Cloverleaf interchange

This mess is next to the highway to Stockholm, Road 73 at Vega in Handen. When they are done you will see a new elevated roundabout here. Back in the Viking Age this was the coastline so they will need a lot of piles in the ground here. In a day or two they will start the drilling and the blasting in preparation for a new bridge that will cross the highway and the old road which was were I was standing when I took this snap.

Abstract Graffiti

New graffiti at the underpass near the Jordbro Power Plant.

That Old Tree

Most of the snow is gone again. If you were to ask the meteorologists they would tell you that it many degrees warmer than normal. If you were to ask me I would tell you that it way too cold.

Ski season cancelled

Spotted a skier here a while back. But that was then and this is now. A field at Nödesta Västegård.

**** happens

Because shit happens.

A colorful sky

Biking home this afternoon the colorful sky made me stop on the Jordbro bridge for a sunset snap.

Tool of the day

The house I live in is a little over a century old. Built by my great grandparents back in the day. The staircase to the second floor has a white wall-to-wall carpet that dates back a few decades. The carpet was well glued to the stairs, but it was also on it's last leg as it had started to fall apart here and there so earlier today I took this scrape and began removing the old carpet.

Brf Blicken

The 18 storey high apartment building Brf Blicken at Handenterrassen in Handen is starting to take shape. The first modules have arrived so I think the pace of the construction will go up a bit now.

Care facility

My mother's health is deteriorating. She's been hospitalised for ten days now and everyone agrees that she will not be able to return home. Instead she will move in here at the Malmgården care facility at the seaside resort Dalarö in Haninge. My brother and I visited last week and it looked fine. She will be moved there as early as tomorrow so we will be busy fixing her new apartment.

Power Plant at Sunset

The Biofuel Power Plant in Jordbro during sunset yesterday. And this is also the answer to that logo question I asked you about back in December. It was the logo of Vattenfall who owns the power plant.

Mini-semla

I have a confession to make. I am totally addicted to the mini semla they sell at my favorite cafe, Malmens konditori in Handen. This is already my fourth this year. A bargain at 16SEK.

Swedish Sea Rescue Society

The Swedish Sea Rescue Society station at the seaside resort Dalarö is quite new, it opened in 2003. They have seven vessels here, although you can't see more than one of them here! You can read more about their work in English here if you are interested.

Baldersro Plaza

I have walked by this building many times since it was built four years ago. I often say to myself that I really should stop and take a photo of this big lamp. It hangs in a window above the entrance. So on my ten km walk yesterday I stopped for a snap. Baldersro Plaza (great name), is a retirement home along Nynäsvägen in Handen. The plaza is a big room here where all the people that live, work or visit can meet.

Cross-country skiing

Gray skies. -3C and no wind to speak of. I stopped at the Rudan nature reserve yesterday to see if I could get a few photos of any cross-country skiers. And here they are.

Ultralight Aircraft

On my way to the old tree I could see and hear a small plane circling the skies so I snapped a quick shot with the silent zoom lens. After identifying the plane SE-VMS I found the owners web site and I emailed him about my photo. The plane is an Ultralight Aircraft. Made of wood. The model is French and called Jodel D18. The pilot Kenneth Pettersson told me that he lives in Västerhaninge, (pretty much where he was in the sky), and that he keeps the plane at Trosa Flygklubb.

That Old Tree

Closing in on 500 photos of the old tree, this is № 497. There will be a celebration at the cultural centre in Handen on the sixth of April. A few bands will play and a couple of dancers will perform as a slideshow with photos of the tree can be seen on two big screens. The event is called Soppa&Surr and is organized by Gunnar Borg.

Half A House

The first of 85 row houses to be built at Lillgården in Tungelsta by Turbinen is almost up. If you have a working memory you might recall that I showed you the crane earlier in the week.

Exterior Lighting

Three new (arty), light fixtures at Poseidon's square in Handen, near the cultural centre and the mall. No idea if they are permanent, or an artwork, but anything that will light up the dark part of the year will get my approval.

Oversnowed

After a recent snow fall I decided to go for a photo promenade around Tungelsta. I didn't have any real inspiration but I did come home with a few photos. These mailboxes belong to a biker club, Eager MC. Their headquarters can be found along Södertäljevägen.

