Nature

Thursday Thoughts – May!

/ Leya / 29 kommentarer

You who follow me know, that May is My month. So much beauty, so many birds coming in – today, the redstart arrived and flashed its colours outside my window. What joy!

Wood sorrel

Bird-cherry tree

Forest filled with ostrich fern

Beautifully backlit

Happy May to all of you from some of my favourite flowers, ferns and trees!

Thursday Thoughts -The Road to Tibet III

/ Leya / 11 kommentarer

An early wake up again on the train – the last part before Lhasa. The Tanggula pass is more than 5000 meters above sea level, but we were well taken care of with oxygen in our compartments.

The Tibetan Plateau is breathtakingly beautiful – I still have tears in my eyes when I look at the old photos-

– and again we were glued to the window. The whole journey is almost 2000 kilometers and today it takes some 40-45 hours. I guess hour train ride took a bit longer 16 years ago.

We passed by majestic rivers, lakes, mountains in every kind of weather – but I think above all we loved the magical cloudscapes over the vast open spaces.

I remember we didn’t sleep much…as we didn’t want to leave the magic outside that train window. In fact we were earlier up than ever. We rose with the first light shining in.

The colours were beautifully contrasting between warm and cold, and the numerous jaks and sheep were grazing everywhere. We also saw a wolf, but weren’t quick enough to photograph it.

The clouds created a moving palette on the ground – with shadows and light playing. Sometimes we felt the clouds were sailing so low we could have touched them had we been able to get off the train for a minute!

As we approached Lhasa, we came closer to the mountains and the valleys –

which we hadn’t done before. There were some people too out there – but very few and not easily spotted. If you can see them, they speak of the vastness and grandeur of the landscape.

Time stood still during the train ride, so we couldn’t imagine we would soon be there – at our final destination Lhasa, Tibet. A destination longed for since I was a child, but I never could have dreamed of such an amazing journey to get there!

A couple of minutes left, and then – a new adventure would unfold. Tibet. We were sad to leave the Plateau behind, because we knew we would fly back to Beijing in a couple of weeks, never to see it again.

Thank you for taking the Quinghai train with me – at least a bit easier than staying glued to a train window!

Lens-Artists Challenge # – Shoot from Above

/ Leya / 57 kommentarer

This week Ritva invites us to a very interesting challenge – Shoot from Above. Not my ordinary way of shooting, but certainly outside the box!

My first thought for a fitting image was a photo taken in a restaurant in Amsterdam, where the restrooms were in the cellar. On my way down I could not avoid noticing the unusual tiling. Rather spectacular… to my eyes at least!

Then a gallery from my garden and glass house. The shells are from New Zealand, then you find what is left of my favourite flower pot, one of last summer’s flower bowls, and one rusty, decorative ball. Lastly a collection of my daughter’s tinfoil balls ( I get one now and then…) in a glass box.

I love these flowers – or their foliage. The swirling shapes look their best from above. And in the header/opener is a collection of Legotechnic figures put in a box by my granddaughter.

Resilience was last week’s theme and your posts to Anne’s wonderful challenge really showed its importance in our lives. A massive thank you to you all. This week, Ritva presents us with this incredibly interesting theme, and I enjoyed seeing things from above again, although that is not an ordinary winter game. Ritva’s post is beautiful, and it will inspire you to join in. Remember to link back to her original post and to tag Lens-Artists.

Next week it is Egídio’s turn to lead so please make sure to visit his colourful site Saturday 25th January to find out more. Until then, be good and take care.

Lens-Artists Challenge #331 – Resilience

/ Leya / 51 kommentarer

Anne‘s theme this week is Resilience. And that is what we all have to show to survive. Resilience is the ability to maintain psychological well-being in the face of adversity. It’s the ability to “bounce back” from difficult experiences.

There is so much trouble in the world today, so we have no other choice. The most obvious example here in Europe is the Ukrainian people. When everything seems hopeless and impossible, they rise again and fight back. The fires now in the US, the war in Gaza – somehow most of us manage to go on – Life works that way. Be resilient – or break.

I guess you all know my love for Iceland, its landscapes and its strong inhabitants – people, animals, plants. Living in constant danger of disaster molds you to be resilient. And it is not only people and homes, but their whole livelihood – cattle, horses, sheep. They must be resilient in a volcanic area that often ”comes alive” We have visited Iceland several times, and sometimes soon after eruptions too.


This is Eldfell volcano after the big eruption on Vestmannaeyar, 1973. We went there in 1979, when the surface had cooled down and it was allowed to walk everywhere. Then we returned in the summer of 2019, from when these photos are.

Some of the half buried houses were left as a reminder of the disaster. This is Heimaey, the main town on the islands.

Luckily their whole fishing fleet was in the harbour those days because of a storm – so within 6 hours 5300 people were safely evacuated. Only one life was lost – a man who walked into a house to get medicin, but was poisoned by the gas.


Krafla erupted in 1984, and Hekla’s last one was in 2000. Hekla is a well known volcano that always displays a trail of smoke – erution or not. The picture shows Eyafjallajökull during the first day of eruption in 2010. This eruption caused a stop in the air traffic in the whole of Europe. The planes could not safely fly because the ashes could destroy the engines.


One of the gigantic lava fields in Iceland. You should not risk walking out there – holes deeper than 200 meters hide under the moss. Here resilience from nature is shown in flowers, grasses and mosses that came back rather fast.

The newest volcanic island, Surtsey, was created from an eruption in the ocean in 1963, south of Vestmannaeyar. Now it is a World Heritage site, but only scientists are allowed to visit. In 1965 the first living plants were discovered there and today birds are living on the island too.

Horses, I have to mention the Icelandic horses, they are among the toughest and sturdiest – and most resilient breeds on Earth. They stand close together in the winds on the open plains, often with their backs to the wind, and don’t seem to suffer at all. For this Viking people, they are priceless treasures.

This week the hosted Lens-Artists Challenges are resumed, after the fantastic Favourite Images of 2024 last week. Anne is leading us with this timely theme and her post is truly inspirational. Please visit her beautiful site and when you join us, please tag Lens-Artists and link back to Anne’s original post.

Next week it’s Ritva’s turn to host so make sure to visit her magnificent site Saturday 18th January. Until then, take care and stay curious.