This is a truly sad story where the western world once again fails the Earth and its people. We can not afford loosing more rainforests! Oil is not going to last anyway, we simply have to find new ways of living and new ways of getting enough energy.

We have already got other options…why don’t we use them? Because there is lobbyism from the oilbusiness people…and we seem never to get rid of people profiting on each other. A deplorable, major defect in humans.

From blogging friends I got a reminder of the Chevron case and the disaster in Ecuador that is still going on. http://tinasca.wordpress.com/2013/08/06/1394/

Weekly Photo Challenge: Carefree

17 augusti, 201317 augusti, 2013 / Leya / 31 kommentarer

Bekymmerslös på svenska, men fri från bekymmer låter mycket skönare. Som så ofta säger det engelska ordet mycket tydligare vad det är frågan om. Men, hur visar jag en känsla som den? Vilken eller vilka bilder kan över huvud taget visa den?

Naturligtvis ligger bilden i mig och i min kropp och själ. Det beror på min bakgrund, mitt yrke och den kultur och geografi jag är född i. Det beror på…mycket. Jag har funderat ett tag och kommit fram till några nyckelsituationer och nyckelord. De viktigaste ingredienserna är: vår eller sommar, ledig från arbetet, öppet landskap, ljudet av vind, vatten och fåglar, blå himmel, hög luft, mina barn och/eller mina hundar.

Carefree is this week’s challenge from WordPress. I have spent some hours thinking about – when do I really have that feeling? And, what pictures might best show it?

To imagine this feeling I had to think about some essential ingredients. My conclusion is that they are: spring or summer, vacation, open air landscape, the sound of wind, water and birds, blue sky, crisp air, my children and/or my dogs.

There is one place on Earth, that more than any other place makes my heart soar by merely thinking about it. One place where my feeling of freedom and being carefree never left me. New Zealand. This photo is from a lonely beach on the Coromandel peninsula. My son is walking barefoot in the sand, where his sister’s footprints still are visible. I was walking right behind them feeling the warm wind in my hair and the soft sand under my feet. A crystal clear moment of sheer happiness. Far away from all troubles, but together with my loved ones.

This photo is from a day on the southeast shores of Skåne in spring 2008. Mille running wild and free in the waves and not a single other human being on the beach. Totti wasn’t born yet. Being a water dog, Mille’s joy over the rolling waves was unstoppable. I remember shouting at him when he jumped too far out and the waves seemed to swallow him. But freedom is a great thing…We both felt its presence that day.

Travel theme: Big

17 augusti, 201317 augusti, 2013 / Leya / 24 kommentarer

I could just stand in awe in front of this giant. I think I stayed here, listening to the magic of birds singing and all other sounds of the forest, for a very long time. Nonmeasurable.

More about Kauris in an older post here. For more things Big – click here.

Aaaah…

14 augusti, 2013 / Leya / 27 kommentarer

My computer has crashed and I don’t know how soon it can be fixed… I’m borrowing my husband’s PC for the moment.

See you again – hopefully tomorrow…Please be patient with me!

The most beautiful…

11 augusti, 201311 augusti, 2013 / Leya / 38 kommentarer

I sommarstaden Karlskrona ligger en berömd holme med kolonilotter – Brändaholm. Till sommarrutinerna för vår familj hör att göra ett besök där och njuta av dockhusglädjen.

Allting strålar och blomstrar därute, även människorna. Enligt turistinformationen är detta förmodligen landets vackraste koloniområde, med 45 små stugor på en liten, liten holme i Karlskrona skärgård. Tyvärr är det nästan omöjligt att köpa en stuga där. Du måste bland annat vara skriven i Karlskrona.

Brändaholm is said to be the most beautiful place in Sweden for allotment-garden cottages. What do you think?

It’s almost impossible to become the happy owner of one of those 45 cottages, because you have to live in Karlskrona. Most cottages are inherited or sold privately.

More about Brändaholm, live, here:

http://www.karlskronakanalen.se/content/vykort-fr%C3%A5n-br%C3%A4ndaholm

Travel theme: Architecture

11 augusti, 2013 / Leya / 30 kommentarer

Where am I to start? Great theme – but so much to choose from.

Let’s go to Iceland, to Skagafjördur and Glaumbaer farm. For hundreds of years, a farm has been standing here, being changed and rebuilt in periods in the 18th- & 19th-centuries. This style of the turf construction was universal in rural areas of Iceland until about 1900, when it was gradually replaced mainly by reinforced concrete.

The main building is 23m inside – very impressive

The buildings have got thin panels of tree with thick turf in between

The roof is made of the same material

Icelandic grass grows very thick, so enough water on the grass will help the turf last for about 100 years

Glaumbaer farm had the priest of the village living here until 1947. Interesting too, is that the first woman to give birth to a white man in America, had lived here at Glaumbaer. Her name was Gudridur Thorbjarnardottir, and she travelled with Leif Ericsson or one of the following expeditions around the year 1000. So the old documents in Iceland tell us, and they were very good at documentation, the Icelandic people.

