Wednesday 25 March 2009

Fire or Flame


365 challenge 100: Fire or Flame

I absolutely love the sound, sight and smell of a log fire. When we had our house in the countryside, we installed a wood burner and ever since we sold the house, I have really missed having a log fire.

So the very first thing we did when we arrived in the log cabin was to light a fire. I tried to take some shots through the glass *had to crop a little bit to get rid of the reflections in the glass*.

Bodies of Water


365 challenge: Bodies of Water

A pretty stream at the bottom of the valley. It was the only non-frozen water that I saw up in the mountain region. The big river was frozen over and on lakes you could see people sitting fishing.

Tuesday 24 March 2009

My 6th Photo

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Coming back from our skiingtrip *which was wonderful, I will tell you all about it during the next couple of days*, I was greeted by a whole bunch of comments. Thank you so much, all of you who takes time to leave a message for me when you drop by!

I was also challenged by Debra, Lorri, Sunny and Karen:

Here are the rules: 

•Go to your photo folder on your computer
•Go to the 6th folder of photos
•Go to the sixth picture
•Put the picture on your blog and a description of it
•Invite six friends to join the challenge
•Link them in your blog


I must admit, I was a bit nervous going to my photo-folder and started to count. The 6th folder in my photo-folder is photos from the 20th of Feb 2008 *I got my camera last year in February* and the 6th photo was a rose photo, which I am very happy to post again.

I haven't been around your blogs yet, so I don't know who has been tagged yet or not, but here are the blogs that I am challenging:

Saturday 14 March 2009

Baby it's Cold Outside!

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365 challenge 18: Baby It's Cold Outside

Right now I am bobbing around on the North Sea. We were lucky enough to have our cabin next door to the lounge where there is free internet, so we managed to hook us up from our room.

It was a very excited family who drove onboard the ferry last night. I though J was going to be a bit apprehensive, but she was all smiles and very excited: "Mummy, the floor is falling over!!", she exclaimed when the boat was peacefully moving from side to side.

After a *somewhat* good nights sleep *with something resembling musical beds* we have had our breakfast, done the shopping and now the children are assembling LEGO while O and I are fighting over the computer.. ;)

C and I were outside for a bit earlier, I had hoped for some lovely weather, but it is very grey and foggy and from what you can see, very cold...
When we picked C up from school yesterday, we had his "hair done". They had Comic Relief Day at school and his hair was red and green. Most of the colours are on top of his head, but you can see some of it.

Friday 13 March 2009

Going skiing

Just a quick note, our broadband has *very annoyingly* been bouncing up and down for the past week, so I haven't posted anything. Also, we are going to Sweden today *yay*. I will try to document as much as possible of our trip and I have already marked the internet cafes dotted around our mountain top, where the log cabin is situatated, so I hope I will be online during the trip.

We have a little 3day-drive ahead of us, first we take the ferry to Denmark, where we arrive tomorrow and drive to Sweden. Our first stop is with my mother-in-law. Then, next stop i our home town to visit my grandmother and on Sunday we will do the last 6hour drive up to the southernly mountain region in Sweden.

See you soon!!

Friday 6 March 2009

On My Table

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365 challenge: 207 On My Table

Our house is quite bare, we have been moving so many times, I can't remember when I had time to put up wall art or curtains, before it has been time to move again. One thing I usually have, though is a bunch of flowers on my table. These roses were beautifully red when I bought them. As usual, I was very focused when arranging the bouquet, but then I forgot to check the water in the vase and they ended up half dry, too early. 

This particular time, I thought it was quite beautiful.

Blue & White

Blue and white
Blue & White

Today's Colours are blue and white. I love these blue glass candle holders that my brother gave me. I took some photos of them last year in April. A slightly cropped photo, to bring the glass closer you to.

To view more Blue & White contributions, please click here.

