviet Union suffered a massive explosion that released radioactive material across Belarus, Russia and Ukraine and as far as Scandinavia and western Europe. Chernobyl dramatizes the story of the 1986 accident, one of the worst man-made catastrophes in history, and the sacrifices made to save Europe from the unimaginable disaster.
The number of lives lost are estimated to somewhere between 4000 and 93000. The official number from Russia is 31.
It recieved a total of 10 Emmy Awards. Brilliant acting and as we all know – reality is more chilling than fiction. You cannot stop watching…despite the horrible scenes.
Craig Mazin and Johan Renck have created a masterpiece, in large part on the recollections of Pripyat locals, as told by Belarusian Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich in her book Voices from Chernobyl. Material also from the scientist Valery Legasov (superbly played by Jared Harris), the deputy director of the Kuchatov Institute brought in to aid cleanup efforts.
Watch it.
Contemplate the future, and the cost of lies.
Lens-Artists Challenge #53 – Your Choice
New Zealand is not a small country, but a large village – Peter Jackson
There is real purity in New Zealand…It’s actually not an easy thing to find in our world anymore – Elijah Wood
Today is a very special day for us here at Lens-Artists – the one year anniversary of our Challenge. While we were all initially saddened by the discontinuation of the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge, for us it became an opportunity to expand our blogging horizons and to create some amazing new friendships.
I feel that New Zealand is my second home. – Luke Evans
On our end, we have transitioned from four independent photography bloggers to a tightly-knit team that supports, encourages and helps each other as we develop and create our weekly challenges. We’ve also been fortunate to have expanded our follower base thanks to bloggers like you who support and inspire us.
Toitū te whenua (Leave the land undisturbed).
As a result, our challenge has become near and dear to each of our hearts. We’ve gone well beyond being individual members of a team and have become four good friends. We are tremendously thankful to you for your appreciation of our efforts; and for making us smile or feel touched by your responses. As our thank you for your support and encouragement, we’re suggesting that you respond to today’s challenge with any subject that’s near and dear to YOUR hearts, as we’ve done with our images today. If you’d prefer some guidance, choose any of the four subjects we’ve selected this week (Friendship, A country that’s special to you, Imagination and Connected).
We are a proud nation of more than 200 ethnicities, 160 languages, and amongst that diversity we share common values. – Jacinda Ardern
Each of us has included several captures that are special to us in some way.
Mine are from a country and people that occupies a special place in my heart – New Zealand. Aotearoa is the Māori name – and the most popular meaning usually given is the ”land of the long white cloud”. A strikingly diverse Nature, warm-hearted People with strong Environmental care and – an insane sense of humour! It is also the country in which JRR Tolkien’s characters so naturally belong. New Zealand opened its arms to me – and I immediately felt at home there. I would never have guessed that our blogging community could feel like ”home” too – but it does. It is a privilege to host this challenge once a month.
I’ve learned that home isn’t a place, it’s a feeling.
―
Thank you again from the bottom of our hearts for making this such a terrific experience. If you have a subject that you feel might inspire us, please feel free to suggest it – we’d love to hear from you. Should you be new to our challenge and interested in joining us, please click here and be sure to include the Lens-Artists TAG so we can all find you. Happy Blogging to all of our loyal followers and friends, and Happy Anniversary to us!
Whatungarongaro te tangata toitū te whenua
(As man disappears from sight, the land remains) This demonstrates the holistic values of the Maori, and the utmost respect of Papatuanuku, Mother Earth.
Have you seen these
Each week on Lens-Artists, we highlight several responses from among our followers. This special week we’d like to thank ALL of our followers for their thoughtful, funny, often-feisty and always wonderful posts. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do, and will continue to join us as we move into year two of the Lens-Artists Challenge.
Thursday Thoughts – Revival
The weather is very warm and inviting for bicycle rides these last days of June. So my daughter and I decided to spend some time with the old Flora in hand. When the children were younger, we always did every summer, so today meant sweet memories.
We brought water as well, and biked for some hours, just enjoying each others’ company in the lovely summer fields. And wow, how much one forgets about flower names…
I used to be very good at their names… We also fell in love with this little, quite lovely, mushroom – looking like it was planted right there by someone, on the road.
And, to our greatest joy, we met some Highland Cattle. My absolute favorites.
Somehow they always look so relaxed, and I love their colours. I am not really comfortable having to cross a meadow where they are grazing though – they are said to be rather grumpy.
A lovely day –
Thursday Thoughts – A Life’s Work
Söderto is a tiny place in the southern part of Skåne, Sweden, where Karl-Göran Persson built a fortress for himself, his family and friends – in case of an attack from Russia. Karl-Göran died in 1975, and he had spent his whole life building and reinforcing this fortress.
One day we decided to try and find it, all of us intrigued by the story. So this spring we went, the three of us. And it became a strange adventure, a day to remember. You can come along if you want to…
It is not a very big place, Söderto, and the remains of his own home nearby were gone.
Karl-Göran was a simple man, a single farmer, and well known in the neighborhood for his warm heart, for his building and for his transporting all material on his bicycle.
He even mastered setting rails and railroad ties into the fortress – all by himself. The thought was to build a balcony.
He used what he could find to reinforce his fortress, be it iron beds, chamber pots, baskets or bicycle parts. Look closely at the pictures, and maybe you will find them…
After so many years of withering down, it is not advised to go inside anymore. But…
there is a friendly silence, a loving atmosphere when you walk here… you can feel his spirit still being there – in his life’s work.
A soft whisper in the fields, and the beauty of the landscape touches your soul.
Thinking of him, Karl-Göran, I believe he would have loved it that we came all that way to visit. And how much we enjoyed it too.
Just see how beautifully the villagers keep his memory.
Tuesday Challenge – Wheel
Tuesday Photo Challenge – Wheel
For this week’s challenge from Frank, a beauty from Bhutan turning the prayer wheel.
Leya 
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