Bike Shadow

A photo from one year ago. I was out on a beautiful summer evening bike ride. Through rural Österhaninge. I remember listening to Coldplay at the time. Funny thing is, I took the same ride today. But this time I listened to the birds, that is no mp3 player this time. I made a short video of this ride. And found some free music to add to the video. May not be very exciting to watch but it was my first bike video. Had to be careful! Will put a link here later when I have uploaded the video.

A European Garden Spider

A European Garden Spider (Araneus diadematus) or Korsspindel in the center of it's web at Blomorado in Tungelsta. Another warm and sunny day here. I thought about hitting the beach but in the end I decided to stay home. Went down to the greenhouses with a camera and found this "little" spider.

Boats at the pier

A small pier in Haninge called Söderby Brygga. This is the Baltic Sea. Some 20 years ago the Swedish navy were trying to bomb some submarines in the bay here, Hårsfjärden. They say that they never found anything, and many people believe they were actually chasing seals! However, the military people that I talked with (who was there at the time), claimed that it was Russian subs and that they had them cornered when the government stepped in and decided to let the subs sneak out from swedish water. These days there isnt much going on here.

Hanging out at the life buoy

Posting a photo from the bird park in Handen. A place that I often visit. Only minutes away from the main road and the big shopping mall, you will find Slätmossen. A great place if you wanna relax for a few minutes. Take a walk through the park and then relax on one of the many benches along the pond and watch the birds.

Yellow Ladybug :)

I was shooting a few photos of this butterfly on a field in Stav outside Tungelsta,( it's a aphantopus hyperantus). When I came back home and opened the photo in Picasa I noticed the ladybug, hence the title! We are having a great summer in Sweden this year. So I'm often out walking with my camera, in macro mode.

Waxholm II

Waxholm II ready to depart from Årsta Brygga in Haninge. Next stop the island of Utö. There is a small beach here as you can see, but all the sunbathers are at Årsta Havsbad which is a 400
meters to the right from here. I came here after some sunbathing over at the beach. Follow the link below for a short video www.vimeo.com/clip:91564

. Press here for more info in english about Utö.

Look what I found!

Wild Strawberries. Only 10 meters from my door. We call them Smultron. And Blueberries. Had to walk around 20 meters from my back door to find these. We call them Blåbär.

Sweden

A little cottage (torp) at Nedersta in Haninge. Next to the 700 year old farm Nödesta. There's a gravel road here so it's mostly locals and a few bicyclists that use the road, not counting joggers and walkers of course. The road goes between Tungelsta and Västerhaninge.

Here's a look how this house will look in October.

That Old Tree (With Paraglider and video!)

A nice shadow of me shooting this weeks version of That Old Tree at Välsta. This time with an added para-glider. I made a video. You can see the vimeo here.

At the Flea Market

Once a month there's a flea market here at Karlsrovägen 21 in Tungelsta. It's open for four hours. I got there at noon so the best stuff was gone.


I didnt have my wallet on me, but I found a 5 SEK coin in a pocket and that was enough for these two items. A wooden bird for my mother and a letter knife.

Girl at the strawberry stand

Do you really have to take my picture? Yes. The strawberries cost me 20 SEK. Ate them with chocolate cake and cream. Bought some berries here before. But not from the same girl. In the background you see the bike path between Västerhaninge and Tungelsta.

Expensive Houses

Skandiamäklarna is selling land here. At Ålstavägen in Tungelsta, next to the Kryddgården houses. If you search for Tungelsta at their web site you can see what types of houses they have fore sale. They are very expensive. Prices has gone up the last few years. But if you wanna live in a rural area and at the same time only 25 minutes from Stockholm why not!

Silver-washed Fritillary

Going macro in my back garden in Tungelsta. This is a Silverstreckad pärlemorfjäril. Before digital cameras I never noticed bugs, insects or butterflies. These days I see them everywhere.

Lazy Day At Lake Rudan

There's two Lakes at Rudan. One with a grassy beach, this one, and then the lower lake with a promenade around it. Very popular recreational area. There's a couple of long walk paths through the forest. And a mountain bike path. You will always find a couple of anglers here. Even during winter when the lakes are frozen. This weekend there's a frisbee tournament. And if you're into cultural events, don't worry there's a theatre barn here.

End of the line

A train at the marshalling yard at the industrial park in Jordbro. There's a new quarry not far from here and my guess is that that's where this train is heading.
The new quarry, only a few hundred meters from Lake Rudan, my favorite recreational area with beaches, a big forest with mountain bike paths, and much more. I will show you more from Lake Rudan tomorrow, but I do have many shots from this lake in a flickr set.

Golfers and a horse

This is Husby in Österhaninge. A golf course (par 70) and a horse pasture. I wonder how many golf balls that these horses eat? Across the road from here you will find the golden rape field I have blogged about before. And the 800 year old church with the leaning tower. And The Art Promenade. And The new building site The Fields of Ribby. All places that I photograph regularly on my trips around Haninge.

Two Happy Dogs

My neighbours, Ingemar and Danuta here at Bergdalen, has a mad dog. He is a very strong white boxer that no one can control. He is always on a leash. If not he would run away. Until yesterday that is. That's because he had a visitor last night. His new girlfriend Ally came over, and boy was that fun! I was called in as the dog photographer. You can see some of the photos over at Danuta's flickr stream. I also made a video that can be seen at their Vimeo site.

