Cee asks us to smile this week – Here’s one from me, last summer when I finally got away from the heat and drought in Skåne and reached the sweet, fresh air of Norrland and Lofoten. The best smile that year…
And the sweetie in the header, from Jokkmokk’s Market in Lappland, Sweden.
You can never get too many smiles in your life!
For Paula, at Lost in Translation, I am always lovingly waiting! And gratefully learning something new from every Pick a Word.
Cerulian in the header
Palatial
Comic
Spurting
Radiating
Paula, at Lost in Translation, asks us again to find traces of the past.
In Lofoten this summer, we experienced what is said to be the oldest and most authentic fishing village (fiskevær) there is – Nusfjord.
Dating back to the 19th century…
the village is still alive with rorbuer and everything.
We spent some hours there just walking – enjoying the past – and the present.
We had our lunch overlooking the charming harbour. Contemplating the difference between our own comparatively easy lives and the every day struggle where the family’s breadwinner might be lost to the sea any day.
Lonely houses have always fascinated me, but maybe you too have noticed, that some people have a downright obsession with them…?
A lonely house can have a very picturesque location…
– maybe not that easily accessible…
And, at a closer look, you might find it is only an old boat shed…
…or maybe a lonely barn. On the other hand – I could live in one of those as well.
Some newer loners enjoy spectacular seascape views…
…while others stand dilapidated, slowly falling apart.
And then, there are the abandoned houses just looking – eerie…
…while others, at the end of the road, see new guests arriving every year.
Where do you stand in this? Do you believe they are lonely, desolate, forlorn, solitary – or what word would you use? Is a house ”alive” in some ways? Could they hide/have memories? Do you ask yourself questions like: I wonder who once lived here? And, what did their lives look like? Why did they leave?
Are you constantly photographing them…or would never dream of doing it?
I find them enigmatic.
According to Wikipedia, Beauty is ”a characteristic of an animal, idea, object, person or place that provides a perceptual experience of pleasure or satisfaction.”
The experience of ”beauty” is also connected to being in balance and harmony with nature, which may lead to feelings of attraction and emotional well-being.
Philosopher and novelist Umberto Eco wrote On Beauty: A history of a Western idea (2004) and On Ugliness (2007). A character in his novel The Name of the Rose declares: ”three things concur in creating beauty: first of all integrity or perfection, and for this reason we consider ugly all incomplete things; then proper proportion or consonance; and finally clarity and light”, before going on to say ”the sight of the beautiful implies peace”. (Wikipedia)
The best part of beauty is that which no picture can express
Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
Margaret Wolfe Hungerford
(The first person to use it in the form we know today.)
It is unknown exactly where or how this idiom originated but it has been used in different forms since 3rd century BC when it first appeared in Greek.
Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it
The soul that sees beauty may sometimes walk alone
Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not
Road nr.10 ends in Å on the southernmost part of Lofoten. An old fishing village with rorbuer and – fish.
And charm…
Many galleries, and flowers in the small gardens.
We had a great view from our hostel Salteriet.
Down the road we felt almost Chinese… I half expected an artist standing there, painting.
When we left in the early morning, the whole landscape felt dreamy and unreal.
Almost supernatural.
But that is what Lofoten does to people…
It takes a whole day to drive down from Narvik to Å, 380 kilometres, and you have to stop several times just to walk out in all that beauty…
Not far from Svolvær, we reached Kabelvåg, and stopped to admire the grand Lofoten Cathedral (1898) – all in wood – that takes impressive 1200 visitors. Very beautifully built, but in need of restoration and painting now.
Lofotr Viking Museum in Borg is the place where the grandest house ever from the Viking Era was found, and a copy of it was built in natural size.
As the roads grew more narrow and winding, the sun went behind the clouds and was mostly veiled in the soft fog. This, of course, sometimes made the landscape even more interesting.
Looking behind us, the clear skies were still there though.
Winding roads among the small islands, and
grass clad roofs everywhere. A landscape reminding of a Tolkien story.
Finally, after being mistaken several times – we reached Å, where we were going to spend the night. Meet more of Å in the next post!
Leya 
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