Science

Thursday Thoughts – Meeting The World’s Oldest Blogger

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Today I went to Health Sciences Centre, Lund, to attend the press invitation to the Gerontology Award of 2018.  My friend, Professor Susanne Iwarsson, introduced us to PhD students and their research in gerontology, and also to the award winning lady, Dagny Carlsson, aged 105.

Just imagine…she was born the same year Titanic went down…

Dagny is a witty and tough lady, who also is the world’s oldest blogger – or so we think… And her wit as well as her blogging are part of the reasons to why she won this prize. Dagny started blogging at the age of 99 – and today she has reached an almost iconic status in Sweden. Check out her blog here:

http://www.123minsida.se/Bojan/99578361

Only some of her achievements: On TV she has been a guest in at least ten shows, she was awarded ”Swede of the Week”, she was one of the Summer Talk guests on Radio P1 Sweden 2017, she was given a part in a movie last year and she has also written a book titled ”Life According to Dagny”. Two days ago she payed a visit to our King and Queen – and she said she liked them very much. Nothing strange with meeting them, Dagny smiles.

http://www.kristianstadsbladet.se/kristianstad/dagny-traffade-kungen-och-drottningen/

Dagny Carlsson was awarded also because she is an inspiration to us all. To elderly people she is the living evidence of a possible long and active life, as well as technology to be mastered even beyond the age of 100. Her experience from Swedish history through 105 years remains a valuable source from which we all can learn, and she continues to be a significant elderly person in Swedish culture.

I am proud to have met her. (Just a reminder…Dagny is the lady on the right side…)

Dagny, 103 years old, at the Skavlan show – but this spring she will turn 106!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday Thoughts

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I cannot stop thinking of the school shooting in Florida. I just – know, this Must be stopped. There must be and end to this. What are we doing to our young?

I don’t have any solutions – but someone Must have. Someone is payed to have. We all know that there is something very, very wrong with a society that creates these disasters. Many of our young suffer from mental problems. In Sweden you will find them in every school, in every class. Every week we can read about this in new scientific articles, hear about it on the radio and see it on TV. As a teacher – I know. And mental illness combined with guns or other weapons…cannot but lead to disasters.

In Sweden we have to have a license to buy and own a weapon. Our weapons are meant for hunting animals in the forest – moose, deer, pigs, birds and others. The weapon must be kept dismantled and in a safe. This law saves us from the worst disasters.

People can get shot over here as well – but so far we have avoided mass shootings.

My heart goes out to the victims and their families.

 

 

Thursday Thoughts – The Importance of Balance

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Magnificent Gran Canaria. Thinking of climate changes and how the tiniest changes in temperature will give massive domino effects. And already do. On everything living. There are examples all around you, if you just take the time to see them. Then imagine…

Just look at, for example, the importance of water – Some simple pictures from an ordinary vacation speak of what small changes in water supply can do to an arid island.

Just take away some water here…

…and this will be the result

Just add some water here…

…and this will be the result

Yes, they are simple examples – but things to consider if you find it difficult to see what is happening to our world. Nature is a Wonder of balance, and we must stop abusing her and disturbing the delicacy in which she is made. Which path do you want to follow – the ”fighting for a better world” or the simple ”adapting to whatever happens” one? Do we really have a choice? I think we have.

CPH jul och Gran Canaria 2017 1301-2

 

 

 

On a Dark and Rainy Day

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Where I live we got twice as much rain this autumn as usual. Everywhere the brooks, lakes and rivers are flooded. The farmers could not bring in their crops, and they have not been able to sow new ones. The farmland has been transformed into vast lakes. The ocean rises and takes down houses close to the water.

No sun. Only rain. And darkness. They say this is the way it will continue as climate changes increase. Nowadays spring arrives two – three weeks earlier than it did 50 years ago….so, migrating birds come too late to feed their young. I have seen it in my own garden. Our mountains will be covered in forests less than 100 years from now. For several years, the reindeer have had great trouble to reach their food through the icy snow. They starve through winter.