Snow Storm &Power Outage

We had a snow storm yesterday. My bike ride home took twenty minutes longer than usual. It was very dark. I rode straight into the wind and was tossed right and left here and there. There was also a lot of tree branches on the walkways so I had to keep an eye out for those. In Västerhaninge I noticed that a big traffic sign was lying on a lawn close to the bike path, I'm guessing that the strong winds did that. Arriving home I decided to make a quick dinner, just in case. I then chatted to my brother who is in Nicosia, Cyprus, and he told me that he had just received a power outage warning for Tungelsta on his smart phone, (I used to have that app but had forgotten to install it on my new phone), so I warmed some water for a cup of tea and five minutes later everything went dark. So I sat in the dark with my tea before lighting a few candles. The power came back three hours later.

Pirates of the Caribbean

Spotted this truck parked at the indoor driving range in Jordbro. The Curse of the Black Pearl. The guy driving this truck must really like that movie.

Winter Construction

This was a big field at Lillgården a few years ago. Now it is a building site with the new road to and from Lillgården going through it. I have showed you photos from here a couple of times. This big crane arrived last week so I'm guessing it will be another Winter with a lot of construction here as Turbinen plans to build a hundred or so apartments here.

Turn Right

The last "plankorsning",(railroad crossing), in Tungelsta is history now. Replaced with an underpass along the Nynäsbanan, so if you want to continue down Karlsrovägen you need to turn right here, go through the underpass and then drive on a new stretch of road that will connect you with the old road in a few hundred meters. The traffic opened on the second rail track late last year but there are still a lot of work left nearer the commuter station.

Multitasker

Plowing snow from the road. Talking on the phone, and keeping an eye on the photographer that was walking on the side-walk at Allévägen in Tungelsta.

A Winter View

From -20C yesterday to more snow and -5C today. This is a horse farm at Söderbyvägen in Tungelsta. As I took the photo I could hear a helicopte. a little later two police vehicles drove past me. Looks like it was an accident on the commuter railroad just south of Tungelsta.

The White Forest

It is a bit chilly as I'm typing this. -20C outside at the moment. It was a few degrees warmer yesterday when i took this photo while trekking through deep snow in a forest at Välsta in Tungelsta.

Tin Man

The Tin Man doesn't do much. Just stands there, year round waiting for the mail to arrive. I met him at Krigslida yesterday. He wasn't complaining despite the news that the cold weather is likely to stay for at least ten long days. -10C as I'm typing this, where are my long johns?

Real Winter Returns

It started to snow last night. By midnight we had the first power outage of the year. By morning everything was white. Spotted this bike on my walk through a snowy Tungelsta a couple of hours ago.

A hole in the wall

Thieves used a front-loader to break in to this SIBA-store in Handen in the early hours of the morning. I was out shopping for a few smart-phone items but when I arrived to the store the builders told me that the store would be closed all day. There was a similar robbery here one year ago. No one has been arrested for any of those crimes.

The Pier

I started a new photo project late last year. For the next year I will be taking a photo of this pier every month. You can find the pier at the Lower Lake at the Rudan nature reserve in Handen. Here are the first three photos. I took the top photo yesterday. The second snap is from early December, and the last one from mid-November of last year when we got the first snow of the season.

Winter Count 2016

For the last seven years I have made a Winter count. A collage with 12 photos from the previous year. One photo per month. The Adventure of the Cardboard Box was of course a part of my photo year 2016. Golfing in February doesn't happen every year in my part of the world. Batman vs Superman was a big movie for a lot of people in 2016. Early Spring gets a lot of photographers out looking for Anemones. The only pop star I met during the year was from Rednex. This was a first. Cornflowers turning a field blue near the old tree. The Summer was colorful. I met a future author. The annual visit to the Vegabaren Greaser meet is always a highlight in August. For the second year running I met Marla Kay at Sundby Gård. An impromptu photo shoot with a world class cyclist in October. My latest 12-month series, a pier at the Rudan nature reserve. I have aimed the camera at the water towers a few times in the last year. This was a December sunset.