A Splash of Color

We had three hours of sunshine during November, so most of my photos these last few weeks have been on the grey side. I found this colorful bench at the doomed youth centre Åbygården earlier today.

Bird Feeder

Bird feeder at the Rudan nature reserve. The feeder is new. Looks a bit like some of the old farm buildings here so it fits right in. Come the Winter the birds will need all the help they can get when it comes to food. The ugly green thing in the background is a spiral stair case that I have showed you before.

Frosty Grass Straw

After shooting the old tree in yesterdays post I decided to locate the odd looking grass straw I found here back in July. It grows just beside the path and I had no trouble finding it. The Timotej sure looks different today compared with how it looked back in the Summer.

That Old Tree

Greyvember continues. Now with added winter cold and frost. And more mist. This was the scene at the old tree yesterday. A couple of degrees below zero. I can tell you that it was a cold winter ride on the bike, and I have now ordered tires with hardened steel spikes!

The Price is the Difference

That is the slogan used by ÖoB, a discount store chain. This is the backside to their store in Haninge, and the side you see when arriving to Handen on road 260. Should be enough to scare away anyone me thinks. They do sell a lot of paint so I think they should buy some and fix the façade. And maybe even put up a sign.

Roses are red

I guess this red rose has to be a repeat bloomer. No sunshine at all in November so I was surprised to find it in a flowerbed at an apartment building in Handen a couple of days ago. I walked into the flowerbed to get the close-up with the pancace lens which a guy that walked by thought was very funny. Be sure to shoot the mushroom as well was his advice. I didn't take him up on it as the fungi in question was smelly and very dead!

A clever clover photo

It has been an unusual warm Autumn. With no sunshine at all in November. But as I try to bike year round, I will not complain too much. This clover, known as Skogsklöver normally blooms in August. I spotted it by the side of a bike path at Hanveden and decided to try an artistic photo of it by including my Steel Horse in the background.

Airstream4u

German food truck serving American food outside a Swedish mall in Handen. And no, I didn't try it out. Maybe next time. But they are out on a road-trip so I might have missed my chance.

Cell Tower

I got my first smartphone earlier this year. A Samsung. And now I have upgraded to a new version. All thanks to my brother who passes on his old phones to me! I don't play games on it, I mostly read the news and check my emails with it. There are many mobile cell towers in my area, and this is one of them at Söderby in Handen. I did a search and found that there are 100 towers in my area. Quite a difference from when my family first moved to Tungelsta. My great grandparents had an easy telephone number. 1. That was 100 years ago. Times have changed.

Did a cave Troll live here?

If you had the strength to remove this big rock you would enter a Troll's home. The troll was sometimes big, and often mistaken for a giant. Other troll's looked very much like us humans. They were very strong, and good with magic, hence their name. They were rich and kept all their possessions in their homes, so if we could somehow remove this big rock we would be home free. Either that or this is just an erratic moved here by the ice during last ice age, Weichsel, that started some 115 000 years ago and ended 90 000 years later, give or take. In any case you will find the big rock that has been cut in half near Bergsvägen in Handen.

Calm and rainy

The grey November weather continues. I decided to head down to the Rudan nature reserve and ride around the lower lake and stop for photos on the way, but as soon as I arrived it started to rain. So I only took a few snaps from the tiny beach before jumping back onto the bike for a rainy ride home.

Hashtag of the day

The local graffiti amateurs seems to have run out of ideas and have now turned to hashtags. This one is a little odd as purjolök means leek. I found it on the bike path that follows the Nynäsbanan's rail-track between Västerhaninge and Krigslida. I tried my best to art up the photo so this is three photos stitched together. Shot with the pancake lens at f/2.8.

Haninge Golf and Junkyard

So roughly one month ago I took a photo of a stolen and dumped car near the indoor golf range, Haninge Golfhall in Jordbro. It was a Volvo. I can now report that a second stolen and dumped car has been placed next to the Volvo. Maybe not so strange as cars are stolen most every day all around the world. But what is kinda peculiar is that this second wreck first stood on the parking lot for a few months. And then a couple of days ago someone moved it 50 meters to this new location. It could of course mean that the people that run the indoor driving range has decided to open a junkyard!

That Old Tree

It's the 17th of November. So far this month Stockholm has seen 90 minutes of sunshine. Have I mentioned before that I'm more of a Summer person, and that I prefer to shoot when there's blue sky around? Anyway this was the scene at the old tree the other day when it was very misty.

The Old Smithy

The old smithy in the mist. I tried my best to recreate two previous photos of the old building. I took the photo standing on the ghostly path I showed you yesterday. Oh, and the flickrverse seemed to like it. Closing in on 12,000 views now so I must have done something right.

Ghostly Path

I didn't see any ghosts at Nödesta, but it was of course very misty...