In Sweden, climate changes are here and now – there is no ”later”.

And still we are lucky here, up north. We will survive – many island peoples will not.

A Walk In the Cactus Garden

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In fact maybe the most astonishing one I have ever seen – and I visit in every country and every city I go…But this particular garden is very well thought through, which shows in its architecture and its natural environment. (It was a Swede that started it, Sventonius.)

So, the Canary Islands’ Botanical Garden, situated just west of Las Palmas, in Tafira Baja, is well worth a visit – and not just because of its cactus garden. Let us go, tomorrow!

 

Thursday Thoughts – We Must Make it Work!

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Every December I remember our month in New Zealand some years ago. Never have I been to a country where I found so much and so many to admire and love.

This is where our antipodes live, this is where I had one of my first penfriends, this is the country whose nature I believe to be the most diverse and beautiful in the world. And this is where Rainbow Warrior went down, sending many people around the world into an unbelievable state of shock.

We are constantly reminded of how much we contaminate our world, and the focus here in Swedish media, right now,  is the sea, the oceans.

Just like in Wellington, we can still bathe, swim and fish in Stockholm – but for how long?

I am a member of many organizations trying their best to help preserving our planet for generations to come. But right now, we receive news every day about all the plastic and micro plastic in the oceans – a terrible threat to all organisms-

So, I think again, with my heart wide open, about how much I respect and love NZ, its people and its genuine efforts to help the world stay healthy. Down to every detail… for example the artwork made for making us humans see and do the right things.

And these are only two, small,  brilliant examples out of many, many…we saw new examples every day.

Hopefully it is not too late for the world – but You, and all of us, have to do our bit, our part, every day – to save our enigmatic and fantastic planet. Start with the little things…don’t use plastic bags, bring your own when you go shopping. Don’t throw old medicine in the toilet, in Sweden we leave them at the pharmacy for destruction.

Can you say you try to do everything you can to help? I know I try – but I also know I can do so much more.

A Classy Glass Tour – Kosta Boda Art Hotel

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How about waking up in the middle of an art exhibition…This text meets you in the suite’s book about Kosta Boda Art Hotel. So, let us go!

Along the corridors and in the lounge, the wall art is astonishingly beautiful. The magnificent lamp and the interior of the reception lounge is designed by Bertil Wallien.

The violin and the lady walking along the road with baobab trees is artwork made by Kjell Engman.

Just keep on walking – you are surrounded by exquisite artwork – and you are allowed to buy most of them…

This piece shows you a different face from every direction, walk around it and marvel at the skills with which it was made!

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Our restaurant, Linnea, and the stairway down to the spa area.

Some of my favorites…

Thank you for walking with me tonight – tomorrow, let us cool down in the brasserie and the otherworldly, blue glass bar – the only one of its kind in the world.

 

Fire and Sand

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Tonight I learned that the special light today – the sun never came through and it had a strange orange shine – originated from the effects of the fires in Spain/Portugal, like sand from Northern Africa.

I had brought my camera, heading for the forest, for some last shots of the autumn leaves – but the morning resulted in these shots of the unusual phenomenon. Not very clear or bright, but you can even see orange glittering water!

 

Fresh Air and Art – The Modern Łódź Fabryczna

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Vivi entered the B&W Challenge in my recent post…and if you look closely, you can see she is very impressed by this new railway station – and so was I – exploring it for more than an hour. Originally it was meant for high-speed-trains, but due to the latest estimated cost of 10 billion Euro, the high-speed line was put on hold.

Anyway, air and space, light and art – you cannot but feel good here!

Łódź Fabryczna is the largest and most modern railway station in the city. According to Wikipedia, it was originally constructed in the centre of Łódź, at the initiative of industrialist Karol Scheibler in 1865.

Art exhibition in two levels!

The old station was closed on October 16, 2011, and in June 2012 it was demolished to make way for the building of a new station below ground level. It reopened on 11 December 2016.

Today, we also noticed that our Swedish company, SKANSKA, is working the construction site nearby. What they are building? I have no answer to that.