Weekly Challenge

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #93 – Morning

/ Leya / 226 kommentarer

When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive – to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.  – Marcus Aurelius

My mornings these days – are not quite the same as before the pandemic. Maybe yours are the same as before – or a bit different too? Anyway, a look at your morning – or Any morning – is the challenge for this week. Maybe there is a special morning that you will never forget – you could share it with us!

When the virus hit my world, in order to sleep better, I had to move upstairs to my daughter’s old room.  So the first thing I see when I open my eyes to a new day – are fluttering butterflies. Feels good! And I do sleep better up here. I find harmony and peace.

This room is where many of my potted plants spend their winter season, waiting to come out in the sun and the fresh air again. What better place is there for me to spend the night?

Here I also grow new plants for the next season – these little ones are tomatoes in the making. I guess I love seeing plants, animals and people, grow –

In the hallway I pass the standing mirror, and a glance into it before closing the door, reveals Emma’s sewing machine waiting in stand by with her summer hat on top.

Before I go downstairs, I sit for a while with my new colourful plant puzzle – very relaxing and Mindfulness My way.

On coming down into the living room, I am usually met by a yawning Milo and a snoring Totti…(So…hardly ”met” really…), Totti is extremely good at snoring, so I hear exactly where he is. My husband tells me the dogs miss me terribly, but they have now accepted my strange night habits. Please click to enlarge if you love them –

Finally – coffee (Emma’s mug…). And the morning paper is a must. After a rather solid breakfast, I spend the rest of the morning out in the forest, enjoying the Wood Anemones while they are still flowering. Now on their last due to the dry weather and strong winds.

 

Morning has broken like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken like the first bird
Praise for the singing
Praise for the morning
Praise for them springing fresh from the world

(My favorite song from younger days, when Cat Stevens still was – Cat Stevens.)

We are looking forward to saying Good Morning to all of you! Be it your morning, any morning or some creative twist.

 A big thank you to our guest-host John Steiner of Journeys with Johnbo for ”Going Back the Second Time Around”, which brought many lovely memories from you – and tips for new memories to be made!

Have you seen these:

  • Sue is treating us to the most charming little village in France
  • Everest Base Camp and the cutest chalet ever from Pam
  • Anne and her best friend
  • Chasing the bloom – and succeeding at ramblingranger

Next week, April 25, #94: your host will be Amy of The World is a Book

As usual we wish you a lovely week, stay safe, stay well –  and maybe make a phone call or two to someone who needs it.

 

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #92 – Going Back – the Second Time Around

/ Leya / 80 kommentarer

”Considering the current world situation, I decided to focus my challenge to your sharing images from your previous travels rather than asking you to go out to photograph new examples to share. If you visited a favorite place more than once, how did you approach the second trip photographically? If you’ve only been somewhere once, what would you do differently the second time around?” This week we welcome guest-host John Steiner – please visit his post at Journeys with Johnbo for more inspiration!

My choice for a walk down memory lane, is the tiny island of Madeira, a hiking paradise I have visited five or six times.

Two times with our children and my mother. These images are all from 2010, when my mother turned 75, and we celebrated with Madeira for the second time together. This is the first time I brought a camera. For the orchids and for our hiking.

You often go by bus to the staring point, early in the morning. Then, you walk the chosen hike along the levadas – long or short, and return with another bus from the end point.

My mother used to be an avid hiker, and we walked together until one or two years ago. She loved Madeira, and with the youngsters on the path as well, we had so much fun.

In the early morning, it was rather cold in the mountains, but so quiet and beautiful.

Madeira 2010 370-2

Following the lifting mist, and listening to the murmuring of water – always running by your side. Once built to bring water from the mountains to the different parts of the island – the levadas are now also used by hiking tourists.

The air vibrates with bird song, and the soft scent of mosses and soil – everything breathing harmony.

This year there had been a storm, bringing down many trees. Still impressive though.

Lush green wherever you walk – and the stream always accompanying you.

Nature is reflected in their art as well – and I happen to love the tiny lizards –

Maybe some day…I will return. Who can tell. My mother turns 85 this summer, and can no longer go hiking. When I show her the old photos, she can still remember – something of those days, sometimes.

 

In closing, I’d also like to add a special Thank You to all of you who joined our “Simplicity” challenge last week. Thank you for sharing so many moments of peacefulness, beauty, and fun.  In these challenging times, you help make us all feel better and know that this too shall pass.

Next week, it is my time to be your host – and we are back to our ordinary schedule.

Stay well and safe, keep connected to your loved ones, and keep creating!

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #91 – Simplicity

/ Leya / 76 kommentarer

And I learned what is obvious to a child. That life is simply a collection of little lives, each lived one day at a time. That each day should be spent finding beauty in flowers and poetry and talking to animals. That a day spent with dreaming and sunsets and refreshing breezes cannot be bettered. But most of all, I learned that life is about sitting on benches next to ancient creeks with my hand on her knee and sometimes, on good days, for falling in love.
― Nicholas Sparks 

There is no greatness where there is not simplicity, goodness, and truth.
― Leo Tolstoy,

Like all magnificent things, it’s very simple.
― Natalie Babbitt

The older I get, the more I desire simplicity. – Andy Mineo

If you will stay close to nature, to its simplicity, to the small things hardly noticeable, those things can unexpectedly become great and immeasurable.
― Rainer Maria Rilke

We have lost contact with reality, the simplicity of life. – Paulo Coelho

 

Patti’s challenge is to show what Simplicity means to you. Visit her blog and get inspired!

