A Squirrel and his Nuts

The Troublemaker

This is Mikael Johansson. He was easy to spot with that hat and beard. MIkael is from Nyköping and was in Haninge for a family get-together. He used to work at SAAB Aerospace. He told me that he can be hard to get along with. Something his bosses at SAAB were well aware of. He doesn't work there any longer and spends most of his time with the family. He stays fit by roller-blading and cycling. Mr.Johansson isn't the gym type, and told me that he would rather carry furniture up and down from the attic a few times rather than go to the gym!

1956 Ford Fairlane

If I see a vintage car that I like I will always try to get a few shots. On this occasion it was a 1956 Ford Fairlane at a filling station in Handen. Luckily for me the owner, a truck driver from Skogås, had a few minutes, so he moved the car into the shade after I took the above photo and you can see the rest of the shots in the slideshow. He turned out to be a real car enthusiast and a former raggare. I mentioned two people I had met and photographed before, and he knew both of them. For some odd reason I didn't ask about his name, probably because I had decided to focus on the car. His aim with this car was to get it as close to the original as possible and that can be expensive. We talked a bit about the fact that 5000 vintage American cars are imported to Sweden every year, and that that has led to that many Americans now fly to Sweden to try and buy a few of them back.

The Tourists

This is Renate and Erich. From Switzerland. I met them in Handen yesterday. They are out on a three week long bicycle holiday. They took the train to Copenhagen. From there they have travelled on their Swiss made Fateba bikes through Sweden. A bike like this is very good for your back, and these bikes will set you back around 4000 Euro. The couple have visited Malmö, Karlshamn, and Kalmar. Their latest stop was Sweden's biggest island, Gotland. When I met them they had pedalled from the ferry port in Nynäshamn, that's a 40 km ride, and were now heading to Stockholm, another 20 km. In Stockholm they are going to a big family get-together as Renate's sister is married to a Swedish man. This is my second Swiss bike couple of 2011. Earlier this summer I met Roland and Theresa.

Meanwhile,over at the old tree

I decided that you probably wanted to see how the old tree was doing this summer. As I took my 248th photo of the Swedish Whitebeam, Josefin came riding up the path on the horse Mulstasvarten. Her family has owned the Mulsta Farm in Tungelsta (including the land surrounding the old tree), for three hundred years. As you can expect from a girl that has grown up at a horse farm, horses are her big hobby. But not just horseback riding. Josefin turned fifteen a while back and is now working hard to get her harness racing licence. When she gets it she will be able to compete in the Youth League. Back in March I met one of her horseback riding friends Anna-Carin not far from here. And on a sunny summer evening last year I met a few other people from her family at the old tree.

The Rocker®

I was at a filling station in Handen taking photos of a Ford Fairlane a while back when I heard this Harley drive up. It was Stefan, from Stockholm. He is a technician, and works at Com Hem. He was out riding with a friend. It was a very warm day today as you can see on his outfit. They were heading to Rosenhill, and a very popular biker cafe there. To get there they would drive a road nicknamed Slingerbulten. There's at least one motorcycle accident on that road every week, but Stefan told me that they were out cruising at a somewhat slower pace. Sure was a good day for that. I asked him if he had been to the big Harley meet at Gålö last summer. It rained most of that weekend, but Stefan had been there.

Sofia Magdalena

Sofia Magdalena was easy to spot. And fun to talk with. She is very girly, sometimes talks with a high pitched voice, and likes everything pink. She was very easy to photograph, and even suggested that we would meet again in a few weeks time when she had bleached her teeth and received her new pink eyeglasses! Sofia Magdalena is a hair dresser, but hasn't done the board certified test yet. At the moment she is attending a beauty school. I asked her if she had any fun hobbies. She told me that her number one hobby is her boyfriend (although he can be a bit grumpy sometimes). She might even marry him. I asked her about the way she dressed and she said she was very inspired by Lady Gaga. She figured they had the same body shape. After taking a few photos she gave me some grapes and we said goodbye.

