Just like to share some photos taken yesterday from the boat. The sea was very calm and on a tiny island the ducks was waiting to take off to warmer water.
I need to share this picture of calmness and reflection.
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I share with you some photos of the autumn. Shades of grey but most of all colors.
Finding the micro cosmos in nature offers many new perspectives.
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It has been under debate. Single use plastic and the fact that it ends up in the oceans and nature. To me very evident as I live by the coast. We usually have voluntary activities to clean the beaches from plastics and other waste. As much as five normal size bathtubs of waste flushes up on the shores of Bohuslän due to the currents. According to the Swedish environmental organization “Håll Sverige Rent” (Translates Keep Sweden Clean) 70% of all waste in the ocean is made of plastics. The most dangerous type is the plastic part grind down by natures forces into micro plastics. So small you cannot see it. It creates problems for fish and birds to digest their food and to reproduce.
So where do all this “shit” come from? Is it the locals and tourists that drop of their garbage after their fishing trip or pick nick at the shore? This is part of the problem and this behavior is unacceptable. But most of the waste floating to the shores and bays of Bohuslän comes from Europe with the currents. The plastics parts, packaging and other, has somewhere in the world been thrown away by a human. It is an indisputable fact that no animal drops plastic parts in the nature!
It is us humans and hand to your heart. Have you ever dropped a package, cigarette-end or a bottle to the ground and not picked it up? Have you ever put your waste in, or rather beside, an over filled dustbin? This is then taken by the wind or the rain water out into the waterways and finally into the sea. Around 50% of this sinks to the bottom and the more close to the shore the more damage it does. Sea freight and fishing is also a huge source of plastic waste to the oceans, boxes blowing overboard, nets and ropes lost, and finally amazingly waste dumped from the very boats that has the sea as their source of income. It takes up to 100 years for a plastic part to be broken down by nature.
So trying to reduce this by banning single use plastics like bags and mugs is a good start but not enough. For many this sounds more like political symbolic but I guess we need to start somewhere. We need to realize that plastic is a fantastic material that solves many problems for man and even nature. As with all tools we need to use it correctly. To quote Bob the Builder: “don’t use the saw as a hammer”! I like to draw the attention to another, in my view, big contributor to the problem. Over packaging!
I guess you all have cursed and had your blood pressure raising when you try get to the product you actually bought. But you stand there. Blood running from your fingers. Sweat pouring down from your forehead. You try using a scissor but it was destroyed the last time you tried to penetrate a package. Yes, you know the type preferred by the electronics industry. The hard stiff plastic. When you finally get to the product. Hopefully without any damage. You realize there is more package material to get rid of than the actual product.
If you are lucky you live in an area that has a good recycling collection system where you can get rid of it. However in many areas this will end up on in a landfill. Landfill sites close to the ocean.
As a consumer you buy the product and not the packaging material. But this is part of your consumer experience and you can actually do something about it. Check out the company website or read on the package to find a e-mail adress to give your feedback. In worse case they send you a band aid but in best case they change to a more environmental friendly package.
Finally I need to share the above picture with you. What do you think? My best guess the brewery tried to make it Covid-19 safe. Then they decided to make a crash display making most of the lids fall of! Even worse that on the shelf there was a six pack variant. In shrink wrapped plastic! We cannot rely on the politicians to solve this. We need to take sound consumer decisions and raise our voice to the producers.
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Global warming and other alarming reports about Homo Sapiens abuse of Mother Nature hits us every day. Somebody needs to do something about it soon! We turn to our political leaders and blame the industry for the crisis. But what about us. You and Me?
Politicians, they are idiots only in it to get rich themselves, right. True in far to many cases but in most cases they are in it to make a difference for something they believe in. Ever so good they cannot do it without a mandate. This is even written in the Swedish constitution; “All political power stems from the people”. Many democratic countries has something similar. So if we want politicians to be able to change anything we need to give them that mandate. But this also means we have to take the good with the bad. Simply due to the fact that nobody thinks exactly the same way as you in everything. Unless you are married then your wife tells you what to think!
