Travel

Lens-Artists Challenge #269 – On the Edge

/ Leya / 34 kommentarer

Patti says this week we’re exploring “the edges.” What have we captured “On the Edge” of buildings, cliffs, beaches, shelves, or any kind of edge we can think of. An interesting challenge open for many interpretations.

In the header, I have put Icelandic rocks and a weasel(?) on one of the edges.

I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all the kinds of things you can’t see from the center.

– Kurt Vonnegut

Switzerland and my garden – varied things and creatures on the edge.

We live at the edge of the miraculous.

– Henry Miller

Alaskan rainforest and a small tent covering a First Nation family. On the edge of society.

Life and death are balanced on the edge of a razor.

– Homer

My hands and camera on the edge of a precipice – of books!

‘Tis the sharpness of our mind that gives the edge to our pains and pleasures.

– Michel de Montaigne

Climbing on the edge of a cactus, but also on the edge of extinction. Galapagos Islands.

A sharp tongue is the only edge tool that grows keener with constant use.

– Washington Irving

Morocco, walking the edges of Sahara dunes.

Sooner or later we will come to the edge of all that we can control and find life, waiting there for us.

– Rachel Naomi Remen

Thank you Tina for a marvelous challenge last week, and thank you Patti for this week’s intriguing theme. Please visit her site for magical inpiration and put the Lens-Artist’s tag on before linking it to Patti’s post.

Next Saturday I, Leya/Ann-Christine, will be your host, and the theme is On Display.

Thursday Thoughts – At Sea

/ Leya / 13 kommentarer

I am back, happy, terribly jetlagged and tired, but sending views from Alaskan waters, the Inner Passage.

We had very varied skies and waters, and beautiful views whenever and wherever we went. Much rain, but with the right gear – no problem. And as we come from Sweden, we were prepared.

Silent and deep blue early mornings – clouds hovering over the white mountain tops. I cannot say how much I loved those mornings.

I had expected more birds, but my last sail was in warmer waters in the Galapagos Islands. Here the colours shifted several times a day – every shade of blue and green.

Seals and sealions were frequent, sometimes waving at us, making me smile every time.

Snowcapped mountains are always favourites, even in rain.

We decided not to take any whale tour, much because we have seen them several times in Iceland, so close and even touching the boats. In the Alaskan seas we saw these impressive creatures every day anyway – orcas and humpbacks. Not that close to the ship though, but they were two or three together every time.

Sunsets and sunrises – we were lucky enough to get one of each – that we could see.

It was an adventure with new sights every day and then some great land excursions too. I brought my father’s jacket and left it there with a note inside. He always wanted to go to Alaska and Canada – his best friend from his youth emigrated to Canada, and they kept calling each other till the end. But my father never got to Canada – or Alaska – though. So, I left a piece of ”him”, together with his story. It felt good. I hope he knew.

Thursday Thoughts – Seen in Prague

/ Leya / 24 kommentarer

Some things really caught my eye in Prague, or rather – many things did. It is a beautiful city, just as beautiful as I thought it would be.

And there were Easter celebrations everywhere. Nice people, good food.

I loved all the typical things like the great architecture and the good food, but I also love something unexpected.

Charles Bridge is of course a Must.

And the handsome trams are everywhere.

But I always enjoy the little things just as much.

Many of us do, and that is a good thing.

Thursday Thoughts – Vyšehrad cemetery, Prague

/ Leya / 17 kommentarer

The Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul is a neo-Gothic church in Vyšehrad fortress in Prague. It was founded in 1070–1080, and in 2003 the church was elevated to basilica by Pope John Paul II. Behind the church is located a large park and Vyšehrad cemetery, which is the final resting place of more than 600 distinguished Czechs, including the composers Antonín Dvořák and Bedřich Smetana.

I love walking in cemeteries, and today I want to walk this beautiful cemetery again, with you. I found some very special statues and monuments that really caught my attention. Some serene, some rough and some more strange than others. In fact, so strange that I could hardly believe I was in a cemetery.

It is not a big cemetery, but on some stones there were familiar names of famous people. Kaja Saudek was one of the most influential cartoonists in the Czech republic and was called the ”King of Czech comic books”. Dvořák and Smetana both had beautifully. ornamented headstones.

The strange woman statue leaning forward was made by the reputable Czech sculptor Olbram Zoubek. The fallen eagle was spectacular – but who would want it on a grave? I found out that Josef Suk was the grandson of Antonín Dvořák. I loved his beautiful broken violin.

I so enjoyed strolling here again, I hope you did too. This is a very special place indeed, and the church door in the header belongs to this basilica.

I do think the most ”normal” in this cemetery was this lovely lady tending to a grave.