The Belgian Blues Man

This is Steve van Pacht. I spotted him in Västerhaninge earlier this week. I told him that he was sitting on a wooden sculpture. The Rondo. Steve is from Belgium. He is married to a Swedish woman and has lived here for about one year. He doesn't talk any Swedish so he is having trouble getting a job. But this summer he has been busking in Stockholm. He plays a lot of blues and some Eric Clapton. He has travelled a bit. He lived in Marbella for a while. And for six years he was based in Bewdley, which is close to Birmingham. While living there he met Robert Plant and Steve told me that he has a photo where he is posing with the Led Zeppelin legend.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

I notice things. And from my bicycle I spotted The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo close to a park in Handen. Her name is not Lisbeth Salander, but Sofia. She's from Tyresö, a neighbouring municipality to Haninge, although she has lived here in Handen for about one year now. I asked her if she had any plans for the future. She told me her recent difficulties with figuring out just that. She attended the media programme as a secondary school student because she enjoys photography. But there was so many other classes there that didn't interest her so she quit. Then she had an idea about becoming a hair dresser, so she started that programme. But after a while Sofia realised that it was the wrong move, so she quit that education as well. Third time's the charm so Sofia then decided that perhaps Business economics was something for her. So she started reading that, but again she could not finish that programme. But now with hindsight, she will probably go back and finish that programme. She bought a digital camera together with her mother, but haven't been able to use it much, as her mother also enjoys photography, so as soon as she gets enough money, a new camera is on her list of items to buy. Oh, and the cool tattoo cost her 5000 SEK.

The Nigerian Nuns

I met two nuns earlier this week. This is Sister Veronica and Sister Lilian. They are from Nigeria. Both of them were invited to Sweden by the Bishop, Anders Arborelius. Veronica has been here for three years, and Lilian for four years. Their Swedish was quite good. I noticed them in Handen not far from the Catholic church, and decided to ask them for a portrait. We talked a bit about their work here in Sweden, and also about their religious habit. They either wear this blue dress or a white version. They don't know how long their stay here in Haninge will last. I told them about Sara, the priestess that I have photographed a few times. Lilian told me that she had met The Prince a few times. After this chat I took a few photos and showed them to the nuns and they looked happy with the result.

The Ship's Carpenter

This is Johan Winkler. I met him at my favorite cafe in Handen yesterday. He is a wood-working carpenter who has specialised in carpentry for ships and boats. For the last ten years he has worked on the S/V Ariel, the beautiful old vessel on the second photo. The school ship is owned by the Haninge municipality. Every year a group of unemployed young people will get the opportunity to work aboard the ship. At the moment the vessel is on a two month long cruise. After talking some more about the ship with Johan, Henrik, the cafe owner decided that he wanted to rent the ship for his next birthday. Johan then asked me if I was that guy with the photo blog about Haninge. When I confessed to that, he told me that his girlfriend Maria Reje ( a very clever woman apparently), reads my blog on a daily basis. So that's when I decided that I should take a portrait of Johan, so that we could give Maria a surprise!

For more facts about S/V Ariel press here.

A Swedish Raggare

This is Göran Wester. He is one of Sweden's many Raggare. He joined that unique Swedish subculture in 1962 when he was sixteen years old, and has never left it. At the moment he drives a Pontiac LeMans Convertible. It was imported from the USA six years ago. Wester, as his friends call him bought it four years ago and he has done a lot of work on the car since. His aim is to get it back to the original condition, not counting the color as this Pontiac was once blue. The replaced retractable roof alone cost him 38.000 SEK. The new leather seating will be put in later this year. Wester attends most of the big car meets in Sweden including the one in Västerås, The Big Power Meet, which is the biggest American car show in the world. Next week he and the wife will drive down to another meet in Öland. And after that it's the big one in Rättvik. I will probably meet him again at the annual meet at Vegabaren later this summer.

