My Day Off

I love some of the perks my job brings - like autumn break! I've had this whole week off, and believe me, it was well needed! Because, even though we get these extra days, we also work that much more, and often take our work home with us. It's unavoidable, or at least for me it is - there's almost always something that's nagging me, that I want to improve or solve in some way... and the last couple of weeks have been particularly crazy, with the development talks coming up.

But enough of that! This was supposed to be about my day off after all. So, I woke up to this amazing view today, and I could not resist going up to the attic to shoot the top photo. The lighting was stunning and lit up all the yellow autumn leaves gloriously. I love autumn days like this! When the colors come out in all their splendor and the air is fresh. Soon they will be a thing of the past and there will be brown everywhere, yuck! I just hate that about winter, the lack of color depresses me.

So, today being a beautiful day, I finally got the craving to go out and shoot. Honestly, I haven't felt like that for weeks and it's so nice to finally be relaxed enough to feel like doing something creative. Today has been wonderful, my dear mother-in-law and I took a spontaneous walk in the woods, shot some autumn pictures, had a nice lunch out, and ended up talking for hours. I just love that we share the same hobby! So here are today's pictures, fresh from the camera sprinkled with some photoshopping :)

/MrsHjort

Where the Heart Is

So, finally, after roughly 1½ years of renovating, our home is ready. As I've probably told you already we've redone just about everything - both exterior and interior.

I love living here, in the outskirts of our town, and yet close by. A ride by train into town only takes five minutes, my workplace is a 10 minute walk away and there's a little forest grove right behind the house, which means - no neighbors in that direction.

People often ask us about the railway tracks, since they run right behind our house. As I tell them, I never think about it anymore. The trains run very silently nowadays, and our windows are triple glazed, so we hardly hear anything when inside. The only time when it's noisy is when the cargo trains go by, if we're outside that is. Though there's only one or two of those per day anyway, and they go by fast. So, I'd much rather have the railroad behind the house than an other neighbor - it's so nice to have the back yard completely to our selves. Don't get me wrong though, I really like our neighbors, but it's wonderful to have secluded spot where one can relax wearing ugly, but comfortable clothes haha.

One thing that's a bit funny about our house is that I'm the third teacher to live here. My mother-in-law who lived here before us taught business administration at an upper secondary school and the lady that lived here before her taught younger children. So it's become a bit of a "tradition" haha.

Speaking of tradition, our house was built in 1935 and originally it housed two families - one on the first floor and one on the second, but now it's only Mr and me... and our three four pawed friends. Anyway, it's been quite interesting to see what lies beneath the surface when renovating. We'we found several layers of wallpaper at places (one word; yikes!) and even pencil drawings and writings. I love stuff like that! When ever we're gonna paint over something I like to doodle a little or write a message - like in the kitchen, behind a cabinet, there's a thank you letter to all who helped us redo it. At one time I traced Mr on the wall in life size and me beside him, holding hands. I like to think that little things like that add to the atmosphere, or at least for me it does. Even though it's painted over, it makes me smile :).

/MrsHjort

Pleasant Surprises

Sometimes my camera does weird things, I don't know how, or why, but occasionally it's like it goes "no! What you want to do is boring! I want to do this instead!"

I always take one or two extra shot for safety. Particularly when doing outdoor macros - since the wind can ruin a good shot, or the lighting might change slightly from moment to moment, when there's a cloudy sky. Once I even tried doing a floral "HDR" shot (for the lack of a better word) - merging three shots that didn't work individually. I merged one shot from when a cloud was covering the sun, one from when there was a wisp in front of it, and one when it was out completely. It actually turned out pretty neat! It really made the reds pop - which can be a problem sometimes when shooting outside in "real" light conditions.

Anyway, this was one of those safety shots I talked about, before my ramblings lost track, and even though my camera did some wacky things, which made the shot sort of hazy, I kind of like the result. It's certainly not one of my strongest shots, with composition in mind - it was very windy, and I waited for several minutes at a time for things to settle down (whilst sighing and grumbling haha). Composition aside though, I like the dreamy mood. Don't you :)

So, tell me, does you camera also go bananas sometimes? Does it have a will of it's own, and is it just waiting to confuse you with its mastermind schemes? If so, it might be related to mine!

