Tankar

Thursday Thoughts – Faces of April

/ Leya / 22 kommentarer

In general, April is the last month of Winter/Spring, and after it…comes the most beautiful month in Sweden – at least according to me. May.

It’s been a strange year, this last one. No snow – for the first time in my entire life.

This picture was taken in April 2013. This used to be the ordinary look of April.

It is warming up – or, we are warming up our planet. In fact, 2024 has been the warmest year ever on planet Earth.

Our glaciers are melting fast – and they are our fresh water reserves. Today I heard again that in Norway and Sweden they melt the fastest. Many of them are already gone.

But the Wood Anemonies are still flowering, and the glorious Spring light allows us to forget our troubles and what lies ahead of us.

Lens-Artists Challenge #344 – Abandoned

/ Leya / 43 kommentarer

“The Abandoned

Did you ever wonder
Why abandoned houses looked so sad
Much like the people
Their exterior was only for the function

We would not feel so sad
If we recognized
That the spirit of the house
Had already moved on

The dream remained”
― Maria Lehtman, The Dreaming Doors: Through the Soul Gateways

Anne has sent us one of my – and many others’ I know – favourite themes, Abandoned things! Personally I love abandoned houses and places, and for some time I joined my son in searching and photographing our finds.

My thoughts on Abandonement? A great theme it is, and an opportunity to dig out precious things from the archives – thank you, Anne! I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves, with only a short title on each of them. I don’t want to think of abandoned people though…that feels too sad. And, I have never photographed anyone in that kind of situation.

Tjernobyl

The saddest photograph in the gallery is of the Jewish cemetary in Warsaw. Walking in the silence there, knowing what happened to all these people and that there are no relatives left to remember or to tend to the graves… It is hard to fathom all the sadness and tragedy, but somehow there was a comforting feeling in walking alone in the silence, reading on the gravestones. Many of them still so beautiful.

Two homes – one in Norway, Lofoten, and a little bird’s nest in my forest

The stray dogs in Tblisi, Georgia, were many, but in a way they were not totally abandoned. Every dog had a tag in their ear, emitting medicine, so they were all castrated and friendly. They could also find food at a special place built for them in the city centre.

Sweden. A library in the forest – unfortunately an abandoned, unfinished octagon building

Agricultural machinery from an abandoned farm

Two abandoned factories that I visited with my son when he too was into photographing

The challenge is to tell and show our thoughts on abandonment. Please visit Anne’s beautiful site for more inspiration. I enjoy being alone, but that is my own choice – being abandoned does not sound that positive… When you respond, please link back to Anne’s original post and use the Lens-Artists tag.

Last week, I had the pleasure of being your host – thank you for so many fun and original responses of your last outings! I enjoyed seeing the varied places you visited and things you saw. Next week, look for John’s post as he will be leading our challenge.

Until then, stay safe and be kind. To yourself as well.

Lens-Artists Challenge #343 – Seen on my Last Outing

/ Leya / 152 kommentarer

Every outing is a learning experience.

– Drew Pomeranz

What happened on Your last outing? Did you meet a friend or did you go shopping? Or maybe you just took a walk in the beautiful weather? What made you take out your camera? We’d love to know!

For a couple of days now, Spring has taken giant steps forward, and we see cranes and starlings – even the little wagtail is here. She used to come punctually on the 4th of April – but nature runs faster and faster… and well – she is already here. And she’s welcome.

Spring has returned. The Earth is like a child that knows poems.

– Rainer Maria Rilke

Spring is of course the main inspirer to take out my camera these days, but little outings can bring new and different things to tempt your lens – even things you did not expect when you left home!

The flowers of late winter and early spring occupy places in our hearts well out of proportion to their size.

– Gertrude S. Wister

This time I was looking for the little anemone hepatica – and I know where to find her. These anemonies are the harbingers of Spring, and their colours vary from indigo over light purple to very light blue. I love taking photos of them as they are reaching for the sunlight. In fact I almost take the same photos every year… maybe you recognise doing something like that too?

I feel a physical happiness when spring is coming. – Halldor Laxness

Milo is not that intrigued when I bring my camera, and he is not interested in either posing or the flowers. Rather a roll or two in the leaves – Not on the anemonies, Milo!!!

I also visited a newly found friend. I met her through an old friend of mine, and we have spent a couple of hours painting together. Now we were invited to her home, and the location of her house turned out to be a dream surprise.

If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water.

– Loren Eiseley

As a child I always dreamt of having water running through my garden. It doesn’t have to be a river, a brook or creek would have been perfect. The pure harmony of the sound is soothing to every human ear – and I guess to nature itself.

Cats rule the world. – Jim Davis

Yes – I fell in love with her cat, Morris.

A real beauty – but a fast and cunning hunter as well, I learned. Cats are, of course, but he must have held some kind of record…

When my friend told me that Morris had caught five squirrels in a few days, and killed her garden robin and a wren… I was happy to have taken my photos before I knew about that. He was good at posing though –

Talking about posing nicely – the hectic love affairs going on in the pond made me sit down for a while to watch the multitude of frogs – I guess there where more than a hundred in that single spot. I caught this one smiling, while guarding its offspring… Who knows, one of them might be a prince? I can easily resort to fairy tales these days to forget about the craziness of this world.

So, what did I learn from my outing then? Good friends are priceless, Spring glory makes me happy and alive, I still love cats – and I agree with Cameron Diaz:

I’d kiss a frog even if there was no promise of a Prince Charming popping out of it. I love frogs.

Last week we had Egidio guiding us through Wild Life – thank you for all your exciting wild wonders, a treat every one of them!

Now I am looking forward to seeing your outings and what they brought! Link to my post and don’t forget the Lens-Artists tag. Next week Anne will be your host – please go to her site and get inspired!

Tursday Thoughts – A Time for Love

/ Leya / 30 kommentarer

I had been waiting for this moment…

My granddaughter is to experience the same as I did as a child and as both my children did.

To follow the developing of a frog from start to finish. A Nature’s wonder – so clear to the eye. Last week we went to the pond to take some eggs home, and when the little frogs are fully fledged – with all four legs – we will return them to where they came from.

According to me, one of the best things to let a child experience. Patience and wonder.