Snow, snow, and more snow

Surprise! More snow. If you look real closely there's actually a house in this photo behind all the snow. Built by a gardener back in 1912, at Ålsta in Tungelsta. His name was Emil Gottfrid Wall, and he was the son of a carpenter. The name of the property was Lugnet, which translated to English means The Calm. When E.G. Wall passed away his two sons John and Erik took over the business. After they retired the greenhouses was left to nature for many years. Both brothers are now gone and it looks like the house have been inherited by one of their nephews. A couple of winters ago I took another photo of this red house, and ever since, that picture has been one of my more popular flickr photos.

Snowed In

My bike has been in the basement for a week now. Last winter it stayed there for 100 consecutive days after the first snow fall. I wonder how long these snowed-in bikes at the commuter station in Tungelsta will have to wait for their owners to ride them home. Remember that snow cannon I talked about a few days ago? Well yesterday, Nynäshamn got 30 centimetres of the white stuff in a few hours, and as a result traffic came to a stand still. And how about this, some meteorologists here now say that we might get one of those ice storms that usually only hits North America. Something to do with a change in the North Atlantic oscillation. Hurrah!

A Christmas Market

I met a wight at the Christmas market in the greenhouse. He didn't say much, fortunately there were more talkative guests at the market, and in the slideshow you will see Maria Edström and her cousin Linnéa Mörne. They were helping Maria's mother Eva selling her handicraft. The woman offering me a home-baked cake is Marion Pettersson-Lundberg, she owns the greenhouse together with her husband Torbörn. The bearded fellow is Bengt Pettersson from Kikartorp in Österhaninge. He overheard me talking to Marion, and joined the conversation as we were talking about old greenhouse nurseries in Tungelsta, and we talked a bit about that. Bengt then mentioned a book he recently bought where his house is mentioned and I could inform him that I shot a few of the photos in that book. I took the two panoramic images to show Torbjörn that it is possible to take such photos even with the cheap PowerShot.

Art by Ana Gull

I visited a Christmas market today. Held in a greenhouse at Stavhäll in Tungelsta. Met a few people, took some photos, and enjoyed a cup of coffee. One of the artists selling her handicraft at the market was Ana Gull. She told me she was a bit American, as she had studied in the US. I kinda like her ugly,sexy Santa. Unfortunately I didn't have any cash on me, so I couldn't buy the Santa, or the Christmas candle figurine that costed 375 SEK. You can see more of Ana's art at her web site Art 4 Joy. A few more photos from the market tomorrow.

A Winter Afternoon

Four photos in one for Skywatch Friday. The days are very short now. The sun is only up seven hours per day this time of the year. I shot these snaps from home yesterday. The greenhouse in the background was built back in 1990 by a Norwegian company. I remember setting up all the greenhouse tables together with my brother that spring. These days the greenhouse belongs to Blomorado, and if you would like to see how it looks inside with thousands of poinsettia plants, step back in time to 2006. Or to August that same year when the plants had just arrived and Danuta was busy spraying the green plants.

Red & White

We were expecting a lot of snow, (at least if you want to believe what you read in the evening papers), but this is all we got. Here are three photos from Tungelsta with a Red & White feel to them. Top photo show your favorite photo blogger at the commuter station zooming in on a traffic mirror. Then a tractor removing the snow from the walkway at the restaurant where I shot the A Moment in Time photo. And finally an apple tree at Hagavägen in Lida filled with red winter apples.

Building a Bridge

A little over a month ago, on 101010, I showed you a few photos of the construction of a new bridge that is being built at Hammer Hill in Tungelsta. The bridge will span the railroad at the commuter station in Tungelsta, and a new road is also under construction on the other side of the railroad. If your memory is up to par you might remember my post from February 2009 called Half a House. This is the exact spot where that house once stood. Back in May of this year I met and photographed Daniel Larsson, a landscape architect who at the time was busy shooting photos of this area to use in a 3D rendition of the bridge.

Waiting for the Snow Cannon

We are expecting what's called a Snow Cannon. It can hit coastal areas in early Winter. Very cold air (from Russia in this case), travels over the warmer Baltic Sea, and that difference in temperature creates a snow cloud that hits coastal areas. I live just a kilometre from the coast, so I cant wait! Thirty years ago one city in Sweden closed down totally when they had 140 centimetres of snow in a few days. Three years ago, Nynäshamn (close to my area),was hit with 50 centimetres of snow. I took a photo promenade today so that I would have some before and after the Snow Cannon pictures.