Okay but the industry and the large companies still are the biggest culprits. Polluting from their big factories and hoards of lawyers bending the rules. They also try to hold the politicians hostage saying that jobs will be lost if they make the wrong decisions. Guess what! We have the power also here! We are consumers. The first rule of business is that you have to fill a market need. That can, and is, done by aggressive marketing but in the end it is Our choice to spend our hard earned money on that particular product. Yes, I know there are many if’s and but’s here depending in how much you earn and what is available in the market. The moral obligation falls harder on those who earns the most.
For example buying a car. The first question you should ask is, “Do I really need one”? If you live and work in the city will public transport or a bicycle do the job? Second question is, “For what transportation tasks do I need the car”? Commuting and driving my kids to school and activities or moving very large rocks? Hand to your hearts. Do these questions really occupy your mind or are we more interested in having something bigger and better than the neighbor? Why else are the cities filled with large SUV’s. Putting low profile tires on really takes the argument of driving to the summer house in the mountains once a year out of the debate.
So we make many decisions every day and we need to vote for mother nature as often as we can. Short term and long term. I know it is sometimes hard to know what is the best choice but we need to seek out facts and question our choices. The storms, flooding’s, migration, and forest fires will effect You sooner then you think. Taking a quote from the Blues Brothers. We need you, you, you. You, you, you! Act before it is to late. Somebody is us!
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So the last days of my holiday and the weather is warm and calm winds. We tried a new spot and landed on the small island Ängholmen. Like many of the small island without people the forest has been untouched for almost a hundred years. I share some pictures of this beautiful spot in the world.
The history of this island links well back to present day and the Covid-19 pandemic. During 1800 this island was a cemetery for cholera victims. Cholera hit hard in periods during almost forty years. As an attempt to protect spreading victims were buried away from communities.
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A cow died today. It was laying there in the field. In a unnatural pose. On its side. Did not move when approached. Alone. She was dead.
Was she missed this cow. She had a calf. He missed her until another cow gave him milk. Alone in the field. Lying there in her unnatural pose.
The pack left her to drink water. Lowed to let the farmer know. Something was wrong. She was missed, it was not normal. Lying there in her unnatural pose.
In some religions a holy creature. I understand why. Majestic and calm. Feeding on the grass. Reuse four times. Milk and poo a natural pose.
Walk but seldom run. The majestic cows. In tune with nature. Considered to be slow on the uptake. But take it easy her natural pose.
A cow died today. The farmer picked her up with the tractor. Why did she die? A plastic bag in her throat or a bite from a snake? Ended in her unnatural pose.
Did the farmer care? She was insured, was she not? But a tear in the farmers eye. All creatures in his care are precious to him. Lifting her up from her unnatural pose.
Cows has been part of my life since I was a boy growing up on a farm. They are gentle creatures and brings calm to the surroundings. Was this cow I found dead in the field just a production unit in the farmers books. Or was she more than that. I think all living creatures are worth our respect and that is why I think she was worth this poem.
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This past winter was one of the mildest ever. There was very little snow and the bay where we have the boat only froze once in early December. It was like a prolonged autumn. Not uncommon in the west coast of Sweden. This is due to the Gulf Stream that brings warm water from the Gulf of Mexico to Scandinavia. This stream also brings mild and rainy weather over the British isles and then continues to Scandinavia. The winter comes from the north east. Normally we have a few weeks in January and February with temperatures below Zero degrees Celsius. Then the bays in the fjord freezes and with the wind and stream ice will press on any pontoons or bridges until they break.
So to save our bridge pontoon we towed it across the bay and pulled it up on shore where the ice will not reach. Normally but not this year. Some heavy storms and low pressure weather systems made the water raise far over the normal level. At some point, even if we attached the pontoon well it came loose and floated away. So in the spring when we put the boat in the water we went to get the pontoon just to find it GONE! The first trip with the boat was to slowly seek out the shores in the fjord to find the pontoon. Hoping that it did no damage to something or floated out to the sea.
