Saturday, June 30, 2018

Day 30 - Musk mallow

Last day! Wow! It's been a roller-coaster, but I've made it! Thank you to all of you who have participated in the challenge, and shared your beautiful photos. It's been a true pleasure and I've really enjoyed seeing your pictures every day. You're all so frikkin' talented and you should all be proud of your work. Congratulations! And thank you!

/MrsHjort

Friday, June 29, 2018

Thursday, June 28, 2018

Day 28 - Coral Bells

Photoshop decided to die on me just as I was finished editing this. It made me swear a bit :P. But in the end I like this version better than the first one I made, so no harm no foul ;).

/MrsHjort

Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Day 27 - Spirea

I love this look where not all of the little buds have popped. It makes the flowers look more interesting I think. I hope you like it too :)

/MrsHjort

Monday, June 25, 2018

Day 25 - St John's wort

Phew! I almost forgot about today's picture. I'm so lucky to live this far up north, where daylight lasts longer in the evenings. Say what you will about the dark winters, but the light summers are wonderful!

/MrsHjort

Sunday, June 24, 2018

Day 24 - Climbing Rose

This is a Flammentanz climbing rose, it's just about the only rose that has been able to make it in our garden, so far. We've bought others, less hardier kinds, but each year, they've gotten smaller and smaller. I'm very happy that the Flammentanz is able to handle our harsh winters. I love roses.

/MrsHjort

Friday, June 22, 2018

Day 22 - Persian Cornflower

I was lucky to get this shot. The flowers of this plant had wilted away and I thought it was too late, but then this bud popped from nowhere. Lucky me :)

/MrsHjort

Thursday, June 21, 2018

Day 21 - Yellow Stonecrop

These are some of the most common plants in my garden - Sedum and Wild Strawberries. Mainly it's because they cover the ground very effectively. They perform a very important function because they help keep the ground moist and the fact that they are growing so strong themselves keeps the weeds from getting a chance to get a foot in the door. Plus, they look pretty, and the berries taste yummy :D

/MrsHjort

Wednesday, June 20, 2018

Day 20 - Rose Campion

Rain, rain, rain, all day today. Rain for all the things that grow...

/MrsHjort

My story, part 1

So… I am not usually the type to share personal things on the internet. I’m a very private person, and I am the kind of girl who answers “just fine” when people ask me “how are things?” That’s something I am working on though – I have come to realize that life has changed for me and that my story needs to be told for the people around me to understand what I’m going though. So here goes; I am not “fine”. In fact, I haven’t been “fine” for about a year now.

It all started last summer after a trip to France when I got a “cough”. Now there’s nothing unusual about getting a cough, but that “cough” was the start of everything that has been going on with me since then. My “colds”, or “coughs”, sometimes come with asthma, and since we were in France, I simply went to the first pharmacy I could find, and they were kind enough to give me some asthma medicine, even though that normally required a prescription. Awesome! Problem solved! Or not… After a few days I traveled back home, as planned, and got well, or so I thought… A few days later I went for a run. The next day the “cough” was back with a vengeance. The coughing and asthma were worse. I felt tight over the chest, had chest pain as well as a feeling of a “lump” in the chest, and it felt like somebody was sitting on me, weighing me down and making it hard for me to breathe. All of that has been with me almost every day since. Some days are better and some days are worse. Some days I cannot make it up a flight of stairs without catching my breath a couple of times, and some days I can without too much effort. It took me quite a while to figure out, but basically, the more active I am, the worse I feel, so exercise is a no-go and I need to rest, a lot. The most demanding form of exercise I can manage is a short slow walk (sloooow!), but that is only when I’m having a good day. Over the past year, I’ve been to the emergency room twice. Why? Because the tests my doctors made me do overexerted me and made me feel so bad the next day I thought I might have a punctured lung (that has happened to me two times before, hence the hypothesis).  That was not the case though, and they sent me home the same day both times.

Anyway, this past year has had more health related “surprises”. Periodically, when I’m having bad days, I’m much more tired than usual. I used to be a very active person. I’d enjoy training in the home gym we’ve set up in our attic, taking long power-walks, doing garden work, photography, managing internet forums, and other fun things, but this past year I have been forced to give up almost all of them. I simply don’t have the breath, or the energy, to do them anymore. Some days I don’t even have the energy to sit by the computer. It’s hard to describe the way this tiredness feels to a healthy person. I have never felt like this before, but imagine that feeling of being totally spent after a long hard day, move it to before lunch and add confusion… which brings me to my next “thing”; “confusion”.