Iced in

Swirly ice around a tree trunk at Håga. The horrible November weather continues. Rain and snow all day today. Grey skies and around 1 C, so the snow turns to water when it hits the ground. If you want to believe the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute we can expect a snow storm tomorrow with 2 decimetres of the white stuff, so hurrah for that!

Under Wraps

Horrible weather this weekend. Perfect for promenades around Tungelsta. This new house wrapped in plastic can be found along Skolvägen (School Road), at Skogs Ekeby. If you walked by here just a few years ago, you would have first seen a few horses, then a small stable, and after that a few greenhouses. Now all that is gone and everywhere you look someone is building a new home. To see some of the recent the changes in this area, have a look at the slideshow.

Welcome to Tungelsta

Tungelsta is growing fast. Many new houses have been built here over the last few years. A new rail-track is planned and roads and bridges for that are under construction at the moment. But, if you own a car and need to stop at the gas station, that's not going to happen. The only gas station closed when the last owner went into personal bankruptcy. The property is now for sale, but I'm guessing that no one is going to buy it if they were to look at the place today (I shot these photos earlier today). But if you are planning to stop at the Tungelsta Inn (that's the blue building), you can of course find free parking at the old filling station!

Sky Reflection

A new political platform (something about the spirit of Haninge), was signed by the local politicians just inside the entrance to City Hall in Handen a couple of days ago. That happened a few hours after I took this shot so I didn't stick around for that, but I figured this (probably by now very familiar), window would work for Skywatch Friday.

Lake Reflections

The Lighting Laboratory building belonging to Campus Haninge, and Södertörns Högskola reflected in the water at Lower Lake Rudan in Handen. Some info in English about the school here.

The Artistic Computer Geek

After a few days with rain and grey skies the sun was out again yesterday so I decided to shoot another street portrait. This is Mats Ekström from Vendelsö. He is an esthetics student at the Fredrika Bremer secondary school in Handen. I am a computer geek, he told me, sounding rather proud as he said it. He enjoys creating characters for video games. That work usually starts on paper and finishes in Photoshop. The programme at the school also involves photography, painting and sculpting.

(I spotted Mats and one of his friends in Handen, his friend had orange hair and eyebrows, but he choose to stay un-photographed).

Chasing Butterflies

Back in July I was busy one morning chasing a butterfly around the house. I cought up with the insect in the living room and here is proof of that. This is a Poplar Admiral, or an Aspfjäril as we like to call it.

(I'm doing a bit of archive digging as the weather has turned against me).

Old-Time Gangster

Meet The Gangster. Also known as The Corvette Man. His real name is Per Strandberg. He is a car fanatic from Eskilstuna, who knows how to dress up for a classic car meet. This past summer he arrived to the Retrorun meet with his wife Barbro in a PT Cruiser.


(I'm doing a bit of archive digging as the weather has turned against me).

B&W Portrait

November is not my favorite month when it comes to photography. It's usually very dark and rainy. This year we have also seen two snow storms to brighten things up! Looking out the window as I'm typing this it's very grey, and a bit windy, and I'm sure it will start to rain any second. I have been toying around with PS and other software lately and here is one result of that.

The Rudan School

I was out climbing a hill at the nature reserve Lake Rudan in Handen a while back. From the top of said hill you have a decent view of the surrounding areas. This photo shows the Rudan primary school and an office building at the Handen Terminal. The school has 430 students and the building used to house the district court before being turned into a school. I shot the photo from the remains of a hill fort dating back to the Iron Age. Sadly it's not much to see these days, just a few stones and rocks here and there. In total there are around 300 such fortifications in this part of Sweden.

A Cloudy Sky

The weather has been kinda awful the last few days. We had some snow earlier in the week. Most of it is gone now, but the sky is still grey, so for this Skywatch Friday post I decided to show you a photo I took last week. It's one of the big windows at City Hall in Handen.

Lake House

It's many peoples dream to live in a house near a lake, or close to the coast, or even on the beach in this country. Here is one such dream coming true. At Övre Rudasjön (Upper Lake Rudan), in Handen someone is building a house near the water. I shot this from the Elephant Rock.

Autumn Vs. Winter

This is Husby in Österhaninge. I shot the autumn photo a few days ago when I was out on a bike ride. The winter version is from a few winters ago. Husby dates back two thousand years. There is a grave site from that period here. The farm got it's name 1500 years ago. There was many Husby farms in Sweden back then as it was a place where farmers paid their taxes to the king. Since that time the farm has had many different owners. I have a post with some nice photos of the current owners, where they are out harvesting hay and you can see and read about that here.