Back at the farm

So back in September I showed you this old warehouse at the Välsta farm, and I informed you that many moons ago I had a photo project planned here, but that the old tree happened instead. Karl from Bolzano (a very wise man),said in a comment that a monthly series could work. Kay from Sequim ( a clever woman) figured that a photo every season would work. So I decided to shoot one photo per month, and here are the second and third photo from the new series. The misty shot is the November photo, taken this week. The one with a few leaves left dates back to the middle of October.

Sunshine!

The sun was out for at least two hours the other day. Can't remember when that happened last. I took a ride down to my favorite beach. No one else around. I like it that way. I had a look for the Russian submarines but I guess they were hiding under water or on their way back home.

Fountain

The old sandpit gravel pit in Handen was turned into a green park (Eskilsparken), many years ago. This fountain, next to the amphitheatre is part of an artwork made by PYE Engström, called The Birds. Oh, and my photo is also art, I took 20 photos with the pancake lens and stitched them together just because I could.

P&T

A couple of years ago I stood on a former parking lot turned into a busy construction site talking to the site manager about this project. He told me that they were building a passive house where the energy comes from body heat, electrical appliances and lighting. I think I took his portrait and shot a panorama. Now there are seven buildings here with 200 apartments. Six storeys high, or rather eight, as two are under ground. This side is made as an arcade. P&T stands for Puls och Träning. In English, Pulse & Workout and it is of course a gym. Oh, and I have a before photo which is a fun read.

Nice rack

Nice rack. One of my favorite phrases. Very useful sometimes. And it works fine here as there are several brand new bike shelters at two of the commuter stations in Haninge. You can find this one at Krigslida. Both photos shot with the pancake lens.

Vertical Support

These square columns are part of the Hantenterminalen building at the commuter station in Handen. The building houses among others, Haninge X-cons. The Rudan School. A restaurant/night club, many offices, gym, banks and what have you.

Temporary Sculpture

Noticed this temporary artwork in the Eskil's park yestoday. It was created by an unknown artist two days ago and it will soon be history.

That Old Tree

This was the scene at the old tree yesterday. It was snowing when I woke up, and that continued all day. The temperature was hovering around freezing, so the snow melted upon impact with the ground. This was my 400th photo of the Swedish Whitebeam since I started taking photos here. I have added the second ever photo I took of the tree, because that's when I started the series. I shot that on Christmas Day back in 2005 and I can still remember that promenade. A lot has happened with the tree since that day a decade ago and I still expect to see something different every time I visit the old tree.

Shadow Play

I do enjoy lines and shadows. Out on a recent photo promenade with my buddy Jim, we stopped at the newish buildings at Poseidons Gränd in Handen. There are 196 apartments here. Very modern. No ugly high rises. Just four storeys high. There are shops on the first floor, so to get to the apartments from two sides of the complex you need to climb these stairs.

Stairs

There are two big monstrosities in central Handen. Rudsjöterrassen is colorful but dead ugly, next to it is the big Handen terminal. Many people work in the two monstrosities, but if you ask me they need to be demolished. Anyway, between the two buildings you will find this staircase. Also on the ugly side. Oh, but you will of course like my fine photo of the stairs.

Betongtrappa

Swedish word of the day. Betongtrappa. Concrete stairs. Six hundred students will walk up and down these stairs when the new school opens two years from today. This will be the new "Fredrik" school at the Fredrika Bremer Secondary school in Handen.

A World Class Swimmer

Sarah Sjöström is an amazing athlete and world class swimmer. She has won two World Championship gold medals. And nine European Championship gold medals. And countless silver and bronze medals in many championships over the last six years. And earlier this year she set a new world record on 50 meter butterfly with the time 24,43 seconds. She has also held the world record on the 100 meter butterfly. I met Sarah yesterday at my favorite cafe. After shooting a portrait I wanted to try a Brenizer method photo, and Sarah suggested we shoot that in front of her car to make her car sponsor happy, and obviously I messed that up shooting with the wrong lens! I did manage to stitch together a couple of photos so if you know them you can tell that she is sponsored by Lagerstedts Bil.

Driving with the top down

It was no more than 6C when I took this photo in Handen. But we are of course tough Vikings over here, so if you own a 1970 Chevy Impala Convertible you obviously drive it with the top down.

Landmark

Theme Day at City Daily Photo. Landmark. I guess it can only be one of the castles in Haninge so I picked Häringe. The castle has a long history. Previous owners include a Swedish King and a few industrialists. There are remains here from a Millennium ago when the Viking Sote supposedly lived here but today's castle dates back to 1657. Many celebrities have stayed here, among them Greta Garbo, Elisabeth Taylor and Josephine Baker. One of the owners, Torsten Kreuger had a tunnel built back in the 1930s so that Miss Garbo shouldn't have to walk in the rain when she left her room in the Sea Wing and headed for the main building. That was nice of him I think. Today this is a hotel, and it is actually for sale at the moment so if you have some money to spend...