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

 

 

Friday My Town: Interiors

 

In the Borås International Sculpture Biennal 2012, which opened last weekend, most of the new sculptures are on display in and around our town’s Cultural Centre (including Art Museum, Theatre and Library) and the nearby Gustav Adolf’s Church from 1906.

This gave me a good opportunity to also take some interior photos.

Let’s start with the church:

 

The pulpit and the baptismal font

The big church organ at the back

A smaller organ, drums, and a piano…
And the possibility to light a candle as expression of prayer.

A votive ship

Votive offerings also called ex-votos are given in fulfillment of a vow or in gratitude, to a church where the worshipper seeks grace or wishes to give thanks. In Scandinavia, model ships were common votive gifts from sailors.

One of the sculptures included in the 2012 Biennal,
on display in the church: ‘House 18’ by Lars-Åke Åberg.

I like how they placed this with the light coming in
from above through the church windows.

And it fits in beautifully with biblical images of the Church:

“you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a
spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:5)”

The exterior – just so you know where you’ve been!

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Close to the Gustav Adolf Church is our Cultural Centre,
including Art Museum, Theatre and Library

The entrance hall facing the church is extra interesting just now
because of this work of art by Alyson Shotz, USA, entitled
“The Shape of Space” – which is part of the Sculpture Biennal.

With this sculpture, you’re supposed to also explore the interior…

 

Looking out from inside the “Shape of Space” sculpture.
(Do you recognize the church?)

 

Interior from the Art Museum

 

Interior from the entrance to the theatre

 

Interior from the Library

 

The new automatic Book Return Machine
Ugly, but saving the staff a lot of manual lifting of books.

 

From what I understand, the books get automatically sorted in the machine and then the staff can just pull a trolley out and roll that away to the right section of the library, to manually sort the books into the shelves.

 

Visit Friday My Town Shoot Out
to see more interiors from around the wordl