Day 5 - Stone King

It was quite tricky getting a clean shot of the fountain lions in Piazza del Popolo (as a crazy cat lady I just had to get at least one right). Even in the morning, there are just enough people to make it a thing you achieve through a zooming, timing and luck. The lighting was marvelous though.

/MrsHjort

Day 1 and 2 - Welcome to Rome!

Oops! I totally forgot that I was gonna start yesterday, so I'll post two shots today instead. :)

To start off, some of you know I have some health Issues - I'm undiagnosed but I've had some kind of chronic condition for two years now. This trip was wonderful in many ways. I made sure to call my doctor before hand, and he let me go back on a medication that worked well before (I usually don't take it since I am undiagnosed and taking it slows down the progress of finding out what's up with me). So, that meant that I was able to cope with the physical strain that the trip involved (Rome is a place where you usually do a lot of walking) and have more energy in general. So, not only was it lovely to get to see so many lovely things, but I got to feel better than I have been feeling since what feels like an eternity, and it made me feel like me again, if that makes sense. But this isn't a cryfest, I'm not complaining and I'm not looking for sympathy. I want to celebrate life and share the beauty I found in Rome, so here goes.

Day 1: 

I thought you might want to have a look at the person behind the camera. This is me, with the Vatican in the background. Mr actually took the shot for me, so it's cheating a bit, but this isn't a formal challenge, I set up the camera for him and I did the editing... and besides that's the only way you'll get to see me anyway, unless I brought a tripod, but who wants to lug around that in Rome? Anyway... we wanted a silly emo picture where I started into the distance. A real cliche to poke fun at me to show to a coworker as an inside joke (we're silly like that, we did a similar thing with a picture of Mr in front of the Colosseum but I'll show you that one another day). It actually turned out quite nice though. As good as I'll get on camera anyway - I'm way more comfortable behind it haha.

Day 2: 

This is the view from our balcony with the Tiber in front and the city center in the background. A lovely tiny bed and breakfast with walking distance to the Rome highlights.


/MrsHjort

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

13 Hours of Christmas

So, as I was crazy enough to sign up for a 12 hour challenge on Daggerbay, here goes! Here's 12 hour of Christmas with our jolly, loud and exuberant family :)

8:24 
I wake up with my usual sleeping buddies, meaning Mr and this little lady, who continues to watch over my morning routines hehe. It's the morning of Christmas eve, which is when Swedes celebrate Christmas, and the family will come over in the afternoon - meaning, lots to prepare!

9:22
Rather than showing you a bunch of shots of me cleaning our house, I though I'd share this little Christmas favorite of mine - this knitted Santa my grandmother made me back when I was a child. She was a wonderful lady, who always knitted us beautiful things. I still get tear in my eyes thinking of how much love she pored into it all. I remember how she apologized for running out of the red yarn half way up the red coat of this wonderful creation. That was my Grannie haha,  I've always loved it... How I miss her!

10:06
Mr is the boss in the kitchen, he's so much better at it than I am and I'm very happy to let him run the show. He's a wonderful cook! I have to watch my weight with him around. It's way to easy to eat too much when everything he makes is so delicious. Here he is preparing one of the upcoming Christmas dinner dishes, and enjoying a Swedish Christmas drink - glögg (a sort of mulled wine, that we drink with almond flakes and rasens).

11:42
I've long since given up on trying to convince the rest of the family to restrict the Christmas prezzies to the children alone. Most Swedish families don't buy Christmas presents for everybody, you see, but do "secret Santa" or some kind of raffle instead, and some even do Christmas games where you have to win your presents. Not our family though, nope! We go above an beyond haha! This isn't even all of the presents, it's not even half of them! It's a big hassle to buy one for everybody - and I hate shopping - but I have to admit, nothing beats the atmosphere of antecipation and joy that they bring. The children can hardly keep their fingers away waiting, and we have to keep them from examinering the presents a little too closely.

12:01
Getting snow for Christmas in Sweden is more unusual than you'd think, or well at least it is where I live. I'd say the chance is about 50/50. You see, we live by the second largest lake in Sweden, and it helps keep the area warm in the winter. So, if you go up to the "highland" from where I live, you can go from this, to a whole lot of snow in a short distance. It's kind of nice in the autumn, because it delays the cold and keeps our streets free from ice a bit longer than everywhere else, but it decreases our chansers of a white Christmas, and it delays spring. Sometimes it even freezes over, and that's when you know spring will be unusually late. It's a very cold and deep lake... It's very rarely freezes though. Also, being so deep, it seldom gets warm enough for one to want to go for a swim in it - it takes a lot of time to heat all that water. It's beautiful though, and very clean. As you can tell, I have a bit of a love/hate relationship to it haha.

