Picked up, his guitar today wrapped my hand around its neck slide my fingers along the strings Picked up, his guitar today scuffed up frets from his music finger tips on his favorite chords Picked up, his guitar today the weight in my lap heavy, as my silent heart Picked up, his guitar today
Cherish the music in your life, ha de Gött!
November is a challenge for the photographer. I set out on my bike in bright sunlight and moderate wind. I was set on exploring an area I drive pass every day but never visited. Once I got there the rain clouds appeared at the horizon, so the light conditions became, putting in mildly, tricky. The weather gods sitting there with the light switch, off, on, off, on. That is until they discovered the dimmer function. Don’t know if it was the seagulls laughing at me, or the gods. When I reached the top of the cliff they turn the lights out and hit me with a rain shower.
Just remember you can always slide downhill, ha de Gött!
Look through the cracks. There is always a new perspective.
Crack a smile and make the day better, ha de Gött!
Abandoned. Slowly nature is taking back the old store. I remember coming here as a child to buy Norwegian chocolate or licorice pipes. The store is just a few meters from the border. Now it’s for many years closed and the building is for sale. Even the for sale sign has faded. You can still see the sign for Borg beer and trash can lid stating ‘Keep Sweden Clean’. Maybe this is the picture of the circular economy.
Progress is a double edge sword, ha de Gött!
This weekend was the start of the moose hunting season. Better stay out of the forest for a while. My father-in-law told me there was a veterans tractor day not far from home. I grabbed the camera and joined him.
It was a pleasant surprise to see all the tractor models from my childhood. Some in mint condition and some very much in daily use. There was the Volvo BM 230 with its characteristic sound from its two cylinder diesel engine, “ti-to, ti-to. Hence it got the nickname “Tisdag-Torsdag”, Tuesday-Thursday, but it doesn’t make any sense in English, sorry.
There was also Volvo BM 430 and Volvo BM 350. The 350 was also called Boxer from its three cylinder boxer diesel engine. I remember the acrobatic struggle to get in and out of the Boxer. The smell of wet soil and diesel filled the air in the mild autumn weather as the sound of strong diesels rang in my ears.
Grounded in dirt, ha de Gött!
Perhaps today it’s time to sell the house. This is the view from my home office today. After several days of heavy raining the meadow has turned into a lake. The wild apple tree cast its beautiful autumn image to reflect in the still water. For those concerned, the cows are indoors already. More rain is expected so I’ll have this for a few days, hope I get some work done at all.
Everything in moderation, ha de Gött!
At exactly seven o’clock the first Monday in September after the 20:th, a splashing sound symphony starts. In the first light of dawn the small boats circling each other to get the best positioning. Cheerful morning greetings are passed by those with the best spots. Grunting replies by those that just drifted a bit too far out of course. With a splash the cage goes in the water. The skill is to gently drag the cage in position on an underwater rock shelf, preferably in front of the lobster nest.
The yearly Lobster fishing season has started. This delicacy from the underwater rocks is on the most wanted list for many recreational fishermen. Yepp, that’s true mostly men. In the past the lobster has been over fished and to keep the population at a viable level there are some restrictions to follow. The shield needs to be at minimum nine centimeters and if a female specimen carries spawn it goes back in the sea. A maximum of six cages per person, that needs to be present in the boat.
The first lobster sold at the fish auction in Göteborg this morning costed 77 000 Swedish Krona, in euros €7 500.
Ha de Gött, we will, got two so far!
I promised in a comment to write about the three additional letters we have in the Swedish alphabet, so here it is. Yes it’s true we have three more letters after A to Z as in the English alphabet. Åå, Ää and Öö. Not to be show off’s, they have these with a different spelling, and pronunciation, in Danish and Norwegian also. Let’s just say it’s a Scandinavian thing.
Lets start with Å. A friend of mine tried to explain this in a London pub when we were young backpackers. “It’s an a with a prick on”, he said. Took a while to figure out why the men laughed and the girls blushed. Dot is in Swedish “prick”. It is pronounced as ooh. Even for native Swedish it’s sometimes difficult to know when to use O or Å.
Moving on to the A with two pricks on, Ä. Pronounced eah. If you have sheep close by listen to them, they go bäää. Use Google translate to listen. Just copy from this text and paste in Google translate. Very common use and a real struggle for all English speakers moving to Sweden.
So the last letter the O with two pricks on, Ö. This is actually also an entire word that translates to island. You just have to listen to this on Google. There is nothing even close in English that I can think of. I think this is a happy little letter. Used to drive my teacher crazy when I made a smiley of it.
Just remember that sometimes less is more, ha de Gött!
Travelling just 30 kilometres east from my home is a large lake named Bullaresjön. To be precise it is two lakes North and South Bullaresjön. The north point of these narrow but long lakes, in total 28 kilometres, ends at the Norwegian border. As a child, up to seven years old, I spent my summers in a small cabin by the shore of the north lake. This weekend I went there to take some pictures. I shot this picture from the small beach I used to play at as a toddler.
Sometimes you have to walk down memory forest, ha de Gött!
Oat (Avena sativa) is a widely cultivated grain where the seeds are used for both human and livestock food. The Swedish name is “Havre”. The oat fields are now turning yellow as the plant matures in the late summer sun. In just a few weeks it is time for harvest. This annual plant grows best in the temperate zones.
I have a condition called “Celiac disease”, commonly referred to as “gluten intolerance”. I cannot eat anything made from grains like rye, wheat or barley with oat being the exception. Oat meal does not contain any of the gluten protein that triggers the disease. So you can understand that I like oat. NOTE! For it to be safe for a coeliac to eat any product based on oats it needs to be produced with special care and be marked gluten free. It’s NOT safe to eat regular oat products!!
Don’t worry there are some gluten free beer available, ha de Gött!
UlleHaddock 