Headless Horse

Spotted this headless horse at the Mulsta horse farm on a recent promenade.

The Red Stable

Managed to get another view of the red stable at the Nödesta farm the other day while out walking in the snow. You might remember seeing a slideshow with photos of the stable back in February of last year. Since then I have added a photo or two to the set, if you want to see the slideshow just press here.

That Old Tree

here is a combination we haven't seen before this Winter. The old tree, snow, AND a blue sky. Taken on the same day as I walked through the snow desert.

Snowhara

Here we go again. Third time lucky perhaps? After a visit to Snowhara I'm feeling the effect. I can't seem to spell the word as I would like to do. It's probably to do with the risks you take while visiting the snow desert at Nedersta. Snow blindness and the risk of losing your way in there!

Rent-a-container

Been busy the last few days filling this container with old furniture and a lot of other things that should have been dumbed a long time ago. I have until tomorrow to fill it up. As I'm typing this I am waiting for a delivery of 12 liters of paint. That should be enough to freshen up the interior walls in three rooms on the second floor. Oh, and you can't use the old bathroom as it is currently filled with old computers and CD players and what have you. Will get rid of those in a few days time. And another oh, the veranda is now filled with different types of cardboard. They will either burn soon or find their way to the recycling station in Jordbro. I shot this photo using the Brenizer method.

Touched By Flowers

Sometimes when I walk through the park in Tungelsta I will stop and have a look at the Bronze sculpture made by Klara Kristalova. It's called Rörd av blommor, or Touched By Flowers. A very appropriate sculpture as it stands in the garden park and that Tungelsta once was famous for all it's greenhouse nurseries, (more than one hundred). The sculpture was vandalized back in 2007 and when Klara came back to fix it I met her and we talked a bit. Since then she has had exhibitions all over the world.

It's still winter

Plankorsning

This is a plankorsning (Level crossing), at Söderbyvägen in Tungelsta. One of the few left in Haninge along the Nynäsbanan railway line. Soon it too will be a memory, and replaced with a tunnel for the pedestrians. You can see a fence to the right and that's where the new pedestrian tunnel will be placed, from where there will be new stairs up to the commuter station from both sides. The road you see here will be rerouted to the newish Mulstavägen across the field where they are now busy building a pre-school and more.

White Beach

A Winter visit to the beach. No sunbathers just yet. This is Årsta Havsbad. For a Summer post press here.

That Old Tree

A black and white photo of the old tree, although a color photo would have looked very similar. We have had a few cold days now, and it's been snowing, but not as much as the evening papers try to scare us with. I'm kinda fed up with the Winter at the moment. Whenever I lift the camera I feel that I already have taken that photo and that works here as well as I now have 411 photos of the Swedish Whitebeam.

Winter selfie

Once in a while I will take a selfie in this traffic mirror at the commuter station in Tungelsta. This photo dates back a few days but it looks exactly the same today.

Waiting For Spring

When my mother was a young girl this building at Kvarnvägen in Tungelsta was a convenient store called Bolinders. She used to come here to buy eggs and flour. Back then the house was painted with Falu red, and that is the old color you can see here. I guess the owners will give the house a new layer of yellow paint come the Spring.

Ice

Ice. Nice. Well I guess that depends. Yesterday it was a few degrees warm and you couldn't walk on the sidewalks because of all the slush. Today it has all turned into ice as the temperature dropped to -5C overnight. A lot of people here love to go ice skating on the frozen lakes, and just two days ago a 20 km run was supposed to open on lake Drevviken but it was canceled as the ice was not thick enough and there was too much water on the ice! The ice blocks in my photo comes from the still frozen lower lake at the Rudan nature reserve. As I took the snap from one of the piers with very cold hands a lone ice fisher was standing out on the ice keeping one eye on me and the other on his fishing equipment.

What I Would Miss

What would I miss the most if I had to leave Haninge? Something magical. The Swedish Summer. The sun is up forever. There's happenings and events everywhere. I would miss my long bike rides to all the wonderful places in Haninge, including the national park Tyresta. Not seeing the old tree on a weekly basis would feel unusual after a decade of visits. The Right of Public Access. Impromptu meetings with the many colorful people in Haninge is something I would miss very much. I'd really miss the annual rock festival in the park in Tungelsta in August. It is always held during the warmest weekend of the year, I don't know how the manage to plan it like that! Another event I would miss is the big greaser meet at Vegabaren with all the classic cars and the greaser girls. Not to mention all my sitting at my favorite cafe. I could go on and on for a while but lets leave it at this. I made this collage because it's Theme Day at CityDailyPhoto. The theme for februare is What Would You Miss?

