Thursday Thoughts – Drought

Midsummer and all the festivities surrounding it – is over.

But this Midsummer was a different one. Usually we have rather chilly Midsummers, and a bit rainy – but many beautiful wildflowers. This year I had to take the bike out for hours in order to get the midsummer flowers – the result was only one, single bouquet…

This year, the heat in Sweden has been overwhelming since May, and many elderly people and newborn babies have difficulties with it. Not to talk about Nature and wildlife. There are no worms, no snails, no grass for the cattle and no flowers for us to admire. I pour water in seven different pots in the garden – for the birds and the hedgehogs. Wild fires are frequent in the southern part of Sweden, where I live.

I keep some of my flowers alive though – My Flammentanz roses seem to cope rather well. I water them late in the evening or around midnight. Watering is forbidden in many places now, and soon we will get that message too.

In fact, the cherry tree is the only tree liking this heat – or maybe it works like the pine trees – they produce cones in several hundreds when they think they are going to die. Anyway, the cherries taste delightful, and the tree has never been this blessed before. I planted it when my daughter, Emma, was born, in 1990. My son David got a plum when he was born, in 1992, and his tree brought us many kilos of delicious fruit last year, but this year maybe – 5 plums? But that is the way trees work.

Now it is getting late – Good Night to you all. May the rain fall and the sun shine on us all.

CFFC: Piles or Stacks

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Piles or Stack

For Cee this week – one of my favorite stack photos is this one,  with my mother walking between what once was my forest. In the header: boxes of butter!

Cee’s B&W Photo Challenge: Birds

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Birds

This week I thought I had nothing to enter – until I remembered the kite flyers of Fanö, and one of their funny inventions. Here we go – unfortunately there is no wind, but just use your inner eye and imagine the wind catching their bodies,  making all the birds swing to and fro in a delightful dance.

Drakflygningsfestival Fanö 151-Redigera

Come Join Us! A NEW Weekly Photo Challenge

 

Do you miss sharing your creative ideas and photos each week in the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge?  We do. That’s why we’re inviting you to join us for the new LENS – ARTISTS weekly photo challenge.  Our goal is to continue our creative community on WordPress.

Each Saturday at noon EST we will publish a photo challenge similar in form to the now-defunct WPC. If you choose to participate, please make sure to tag your post with the name of our group, LENS-ARTISTS, so that all of the responses can be found together in the WP Reader.  Please also include a link to the challenge moderator’s post.  One of our 4 moderators will host the challenge each week:

Week 1–Patti of https://pilotfishblog.com/

Be sure to subscribe to all 4 blogs to receive the weekly challenges.

Patti will post the first challenge on Saturday, July 7

 

Many of us who liked the WordPress photo challenge, wish to learn more and experiment with our photography, and many of us also love to travel and to see and share different angles of the world. Just to remind us of what we’re missing, here are three of my personal favorite photos from previous WPC Challenges.
Monochromatic, Scotland, September 2015 – The magnificent Kelpies are so big, that catching their expressions in the best light, from the best position, is a challenge in itself.
Curve, Sweden, Skåne, June 2016 – A simple and serene attempt with graceful curves. I have learned from many of you, that a photo often looks best when making it simple, not overdoing things.
Pedestrian, Poland, October 2017 – A problem to work on for many of us is photographing people. I try to improve my skills – and from the feedback I get, I am… but I need much more practice. Courage to talk to people – not to be afraid of asking. After all – you can only get ”Yes” or ”No”…

 

In the header: Temporary, Sweden, Skåne, November 2017.

We hope you’ll join us as we continue to support the wonderful community of creative sharing we all greatly value. We look forward to seeing you next week!

Thursday Thoughts – Paths and Colours

On the south coast of Fanö, you will find the little village Sonderho, consisting of about 300 cottages. Almost all the cottages here stand with their house ends to the east and west – because of the wind – and they are all surrounded by small gardens and open greens.

Between the plots there is a labyrinthine network of narrow paths and crooked streets. So,  you are asked to park your car and walk around when you arrive in the village.

It was raining the whole of our visit, but the colours, houses, gardens and lovely paths where not at all less charming …

Almost all the houses are very low, so inside you have to step down to reach the floor. Although light blue is frequently used, I believe the most loved colours are these two – yellow and saturated orange.

There are some very good restaurants here as well…

And of course – somewhere out there…the sea.