Husby in Winter

Husby is one of those places that I often return to with the camera. Today it is a horse farm in a rural setting near the golf course in Österhaninge. It has an interesting history. Back in the good old days (Centuries ago), any farm named Husby was a place where local farmers had to go and pay their taxes. To see a very different Summer view of Husby try the Time Machine.

Two Little Angels

I don't visit cemeteries all that often. But as Julie has a weekly theme called Taphophile Tragics I might have to change that. These two angels on a headstone can be found at the cemetery next to the Medieval Church (it dates back to 1320), in Österhaninge. I have shown you photos of the church before. Here is a link to one post about the church with the leaning tower. Both photos are from my flickr archives. The pig in the background on the second photo was part of a art promenade and should be long gone now.

Lines and Curves

If you are a keen cyclist and live in Haninge you will recognise this. It's the steep climb along Dalarövägen at Åva. I shot this last week when I visited the old farm at Högsta where I photographed the collapsed barn. Oh, and before you ask it's not tire tracks on the road it's the shadows from the power lines. To see a color version use the Time Machine.

Autumn vs. Autumn

As you probably know by now, I will often go back for another photo if I find a beautiful spot, or an interesting building or anything else that I find eye-catching. This is one such place. A field in rural Österhaninge near Hesslingby. I think this diptych technique works well here. The photo I used for the left part was taken a couple of days ago. The more colorful and autumn looking photo is from 2007. It's a popular photo over at flickr with some 17 000 views. To see my other Different Seasons posts press here.

Money

Money is nothing. Money is everything. Money isn't everything. Everything isn't money. Money can preserve nature and landscapes.Money can destroy nature and landscapes. I choose to refuse. Be grateful for the nature that still exists.

(translation and interpretation from the original text by the artist made by me)

Karen Nordsø Lundberg


From the 2009 Art Promenade at the gallery in Österhaninge. This is my last photo from this years art promenade. I went back to the gallery over the weekend. I have previously met and photographed Karen, and when I talked to her on Sunday she wanted me to take a photo of one of her paintings in the show room, and mail that photo to her along with a version of the photo you see here which I have now done.

Betania

Time for another visit to rural Österhaninge. This time to a place called Beteby. Not far from Stadsberga, and it was after a visit to that village that I decided to continue down the gravel road for another kilometre or so. I have noticed a few unusual looking buildings here on previous visits, and luckily for me I saw the owner out working in the garden, so I walked in and introduced myself. This is Betania. The name comes from the biblical village Bethany. Today a private home, but once upon a time this was a Baptist Chapel. I was invited to have a look inside, and the old building hasn't changed much since it served as a chapel. The other building also has an interesting history. It is a "loftbod" from 1880. And it has travelled a long way, 930 kilometres. Originally it stood in the village Bodsvedjan, outside Boden, not far from the Fortress. Many years ago a young girl used to sleep in the hut. But when she grew older and moved south she decided to take the old loftbod with her. So today it stands in the garden at Betania. When it was first built it was most likely used for food storage.

Josephine

After shooting a very cool panorama photo at Alby in Österhaninge, I decided to stop at the medieval church and go for a photo shoot there. And funnily enough that was exactly was Josephine had been busy doing. She works with graveyard management and had just finished documenting some of the tombstones at the graveyard when I arrived. I hadn't planned to shoot any portraits, but figured it was a good opportunity, as we were both there for the same reason. Josephine lives at Vendelsö in Haninge and one of her hobbies is soccer. She is a midfielder and plays for Vendelsö IF. But just as the previous soccer player, The Strawberry Girl, that I met earlier this summer, Josephine is out with an injury, and hasn't played for a while because of a bad knee.

The old Stadsberga Farm

As promised here are a few more photos from Stadsberga, the little village in rural Österhaninge. By chance I met the birdwatcher Henrietta on a recent bike ride. And when we realised we here heading the same way we decided it would be fun to hang out for a few hours. Going on a photo shoot with a birdwatcher can be interesting. Every time Henrietta noticed a bird, a butterfly or even a cool cloud(!), she had to stop and have a closer look through her binoculars. Once we got to the village we decided to check out one of the three farms namely Stadsberga Gård. I don't know the owner of this farm so I don't have so much information about the place, but it does look like your typical farm from way back when with a few old barns, big storage silos and more. The big red building on the last photo is Årsta Säteri which once was the largest wooden building in Europe. More photos from Stadsberga (from my visit with Jim), to come.