This past year I have been growing more and more forgetful. Not that normal kind of forgetful that you sometimes get, but unusually so. It’s normal to forget a thing or two during a day, but I am getting to the point where I constantly forgetting what I’m doing, or what people have told me. A few examples… I’ll put on music on my computer and not realize that the speakers aren’t on until a quarter later. I’d pull up my phone to check on something, and the process of logging into the phone (pressing my thumb on the button) makes me forget what I was supposed to do. I’ll walk into a room without a clue as to what I’m supposed to do there, or forget what things are called. Like I’ll remember the name of a common flower (like a Poppy) in English but it will take me about 10 seconds to remember its name in my mother tongue; Swedish. Or I’ll start telling you something and forget the point along the way. Not that uncommon you might think, but this happens a lot to me, every day, and it’s frustrating.

I also have other symptoms, but so far, they haven’t had a noticeable effect on my day to day life. I have skin problems, stomach problems and problems with circulation in my hands and feet. That’s why I always dress warmly (slippers at work, even during summer) and that’s why I’m currently trying out a gluten free diet. Oh yes, this past year I’ve been very careful with what I eat. Not because I suspect that all this is the result of a food allergy, but I have always prioritized eating healthy, and especially now that I am unwell. Add to this that the thing I suspect this is… well, people with that diagnosis get worse if they eat gluten.

So, there you have it. This has been my life the past year… Don’t worry though, I am in contact with two wonderful doctors and they are trying their best to figure out what this “thing” is (no diagnosis, yet). They have done a gazillion tests (I’ve lost count) and are pursuing a few things, but it takes time. There are queues to do the tests, and to see the specialists, so I’m patiently waiting and trying out different medicines to ease my symptoms. One of them worked really well, but since it’s harmful to me to take it for longer periods of time, we are trying to get me off it (sadly it’s not going too well this far).  The waiting is one of the hardest parts though. The uncertainty of all this is hard to live with. Like not knowing if I will be well enough to go on a trip this Summer, to go on a kick-off with my colleagues or even have the energy to spend some time chilling with my friends a Friday afternoon. Or when I’m doing something I’ll worry that the people I’m with might notice how crappy I’m feeling - I am, and have always been one to put on a brave face and hide the bad. I’ve never wanted anybody to see me at less than my best, and I never want to come off as whiny, but I’ve come to realize that if I’m to continue living like this, I need to be more honest, let people in on how I’m feeling and stop answering “just fine”.

To all of you who have shown me support this past year, a huge thank you. Knowing that you care warms my heart and puts a silver lining to my days. I really appreciate when you ask me how I’m feeling, and appreciate your interest in how I’m doing. You mean the world to me. Don’t be discouraged if I look uncomfortable talking about “it”, I am simply having a hard time getting past “just fine”, but I’m working on that. Facing the fact that this “thing” might be something more serious than what can be cured with a simple non-prescription pill or short term medication is hard for me. Sometimes I don’t want to think of it, because it makes me sad. So there are also times when I just don’t want to talk about it. But if that’s the case, I’ll tell you so, and I’ll know you understand. Just know that I appreciate how much you care, and that I always appreciate when you ask me how I’m doing.

And finally, a big thank you to all of you for taking the time to read this long, rambling, most likely typo-infested text J

Much love
MrsHjort

Tuesday, June 19, 2018

Day 19 - European Columbine

We have a lot of these in my garden. Blue, blue and white, purple, pink, pink and white... You know, the ordinary ones. This one is different. It's the only one that didn't come with the house. I fell in love with the dark purple color on one of our trips to the garden store, and I'm happy to say it's been thriving in our garden every year since we got it. I think I'll let it seed this year, hopefully there will be more of them next year :D

/MrsHjort

Monday, June 18, 2018

Day 18 - Jasmine

We have a huge Jasmine bush in the corner of our garden, right by the patio. I just love it when it is in bloom. It smells so wonderful, just like the tea, only fresher and softer. It's a real pity it doesn't bloom for longer than it does, I would have loved to smell it all summer :)

