Nature

Thursday Thoughts – Autumn is Coming

/ Leya / 30 kommentarer

So now we are here…Autumn is inevitably coming to the northern hemisphere.

A short drive to town – and along the road the familiar landscape is slowly turning into soft autumn colours.

 

Some fields are aglow in the evening light. The harvest is in and a calmness is settling over the landscape.

This year, being a farmer has been a positive thing. Working outdoors all the time,  and the weather staying kind to the crops.

We have to take care of and treasure the few positive things this year – the year of corona. I returned home with a calmness in my soul and a soft smile on my lips. Just like natured showed me .

 

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #109 – Under The Sun

/ Leya / 62 kommentarer

Last week we had the pleasure of having Xenia of Tranature as our guest host – a real treat of Sanctuary for us all! This week Amy is our host – Under the Sun.

The theme title was inspired by the book Under the Tuscan Sun: At Home in Italy by Frances Mayes (published in 1997). ”However this theme series is not about featuring the Tuscan sun, but photo captures anywhere under the sun.”

Fanö Drakflygningsfestival 245-2

As Amy says, taking photos under the sun is often advised against… but still we do that sometimes,  because sometimes we really have no other choice.

Ô, Sunlight! The most precious gold to be found on Earth.
― Roman Payne

I wear myself out and struggle with the sun. And what a sun here! It would be necessary to paint here with gold and gemstones. It is wonderful.

– Claude Monet

Let there always be a bright spot in your heart for the people around you. They might need a bit of sunshine.
― Ron Baratono 

These are the soul’s changes. I don’t believe in ageing. I believe in forever altering one’s aspect to the sun. Hence my optimism.

– Virginia Woolf

We look forward to seeing your Under the Sun photos! Please make sure you include a link to Amy’s original post and use the Lens-Artists tag so we can find your post in the WP Reader.

Also – stay well and safe, and be sure to check out Tina’s post next week as she hosts Challenge #110.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #108 – Sanctuary

/ Leya / 78 kommentarer

Thank you for last week’s sparkling Winter images and thoughts – showing that, despite being cold or wet it can be a season of beauty!

This week we are happy to welcome  Xenia of Tranature as our host, and she has chosen ”Sanctuary” – a timely concept for the year of 2020.

A home is a kingdom of it’s own in the midst of the world, a stronghold amid life’s storms and stresses, a refuge, even a sanctuary.

 – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

 

I have a friend, whose home is a true sanctuary. In the hills, a kilometer away from me.

When you walk up the gravel road – of course there is a string of grass in the middle – …

…and the houses and the lush grounds meet your eye – a calm, serene feeling of harmony descends upon you.

Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth. They do not preach learning and precepts, they preach, undeterred by particulars, the ancient law of life. –

 – Hermann Hesse

Sanctuaries are magical places – dare I say holy?

– Colleen Patrick-Goudreau

 

Just Listen to the sound of Mother Nature – and, only Cats know how to Live In the Moment.

Thank you, my friend, for letting me visit your house whenever I need to.

Remember, the entrance door to the sanctuary is inside you.

 – Rumi

 

Take care and stay safe and well wherever you are in the world –

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #107 – Winter

/ Leya / 203 kommentarer

Winter? Now? Totti would have loved it!

What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.
― John Steinbeck

Lake Taupo, New Zealand. Christmas Eve, 2011

Winter is not the same in any corner of the world…and maybe most significant is the difference when you compare the Northern Hemisphere with the Southern Hemisphere.  – So, your winter is not mine, my winter is not yours.

Let’s enjoy the differences! Being different and different experiences give us more strength and brings variety to our lives. This week – Winter rules.

I decided to get nostalgic about this theme – as our winters have changed much over the years since I was a child…even in the last ten years, three years, year… Climate change has also made every season more unpredictable. We live in changing times in all aspects. A bit of nostalgia comes over me quite often these days – I guess you might feel the same?

For many years we went skiing every winter, in Dalarna, Sweden. We always stayed in Fryksås, at an old mountain farm – or Shieling (Scottish Gaelic) – overlooking Lake Orsa.

