Sweden

Thursday Thoughts – Deliciously Delicate

/ Leya / 25 kommentarer

Looking through my pictures from the last month…I found some really delicate autumn images. I guess these soft colours are not much connected to autumn… at least not to us in the northern hemisphere. But, as winter is knocking on our door, a faint spring feeling cannot be wrong. I hope you enjoy.

Thursday Thoughts – The last forest beauty

/ Leya / 64 kommentarer

An autumn walk in my own forest today. Milo is overjoyed as colder weather has arrived with near frost temperatures. I will have to be grateful for those colourful days and look back now and then on my images through the daily grey.

No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace as I have seen in one autumnal face.
― John Donne

There is a stillness in the air, and I hear only the water and some finches. A Robin’s ticking warning in the background.

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

The path I always walk suddenly looks like spring in the morning sun. Wishful thinking… there are 6 more months to wait for its arrival.

I cannot endure to waste anything so precious as autumnal sunshine by staying in the house.
― Nathaniel Hawthorne,

When I get closer to the meadows, I see the sun shining out there, spreading its generous rays into the darker forest.

And all the lives we ever lived and all the lives to be are full of trees and changing leaves… -Virginia Woolf

Nowadays it has become more difficult for me to look up towards the canopy as I have a slipped disc in my neck. So, generally I wait until the path is favouring a look at the sky. And then it is amazing…

Autumn is the hush before winter. – French proverb

The last kilometer of the track passes a much-fotographed shed where the hunters used to have their gear and their breakfast. Last year the left window cover was broken, so a somewhat one-eyed old friend is now sleepily looking at me.

Autumn knows a mother’s heart. It gives and then lets go. – Anonymous

A homely stump, filled with little ones – just out of a fairy tale. John Bauer?

The final hundred meters of the track now, and you can see Milo and my husband as tiny dots near the end of the path.

Thank you again for walking with me. This might be the last really beautiful walk this year – unless we get early snow or hoarfrost.

Lens Artists Challenge #172 – A Day of My Week

/ Leya / 82 kommentarer

You can walk in a dream while you are awake: Just walk in the misty morning of a forest!
― Mehmet Murat ildan

A day of my week – Amy hit my lucky last week, that offered some lovely opportunities for photography. All these are from one of my morning walks with Milo.

I like the muted sounds, the shroud of grey, and the silence that comes with fog.– Om Malik

This was a soft, foggy morning – emitting a soothing quietness to the world. I could faintly hear the robins and some finches going about their morning business.

With the light slowly seeping through the trees, I felt a gratefulness filling me – that I was alive, that I was allowed to walk in here this morning.

In the quietness, even Milo could feel the joy of little things, the delicate wonders surrounding us. He doesn’t mind my stopping for photographing anymore – he’s a big boy now.

After a couple of hours, our stomachs told us we maybe should return for some breakfast…and by then the sun was breaking through. Maybe this meant ending some of the magic, but also, the beginning of a new kind of magic…

I am glad you found the time to walk with me this morning. Thank you. Needless to say, I have many more images in store…and you might see some more later on.

We hope you will join us with pieces of a day of your week, traveling or at home! Be sure to include a link to Amy’s original post and please use the Lens-Artists tag.

Finally, many warm and happy thanks for your Weird and Wonderful entries last week! I had so many laughs and smiles at your images and stories. Being a bit weird is sometimes just what we need…

Next week, Tina will be hosting the theme ”Interesting Architecture”. Be sure to visit her at Travels and Trifles. Until then – stay well and safe.

Thursday Thoughts – Along the road and around the bend…

/ Leya / 29 kommentarer

One single day of sunshine…

…and I knew I had to follow the colours…

…along the road.

Thursday Thoughts – Sallow, a Keystone Species

/ Leya / 18 kommentarer

The old sallow (salix) standing in our summer garden is slowly ageing – and decaying. They seldom reach 100 years, but this one is even older. These trees are very important for the biodiversity, as almost 200 species of butterflies are dependent on it for feeding their larvae. And, so are many other insects too, like bees and bumblebees – in spring they can find food there during the first harsh months of the new year. Salix trees are also home for birds, mushrooms, lichen and mosses.

When we arrived in Spring 2019, our old man was still in one piece, standing in a pink field of sea thrift – but in autumn the same year, the middle part of him had fallen down.

This year we had to take down another of the oldest and longest arms from the trunk as it would not have made it through the winter.

But, as you can see, he is still standing there…overlooking the sea. And there is a new little one shooting up from the trunk of his old master. We hope he too will be a survivor when the old man is gone.

Lens-Artists Challenge #169 – The Ordinary

/ Leya / 63 kommentarer

As you get older, you want less from the world; you just want to experience it. Any barriers to feeling emotions get dismantled. And ordinary things become beautifully poetic. – Richard Linklater

Our theme this week is The Ordinary, hosted by I. J. Khanewala. There are many places, moments, things, etc. that we would say are ”ordinary”. But, we humans often use this word or concept differently. I find it interesting how easily ordinary things can become remarkable…In my examples, light is often the difference, and the combination of colours and an open mind. I guess many of us who photograph, write or paint – or are involved in similar activities, recognize the feeling and can easily appreciate the beauty of our ordinary surroundings.

Two days ago, we went to our summer house to close it down for the winter. It was an extremely foggy day, and I was walking Milo (our dog) back to continue packing. Unexpectedly, as from nowhere, the sun shone through the dull hedge on my right hand side, revealing the intense beauty of backlit leaves.
In my own garden, the mist and cold continued when we picked the last grapes, where some of them had ventured up on the roof. While climbing down with my basket full of grapes, I admired the red autumn vines clinging to the walls, windows and ladder.

Then, on my way up to the house again, my eyes followed the adventurous vine climbing along the laundry line. I believe I have one of the most intriguing and beautiful laundry lines in the neighbourhood… an ordinary Monday.

We hope you will join us this week for the interesting Photo Challenge #169: The Ordinary.  Please include a link to the original post from our guest host of Don’t Hold Your Breath, and use the Lens-Artists tag so we can all find you in the Reader.

A sincere thank you to all who responded to last week’s “Seen Better Days” challenge. It clearly shows that most photographers love to focus on the beauty lingering in old, worn or dilapidated places and things. Finally, we hope you’ll join us next week when Patti brings us challenge # 170. Until then, please stay safe and be kind.