For Cee – three different, man made examples and one natural this Tuesday.
In the header, Moroccan architecture.
Beijing, Bridges in the Forbidden City.
Reykjavik, Hallgrímskirkja
And Rome, nature’s own design
Another Glorious Summer Night…
Nature First – Outing With Experts
I was fortunate enough to join an excursion with the local biologists here in town (I am a member of the organization too). By bus we went to the east coast and to the south of Skane: Haväng, Stenshuvud, Fyledalen. We had a great day, despite the heat, and the interesting finds were numerous. I did not bring my heavy camera though – 30 degrees C is too much already. No more extra weight, it was enough with the bottles of water.
Where is the lark…?
So today, water and the pair of binoculars was my best equipment.
Among others, we spotted three Golden Eagles, a very rare species of lark – the tawny pipit (Anthus campestris) and Dianthus arenarius – sandnejlika – a species that can only be found here in Skane.
A pasque flower overlooking the dunes – and the group members…
Lathyrus japonicus (common names sea pea, beach pea…)
Anthericum liliago (St Bernard’s lily)
Dianthus arenarius
We were not allowed to enter the orchid fields, but could admire them from a distance.
I love orchids, and wild orchids in Sweden are very beautiful too. However, when the Pasque Flowers are over…their beauty is perhaps even more enhanced. I could not resist a minor collage…
or the serene beauty of the black-veined moth (Siona lineata).
A lovely day out with precious friends!
Silent Sunday
What’s Up?
Thursday’s Special: Traces of the Past
Paula’s traces are many, and this time she takes us for a beautiful late walk in Padua. An Italian gem.
I thought I would take you to some totally different traces – a hidden gem named Monastero de Ribas de Sil, in Spain. Sil is the river down in the ravine below. And these traces of the past were very different from anything I had visited before.
The monastery was built in the 12th century by Dominican monks, and finally left to be reclaimed by nature in the beginning of the 19th century.
Significant traces are the beautiful stone walls surrounding the monastery. So many hours’ work for the monks – but so beautifully constructed.
The buildings themselves are totally hidden in the greenery. Not until we were some 15 meters from the old archway, we found them. Standing with a magnificent view, high up on a rock overlooking the river Sil – but of this we could see nothing. Everything was buried in lush green – according to Nature’s design.
The open space in front of the remaining arcade. It must once have been a very beautiful place – and still is.
The impressive church is still complete – and the only light shining through the single window – and open door.
This monastery was almost impossible to find – no map worked. I guess that is just the way it should be. It was a place for hermits. A place of peace and silence. I found it there.
Thursday Thoughts – Summer in May
Strange – Summer in May – 30 degrees C today
Late evening biking by the sea – not a cloud in four weeks
Swimmers everywhere, enjoying the coolness of it
Past the old Blekinge cottages – just have to stop for a photo. Love these…
Picking buttercups
Back at our own beach – 23 degrees C, still 10 degrees more than normal temperature
Completely calm sunset and not a mosquito – yet
Bathing – water 18 degrees. Lovely of course, but
– I do not know if I like it – or not. This month of May was the hottest and driest ever in Sweden. And we are not alone. In July this could have been possible though…
On the news they said our newborn storks will starve to death, and I guess that applies to many birds and other animals who only eat living things. There are no frogs, and the worms are digging deep to survive. The birds cannot reach them.
Please let there be rain. And, what about Africa.
WPC: All-Time Favorites
I want to thank you again, for inspiring us all to keep blogging – share our experiences and learn from each other. It has been good, so good. And tonight I truly feel sorry about losing this opportunity.
Many of us got to know each other through WPC, now some of us maybe will not have the strength, discipline or imagination to blog that frequently again. But, even in the desert there is beauty…So, I hope we will! – You have been a great help to make blogging fun and addictive in a positive way.
It will not be easy to choose an all-time favorite…I don’t believe it is easier to choose three or four either. I will think about it for an hour or two…meanwhile, I send my love to you all, and especially to: Krista, Jeff, Michelle, Erica, Ben, Sheri, Donncha, Jen, Sara and Cheri.