Mille, our first Lagotto (Milo look-a-like, isn’t he?) was a cone collector…he could easily run with 5 (five) cones in his mouth without dropping a single one. He loved going to Fryksås every year – knowing he could play around every day in that cold snow.

The last time we rented one of these 18-19th century cottages, was in 2010. No electricity, no lamps, no technical devices…Only open fires, candle light, reading, playing card games and board games. Knitting, crocheting, discussing… The children (18 and 20 by then – and still loving this concept!) slept in the beautifully painted box-beds.

In Skåne, where I live, (the most southern part of Sweden), winters used to have at least a month of snow, and skiing was often possible. Today’s winters offer only forest walks. And this last winter, for the first time in my life, we had no snow at all.

– And no ice breaking up, letting the brooks sing and the smooth, velvety stones reflect the sun. But I am deeply grateful that we all have these wonderful memories – and that the children share them too. We still talk about going to Fryksås again. Together. Just the four of us. Maybe some day…

 

Announcement: We are happy to welcome Xenia of Tranature as our Guest Host for August 1 !

And thank you, Patti, for hosting a beautiful Autumn week! Thank you for so many colourful and beautiful posts from friends all over the world!

Despite the fact that winter will come to all of us – whether we like it or not…we are looking forward to seeing Your Winter! Meanwhile – stay safe and well out there.

 

Have you seen these:

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: #106 – Autumn

/ Leya / 86 kommentarer

Autumn used to be my favourite season when I was young. As I grow older, I am happy to experience the beauty of each season.

Patti’s challenge this week is Autumn – and never has it been more difficult for me to choose images…my autumn tributes counts in the thousands. I will let my choices speak for themselves. As usual, click to enlarge.

I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.

– L. M. Montgomery

Hovdala och Hammarmölledamm 199_copy

When the autumn meets the tranquillity, there you can see the King of the Sceneries!
― Mehmet Murat ildan 

Autumn carries more gold in its pocket than all the other seasons.
― Jim Bishop

Happiness is to get lost in an autumn forest, and not to be found is even a greater happiness!
― Mehmet Murat ildan 

When everything looks like a magical oil painting, you know you are in Autumn!
― Mehmet Murat ildan 

Autumn is the mellower season, and what we lose in flowers we more than gain in fruits.

–  Samuel Butler 

Bockeboda november 2018 064-2

Every season has its own art and the art of autumn is to bewitch the people!

― Mehmet Murat ildan

As the season changes, we learn to adapt.
― Lailah Gifty Akita

 

A special thanks to Tina for hosting last week’s Spring challenge. And thank you all for sharing your spring poetry with us – hope and joy transmitted over the world!

Finally – Stay safe and well – hope to see many of your autumn memories! Next week it is my (Leya’s) turn to be your host – for Winter. Looking forward to seeing you then.

 

 

 

 

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #105 – Spring

/ Leya / 83 kommentarer

Spring invites us into a fairy land of imagination where flowers bloom with joy, butterflies fly with song, and love dances with love.
― Debasish Mridha

This week, Tina is our host on Spring. ”Noted by poets and lyricists as a season of hope and renewal, spring teaches us that despite (or perhaps because of) the hardships of winter, our world will once again blossom with new life.  As we continue to deal with the issues of the day, spring teaches us to remain hopeful despite our challenges.”

Yes, there will always be more written on Spring – the joy, the returning of the light and the renewal of life. In southern Sweden, where I live, the cranes are the first heralds of spring, gigantic V – ploughs in the skies, heading for their breeding places up north.

Magic birds were dancing in the mystic marsh. The grass swayed with them, and the shallow waters, and the earth fluttered under them. The earth was dancing with the cranes, and the low sun, and the wind and sky.

― Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

Every year, in March and the beginning of April, tens of thousands of cranes return from Africa to Sweden to rest at Hornborgasjön. This day, in 2014, there were more than 19000 of them. Their trumpeting calls were deafening, but their dancing joy was pure ballet.

I watch the trees all dressed up in the Spring,
While posing as they stand in line,
Placing their best foot forward, showing off their leaves and fighting for attention,
One tree at a time
― Charmaine J Forde 

Trees are at my heart, and this forest is my home every day – not the least in May.

