Autumn Dew

I’s raining. Not much sun these days, so when it doesn’t rain – we go out. Totti is not much of a man for wet weather…open the door, he sticks his pretty little nose out, turns around and snuggles up in his bed. ”I can wait…”

Whe we do go out, the air is dewy soft and trees and grasses are all in pearls. In the forest, there is a dim light between the trees.

In the open, there are many different spiders and many different webs – depending on where they live and what they want to catch.

Maybe the wheel spiders are the ones we love the best – or at least those are the ones we firs recognize.

Everywhere on everything growing, you will find them. Pearls, necklaces, ethereal. When the sun shines through, they are almost lost to the eye…

…especially in the grass on the ground. But now – they are visible, beautifully intricate. And many!

From a different angle we can see how thickly woven and how close (3-4 cm ) to the ground. It must be quite impossible for a moth or a fly to get detangled from this…

On our way back, the sun finally came out and the misty dew lifted – no more spider’s web to be seen! Instead the few autumn colours shone – the spindle-tree being one of my favourites.

And back home again – my last garden flowers this year. Glorious in the sun.

A sunny walk through Gdansk

Last weekend we spent in Gdansk, Poland. We went by ferry from Karlskrona to Gdynia, and then by taxi and train to and from Gdansk and Sopot. I had a gloomy vision of Poland since my school days – coal, polluted, misty, drab…and no one could convince me of anything else. I had to see it with my own eyes….And, I was met by lovely people (not that good English speakers, but there are hands, feet, body and face to use!), a wonderfully restored city and a glorious resort in Sopot.

Early morning mist and we woke up to this wiew of the harbour. Looking out through the window, the big cranes were sailing by…

….behind the containers, the city itself was rising from the morning mist.

The King walked this way when he had received the key to the city.  Dluga – or the Long Street. It is difficult to understand how all these magnificent buildings all were rebuilt from the disasters of WWII.

Passing the Town Hall, which is the highest building in the city – 81 metres – we reached the fountain of Neptune. But first, let’s take a closer look at some of the architecture.

Oh, the doors and their ornaments…

…and all the old and new signs and lamp posts, intricately woven in iron.

Many old ladies were selling their home made knittings – among many other things…in the street.

And the colours were amazing – on houses and people and clothes and …

…balloons!

This fountain, built in 1549, was so popular with the citizens that they took it down piece by piece to hide it during the war. Not until 1954 was it put together again!

And now, the mighty Neptune himself guided us to…

…the Waterfront. Restaurants, cafés and people, people. More from the beauty, the people and the ships on the Waterfront in the next post!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Signs

And here is a second entry for Signs...because something is wrong and the rest of my photos could not be shown in the post – only in my post before hitting ”Publish”?

Who’s the owner?

What happened to the water?

On a church in Perth…

New Zealand – the land of signs!

A special vote for this one from Scotland – emitting warmth and care and love!

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: The Color Yellow

The Color Yellow for Cee – only one photo in my mind! This is in April this year, when I was driving home and suddenly the sun shot through the clouds, revealing the menacing storm clouds in the east. I stopped the car and used my phone.

 

The last dragonfly

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.

Weekly Travel Theme: Inviting

Few things feel as inviting to me as this old veranda, these delicate flowers and the two open doors…And this place is no more. Maybe that is why.

Få ställen känner jag som så inbjudande som denna veranda, den skira blomsterprakten och de öppna dörrarna. Och allt detta finns inte mer. Blommorna är borta och så är verandan. Kanske därför känns det så.

 

WordPress Photo Challenge: Night time

Night time from WordPress – strikes me as maybe my favourite time in urban areas. Mild air, not that many people, no rush…

Transporting? When I started choosing photos I saw they were about walkers, railroads, boats and cars. But they are all standing still, not moving, frozen. No adrenal ferocity. I can feel the smoothness in the air – not a wind. I hope you can feel it too.

Natt – kanske den skönaste tiden i storstäder. Ljumt i luften, inte den där dagliga stressen där blodet pumpar och adrenalitet stiger. När jag ser på de bilder jag valt, ser jag transport, men rörelse i stillastående. Fotgängare, tåg och räls, båtar och bilar. Alla står de stilla i den sammetsmjuka natten – inte en vind. Hoppas du också kan känna det.

 

For more strangers in the night…click here.