View from a bridge

From a recent bike ride in Haninge. This is the nature park Slätmossen in Handen. It includes wetlands and ponds that purify stormwater from Handen before it flows toward the Baltic Sea. It supports a rich bird and wildlife population. I have been photographing this view for many years.

Tulips

Tulips in Handen. A few years ago we had a tulip festival, which was fun for me as a photographer. Then a year later the municipality got the date of the annual festival wrong with about one week so on the festival weekend the tulips had already bloomed. No festival since. But there are a few flower beds still, like this one.

Something new

On my tiresome but still great bike ride yesterday I stopped for photos of new, or newish buildings. Top photo shows a new structure outside what for many years was a furniture outlet at the Jordbro industrial park. Next, an apartment building under construction near the commuter station in Handen. The new underground bus depot will be closed during a period from now, so crowds of commuters will be seen queueing at temporary bus stops along Nynäsvägen. In the third photo, snapped from the bike path through Vega you can see three new shops that opened in this new building last year. So if you need car glass, paint or electronics this could be a good place for a visit. We finish with two new apartment buildings next to the Trångsund commuter station.

Working out

16:20. Pitch dark. From late November. People working out at SATS Haninge in Handen. Oh, and I have never been to a gym in my life.

Free apples!

Easy to get some free apples this time of the year. Cycling home a while back, I stopped at a property along Gamla Dalarövägen in Handen where there were at least ten paper bags with free apples. A note said feel free to take a bag. So that is what I did. I made a salad with apples and carrots with dinner that evening, and then yesterday I made this Apple Crumb Pie after my brother gave me a recipe, sadly for him he flew to Cyprus on Sunday morning, so no pie for him!

Kvarteret sjögläntan

Building site in Handen. Close to the Rudan nature reserve. Some of the apartment buildings here are already finished and a lot of people have already moved in. But there are still three or four buildings under construction. The two builders here are Mjöbäcks and Järngrinden.

The green lung

Eskilsparken. The green lung in Handen. Popular with sunbathers during the Summer. This Winter, a good place to go sledding with the kids. When I stopped by there yesterday, it looked very icy. The second photo is just ice and snow, and a bench. Normally, you would walk down the grassy hill to meet up with your friends for a picnic. Try that today and chances are you would end up at the emergency room with a broken leg.

New Bridge

The new pedestrian bridge crossing the Nynäsbanan railway track at the Rudan nature reserve is now open. The old one was deemed unsafe after someone drove over it with a car, or at least that was the rumor I heard. The houses in the background are all new, this is the same area I showed you a few days ago with the scaffolding. What you see to the left in the top photo is a new school.

Winter Construction

New apartments under construction in Handen. A few years ago this was a little forest with a few old summer houses. From here you are just a short walk from both the commuter station, mall and the Rudan nature reserve.

Ice Cycling

Swedish word of the day.Iscykling. Ice cycling. Not something I really enjoy. And usually the municipality will keep one walkway/bike path in Haninge clear from ice and snow at all time, but not yesterday when it was non-stop bone breaking cycling for most of the way. This is particularly bad here in Handen as this stretch was redesigned and made narrower a number of years ago when a new bus stop was temporarily moved here during the construction of a new underground bus depot closer to the commuter station. And then when all that work was done they somehow forgot to change this stretch back to how it used to look.

Walking the dog

A couple out walking their dog at Eskilsparken in Handen. They commented on the fact that I was aiming the camera into the fountain until they noticed the ice, and then I aimed the old Canon at them as they walked up the hill.

Autumn at the lakes

The Rudan nature reserve in Handen is a favorite of mine. If you don't believe me, press here. This is a view over the Lower Lake, Nedre Rudasjön. It is very popular with anglers in the Spring, Summer and Autumn. And with ice fishers during the Winter. There are six jetties around the lake from where they can fish, (although one was missing, probably to be replaced because of its recent wobbliness). On this visit I spotted only three people fishing and I said hello to one of them as he passed me by as I took this photo.

The story behind the photo

I am on the bike. I spot the old Fiat as it leaves a shopping center and passes me by on Nynäsvägen in Handen. So I think, there goes a missed photo opportunity. Minutes later, I see it parked at Vegabaren. So I cycle that way. As I close in, the owner stands in front of his car admiring it, while snapping away with his smartphone. So I ask if he would mind if I take a photo as well. No, you could take a lot of photos if you would like to. So as he walks in and order some food, I take my photos. A guy working at the fast food joint walks by with a big green garbage bin. He says something about the beauty of the old car, I agree and continue taking photos, not realizing that I now shoot with the autofocus turned off. Something I just realized yesterday morning while looking at a few very blurry photos. But the first bunch came out okay, and here is the first photo I took.

Skylift

Good with modern technology sometimes. As seen at Haninge Park a few days ago. Shot as a panorama with my old Canon 77D, using the 60mm lens. I could have walked further away to get less distortion. But it is tricky to get a perfect panorama as you tilt the camera.

The Mosaic Wall

This is a fun mosaic. Made last year by Remakebolaget and Helen Rydberg. It is called På väg(g). A word pun that means on the way, and on the wall. There used to be a very windy bus depot above this concrete wall near the commuter station in Handen. It has now been replaced with an underground version, but the old wall is still there. There are ten smaller mosaics here, and two bigger flower pot mosaics, one at each end. I spent a few minutes there last week, photographing all of them. Around 70 locals took part in the creation of the mosaic, and some of them modelled for it. I missed the opening last year, but if I remember correctly the former PM Fredrik Reinfeldt, who used to live in the area, was there for the ceremony.

Glad Påsk

Happy Easter. I spotted this greeting near the commuter station in Handen yesterday. This part of Handen has undergone a lot of changes over the last few years, with a new underground bus depot and many new apartment buildings. The buildings you can see here are not part of that. The one to the right is the former City Hall building. Today, an apartment building that sits in the middle of a mall.

You can't park here

Well, I guess you can if you are an ambulance and if you are there to save someone's life. But they still managed to park it across the bike path, just saying. Anyway, I just wanted to say something about the weather. It is a really gray sky. It is raining. And like an hour ago, the storm winds moved in. Looking at my phone just now, there were reports about cancelled train service. No ferries because of the wind and more, so it looks like a really fun day, not.

The Loch Rudan Monster?

Out walking along the sandy beach at Övre Rudasjön on a glorious Autumn day.

Fishing Event

There was a fishing event at Nedre Rudasjön in Handen, over the weekend. I don't fish myself, but I have met and photographed the guy that usually organizes these events, so whenever he posts anything on Facebook I will see it. So I decided to check it out. I did a quick count and I spotted maybe sixty people around the lake.

A Christmas tree in the forest

Cycling home yesterday, I decided to take the walkway/bike path that goes through the forest near the nature park Slätmossen, a place that I have shown you many times here on the blog. I still consider the walkway new, although it has been there for quite a few years now. It was constructed on top of a new fresh water pipeline, maybe a decade ago. It connects Handen with Jordbro, and it is a good shortcut. Not only that, it is also a good place to watch the local wildlife, I have met and photographed moose, roe deer, squirrels, and countless birds here over the years. But this was a bit unexpected. Someone decided to decorate a tree by the side of the walkway which gave me a few Christmas photos, so thanks for that!