Shadow Shot Sunday

Solanum Rantonnetii or Lychiantes Rantonnetii
(Blue Potato Bush)

I got this tree for my balcony today.

…

Linking to Shadow Shot Sunday 2

Friday My Town: Made By Hand

Two years ago I visited a museum in a small village near my town which displays the wooden sculptures of a local artist, Uno Axelsson.  He was 53 years old when he started making sculptures and about 80 when he died. He made about 250 wooden sculptures, big and small. He found his inspiration in nature, studying animals, and collecting oddly shaped pieces of wood.

He started with smaller things like bowls:

But went on to also making big, life-size sculptures:

All his sculptures were made in one piece.
The eyes are not glass but painted and lacquered.

He never sold any sculptures. He gave some away but kept most of them in a private museum in his own barn.

After his death, the collection was moved to a new museum built by the local folklore society. More photos from there can be seen here (my blog from 2010)

 

In 2010, we had a stone sculptor working on this gigantic stone head in the town centre during a sculpture festival (going on all summer). The finished sculpture has been moved to another place. I think I have a photo of it finished as well, but I can’t find it now. The polished surface has the darker colour you can see in the top left photo, under the ear.

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See more things made by hand:
Friday My Town Shoot Out

Ruby Tuesday: Market Stall

See RED at Ruby Tuesday 2

Mosaic Monday: It’s A Dog’s Life

My brother’s dog, enjoying the spring sun (or whatever)

Linked to Mosaic Monday

Shadow Shot Sunday: Sun Cross

Visiting a cemetery, my eyes fell on this unusual old grave cross casting a distinct shadow on the ground. I can’t recall having seen this exact shape of sun cross before.

For Shadow Shot Sunday 2

PS. Gemma suggested in a comment I should also link this post to Taphophile Tragics, so why not… (The location is Fristad, Västergötland, Sweden)

Friday My Town: Fences And Gates

For a change, I decided to actually go for a camera-walk with the specific Friday Shoot Out theme for this week in mind: Fences and gates!

You’ll be following me on one of the routes I walk quite frequently.

First, we cross this footbridge over the railway.
It has fences or railings too high to lean out over.

 

Getting off the bridge, we turn right and walk along the railway. They put up this fence some years ago to prevent people (mostly school kids) from using an unofficial shortcut path to cross the railway. Of course that section of the fence didn’t last more than one day… I don’t think anyone even made an attempt to replace it, as it would no doubt just be taken down again the next day night. Putting up the fence was an offical statement: “We don’t want you to cross here because it’s dangerous.” Leaving the gap in the fence is an unofficial statement: “At your own risk!”

(I’m old enough now not to be too fond of steep and slippery paths… So I do take the longer way round!)

 

 

As a contrast, on the opposite side of the road, there is a gate without a fence, leading into an old cemetry. (They’ve just been taking down the old fence and hedge, and are planting a new hedge.)

 

 

A bit further on, we turn right and take a footpath between some apartment buildings down to the river. Along which there is a rusty metal fence.

 

There’s also a footbridge across the river...

 

… just beneath the railway bridge.

 

Reaching the end of the footbridge, there is a kind of gate to slow us down and stop us from rushing out in the street without looking.

 

  

Across the road from the supermarket, they’re building new apartment houses. The building site is surrounded by fences and gates.

 

Let’s take another route back, so that I can show you this impressive old iron gate set in a stone wall.

 

And on the other side of the road, an elaborate iron fence topped with barbed wire. The building is an old factory, nowadays offices. The sign over this entrance says “The Migration Board”. Can’ help but think the fence might feel a bit intimidating for immigrants approaching the building from this direction…

 

When they put up this fence and got to the end, they got creative…

 

This time we cross the river by the ‘big’ bridge.

 

There is a dam with a waterfall beneath this bridge; and on both sides there are steps leading down to the water. There are fences to keep you from falling in, of course!

 

On the other side of the road, they’ve recently built a new playground, with a net fence to stop the kids from running out into the street.

 

Walking along the railway again, approaching home… The footbridge from the first picture is just behind those bushes.

 

 

 

Ruby Tuesday: On the Top of the World…

 

… or rather, on the top of the hill in our Town Park,
there is a miniature golf course waiting for the summer season …

Find more red things at Ruby Tuesday 2

Shadow Shot Sunday: Chain

For Shadow Shot Sunday

Friday My Town: Silhouettes

Resorting to my Archives again – this week has not offered the right kind of weather for silhouette photography!

Unfortunately, I have no “tags” saying silhouettes either, so my finds are kind of random. But these photos are all from the past winter, November 2011 – March 2012.

Sunrise (from my kitchen window)

Sunset (from my balcony)

Bird Conference in November
(presumably on the topic of Going South)

“No Admittance”

 

Pine trees by the lake (February)

Winter Sun

Tree with birds nests in the Town Park
(and sculpture “Upside Down”)

 

 

Torchlight procession in November
(when switching on the Christmas lights in town)

Ruby Tuesday: Another Bike

Another motorbike I “played around with” in Picasa
for Ruby Tuesday. A Honda this time.
(Last week it was a Kawasaki.)

Shadow Shot Sunday / Weekend Reflections

“First Day of Spring” (30th April 2012)

Shadow Shot Sunday & Weekend Reflections

Friday My Town: Public Transportation

“In the good old days…”

 

In the winter we take the bus.

 

 In fine weather we walk – and that includes the
King and Queen! (from their visit on Sept 1, 2011)

 

I wouldn’t normally include motorcycles in “public” transportation – but when there are hundreds of them together in the town square on one occasion, I do think they must count!

 

 

 

Ruby Tuesday: Kawasaki

(playing with the “neon” setting in Picasa…)

For Ruby Tuesday 2