A sign of spring

After every winter, long or short, snowy or not, I will always be on the lookout for any spring sign that I can find. This counts as one. A 2008 Lamborghini Gallardo parked at the police station in Handen yesterday afternoon. I guess the owner was there to discuss his speeding tickets. Oh, and you know what they say, if you need to ask how much it costs, you probably can't afford it.

The Coffee Mug Mystery

When Henrik took over my favorite cafe, Malmens konditori he made a visit to IKEA where he purchased 150 or so coffee mugs. They are called Färgrik, (colorful), and cost 4 SEK each. Now, two years later 120 mugs are gone. Henrik has no idea where they are. I suggested they must have the worst dish washer in history working in the kitchen. My friend Jim had another idea. Something similar to the vanishing socks mystery. No one can remember dropping a mug, or seeing any guest walking away with one. Weird. We have been discussing this at the cafe lately while enjoying more Samla buns. The one you see here is served in the traditional way in a bowl of warm milk.

One week later

What a difference a week can do. It was only last week that I showed you a photo of the old tree with two cross-country skiers on the path, and it is in fact them you can see on the left side of this diptych. Now most of the snow is gone as you can see on the right hand side. I shot these two photos from a slightly different angle than I would normally do, but still standing on the path, that does a full circle around the Swedish Whitebeam. If you want to, you can see the two original photos in a new album that I have created at my Google plus site.

Attitude

Kim was on his way to a friends place for a jam session when I spotted him in Västerhaninge. He came walking towards me, holding the guitar just like this, and I knew it would be a good portrait. Kim has been playing the guitar for a few years now. He is a big Metallica fan, hence the title. He tried joining a band but realized that that wasn't for him. Shot this portrait with the nifty fifty.

Kribbe

When I take someones portrait these days I will often explain what it was about that person that made react. This is Kribbe.It was his jeans (and boots), that I noticed first. He told me that that he spends much of his money on clothing, so it wasn't all that surprising that I met him outside a shopping mall. Kribbe works at Sundab, his area is quality control. Many of their clients are pharmaceutical companies. His job also includes talking to international clients, so he is fluent in English, which apparently wasn't the case with all the clients, I'm not naming names (the French). On his free time Kribbe likes to party with his friends. He listens quite a lot to Djs. One of his favorites is deadmau5, who will be playing in Stockholm this summer.

The Friendly Waitress

The girl giving me the finger is the waitress at my favorite cafe, Malmens Konditori in Handen. Her name is Andrea. She has worked there for as long as I have been a regular guest, which is since Henrik took over the cafe. This means that Andrea now has a built in radar detection device telling her when I am aiming a camera towards her. And as you can see, having her photo taken is something she really likes. I shot this photo on Shrove Tuesday. And boy was that a busy day for Andrea and Henrik, who is the guy to the left. They made, and sold, believe it or not, 3500 Semla buns, which is the traditional bun that everyone in the country eats on the day we like to call Fettisdagen. Andrea told me that the photo really showed her personality and she posted a link to it from her Facebook site and it was a bit hit with all her friends.

The Dreaming Elephants

Once every now and then I will stop at this little sculpture in Handen for a photo. The artwork is called The Little Elephant Dreams. It was made by the sculptor Torsten Renqvist, who passed away a few years ago. Another copy of this sculpture can be seen at the Greta Garbo square in Stockholm.

Deja vu all over again

I have a thing for redheads. That's what I told Mikaela when I noticed her on a walkway in Handen yesterday. She is a local girl and works in a boutique selling clothes. When she isn't watching movies, she is probably busy treating her friends to a manicure. After a short conversation/photo shoot we said goodbye as Mikaela was in a bit of a hurry. But there was something familiar about her. I didn't have time to ask her about it, but when I arrived to the cafe a little later I borrowed Fredde's laptop, and did a quick search. And that's when I found another portrait of Mikaela. One that I shot on Walpurgis Day two years ago.

Icy and Slippery

This was how most of the walkways looked in Handen yesterday. Very icy. Not really a good day for cyclists like me. Or pedestrians. Or anyone really. I'm guessing it was a busy day at all the emergency rooms around Stockholm. I had to jump off the bike a few times as I didn't want to risk anything and I am happy to report that I made it home without any injuries.

Winter Road

We had one warm day this last weekend. And a clear blue sky. Some of the snow started to melt away. Then we had a cold night, and this morning it was ice everywhere. On the roads. On the sidewalks and pretty much everywhere else. If I feel like it I might try and shoot some ice scenes today. This photo shows the tree lined avenue that leads up to the 700 year old Nödesta farm.

