FMTSO: A Mystery

I was on my way home from town last Saturday,
when I suddenly saw this rather unusual sight:

Actually, I first met the creature face-on, but it took me a second or two to take in what I was looking at, turn round, and get the camera out of its bag… And by then, I only saw the back of it…

Another second or two to make the decision that even though it was going in the opposite direction from where I had intended to go, I just had to follow and see where it was going!

Perhaps to McD for a burger?!
No… It turned left around the corner.
I almost lost sight of it for a while,
but then I spotted it again… 

…headed for the new playground in the Town Park.
Well, I guess that makes as much sense as anything!

 

I wonder what the children were thinking?
(I wasn’t close enough to hear any conversation.)

For me, seeing a troll brought back memories.

When I was four years old, my mum enrolled me in an outdoors playgroup called “Troll School”…

She left me there, in the wild woods with a bunch of people I’d never met before, and then out came a TROLL… Eeek!

Well, luckily it turned out to be a rather nice one, bringing us ginger biscuits if memory serves me right (and it probably does, because why would I make that up?)

But I still remember being scared when the troll first appeared!

 

Maybe that’s why (54 years later) I found myself still lacking courage to just walk up to this troll and ask WHAT exactly it was doing in Town this Saturday in October.

However, I did not have to return home still wondering.
I found the answer to the mystery on the playground noticeboard: The Occasion was a Book Release.

The book title: “Jens and the Tree where the Echo lives”.
Jens is a boy’s name so it seems the troll was a little boy troll (even though I could have sworn it to be a girl… but who knows with trolls!) 

It seems the author and the illustrator of the book were both visiting our town for a couple of hours this Saturday, selling and signing books in a building near the town park.

Apparently the troll got tired of just waiting around, and decided to go out for a stroll around town instead… :D

For Friday My Town Shoot Out – A Mystery

 

 

Blue Monday, Ruby Tuesday…

About a week ago I found they’d installed some new toys in the playground in a little park I sometimes pass when out walking:

Have to say that what intrigued me most was how on earth (literally) this blue ‘carpet’ stays attached to the gravel ground beneath it.

I also had to try out this purple piano:

I think if I lived “next door” and there were lots of children playing in this park – that sound would soon drive me mad! (Question: Do children NEED outdoors playground toys that make electronic noises? Do parents??)

However, I don’t live that close– and moreover, I can’t recall ever having seen this playground being used in the past, whenever I have happened to pass through there. I wonder if that has changed with the new toys? (There were no children about this time either.)

For Blue Monday and Ruby Tuesday Too.
(And perhaps a Purple Thursday??)

FMTSO/FF/SSS: Waiting to Play

They’re building a new playground in the Town Park.

For now it is surrounded by a fence…

… and the children have to play elsewhere :)

Hopefully it will be worth the wait, though. Children all over town were involved in the planning of it; there was a sort of contest and school children got to vote for one of three alternatives. It was arranged in a similar way to political elections.

PS. The sculpture in the last photo is not new, it has been in the park for decades I think. But it has got a new plinth!

PPS. If someone is wondering about the low activity level on this blog lately, the answer is the same as to why they’re taking a pause in the building of the playground: It’s July! In Sweden, every activity that is not absolutely necessary (or tourist-related) takes a break in July…

Friday My Town Shoot Out: Surrounded

Friday Fences # 88

Shadow Shot Sunday 2

Friday My Town–Children

It seems that “children” is yet another label sadly missing from my photo-tagging system, and I haven’t been around kids much lately.

This is a paparazzi shot of children unknown to me that I took on one of the daytrips out of town that my brother and I made in July. The little playboat is situated on the grounds of Torpa Castle.

(Silly coincidence: The Swedish word for children is “barn”.
Which in English is that building in the background…)

Go look at other people’s children here:

Friday My Town Shoot Out – Children

 

 

Ruby Tuesday: Going Round In Circles

Haven’t been out and about much lately (and neither has the sun, these past few days) but I found this in my archives from last year. Don’t think I’ve used it before. From a playground at a daycare center – photo taken on a weekend with no children about.

 

For Ruby Tuesday

Mosaic Monday: Playground

Linking to Mosaic Monday at Little Red House

Friday My Town: Creepy Crawlies

▲ …I prefer my creepy crawlies to be either big and fake as above … ▲

 

▼ …. or not at home, as below … ▼

 

Oh I know I have a few bugs here and there among all my photos as well – the problem is I have not tagged them or collected them in a special folder; and have no time to go looking now.

Butterflies I have plenty; but since I never detect them until they’ve left their most creepy crawly stage behind, I’m not sure they qualify!

 

Common Brimstone

Red Admiral with an Attitude

 

Cabbage Butterfly

Ooops, look what I just found in among the butterflies…

My camera is braver than I am!