Have a nice weekend, dear friends, cheers!

/MrsHjort

Summer Dreams

If I could choose to be reincarnated as an animal, I would choose cat any time. What a joy to be the pet of a nice family, to not have a care in the world and live the life of the ultimate hedonist, being cared for and showered with love... Just like my Freya. Here she is, napping in our back yard, enjoying the smells of summer and the twittering of the birds. Not a bad existence, wouldn't you say?

What animal would you be?

/MrsHjort

The Sky Is the Limit

Today has been an unusual day... Let me tell you all about it.

You see, it began yesterday as I got two phone calls I could not take - since I was busy teaching.  They were from somebody with a local number that, strangely, wasn't in the phone book. Since I work as a teacher it made me wonder if maybe it was a parent, but when I tried to call back, I only got the answering machine, telling me that whomever called was away on business. So naturally I was quite curious.

Anyway, I was very pleasantly surprised today as I finally got hold of my mystery caller. It turned out to be a headhunter who wanted to recruit me. That really made my day! I already have a job that I like, but that was really cool, a boost that will keep my spirits up for a long time!

So, this picture fits my mood very well today. It's been a stressful period, filled with work and things to take care of, but high above the sky beckons, and today, I almost feel like I can touch it :)

Cheers!

/MrsHjort

The One That Didn't Quite Make It

Like so many, I have a "shoe box" folder on my computer, filled with pictures that somehow didn't survive the process of selection, the ones that weren't quite good enough, or didn't quite fit into what I was looking for.

This is one of those pictures. It was a candidate for the Calendar Challenge (April), but I ended up going with an other once, since I didn't want a picture of a white flower that month - I wanted to vary the colors, and I did white in February. So, there it has been since then, in the shoe box, gathering pixel dust, still waiting for an opportunity to shine - so today, I thought to myself, why not here?

As I look back on my time at W1K, I realize that it's almost been two years now, and the quality of my shoe box pictures has improved a lot! Ever now and again I erase the ones that no longer live up to my standards - the one's I know I will probably never enter into a contest, and when you think about it, it's actually kind of cool, because if anything, it shows how I've grown and how I've found my "style" so to speak. Because apparently, I have one haha, or so I've been told.

Anyway, the point of today's fumbling ramblings today, is that a year or two at W1K really enhances your skills, and I want to thank all of the kind, generous people who have taken the time to comment and advice me. You are the best!

/MrsHjort

A Room with a View

I'ts been a year now, a year since we moved into our house here in Huskvarna. A lot has happened during that year! We've renovated just about everything; the kitchen, one of the bathrooms, the bedroom, the hall, the stairs and the media room. We have brand new windows and the whole outside of the house has been redone, from the new facade plaster to the paint jobs. Yes, i'ts been a busy year filled with hard work. I'm very lucky to have such a handy husband.

The most recent thing we did was knocking out one of the walls downstairs, in order to make our living room larger. It has made the room a lot brighter too, and it has improved the view significantly - since we now have three windows facing the valley.

These are not a recent photos - the top one was taken about a year ago (and the rest are from the same season) but autumn this year is just as beautiful. Since we moved here we've quite often marveled at the rainbows rising over the hills... When they're particularly colorful, like this one, I grab my camera as fast as I can and run up to the attic. It's a very nice place to shoot from, no matter the time of year, and "today's" pictures are all taken from up there. I just love standing there with my tripod and my remote.

Come to think of it, many of my photos on W1K the last year have been shot right here at home. More than before - when we lived in the flat - but I suppose that it only natural because of "A" the novelty of it all, "B" the fact that it's bigger and "C" we didn't have a garden before and I love shooting flowers.

