Februarihimmel

A mid-February sky. Watching the Olympics on my smartphone today as my Philips TV-screen decided to die. Probably something that the company did on purpose, as they want me to buy a new TV.

Look towards the sky

We are expecting the Amy storm to hit Stockholm today. Warnings have gone out. Great Britain and Norway will feel it first. Could be a good idea to stay indoors, or just pop out early before the stormy weather gets here. I snapped this photo near Hanveden after hearing a bunch of screaming kids. Two teams were playing a game of football, but from where I was standing trees blocked most of the pitch so I decided to aim for the sky instead.

Julgransflygnig

Twelve SK 60 doing a fly-by in a Christmas Tree formation yesterday afternoon. I had hoped that they would fly over me, but they were probably over the water when I snapped this one, standing in the middle of a muddy field on the Nedersta farm. I only had a few seconds to get a shot before they disappeared behind the trees. And you will have to be a huge Christmas fan to spot the tree, I think. But just two minutes before I took my shot, my Australian flickr buddy Brian, who lives in Stockholm, took the perfect photo.

A rant...

A bit of a rant here. The Swedish Air Force will do a fly-by over the country during the festive season. They fly in a Christmas tree formation, which is always a spectacular thing to see. They use either the JAS 39 Gripen, or the SK 60. Everything is of course weather permitting this time of the year, and they had to cancel the first couple of flybys over Stockholm, on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, because of the gray sky. But it cleared up on Thursday and I stood ready with the trusted Canon at my new favorite place, the woodland cemetery just outside Stockholm. After waiting for ten minutes, I gave up and went indoors to warm up my hands. Another ten minutes later I could hear the Gripen fighter jets, but from my position on the bike out on the road I couldn't see them. Then a couple of hours later, on my way home, I could hear the SK 60s approaching. So I jumped off the bike, managed somehow to get the right camera, (with the 70-300 mm lens), out of the bag and aimed it at the sky and shot in burst mode until the planes disappeared. Unfortunately I photographed them from behind, so you can't really see the Christmas tree here unless you try standing on your head I guess. End of rant.

The Before Photo

Out on a bike ride at Hammersta I stopped for a photo of the sky. Little did I know what was about to happen. From nowhere (not really), it started to rain, and it came down very hard. I stopped and tried to get my rain poncho on, and that took a while because of the strong winds so I was soaking wet within a few seconds. I pedaled on but then it started to hail. So hard that it hurt my head, and visibility was down to a few meters. I decided to hide out at a bus shelter at Gryt. When I got there it was already packed with people. One cyclist gave me a nod, two bikers were there as well as a few women with a stroller, one of them lent me her umbrella. So we stood there for a while looking at the weather, another biker turned up just as the thunderstorm got underway. Lightning hit nearby a couple of times and when that finally stopped I decided to bike home in the hard rain. Sure was an interesting ride home.

Big Sky

I took a photo of the clouds in the portrait mode, and just as I did that the commuter train passed the Krigslida bridge so I decided to shoot a panorama scene. This is nine photos shot in the landscape mode. Shot with one of my nifty fifty lenses.

Flying in Formation

Except for that one bird. Heading south for the Winter. These were just a few of them. Must have been at least a thousand birds in all. Spotted at Lillgåren earlier in the week.

Is it a bird?

No just a guy flying a paramotor. It was a nice evening for it.

Bad for the planet

Flying is bad for the planet. But a good way to see the world in no time at all. Spotted this plane from Flygbra as I took the two photos for yesterdays post.

In a row

I heard them before I saw them. Three cranes flying overhead as I made my way to the old tree earlier today.

Flygplan

Swedish word of the day. Flygplan. Aeroplane. I guess it has to be a TP 84 Hercules (Lockheed), from the Swedish Air Force.

Ultralight Aircraft

On my way to the old tree I could see and hear a small plane circling the skies so I snapped a quick shot with the silent zoom lens. After identifying the plane SE-VMS I found the owners web site and I emailed him about my photo. The plane is an Ultralight Aircraft. Made of wood. The model is French and called Jodel D18. The pilot Kenneth Pettersson told me that he lives in Västerhaninge, (pretty much where he was in the sky), and that he keeps the plane at Trosa Flygklubb.

Rainbow over the towers

Rainbow over the water towers in Handen. Fourteen photos stitched together. Shot with the Canon 6D and the Nifty Fifty lens. It was raining as I took the photos and I stood unprotected so I had to be quick. The buildings in front of the towers was once part of the Fredrika Bremer secondary school.

Piper PA-18-150 Super Cub

Plane spotting.

Sommarmoln

Swedish word of the day. Sommarmoln. Summer clouds. Midsummer is here. Sweden is out of the Euro tournament. Can someone please hand me something to drink? Preferably with a lot of alcohol in it. This was the sky over Alvsta yesterday as I made my way to my favorite beach, Årsta Havsbad.

A Midsummer Memory

Remember Summer, or Midsummer even? Long gone now are the warm Summer evenings. This was the scene on a recent visit to my favorite beach. Overlooking the bay there once was a hotel. All that is left from that era is an open-air dance dance floor. And this years Midsummer Pole.

Piptoporus betulinus

We had a blue sky today for at least half an hour so that's when I decided to go out and take a snap of the sky. And to add interest to the photo I aimed the camera up a dead birch.

A Swedish Sky

This was the first real day of Spring. Double digit centigrade weather.With a lot of Spring sounds around. Kids playing soccer. Birdsong. Mopeds & motorcycles.

Stuck on the Wire

It's been more than a week since I last saw a blue sky. Or the sun. Noticed this leaf from the bike a while back. Below it was a fence that was filled with autumn leaves.

Skywatch Friday.

Arborist at work

Earlier in the year a birch tree fell during a storm and nearly hit my bedroom window. Today the arborists were back to cut down two trees that were more dead then alive. This guy climbed up the tree and cut off the top and then they lifted it down using this big crane.


Bigger photo.