Winter Vs. Summer

As you probably know I do enjoy going back for another look at different places. It was only in December of last year that I showed you a Different Seasons diptych from the Hammar estate. Back then it was a combination of an unusual winter photo and a misty autumn shot. This time around it is real winter vs. early summer. I shot the snow photo just a few days ago and the green side in May of 2009. Probably a good thing that it wasn't a flag day, that would have made it rather tricky to line up the two photos.

That Old Tree

Two cross-country skiers, one poodle and two girls out horseback riding was what I noticed on my visit to the old tree yesterday. I don't think I have photographed a skier next to the tree before. The black poodle was a tough little fellow, he made it very clear that I should stay away from him!

Winter & Autumn at the Cemetery

Sometimes when I visit the cemetery in Västerhaninge I will have a look at this headstone. Buried here are four people. My great grandparents, Johan Fredrik Jansson, and his wife Hanna. And my grandparents, Harald Jansson and his wife Alma. All on my dads side of the family. The winter half of the diptych dates back to December 2004. The autumn photo to November of last year.

Taphophile Tragics.

The Calm

The Calm, or Lugnet in Swedish, is the name of this property at Ålsta in Tungelsta, where the Wall family had a plant nursery for many years. I shot the winter photo on a recent promenade. When the family closed the business, the greenhouses were left as they were, and for many years the place looked half abandoned. Two brothers from the family lived here all their lives. I sent one of them a Christmas card a few years ago using one of my winter shots from this place. It was much appreciated. Both the brothers are dead now, and the property has been cut up and the collapsed greenhouses have been replaced with five new homes. In the slideshow you will see a few panoramic images, as well as normal photos that I have taken at "Lugnet" over the last eight years.

Clever Living Anyone?

Last summer I showed you some photos from a dairy farm called Skarplöt. One reason for visiting the old farm was that the area is undergoing some changes at the moment. A little over a year ago I remember seeing the farmer out on the fields in a tractor. Today that field looks like this. IKEA and Skanska are behind this project that they call BoKlok (clever living). You can read more about the concept in English at the BoKlok website. And in Swedish here. Come the spring 42 families will live here at Blåklockan. It will probably look a bit different when it is all finished, with a green park, and tree lined roads and what have you so I will go back for a better look then.

The Joy of Winter Cycling?

Arriving home after a winter bike ride my jeans will often be were icy, snowy and frozen, and this is why. I took this photo after my meeting with Emmy, the world class mtb racer. She had a look at my bike, laughed and said that I would probably have to clean my bike chain from all the rust now.

A World Class MTB Racer

This is Emmy. I met her at the lakes on Sunday. My first impression was that she must be an elite skier, because she looked super fit. Turns out I was half right. Emmy is a world-class mountain bike racer. She has competed in the two latest UCI MTB Marathon World Championships. Emmy finished in 19th place last year, and 16th the year before. She has won a few races and you can see more results on her Swedish blog. Emmy comes from a village outside Gävle called Valbo and she competes for Härnösand CK. At the moment Emmy is studying dentistry, and because of that she moved to Haninge six months ago, and now resides in an student apartment in Handen. We talked a bit about cycling, and I told Emmy to get hold of a copy of the local bike map so that she can find her way around Haninge come the spring.

Catch of the Day

The weather was perfect for an ice fishing contest today. The sun was shining from a clear blue winter sky. The temperature had gone up considerable from earlier in the week and it was around 0 C when I arrived to Lake Rudan in Handen. The fishing club Lilla Fiskelyckan arranges an ice fishing contest at the lower lake every winter. This year they counted 25 people out on the ice, but for some reason only seven people took part in the contest. The winner had already gone home, but I did find one guy who had managed to catch a fish. The three guys on the last photo are the fish wardens at this nature reserve. The guy to the left is called Christer and I have met and photographed him a few times before.

Long Term Parking

Normally when I make my different seasons diptychs, I will look for a landscape, like the old tree, (the best one if you ask me), or a building, like the horse farm earlier in the week, so this diptych is a bit different. I first noticed the Golf back in November. It was parked next to a garage in Jordbro and covered with leaves, so I stopped for a fun autumn photo, I remember using the 50mm lens. Since then the car hasn't moved a bit, and so yesterday I stopped for a winter version. This time I used the 18-55 mm lens, but I managed to remember from where to shoot, it and it came out OK I think.

