Walpurgis Night

We celebrated the arrival of Spring today. That is what Valborgsmässoafton/Walpurgis Night stands for in this country. Thousands of bonfires burn all over Sweden as people gather around the fires talking and drinking. A choir sings a few songs about Spring as the kids run around or eat candy. I stopped at two such bonfires this cold and very windy Walpurgis Night. The fire in Tungelsta had already burned out when I got there on the Steel Horse so I pedalled five kilometres against the strong wind to the bonfire at Kyrkbacken in Västerhaninge where a few hundred people had gathered, including a couple of fire-fighters that kept an eye on the big bonfire. The fire was moved the evening before to give the local hedgehogs a chance to survive. The church in the background is the Medieval church in Västerhaninge.

Örnens Väg

Preparations are under way for the new houses that are to be built here at Örnens Väg in central Handen. Too see a 3D map of how it will look press here. More facts in Swedish here. Last time I was here there was still a little forest here and you couldn't see the apartment buildings in the background that dates back to 1992. Had I turned the camera around 180 degrees you would have seen even more new buildings. But those are temporary student/refugee/anyone else/ apartments.

Salvador Dali

Spotted Salvador Dali in Jordbro a while back. He was with a travelling tivoli, but had been left on his own at a nearby parking lot. But that didn't seem to bother him much.

Location, location, location

For many years there was a filling station here at the intersection between Nynäsvägen and Dalarövägen in central Handen. It was known as Nynäs Bensinstation. Operated by the Ljung family. The last occupant was Gilberts lastbilsservice, he closed a couple of years ago, and last fall the building was demolished. I'm guessing you will see a few more apartment buildings like the ones at Haninge park in the background here in a not too distant future

Old oak at Tjursta

This is an old oak at Tjursta in rural Österhaninge. You can see the tree from the Dalarövägen and I have wanted to photograph it close-up for a few years now. It was a muddy walk across two fields in my Adidas sneakers earlier in the week, but if you want a specific photo you have to sacrifice yourself a bit. Not sure how old this oak is, but it was probably already picturesque back when the long lost property Tjurstatorp was still standing. I will go back for a Summer view of the tree a few months from now.

Sixten Recent Snaps

Natalia's second attempt to bring lazy Hasse another coffee. Tiny yellow flower I found under an oak yesterday. The old tree. Walkway at Håga. Barren trees at a hillside in Österhaninge. A recent dinner out on the veranda when it was still warm. Rocks on a field near Dalarövägen. The farm house at Nödesta needs some love and caring. The new houses at Lillgården shot from the hill at Bergdalen. The old silo at Nödesta. Cigar stump at the cafe. Digger at Håga industrial park. The meandering path towards Klemms Kulle. Tree on a hill at Österhaninge. More barren trees. A glass of red wine.

Ploughed Field

A ploughed field at the tiny hamlet Ormsta in rural Haninge. Decided to try a stacked landscape photo of the ploughed field and the farm buildings. This is six photos shot handheld at f/.8. Shot with the Canon 70-200mm lens.

Blue&White

I have shown you a few photos from the Iron Age burial field in Jordbro over the years. One reason for that is that I bike through the site most every week. Another, that it is a beautiful place with lots of interesting things to see. One of which is the anemones that bloom here every spring. The blue ones usually comes first, followed by the white a few weeks later. This year I spotted them the same day. Which is very unusual. When all the white anemones bloom, the fields and the forests turns white in the Gullringskärrets nature reserve, and that is always a spectacular thing to see. If you live nearby there's an organized tour here to see just that. This years meeting will take place on the 5th of May. Facts in Swedish here.

Summer is here

Summer came early this year. Even before the real Spring arrived. That is very unusual for Stockholm. Summer means that all the classic cars will be out on the roads again. Spotted this one while sitting at the cafe with the usual suspects. The driver noticed me and gave me a wave. It was a close call as I shot with the 105mm lens, but I managed to get a couple of decent snaps before it was gone.

Sixteen Recent Snaps

Cold Leffe on the veranda with dinner yesterday. The old tree on Thursday afternoon. Greek Salad dinner. Blåsippor at the ancient gravefield in Jordbro. Påsklilja detail near the old tree. Guy walking home from Systembolaget with a "flak" of beer. Birch tree snapped on my way to the old tree. Cyclist passing the cafe. Jim has anew look for the year. Trygg-Hansa at Slätmossen. Jujja handling the sun and the heat at Malmens. View from a bridge at the nature park Slätmossen. The stolen, dumped and torched car again. Another cyclist pedals past the cafe. Vitsippor at the Iron Age burial site. Muslim woman walks by the cafe.

Viking Era Runestone

A 1,000 year old runestone that once stood at the long gone village of Blista, not far from Alvsta in Haninge. There's an old painting of the runestone dating back 400 years, and the top right corner of the stone was already missing back then. Today the stone stands close to Årsta castle in Österhaninge. It has been there since around 1864 when Gustav Upmark pieced the stone together. At that time the stone had been missing for hundreds of years and when it was found it was broken in several pieces. It is 263 centimetres high and 146 centimetres wide. The inscription reads: Sven had this stone made...(a few words are missing here) ...his good father and for Gudvar. The inscription was made by Halvdan. It means that Sven raised the stone in memory of his parents.

