Happy Anniversary to Leya!

9 januari, 201410 januari, 2014 / Leya / 52 kommentarer

Happy Anniversary with WordPress.com!

Today I got this celebration badge sent to me because it is exactly 3 years since I registered on WordPress.com. I didn’t know it was today, but I knew it was about 3 years…

Three interesting, adventurous, exciting years that have brought me new, valuable knowledge and many friends all over the world! (There are things good with the Internet…) So much I have learned from you, so much fun and so many useful things! Hopefully we will have many more discussions, reflections, likes (and dislikes…) to share. And, bits and pieces of our lives will fit together in this great Big Puzzle. Intriguing!

To celebrate this – my way – I have created another blog, because…well, I will put the link under my photo blog faialflores,( created last year, right column) but for now…you can find my New blog Here. What it’s about? Be my guest, click and find out!

Ese’s Weekly Shoot & Quote Challenge: Music

5 januari, 2014 / Leya / 24 kommentarer

Music is an important part of our lives – and Music is also Ese’s challenge this week. Young people today have music plugged in their ears all day it seems…which would be a bit too much for me… I love silence.

I do love silence, but I also love almost all kinds of music, from bird song to heavy metal. I have a sweet tooth for music coming up spontaneously among people, for big voices like Freddie Mercury’s and tenors as Andrea Bocelli’s, for clear and soaring ones like Mireille Mathieu’s and Sara Brightman’s – and also for odd instruments.

Music is everybody’s possession. It’s only publishers who think that people own it.

John Lennon

London – and it Is really good…

Madrid market – skilled!

Folk songs by spontaneous folk singers

Madrid market – happy!

Daughter waiting for her part in the concert

Covent garden – opera marvellously sung in a white tee and blue jeans

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Free and Easy

1 januari, 20141 januari, 2014 / Leya / 30 kommentarer

Den här dagen är nog en av de mera lyckliga och sköna i livet. Du har gått din sista dag i skolan – nu är du helt fri och framtiden är ett oskrivet blad. Du bestämmer själv vart du vill gå och om du vill jobba eller plugga eller kanske resa och se världen. Även om framtiden är osäker så är känslan den här dagen obetalbar – du är fri! Jag minns fortfarande när jag själv sprang ut på gården viftande med den vita mössan – världen låg öppen!

This day – I think belongs to the happiest free-and easy-days in your life. The last day in school, the world is an open book with unwritten pages and you are free to do whatever you want. You feel grown up and from now on you make your own decisions about what steps to take from here. I can still remember my day…there is no comparison to that feeling. Even if the future seems uncertain, this day is totally – your own!

Ese’s Shoot & Quote Challenge: Continuous

29 december, 201329 december, 2013 / Leya / 13 kommentarer

The self is not something ready-made, but something in continuous formation through choice of action.

John Dewey

For more of continuous – click here.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Joy

28 december, 201328 december, 2013 / Leya / 21 kommentarer

Last summer was – I think the most lovely summer I have ever experienced in Sweden. Warm, dry, sunny – soft water and light nights without stars. We stayed several weekends in late autumn in our summer house. which never happens ordinary summers. This September day I was walking the dogs, heading towards the small fishing village nearby. On the bridge I met this smiling, happy couple, standing there, admiring the beauty of nature, before going to the church. They were filled with joy that day, and in that moment. I just had to ask for a photo – and of course they said yes (!) with all that light shining from within! So proud of each other and so much in love…

For even more joyous pictures, – click here!

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Kind and Caring

25 december, 2013 / Leya / 13 kommentarer

Kind and Caring – here are some lovely friends of mine! Visit Cee for even more kindness and caring!

Walsrode

Copenhagen – human rights

Spain

Totti’s first pups

My very good friend and collegue in his orchid house (built by himself)

Game keeper

Ese’s Weekly Shoot & Quote Challenge: Happiness

22 december, 201322 december, 2013 / Leya / 17 kommentarer

Happiness can be many things – why not to have a happy, newly married young man, rummaging with his friends in my kitchen, baking bread by candle light, wearing a funny apron? I guess Ese has many other solutions at her place!

Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.

Dalai Lama

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Alone

10 december, 201310 december, 2013 / Leya / 18 kommentarer

Alone is for me never a synonym to being lonely. A young man who goes away to sit alone and reflect upon his choice – during the days of introduction to a new school – and a beautiful rowan tree standing alone on the beach of a distant island. Both are beautiful in their wise thinking, contemplating their experiences.

Två veckor – Two weeks

9 december, 20139 december, 2013 / Leya / 11 kommentarer

Om två veckor är det julafton. Det snöade äntligen igår och jag såg barnen dra sina slädar mot backen. En timme senare skulle jag handla mera mjöl och jäst till julbaket. Barnen kom långsamt gående tillbaka i regnet med de gröna slädarna släpande.

Christmas will soon be upon us and yesterday – it was finally snowing! Children took their sledges and walked happily to the little hill by the forest. One hour later I went to our local store to buy some more flour for the Christmas buns. The children were slowly walking back, dragging their green sledges in the rain.

Ese’s Weekly Shoot & Quote Challenge: Memories

8 december, 20138 december, 2013 / Leya / 30 kommentarer

Memories, well, some say you should forget the past and only live for the future. I do not think that is a wise way of thinking. I think we all need memories to be able to live for the future. I simply had to use two quotes to make this work:

Take care of all your memories. For you cannot relive them.

Bob Dylan

A mother’s happiness is like a beacon, lighting up the future but reflected also on the past in the guise of fond memories.

Honoré de Balzac

My children when they were small. The happiest days in my life.

Occasionally I stumble upon a student who loves books and reading…and who even stays behind in the classroom when the lesson is over!

Mille came back to life again…his severe illness almost cost him his life. This photo is from April 2012, when he was home again after a stay in hospital. He had lost at least half his weight.

A happy moment when I believed we had saved this magnificent bird. We found him exhausted under a tree and took him to a wildlife specialist. Unfortunately he couldn’t be saved in the end.