More about Glaumbaer here: http://www2.skagafjordur.is/default.asp?cat_id=1123

More interesting architecture here: http://wheresmybackpack.com/2013/08/09/travel-theme-architecture/

International Scone Week – Yoghurt Scones

10 augusti, 2013 / Leya / 12 kommentarer

Underbart!

The Complete Book

Celia over at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial and a few of her blogging buddies started this wonderful celebration a couple of years ago. To quote Celia:

”Did you know that it’s International Scone Week?

It’s not surprising if you didn’t, given that Joanna, Heidi and I made it up a couple of years ago. We found ourselves in a flurry of serendipitous scone baking, and had so much fun that we thought it would be lovely to repeat itannually.

So the second week of August became Scone Week, declared to be International since we were all baking and blogging from different continents, and this year the lovely Joanna has decided that it needs to last for a fortnight (two weeks).”

So there you have it. Even though I am still convinced Lemonade (Sprite) Scones are the best, below is my recipe for Yoghurt Scones. You…

Visa originalinlägg 132 fler ord

Weekly Photo Challenge: One Shot, Two Ways

10 augusti, 2013 / Leya / 35 kommentarer

Att ta två bilder på samma motiv och visa två olika sidor av det – en rolig utmaning. Efter en hundtur på Hovdalafältet hade jag med mig några snabba foton hem. Lilla kameran var med som vanligt vid hundrastning – med den kan man skjuta från höften trots att två hundar sliter i dig…

Det visade sig att dagens utmaning passade in på mina bilder, och tvärtom. Både fält, träd och himmel kan ses från två håll.

One shot, two ways in a tiny tiled gallery! This evening I was walking the dogs in a huge field called Hovdalafältet, and as the sky and sun was very pleasing to the eye I took some shots with my ”walkingthedogscamera” (- the little one I can handle with only one hand free). On coming home I found out about this week’s challenge – and there they were, my fitting photos! Field, tree and sky from different angles.

Click any picture for bigger size.

Birds, birds – magnificent Beauties from all over the world!

9 augusti, 20139 augusti, 2013 / Leya / 30 kommentarer

Weltvogelpark Walsrode, (before 2010 English Walsrode Bird Park) is a bird park located in the middle of the Lüneburg Heath in North Germany near Walsrode in the state of Lower Saxony in Germany.

Weltfogelpark Walsrode ligger vid Lȕneburger Heide i norra Tyskland och är världens största fågelpark både i fråga om antal arter och area. ( Jurong Bird Park i Singapore säger sig ha flest antal individer.) Parken är på 24 ha och har cirka 4.200 fåglar uppdelat på 675 arter från alla kontinenter och alla klimatzoner i världen. Förra året var det 50 år sedan fågelparken slog upp sina portar.

Man kan tycka vad man vill om ”djurparker” och själv tycker jag oftast inte…men den här parken har gott rykte och deltar i uppfödningsprogram för utsatta arter. Vi besökte Walsrodeparken för ca 30 år sedan och blev imponerade av vad vi såg. När nu en gammal vän – och fågelälskares – dröm kunde gå i uppfyllelse om hon fick komma dit, så såg vi till att hennes dröm blev sann.

Weltvogelpark Walsrode is the largest bird park in the world in terms of species as well as land area. ( Jurong Bird Park in Singapore claims they have the largest number individual birds) It covers 24 hectares (59 acres) and houses some 4,200 birds of over 675 species from every continent and climatic zone in the world. Last year the Weltvogelpark Walsrode celebrated its fiftieth anniversary.

You can be for or against these animal parks, and I don’t ususlly visit, but this park is renowned for its beauty and well kept birds and participates in several breeding programmes for vulnerable species. We visited about 30 years ago and were really impressed. An old friend of mine – and bird lover – had this dream of visiting Walsrode, so we took her there – helping her dream come true.

Fågelparken har ett stort antal både inomhus- och utomhusvoljärer och i parkens nyare delar har man strävat efter att dessa så mycket som möjligt ska efterlikna fåglarnas naturliga hemmiljö. De äldre områdena består mestadels av skog och ett parklandskap med stora rosen- och rhododendronrabatter.

The bird park comprises a large number of internal and external aviaries as well as outdoor enclosures. In the more recent constructed areas, the birds live in an environment modelled on their natural habitat with no artificial barriers both in a free flight aviary, as well as in numerous buildings, such as the Jungle Hall. The older areas though, mainly consist of spacious parkland and woods including large rose and rhododendron beds.

Click on any picture to enlarge and start the gallery.

