Making your own pattern
Sometimes in the middle of winter
I like to nourish myself
With the patterns and colours
And silhouettes of vibrant summer.
This shot reminds me that
You don’t always have to go with the flow –
Going against it can also create beauty.
For more vibrant creatures, please visit: Camera Critters.
The silhouettes of summer
What is more beautiful
Than the setting of a glowing sun
On a fiery summer’s evening –
And the perfect ending
To a perfect day?
For more perfection, please visit: Skywatch.
Living your learning
Nothing much has been happening,
But as I look back at some summer memories
I realize that moments when we have taken the time to pause,
To enjoy, to reflect and to learn –
These are the moments that make up our lives.
Life is for learning – but one’s learning must then be lived. Yusuf/Cat Stevens
For more moments, please visit: Skywatch.
Sailing without a wind
One evening, I was out enjoying the pink rippled effect
On the silk of the lake
When a sailboat came into view.
It was a magically, calm evening – not a breath of breeze in the air…
The lesson seemed to be this:
As we set sail across the oceans of our own lives
We have to remember that the strength lies within us
To get to our haven – even when there is no wind to help us on our way.
For more calm skies, please visit: Skywatch.
A true gift
So many summer gifts –
Two best buddies hanging out by the lake
And a spectacular sunset to lift the soul.
The best gift you can give anyone
Is a part of yourself.
For more beauty, please visit: Skywatch.
And Camera Critters.
Steamy!
It’s been a cool summer,
But a few days in July were hot and steamy.
It was a strange feeling to wake up to an autumnal landscape
But to feel so very sticky and sweaty.
The peonies drooped their graceful heads
In the heat –
And even the fallen petals seemed to be sweating
In the early morning dew.
And where one peony had almost finished blooming
Another was eagerly waiting to take its place.
It’s the cycle of life, the cycle of the seasons waxing and waning.
The bee emerging from deep within the peony departs reluctantly — Basho
For more loveliness, please visit: Our World.
Anticipation
Oscar has taught me this:
Live life in the anticipation that
Something wonderful
Is just around the corner.
(Even if it’s just a dip in the local lake…)
For more wise animals, please visit: Camera Critters.
Sunny side up
I’ll be England by the time you read this
(So won’t be visiting you all as frequently as usual).
My sister has warned me that there will be plenty of rain.
Weather aside, I’m sure there will be plenty of time for play and laughter –
As long as we remember that we all carry a piece of sunshine within.
Make each day your masterpiece. — John Wooden
For more sunny side up posts, please visit: Our World.
Magical balloons
The long Scandinavian summer evenings are magical.
But some are more magical than others.
Especially when hot air balloons
Swoop through the golden skies
Like hearts
Before gracefully landing
Somewhere beyond the horizon.
For more magic, please visit: Skywatch.
Swan sunset
The rain clouds parted
To reveal a sky turned to copper
And a flaming sheet of water
For the swans to dance on.
For more fiery sunsets, please visit: Skywatch.
For other graceful creatures, please visit: Camera Critters.
A bench in the sun
As the sun sets in a blaze of glory,
There is no better place to watch the play
Of cloud and light
Than on a bench in the setting sun.
For more blazing skies, please visit: Skywatch.
Summer memories
Summer memories (from last year) –
Are made up of beauty like this.
How can you feel anything but humbled and grateful?
For more good memories, please visit: Skywatch.
Goofy face
Oscar, my working golden retriever, never disappoints. He’s always ready to jump in and have some fun!
Shake…
Rattle…
And ready to roll!
Anyone want to join in?
For more goofy faces, please visit: Camera Critters.
Lighting the way
Even after all this time,
The sun never says to the earth,
You owe me.
Look what happens with
A love like that.
It lights the whole sky.
~ Hafiz of Persia
A luminous heaven, summer perfection, serenity at sunset.
Moments like these take my breath away.
For more glory, please visit: Skywatch.
The dragonflies of summer
The dragonflies of summer grace us with their presence for such a short, sweet time:
A sister with sunlit neck,
A jewel with golden wings,
The bitter-sweet shimmer of beauty glimpsed
Uplifting us for a second
Before it – like summer – starts fading into the blue.
For more jewels, please visit the new home of: Our World.
And remember – you can join the Our World community on Facebook too.
Shake it, shake it – baby!
Summer
Swimming
Wet dog.
This is my favourite kind of shake! What’s yours?
For more goofiness, please visit: Camera Critters.
For all you fans of the My World meme. The meme has now become Our World Tuesday and has moved to a new web site. You will be able to post there from next week (Monday evening).
You can also join Our World on Facebook.
Summer rain
Summer is here in all its glory.
And that, of course, includes the soft summer rain
Bringing a chill with it that makes us appreciate the sun even more.
Just as a flower is thankful for the rain,
So am I thankful for all the small beauties that surround me.
Let your life lightly dance on the edges of Time like dew on the tip of a leaf.
- Rabindranath Tagore
For more beauty, please visit: My World.
Shimmer
A swan glided by.
The sun kissed the water with
Its diamond lips.
My heart was full of light.
In the right light, at the right time, everything is extraordinary. ~Aaron Rose
For more shimmer, please visit: Camera Critters.
I’m off to enjoy some sun-dazzled times of my own with the family this week — in Disneyland, Paris. Oscar will be with friends, and my blog and I will be taking a rest. See you on Friday!
Swimming into the sunset
What better way to celebrate the long light evenings of a Swedish summer
Than enjoying the sunset
And then diving into the broken yolk
Of the golden sun – at ten o’clock in the evening?
For more golden moments, please visit: Camera Critters.
The epitome of Swedishness
Every summer, many Swedes take a month’s holiday to relax and get back in touch with nature – and themselves.
They enjoy long light evenings in summer cottages with outdoor plumbing (and sometimes no electricity) in the middle of the woods.
You may remember that we did this very thing two years ago when we hired some little red cottages out in the countryside.
We are repeating the experience this year – but in a little timbered cottage with an actual toilet (a dry closet) inside!
We got the keys to the house at the weekend. It was like visiting a fairytale cottage.
A few snowdrops waved in greeting while they enjoyed the spring sunshine.
A short walk away, there is a beach on the shores of a sea inlet.
Right now, it’s covered in snow and ice, but I can just imagine the sand and the sea, can’t you?
Oscar is guarding the wooden playhouse. The bigger house with the veranda (see photo below) is the guest cottage with room for four people.
The brown wooden building between the two is the guest toilet.
After all, even if you have indoor plumbing, there are some traditions you just shouldn’t change!
For more culture, please visit: My World.
Invincible summer
In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.
Albert Camus
This quotation sums up my year, inspires me when life gets tough and helps me look forward to the future with hope.
May you carry summer in your hearts all year round – and may the coming year be kind to you.
For more skies, please visit: Skywatch.
Summer beauty
You know her as Anklebiter #1. This name doesn’t really do her justice. For one thing, she turned 9 on Monday and is more a shoulderbiter these days in stature.
The name doesn’t really sum up her true nature: kind, funny, warm, compassionate, adorable and extremely generous.
Light of my life.
A true beauty – both on the inside and the outside.
Happy Birthday, my summer treasure!
Brown and agile child, the sun which forms the fruit
And ripens the grain and twists the seaweed
Has made your happy body and your luminous eyes
And given your mouth the smile of water.
Pablo Neruda
For more beauties, please check out: My World.
In summer, the song sings itself
High summer is here. At last!
It’s amazing how a single sunbeam can chase away the shadows
And make the heart sing.
Summer means that it is respectable, almost required, to be lazy
And dazzled water laughs in the sun.
Summer days – stretching out like friendly hands -
Making it easy to see the perfection of a perfect day,
A child’s laughter filtered through the sunlight.
I’ve only just got back from England so haven’t had time to sort through my photos. These are shots of summer in Sweden (that I took just before I left).
For more perfection, please visit: My World!
Images of summer Sweden
August: hot days, cool quiet mornings, school starts next week. Shining sun and clouds – a premonition of autumn.
It’s a time to savour: hold on just a little longer to those long light nights that are already getting shorter. A time to remember that the sun shone high in the sky well past 10.30 at night.
Hot air ballooning at 10 pm
It’s a time for sweaty or wet (depending on the weather) blueberry picking in the mosquito-haunted woods. And for lingering swims in warm waters. And ice cream.
August is a time to love and hate with its dazzling days that can turn chilly on a whim, with those glorious sunsets putting on a peacock show of colours earlier and earlier.
It’s a time to enjoy the blossoms of summer, even as they wither on the stem.
A bit like life really.
For more nostalgic posts, check out: That’s My World!
Who says what?