Roundabout

Roundabout here is where they are building a new "rondell" along Stavsvägen in Tungelsta an area with many new houses still under construction. Shot this as an extreme shallow depth of field photo by stitching together multiple photos taken with the Sigma macro lens.

Naval Ships

Took the fixie bike down to my favourite beach yesterday. 15C from a blueish sky. Happy to report that all the ice is gone from the Horsfjärden bay. Top photo shows the corvette HMS Visby. Photographed with my 70-200mm Canon lens with the help of the 1.4 Viltrox Extender. Snapped from the little marina at the Årsta Brygga. Second photo shows the minehunter HMS Kullen. A Landsort-class mine countermeasures vessel. Took that photo from a pier at the Årsta Havsbad beach. Both vessels are part of the 4th Naval Warfare Flotilla at the nearby Berga Navybase. I visited the base a few years ago when they had an open-house weekend.

New preschool

New preeschool under construction at what used to be a parking lot at Ringvägen in Västerhaninge.

Friday the thirteenth

Still a thin layer of ice covering the Lower Lake at the Rudan nature reserve. One not so clever guy tried ice fishing on Friday the 13th. Didn't end well. But he did survive.

Microcar

Roughly three meters long. Very pink. Easy to park, easy to spot.

Bullerskärm

Bullerskärm. Swedish word of the day. Noise barrier fence along the Nynäsbanan railway line at Håga in Västehaninge. In the background a new building at the industrial park.

A work in progress

Artwork that is. I tried my best to offend the owner, (didn't catch his name), of this car by informing him that it was a bit on the ugly side. He responded that this was just a start, soon the entire car will be painted in a similar style. I spotted the Hyundai at Håga industrial park yesterday and decided to shoot my first bokeh panorama with the Sigma lens. The anonymous guy then told me that it was Jesse that would paint the car and he is actually pretty good at designing stuff. Press here to see Jesse's Amazon. And here to see Jesse's cool bike. And here to see Jesse.

Pootography

Horse back riding is strictly verboten on walkways in Sweden. This is the newest walkway in Tungelsta, at Stav. It follows a little meandering stream, Rocklösaån, and is popular with the locals, including the four-legged ones that shouldn't be there.

Anemone hepatica

I was wearing my Winter outfit yesterday as it was surprisingly cold in the Spring sunshine. Biking past a couple of places, the Iron Age grave field at Jordbro and the birch forest at Håga where you normally can spot Blåsippa, Anemone hepatica, I had to use my hawk eyes to see anything, but at Håga I finally did. So I spent a few minutes locating a few photogenic plants and here are two of them. They were still hiding under last years Autumn leaves, but in a few days time people without hawk eyes will probably also see them.

Mio min Mio

Every time I see a Mio store, or an ad for that chain I think, Mio min Mio, (Mio my Mio). That is the title of a fantasy novel, (and movie), written by Astrid Lindgren. It is a good name for a store, but it is just short for Möbelhandelns Inköpsorganisation. Which would translate to The Furniture Trade Purchasing Organisation, and that's not very sexy at all. This one can be found at Vega in Handen. In the background a couple of new apartment buildings at Vegastaden.

The Swans

New roundabout and bridge under construction on Road 73 at Vega Trafikplats in Handen. This is the highway to Stockholm and there has been a lot of accidents here since the construction started. Mainly because people drive to fast and that is not a problem that can be fixed. Ever.

The Terrace

13C and a blueish sky today, so I took a longish bike ride with photo stops at a couple of places in handen. This is the building site known as Haningeterrassen, or The Terrace as I call it here on the blog. Looks like they are progressing okay.

Landscape with red fox

Been busy filling up a waste container at home this week. An old sofa has been tossed out as has a lot of other stuff. This old painting by Bertil Widbrant might end up there tomorrow. It hangs on the stairway wall and what you don't see here is the big hole that someone has made on the canvas.

L'Autentica

I just had a cold beer. Italian. Birra Moretti. And here is proof. The container that I mentioned in yesterdays post is starting to fill up. Thinking about a new roof for the veranda so the old PVC roof might end up in that container tomorrow. But the weatherman is promising warmer weather again, and if that happens I might take one of the bicycles for a longish spin tomorrow, something I really need to do for several reasons, one being that I am out of material to post on the blog.

Another sign of Spring

Let me know if you get bored with macro images of the Spring flowers in my area. Found this on the lawn at home earlier in the week. Shot with my new Sigma 105mm lens. The crocus in question could be gone today as I have a big container standing on the lawn for a few days. Took me a few hours this morning to fill said container with old furniture and what have you. Need a stretch now I think.

That Old Tree

William was right in his prediction. He guessed that the snow would be gone on my next visit to the old tree. And this is how the Swedish Whitebeam looked yesterday. Photo taken with my Chinese 35mm lens. My532th photo of the oxel.

Hästhov

Another sign that Spring is on it's way. The first Hästhov of the year. But no one calls this plant anything else than Tussilago, or Coltsfoot. Found it by the side of the walkway along a field at the Nödesta farm earlier today. It was a cold start to the day with -5C when I got up, but as I'm typing this it is ten degrees warmer.

Hesslingby

The Hesslingby estate in Österhaninge. It dates back nearly 400 years, and during that time a lot of interesting people have lived or even worked there, including famous feminist reformer Fredrika Bremer.

Shades of blue

My last photo from beach week at Årsta Havsbad. Theme day at city daily photo. One color.