Mostly Snow

It started to snow earlier this afternoon. So I figured I should take a few Winter snaps, but I didn't have the energy for that. But here is the one photo I actually took. Sure looks like a wintery background and it is. And all that white is freshly fallen snow. But it is a bit of an illusion as that background is a greenhouse where the temperature is very low as nothing is growing in there this time of the year so the snow don't melt when it hits the glass.

Winter Glow

A sudden change in the weather. Two days ago it was -15C. Today it is 4C and snow snow is slowly melting away. Took this snap at home yesterday afternoon. The glowing greenhouse, today owned by Blomorado was built back in 1991.

A Colorful Sunset

It's nice when you can shoot a photo or two without leaving the house. I took this snap from the veranda a few days ago. I guess the colorful sunsets is one good thing this time of the year.

I ate these

Healthy eating and an ice cream. The new team at my favorite cafe Malmens konditori in Handen are trying some new recipes. Including this bread that contains filmjölk. You probably don't know what that is so read up on Filmjölk here. I nicked the ice cream at Blomorado yesterday. There was no one at the checkout-counter, and that is a bad combo if there's ice-cream nearby! This was a new licorice icecream and very tasty if you ask me. I might even pay for the next one.

A look into a greenhouse

Spring has been delayed this year. Yesterday I heard the meteorologist talk about a possible snow fall in the Stockholm area come the weekend. I hope I heard that wrong. This was greenhouse number six at Blomorado in Tungelsta two days ago. In total they have 100 000 violets waiting for Spring there.

Caption me

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.

Viola tricolor hortensis

I have borrowed a fun camera for a day or two. The Canon Powershot SX30 IS has a super-zoom, with a 35x zoom lens, equivalent to a focal length of 24-840mm. Yesterday I walked down to our old greenhouses, to see what was happening at Blomorado as it is called today. In the newest greenhouse (we built it back in 1990), this was the scene. Thousands of colorful pansy violets to test the cameras macro feature on.

Stepping back in time

A (former), Scania firetruck from 1975 with a turntable ladder arrived to Blomorado in Tungelsta on Saturday. Which was like stepping back in time. I'm guessing most boys at one time may have wanted to become a fire fighter, or even a turntable ladder operator like the guy on the second photo. I remember these old trucks. They sure look very different compared to the modern fire trucks. It was a problem with the old brick chimney at Blomorado. It needed some fixing, and in just a few minutes the stonemason was busy doing his stuff. I'm not sure how old the chimney might be, but my great grandfather started this business here 100 years ago.

Glowing Greenhouse

December started with a very colorful sunset in Tungelsta. This was the view from my front door at Bergdalen yesterday afternoon. Looks a bit like the sunset I showed you two years ago. You are looking at a greenhouse that we built back in 1990. These days it's owned by Ingemar and Danuta at Blomorado, but just as back then this time of the year it's filled with thousands of poinsettia plants. Oh, and if you would like to see how the glowing greenhouses look from the top of the hill press here.

The Flower Shop Girl

This is Danuta. Together with Ingemar she owns and runs the plant nursery Blomorado in Tungelsta. Their store is open seven days a week. So if you live in the area, and are looking to buy some yellow, gold, orange, purple, violet, red, white, or even black spring flowers, this is the place for you. They also sell fruit trees and anything else you may need for your garden. During my visit today they were very busy. Not surprisingly as it looks like spring has finally arrived, and everyone is looking to buy flowers. Today is Theme Day at City Daily Photo and the theme is Yellow. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants. Oh, and if you wanna see more Blomorado photos I have a set with 144 photos!

First Snowfall

In the early afternoon it started to snow here in Tungelsta. I was preparing to go out and take a few snow photos, but the snow was already melting away. Last year we had a heavy snowfall in November and that time I got quite a few good winter photos. The greenhouse you see here belongs to Blomorado and is filled with Poinsettia plants.

Bergdalen Sunset

The view from the veranda yesterday afternoon. Bigger photo. The setting winter sun exploding in colors. The headlights to the right belongs to customers on their way to buy poinsettia plants from Blomorado.

Mercedes-Benz 190SL

I was eating pancakes on the veranda when this 1957 Mercedes-Benz 190SL drove up the road and parked outside one of the greenhouses at Blomorado. Bigger photo. The owners had their leather helmets on, and I knew it was time for a photo shoot. The driver told me that he was always working on the car, and only took it out from the garage during the summer month. I took ten photos and if you're interested you can see them as a slideshow here.

A Goldfish

The photographers reflection in the aquarium at Blomorado. A lonely goldfish swimming around lucky not to live in a fishbowl! They say that goldfish only have a three second memory. I hope that's true, but I don't think it is. I saw a segment about that on Mythbusters.

Blomorado Greenhouse

A midwinter view at one of the greenhouses at Bergdalen. A visitor walking towards Blomorado that is still closed for the season. Inside the glowing greenhouse there's many thousands pansy plants that will be ready when Blomorado opens again in mid March. This guy will be back many times. He buys plants here every week so he must have a big garden or no running water at home...

Professional at work ...

Wash Your Van Like a Pro.
Step one.
Use a high pressure heavy duty hose. Preferably one without any holes, so you don't risk any accidents.

Step two. See to it that there's no neighbour with a camera around...




This is my neighbour Ingemar, the gardener at Blomorado, out washing his old Van. Heavy winds here today, but a few degrees over zero, maybe 4C so he could wash the car outside, that doesnt happen very often here at least not in the middle of winter.

Christmas Already?

Not really. But the poinsettia plants are ready. Blomorado will open later in the week and I was there yesterday to take some photos for their website. This is greenhouse number six. The newest greenhouse built in the spring of 1990. Posing among the poinsettias are the new gardeners Ingemar and Danuta. Fact: There's 9 million citizens in Sweden. This year around 9 million poinsettia plants will be sold in december. CLICK HERE to see how the plants looked in October.

See where this picture was taken. [?]

Just after sunset

In November it gets really dark in Sweden. Today sun up was at 07:18. Sun down this afternoos at 15:46. It's not my favorite time of the year. But you can get some great photo opportunities. Had you lived in Tungelsta say 30 years ago this would have been a very familiar view. A glowing greenhouse. Today there are only 11 greenhouse businesses left. This is Blomorado. Shot half an hour after sunset. The poinsettia plants needs all the light they can get.

A Bergdalen Sunset

November is a good month for Bergdalen sunsets. Took this from the stairs. The greenhouse belongs to blomorado and is filled with poinsettia plants.

Before the storm

just in case. a before shot, from the hill at bergdalen. ingemar sounded a bit worried about the approaching storm. there have been a few bad ones over the years. if the wind gets hold of one piece of a greenhouse roof anything can happen. i will post another hill panorama after the storm.