Cookies, Anyone?

I'm pretty sure that I ordered two normal cookies at Malmens konditori, my favorite cafe. But then as I reached for them, sitting at the table with the usual suspects, they suddenly looked like this, spooky...

That Old Tree

A man out walking his dog near the old tree on this gloomy day.

Please be Seated

Continuing with the theme from yesterday. I will most likely sell this photo, (for a lot of money), to Haninge Tourism. They often describe Haninge with words like Archipelago and Wilderness. This is a fine bench in a forested area near the popular Rudan nature reserve where you can rest your tired legs. Feel free to have a smoke, toss the cigarette butt anywhere, and sit and watch the forest burn.

Have a seat

There's an amphitheatre at the Eskilsparken in Handen. If you walk up to the top and aim your camera back down at the wooden seats this is the view that you would see. At least if you had a full frame camera and a 40mm lens. And thanks to Debra over at Utata you can also see the photo at the Front Page.

Temporary Colors

Most of the natural colors of Autumn are gone now. But you can still find temporary colors here and there, this is an underpass near the power plant in Jordbro. A place where pretty much any graffiti helps to liven the place up

The Last Leaves

The Big Knit

I paid two SEK extra when I bought this Innocent smoothie. That money will go to the Swedish Red Cross and they in turn will give the money to the lonely elderly. People were asked to knit miniature caps and more than 50 000 caps were made. If you are a good knitter it will just take ten minutes to create something like this. You can use the cap as an egg warmer. I enjoyed the smoothie on a pier at lake Rudan. Gallery here: www.denstorastickningen.se/galleri

Artwork Details

I stopped at the Eskilsparken yesterday, wanted to see if the little tree-clad hillside in the park had any interesting Autumn colors for me to photograph. It hadn't, so I walked back to the sculpture group near the amphitheatre and that's where I took these three photos of some of the details on the artwork Fåglarna i Handen by PYE Engström.

Naturspegling

I had a look at the weather forecast for the next ten days yesterday. Yikes. Gray skies followed by colder temperatures, some rain and then more gray skies. Not really my kind of weather. There are still some splashes of colors out there if you know where to look. This was the scene at a pond in the Slätmossen nature park a couple of days ago. Met a few people there and as always happens these days we discussed the wolf situation.

Natalia

This is Natalia. I see her most every day. She owns my favorite cafe, Malmens konditori in Handen, and she can be seen casually talking to customers while taking care of business. I took this portrait of Natalia with my new zoom lens a while back. She is an interesting woman and I do find her very photogenic so a longish photo shoot with her is around the corner.

Boo!

There's a ghost floating around at my favorite cafe, Malmens Konditori in Handen. It is trying it's best to scare away potential customers looking to score some coffee&cake but no one seems scared of the poor thing.

Årsta Säteri

The big wooden building at the seat farm Årsta Säteri in Österhaninge. Once said to be the largest wooden structure in Northern Europe. I took the photo a while back and had a question out via the historical association about some facts about it but no response so far. I took this with the nifty fifty. It is twelve photos stitched together and then cropped a bit.

That Old Tree

The "Brittsommar",(Indian Summer),is coming to an end now as it is getting a bit colder. This was the old tree yesterday. The leaves have changed color and it won't be long now before they are all gone.

Tied Cottage and Hay Bales

Tied cottage, (drängstuga), at Skattegården, one of the properties at the tiny hamlet Ormsta in Haninge. A bit off the beaten track so there's usually no one here other than the people living in the area, I met two of them out walking their dog. The road ends here so if were to travel by car to Ormsta this is where you turn around. If you are on foot, or bike, like me, you can continue on the old gravel path that will take you to Husby where there's a popular golf course.

No Predator

Another day, another story about the wolf. I'm pretty fed up about the whole thing by now, but that doesn't help. A hunter in the forest here at Ormsta got scared when the wolf came too close. He had to call in his friends and the four of them then walked away from the area with the wolf following them closely. There's a Facebook group listing all wolf observations and a lot of people seems really scared of the animal. One local politician has said publicly that she wants the wolf to be put down. So far it has killed a few lambs and one cat. I have told my cat to be careful when she's out and about but she didn't seem too worried. The wolf in question is equipped with a GPS device and every 72 hours it sends info back to Norway. Some people now say that there's in fact two wolfs running around eager to kill and eat their babies, but I'm not convinced about that yet. But I did see a report over the weekend that the wolf had been spotted near a farm with cattle and that it had closed in on the cows.

Smedstugan

After a week in bed with the flu I have been out on the bike twice to document Autumn. First photo here shows the old road towards Fors. Second photo is a panorama made from four photos taken with the new zoom lens. It shows a cottage at Fors, sometimes refereed to as Smedstugan. It has an unusual roof design, unfortunately you can't see that detail on the panorama as the birch tree is in the way. There's another house just behind it, Gästgiveriet, where for many years a photographer lived. Her name was Sigrid Numan and it is thanks to her that there are lots of photos from this part of Haninge from the time around the second world war. Her ICA camera from 1926 has been donated to the local historical association and can be seen at Tingshuset in Västerhaninge. Sigrid's husband Ragnar, was a bookbinder and he worked from this building. Larger version for Lowell at flickr. More facts about Fors at Haninge.org here: Fors.

