Thursday Thoughts – Fresh Air and Open Landscapes

Another chilly day of clear skies – so, if you feel like it – you are welcome to join me for a short drive in the nearby countryside.

The farms are lying out there, waiting…for the season to start…for life to return to the land.
Some farmers have already started – where the fields have dried up there are some spots softly turning green.
I pass the meadows, but there’s no cattle out there yet…
…only some horses enjoying the sun near the barn. Can you hear the silence…? Almost touchable.
I never tire of the old oak trees – in fact I love them even more during winter time. I’d love to walk up close, but there is an electric fence I cannot climb. It is there to protect both cattle and trees.
I am waiting… Maybe next time I pass here, everything will have turned ”springy” green. Thank you for keeping me company on the tour!

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #138 – Natural Light

Remember: Always walk in the light. And if you feel like you’re not walking in it, go find it. Love the light. – Roberta Flack

This week, Amy’s beautiful challenge inspires us to explore natural light. In photography, light is everything. And for this week’s challenge, I’m offering you a gallery of images with some of my favourite natural lights. No sunrises and no sunsets though…

Light in Nature creates the movement of colors. – Robert Delaunay

Denna bild har ett alt-attribut som är tomt. Dess filnamn är 20191209_073431-redigera-2.jpg
After a short walk by the sea, the late evening clouds opened up for a dramatic sky.
An autumn evening. Driving home, I noticed the colourful sky behind me, stopped and made it stay with me for ever.
A similar sky, but much warmer, with the clouds mimicking the dunes. Compare the two of them, and you will see the hues are completely different.
I love backlit, and light shining through petals, clouds or cloth. This piece of art reminded me of my camping days.
Soon the beloved wood anemonies will be here…carpeting our forest floor.
Backlit berries in my garden – in the middle of the day.
Magical light through heavy clouds – a favourite catch.
And right now, I would love to just sail away on a soft, warm night…and into the sunset…

I hope you’ll join Amy and the rest of us this week as we explore natural light. I’m looking forward to your posts and your inspiration!

Last week my LAPC#137: Soft challenge gave us the chance to see all your diverse, fun, and beautiful interpretations – and there were many smiles and much loveliness. Thank you!

Next week, Tina will lead the challenge, so please stop by Travels and Trifles and join the fun on Saturday, March 13th at noon. 

Waiting for Green – Life in Colour

So much fun with Jude’s challenge – I found two whole galleries. Maybe the sign for how much I long for green right now?

Thursday Thoughts – Outdoors – Vårvinter

In the early morning, I decided to drive out to the open fields to listen to the skylarks – my thrill this lovely day. And yes, they had arrived, and I heard them singing as soon as I opened the windows. I saw cranes ploughing high up in the sky and I heard swans trumpeting.

What we call Spring Winter, means the snow is melting and almost gone, leaving puddles and soggy clay.
The farmers are waiting for the soil to dry up enough to become useful for the new crops.
I love this muddled landscape and its earthy colours. Its rapid and unpredictable changes between sun and dark clouds.
On my way home again, the swans lifted and sailed away to greener fields.
This was a morning to my taste – but now, time for breakfast!

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #137 – Soft

Have a strong mind and a soft heart. – Anthony J. D’Angelo

In fact I consider being soft a virtue and an asset. Maybe not always…but almost always!

Now, after all the incredibly creative S’s from you for Patti’s alphabet challenge… we’ll continue with another S – Soft. (Hopefully you haven’t run out of images on Soft for Patti…) So many things are Soft…to look at, to touch, to listen to… we even have software for our technical devices. This challenge is all about how you want to interpret Soft – we are looking forward to seeing your choices! Please link to my post and add the Lens-Artists tag.

I just have to start with Snow – as we have had so much of it this year. Snow envelops you in a soft and silent world. It was many years since I did some serious skiing, but I am not afraid of falling in the soft and fluffy snow.

Soft, almost creamy snow on the old ship setting from the Viking Age.
Soft landscape with clouds, hills and autumn trees. A favourite dogwalk.
Have you ever touched a bumble bee? They ARE soft! Unless you get stung…

I also have a spring ”softie” on my table every year – acacia, or mimosa, as we call it. Its yellow flower balls always make me smile and walk into that room as often as possible… I wonder if acacia will be possible to grow in my glass house? I certainly will give it a try!

Finally – thank you again for inspiring us every week! Next week, March 6, Amy will be hosting Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #138 and as promised, we reveal the theme already: Natural Light. Be sure to pay her a visit and hopefully join in.  In the meantime, have a lovely, creative week! And… please stay safe.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #135 – A Glimpse into Your World

Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy. – Anne Frank

This week, we welcome Sheetal as our special guest host, with the theme A Glimpse into your world. ”Show us the things you love that makes your world spin or things about your world that make you delirious with joy.” Sheetal tells an interesting story of music and travel – and of The Beatles!

Many things in life fill me with joy, but few things make me ”delirious” anymore. I guess that comes with age…but I always strive to keep my eyes and mind fresh and open. My most enchanted moments are always with Nature and all its living creatures, with Flowers and Light. Together they make my world complete and whole. I must live close to nature and just like Monet, “I must have flowers, always, and always.” And Light. With these few images from my Nordic home, I want to show some of the moments when I felt totally immersed in the beauty and wonder of our planet.

Secret gardens
16000 cranes arriving at Hornborgasjön, early morning, 3 am

One of the strange things about living in the world is that it is only now and then one is quite sure one is going to live forever and ever and ever. One knows it sometimes when one gets up at the tender solemn dawn-time and goes out and stands out and throws one’s head far back and looks up and up and watches the pale sky slowly changing and flushing and marvelous unknown things happening until the East almost makes one cry out and one’s heart stands still at the strange unchanging majesty of the rising of the sun–which has been happening every morning for thousands and thousands and thousands of years. One knows it then for a moment or so. ― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

Nordic Light – Sweden

Nature is so powerful, so strong. Capturing its essence is not easy – your work becomes a dance with light and the weather. It takes you to a place within yourself. – Annie Leibovitz

Nordic Light – Norway

Give light, and the darkness will disappear of itself. – Desiderius Erasmus

Nordic Light – Denmark

I really just want to be warm yellow light that pours over everyone I love. – Conor Oberst

Nordic Light – Iceland

By almost any measure, Iceland is one of the world’s most unique lands. – Roger K. Sandness

And the Nordic Light – is purely Natural.

Remember: Always walk in the light. And if you feel like you’re not walking in it, go find it. Love the light. – Roberta Flack

Thank you for last week’s fun challenge from Tina – and thank you All for showing us more useful tricks to enhance forgettable pictures! Very creative. As always, please remember to link your responses to Sheetal’s original post, and to use the Lens-artists tag to help us find you. Until next week, stay warm, well – and even a bit delirious with joy? We are looking forward to seeing what makes Your world spin!