/MrsHjort

Sunday, June 17, 2018

Day 17 - Cranesbill

Today is the first time in what feels like forever that we've gotten rain of any noteworthy quantity. Our lawn had gotten quite dry and wilted in more than a few places, so the rain was a welcome change. I went outside between the showers to shoot today's flower. Everything was wet, and beaten down though, so I didn't have many subjects to choose from. Though the droplets made this pretty flower look even more beautiful :)

/MrsHjort

Saturday, June 16, 2018

Day 16 - Blanketflower

Time for a color bomb. I just love the look of the Blanket flower, don't you? I have a few of them in my garden, but I never remember where they are until the blossoms pop - they are in the midst of a lot of other plants, which makes them hard to spot. The flowers are unmistakable though :)

/MrsHjort

Thursday, June 14, 2018

Day 14 - Iris

This shot proved particularly tricky to process in post-ed. This is because I've chosen to work with a very narrow depth of field in this challenge and needless to say, I've been doing a bit of focus stacking on the larger subjects. Anyway, since I don't shoot in "controlled conditions" I do my focus stacking by hand. That is, I shoot several shots and select parts of them by hand and blend them together using different layers. It's usually quite simple, but the shape of the flower in combination with the windy day today made the process more lengthy and complicated than usual. It was a bit of a pain, and I'll admit that normally I wouldn't attempt in on a day like this, but I finally found a fresh Iris blossom that was isolated from the others, so I really wanted to do this shot. I ended up using three "focus layers" and twisted and prodded them until they matched up. I also had to match the backgrounds, since the wind moved stuff there as well, so I ended up cloning a bit and using the eraser to get it as close to the real thing as I could. I finally think I got it :)

/MrsHjort

Wednesday, June 13, 2018

Day 13 - Sweet William

This is another flower that I've been shooting for several days, but that didn't quite make it here until now. It was cloudy today and the light conditions proved more favorable to it - somehow the colors came out better this time.

/MrsHjort

Tuesday, June 12, 2018

Day 12 - Oxeye Daisy

I know, I have already done Daisies, but in Swedish, they actually have different names - the one from day 9 is called "Rosa Margerit" and this is a "Prästkrage" - meaning Priest's Collar :). So to me they're different enough to warrant two shots ;)

I got so lucky with this one. I was adjusting the focus manually, planning to do some focus stacking, and this little bee landed in just the right place! Yey!

/MrsHjort

Monday, June 11, 2018

Day 11 - Great Masterwort

We planted a new flowerbed this spring and this was one of its new inhabitants. I confess, I have been following the newcomers every day... a bit like a child before Christmas, going for a look every day to see how they are doing :)

These particular ones were a bit of a disappointment at first - when they started blooming, they were a pale green, not at all the lovely light purple that was promised. But as the days went by they gained more and more color. An interesting effect - the flowers I'm familiar work the other way around - so I'm happily surprised!

/MrsHjort

Sunday, June 10, 2018

Day 10 - Chives

I've been wanting to get the Chives for a couple of days now. The bumblebees love them and I wanted them in the shot as well.

Shooting live insects demand a great deal of patience... and timing. More often than not you're left with a pleasing composition but the insect is in the wrong place, or the focus isn't quite right or the insect is fine, but everything else is... meh...

Though ever once in a while, you get lucky :)

/MrsHjort

Saturday, June 9, 2018

Day 9 - Daisy

Today is another hot day best spent in the shade. I parked myself in the middle of our lawn under a tree and snapped pictures from there. Usually I'm always shifting my position to find absolute best ange for a shot, but today it's simply too hot. Though, I have to say, confining yourself to one spot is kind of fun too - it forces you to search for new subjects in a whole new way. Also, working with a telephoto lens makes it all the more interesting because you get to search, not only in different directions, but in depth as well. Today was a fun :)

/MrsHjort

Friday, June 8, 2018

Day 8 - Rose

I love Roses, but they have never really worked in my garden up until now. These are of an extra hardy variety though, so hopefully (knock on wood) they'll be able to handle our harsh winters. I just love their soft color, don't you? :)

/MrsHjort

Thursday, June 7, 2018

Day 7 - Woodland Sage

It was windy today... That's literary hell when you're trying to get a good shot of flowers, or well, at least if you're trying to get a good close up. The focus gets messed up all the time and the flowers blow in and out of the picture. I thought I had managed to get one or two good shots, only to find out they were blurry when I viewed them on my monitor. Aarrrgh! So, I ended up doing a not so close up shot today. The Woodland Sage was the perfect candidate. It's much prettier this way. Or at least I think so :)