”As the coronavirus pandemic spreads and intensifies, many of us around the world are spending a lot of time at home, following governmental regulations to shelter in place.” … ” For me, this time also highlights the value of simplicity.” And I agree, in simplicity lies a great amount of love and harmony. Maybe we now are starting to resume contact with reality, and simplicity of life. Our planet and everything living is in great need of it. Let us stay in contact – always.

I think my images speak for themselves, but the opener…what is it? It is the soft edge of a rose petal – from a vase with ten roses standing on my table right now. I love them. Flowers, I must have flowers. Always.

Thank you, Tina, for the beautiful Distance theme! And, we’re delighted to announce that next week’s challenge will be led by our next guest host–John Steiner of Journeys with Johnbo.  Welcome, John!  Please stop by and visit John’s site next Saturday at noon.

Here’s our schedule for the rest of April:

As always, stay well, stay safe, and keep creating!

 

 

 

 

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #90 – Distance

/ Leya / 79 kommentarer

For many years, I have been moved by the blue at the far edge of what can be seen, that color of horizons, of remote mountain ranges, of anything far away. The color of that distance is the color of an emotion, the color of solitude and of desire, the color of there seen from here, the color of where you are not. And the color of where you can never go.
― Rebecca Solnit

Tina’s choice of Distance for this week, gives room for many interpretations. Some images from the Sahara desert illustrates my first thoughts. And the poor scarab has an endless distance to crawl…

I think sometimes you need distance to reflect. – Lynn Nottage

Some extra time on your own these days gives new possibilities for this. Hiking or writing a diary might help keeping your thoughts together. And outdoors you can easily keep the distance.

Hobbiton, NZ

Fantasy is usually considered an escape, but it’s also a way to deal with weighty real-world issues from a safe distance and in a context where you usually have some kind of power that you don’t have in real life. – Noelle Stevenson

Maybe a chance to re-read old favorites – or new acquaintances!

Keeping social distance is what we all do these days – a necessity. Essential to stay healthy and save lives. These cats know how – an image from Madrid, often used, because I love it.

Finally some photos from last weekend, when the sun decided to throw some golden rays our way. Families together, couples sitting alone drinking coffee, enjoying the lovely outdoors. And so did we, Milo and Totti.

In Sweden we are still allowed to go out, and the forest and open landscapes are there for us to savour. Every country has its own rules in this Covid-19 crisis, but I hope many of you still have the possibility to go out. – But, we also don’t know for how long. A garden or a balcony is also great for some fresh air. I am convinced we all use different media to stay in contact with friends, and personally I find Zoom a perfect alternative as well. Thank you for being out there in the blogosphere.


Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes. – Henry David Thoreau

 

Be sure to link to Tina’s original post, and to use the Lens-Artists TAG. And remember –

Stay safe, keep the distance – but stay in contact! 

Yellow is the colour of my…

/ Leya / 20 kommentarer

Friendly Friday today, a subject well chosen –  Yellow

Ronneby Brunn – the famous Blekinge garden in Spring

Buttercup glory

Oh, those mild evenings in golden sun – so longed for

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #89 – A River Runs Through It

/ Leya / 67 kommentarer

I’m really quite simple. I plant flowers and watch them grow… I stay at home and watch the river flow. – George Harrison

This is what we must do today – this is not the time for travel. So, from the archives – images from Iceland, New Zealand, Sweden, Scotland, Norway and Georgia. May the rivers keep flowing and the waters never go dry.

 

A winter message from the river: Never surrender! Life can try to stop you, but somehow find a way to flow!
― Mehmet Murat ildan

The river teaches us many things, but its most important teaching is this: Whatever is happening around you, you keep flowing to your own destination following your own way!
― Mehmet Murat ildan

If you have a river, then you should share it with everyone. – Chen Guangbiao

It is from small streams that big rivers rise.
― Matshona Dhliwayo 

No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man. – Heraclitus

Many a calm river begins as a turbulent waterfall, yet none hurtles and foams all the way to the sea. – Mikhail Lermontov

Learn from a river; obstacles may force it to change its course, but never its destination.
― Matshona Dhliwayo 

 

Thanks to Amy for this week’s challenge. Click here to see and link to her original post, and remember to use the Lens-Artists tag.  Thank you also for all your creative, interesting and  heartfelt responses to last week’s CHAOS challenge. In these troubled times, please practice Social Distancing to protect yourselves and others from the continuing spread of COVID-19. Stay safe.

Next week, Tina (Travels and Trifles) will be your host.

 

Friendly Friday – Funny Furry Friends

/ Leya / 17 kommentarer

Look what I found in your garden!

For Friendly Friday Photo Challenge hosted by The Sandy Chronicles: Funny furry friends