Pastoral Idyll

I really love riding my bicycle. I prefer rural areas and gravel roads where there's no traffic to speak off. Over the last week or so I have been busy pedalling up and down most of the old roads in Österhaninge, shooting farm buildings, runestones and the odd Baptist chapel. All scenes that you will see on this blog in the next week or so. This is a view that I have come to really enjoy. This is Stadsberga. A small village with three farms, two of which you can see here. Remember Stig-Arne? The man you saw with my friend Jim at the old Smitty a few days ago. He lives in the farm house to the very left. On the other side of the big tree you can just see part of the Bakehouse. It is more that 300 years old and the bake oven is still there although the building today serves as a private home. Next is the stable and above that is the old barn where you can see something a bit different. To the right is Stadsberga Gård which I visited with Henrietta a couple of days ago. If you climb the steep road you will get up to a number of small red cottages that you can rent for the summer. All in all this is an idyll.

Moo!

There's something special about cows. And as I live in an area with quite a few farms, I do see a lot of cattle on my journeys around Haninge. And as with many other things I have to stop for a closer look and some photos especially as these cows are very photogenic. The top photo was taken near Alvsta on a recent bike ride with my friend Jim. This is Scottish Highland cattle, also known as Kyloe. Just after I took this shot Jim was on his way into the pasture to check out a standing stone, but as that got the attention of the herd, he was quickly back on the other side of the fence!



I shot the second photo close to Stadsberga, but it is actually from the same pasture, and the cattle all belong to the nearby Årsta Säteri. This was from a bike ride just two days ago with Henrietta, a birdwatcher I have met a few times. We stopped at a few interesting places and I will show some photos from our trip in a day or three.

Up in Smoke

But not the Cheech and Chong version.

Quit smoking before you will go up in smoke. That's the name of this piece. Made by the artist Bengt Hurtig. From the 2009 Art Promenade in Österhaninge. The theme this year is Money. I was a smoker myself for many years. Started smoking when I was eleven years old. Decided to give it up when I was thirty and haven't touched a cigarette since. I wonder how much money I have lost to smoking and how much I have saved since quitting.

H1N1

The biggest scare with the outbreak of the swine flu isn't that it could be as severe as the 1918 flu pandemic. No, the worst thing is that a lot of people wont be able to produce and consume for a long time! That's the interpretation by Klaus Appelt for the 2009 Art Promenade in Österhaninge, where the theme this summer is Money. This is the heaviest sculpture I have seen here. The pig and keyboard weighs in at more than 100 kilos. To show you a little more of the setting for the art promenade, here is another photo of the same sculpture taken from the nearby cemetery at the Medieval church.

Hay Harvesting

It's that time of the year again. Hay Harvesting. All around Haninge the farmers have been busy with the harvest. I have seen it in large scale near the Häringe castle, where they use many big machines from the Fituna Farm, and small scale like this at Husby in Österhaninge, where there is a small stable just up the hill where the hay from this field will end up as food for the horses. Nice to see the young and old working together here. Shot this last week on one of those very warm days. I believe that the people here are members of Helena Persson's family. Helena is one of Sweden's best English Riders.

An exiting day in Österhaninge

Husby is an old farm in Österhaninge. Back in the good old days this was the place where the local farmers paid their taxes to the king. They would arrive on their wagons that were filled with their produce. This is the old watermill that was also used as a sawmill, and later it also got a turbine which generated the electricity to the farm. Today there is a golf course here. And believe it or not, to get to the tenth hole you have to walk through the old mill! I spent some time here on Thursday with a flickr friend and photographer, Jim, who you can see here on the steep stairs, zooming in on a detail from the old mill.



We started by having coffee at the golf club, and that turned out to bee a big mistake, as it was very warm, and I was beginning to feel the heat. Luckily it was a bit cooler down by the stream. This is the view from inside the mill. What you see here is the Husby stream and a salmon staircase, also known as a fish ladder.



What you don't see here is what happened one hour after the visit to the mill. By then the temperature was around 30C and I was really feeling the heat as we were walking through an ancient grave field where you will also find Haninge's biggest ant hill in an old barn! Anyway, I was very dizzy and needed more water and as we made our way back to our bikes, we were chased by a bunch of angry horses through a horse pasture! Hard to believe, but that is what happened. I ran as fast as I could, while Jim hid behind a tree. Back at the stable, we told a bunch of girls what had happened as I drank around three litres of water in under five minutes. They probably got a big laugh out of that. Luckily for me it started to rain, and as I had a ten km bike ride home that rain probably saved me as my temperature slowly turned back to normal in the rain.