Visual Illusion

If you enjoy optical illusions you might like this photo. I shot it a couple of days ago at the Håga industrial park as I was trying to find something green for a UTATA project. The cool thing is that the perspective of the green barrels seems to change if you look at them for a while. So be sure to do that! I created a new flickr set yesterday that I named Abstract & Minimalistic with a bunch of cool photos including the illusion photo so feel free to have a look at the slideshow.

Thomas & Emma

I had planned to take a few portraits of dudes on this day, and when I saw Thomas near the commuter station in Handen I moved in for a portrait. After finding out that he is a locksmith and that his hobbies includes hanging out with friends and being a bit of a computer geek I was ready to take a few photos. And that's when his girlfriend arrived from the train station. I knew that they were a couple the moment I spotted her possibly for their identical body candy. Emma looked a bit surprised as I lifted the camera, but after a quick explanation I found out that she is a student at the Nynäshamn secondary school. Three years from now she will be a a carpenter. And that one of her hobbies includes drawing.

The Commuter

The commuter station leaving Handen, heading for Stockholm. I took this photo one hour ago near the Elephant Rock at Upper Lake Rudan. The tiny beach to the left is where I met the two tough swimming girls earlier this year.

Moment 24

Joakim was on his way to work (at a short-stay rehab centre),when I noticed him at a bus stop in Handen on Friday. The bus was still a few minutes away so we had time for a chat. I didn't have to tell him who I was because he already knew that as I had previously photographed of of his friends, the beautiful Therese. Thomas big hobby is music. He calls himself Moment 24 and you can listen to a couple of songs at his MySpace site.

The Fashion Photographer

Obviously I had to ask Åsa for a portrait when I noticed her in Handen yesterday. Dressed in high heals, leather tights and a black jacket she was hard to miss. Åsa is a photographer. She specializes in fashion photography and also does some sport team photography. When I met her today it was very windy, and after shooting a few snaps on a walkway (with my cheap Canon PowerShot),we tried again outside the cultural centre. Åsa was a bit pressed for time as she also works in a store at the Haninge mall and because of me she probably came i to work a bit late! If you want to see some of her fashion photos check out her web site.

Spirals

Spotted these two spirals today. It's a spiral staircase with attached shadow at Coca-Cola Sweden in Jordbro. Not as cool as the Shadowplay from last week but I kinda like this one as well.

That Old Tree

Sulky training up at the old tree. There was also two guys on a 4-wheeler there, but the guy in the sulky (who sounded like he was from Gotland), told them to stay off the path, which they did as they commented on all the people there with different interests. Because the horse dude was also shouting at a guy who was there with a model plane that he was hoping to play with. This is Mulsta, screamed the horse dude. This is Sture's land, you need to move away and make room for me. When I pointed out that I was going to take his photo his response was something about the North Swedish Horse, and how it reacted in these types of situations! So just another day up at the old tree I guess! This is my 222th photo of the Swedish Whitebeam.

The Guitar Teacher

This is Celina. I noticed her outside the cultural centre in Handen yesterday. She looked cute and colorful so I decided to ask her for a portrait, and the first thing she told me after I explained what made me look one extra time at her was that she is always colorful! Celina is the kitchen chef at the Max hamburger bar at the Kista mall. One of her hobbies includes music. She plays guitar and piano. And she sings as well and even performs at different types of events. And works as a guitar teacher! One thing that interested me was where she lives. It's a place in Österhaninge called Åbrunna, which is on my list of places I am yet to visit, so I invited myself as there are some Viking graves and more in that area. Back in 1644 Åbrunna was a place where the noble family von Schwalsh lived. Unfortunately Christopher von Schwalsh wasn't a very good builder, and thirty years later his estate was falling apart. For many years after that Åbrunna was owned by Hesslingby, and that's actually where Celina's mother grew up in one of these red houses next to the big Hesslingby estate.

Public Transportation of Yesteryear

I'm stepping back in time today. It's theme day for all the City Daily Photo bloggers. The November theme is Public Transportation. The first public bus line between Haninge and Stockholm started in 1919 and on the top photo you can see a 1938 Scania bus. Nick named Bulldog Buses. Between 1938 and 1940, 130 such buses were made by Scania. The bus took 21 passengers. This particular bus has been renovated and used in movies and TV productions, I snapped a photo of it at a classic car meet. Back then they also travelled with the steam train on the Nynäsbanan between Nynäshamn and Stockholm. The railway line opened in 1901. The locomotive you see here at the Tungelsta commuter station comes from a museum in Nynäshamn and two or three times every year you can travel to the nations Capitol on this train. If you would like to see more steam trains I have a flickr set with a few photos.


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