Four-storey window

A four-story window at the newly renovated building Rudsjöterrassen near the commuter station in Handen. Shot with my new zoom lens from an empty parking lot.

Birdman Update

I have shown you a couple of portraits of Birdman over the years. We never knew each other growing up despite spending most of our lives in Haninge, and Tungelsta for that matter. It feels like many years ago now that I first stopped him and asked if I could take his portrait. It only took us a minute that time to realise that we had a lot of people in common. Funny how the world works. Anyway, I took this portrait of him a few days ago in his orchard when I was out trying my new zoom lens.

The old Smithy

No new photos to show you as I'm still in bed with the flu. This is a photo, taken with my new zoom lens from a few days ago. It shows the old smithy at the 700-year old fsarm Nödesta Västergård.

Smoothie

Haven't been outdoors for a couple of days. In bed with the flu. Drank this yesterday and it gave me some new energy. Hoping to be up and running today.

Customized Volvo Amazon

This cool car, a 1962 Volvo Amazon, heavily customized was parked outside my favorite cafe last week. I have seen it around many times before but never been able to photograph it. It belongs to the Slusk, Jesse.

Beyond the window

I started to think about Haruki Murakami when I photographed this window yesterday with my new canon zoom lens. It's part of a new school currently under construction at Sleipnervägen in Handen. Construction started in the Spring but it won't be finished until next Autumn. You can see an illustration if you follow this link that will take you to the builders website.

Peace and quiet

He needed some time to reflect. Some peace and quiet. There was trouble at home and he needed to get away from it all. We talked for a few minutes and during that time he caught a rainbow trout. As seen at the Lower Lake at the Rudan Nature Reserve in Handen a few days ago.

Le Quattro Stagioni

Two very different photos. Showing the new housing area behind the Nödesta farm at Nedersta in Västerhaninge. It is called De Fyra Årstiderna, or Le Quattro Stagione, supposedly a new living concept if you want to believe the builder, and it is already sold out! The different parts are called Vårkanten, Sommargården, Höststigen och Vintergatan. Took the first photo with the new zoom lens, and was very lucky with the light. Took the second photo the previous day from the forest behind the new housing area. It is a panorama made from six photos shot with the nifty fifty lens.

EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM

Often when someone leaves a comment in Swedish on this blog it is Lasse Jansson from Stigtomta that has something to say. He wrote in a recent blog post that he had retired his EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM lens, so I decided to buy it. Met up with Lasse two evenings ago when he and a couple of photography friends were on their way to Nynäshamn and a ferry ride to Gotland. Took my first photos with the heavy lens yesterday. It weighs 1.2 kilo I think. Here are some of the first portraits. First one shows the tattoo artist Niklas whom I met in Handen on Friday. He has a face that is hard to miss. Second portrait is of his friend Jesse.

Volvo De Luxe

Spotted this 1973 Volvo 142 driving down Sleipnervägen yesterday. So I chased after it. The car is in mint condition. Not a scratch. Looks new. The owner never drives it during the Winter. He bought the car when it was brand new 44 years ago. A clever man. And proud of his car.

Damaged Paint

I got bored aiming the camera at the Autumn colors so I stopped at a brick building where there's usually a lot of graffiti. This is a detailed photo of the door of that building.

Farm House

October started with a bike ride to the national park, Tyresta. It wasn't planned, but as a cafe where I were supposed to meet two friends were closed we decided to meet up at the old village in the national park where there is a popular cafe. This building is known as Dahlgrensgården. It has been moved to it's current position, but I don't know when that happened. History tells us that the village was established just over 700 years ago. If you want to learn more about the national park follow this link.

Follow The Line

Some sort of street art I guess. Two circles, two hundred meters apart with the three lines in different colors between them. As seen along Handenterminalen in Handen. This part of Handen is undergoing a lot of change at the moment with the construction of Haningeterrassen.

Entrance

I'm sure you could get a few culturals to praise this work of art at the cultural centre in Handen. They would talk about it's importance in this day and age, and how they liked the way the glass, stone and the wood interacted. And how the sound inside really surprised them. And then they would all use their smartphones to document this very significant work of art. At least until one of the workers walked in and continued the work of the replacing the revolving door that has been the entrance to the centre for the last 15 years.

Wining and dining

Lamb chops and sausage from local wildlife, bought at the farmers market in Stockholm by the very picky Jujja. Garlic roasted potato. A nice sallad. A bottle of Amarone. Whisky, Svein from Highland Park. Nice Autumn evening yesterday at the veranda at Norrby. Good company. Dessert indoors after dark by the open fire. A silly wine opener box. A cigar for Hans. Not a bad way to say goodbye to September.