The igloo
When life gives you snow…
You build an igloo! (Well, at least our neighbour does!)
It was easy this year because of all the snow piled up at the side of his house.
He dug and shovelled and decorated with delightful frosty animals and candles.
How snug to sneak in there, hide yourself away and watch the world go by!
It’s a large igloo – it has two rooms.
And a door at the front that comes with hands…
But perhaps the most magical moment is wiggling your way out through the tiny window at the back,
Climbing up to the top of the igloo
And sliding down.
Repeat until tired and bright-eyed and in need of hot chocolate!
For more cool stories, please visit: My World!
Dancing with eyes wide shut
When no one is looking, Oscar dances delicately on the ice…
With eyes shut.
And just for the sheer pleasure of it, he runs with his eyes shut.
Because he can.
But when he wants to look his best
Out there on the iced over lake
He opens his eyes wide
And dances on diamonds.
For more cuteness, please visit: Camera Critters.
Simplicity, enhanced
A couple of weekends ago, I fell in love. Head over heels.
With this enchanting church in Ljusterö. (Try getting your tongue around that!)
Yes – this is the same church featured in my previous post…
Magical skies are the only decoration this simple wooden building needs.
The tower is framed with bare branches,
The setting sun lights up the snow,
A feeling of serenity falls.
The world is breathing in harmony.
There is no need to try to create a perfect world.
Just celebrate the one we already have.
For more magic, please visit: Skywatch.
Simplicity
Sometimes the simplest of things can be the most beautiful.
Unadorned they are poems to heaven.
Like this simple white wooden church.
White timbers from the 1700s;
A simple stained glass window
And the beauty of planks fading in the snow.
Hiding there, waiting to be seen,
Awaits the gorgeous beauty of imperfect simplicity.
For more perfection, please visit: My World!
Framed
Ogden Nash once declared that a door is what a dog is always on the wrong side of.
Or, in this case, a window.
Not any old window, but the neighbours’ igloo window.
I sat there (in the igloo) for a while – just enjoying the tail end of the day…
For more views, please visit: Camera Critters.
Merry sky
We’ve had a spate of white skies and snowstorms recently; but now and then, the sun bursts through in a wonderful explosion of blue and white.
This picture raised my spirits and I set it as my desktop picture so that I smiled every time I sat down at my computer.
Now you can do the same, if you wish.
Click the picture to see it in full resolution and then feel free to download it or transfer it to your computer to enjoy. (Just drag the full size picture onto your computer desktop.)
“When you realize how perfect everything is, you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky!” — Buddha
For more merry skies, please visit: Skywatch.
Sunlight for the soul
Pack up your worries, put on your coat and come enjoy the sunny side of life with me (and my macro lens)!
Let’s be artists and paint the snow with sunlight,
Brushing the world with golden tones that leave jewels on branches.
Come with me and tickle the branches until all of nature laughs in sunshine
So that briefly, we capture the moment in its golden nets.
For more sunlight, please visit: My World!
Painted beauty
Are we to paint what’s on the face, what’s inside the face or what’s behind it? — Pablo Picasso
I don’t know if there’s beauty behind this face, but I like to think there is.
Beauty that matches his brilliant colours
Where feathers are painted on with water drops
And the hidden hand of nature.
For more loveliness, please visit: Camera Critters.
Through the fence
The last day of 2010 dawned bright and glorious.
Sneaking a peek through a white wooden fence, I catch a sight of golden trees framed in the lilac shadows of the fence.
Rounding the corner, I gasp in admiration as the snow unfurls like a purple rug
And flaming trees float golden under a peaceful sky.
Remember to click the photos to enlarge them!
For more glory, please visit: Skywatch.
N-ice!
The cold temperatures have coated my world with …
… delightful frosty beards,
delicious sugar-coated berries
and an amazing waterfall of ice.
For more stories, please visit: My World.
How to influence people
It’s a badly-kept secret that I’m terrified of wasps.
My usual tactic is to try and stop their hearts by screaming loudly and piercingly.
A while back, I found myself in a great seaside café, when a certain someone said, “Don’t scream, but there’s a wasp on the table.”
I can cope with that as long as it’s not buzzing near me.
However, the very next moment, someone flicked the wasp away from the table so that it ricocheted off my forehead with the horrible force of a rubber ball. With a sting.
I leapt up, did a mad dance, and I might have let out a high squawk of some sort.
I’m not sure, but when I came to my senses, I realized that everyone in the restaurant was staring at me.
The anklebiters had taken refuge under the table.
And the guests nearest us switched tables in order to move away from the mad woman.
I don’t blame them… I wanted to get away from me her too…
I’m not sure why, but my kids say they find me embarrassing!
By the way, no wasps were harmed in the writing of this article…
For more stories, please visit: Camera Critters.
Glowing eclipse
Tuesday morning was an unusual day in that we saw a partial eclipse of the sun.
I tried to capture the sun by hanging out of the bedroom window. No success as it was hidden behind the horizon.
But I was rewarded by a pink candy striped sky. A trumpet call announcing the start of the eclipse.
Then it gradually got darker and an eerie light crept across the sky
Making the bare tree branches glitter with remarkable light
And painting the sky with lovely swathes of glowing sepia.
A long time ago – so long that I can’t remember which country I was in at the time but I know it was a country far away – I did experience a total eclipse of the sun. It was in the time before global media and the Internet so I had no idea it was coming. The sun disappeared; the world went horribly dark in the middle of the day. It was terrifying and amazing all at the same time.
For more stories. please visit: Skywatch.
Frozen magic
Things have been magically cold over here!
Lustrous black locks are frosted in ice after a 15-minute-walk in -25°C.
The radiant smile is warming though.
Winter jackets are sprinkled with sugary snow as little boys plunge their way through hip-deep snow.
And there, amidst the swirling cream of a snowstorm, a girl’s purple gloves
Make the most of the moment.
For more stories, please visit: My World.
Cherishing the old
New Year is often a time when we want to start anew – and throw out the old.
But it’s not just a time for re-invention. It’s also a time to cherish the old treasures within us; to rise above petty things; to improve what we can and — above all – - a time to embrace ourselves with all our faults and wonderfulness.
Do you make resolutions at this time of year?
I don’t… because they go in one year and out the other!
Who says what?