Rural Stav

This is Stav, a small village in Tungelsta. A rural area 2 kilometers from where I live. The village is around 600 years old. Bigger photo. Today there's lots of horse farms in this area. And one runestone.

Hungry Squirrel

There are a number of squirrels living at Bergdalen. I often see them from my window when I'm at the computer. Bigger photo. They are quite shy and it's tricky to get close enough for good photos. Over the last week I have been able to get a few decent shots so I figured I would show you one. I have a few more in my flickr set.

Fire in the sky

Dramatic sunset last night. Shot as per usual from the hill at Bergdalen.

Bigger photo.

New Apartment Buildings

As I have shown you before, Haninge is growing. Bigger photo. Here is the latest building site. From Åby in Västerhaninge, where I lived for a few years back in the eighties. Three new buildings with a total of 59 apartments are being constructed here by Akelius. In this photo the builders are using a lift to get the material up to the fourth floor.

Pond Maintenance

A worker cleaning a pond in Handen from reed. Bigger photo. This machine is called a Vassräfsa in Swedish. Made by Truxor. www.truxor.com/

Steam Train Heading Home

The steam train at Krigslida. Bigger photo. Over the weekend the train from the Museum in Nynäshamn has been travelling back and forth between Nynäshamn and Stockholm on the railway line Nynäsbanan. Today I caught up with the train at krigslida. More photos from the last three years in my flickr set.

Full Steam Ahead

The steam train leaves Tungelsta and heads for Nynäshamn. There's a museum in the port city of Nynäshamn. A few times every year the museum arrange a couple of trips with their steam train. The ride goes to Stockholm and then back to Nynäshamn. More photos in my flickr set.

Smooth Newt

A Common Newt, or as we call it a Vattensalamander. This one was sleeping in a garden soil sack when i woke it up. It wasnt amused. Bigger photo.

A lazy day at the pasture

One way to spend a warm summer's day. Sheep at the Nödesta farm gathering at a big stone in the pasture. There are a few trees here so it's a popular place when the sun is shining.

Hay Harvest

Hay Harvest. Farmers collecting hay bales from a field in Västerhaninge. No rain for a few days when I took this so everything probably went according to plans. Not sure who the farmer is, but either Nödesta or Ormsta is my guess.

Robin

This European Robin, or Rödhake as we like to call it joined me for breakfast this morning. It's a songbird but it didn't sing for me this morning, but I gave it some bird food anyway as it agreed to pose fore some photos. Bigger photo.

End of the Summer Battle

The battle of the pier lasted all summer. This pier at Lake Rudan in Handen belongs to the anglers in the fishing club Lilla Fiskelyckan. But the local tough boys stole part of the pier and used it to jump into the lake with their bicycles! The anglers took it back, but guess what, the teenagers stole it again, and also had the rest of the pier float away! The anglers response was to have their sponsor (a local builder), help them fasten the pier once and for all. And as school starts today I believe the war is now over. Although there are some nasty looking iron pipes sticking up from the water here and there so I hope no one dives in and gets hurt.

Bigger photo.

Self Portrait and Music Video

Saturday saw the annual live music concert at the park in Tungelsta. Eight bands played. Everything from Reggae to Hard Rock. I live next door to the park so I don't even have to go down there to hear the music. After dinner Saturday evening I was sitting on the bench enjoying a glass of wine and eating some strawberries (31 SEK), and as I sat there I recorded this free music video for you to enjoy...

Welcome to Ålsta

Kristina Jubler born Blomquist used to live here in the yellow house at Vretalundsvägen in Tungelsta when she was a young girl. Bigger photo. Later she moved to California where she still lives. This photo is for her. Here is a link to a picasa web album with a few more photos that I took at Ålsta this afternoon. This area used to be filled with greenhouses, now they are almost all gone and new roads and houses are being built here. I have been documenting the change for the last three years. More photos in my flickr set.

The old Mill

This is what's left of the mill at Söderby Farm in Handen. The farm, Söderby Gård closed in 1979 when the mill was destroyed in a fire. In the old days the miller lived in the white cottage. In the background the silo/ grain storage building. The farm had been around for 350 years. There are more old buildings belonging to the farm on the other side of the motorway.

Plowing a field

The farmer at Nedersta, or Nödesta is Jan Claesson. Here is one of his daughters ploughing a field in the John Deere tractor. The farm is 700 years old.