This is the view from our attic. The lake is in the distance, and, as you can see, we didn't get any snow this Christmas. There was ice-rain though, a lot of good it did us, ha!

13:02
The first guests arrive! My parents, always early and just as happy as you see them here. Sweden is like that. If you're expected to come at a certain time, people will show up right then, and not a moment later. Being more than 10 minutes late is rude, and it's better to show up 10 minutes early. Many of my friends from abroad shake their heads at that haha! But anyway, these are my parents. Swedish mother, American father. They met on a stroke of luck when on a holiday in yet on other country, and now here they are :)

14:10
I don't know how common these are outside of Sweden, but we eat these "prince sausages" every Christmas, along with loads of other traditional food, like meat balls, Jansons frestelse, herring, turkey and much, much more. It's where the word smorgasbord comes from - smörgåsbord. Since our family is kind of large, we do potluck. It would simply not work otherwise, and so each of the guests bring their assigned dishes, and, as hosts, we try to coordinate the best we can. That's where Mr comes in, and I'm very happy to leave all that stuff to him :)

15:58
This is Mr carving the Christmas ham. That's the super star of the Swedish Christmas foods and it's preparation is a science of its own. Mr has been experimenting for years to get it better and better. First you have to pick the right one, be it a pig or wild boar, then it has to be boiled and baked in so or so many degrees for this or that long. Mr has gotten really good at it - even I who don't particularly enjoy ham, like the way he makes it.

16:15
Tada! All the dishes are finally heated and ready! They're so many they don't even fit into the picture, that's not even mentioning the desserts. We actually forgot one of the dishes in the refrigerator this year - my mother's orange and walnut sallad. It's one of my personal favorites, yum! I cannot believe we forgot it.... eeeer well, okay then, yes I guess I can really, there are just so many dishes (and I've got a cold, so my head isn't quite screwed on right), so, it's a wonder it doesn't happen more often really haha. Oh well, it tasted just as good this morning as we ate some of the leftovers. That's a wonderful thing to have every Christmas day - lots of yummy leftovers when you're too lazy to make breakfast. We'll have leftovers for days, even though we sent all our guests home with food too!

17:27
After dinner things calm down a bit, and we all sit down, too tired from eating all the food to do anything sensible. Just like it should be. Food is half the spirit of Christmas in Sweden. At this point, we just sit down and enjoy each other's company, catching up about whatever and talking about nothing in particular. I really enjoy when the whole family gets together like this, both my side and Mr's. All the people I love under one roof, what could possibly be better? If the food makes up one half of Christmas, family makes up the other.

18:02
The Children's wait is over and Santa has finally arrived! It's all a bit weird though, as all the presents have been under the Christmas tree all day, haha, but luckily the children don't think of that. Mr was worried he wouldn't be able to fool them this year - the girl in this picture was a bit suspicious last year and suspected it was him under that white beard. So, he bought a better costume and though up a better cover story to explain why he had to leave all of a sudden. He was so happy when it worked! The magic of Christmas got to endure a year longer, yey!

19:19
It's desert time! After everybody has opened their presents, it's the perfect time for sweeties. In this picture you'll see two of the Swedish classics. First, there's the orange rice, which is not to be mistaken by rice a la Malta... seriously, don't! Or my father in law, who made it, will explain it to you, in full detail haha. That's actually also one of the traditions. Not a Christmas goes by without that particular lecture. He has also made the other sweet in this picture - the controversially named ball... Don't ask, I'll just leave it at that ;)

20:51 (bonus)
Our evening ends with Christmas quizzes. They're not usually about Christmas, or the same questions would pop up every second year or so, but about trivia in general. I'm the worst at that sort of thing! Mr though, won both of them, the brainiac that he is. Just don't tell him I said so ;)

So there you go! 12 hours of Christmas, plus one extra bonus hour. I've never made this challenge before, it was a lot of fun!

Merry Christmas everybody!

/MrsHjort

2nd DaPP Challenge at Daggerbay

An other trip, and yet an other batch of photos to edit! Phew! Edinburgh and rural France makes well over 1000 pictures together. I'm gonna have my hands full for quite a while...

Or am I? We're starting a new Daily Post-Processing Challenge over at Daggerbay tomorrow, where artists can share their work and have fun together in the process. The idea is to get around to editing those pictures you've not yet sunken your teeth into and develop a portfolio. I'm gonna be there, and I hope you will too.

Here's the first secret entry into my challenge. This is Châteauneuf en Auxois, a 15th-century fortress located in the commune of Châteauneuf, 43 km from Dijon, France.

I'm so lucky! Not only did I have the good fortune to live quite close to it and see it from the garden every day, but I was also lucky enough to get to go there during the medieval market! And boy did I get a lot of cool photos! I can't wait to share them with you all.

