Wonderful Spring

I've had a very productive day today. I just love how much more energy you get when it's light as you wake up in the mornings. The boring browns outside are finally giving in to green and the first flowers are blooming in my garden. Finally spring is here!

I shot this pretty Snowdrop just this morning, and the weather was no nice I decided to stay outside, grab a shovel and do some gardening (I didn't even need a jacket). So, now the flower beds have been cleared and the boring brown dead things have been cut away. Ah what a nice feeling to have finally begun with the spring chores!

Later, Mr and I went to Ikea to buy some shelves for our newly renovated library, and after that, as Mr went off to judge a football game, my energetic fingers just could not stay away from the boxes for very long. I grabbed a screwdriver and bippity boppity boo, up they went, easy as pie (I love Ikea!).

I never expected to get so much done this day, I have longed for a day of doing absolutely nothing all week, and as it arrived it turned into the exact opposite. I "blame" the clear blue sky, the spring wind and the twittering birds.

/MrsHjort

Happy Brithday Mr

Yesterday was Mr's birthday, the 6th of mars. That day an unspecified bunch of years ago was a very good day. It brought me this wonderful kindhearted intelligent man who loves strawberries and never lets the child in him die.

We've been married for 7 years now, lived together for 10, and I have to say that we're still ridiculously happy together. A colleague of mine recently said that assembling furniture from Ikea really tells you something about the state of your marriage, and I have to agree in our case. We've always been good at cooperating. Though we might be "cheating" when it comes to the Ikea analogy since we've both worked with assembling in the past.

In fact, an even better analogy would be that working in the same company as your spouse gives you a good indication of the state of the relationship. We've worked together in two different companies, and at one time, we even shared the same office, and we loved it! We used to joke around a lot, and sometimes we would have "post-it note ball fights". I guess we're both pretty childish at heart haha. But really, nothing says "I love you" like when you suddenly get a little paper ball thrown at you, and find a heart drawn on it as you unfold it.

So here's to Mr, my husband and mischievous best friend in one. I love you with all my heart!

/MrsHjort

Lil' Ms Sunshine

This is Rosie, I thought it only fair that she also got a blog entry, since Freya got one recently, and it's not hard to ramble about cats when you're a crazy cat lady (try and stop me!), so, here goes.

Rosie is the queen of our house. She expects to be treated like royalty, and she'll tell you if there's something she wants - like when she wants some fine dining. None of our cat quite have the power of persuasion she has, I simply cannot resist her when she runs, round and round in small circles around my legs, purring and miaoing in her special way.

You see, she has a very unusual way of "speaking" - it's more like a nasal "meeee meeee meeee" and let me tell you, it's adorable! If you ever try to imitate it, she'll respond very strongly to you - whenever Mr or I do it, she comes running, all happy and purring.
She's very special that way.

Rosie is also a bit of a scaredy cat. She's afraid of a multitude of strange things, ranging from Mr's black coat to anything that makes rustling sounds. When we first moved to our house, she moved into one room at a time, gradually getting used to the new smells and sounds.

Her favorite toys are hair bands, and they are especially interesting when they can be found on her mistress' head. It has come to the point when I cannot have them anyplace where she's able to reach them, because, with her nose, which will put the even best bloodhound to shame, she'll go sniff sniff sniff, and find them faster than I can say mischief.

I love my little queen, long may she reign, and may her days be filled with treats and scrunchies!

/MrsHjort

An Unexpected Victory, and Me and Worth

Sometimes things can really surprise you, like the last contest I entered at W1K. I entered three pictures, just for fun. You see, I haven't entered in a while and the theme - "Bugs" - actually fit something in my beloved shoe box! So, I happily entered, without a though of weather I would win or not - sometimes it's fun to play just for the thrill itself. Because believe me, no matter if you are actually close to the top or not, checking that leader board is really addictive!

I did not feel this relaxed and comfortable about my photography in the beginning, no, not at all! Back in 2012, as I joined W1K, it was so much more personal. I imagine it's like that for many of us when we're rookies. The step, to actually participating from just lurking is really quite a large one. You see, I've actually been lurking at W1K for many many years, on and off. A friend of mine told me of the site, and the first time I checked it out I was completely awestruck! The things you can find there are just... there are no words to fit the awesomeness of it, and to dare to become a part of that is a bit daunting.