/MrsHjort

Wednesday, June 6, 2018

Day 6 - Daylily

Today is the National Day of Sweden so I wanted something with the Swedish colors - yellow and blue. Sadly, I don't have any flowers like that, so I had to settle for yellow, and a little bluish tones in the foliage :)

Compared to other countries, the celebration of the Swedish National Day is quite gentle and muted. I think it may have something to do with our famous neutrality - Sweden hasn't been in a war for well over 200 years (and thank goodness for that) so we don't have the same sense of nationalism and unity that our neighbors do. Sweden is all about inclusion and progressive values. Diversity is celebrated and we take pride in the big melting pot that our country has become. Sometimes it can get a little bit too nontraditional though, as the core of our Swedish culture is something to be celebrated too, especially on our National Day. But there lies the paradox of the Swedish national spirit. Generally, we are very proud of our heritage, but in a very humble way - we want everyone to feel welcome and comfortable. :)

How did I celebrate? Well, I watched a small parade in our city center, and then went to visit my parents for a nice laid back barbecue. It can't get more Swedish than that ;)

Happy National Day!

/MrsHjort

Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Day 5 - Peony

The Peonies have blossomed today. The buds have been growing slowly every day for weeks, but now they have finally opened up and they smell so lovely. We have them in several places in our garden. Most of them are pink but we got some wonderfully dramatic red ones this spring. They're too young to bloom this year though. So I have something to look forward to next summer. Not that I'm wishing away this one though ;).

/MrsHjort

Monday, June 4, 2018

Day 4 - Tiger Lilly

I shot the Lillies yesterday too, but I'm so glad I didn't pick one of those shots - they are even more beautiful today when more buds have opened up.

It's very hot working today. Must be 30 degrees inside. I put some music on and didn't even realize the speakers weren't on until after half an hour later haha! Maybe some coffee is in order. :P

/MrsHjort

Sunday, June 3, 2018

Day 3 - Rhododendron

I love Rhododendron, though they proved more difficult a subject to shoot than I thought they would be. Getting the composition right is hard because the flowers are jumbled and clomped together in groups. I've been trying for a couple of days now, but nothing quite lived up to my standards. The light this morning made for some interesting effects though. I'm still not entirely satisfied - it's still a bit too jumbled for my taste, but with nature, you can't have everything :)

/MrsHjort

Saturday, June 2, 2018

Day 2 - Fireglow

The Fireglow is more colorful than ever this year. It must be all the fine weather we've been having. According to records, it's been over a 100 years since Sweden had such hot days this time of year. It hasn't rained in a month now, so everything is very dry. I'm not complaining though. I love the heat.

No special filter is used in this shot, only the regular CPL-filter I use during daytime outside.

/MrsHjort 

Friday, June 1, 2018

Day 1 - Poppy

So, It's finally time to start a brand new 30 day Challenge on DaggerBay, and thus I'm blowing life into my old blog again.

First off I want to jot down a few explanatory words to tell you why you haven't seen a lot of me lately. Those of you who know me in person may already know, but this past year has been quite hard on me. Basically I've been dealing with health problems. Without going into too many details, it has meant cutting back on many things, including my participation on DaggerBay. So my blog has been very quiet these past months. My condition has been having a big impact on my day to day life, and it is only recently that things have started to turn around for me. I've finally arrived at the top of the list to see the medical experts that can help me, and I have finally gotten some medicine that helps. I'm so glad to finally have enough energy to get my creative juices flowing again and I look forward to doing this challenge with all of the amazing photographers that have chosen to join me. Just to say though, however happy I am to be able to do the challenge, this past year I've learned never to take anything for granted, so, even though I'm (knock on wood) feeling better at this moment, things may change, and I may need to take a step back again. Cross your fingers for me!

With my current condition in mind, my month's theme will be quite simple - things found in my garden. This shot is my second experiment with a 10+ close-up lens filter. It enables me to get much closer to my subjects but has the drawback of limiting me to a very narrow depth of field. The result is quite dreamy, don't you think? :)

/MrsHjort

My Father, a Tribute to a Kind Man

This blog post is going to be longer than usual, and even so, how can one summarize one's feelings and memories of a person within the p...