Green Woodpecker

I was sitting at the computer looking out the open window when a green woodpecker, or a Gröngöling, landed on a branch on the birch tree. So I just stretched my arm out to grab the camera,stood up and managed to shoot one photo before it noticed me and flew away to the next tree. I did go out later for a better look at the bird but it was long gone by then.

The Blood Bus

Once every month the blood bus can be seen at the mall in Handen. To become a blood donor you must speak the local lingo, have a Swedish identity number and be a healthy person between the ages of 18-60. You can donate three times per year if you are a woman, and four if you are a man. You will get a cup of coffee after the donation so all in all it will take 30 minutes..

A path in the forest

Four happy dogs and three smiling gals at the path through the forest at Håga in Västerhaninge. My 45th photo from this path. Best viewed as a slide show

Burned-out car

Every week I find one or two stolen, crashed and vandalized car on my bike rides around Haninge. looks like it's a new sport among the young and stupid. This one can be seen at the ancient grave field in Jordbro.

Moo

This summer has been ok, but it's been raining a lot. Bigger photo. Today it was very warm by Swedish standards. So I took my usual bike ride to the beach with my usual stops on the way. These cows from the agricultural college at Berga spends the summer months at a beautiful pasture in Västerhaninge and I visit every now and then.

Out Strolling

My latest photo obsession. Candids. Or Everyday People. This photo of a mother out strolling was taken in Västerhaninge on a warm summers day, hence the umbrella. Not sure if the baby is a screamer or if mummy is perhaps listening to a novel. I have tried that, downloading audio books, but I can't concentrate so I will keep on reading the old fashioned way.

At the commuter station

Construction workers at Tungelsta commuter station this morning. Bigger photo. The railway line, Nynäsbanan between Västerhaninge and Nynäshamn has been closed for a few weeks this summer. Stone crushing machines are blasting the hill in the background to extract crude rock for a new road and make room for a second rail track. The platform at the station will be 240 meters long when the work is done here sometimes next year.

Famous Logo?

A company logo. I posted this at flickr yesterday, no one has identified it yet so I will give the daily photo bloggers a chance. I took the photo at a industrial area in Jordbro. It's a Blue Yonder photo, I'm nuts about those.

The Small Elephant Dreams

A very cool sculpture made by Torsten Renqvist who died earlier this year at the age of 83. It can be admired in front of a high rise at Nynäsvägen in Handen. Another version of this artwork can be seen at the Greta Garbo square in Stockholm. Some of Renqvists art can be viewed at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm but not all, because he burned a lot of his paintings on a field many years ago.

On Vacation

After one week in the Haninge archipelago, visiting Utö and Ålö this family made one last stop at the beach at Årsta Havsbad before starting the bike ride to Stockholm. I met them in Handen where they asked me for directions to Farsta. I hope they made it.

Try doing this with one hand!

The local history association in Haninge had a thing today at the old alehouse in Västerhaninge. You could try this and that like using a traditional wooden scythe. This guy, Karl-Erik Eriksson makes baskets. Hes very good, I have seen him in action before. He told me that it was easy, and that he took it up after his father in law, who was a master at basketry despite only having one arm!

A little museum

A new smithy, shop and a museum at Svenro in Handen. Bigger photo. The address is Getporsvägen 8. Started by Martin Ahlsén (blacksmith, musician and painter), and Agnes Almström who designs her own jewelry which can be bought at the shop.

www.yggdrasilhantverk.se/

Coca-Cola on the road

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Now playing: 01-interpol-pioneer to the falls
via FoxyTunes

Not the best photo I know, but I only had a second as the car was driving fast. I wonder if you can wave him in if you are thirsty for a Coke? Took this at a bus stop in Jordbro today. Also testing the Foxy Tunes thingy for Firefox with this post

My Right Foot

I'm very popular in the the local insect community. Whenever I walk outside bugs, beetles, wasps and bees will come over to say hello. Here it's a peacock butterfly resting on my foot as I'm sitting in the back garden drinking some coffee. Bigger photo.

Summer Breakfast

I always eat the same breakfast. Every day. Summer or Winter. One boiled (five minutes), egg with one slice of bread with cheese. Then some Filmjölk, with muesli and in the summertime some strawberries. Weather permitting I eat my breakfast on the veranda often accompanied by the local Woodpeckers. Then I enjoy two cups of coffee as I read the morning paper, normally I drink the coffee on the stairs if the sun is shining. Have a look what the rest of the daily photo bloggers have to say about their breakfasts as it's them day today.

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