I don't know what finally pushed me to competing myself. Maybe it was the university, and the fact that I really needed a creative outlet in my life back then. You see, learning about math can be quite dry at times (believe it or not haha). Or maybe it was the new camera that finally gave me the inspiration - DSLR cameras are so much more flexible than compacts. Or maybe it was a very lucky combination of both.

Anyway, competing is very much connected to the ego in the beginning. You take things very personally when someone gives you a comment that is not 100% positive. It takes a while to let those feelings of vanity go, and actually look at your own pieces with objective eyes. Worthians (people at W1K) are very good at giving you helpful comments, and once you learned to see behind the stinging surface, you'll really begin to learn, and you'll learn a lot.

My first entries, were no beauties, let me tell you! It's a long process to learn how to compose, use light, and post-process. But the fun of W1K is all the help you can find there, and all the helpful generous people. You'll find a lot of great tutorials on just about anything, and, if you want to, you can ask for help in the forum, or even get critique on specific photograph. They also have a great mentor program, that is completely free! I promise, if you keep the ego monster away, it will really jump start your journey towards becoming better. I learned so much from my mentor, and it's so much fun to get to know people from around the globe too.

Oops, sorry, I've rambled a lot now, lets get back to my original intent. So, I was very pleasantly surprised by the outcome of this last contest. The top picture actually actually made first place! But not only that, it is now my highest scoring entry ever! It got so very close to that "magical barrier"; the mean was 7.935 and I've set a goal to score an entry over 8. You see, all entries with a mean over 8 gets added to a special collection, and I would be so honored to be added to that group of select artists that have made it. But hey, I've passed a lot of my goals over the years - my first medal, my first gold medal, graduating to the advanced arena, winning a gold trophy, and finally, winning a master's gold trophy!

So, even though I've not quite made all my goals, I's nice to still have something to strive for, and I'm proud to have come this close!

Thank you for listening!

/MrsHjort

My Furry Best Friend

This is Freya, the apple of my eye and rascal of my home. She has been my loyal companion, ever since I held her tight against my chest as we traveled home with her for the very first time.

She was very small back then, only a few months old, and the car ride home from Halmstad was very very scary to her. I'd like to see the person who can keep a terrified crying kitten inside a cage for a 2 hour drive without caving. She was in there for only a few minutes before I could not resist her anymore - I put her inside my jacket instead. That made her stop, and instead she purred all the way home, sweetheart that she is. It has been pure love ever since.

Freya has always had a special bond to me, our other two cats sort of have a thing for Mr, but Freya is all mine. She sleeps right next to my pillow every night, and sometimes, when she thinks I sleep too long, she gently pokes me with her paw, as if saying "Hey! I'm here, I want to snuggle!"

Sometimes Freya loves to fetch me a toy mouse. There's nothing cuter than when she pitter-patters proudly and miaows loudly to announce her entrance, she then drops the mouse at my feet and sits proudly, stretching her neck, as I praise her hunting skills. She does not want me to throw it for her, believe me I've tried! Nope, she want's to impress me, and show me why there are never any real mice in our house ;). How could there be, when a great huntress like her is around?

I love all Freya's little peculiarities, cats really have unique personalities and she has certainly managed to steal my heart.

/MrsHjort

Little Birdie

I know it's been a while now. I have had the misfortune of getting the flu, and let me tell you, it's been worse this year than it has been for a long long time - I've been completely out for about 6 days, and today is the first day that I've been able to function relatively normally again. So, alas, there's a lot of catching up to do, both here and at work. Luckily I have a week off though, so I might actually get caught up, if I can find the discipline that is haha. (yeah, yeah, I know, I know, I probably will, that's both my blessing, and my curse).

Having had to stay indoors for a while now, I have to confess I'm really aching for some out doors time with my camera. No amount of watching sci-fi or playing Dragon Age can make up for the thrill of shooting. Now, if only my scratchy throat will get better I might actually take a stroll. But for now this photo will have to do.

I shot this about a year ago, but I haven't known what to do with it in post-ed until now. It was very grey to start with and I just couldn't make it interesting enough - when manipulating the levels, the sky somehow always turned out too bright. Today it hit me though - why not embrace the sky's hopelessness and really overdo the highlights instead? So I turned this originally very grey photo into a high key shot instead. I hope you like it :)

/MrsHjort

Crooked Lines

When you think about it, you really don't have to travel far to get an interesting picture. I rarely shoot anything in my home, but one day I realized, right then and there, that the lines from this view - at the top of my attic stair case - are actually quite interesting.