Thursday 5 March 2009

Curvy roots

Curvy
365: 72, Curvy

When we were out in the park the other day, I noticed this beautiful tree. I tried to get O to place Ebba in one of the "holes", so I could take a shot. What a joke, she wasn't still for even a second and the photos look quite funny, but very blurry. However, I managed to take some photos of the roots alone. 

I also want to thank everyone for the lovely comments, you are the best!

At first, I was going to do this post as a pure 365 post, but then I realized it's Thursday and that means to reflect on my week. Looking at the photo above, the funny thing is, O and I have been talking a lot about where we are coming from, what we would like to represent as a family, what kind of life we want our children to experience and what we want them to learn. We have been asking ourselves what things from our childhood that was important to us and what we can emphasize here to reflect what we learned in another country 30 years ago? Funnily enough, the photo works very well with my reflection, so I am squeezing these thoughts in this post as well. 

I have been thinking a lot about my roots. It is sometimes confusing living abroad. In a week's time, we have been living abroad for 9 years. It is a long time, which has shaped us differently to what we would have been, had we stayed in Sweden. Still, we are different to the British, it's a weird world living "in between" two cultures. Sometimes *mostly* I feel that my life is rich in experiences and I feel very blessed being able to experience two countries and understanding two cultures, but on the other hand, I sometimes feel rootless and as if I don't fit in in either of the worlds.

To view more Thursday's reflections, please click here. 

Tuesday 3 March 2009

Abstract

Abstract
365: 6, Abstract

I not only have a soft spot for frost, bare trees have such a calming effect on me. There isn't anything more beautiful than watching the abstract art of a naked tree against a clear sky *or like yesterday, a sunset* in the winter.

Yesterday, we took Ebba to the park and on our way home, the sun was setting, so I jumped out of the car and took a walk home. Pure joy!

Bouncing back!

Companion
366 challenge 61: Companion

I have had a very quiet and much needed month off blogging, well off everything, really. I have enjoyed my family and O has been working on getting the floors down in the house. Only 1.5rooms left at present and it is starting to look really nice.

I took the above photo when we were leaving a show, that J held with her gym class. O was carrying her and I was struck by their happiness. He adores his little girl and to J, daddy is the best person in the world. 

Wednesday 21 January 2009

So Tired

Hanging tree

I don't know where my tiredness comes from. Well, actually I do know, we have had a rough 1 1/2 years and now that things are going more smoothly, it all comes hitting me from behind.

I just want you to know that I am ok, I am fine, the family is fine, I am just so tired both physically, but mostly mentally at the moment. I am working myself through the house, as if the world will be a better place if I only get the last load of laundry ironed. In a way it's comforting to close up in a bubble and focus on the very small things and manage to put something right.

O and I are talking a lot. I feel very blessed to have such a great person to share my life with.

If I only wasn't so tired.

Sunday 11 January 2009

Mechanism

mechanism
365 challenge: 181 mechanism

This little beauty, I received as a Christmas gift from a friend. My grandmother had a similar thing when I was little and I loved it. In Swedish it's called änglaspel, which means musical angels. Now my children are as intrigued with it's mechanism as I was as a child.

This is a tea light holder and when the tea light warms the air, the little angles *in this case snow flakes* start to spin round and round.

Thank you M for a wonderful gift!

PS. The snow flakes are lit by some bigger candles, standing to it's right *they are reflected in the background patio doors*

Friday 9 January 2009

Hooked on: Lysekil - a Swedish Coastal Town

Swedish balcony
Pretty Swedish balcony with wooden details *in Sweden, these details
are called Carpenter's Joy*

Julia at Hooked on Houses is holding a "Hooked on party" today. Since I have so many things that I am practically crazy about, I really want to participate. The first thing that I am going to show you is some details from Sweden. I am originally Swedish *however living in London* and my heart is really beating for Sweden at the moment. I am longing for the pretty scenery and the sleepy villages, so I thought I'll show you some photos I took this summer, when I had little walk around one of my favorite coastal towns of the Swedish West Coast, Lysekil.

Picket Fence
Pretty picket fence.

