Tuesday Photo Challenge – Ancient

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Ancient

Frank challenges us with things ancient – and Amber is fossilized tree resin, which has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Much valued from antiquity to the present as a gemstone, amber is made into a variety of decorative objects, like these necklaces. Amber is used in jewelry since the Stone Age. It has also been used as a healing agent in folk medicine

In Poland you can easily find several shops in every city selling beautiful works of this art.

 

 

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Vista

Dear Frank, of My most breathtaking vista, I have no photographs. Machu Pichu was a childhood dream, and I went to Peru in the 1980’s to see it. No camera. When we finally reached the top of the mountain, the Urubamba river down below and the surrounding rainforest oozing thin dew drops along the mountain side…I could hardly breathe. For me, Nothing beats that vista.

So, I will have to give you another one. The Great Wall, the first time I saw it and walked it. Early morning light. Not a sound. That special feeling maybe fades a bit every time you visit, but it is still an impressive sight the fifth time you visit.

Many years later, we traveled on the highest elevated railway in the world – built on permafrost – from Beijing to Lhasa. The plateau on which Lhasa and Tibet is situated, offers stunning vistas every time you look out the window. They have to use extra oxygen in the train because of the height, but feeling ”high” on this journey had nothing to do with the extra oxygen…

These photos are all taken with a simple point and shoot – but highly treasured by me.

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Night

For Frank this week – Nights in Copenhagen and Madrid. Miss them…The header from Madrid is one of my absolute favorite night shots. Maybe because of the lovely memories with my students there, the Flamenco dancers in Villa Rosa, and the glass of fruity red wine while watching the electric flamenco.

 

Tuesday Challenge – Wheel

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Wheel

For this week’s challenge from Frank, a beauty from Bhutan turning the prayer wheel.

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Technology

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Technology

For Frank and Tuesday –

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Connections

Frank goes for Connections this week, and I have a story. Last week I went to The Netherlands for the grand flower festival and the parade – but also to reconnect with a man I met almost exactly 30 years ago when hiking the King’s Trail from Abisko, Sweden.

We have not seen each other for all those years, but we have kept contact by writing letters. A great deal of ones life ”happens” somewhere between 30 and 60. But, we recognized each other immediately. He was still shy, and so tall and thin, though his big bush of hair had turned greyer and a bit less bushy. Like mine.

We spent some hours walking, talking, eating good food and remembering those happy, hiking days in the mountains. 1989. I walked with my dog and he walked alone. I was very impressed by him being a professor in theoretical mathematics and he was impressed by me hiking alone, heavily packed and only accompanied by a big dog.

Where did all those years go? We still connect…Wim and I, and it was not easy to say goodbye again. Life is a strange thing, but so are connections. Just how do they work? What makes us connect, never forget, and still ”know” one another after so many years? Wonderful.

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Roll

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Roll

Five (!) very different rolls…and I know I have used the photo of the two rainbow girls several times before – but they are so sweet and summery!

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Rock

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Rock

Who does not love the Moeraki boulders, NZ? For Dutch Goes the Photo this week.

 

Tuesday Photo Challenge – (A Spring) Wonder

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Wonder

Common Hazel bud breaking out – a Spring wonder!

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Sunrise

Sunrise is the challenge of the week – and indeed…it was a challenge! I do not have many sunrises on photo. But, some years ago we went to Lake Hornborgasjön where thousands ans thousands of cranes gather every spring on returning to Sweden form southern countries. That spring, that special day, more than 16 000 cranes flew in during the early morning hours – and we were there by 4 o-clock to see them (and hear them…) coming…

It was spectacular, and something dreamed of for many years.

The last photo is from the first time we visited our daughter in Umeå – the rising sun touching the church spire, overlooking this very cold morning city.