I hope to see you in the challenge

/MrsHjort

Edinburgh - yon Empress of the North

I just got home from Edinburgh yesterday. The city that smells sweetly and is filled with beautiful stone buildings. Where history is all around you.

This was my second visit to the city, though the first as a tourist. Last time, I didn't have the time to shoot. Instead my days were filled with seminars and meetings. But this time, I got to do all of the things I didn't do the first time, including taking the time to shoot for real. I got home with over 400 pictures, yey! Picking out the best ones and editing them is going to be so much fun!

This is the view from Calton Hill, down below is Princes Street and the Clock tower over Balmoral Hotel at Waverley Station with St. Mary's Cathedral in the background. It's a very popular place to shoot from, and one can see why.

I hope you like it too.

Cheers
/MrsHjort

Day 21 - Souvenir

As some of you know, Mr and I got married in Thailand, and for that reason everything Thai has always had a special place in out hearts. Our favorite restaurant is Thai, we make a lot of Thai food, there are many Thai knickknacks in our house and we have been known to listen to Thai music now and again.

This is one of my favorite souvenirs, though it's actually more of a piece of art. You'll fine this woodcarving in our living room, hanging next to the cabinet I shot back in day 4. It was one of those things I fell in love with at first sight. Mostly because it reminds me of that magical little resort where we got married. They had lots of pretty woodcarving there :)

/MrsHjort

Vistas of Madeira

I never sease to be amazed by the dramatic beauty of Madeira. It makes my heart sing. I wonder if you could ever grow immune to it, if you lived there. I'm guessing; no! My home is situated in a relatively flat area in comparison, and yet, I find myself marveling at the view quite often. Every landscape has it's own charm I guess, no matter where you are. Though, I've always preferred mountains and lush green hills. That's part of why Mr and I keep returning to Madeira I think.

One of the other reasons we keep coming back is the wine. Madeira wine is quite unique in taste and ranges from rich (sweet) to dry. If you're ever on the island, make sure you taste a Bolo do Mel de Cana (a sweet kake). It should be accompanied with a rich Madeira wine, and it's an excellent way to end the evening.

Speaking of ends, as this month draws to a close, I'm getting more and more exited about the next. You see, next month the 30-day challenge is on again. I missed it last time, due to workload, but now I finally have the time to do it. I'll be shooting each day, and you'll see my top pick here, every day. Fun fun fun! I love how the intense shooting gets your creative juices flowing. The previous challenges have really helped me develop as a photographer, and, they've been a lot of fun too. I can't wait :)

So, see you Sunday for my first post.

Cheers

/MrsHjort

New Adventures

I've been away for a while now, travelling. And since I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to my photography, and my laptop can't handle PS, that means that I've been away from my blog as well. This was the third time we went back to the one of our favorite islands - Madeira, Portugal.

I've always preferred nature photography to anything else, and Madeira is a great place for that. The "levadas" and mountain paths are just gorgeous and the flora is quite unique. You can find a lot of different types of areas - from very dry to very moist, and sometimes, it's enough to turn a corner to get from one to the other. Very cool indeed!

Unfortunately though, Mr and I had been sick for weeks before travelling, and therefore, we were quite out of shape. So, alas, this time we had to keep to the easier treks, wish meant mainly forest treks along levadas. Don't let that give you the idea that it was less enjoyable or less adventurous though. You can find really gorgeous spots pretty much anywhere on the Island, and despite the fact that Mr and I have spent... lets see... yes, as many as 7 weeks on the island in total, counting all our trips there, there are still things we haven't done yet!
Ergo, lots of cool stuff to see and do, and shoot ;)

So, there's more to come. I just wanted to touch base a bit, and show you the first batch of my shots. They describe our trip pretty well I think - wandering in lush green forests, feeding birds and enjoying the wonderful weather :)

See you soon

/MrsHjort

Happy Summer Holidays

My, my my! Has it been so long? Almost a month since my last post? Time sure flies!

I've been really busy lately, not gaming though - I'm done now - but "photoshopping", and time really passes quickly when you're busy with BotS. Then there's the garden to take care of, and work of course, and we also have two house guests, furry ones. You see, my sister in law is away on a trip and we're taking care of her chinchillas. But alas, no pictures of them yet, if cats are quick, we need to coin a whole new word for those guys!

So, today, Lady Freya is my poster girl again. Two weeks ago the weather here was wonderful. The temperature was around 35 degrees C (which is really uncommon where I live), and Mr, I, Freya and our other cat Morris, would just lay in the shade, on a blanket in the grass, and read comics - that's the only thing we had the energy to do. Isn't it wonderful when nature provides the perfect excuse for you to be lazy? Those days were perfect!