Spring is not a season; it is a mysterious illusionist who sets off fireworks in the depths of our soul!
― Mehmet Murat ildan

When the rapeseed unleashes its yellow flames – I am there with camera, and eyes aglow.

It is spring again. The earth is like a child that knows poems by heart.
― Rainer Maria Rilke 

This cherry tree was planted when my daughter Emma was born, 30 years ago.

In the winter you may want the summer; in the summer, you may want the autumn; in the autumn, you may want the winter; but only in the spring you dream and want no other season but the spring!
― Mehmet Murat ildan

I enjoy the spring more than the autumn now. One does, I think, as one gets older.
― Virginia Woolf

Tina writes that ”We have been given the gift of time – to learn more about ourselves and the world around us, and to develop a new or renewed appreciation for living every moment.” I am convinced this is a lesson for us all, and even more for some. Hopefully we will come out better humans, humans knowing that we should not return completely to the old ways of living. What we need is a sustainable world – and that is the gift we must hand over to our children.

Thank you for all your funny, creative and lovely summer memories and we hope to see you next week, when Patti is our host for Autumn. Until then, stay safe and well!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #103 – Surprise

/ Leya / 201 kommentarer

Thank you to Patti for her lovely challenge #102 –  ”A Quiet Moment”, and all your beautiful responses! We certainly need our quiet moments, and it feels so good to share.

This week I have been pondering over the impact of not knowing how our situation in general will develop. We really – don’t – know. Even if we never can know in advance how life and things will turn out… we want to have some kind of schedule and feel in control.

Somehow, over these last months, I have tried hard to accept the fact that not knowing will be the normal thing for the future. Less planning – I have decided to adapt.

 

Would you like to know your future? If your answer is yes, think again. Not knowing is the greatest life motivator. So enjoy, endure, survive each moment as it comes to you in its proper sequence, a surprise.     

– Vera Nazarian

This young lady was surprised by a happy call yesterday – getting that new job!

For many of us, June, July and August are the starters of vacation time. This year is of course without any scheduled far away travels, but small surprises usually occur in our everyday life. It could be surprising meetings, incidents, or maybe eye openers. In fact anything you feel surprise you!

I start off with a missed coffee break (Swedish ”Fika”) in the opener. We quickly had to find another place to eat our sandwiches… not sharing any!

Then – eye openers and great surprises are everywhere in nature. Last year I met this little creature – an insect looking exactly like a tiny twig – here together with a real twig. Can you tell which is which? This camouflage must be very effective!

Surprise is the greatest gift which life can grant us.     

– Boris Pasternak

But then there are surprises both negative and positive…Two days ago I found this battered 4cm butterfly dead on the garden stones. I could tell it must have been a beauty with those emerald/mother of pearl blue spots on the white wings. I wrote my colleagues in the biology group – and the answer was: Zeuzera pyrina, a blue spotted tree butterfly. A rare species where I live. The experts told me that my old apple trees could have been its home. And it might be that more of these butterflies are here. Let’s hope for a live meeting!

This is what it looks like in a fresh costume – wing span 35-75 mm.

http://www.vilkenart.se

Another big surprise – a minor shock in fact –

– was this Digitalis with a mutated top flower – a so called Peloria.

(This photo with my Samsung phone.) I had never seen one before. It reminded me of those dragon lizards running in the desert!

Have you seen these from Patti’s challenge?

Nes Felicio – The quiet has to come from within

From Hiding to Blogging– Yan is chasing sunstars

Pat, of Living Life Almost Gracefully finds quiet in the sense of gentle colors and order

Anne of Slow Shutter Speed – stunning quiet moments

Also –

The team has a special “surprise” for July. We will be hosting the theme “Seasons” for the entire month, and are announcing the sequence in advance. The schedule will be:

July 4  Amy  Summer
July 11 Tina  Spring
July 18 Patti  Autumn/Fall
July 25 A-C  Winter

Lastly – stay well, and don’t forget to use the Lens-Artists tag to easily be found in the reader!