I love these end of the year opportunities to post some pictures that didn’t quite make the cut or didn’t quite fit in to our challenges. This year was no photography year for me – not much traveling either – rather a painting year. But here they are, my last chances!
The opener/header shows a Madeira interior from one of our hikes in June. There were fewer traveling days than usual this year, let’s see what the new year has in store for us.
Little ones – Vedema frog and babies. A favourite day out in April.
My garden in flower. A moss lover I am, a tiny worlds lover. I found these photos in a folder from August 2025. They were untouched – so, a perfect fit!
I will end with a frosty Autumn picture from the lake and the last one from my forest, when the beeches were already fading. I love that colour though, and miss it now when all leaves are gone and everything is grey and dull.
We want to announce that this is our last post of the year as Lens-Artists will be taking the final 2 weeks of December off and will return on January 3.
THANK YOU for all your Holiday Fun posts! Now it is time for the 2025 fun too! Thank you all for making this year, 2025, brighter and more hopeful – I believe that is one of the best reasons to keep a blog, to connect and communicate. For me, it’s a vital source to constantly revive faith in mankind. So, until we see you again – stay safe, be kind and enjoy the Holiday Season.
Merry Christmas to all who celebrate, and may the New Year be Happy and Healthy for us all!
Ann-Christine
The Holiday Season is approaching and many of us celebrate at the end of December. But there are many different holidays over a year, and celebrations don’t look the same anywhere. This week we invite you to share some Holiday memories with us! Shared joy is double joy – as we say in Sweden.
Pick any fun and/or happy memories from holidays you enjoyed – your own or others´, at home or abroad – I know they are hiding in your archives! If not – new pictures would be great! You can concentrate on one holiday or on a couple of them. I have chosen Christmas, as it will soon be on our doorstep.
Christmas is one of our major holidays in Sweden, where we engage in our families, play boardgames, bake and eat together, dance and give each other a present or two. In our family, we make rhymes to every parcel. Then, on Christmas Day, some people attend early morning mass.
Here are some family memories:
Making buns for Lucia, December 13, is a must. Before our children moved out, we used to gather family and friends to join in the baking. This is the starting point for the Holiday Season.
It is a common tradition in the south of Sweden to visit our neighbouring city, Copenhagen, to have fun for a day or two around Christmas. They have Tivoli, an amusement park with everything you could wish for! Or we pop over the waters southwards to Poland, where the winter markets often are spectacular, but you can also find small and cozy ones. If we are lucky enough to have snow – so much more fun!
Winter fairs and markets are everywhere, where artists and farmers can sell their work and produce. Most people in Sweden have their winter holiday between December 22 and January 6.
Ever since I was a child, we have made ginger breads – a traditional, fun baking for the whole family. The small children though, tend to eat half of their dough before it reaches the oven…
This year, Myra was old enough to really enjoy baking and decorating them. (And eating them…) Laughter and music, candle light and Holiday Fun together!
A big thank you to Beth for last week’s Wings – a theme that made us come up with lots of beautiful pictures and new creative solutions. Now we are looking forward to learning more about your traditions and Holiday Fun! Please link to my original post and remember the Lens-Artist tag so we can find you in the reader.
Hope to see your joyful posts soon, and until then – stay well and be kind.
Next week, on Saturday, December 13th, we’ll host our annual Last Chance Challenge, inviting you to share any photos you took in 2025 that haven’t been part of our earlier challenges!
My grandfather…wrote songs and verses, in two books when he was at sea, and they have been lost for 37 years. My uncle took care of them when my grandmother died, and promised to return them after copying them.
I often reminded him about those books, but he didn’t know where they were. My uncle died some years ago without ever returning the books. Today we attended the funeral for his wife. a wonderfully strong woman who had a life worthy of a novel. It was a beautiful funeral with many friends, music and flowers.
And – the two books were found among their things in the apartment. They are finally returned to us! They were written in 1924-1925, so almost precisely a hundred years old. As a child I was enchanted by the beautiful handwritten pages in ink, and the many colourful sketches he made on almost every page.
Here’s a couple of quick shots with my phone:
Life is indeed using mysterious ways to connect us. I am immensely grateful to her nieces who finally found the books and returned them to me. I am the only relative left who have seen them before and remembers them. I feel so rich and blessed today.
Gratefully,
Ann-Christine
Beth is our host this week, and she has chosen a wonderful theme – Wings. So many possibilities and a great variety of posts is expected! Please visit her lovely site for more inspiration.
My first thought is of course birds – and bats, and what would I choose if I hadn’t visited the Galapagos Islands? Here are some favourites, and among them is the albatros – with the largest wingspan of all flying cretures. The wandering albatros can reach a wingspan of 12feet!
Back in Europe and at home, butterflies and other insects dominate – at least my garden.
Birds again – big birds at home, in Ireland – and of course the silver birds. In churchyards we find beautiful angels watching, and art in general has always depicted angels. Nike is a beauty.
Last week you showed us some really creative images in your responses to Patti’s challenge Mysterious. I must say I enjoyed them immensely. Now we are looking forward to seeing your responses this week, and be sure to tag your post with Lens-Artists and include a link back to Beth’s original post.
Please check in on Saturday, December 6 at noon eastern time when it is my turn, Ann-Christine/Leya, to host the challenge.
Until then, I hope you will find time to relax, to be kind and take care of each other.
What’s Milo looking at?
– His ”cousins”!
It doesn´t become daylight before it turns cold and dark again.
We must treasure these short moments of beauty with long walks, deap breaths and much love!
Patti, welcome back and thanks for an interesting theme! I have gathered some different ”mysteries” here. Hope they will fit the bill. Shadows, darkness, mist, tunnels, abandoned places, artworks…and unexpected items in unexpected places. Often also a limited colour sphere – or a fireworks of colour! adds to the feeling.
First out, a levada in Madeira – in the middle of nowhere and roadless land. Suddenly we passed a resting place – for tired hikers?…How did a car seat end up here?
Natural mysteries – Last time I visited this pond, there really was a pond – now only a mysterious, dead piece of land with stumps sticking up. Quite eerie.
In this park in Copenhagen, the trees reached out their spooky fingers to touch the grey sky.
A late evening walk with ominous skies – natural mysteries are the best!
Abandoned houses, streets and cars have their own kind of mystery…
Every kind of Art can be mysterious. And it doesn’t have to be dark…
I love trying to figure out why/how – but also love it if I find a note from the artist on what the original intention was.
This is Prague and a hanging umbrella man by the famous Michal Trpák.
The yearly Light Move festival in Lodz, Poland. Very Mysterious and beautifully made by a talented group of artists.
A special thanks to John Steiner for leading the challenge On the Move last week – a joy to see all your posts! Next week, it’s Beth’s turn. So, be sure to visit her site, Wandering Dawgs, Saturday, November 29th at noon ET for more.
Until then, I hope you can spend time with your loved ones and enjoy doing things together. Take care and be kind.
To find out more about the Lens-Artists Challenges, click here.
Leya 
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