Winter Birch Trees

From a recent walk in a birch forest at Välsta in Tungelsta. We got some more snow over night, might be time to find that old snow shovel.

First Semla of the Year

The fictive detective Ture Sventon, loved his temlor. He had a speech impediment that made him call them temlor rather than semlor. I bought this one (and one for my mother), at my favorite cafe earlier this week. It was very tasty. Not too expensive at 22SEK per semla.

The Armless Snowman

Took a bike ride to my favorite beach Årsta Havsbad the other day. The beach and the grassy hill were covered with a thin layer of snow. Walking back and forth my hands were soon ice cold from the ocean wind, (can't wear gloves and take pictures). Half way up the snowy hill I met this armless snowman. He told me that it had been a tough weekend with kids skiing down the hill but he hoped to be around for a little while longer.

A game of golf?

Anyone up for a game of golf? Okay. Lets try the golf course at Fors in Västerhaninge then. This is the 11th hole. A Par-3. Playing into the snow today so you better bring a shovel. And a pair of snow shoes. Oh, and try not to use white golf balls. Half the course is on the other side of the road, so mind the traffic when you cross the road to get to the 14th tee, okay?

That Old Tree

During a snow fall a few days ago I decided that a promenade to the old tree was in order. Especially as it is always fun to walk in deep snow.

Snow Ball Umbrella

My second ever arty photo of a "Björnloka" (common hogweed). Found on a recent snowy promenade where I used my (real), umbrella every time I used the Canon. No real problems with that even when switching lenses, but somewhere out in the snow you can now find one of my lens caps.

Ye Olde Farm Building

Five months in on this project now. A very wintery scene this time. A bit different from the December photo. You are looking at an old warehouse at the Välsta horse farm in Tungelsta. I'm taking one photo here every month for one year.

A Color Photo

Minimalism in Winter. Benches at the snowy commuter platform at Krigslida.

The Winter Portal

I'm not sure exactly how the Winter Portal works. Maybe if you walk through it Winter stays for another three months? Not wanting to risk that I walked around it.

Public Seating

Photographing benches is often fun. You have to think a bit and find the best angle to shoot from and figure out the best settings. I'm guessing that designing them is even more fun. I used the word Färdigsuttet as a title for this photo at flickr. It means that no one will sit here no more. These benches are history. They can still be found at the now closed bus terminus that I showed you two days ago, but not for much longer. For the next decade (!), this area will now be a busy building site.

Argos

In my youth I was once questioned by the police in that building, (guilty as charged). Old City Hall in Handen has been empty for a few years now. But it is now being rebuilt into an apartment building. The location is not too bad. It sits in the middle of the Haninge mall. The view from the top of the building (115 AMSL), will be spectacular with views over Stockholm and the archipelago, and you will have to pay good money to live in any of the 115 apartments. The construction work was delayed for more than a year because of parking issues, but that has been fixed. The name of the new apartment will be Argos (from Greek mythology), don't ask me why!

Handenterminalen

That is the name of the now closed bus terminus at the commuter station in Handen. Anyone arriving with the commuter train from Stockholm used this bus terminal if they needed to take a bus anywhere in Haninge. This area and a big parking lot near the City Hall building will soon be a busy construction site. This whole area will be decked-over and in the not too distant future you will find a lot of new buildings here. Around 450 apartments, a cinema and of course a new bus terminus. To see the panorama much bigger press here.

A Tropical Garden

Back in September I told you about the new living concept Bovieran at Ribby in Västerhaninge. On that visit I took the photo with a zoom lens from faraway. This time I took the bike to the building site. A lot had happened since September. I wanted to see how the big indoor garden looked, and as you can see on the top photo they are busy working on the roof framing at the moment. This is the tenth Boviera in Sweden. All available apartments here are sold out, and they are already planning a second and third site in Haninge. I like the idea with all the different themed indoor gardens, especially on a cold day like this. If you look closely you can see a few workers climbing around the roof frame.

Willys Jeep

All the way from Detroit. You don't see too many Willys Overland out on the road these days. This one is from 1953. The owner had stopped at a grocery store so I told him that I was going to take a few snaps.

Icy Road

I use this road on a daily basis (yes, it's that same road again Grace), and I have biked here many times when it has been snowy and icy, but as the Winter tires I bought recently didn't fit my Steel Horse, my bike has been parked for a while now. I told the guy that you can see here that he was the tough biker of the day, and he said something I couldn't hear. I took this earlier in the week and it has been a few warm day since so I will try to get out with the bike now. And I will bring the camera!

That Old Tree

Walked over to the old tree on Wednesday. Ice everywhere. But not so much snow. As I'm typing this it has rained non-stop for a few hours.

A Concrete Wall

The first building emerges at STAV 1:38 at Lillgården in Tungelsta. Haven't been able to find a name for this new area yet. Pre-school, row-houses and a retirement home here when they are done. A bit cold to work construction during the Winter is my guess.

Pain Barrier

Found this pain barrier on a recent winter promenade. It didn't stop me from shooting and it was a pain free experience, not considering the snow fall.

A Touch of Red

It snowed again yesterday. Tricky to use the camera in that sort of weather. Especially since I forgot to pack the umbrella that I often use when it's snowing. But as the snowing came to an end I found these red berries and knew that I would be able to get a nice Winter photo.

Ice Snake

Spotted this ice snake on a field near the commuter platform at Krigslida on Saturday.It's probably still there so you need to be careful. Either that or it is buried in, yes, you guessed it snow, been coming down for a few hours now. And it is cold again -7C as I'm typing this.

Red & White

All the snow from Wednesday was gone within 24 hours. We then had two days without snow until yesterday when it started to snow again in the early afternoon. This is Falu-red painted house along Södertäljevägen in Tungelsta.

As seen in the mirror

Shot this during my Winter promenade on Wednesday when it snowed for a couple of hours. This is a road in Tungelsta that dates back hundreds of years. It is called Skogsekebyvägen. Along it you will find a runestone from the Viking Era.

Winter in Sweden

During a "normal" Winter this scene is what you could expect to see if visiting Sweden. I took this photo 48 hours ago w. You are looking at a property at Skogsekeby in Tungelsta, called Sveaborg. Svea is the female personification of Sweden. The house was built back in 1928 when Josef and Henny Emanuelsson started a greenhouse business here.

Winter Road

It started to snow yesterday morning. Everything turned white in no time at all. It was still snowing when I walked down this snow covered road at Lida in Tungelsta one hour later. You can't see it here of course but this road got a thick new layer of asphalt just a few days before Christmas.

The Smiling Skier

Thanks to the recent cold spell the ski club at the Rudan nature reserve have been able to start the snow cannons. On my visit to the lakes the other day they had created a short ski track. It is only 700 meters long but if you like cross-country skiing and live in Stockholm it is one of the few places with snow at the moment. I took a bunch of photos using the panning technique. Shot with the pancake lens so I had to stand close to the track on the icy grass. One skier asked if I was from the local paper and I told her that I might send them a few snaps.

The Ice Fisher

Walking out on the clear ice (roughly one decimetre thick), at Lower Lake Rudan in Handen I met Åke Bäckman from Jordbro. He was ice fishing, been sitting there for fifteen minutes when I arrived. No luck so far for the ice fisher, but we agreed that it was a good day, both for ice fishing and Winter photography, with a blue sky and a bit of sunshine to warm you up.

Frozen Lake

The resent cold spell with -10C temperatures is over. But those cold days was all the the lakes at the Rudan nature reserve needed. This is how the Lower Lake looks today. The ice is thick enough to walk on, I gave it a go. During the Summer this place is popular with both anglers and sunbathers, but they stayed at home today!

Ice Shark

Been out with the steel horse a few times in 2015. The recent cold spell is over and all of a sudden it was 8C.The next day it was 3C and today we are back at 0C. I found the ice shark on the path near the old tree.

Conveyor Belt

Do you need a crusher? A machine that will help you make gravel from rocks? Well yes of course you do, who doesn't? Then this is your lucky day because I know where you can find one. It's been sitting unused for many years in a forested area in Tungelsta. This is how the rusty conveyor belt looked a few days ago when there was a thin layer of snow/frost on it. I had to shoot it one-handedly but it came out pretty much as I wanted it to.

There's a certain slant of light

I took this photo late last year, just a couple of days ago in fact. It's the little greenhouse in the park in Tungelsta. Built by the members of the local historical association. Using parts from abandoned greenhouses around Tungelsta. It is very popular for weddings and baptisms as well as markets and what have you. But it was empty on this very cold day. The temperature was -10C. What a difference a few days will do. As I'm typing this it is 8C and we are waiting for the storm Svea to hit us.

Best of the Year

Happy New Year everyone. Theme Day at City Daily Photo. Best photo of the year, and as usual it was an easy decision. The best photo of 2014 was the portrait. And here they are in a little collage.