Old Farm at Husby

This is rural Österhaninge. The vikings lived here. Husby, Hesslingby and Kalvsvik are the names of the old farms around here. There are lots of ancient remains in this area. 4000 years ago this was the coastline and hunters lived here. And here is the same place from a visit last winter.

For Sarah...

Another visit to a beach! This is Östnora in Haninge. There's a camping site, with a kiosk and miniature golf, a few wooden piers,( one with an old dive tower), a small hill, popular for barbeques. A Marina with lots of sailing boats, and a big grassy area where normally, this time of the year there would be hundreds of sunbathers. Not so on this visit, just after the rain. I took a few panorama photos and walked out on this pier and shot a few videos. You can see it on Vimeo if you like. This is one of the places that I visit quite often, and I always take a few photos. There's a bench on this pier where I normally sit for a while, but it was occupied by a couple of German tourists.

reading stieg larsson

Sitting on a chair on top of the hill at Bergdalen reading a novel written by Stieg Larsson who died of an heart attack in 2004. Before that he finished his then unpublished crime fiction trilogy. He was journalist who fought against right wing extremism and was one of the founders os EXPO. Some facts about Stieg Larsson.

Ladybug on top of the world

I Love Nature. And Macro Photography. So this is a good combination. I spent a couple of hours out on a field in Österhaninge, taking macro photos of ladybugs and other beetles. It was warm, sunny and everything was perfect. That is if you don't count all the stinging nettle's!
More about that plant here: http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/stinging_nettle.htm

zinedine inzane

The World Cup is over. Italy won on penalties against France. Zidane went insane and headbutted Marco Materazzi and was given the red card. This photo is made by photos from my Canon Library. Most of them taken in and around Haninge.

At The Horse Pasture

24 C today. Perfect for a rural bike ride. I took the Art Promenade route again. This is a horse pasture close to the ancient grave fields in Jordbro.

Police Helicopter

I was planning for another visit to the beach today. Guess what? It started to rain! So I'm posting another photo from my visit yesterday. Shot from above the beach at Årsta Havsbad sitting on a bench close to the open air dance floor where the locals (and anyone else) usually celebrates midsummer.

At the beach

We had 30 C in Haninge today. I took the bike down to the beach at Årsta Havsbad for a swim and some photos. Here you see the ferry leaving Årsta Brygga. It's heading for Utö. Sunbathers enjoying the fantastic weather at Årsta Havsbad. I always sit on this bench and take photos, so there's a winter version of this view in my flickr photostream.

After The Joyride

I found this stolen SAAB parked at the Tungelsta Park a few days ago. The owner has probably woken up to find his car missing by now. The kids who stole it parked the car close to the greenhouse at the park which made for a good photo.

I took another shot at the park this afternoon, looks like the wind shield has been smashed. No one seems interested in removing the car. We do have a lot of criminality here in Tungelsta these days. Car thefts, murder, assaults, breaking and entering I could go on and on...

Bike Ride

I enjoy long rides on my bicycle. When I feel like a 40 km ride I often head for Sorunda. There's not much traffic on these roads so it's a great ride. There's a few lakes in the area, perfect for a cooling swim! There's some Viking remains and even a Viking village close to Ösmo. And if you like rune stones, Sorunda is the place for you, they have at least twenty stones! Last summer a new cafe opened and it quickly became a hit with all cyclists, me included. I always stop for a coffee or a meal. And another good thing, if you get tired, head for the nearest commuter station, you can take the bike on the train (unless it's rush hour).

Lake Tornberga

This is Lake Tornberga. A short walk from where I live. From here you can walk across the whole of Sweden (almost). Sörmlandsleden, with more than 1,000 kilometres of winding paths goes through the county of Sörmland, is the longest long-distance path in Sweden. When I was a kid my parents often took us up here for picnics. Later in life I came here with friends, beer, and a guitar or two. These days I take the bike half way up to th lake and walk the rest of the way with my camera. I haven't been here this year yet, this is from last years visit.

The Circus has arrived!

As I'm writing this I can hear the music from the circus orchestra, the applauds and the laughter from the audience watching the Cirkus Wikoria show that started 50 minutes ago, outside my window. Cirkus Wictoria (Swedish spelling), are touring the country as they do every summer and they always put up their big blue tent on the Tungelsta School gravel pitch, 50 meters from where I sit. A big hit with the many kids here! I haven't seen the show but my neighbour saw it a few years ago with some friends visiting from Poland. They liked and after the show they realised that many of the performers where from Poland so they stayed on and chatted to the circus people. A couple of years before that the circus kept some of their animals on our land ( a big open field).

A commuter train and a bus

I thought I should show you how we commute. I live a 30 minute train ride from Stockholm.



This is the new X 60 Commuter Train leaving the Krigslida Station which is one station away from Tungelsta. Some info in english here. If you miss the train there's always a bus. This is the 847 to Ösmo. The Tungelsta bus is the 835. But you can also take the 848 from Västerhaninge which is where this photo is from.

Fridhem

If you recognize this house, it's because of this cool Winter Landscape shot. The house is on Tungelsta Road around 2 km from where I live. There is a Garage Sale here later today. But we call it a loppis. Or loppmarknad, or flea market if you like. They were not open when I took this shot in the early morning. May go back later today.