A Finansvalp

Time for another look at this years art promenade at the gallery in Österhaninge. This artwork may need some explanation. At least if you are not familiar with the word "finansvalp". Because this is supposedly one of those. The expression was made famous 20 years ago by the then union leader Stig Malm, and refers to the young traders on the stock market back then. You know the type, a yuppie who only cares about making more money. And now with the financial crisis upon us, the yuppies of today are running around looking for help to survive. They used to be fat cats ( the word valp means puppy, but you get the picture), but are now thin and ragged looking. When the times get better again the finansvalp will disappear only to become fat again at other peoples expences or something like that. This sculpture that you can see at the side of the road, next to the Medieval church, was made by the artist Annie Forsberg.

Does Money Make The World Go Round?

That's a good question. And as it happens Money is the the theme for this years Art Promenade at the gallery in Österhaninge. And with the economy as it is it's probably a good theme. For the fifth year running I have documented the promenade. So over the summer I will show you a photo every now and then. And this is the first one. The artist is Sylvia Sinel. Sylvia has set up a web site as her part of the project. It is called Alltförpengar, which translates to Everything For Money. Sylvia has also placed 100 coins all around the garden near the gallery. And as you can see I found one of the coins. On them you can read a question, on my coin it said, Now, what are you going to do. There are of course a few options. Take the coin with you. Leave it. Move it, or perhaps use it to buy a coffee at the gallery.

Location, Location, Location

Next to Årsta Säteri, (the big farm building you can see in the below photo) in rural Österhaninge there are three row houses like this one. Constructed in the mid 1980ths. If you enjoy golf, horseback riding, swimming in the sea, or sunbathing at the beach, this is where you should live. It's no more than 100 meters to the nearest stable. The second nearest is at the beautiful little village known as Stadsberga. And I'm guessing the people that live here often find golf balls in their gardens as the closest of three golf courses are no more that a short pitch away. The old Årsta castle where you can wine and dine is only a few hundred meters away. I took a great photo of the castle last year for this blog. You can see it here. And to my favorite beach, it's no more than a kilometre.

The Roads Less Travelled

As you probably know by now, I use my bicycle to get around. And here are two recent photos from a couple of bike trips around Haninge. The top photo shows Tjursta in Österhaninge. According to the latest version of the local bike map you can follow this gravel road all the way to the seaside resort Dalarö. A great idea as the traffic on the main road can be a bit hectic. Unfortunately I had to turn around a kilometre from here, because of the very rocky road, but I will try again later. If you live locally and need directions, you turn off the Dalarö Road at the Valsta Runestone.



Second photo shows the Hemfosa Horse Farm at Hemfosa. And if you take this very old and bumpy gravel road, that starts in Tungelsta, it will take you all the way to the impressive gates at the Häringe Castle. The historical old castle is situated on a peninsula with a nature reserve and is well worth a visit. And there's absolutely no traffic here if you don't count the odd horse back riders!

Anders Reuterswärd

Several art galleries around Haninge were open during the Easter Weekend, and I visited the Kyrkskolan Gallery in Österhaninge. This is one of the artists, Anders Reuterswärd. He had his first showing back in 1967. He is represented at the Moderna Museet as the famous art collector Pontus Hultén bought one of his paintings at that first show. Anders often works with fractal (repeating), triangles, and also with the central perspective. During his long career he has also worked with photography and made Super 8 mm film. As I was treated with coffee and cake in the garden, Anders and some of the other artists told me about one movie in which his father, the world famous artist Oscar Reuterswärd stars as a burglar who breaks into a house, and then leaves, climbing out through a window with a big bag slung over his shoulder. We used suggestive music, and it really was a fun project despite the fact that Oscar wanted it made one way and I wanted to do it my way, Anders explained. Everyone round the table agreed, as they had all seen the movie. You may have seen some of the other artists work on my blog, as I have photographed the last four Art Promenades.

The Leaning Church Tower

This is the medieval church in Österhaninge. It dates back to 1320, and is also known as Sankta Gertruds Church. Over the centuries the church has been rebuilt several times. It is said that the church is haunted and here is why: The 58 meter high tower was constructed in 1587. When the builder realised that it was leaning, he is said to have hanged himself up there. I don't believe in ghosts, but I did meet one person during my 100 Stranger Project, who works here, and she told me about the haunted church. Last October I showed you the tombstone of the famous writer Fredrika Bremer (1801-1865) , who rests at the burial ground behind the church.

Sky Watch Friday.