Smörgåstårta

The brother came home from Barcelona for Christmas and the new year. Now it looks like he will stay on for a bit longer thanks mainly to the pandemic. Yesterday he decided to play Chef and made this Smörgåstårta. I'm not going to give you the recipe, but there are plenty around if you wanna give it a go. I just came back home from a longish e-bike ride in the 5C weather, where I got a few cool Winter scenes that I will show you in a couple of days time. Eating a big portion of the smörgåstårta at the moment and it is preety good. Happy New Year.

The picnic table

Here is a fun trick I use now and then when I'm out with my full frame Canon, and a good enough lens, in this case the Sigma 50 mm f/1.4. This is the same place as in yesterday's post, the lower lake at Rudan. This spot is popular with anglers, and they often use the picnic table when they take a break from the fishing. Back to the trick. I shot this at f/1.4 to get the shallow depth of field. After taking a first photo aiming at the table, I turned off the AF and took three more photos to get a wider view. I then stitched the photos together, and the result is a bokeh panorama.

The Lower Lake

Snow and ice covering the Lower Lake, Nedre Rudasjön, at the Rudan nature reserve in Handen. From my visit yesterday. A few people out walking around the lake, but not over it as the ice might not be thick enough for that.

Different Ways

The walkway to the right is kept free from snow and ice during the Winter. So you can easily run and cycle there. The one to the left, not so much. I took this photo which, is actually four photos stitched together, on my way home from the Rudan nature reserve earlier today. If you have a photographic memore of sorts you might remember that I snapped a very similar photo at this exact spot back in January.

Four Steps of Separation

The brother, Tomas, lives in Spain, in Barcelona. He has a brand-new office in Athens, Greece. Last he was there, he got a guide book about Sweden! From his Swedish colleague, Peter, who is married to an American woman. Lynn, who has a British friend, Neil, who after living and working in Sweden for twenty years wrote this guide book about Sweden. So I will now read it to figure out what I have been doing wrong all my life! Oh, and the brother got the guide book about Spain btw.

Winter Count 2021

My twelfth Winter Count. The year started with snow in January, that was soon followed by a lot of flooding around Tungelsta so that is my January photo for this year's Winter Count. A couple of the usual suspects were out and about here and there in the first half of the year. So my February photo is a photo from one such outing, at Ytterjärna where you can find some interesting architecture. I photographed quite a few local construction sites around Haninge. The March photo comes from Vegastaden. I climbed three or maybe even four hills in April. One of the hills featured a Vårdkase in Sorunda. I saw a few palaces and castles this year, this one, Tullgarn is a favorite, I stopped by there back in May. I bought a very expensive e-bike in the early Summer, so a photo of the Gazelle Ultimate 8, shot in Tyresö represents June. July saw a lot of rides around Stockholm with visits to many places, including a few beaches like this one at Hornsberg. I saw at least four bands playing live music in Stockholm during the year, so a photo from Götgatsbacken showing Ladies Got the Blues will represent August. Always fun to photograph the long arm of the law hard at work, so that is what I did on a sunny day in September. October means Autumn photos, so here is one such photo from Södermalm. I took a lot of photos of famous buildings in Stockholm this year. City Hall, or Stadshuset is probably the most known and photographed building in the nation's capital. Seen here from Riddarholmen on a day in November. The main focus for me and my photography this year was Street and Stockholm, so here is one such snap from Gamla Stan.

Shopping in Gamla Stan

Four places in the old town. Milkshake, or maybe smoke salmon in bubble waffle. Café Gråmunken. A tourist café in the old town. Too expensive for my taste, but if you are just visiting, it might be worth a visit. Humorous sign at the optician at Munkbroleden. And who doesn't need a coffee mug with that most important Swedish word written on it. There is always time for another fika.

Walking in the old town

A few more street photos from Gamla stan. In the top photo, two photographers outside Stockholm's oldest photography store, Brunos Bildverkstad. Bruno's has been around since the 1970s, although this store in Gamla Stan opened fifteen years ago. The guy looked kinda familiar, we didn't talk I just smiled and walked on, but he might be a flickr photographer who enjoys shooting with analogue cameras. The girl with the smartphone is definitely a local. The young couple were probably out shopping Christmas gifts.

Street

Three street photos from the old town in Stockholm. I was shooting with my full-frame Canon, with a 50 mm lens. Auto ISO and 1/250thof a second. The light changes a lot here and I didn't want to shoot at full manualmode, which is how I usually do it. I took these three shots within ha couple of miutes. The woman in green stood out a bit, as did the guy walking his moped. I snapped the coffee to go woman seconds before taking yesterday's photo.

Ölutkörare

Very old Swedish noun of the day. Ölutkörare. Beer delivery guy at Gamla stan in Stockholm. Delivering beer from Nynäshamns Ångbryggeri, a microbrewery that makes very tasty beer. My favorite is the... wait, all of them, really. Nynäshamn is a neighbouring municipality to Haninge and if you would like to remember what scenes from Nynäshamn you have seen here on the blog over the years, press here.

Gamla Stan

Usually the streets in the old town in Stockholm are packed with tourists. But if you know where to look there are many parts of Gamla Stan where it will be just you, the camera and maybe a local or two. These photos show the narrow winding cobblestone streets of Kindstugatan, Prästgatan and lastly Yxsmedsgränd.

Christmas Market

This is a bit special. The Christmas market at Stortorget. The most famous market in Stockholm, in the old town. It dates back to 1837, but there has been other markets here for something like seven hundred years! The big square is filled with forty or so red booth where you can buy hot chocolate, mulled wine, waffles and coffee, hot dogs, and of course julmumma. You could try the tombola and maybe win some chocolate. On my visit last Thursday the square was filled with international tourists, school classes and a bunch of locals. If you want to see more photos, I put 27 photos in a flickr album called Stortorgets julmarknad, which is the official name. Oh, and if you would like to see the market from above have a look at the photo at the official web site.

Sixteen Recent Stockholm Snaps

Burger joint in the old town. Slussen, always under construction. Two girls trying to hide their faces as they notice the nosy photographer. Christmas tree at Medborgarplatsen.Tourists in Gamla stan, they just spotted me and are trying not to look at the camera. Restaurant at Medborgarplatsen. My reflection. Food delivery in the old town. The Meditation Hill at the Woodland Cemetery. Tourist trying to close his travel case at Kornhamstorg. Candle at the big cross at the cemetery. Candy store window, Gamla stan. A sad looking Christmas tree at Järntorget in the old town. Zooming in on that big heart I showed you a few days ago. Danish sausage anyone? Two office buildings seen from the entrance to the cemetery.

A rant...

A bit of a rant here. The Swedish Air Force will do a fly-by over the country during the festive season. They fly in a Christmas tree formation, which is always a spectacular thing to see. They use either the JAS 39 Gripen, or the SK 60. Everything is of course weather permitting this time of the year, and they had to cancel the first couple of flybys over Stockholm, on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, because of the gray sky. But it cleared up on Thursday and I stood ready with the trusted Canon at my new favorite place, the woodland cemetery just outside Stockholm. After waiting for ten minutes, I gave up and went indoors to warm up my hands. Another ten minutes later I could hear the Gripen fighter jets, but from my position on the bike out on the road I couldn't see them. Then a couple of hours later, on my way home, I could hear the SK 60s approaching. So I jumped off the bike, managed somehow to get the right camera, (with the 70-300 mm lens), out of the bag and aimed it at the sky and shot in burst mode until the planes disappeared. Unfortunately I photographed them from behind, so you can't really see the Christmas tree here unless you try standing on your head I guess. End of rant.

The Woodland Cemetery

I have said it before here on the blog, there was a time when I just biked through this UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Woodland Cemetery, or Skogskyrkogården as we like to call it, at Enskede in Stockholm. Not so anymore. It was only in September of this year that I decided to start to photograph here, and these days I find it hard not to stick around for a while. This is the frozen pond at the Monument Hall. In the background the Meditation Hill, Almhöjden. This was a very gray day, so a monochrome version of this view really sums up the day perfectly. Many more photos in the flickr album.

Details

I like to think that I have an eye for details. Nice goodbye hug here. Spotted earlier in the week along Götgatan in Stockholm.

A Big Heart

The big heart at the Folksamhuset highrise at Södermalm in Stockholm. A Christmas tradition that dates back four or five years. The building itself dates back to 1959. Folksam is a century old insurance company and this is their main office. I have never been inside but my aunt Kerstin worked there for many years.

A Christmas tree in the forest

Cycling home yesterday, I decided to take the walkway/bike path that goes through the forest near the nature park Slätmossen, a place that I have shown you many times here on the blog. I still consider the walkway new, although it has been there for quite a few years now. It was constructed on top of a new fresh water pipeline, maybe a decade ago. It connects Handen with Jordbro, and it is a good shortcut. Not only that, it is also a good place to watch the local wildlife, I have met and photographed moose, roe deer, squirrels, and countless birds here over the years. But this was a bit unexpected. Someone decided to decorate a tree by the side of the walkway which gave me a few Christmas photos, so thanks for that!

