CFFC: White Flowers

For Cee’s white flowers – my Princess cactus and…

 

…cherry blossom in my garden.

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For more white inspiration, click here.

A Better Year to Come

I hope the world will see a better year, 2016, with peace and love in heart and mind. And I hope for a joyous, Happy New Year to you and yours!

My last post this year, is from my walk in the forest today. Contemplating 2015 and what will come with the new year. The sun spilled its glory from an almost clear sky  – so – what better to do than spending the whole New Year’s Eve outdoors, hiking?

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Freezing cold from the start…

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…with the sun trying to reach over the tree tops.

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Succeeding now and then – here from the south.

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We had not walked here since the last great gale, and several times the path was totally covered in fallen trees.

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The untouched parts were shimmering in the low, golden sun.

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Some parts remained white and slippery, and my boys had to walk slowly not to fall into the mud.

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Some of my favourite ice – in Sweden we call it håris (hair ice) – and if you look closely, you will understand why. (The header picture)

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Heading home again, the sun setting and the real cold returning.

2016, we do not know what lies ahead of us, we can only hope, and work each one of us to make a better world for ourselves and for our fellow passengers on this planet.

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The road may be uneven, slippery, narrow, filled with obstacles…but I want to believe there is a light shining us through. Safe travels!

 

 

Thursday Thoughts

Thursday happened to be Christmas Eve. So this will be the story of a very special parcel…a present for my mother from her granddaughter.

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This Origami flower ball took some time to make, but Emma is a skilled Origamist (she makes a crane from every small train ticket and leaves it for the conductor…).

Then she drew a picture puzzle on the parcel, for my mother to solve before she was allowed to open it. ( With some help of course!) And we all laughed throughout the entertaining process of figuring out the problem…

This Christmas present was the most loved one on Christmas Eve. Handmade, beautiful, and engaging its receiver for several minutes before revealing its content.

No money spent, but Love, Time and Interest. Sometimes that is just enough.

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4 Days to Go – Thursday Thoughts

Soon the winter solstice will be here. Much longed for, maybe more than ever this year. No snow – except for one single, great day – and many dark and drizzly days.

Here a series from one of the better days, this week in fact. Notice the play of warm and cold this time of the year.  Warm colours if you turn in the direction of the thin rays of the sun – and the cold colours or darkness if you turn towards the sun itself.

One of my favourite spots in ”my” forest, is the passage between two of the grass meadows to the west. Here, Mille used to stand waiting for me by the big oak tree.

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The other spot is on my way back from the open landscape to the forest path. The majestic beech trees all aglow with the last rays of the low sun. 2.30 pm.

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Leaves of Life

There is an agreement. Something is signed in Paris. Many people are relieved.

I want to believe in the possibilities laid down in this piece of paper. But, most of all I am genuinely happy that the world wants to try, wants to unite, wants to have this agreement. And at Christmas time. In these days of war and terror.

I keep many of my plants in the cellar during winter time. Last weekend, Saturday, I went down to find a pot for a newly bought plant, and took a brief look at my ”hibernating” friends. Suddenly my eye was caught by something unusual.

In the dark corner I saw the tiny flowers, sitting on the tip of every leaf,  striving towards what little light there is down there.

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I knew I had this Kalanchoe plant taken inside a little late this autumn- below ten degrees C is usually not good for any pot plant.

Never had I seen flowers on this one before, I felt touched and ran up the stairs again to look it up in my plant dictionary. And yes. It is like always in nature – when you are nearly dying, you see to it that your genes will live on. In order to flower, this plant must have a very cold period.

I brought the plant up in the kitchen to have a closer look at it. An ordinary Kalanchoe – in Sweden called ”Leaves of Life” because of its tiny babies on every leaf.

Nature’s wonder of course – the babies flowering!

And I could not help but seeing the parallell with us humans…the utmost darkness needed for us to wake up and do something. Flowering made possible from darkness and despair.

Let us believe the spark of hope ignited in Paris will help make the Earth a healthy and flourishing planet for generations to come.

WPC: Oops!

 

Well…this is by far my most oopsy picture ever – me doing food photography outdoors,  suddenly finding a cat literally IN my lens. I was so shocked, nearly dropped the camera, and the shot went off. Salmon must have been one of his favourites…

Looking for more oopsy pictures? – click here or join in yourself!