Maybe I should challenge myself to do this kind of thing more often - to shoot something interesting at home. It's so easy to become blind to what is this close at hand - in search for exotic subjects - but what's close by can be just as intriguing. Even if it is just the a shot of a worn down stair case.

If you have sharp eyes, you'll notice that there are numbers over the door; "1935 18/12". That's the date the house was finally "christened", though a traditional Swedish attic party. The feast is held after the roof is finished, and the house can be lived in for the first time. I really love that you can still find little details like that in our home. A lot has been torn out, renovated and replaced, but some small details will continue to be persevered, and cherished.

/MrsHjort 

Towards the Light

Finally the days are getting brighter again, and even though this picture is not taken in Sweden, or even recently, it sort of describes how I feel right now. It's like waking up from a long deep sleep to discover that although things still are kind of dark, a faint light beckons.

Last Friday it was light when I headed off to work! And the Sun shone too! It hasn't been sunny in forever! I really hope the sun stays for a while, the weather lately has been so depressing - snow, thaw, rain, snow, thaw, storm, snow, thaw and so on in a never ending cycle.

The three things I hate the most about winter is the cold, the darkness, and the lack of color outside, in that order. It's nice to know that spring is on its way. It may not be here for a month or two yet, but "hope" is returning :). Soon... soon...

/MrsHjort

Wired Wrong

As a teacher, my brain sometimes feels like this photo to the right - riddled with things to remember, tasks do and general nerdy information. They say that teachers interact with the most people a day, compared to all other professions, and believe me, after a Monday (which is my busiest day) it can take its toll. The cables that are usually in order have disconnected and found new partners willy-nilly. I can almost hear the bathtub on the ground floor of my house whispering my name, the perfect cure for a wired wrong brain.

/MrsHjort

Idle Winter Walks

So... it took me a while to do this. I promised to go out shooting a while back, and well, what can I say... Winter break became just that for me. I haven't been that lazy for a long time, which has been really nice! After that I went back to work again, but I fell ill for a week, and let me tell you, I haven't felt that ill for long time either. Then came a really busy week catching up, and now I'm finally ready to write a few lines, which, of course, isn't that hard or time consuming when I think about it.

It's kind of silly really, I mean, I shot these weeks ago but I guess I got the writer's cramp, if there is such a thing. Or maybe that's just an excuse and it's just pure idleness... So here I am, writing a more rambling post then I've done in a long time, about nothing. Haha, I should probably remedy that.

Okay, so about that walk... We live quite colse to a creek. Mr and I have a lot of inside jokes about that creek. you see, it's in the middle of town, but the green area it's in has never been well looked after, or managed in any thought through manner what so ever. Basically, it's more of a swamp than a creek. Anyway, the inside joke is that the reason for the municipality's idleness is that there is some kind of endangered creeper living there, like "the fuzzy legged swamp fly", or "the foul smelling snot beetle". I know, I know, we're pretty nerdy, but hey, why keep on wasting a lovely area like that? It could be a lovely park if they just did something about it.

For comparison, I can tell you that the municipality built a culture center a few years back, even though we already have those, in abundance! In fact, some have even been closed down! This new one cost the tax payers several hundred million crowns to build (not including redevelopments due to bad projections), and it has never even brought any profit (quite the opposite in fact)! Things like that really grinds my gears. Getting the creek cleaned up would have been both less expensive, and it would have made a lot more people happier. But hey, lets let those "flappy winged stink gnats" live in peace.

/MrsHjort

Oxeye Daisy - December's Snowfake Obsidian

My, my, my! What a ride It's been! I've finally made the whole year, I'm so happy considering 2013's fiasco when I was so close! My 2014 calendar is finished! Wihoooo!

This sorry little flower was all I could find outside this month, and I really didn't want to "cheat" by buying something in the store and putting it outside. I wanted my "precious flowers" calendar to be authentic, with "real" flowers that you actually can find outside at that particular time of year.

I've worried for this month ever since the start, and I was very happy to find something that was at least a little bit alive this month. So, sad droopy daisy it was, and I have to say, that even though this isn't the strongest one in the bunch, I think it makes up for its shabbiness with "soul". Haha, it's so typical me, to get attached to things like this, but I think it has a certain grace to it. It may singing its last note, but it's gloriously white, covered with "tears" and wonderfully curly. A ray of hope midst the boring browns of winter :).

/MrsHjort