The Whisk and The Donkey

Walking out from the cultural centre I noticed two cute teenage girls a few meters from where I had parked my bike. So I decided to ask them for a portrait. This is Vispen (The Whisk ), and Åsnan, (The Donkey). They are enjoying the summer by hanging out with their friends. They told me that there's been a lot of sunbathing and swimming at Lake Rudan. So I guess it is possible that they know the tough girls I met at the Lake last year. I asked them to name something fun they had done. The Donkey told me about a concert she had seen with Ziggy Marley at Gröna Lund in Stockholm. The Whisk mentioned a family vacation to Crete. The story behind their nicknames are as follows. The Donkey has a laughter that sounds like, you guessed it, a donkey! The Whisks real name is Elvira and that sounds a bit like Elvisp which translates to whisk.

What´s up, dude?

Heading home on Saturday I had to stop at the soccer pitch in Tungelsta. There was a circus in town. Cirkus Wictoria, one of only five circus groups that still tour around the country was preparing a show. My eyes were drawn to the group of camels that were resting near the big circus tent. I think that these animals belong to a woman called Jessica Bengtsson. She comes from a big circus family. I didn't see the show. When my family still owned the greenhouses at Bergdalen we were sometimes asked if it would be OK if the circus elephants could rest on a big grassy area that we owned.

Steffe Vs. Steffe

I sometimes aim the camera the wrong way. And here's proof, in the form of two diptychs. The first one is Summer Vs. Winter. It shows a recent self portrait shot in a field belonging to the Nödesta farm. I took the winter snap in the same area on a cold day as I was heading for the old tree. Second diptych shows two summer portraits taken two years apart.I shot the canola portrait last week, also at the Nödesta farm. The other portrait is from the summer of 2009.

The Danish Gardener

This is Jens Rasmussen, one of the few remaining gardeners in Tungelsta. He owns a nursery called Åvalla, which he runs with his wife Kirsten. I met him at the greenhouse in the park a while back. He and a few other members from the local historical association were busy repairing and painting the greenhouse. Jens told me that he had a few things he wanted to show me, so I paid him a visit the following day. This is his green bed. As he posed for the photo in the greenhouse he apologised for not being a sexy babe in a bikini, but you can't have everything! The other thing he wanted me to see was two Geranium maderense plants he bought last year. They costed him 800 SEK each, and both plants promptly died within one month! This obviously upset the professional gardener so he decided to get some seeds from the plants and now, one year later he has several hundred plants in a few of his greenhouses. He wanted me to get some cultivation tips online which I now have done. I took two plants with me and gave them to my mother so now there are at least three gardeners in Tungelsta growing this plant. The third is Ingemar at Blomorado. Sadly Åvalla will close now as Jens has decided to retire. When Åvalla is gone there will be only five or six nurseries open in Tungelsta. Not a very high number considering that there has been more than 100 nurseries here since my great grandfather J.F. Jansson opened the first one back in 1909.

Ahoy, matey!

In case anyone was unsure about it, here's proof. We have active pirates in Haninge. I don't know if they have a pirate ship, but I have seen a few valuable treasures here, like a expensive looking sports-car and one of those Hummers.

Skywatch Friday.

No vacation blues

This is Kim. She is holidaying at home this year. And doing it in style I think. I spotted her in Västerhaninge. When I told her that I wanted to take her photo she was very happy and pleased, and we started chatting about this and that. Kim told me that she has spent some of her holiday time at the beach. The same beach I visit every now and then. She 's also had time to hang out with her friends. She enjoys fashion, reading novels and going to the movies. When her vacation is over she will go back to her job as a nursing assistant.

Three recent photos

Three very different photos. A familiar logo, this time fenced in for some reason. A young girl rolling a cigarette at a cafe. And a macro photo of a butterfly that seemed to like me.

The girl in the white summer dress

I checked out Nevena at a checkout counter in a grocery store a few days ago. As I walked out of the store two minutes later I saw her again, and decided to ask if I could take a portrait. Luckily for me she said yes. Nevena told me that she was heading to an island in the Haninge archipelago. It was a very warm and sunny day, so to me that sounded like a good plan. Nevena lives in Stockholm, but is heading for China soon, as she will start a six month long intern-ship at the Swedish Trade Council's office in Beijing. She speaks three languages, Swedish, Serbian and English, but she will try to learn Mandarin now.