Rose

Lysekil is a town, being mentioned as early as in the 16th century as an important fishing village. Around 1850 it became a hot spot for the Swedish socialites, who came here for recreation. I love the houses, you can find anything from massive wooden villas from the late 19th century to little pretty cottages.

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Swedish house

I really long for summer when I can take another walk with my camera in Lysekil.

To view more Hooked on -contributions, please click here.

Purple & Black

Lavender Gate 2

I've had another busy week. My son has started school again and I am happy to say that it's gone so well! He is very happy and his teacher is absolutely wonderful. He has also found new love and since it is mutual, he is already drawing up plans for the wedding.

I am very much looking forward to the weekend. I have promised myself to have a little walk on my own with my camera, I haven't even touched it for 3 days now!

Today's Friday's Colours are Purple and Black and looking through my archive, all I could find was this lavender gate *from Lysekil, a pretty coastal town in Sweden*, which I posted a close-up of in November. But I think it's worth showing in a more zoomed out version today. Another little reminder of the more colourful times to come.

To view more Purple and Black contributions, please click here.

Hope you all have a great start to the weekend!

Tuesday 6 January 2009

Winter

Icy pond

Today's Tuesday Theme is winter. What winter looks like where we live and what we do on a wintery day. I wish I could say that a typical winter's day is full of snow and that we are out playing, but it's not. We are happy if we get frost or the occasional halv inch of snowfall. So, this photo, which I took on an outing in December, is quite typical of a very wintery day here.

We were amazed by the ice on the pond, the weather was crisp, the sky was blue and we had a great walk in a park. On our way home, we stopped by Starbucks and had some lovely coffe/hot chocolate.

To view more wintery contributions, please click here.

Sunday 4 January 2009

New

New
365 challenge: 198 New

Yesterday when I was out in my garden, I was just sitting watching my surroundings. Only brown leaves, not a flower in sight *we did have a bush with some interesting flowers until a couple of days ago, when my 3year old decided to pick them all to make surprice soup for me and her older brother..*.

Anyway, in the middle of all the browns and greys of my winter garden, I saw one branch of green new leaves. A promise of the times to come.

It really cheered me up.

Saturday 3 January 2009

One Hundred

100 shots
365 challenge: 1 One Hundred

We haven't really done much this weekend. I have been working and twice a day I we have been out playing with Ebba. Yesterday, I took the camera with me outside and I desperately tried to get a nice shot of Ebba playing. I was lucky if I even caught her on the frame of the photo, but if I did it was mostly a complete blur. When I uploaded the photos to my laptop this morning I noticed that I had taken 100 photos of her. Of the 100 photos one was a good one and this is the very one.

Friday 2 January 2009

Candlelight

Candlelight
365 challenge: 39 Candlelight

A New Year, new challenges and one of them is the 365 challenge. I had a fair try at the 366 last year, but due to the year being quite a hard year for us as a family, I didn't have the time and the dedication as I would have liked.

But I learnt so much and I am so grateful for all the wonderful people I have got to know and I think I am more into the habit and "thinking" of a daily photo challenge. I live and breath with my lens nowadays.

My first 365 contribution will be my candlelit zink houses. I have 4 of them and they are so pretty and they have spread the light on our dining table through out Christmas.

Update: As I am absolutely terrible with shooting anything without having great lighting, I tried taking this photo when it still was some daylight outside and it worked a treat!

I bought these at Butiken Flitiga Fredrika, which I highly recommend!

Green & White

Ivy in Frost

Green & White

Today's Friday colours are Green & White. Since I am following puppy every step today *O is at work and we seriously need to step up the potty training part of our puppy life*, I will be using a photo from December, so this does not make it to the 365.

I think frost is magical and I could probably start a whole "frost blog" if I just lived in such a part of the world. But, London has been promised frost this weekend and Sunday we are allowed to take Ebba to the park, so I am hoping for some really good wintery photo options then.

Do you want to see more Green & White contributions? Please click here.