Horses

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: My Favourite Things, Verse Two

/ Leya / 31 kommentarer

For Cee – sleighbells and wild geese are some of my favourite things.

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple streudels, Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles, Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings, These are a few of my favorite things.

 

Grandfather’s horses used these bells. Sleigh bells? I love the sound and the worn leather. We’re fortunate enough to have kept them, even if we don’t use them. I knew they were down in the cellar, and I found them in grandmother’s old rocking chair.

 

Wild geese and cranes early in the morning at Hornborgasjön.

 

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The last dragonfly

/ Leya / 23 kommentarer

Soon the colours will be here… but I’m sending you some late summer pictures from last weekend. I just have to.

We went back to our summer house for two days  to visit an old friend. He now had to sell his house because he is too old and weak to keep it up.  No relatives at all to take care of it – or him. This kind man has been here, walking our grounds, and often offering ice creams and his selfmade cakes, ever since I first came here in 1975. He’s seen our children grow up and he’s been more or less an institution here. No summer without Torsten.

This summer he did not show up. We had seen it coming, but no one wants a summer to be the very last one. His sister, Elisabeth, who is old and fragile too, told us he couldn’t manage visitors…he was too ill to leave his bed. We offered him a car ride to come out to us, but no.

And I walked where he used to walk, and I saw the lonely houses and the last, fragile flowers.

I walked by the sea and went to see my other old friends…the dogs and the horses…

Through the woods back home again…in thoughts.

…and then the dragonflies came. We watched them together, Totti and me.

Crouching, keeping their slender bodies close to the warm stones,  catching the last warming rays of the setting sun. And their wings shone like golden gems.

 

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When the thin rays no longer could reach us, we passed the gate to go down to the shore, Totti and I. He knows me so well. And I’m so grateful to have known you, Torsten.

A Goodbye to Summer

/ Leya / 37 kommentarer

The last visit this year to our summer place…meant some thinking and some walking and some …just being. A long goodbye  in pictures – a last day of summer beauty – sunny and warm. You are welcome to accompany me on this farewell walk yesterday, from daybreak to a cavalcade of sunset!

 

 

 

 

 

Cee’s fun foto Challenge: Metal or the Season of Autumn

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This week Cee is asking us for something metal or from the season of autumn – my choice is The Kelpies in Falkirk, Scotland.  Impressive metal sculptures that took my breath away this July.

The Kelpies, made by sculptor Andy Scott, stand 30 metres tall in the 350 hectares Helix recreational space in Falkirk. They are the world’s largest equine sculptures and towering over the Forth & Clyde Canal they form a gateway to the canal entrance. These sculptures are meant to pay tribute to central Scotland’s working horse heritage on the canals from years gone by. Read more about them in my post  here.

For more entries, click here.

 

And, thank you Cee for featuring my entry on Harvest last week!

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Summer Lovin’

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When we go to our summer house, this is the view just before we turn the last corner…we call it ”Hästviken”,. This is truly summer to me. And now, soon, this view means the final piece of summer when we say goodbye and leave for home.

Find some more summer lovin’ here.

The Falkirk Wheel and The Kelpies – Masterpieces

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The Falkirk Wheel

Let us start with my last day in Scotland for this time. Our flight home was moved to the afternoon, so, we went west from Edinburgh to visit The Falkirk Wheel, which is the world’s first rotating boatlift. The lift links the Forth & Clyde Canal with the Union Canal, connecting Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Detta hjul är den första roterande båtliften i världen och ingår i Skottlands ambitiösa kanalprogram. Union and the Forth och Clyde är nu en oavbruten länk mellan Glasgow och Edinburgh. Hjulet svingar båtarna mellan de två vattenvägarna!

If you want to try the wheel you can take a trip on these boats. Unfortunately they were not available when we visited. Vanillarock  shows great shots of the wheel at work here!

Om du ville pröva hjulet fanns möjligheten med dessa turistbåtar. De hade ännu inte öppnat när vi var där. Vanillarock visar den i arbete här!

The Kelpies

More fantastic engineering – or rather spectacular, beautiful art – are The Kelpies by sculptor Andy Scott. ”The original concept of mythical water horses was a valid starting point for the artistic development of the structures.“”I took that concept and moved with it towards a more equine and contemporary response, shifting from any mythological references towards a socio-historical monument intended to celebrate the horse’s role in industry and agriculture as well as the obvious association with the canals as tow horses.”

Som en tribut till de hästar som troget arbetat för människan, bland annat vid kanalerna, står dessa 30 meter höga jättar vid varsin sida av the Forth & Clyde Canal och bildar en portal till dess ingång.

The Kelpies stand 30 metres tall in the 350 hectares Helix recreational space in Falkirk. They are the world’s largest equine sculptures and towering over the Forth & Clyde Canal they form a gateway to the canal entrance. These sculptures are meant to pay tribute to central Scotland’s working horse heritage on the canals from years gone by.

Hästarna är konstruerade av skulptören Andy Scott. Skulpturerna påbörjades i juni 2013 och stod klara i oktober samma år. Invigningen var dock i april 2014. De är världens största hästskulpturer.

Built of structural steel with a stainless steel cladding, The Kelpies weigh 300 tonnes each.

Vi uppskattade stålplåtens tjocklek till ca en halv centimeter – och hästarna väger imponerande 300 ton vardera.

Construction began in June 2013, and was complete by October 2013.  The Kelpies are positioned either side of a specially constructed lock and basin, part of the redeveloped Kelpies Hub.

Please click the photos to enlarge!

Läs mer om arbetshästarnas historia här. Read more of the working horses history here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: The Color White

/ Leya / 46 kommentarer

Cee’s challenge is to find the colour White. Click for more entries!

I have chosen three different whites – A ceiling in the beautiful home of a friend of mine, a delicate flower from the Pyreneés and a lovely horse from Jämtland ( photo taken this weekend).

 

Travel theme: Costume

/ Leya / 8 kommentarer

Jag älskar att titta på välgjorda klädedräkter och välregisserade skådespel. Veckans utmaning handlar om detta – Costume. I Scarborough med omnejd levde och slogs vikingarna under långa tider, kanske främst på 800- och 900-talet, för att slutligen kämpas tillbaka och få återvända till Danmark. Än idag utkämpas strider för att visa hur det gick till när England befriade sig från nordmännen.

So, Ailsa’s travel theme about costumes brought me back to the wonderful trip to Scarborough last year, and the old Viking fights there. The fighters and their women and children were all very well dressed – according to what we know about the Viking era, around 800-900, and the fightings are rather realistic and well performed. In the end the real Vikings were of course fought down by the Anglo Saxons and had to return to their countries up north, mainly Denmark, but there are still many Viking memories on the east coast of England.

Scarborough 8 060Even the small children were dressed up and liked to participate in the adventure.

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