The Cultural Center

Poseidon's square in Handen earlier today. A few Christmas stars in the big window informing us about the upcoming season. This is the cultural center, or kulturhuset, as we like to call it. The library is popular with students, who will spend hours there reading and researching. There is live music every now and then. And theatre. And other events. I have seen quite a few bands here over the years. Pop, northern soul, rock, reggae, both inside and outside on the big square. This is also the place where they showed my photos of the old tree on one of the thursday evening gatherings called Soppa&Surr a few years ago now.

A Golden Sky

Ice here and there on the roads and bike paths as I took out the e-bike for a wintry spin today. Not too cold, around freezing. The sky was very gray for most of the ride, but heading home I noticed this golden sky, so I stopped for a quick photo.

Snow Cannons

Hidden here are the two snow cannons at the Rudan nature reserve, used to produce most of the snow that you could see in yesterday's post. I took this photo 48 hours ago, and now, just two days later, pretty much all the snow we got with the cold weather last week is already gone. There might be some artificially made snow left here at the reserve, though. Today was a very gray day. With a temperature hovering around 2C. There was a Christmas market here in Tungelsta but I couldn't be bothered to go out.

A Winter Scene

A Winter photo.I shot this yesterday, during my visit to Rudan. Sure has Winter feel to it.

Do you need a workout?

A tough workout here could make you exhausted. Or tired, even. Pun intended. The outdoor gym at the Rudan nature reserve in Handen earlier today. The -20C temperature from a few days ago has been replaced with thaw.

Ice skating at Kungsträdgården

Two redheads out ice skating at the King's Garden in Stockholm. The same place that i showed you a while back with the LED-moose.

Gröna Huset

This was the local pizza place in Tungelsta for many years, until earlier this year when Vasko retired and two young entrepreneurs took over. They first changed the name to Gröna Huset. The Green House. Next to go was the pizza. The menu today looks very different with a lot of husmanskost, (you will have to google that word me thinks), and more modern fusion cuisine. The next step was to start the exteriour renovations, which the owner of the building will take care of. That would be the company I mentioned in yesterday's post, Turbinen. So far they have removed the old sign and fixed the windows on the second floor.

A successful project

The local construction company Turbinen have been very busy building homes, schools and what have you during the last decade or so. Many of them in and around Haninge. Based here in Tungelsta they have bought a lot of land over the years. Some of their planned projects never happened, including the two ideas to build first a golf course, and then a horse racing track over at my old tree! This project at Lillgården in Tungelsta is one of the more successful projects. They even won an architectual award for it. I have been photographing it since the first bulldozers showed up, back in October of 2014. Photos can be seen in a flickr set called Stav 1:38. Now they have started the third and final phase of construction here with the last bunch of terraced houses.

The Sauna

Winter sauna anyone? Maybe finish with a roll in the snow, before going indoors again, warming up with a glass of wine?

Mood of the Day

Indoor weather, sort of.

The old stationhouse

The century old, (and then some), station house at the commuter station in Tungelsta has been under wraps for a few months during the exterior renovation work. The last of the scaffolding came down two days ago, so I decided to have a closer look at the building yesterday. I took the window photos from the side of the building that faces the railroad. Fun note. The former station master, always referred to as Kalle Klipp, who retired from the job two or maybe even three eons ago still live in the apartment on the second floor. On the first floor you will find a boutique called Handlaget.

That Old Tree

A sudden change in the weather.

The Future

This is a photo of the near future. The King's Garden Hotel in Stockholm. I took this photo a few days ago. We don't have any snow here, yet. I'm guessing this is leftover snow from the ice skating rink that opened for the season here two weeks ago. But, and here is the future for you, we are expecting snow as early as later today. It has been snowing like mad all over Sweden this week, so someone decided that Stockholm should also get some of that white stuff. Theme Day at CDP. The Future.

LED Moose

The illuminated moose are back at the King's garden. In the background you can just make out the statue of Karl XIII and two lions. The old King has been standing there since 1821, and the big square is named after him. All in all I think there are seven illuminated moose here and at nearby Nybroplan. They are very popular among locals, tourists, and pretty much everyone with a camera. Been here every Christmas/Winter period since 2014.