Two men and a dog

On a wooden boat. Heading for a marina at Finkarudd on Gålö. Bigger photo. If you follow the link below it's the marina at the top of the photo. Gålö is great place for a summer vacation. The Peninsula is a nature reserve in Haninge with lots of beaches. Tourists come here to fish or take long walks among the many oaks in the beautiful landscape. There's an old farm at Stegsholm that dates back a couple of hundred years. It was bought 200 years ago by Prince Carl who later became Charles XV of Sweden. People have been living at Gålö since the Viking era. There are lots of remains from that time including a few hill forts. More recently in 1719 the Russians attacked this area and not far from here there's a graveyard with buried russian soldiers.

marinas.com/view/marina/8932

Summer View

Back on the bridge at the bird park, Slätmossen in Handen. Bigger photo. Met a young man and his grandparents in the park. They were feeding the juvenile coots. We talked for a bit as they fed the birds and I took photos. Try the slideshow, now with 31 photos with this view.

Nearly Finished

We are having the house repainted. It looks like it will be finished tonight. All that is left for Sławek and Edek to do is to put up the new veranda roof and paint the wall under the ladders. It has started to rain and we can hear thunder not that far away...This is three photos stitched with Autostitch.

Butterfly on Yellow

A butterfly on the veranda wall at Bergdalen. This wall will be repainted tomorrow. Best seen at the original size.

Spooky House

This house always gives me the creeps. Creepier size. I think I have a pretty good imagination. If I ever decide to write a crime novel, this is where all the bad stuff will happen. You will find it on Södertäljevägen, that's my street, but luckily a few kilometers down the road, towards the city of Södertälje.

The Woodpecker Family

Three woodpeckers flying in for breakfast at the veranda. There are around 500 000 woodpeckers in Sweden. Normally they eat cones or insects from dead trees, but this is much better.

Colorful Bus Stop (Ironic Sunday)

Bus stops normally doesn't make me happy. Bigger photo. So imagine my delight when I happened upon this newly painted bus-stop at Håga. More photos of bus-stops in my flickr set called The Bus Stops Here.

Posing for the photographer

This common toad (Bufo bufo), accompanied me on the stairs for a while. After posing for a few photos it scared off the cat, checked out the water supply and then decided to hide under the veranda. Try the original size if you don't suffer from Bufonophobia!

Just a few minutes too late...

I was going to have a look at the traditional Midsummer celebrations at Brandbergen in Handen. Bigger photo. 50% of the people that live in Brandbergen are immigrants so I figured it would be a change from the one in Tungelsta. I do own a wrist watch, but that didnt do me any good today as I arrived just when all the dancing was over. So all I could to was take a few quick snaps of people taking photos of each other and the Midsommarstång or Maypole. There is a dance here (in the yellow building), but that doesnt get under way until tonight. So if you wanna see some Midsommar photos try that flickr tag.

Roofing Around

My great grandparents (on dad's side of the family) built the house some ninety five years ago. Bigger photo. Back then it was red. These days it's yellow. It's been that color for many years. With a red roof. A few years ago we had the house painted with a slightly different yellow. And the roof painted black. Now it's time to grind and paint again. Starting with the roof. Here you see two workers, Edek and Slawek (both from poland), normally they work at Blomorado but sometimes they get to other tasks as well.

Life in the Green Lane

Roe Deer in the middle of a field at Nedersta. Bigger photo. Couldnt get any closer, it was checking my every move. They live in a forest nearby and I often see them here. They sometimes visit my back garden. Last winter, looking for food they were on my veranda, looking in at me in the living room!

Fluffy Bird

There was a drama at the veranda the other day. Bigger photo. The neighbours cat, Tindra that has moved in where I live, managed to catch, kill and eat one of the juvenile birds, a Great tit. She later caught another one, a Blue tit, but with a little help from me that bird survived. Tindra had to spend the next couple of hours indoors. Now life has returned to normal at the veranda.Which means that all the birds, minus one are back.

Wrapping Up Lunch

Fancy a beetle for lunch? Said the spider.

Smultron

Smultron. That's what we call the wild strawberries over here. Bigger photo. Bergman made a movie called Smultronstället. The meaning for that is that the sweet things in life grow wild. And if you find these berries don't tell anyone where they grow. It will be your secret, your Smultronställe. I know where to look for these. So just after I found them I ate them with my filmjölk for breakfast. Whenever that happens it means that summer is here for real. And here is a link to per spective!

Something for the Material Girl?

Madonna could probably wear this. Bigger photo. From the 2007 Art Promenade at the gallery garden in Österhaninge. Students from the Fredrika Bremer High School was invited to take part in this years exhibition. Couldn't find any info who made this but it's one of my favorites from the sculpture park.

Feed Me! Feed Me! Feed Me!

There's often birds at my veranda. My favorite is the woodpecker. And a blue tit that has been in a fight. The different birds often fight for position at the bird feeders. The woodpecker always wins. Over the last few days this juvenile great tit has been flying in with it's mother. It sure can scream if and when the food doesnt arrive on time! Probably best at the original size.

Guantánamo

Guantánamo by Annie Forsberg. From the 2007 Art Promenade at the gallery in Österhaninge. This years theme is Freedom. Bigger photo. In the background you can see another artist, Britt-Marie Lundin trying to repair her artwork. The exhibition this year has the form of a sculpture park in the garden surrounding the gallery and is open all summer.

Summer at the old farm

I took a walk along the stream a few days ago. Bigger photo. Wanted to get another shot of the rapeseed field in full bloom. This is the 700 year old farm at Nedersta. Quite a difference from early May. I often stop here and take photos. if you would like to see more you can in my Nedersta set at flickr.

Art by Gunnar Stahre

This year, students from the nearby Fredrika Bremer high school has been invited to take part in the 2007 Art Promenade. Bigger photo. The theme this year is Freedom. This is how Gunnar Stahre interprets that. The red building in the background once was a church school. It was destroyed in a fire back in 1993, but was soon rebuilt. Today a private home. The promenade is open all summer and all the artwork can be found in the garden here at the gallery.

Life at the beach

The weather has been amazing over the last week. Bigger photo. If you know me that means a few bike rides down to the beach at Årsta Havsbad. On this visit I arrived early and there wasnt that many people around. The water was warm, probably 18C. I don't have a water proof camera but I walked out into the ocean to shoot a panoramic view from the water. Havent finished that photo yet, so instead I give you this beach babe. We talked about the fact that the great weather will be gone in a day. Expecting thunder and lightning, for the next couple of days. But you never know...

Heart Art

Freedom is to follow the heart. By Sanna Wallin. See a larger version. From the Art Promenade in Österhaninge. In swedish the exhibition is called Konststigen 2007. The theme this year is Freedom, or Frihet. Susanna works with and teaches something called Vedic Art.

The Gallery

Every summer the artists at the gallery in Österhaninge, Galleri Kyrkskolan, organizes an Art Promenade. The gallery is situated in a rural area, the next door neighbour is the old church and church school. I visited on the hottest day (so far) of the year. I was the only one visiting, and I had a chance to talk to one of the artists. The last couple of years the art promenade really was a promenade, you had to walk a few km's to see everything. This year the theme was Freedom and all objects are within a few minutes walk from the gallery. I will post a few objects from this year over the next week. If you would like to see the 2005 and 2006 promenade you can, here.

Old Cottage

One of the old cottages at Berga Agricultural College. If you find your way down to the gravel road far away to the right, you will end up at Kapp Ekeby Road that dates back to the Viking era.

Summer Driving

This is a 1964 Amazon. Volvo never made a convertible from the Amazon so Gerry customized it back in 1990. It has been featured in a swedish magazine, Bilsport a few years ago. He only drives it in the summer time of course. I passed by his garage as he was leaving and stopped and asked if I could take a few photos. He gladly approved and as the car lover he is, then told me everything about it and if I hadnt stopped him he would still be talking...

Back at the path again

An apple a day keeps the doctor away. Combined with a brisk walk through the forest at Håga it will also keep you fit, and in a good mood, as proven here with a woman out on a summer promenade. Bigger photo.

My 35th photo from this shortcut through the forest. Best viewed as a slideshow.

Water Tower + Art Thingy

The old water tower at Berga Agricultural College. There's a castle down by the bay with a bigger water tower designed by a famous architect called Torben Grut. It is possible that he made this one as well, but I'm only guessing. What the art thingy is I have no idea, but I like the look of it. From my visit to the open-house weekend at the agricultural college at Berga.

Berga Mansion

The mansion at Berga is around 300 years old. Today it's part of the college, and I believe that a few of the former principals used to live here. The college opened in 1922. The college founder Helge Axelson Johnson, also built himself a castle down by the bay, these days the military owns that land. I don't have photo of the castle but it looks like this:

www.haninge.se/upload/10660/berga1.jpg

From my visit to the open-house weekend at the agricultural college at Berga.

Sheep Shearer

Bigger photo.

A sheep shearer in action. Every year in the early summer the Agricultural College at Berga in Haninge has an open-house weekend. As a kid I used to come here with my parents. As it was a warm and sunny day I took the bike over to Berga on Saturday. The place was absolutely crowded. Long queues for everything that you could eat, but as I had anticipated that, (visited just after breakfast), I had a great time looking at all the animals, pigs, cows, horses and more. Also saw lots of tractors, farming equipment, machines and farming buildings. Then I cooled off with a visit to the museum. The farm here dates back over 800 years. The college is not that old, it opened in 1922. Many students live here year round. There's a castle down by the bay built by Helge Axelson Johnson. Today the military owns that part of the estate. I will be uploading a few photos from my visit over the next day. You can see them HERE. Did I buy anything? As a matter of fact I did. One big jar of cloudberry jam, so I will be eating a lot of waffles now...

A little too close to the railway line

I took this photo to show you how close to the railway line Nynäsbanan, this new house at Nederstavägen in Lida is being built. The train is the old commuter, arriving at the Krigslida station. Next stop a km down the line, is Tungelsta. The line is 100 years old and in a few years time there will be another track built here. Could be time to put up a fence if the happy home owners have kids?

Bigger photo.

Summer Landscape Me

I live in a rural area of Haninge. It has changed much over the last years, but there are still a few farmers left. Here you see me at the rapeseed field at Nedersta. The field was shining bright yellow with a scent to match. I stopped to photograph two pheasants, but they ran off, so I took this self portrait instead. Just before that I stopped at a horse pasture.

Bigger photo.