After about one hour we found it far up on a rocky beach. It was intact and not far from the anchoring point but on an island. It was too far up on the beach to be pulled into the water by boat. Me and my son started to try jerk and snitch with ropes and planks to move it into the water. We tried using planks and stones to create a lever to move the almost 200 kilo pontoon. We got it to move but some large stones stopped us and finally my back said. “Stop, you foolish old man” with a snap. We had to surrender for now. And it took more than a week for my back to heal.
Before we could try again a new storm hit, moving the pontoon back up on the shore. So now we had lost all meters we managed last attempt. Fortunately it moved sideways away from the large stones. This time we came more prepared with more planks to use as lever and with more manpower. In the future I might write a blog on all Swedish swearwords because I think we used them all before we got the pontoon into the water. But we did it, YEAH!
Now the wind had picked up and we got a strong head wind as we towed the pontoon to its anchoring point at the bridge. It is quite hard to steer a small boat alone in strong winds. So you can imagine the challenge towing a rectangular pontoon bridge. Now the challenge is to get the pontoon to the anchoring point without running into the rock or run the propeller into the seabed as the water is quite shallow. But with skill and MUCH luck we managed to steer clear and maneuver the pontoon to its anchoring point at the first attempt. Next year we will secure the pontoon better.
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Today I painted a house. My sons house. Taking down the wood around the windows. Making sure it is well done. Well done to sustain the windy autumn and winters. Autumn and winter when rain comes down almost horizontally. Hammering against the windows and the trim boards.
The soothing strikes of the paint brush against the wood. Before and after are clear, simple. Protecting the wood against the forces of nature. Forces to reclaim, reclaim the wood. For now, and many years to come a shelter for my son. I cannot save him from his inner demons. But I can shelter him from the forces of nature.
Nature that we love so much. Offers recreation and keeps the demons away for a while. Walking the forest to pick mushrooms and watching the wild life. The birds, nightingale singing its lovely tune. The hawk screaming and fighting with the seagull trying to steal its eggs. Go out with the boat, just sitting there.
Painting, gently back and forth. Like I stroke my sons hair when he was a child trying to sleep, soothing. A layer of protection against everything that wears down. Around the windows always white. White as the gentle snow. Snow that muffles the noise. Painting a house, my sons house.
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Share with you some photos taken on walk in the forest before the rain. I think the light was perfect and I am pleased with the result.
I hope you like these pictures. Sadly I had to add the last picture. It was found in a inaccessible part of the forest. How did it get there? Like, subscribe comment and there will be more from Mother Nature, please be gentle to her.
I wrote a post about how I like to take photos with my Mobile phone camera and I got a lot of likes from other bloggers that like photography. I have checked their blogs and tips with great joy. They have inspired me to look at the possible motives in a new way. So thank you https://wanderingambivert.com/, https://fotosbykarin.blog/ and everybody else. I hope you enjoy these pictures.
On the islands of the coast the wind is the most magnificent sculptor and since many of the islands are uninhabited and difficult to access there is very little human impact. Look at the pine to the left, it has found a place to grow in very little soil, stubbornly pushing its roots under the rock to find water. The tree to the bottom right is one of my favorites twisting so much it has grown over an old branch of the same tree. Even with many branches dead this tree is still alive standing on the west side of the island, a true survivor.
One of the tips was to use the portrait mode when taking scenic pictures and I have experimented a bit with it. It is a bit more difficult as you need to stand close to the object in foreground but as you see in pictures above the colors gets deeper when taking a picture in a very bright summers day by the ocean. I will keep experimenting and learn more even if my family sighs every time I stop to take a picture laying down or bending over backwards to get that perfect angle. If you like to follow my progress, or downfall, please like and subscribe. Tips and comments are most welcome!
UlleHaddock 