Available Seating

If you have been following this blog for a few years, you will know that I like benches. I think I have more than twenty street portraits with people sitting on benches. Out shooting yesterday I took a few snaps of over-snowed benches. This bench a few more next to it can be found behind a Thai Fast Food Place at the mall in Handen. During the summer these benches are very popular. At the moment not so much.

This way to Lyngsta

A couple of years ago there was an email in my inbox with an invitation to visit a little village in Haninge called Lyngsta. I took the bike up there one day and met with Rolf Sander. He was an interesting man who lived in a unique house that he had built from scratch. He also told me about his plans for a little museum. He wanted to make a gas station from the 1950s. I met him again recently and he told me that the museum plans were on hold for the moment. Anyway, this wagon is Rolf's way of advertising. He sells these wooden water barrels and uses the wagon to point the way to the village.

Winter Days

I think that Gråbergsvägen has to be one of the shortest roads in Tungelsta. With two, or if it is three houses. This is one of them. A little horse farm that always looks good on a photo, as proven with this diptych. The blue sky version is from three days ago when we had a very cold day. The right hand side shows the place back in November of last year when the first snow-fall of the season happened. Sadly there were no horses out in the pasture on either of those two visits. But in one of the other houses here you will find the very photogenic Cookie the Peacock.

Working at the Cemetery

There I was walking around the cemetery, next to the Medieval church in Västerhaninge, looking for a photo that would fit in Julie's Taphophile Tragics, when I suddenly noticed a man up a tree. It's not the first time I have seen that, but it was the first time at a cemetery. And it was -10 C. I'm not a tree hugger, if that's what you think, said the man when he spotted me. Isn't it a little too cold to be out climbing trees today, I asked. No, it is much warmer up here then down there on the ground he told me. That's good to know. Anyway this is Thomas. He has worked at this cemetery for many years, and believe it or not, he was actually out tree pruning. We talked a bit about the cemetery and the people we both knew, or had met. Including the pretty priestess Sara that you have met on this blog a few times. I am not sure it might have been Thomas that was out grave digging here a few winters ago. Oh, and in case you missed it, I climbed up the church tower that you can see behind Thomas last summer. That story and a slideshow can be seen here.

That Old Tree

Looks like the cold-spell is over for now. We had -22 C last night. On my visit to the old tree on Saturday it was a bit milder, around -11C. The people out riding here are probably from the Mulsta farm. I was hoping that they would ride past me, but they turned around just before the tree.

Bridgework

I have previously shown you two new bridges being constructed along the rail-road line Nynäsbanan, between Västerhaninge and Tungelsta. This is the third. Situated at Krigslida and Håga. The last photo is from a corner of the Håga industrial park, where you can see the bridgework to the far right). The crossing (from where I shot the top photo), closed for traffic last autumn when the work started on this bridge. Back in November I had you guessing on a photo which turned out to be the Krigslida commuter station, and this bridge is only a few hundred meters from that platform. One neighbour (there is always one), has tried his best to stop the new bridge, but luckily for everyone else he failed.

The Selma Look

Looks like famous author Ivar Lo-Johansson is trying the 1928 Selma Lagerlöf look and gets away with it I think. The third look at this sculpture this winter. I'm using it in the same way I did the winter chair two years ago.

Frost Flowers

It's been cold the last few days. As I'm typing this it is -14C. So you need to dress correctly while out shooting. It's not really my kind of weather, but if you can't beat them...

I was out looking for hoarfrost photos recently. It is always fascinating to zoom in on white ice crystals like the ones you see here.

The Ice Fisher

This is Einar. I met him out on the ice at the frozen Lower Lake Rudan in Handen. He is often here ice fishing during the winter season. He told me that the lake has been frozen for about one month now. He figured that the ice was around 15 cm thick. No fish luck for Einar, but just like angling, ice fishing is also a social thing, so Einar and the two other guys probably had fun talking about the nosy photographer after I had left on my bicycle in the cold.

A dozen or so animals

Theme day. Animals. These are some of the animals I have showed you over the years. A couple of different breed of cows, my favorite is the Scottish Highland. The snake is a common viper that is on the protected list, so it is illegal to kill it. The hedgehog, squirrel, and the woodpecker are all frequent guests to my veranda. The sheep used to live at the Nedersta farm and that is also where I met the lunching moose. The Canadian Goose usually visits Lake Rudan twice every year. The swans where visiting my favorite beach. The roe deer buck checked me out on a visit to the Nature Park in Handen. The sexy horse lives in Tungelsta.

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