It turns out I also love shooting the view, and maybe you'll see even more variations of it here, or on W1K, in the future. I've always though of myself as a macro kind of girl though, and I've always been a bit uncomfortable with landscapes - so often they end up not doing reality justice, and I end up sighing at their "flatness" and lack of "atmosphere". But you know what they say; practice makes perfect. :)

/MrsHjort

Home Town

This is down town Jönköping on a typical Friday afternoon. A middle sized city situated in the south of Sweden, famous for its many churches and the Husqvarna factory, though some would stop me right there, and strongly insist that the factory belongs to the town of Huskvarna.

You see, there's this funny little thing about my home town - it's really two cities that have grown more and more close together. Nowadays, they're so close, that a stranger wouldn't be able to tell them apart, and the locals cannot agree where one stops and the other begins (this has actually been debated among my friends on several occasions). Somehow, it seems strangely important, and people who've lived in Jönköping very seldom move to Huskvarna, and vice versa.

Yes, there seems to be a strong sense of identity and loyalty tied to the respective cities, which has always been very weird to me, because really, why would it matter? Both sides of the town has their own character and I like them equally... ah, the charm of small city folk :)

/MrsHjort

Happy Memories

Yesterday, as I laid in my bed, trying to get to sleep, my thoughts stubbornly kept on spinning around.  It had been quite intense at work that day and my crazy brain just wouldn't leave things alone. Have you ever had nights like that? Nights when you just go over the same stuff again and again and again, until you just want to scream out loud in frustration?

I have a trick that alleviates the sleeplessness - nothing beats turning over and sleeping ''upside down'' - with your feet where your head should be. Strangely, it always works, even though technically, it shouldn't! Because, let's face it, you've only turned 180 degrees south, though, somehow it seems easier to get away from those loopy thought patterns and into something else that way.

As I lay there, 180 degrees from my usual position, I like to escape into moments like the one in the photo - moments of pure happiness, far away from my stressful every day life and mundane troubles. This particular memory is of a trip to our favorite island - Madeira. Mr and I enjoyed a glass of Champagne on our balcony and marveled at the view. We were completely giddy with happiness, and we didn't have a care in the world. It's nice to keep those happy memories of bliss, I always try to convert every detail into memory, so that I can relive them again when ever life is particularly boring, or during those loopy sleepless nights :-)

Good night my friends, sleep tight, I know I will :)

/MrsHjort

Out in the Rain

Today has been really "autumny" - rainy, cold and gloomy, you know, those kind of days when the cloud layer is so thick, that it seems like its twilight all day long. It has really suited my mood...

These past few days have been tough. The friend I spoke of before has passed away, and thus, I dedicate this blog entry and these pictures to her, this wonderful person who left us far too soon.

Life is a precious thing, can be gone in a wink, so you have to make the most of it. That's really something that this person did - even though she was diagnosed with cancer a year ago, she kept on fighting. She was one of the bravest persons I've ever known, who always wanted to do her best, who reached for the stars and kept on striving to achieve her goals. She was always positive and always had a smile on her face, kind to everyone she met and selfless in a way that is very rare today. I know that you usually say things like this about people who have passed away, but every word is true, without a moment's hesitation. She was something truly special.

I remember the last time I met her, she had a lot of heath related problems to deal with, and yet, she asked me how I was doing. She! It's people like her that really make an imprint on you, who find a way into your heart and sets a wonderful example to you. I admire all that she was and my heart goes out to her friends and family. She will be missed and I'll keep her memory with me forever.

~
Life is a precious thing...
... you have to make every moment count,
make the most of it,
and live every day to its fullest,
live here and now,
because you'll never know what life has in store for you,
for good or worse.

So make every day count,
reach for the stars and make you dreams come true
~

/MrsHjort

European Pellitory - September's Silver

These little flowers have bloomed like mad this year. Even now they are brightening up my garden midst all the autumn colors. We've been very lucky to have a wonderfully mild sunny autumn this year. It has allowed the flowers to stay pretty longer, which fits my calendar this year very well.

As a matter of fact, I think I'll soon head out into the garden to shoot this month's photo - you never know how long luck will stay - and there are some other wonderful flowers that have just started blooming. Lucky me! I hope this lats all the way to December!

Wish me good luck shooting! :)

/MrsHjort