I cannot choose a favorite of mine among you either…and why should I? I just felt that Cheri, your words added to your picture – those words touched the heart of my blogging.
My choices… there is much feeling connected to the pictures chosen, memories and heart…While some of them were favorites of yours, some of them maybe are only favorites of mine. But they all are some years old – otherwise they could not be All-Time Favorites, could they? (More of my criteria at the end of the post. )
In the header, a lonely beach on the east coast of New Zealand. My family traveled together for a whole month, and we walked alone on this beach, each one of us…contemplating the beauty of Earth, and the end of our journey. Here is my son listening to the ocean.
Then – a hot night in Barcelona, my family and I was out walking and ended up in the middle of a gigantic motor bike gathering. Foreign feeling – but magical.
This is also a family hiking memory – very dear to me. My daughter resting on a giant pine branch in the Spanish mountains, somewhere between Spain and France.
Spain again – Segovia and its famous aqueduct. I had never seen anything like it – it goes through the city center and is still standing after centuries and centuries. No concrete, no nails – only the stones themselves. I walked, sat, stood in the steps contemplating – for hours. Enigmatic shadows as well.
This photo was taken at our summer house, when I still had both dogs, Mille and Totti. No other photo of them shows so on the spot their special temperaments. Now, who is the wild boy and who is the law abiding one? Fond memories.
My dear blogging friend Maria (Mariayarri), in Jämtland, took me to the Tännforsen waterfall in winter. I had never seen a gigantic waterfall frozen before. It took my breath away – and I remember, many of yours’ as well.
An early spring day some years ago, it started snowing on my way back home from the forest walk. This deer shed was still standing. (Now gone) The photo became a favorite with both my readers and me.
My Princess of the Night in flower for the first time. We waited for hours – and then everything was over within 20-30 minutes. A Wonder. This flower is about 20 centimeters and the scent fills the whole room. A photo is not enough to grasp the event…you need all your senses!
Meeting another dear blogging friend, Seonaid (Greenmackenzie) – from Scotland. She does not blog anymore, but I got the opportunity to visit her two times when she lived just outside Edinburgh. She and her lovely family had three Bearded Collies, and two of them looked just like my Amanda ( – before Mille and Totti). Those few, magical days with them will never leave me. Also a photo with feeling, showing well the character of the dog.
This photo was taken on a rainy trip to China. It rained every day – and the wedding couple here had a speedy walk on the Bond in Shanghai, waiting for their photographer. In Sweden there is a saying that rain in your crown on your wedding day – will give you a happy marriage. I hope this one was/is! This shot was a favorite with Sylvain Landry when he had his weekly prompts.
Catedrales beach, Spain. We just happened to find it – a World Heritage – it was not in the guide book…Kilometers of rock formations of enigmatic size and shapes. We spent several hours walking in the sunset. Incredible feeling that such a marvelous place was not marked out in any book. It made the experience even more magical.
The last photo, of Lhasa and the Pothala Palace, also marks what I see as my criteria for All-Time Favorites: Deep feeling, being in awe, magical surroundings, beauty, dream fulfilled or come true.
Wordless Wednesday
My Garden Today
This hot and dry month is going to be the warmest since we started the statistics some hundred years ago. And there is no rain ahead…so as the lilacs and other flowering trees and bushes faded away these last weeks, I decided to photograph my garden – as long as it lasts.
Walk with me, and I will try to give you some pearls from my garden today.
My fallen and dying trees are all in front of the house. They are with me still – Birds are nesting in the old apple tree and the one lying down still gives us apples.
The old bushes with very tiny little roses are some of my favorites – given to me by the little man with the fantastic Dream Garden – now sold. (You who have followed my garden posts will know who he was.) From that dream garden I also have some rare and unusual tulips – see the header and the first one in the gallery below.
The lilies and poppies and other well known flowers live happily together on the other side of the house, hidden from the street. I like to think of it as a secret garden…(I truly loved that novel)
But the shining stars this week are the Irises. Under their massive canopy, you just cannot get enough of their colours and shapes – the intense green and the just as intense orange, yellow and lilac. Their every bud is a slender wonder in a sea of elegance.
Leya 
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