This week, Tina is our host, and she challenges us to show an interpretation of SOFT.

” Is it something as simple as a puppy’s fur, or as personal as your favorite quilt or sweater? Maybe it’s the soft light of dawn or the whisper of a soft breeze through the trees. Let us know in your response what SOFT means to you.”

Tina’s beautiful series of animals leaves us with a soft whisper from nature – and she inspired me to contribute with some softness from northern Sweden and Norway, where I spent some days last week.

In the header, a lovely little bridge by the road in Lofoten. I stopped to take a photo, but, as I was parking the car, the fog had smoothly settled between the mountains – and totally changed the scenery. Now the landscape was swept in a soft, cool blanket, and my photo created a totally different, but maybe more interesting feeling.

The other shots are from Lapland, Sweden, where we were welcomed back by the softest carpet of white cotton-grass and common cotton-grass.

In Northern Europe, for hundreds of years cotton-grass was used as a substitute in the production of paper,  candle-wicks, and wound-dressings. And used as filling, they made the softest of pillows.

Do you have cotton-grass in your country as well? Do you know what it was used for in the old days – or maybe still is?

For more information on how to participate in the Lens-Artists photo challenge, click here. And – be sure to tune in for Patti’s challenge next week on Pilotfish!