Anyway, what's the perfect thing to do when you're bored with comics and need something else to occupy yourself with? That's right! To lazily lay in the grass with a camera! It makes for interesting low angle shots, and the furry subjects are too warm to jump out of your shots. All you have to do is snap away :).

Happy Holidays to you

/MrsHjort

Merry Christmas!

Because I've since long stopped sending Christmas cards, this will be my holiday greeting this year. Nothing says Christmas like Freya in front of a Christmas tree :), and yes, it's still standing, even if she's tried to climb it a bit. After all, she's not a kitten any longer, so I'm crossing my fingers for this year. But something tells me she's not gonna break her Christmas tradition haha.


Merry Christmas dear friends!

/MrsHjort

Lovely Winter

It's cold now, and dark, soon it's the darkest time of the year - when you can see signs like "be ware of falling icicles" or hear the snowplough scraping past your house in the morning.

Soon Christmas will be here, though judging by the stores, it has been here for a while - they started filling their windows with decorations in October. I just hate that, as if winter wasn't long enough without them having to remind me even before the leaves stared falling...

There are some things I like about winter though, like mulled wine and gingerbread cookies. Or snuggling up in a sofa with a blanket watching a movie, taking long hot baths, or when all the advent candle sticks get removed from storage, and every window glows homely through the dark nights.

To Mr and me, winter is special. Even though we both prefer summer. The first time we met was a November evening and the first time we said "I love you" was the midwinter solstice. It's a time of year when we remember those early crazy romantic days of our relationship and reminisce.

An other thing I like about this time of year is that "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy movies, as well as "The Hobbit" movies has had their premieres then. I've always looked forward to seeing them, though this time I'm a bit worried as to how they will present the last part...

You see, I'm one of those hard core Tolkien admirers who don't see kindly to changes. Especially when, in my opinion, brilliant bits of the book are removed and replaced with exaggerated action scenes, concocted love stories or recurring characters who do not belong in the story. To me "The Hobbit" has always been more about courage than anything else, and while I think that they did a good job capturing that in the first movie, I found the second one lacking that particular quality. But I digress, this was supposed to be about winter after all, so... what else...

I love the beauty of winter - the snow, the frost and the icicles. Shooting them is so much fun even though I hate the cold, I get very enthusiastic when snow falls. These shots are not from today though, they're from almost two years ago when I was lucky enough to find some gorgeous ice-formations down by the pier.

Shooting snow is hard. I've taken many walks with my camera in the woods and come home with "nothing" - the light conditions are very tricky - since this is a dark time of year. The shots often lack that "zest" that I like and end up "flat". The trick is not to shoot on overcast days, which is easily said than done. Though sometimes, in the end of the winter, when the days are a bit brighter, you might end up lucky anyway, like when I shot these. I look forward to the snow this year. I hope I will get the opportunity to do some serious shooting.

/Mrs Hjort

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

Water Lilly - Summer's Ametrine

This summer Mr and I went back to our own personal paradise - the hotel where we got married six years ago. I can't describe how special that place is to us, and how blissful it is. The garden is beautiful, filled with exotic flowers, the food is delicious and it's calm in a way that is hard to find anywhere else. An ideal holiday spot if you lead a stressful life.

It's a long trip to Thailand, so we don't go there very often, and therefore I tried to savor every moment and convert all of the little details to memory - the sweetness of the humid air, the sound of the wind blowing and the ocean waves crashing in, the intense sunlight and the aromas from the restaurant. If only my mind could take "pictures" like my camera can.

Memory is a fleeting thing, I can remember all off the sensations of our paradise - if I close my eyes - the trouble is that it makes me want to inhale deeply, and as I do, I am stuck cold by the arid Swedish air and the scents of the upcoming autumn.

Speaking of autumn, W1K will do an autumn 30-day challenge in September, and I'm trying hard to think of a theme that is easy enough to fit my busy life, but in the same interesting enough to develop my skills. Any suggestions are welcome!

Oh, and since I've now caught up with August, you'll have to wait a few days for my August shot to compete before you get to see it here. Thus, the calender will now be updated monthly.

See you around, the 30-day challenge starts come September :)

/MrsHjort

Day 13 - "Memories"

If you've read this thread at W1K you know that Mr and me got married in Thailand. And while this seashell lap has absolutely nothing to do with that (it was a gift from my mother in law) it still makes me go back to that little cozy hotel. Funny how the mind works.

It's gone six years since our honeymoon/wedding trip to Koh Samui. That place will always be very special to me and when I leave the island it feels like I've left a peace of myself behind. I love Thailand...

I've been thinking of that place with increasing frequency the past couple of weeks. Want to know why? I'm dying to tell you! One day, out of the blue, Mr surprised me by telling me we're going back there this summer. Oh tears of joy, it's going to be a great summer holiday this year :)

/MrsHjort