Hello Kitty

I have seen this woman walk by the cafe a few times this Summer. If I would have to guess I would say that she has a small collection of Hello Kitty handbags.

Midsummer

It was a very quiet affair this year. Just me and my brother. It rained off and on during the day. We ate a traditional Midsummer dinner and this was on the table. Didn't feel like celebrating with our mother on palliative care at Malmgården.

North American Native Indian Motive

Airbrushed truck, artwork made by Terho Niskanen. Spotted the truck parked at Bragevägen in Handen a while back.

Wrapped bales

Feels a bit early for the hay harvest in mid-June, but it has been a strange year weatherwise, so why not. As seen near the old tree a week ago now.

How we roll

As you probably know by now I have to stop and take a few photos of passing traffic every time I bike over the pedestrian bridge that crosses the ever busy Gudöbroleden in Handen.

Crossfit For Beginners

Several of the local gyms in Haninge have realised that it could be nice to workout outdoors in the fine Summer weather. I heard this group laugh and chat away as I made my way through the Eskilsparken the other day so I stopped for a photo.

Park Animals

I visited the official unveiling of a new sculpture group, Parkdjur,(Park Animals), at Åbyparken in Västerhaninge yesterday afternoon. It is one of the oldest parks here, it dates back to the 1950s when most of the land here was just a big forest. Fifteen sculptures can be seen and admired in the park, and they are all very good. Made by Anna Lindgren and Sofia Lagerkvist from the design group Front. They wanted the park to be filled once again by the animals that could be seen here before the park was built. The design group wants people to stop and relax in the park, instead of just walking through it. They hope that kids that sees the sculptures will want to stop there and play. If you are having problems seeing the photos in the slideshow press here to open the album at Flickr, it is well worth watching.

Break the honour-shame culture

By Ingwar Åhman-Eklund. Part of the 2018 Art promenade at the arte gallery in Österhaninge, Galleri Kyrkskolan.

She's got one in the oven

A candid snap from earlier in the week. I was sitting at a table at my favorite cafe, Malmens konditori in Handen, chatting away with the usual suspects while taking photos of passers-by.

Annika Alm

While sipping coffee with my buddy Hasse at the art gallery in Österhaninge, Galleri Kyrkskolan, over the weekend, the artist and sculptor Annika Alm were busy at the next table finishing her latest work of art. An African elephant. She has always been fascinated with the people, the wild animals and the landscape of eastern Africa. The last photo shows the sculpture "Nyfiken Pojke" "Curious Boy" that Annika made for this years art promenade at the gallery.

Cobra

They drove past me in a roundabout in Handen yesterday and I noticed that they were heading for a nearby filling station, so I followed them there. It was father and son out driving in the homebuilt Cobra. There had been a few issues with the car so they hadn't been able to go to more than a couple of Cobra meets. But the car sounded great they drove off, and everyone that heard the car looked kinda impressed.

Det stora oväsendet

I visited the festival in the park in Handen on Saturday. Kulturparksfestivalen. Three stages with different types of music. These photos are from a concert with a band called Det stora oväsendet. They played at the Handen Museum. The band name would translate to The big noise. The members all have a long history in the Swedish music scene that goes back to the 1970s and the very political music from that era. One band was called Gudibrallan, God in your pants. Mikael Katzeff played in that band. They started playing together back in 1968. They had one big hit and the band played that song twice during this concert. They were anarchists that used a lot of humour in their music. The violinist and singer here, Ove Wahlqvist wrote a novel called Murder at the music cafe back in the 1970s. Lennart Fröderberg, the bass player cured himself from malignant melanoma. His idea is that cancer comes from Candida albicans and that you should let the cancer heal itself. Samuel Trygger is a poet, computer programmer and a rock musician. Patrik Strömdahl is an award winning sound technician. So between them they have several centuries of musical experience and it was fun to listen to them.

Maria Skaring

Met the artist Maria Skaring at the art gallery, Galleri Kyrkskolan in Österhaninge yesterday. She showed me some of her metal rod art, also known as "luffarkonst". Luffare was the old Swedish name for a hobo, or a vagabond. And this is an art form that was started by vagabonds back in the day. Maria asked me if I was interested in buying a piece. I had a look at her work and told her that I might buy a piece if it featured a bicycle or perhaps a camera, and she promised to create something like that, so I guess I will have to buy that piece on my next visit! But then again I promised Maria to email her the photos of her work, and the portraits I took of her, both inside the gallery, and outside, in the garden, for free. And I also explained a few things about photography, so that she will be able to shoot decent portraits and macro images of flowers with her Nikon. So given all that, maybe she should give me that sculpture as a thank you next time we meet!

Harley-Davidson

There was a big bike meet at Tyresö castle yesterday. It's within bicycle distance for me, so I was thinking about going, but in the end I decided to check out a local festival instead, but I also figured that I could probably get one or two motorcycle photos from the pedestrian bridge that crosses the Gudöbroleden, that some of the bikers would have to pass and this was one photo I took.

School's out forever

Swedish word of the day. Studentexamen. The Fredrika Bremer secondary school students in Handen were in celebratory mood yesterday afternoon. If you wanted to ride on a truck you had to pay 800 SEK. One kid fell off a little later in the day. Police were called and one woman had heart problems. There were too many kids on one truck, and one woman passed out, lots of rumours on social media but I hope everyone is okay.