Opportunities to really meet the birds

…this one came walking up to me…expecting something?

Humboldt penguin – standing up and sleeping!

Single-Wattled Cassowary (New Guinea)

Victoria Crowned Pidgeon (New Guinea)

The Jungle Hall

Träskonäbb Shoe- billed stork (Sudan)

Pelican

Flowers… everywhere!

Stora attraktioner är de friflygningsuppvisningar som ges två gånger om dagen i ett stort öppet område med gräsmattor, rosenrabatter och vattenorgel. Här får vi se falkar, örnar och ugglor, men också papegojor och den jättelika sydamerikanska kondoren visa sina färdigheter.

I parkens program finns också inprickat olika matningstillfällen då du får möta fåglarna riktigt nära.

One special attraction is the variety of flight demonstrations on an open-air stage where, Not only are falcons, eagles and owls are displayed as in other shows, but parrots, South American Condors and Indian Runner Ducks too.

The tree house and stage for the open air show

Slaguggla Ural owl

Krontranor Cranes

Parrots

Andean Condor (Andes, S Am)

Condor showing its magnificent wingspan – 3.2 metres

Eagle and a proud little girl!

Det finns även en mer humoristisk, men informativ, inomhusshow där du bland annat får se kakadua och Nya Zeeländska Kea i arbete. Mycket barnvänlig park överhuvudtaget.

Indoors there is a humorous, but very informative, show with among others a cockatoo and a New Zealand Kea. There are also various feeding demonstrations and young bird rearing station which is particularly interesting to children.

The many tree sculptures were greatly admired

Kea (New Zealand) Known for its demolishing of cars…

Sorting garbage!

Good food was served too…

i något mindre burar och voljärer huserar de mest fantastiska fåglar från de tropiska delarna av världen. färgstarka och ljudliga!

In smaller aviaries/cages we found the most fantastic birds from tropical areas of the world. Colourful and loud…

King Vulture (C and S Am)

Steller’s Sea Eagle (NE Asia)

Harpy Eagle (Americas)

Yellow naped Amazon

Toucan (S Am)

Noshornsfågel Great Hornbill (S East Asia)

Noshornsfågel Knobbed Hornbill

Breeding programme

Walsrode fågelpark har ett antal fågelarter som inte kan beskådas i någon annan zoologisk park i världen. Man är också först med att få vissa arter att föröka sig i fångenskap. Parken deltar i European Endangered Species Programme och har till exempel lyckats få berguv att återinplanteras i det vilda. Man deltar också i ett flertal program för att föda upp andra utrotningshotade arter, bland annat andfågeln Madagaskarkricka.

The bird park has a range of birds that cannot be seen in other zoos in the world, and was the first to successfully breed a number of species.

The bird park participates in the European Endangered Species Programme and has, for example, made eagle owls available for reintroduction in the wild. In addition it is also taking part in a breeding programme for the Bernier’s Teal and many other birds that are threatened by extinction.

Eagle Owl and his loving caretaker

History of the bird park

Parken grundades 1962 av en handelsman från Walsrode, Fritz Geschke, för privat uppfödning av fasaner och sjöfåglar. 1964 överläts parken till en svärson,Wolf W. Brehm, som snabbt expanderade parken under 1970-talet både till ytan och med bland annat friflygning, pingvinområde och mycket mer. År 2000 tillkom Djungelhallen med asiatiska skulpturer och fåglar från Asien. Därefter tillkom Eagle Owl Hill och Treehouse Village.

År 2000 tog nya ägare över efter problem med parkens finanser och fler friflygningsuppvisningar startade vilket ökade besökartalen och garanterade för parkens överlevnad. 2009 gick en belgisk firma in med mer pengar, Floralux.

År 2010 bytte parken namn till internationella Weltvogelpark Walsrode.

The park was founded in 1962 by the Walsrode businessman, Fritz Geschke, for breeding pheasants and water birds privately. In 1964 he transferred the park to his son-in-law, Wolf W. Brehm, who expanded it rapidly, especially during the 1970s. In 1968, the 2,100-square-metre (23,000 sq ft) was opened. Trend-setting facilities such as the free flight aviary, a penguin enclosure and many others followed.

In 2000, on the occasion of the Expo in Hanover, the Jungle Hall was opened with its Indonesian artefacts and Asiatic bird species. Later the Eagle Owl Hill and Treehouse Village were added.

Due to business difficulties the park was transferred in 2000 to new ownership. The new owners introduced more and more flight demonstrations which increased the number of visitors and ensured the survival of the park. Looming insolvency was averted in March 2009 by the intervention of the Belgian firm, Floralux.

In 2010 the new official international name of Walsrode Bird Park is changed to Weltvogelpark Walsrode. The park is well worth a visit, and for some more photos and facts about the park, click the links: