Midsummer is the most important weekend/holiday in Sweden. The National Day is nothing compared to Midsummer. The celebration dates back thousands of years and is filled with tradition that of course have changed a bit over the years. Here are sixty or so photos from the festivities that took place at the Höglunda park in Jordbro on Friday. Around 1500 people gathered for a few hours of fun. The first order of business was to dress the Maypole, or the Midsomarstång as we like to call it. That took about one hour. You need a lot of fresh flowers and green tree branches to create the wreaths for the Maypole. Then it was time for the raising of the pole. With the help of young and old that only took two minutes. And then it was time for all the traditional dancing. The round dance took about one hour and was a big hit with both kids and adults. After that a lot of people gathered around the stage and listened to the Jordbro World Orchestra and a few other acts. There was games for the kids and food and candy for the hungry. The Mayor Martina Mossberg and a few other politicians were busy handing out free strawberries. I met many familiar faces and one or two new ones as well.
I was having coffee on the veranda at home when these two women came into view. They had been shopping for flowers at Blomorado, and were now on their way home. If you need to, you can borrow a wheel barrow at Blomorado and that is what one of them did. I ran for the camera and as I took the shot I had already decided on a title for the photo, spot the mother. No one cared much about it on flickr but a while ago someone asked if they could blog it on Caption.me, and at the moment some of the members on that site are busy trying to be witty enough to win £100.
Not a bad setting for a little house. They live in the Rudan nature reserve only meters from the lake. To the right you can spot a row boat that they use for fishing.
Whenever I stop and look at these roots at Nedersta I see naked people. Some sort of orgy going on.
I waked out onto a jetty at one of the lakes at the Rudan nature reserve and sat down for a few minutes. Normally you would find a few fishers here or a bunch of sunbathers but on this visit I had the jetty for myself.
Skywatch Friday.
Buy your locally made Coca-Cola directly from the truck. Spotted this girl selling the soft drink "at a very good price" at the Port 73 mall in Handen a few days ago. Coca-Cola Sweden is based in Jordbro (That's where Mick was working for a few weeks). The water used in soft drinks made in Jordbro comes from a well only two kilometres from the plant. The reason for this drive was of course the Euro 2012.
You learn something every day. I spotted this guy at a bus stop at Ribby in Västerhaninge yesterday and knew that I had to take his portrait. This is Baby Diaper. He told me a few facts about Juggalo, a lifestyle I know nothing about. Originating from Detroit and the Insane Clown Posse. Baby Diaper also told me that there are around 200 Juggalos in Sweden. They usually meet once a year at a big gathering. I had time to grab a few portraits before Baby Diaper's bus arrived.
Met Christina (Tarantino's Favorite Actress), on my way to the old tree. She was with a friend & dog. I asked her if she had spotted the foxes, but a bit surprisingly she hadn't done that. Normally she knows everything that happens in this area when it comes to the flora and the fauna. The composition is a bit different here from how I normally photograph the old tree, but there you go.
I think it is safe to say that the readers of this blog don't care much about art. But here we go again. This is my second photo from this years Art Promenade. This interpretation of this years theme was made by Annie Forsberg. The theme this year is...
School's out for summer. They have been partying for around two months. Their parents are probably broke. I'm guessing that all the grad students you can see here will have a massive hangover today. Sounds like a lot of fun...These kids graduated from the Fredrika Bremer secondary school in Handen on Friday. I shot this photo from my favorite cafe.
This was a pleasant surprise. I visited Småhamra the other day. It's where they found that runestone last year,and I will tell you some updated news about that in a day or three. Anyway,from Småhamra you can take a short-cut through the forest to get to the little village at the Tyresta national park, and that's what I did. I was on the bike and the path is mostly for horses, but you can manage on a bike. Half way through the forest I took a wrong turn. I realised my mistake when the path ended. And this is where it ended. At a little tarn. And next to it a little cabin. I guess it is something belonging to the national park, but I'm not sure. What I do know is that I was very tired when I arrived here, but sitting down by the water for a few minutes, enjoying the silence and the view made all the difference.
Skywatch Friday.
These heifers live at one of the smallest farms I have ever visited. It is called Haga and you will find it in Tungelsta. On this my most recent visit on one of those beautiful early summer days the cows were busy eating grass when I arrived to the pasture. At first they were a bit shy, but after a minute or so they decided that I was friendly and came running towards me.
We celebrate National Day of Sweden today. I will probably not go very crazy today, but I will enjoy a special pastry at my favotite cafe. Update, I have added a photo of the National Day pastry and boy was it tasty!
The annual art promenade at the gallery in Österhaninge opened this weekend. Special bonus points if you can figure out the theme for 2012. It would be impossible by just looking at this artwork by Anders Reuterswärd, but you never know, you might guess it anyway. But I really don't think so.
Three photos from Djurgårdsgrind in Tungelsta. The land here was bought by the Johansson family a century ago. They were land-workers employed at a big estate near Ösmo in Nynäshamn. Somehow they managed to borrow enough money to buy Djurgårdsgrind. The first thing they did was to build a home, seen in the first photo. They stayed here for a number of years and also built a second home, that is the larger building on the second photo. They had a young son when they moved in here, he became a good friend to my grandfather. The young boy grew up to become a famous author. Ivar Lo-Johansson. As soon as he could, he left Tungelsta and moved to Stockholm. I have read a couple of his auto biographies where he speaks of his life here. Sadly the property will soon be gone. The elderly owners that have used Djurgårdsgrind as a summer house for the last decades never cared about any of the buildings here, as you can tell by the state of one of the barns. I heard from a friend recently that the couple had passed away and that the property was up for sale, so on a sunny day last week I took the bike over for a photo shoot. I'm guessing that any new owner will know nothing about the history here and that all the buildings will be gone in a near future. I have a few more photos it a flickr set.
Sometimes if the weather is crap I will go for a photo promenade around Tungelsta. And during the last three days the weather in question has been just that. Awful. It was warmer actually during Christmas last year compared to this weekend. Yesterday during the Stockhom Marathon it was the coldest summer day for nearly ninety years. Anyway this might be a familiar view to some of the readers. This is the Tungelsta commuter station. The commuter from Stockholm has just arrived. The panorama is made from ten photos. If you want to you can see the original size if you press here.
On a recent visit to the old tree I met two birdwatchers. They told me about the fox family that lived in what is left of an old stone cellar. So on my way back I stopped for a closer look and after a few seconds one of the young foxes spotted me, that is the second photo. On my most recent visit to the old tree I passed the fox earth, and when I looked back a fox appeared behind on the grassy hill next the earth and kept watch on me.
The Björklund horse farm is situated near the iron Age grave field, and the Gullringskärret nature reserve. The only way to get to the farm is to take the Viking Era gravel road from Västerhaninge. The road ends at the farm and you can only continue on foot or on bicycle. Heading home recently I stopped at the pasture when I noticed a few horses eating dandelions. It was a very peaceful scene and all I could hear was bird song. I think this photo works well for the theme day which is Tranquility. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants
