Shades of grey
You’re not tired of snowy pictures yet, are you?
Good. Because neither am I!
The skies are often grey over here
As they are weighed down by snow clouds.
But that suits my world so full of grey and silver highlights.
Roofs are utterly delicious
As they remain hidden under white frosting
And cats smile under snowy hats.
My favourite view is this lovely grey wooden house
With a wonderful curl of roof icing.
For more lovely greys, please visit: Our World.
Here is my most popular post ever – about the beauty of grey.
Enjoying winter
Please do not disturb…
I’m busy enjoying winter.
Let us love winter,
for it is the spring of genius.
Pietro Aretino
For more snowy pets, please visit: Camera Critters.
Floating in the pink
Winter’s freezing dawn
Creates an abstract work of art;
Trees rise ghostly
In deliciously cold lilac dresses;
And the ancient church
Floats in clouds of pink.
Cold and startling and beautiful –
Another gift from nature.
For more gifts, please visit: Skywatch.
Stained glass
Nature is a cathedral
And when the sun shines through the iced trees
They are frosted stained glass windows.
The grandeur of these spires
Never fails to amaze
And the dancing light of winter
Waltzes its way into the soul.
For more uplifting posts, please visit: Our World Tuesday.
Pushing the limits
Yesterday the temperature dropped down to minus 25 C
In the frosted early morning.
I went out on the ice – but stayed out way too long -
One and a half hours… With no breakfast.
Came back with a frost damaged face
And spent the rest of the day in bed sick.
Just goes to show that you shouldn’t
Be bound by your limits –
But you should know what your limits are!
Thank you in advance for your kind comments – I won’t be replying to them today
As I need to recover.
For more unlimited posts, please visit: Camera Critters.
Mist, rising
The pink glow of the early setting winter sun
Enticed us outside to explore
The wonders just beyond the horizon.
It was a miracle of trees that
Seemed to float in the rising mist –
A wonder of purple and gold
Painting the fog with magic.
For more miracles, please visit: Skywatch.
Cathedral of light
A rare and magnificent gift from winter:
A cathedral of light.
For more lovely presents, please visit: Skywatch.
Want to get to know me a little better? Then visit Amazing Australian Adventures, who interviewed me recently. (Remember to check out her lovely photos too if you have time!)
Looking for snow
Oh look!
It’s Oscar.
He’s found some snow…
And a beautiful smile.
(A positive attitude and a great smile really are the best beauty aids, don’t you think?)
For more silly pets, please visit: Camera Critters.
Chasing the light
The skies over the past few weeks have been grey –
So I’ve been chasing down the light.
I found it framed in golden fog
Hanging over the lake;
It danced over the football field
On fairy rainbow feet.
And, there – at last -
Like a cold winter flower
It blossomed in rays of light.
For more de-light-full posts, please visit: Skywatch.
Building bridges
This photo was taken during the deliciously cold winter of 2010.
I like the symbolism of the bridge connecting two small islands of land:
It reminds me that we are all connected
And that it’s never too late to reach out
And mend bridges.
For more connectedness, please visit: Our World.
Have a n-ice one!
A recent visit to the Botanical Gardens
In a cold snap
Was the icing on the cake (or dome of the greenhouse).
Disobeying the sign that says: Don’t walk on the grass
Is only something for people who don’t get cold feet.
(The snow was way beyond our knees.)
The bare branches
Looked tree-mendous against the setting sun.
Meanwhile, inside the greenhouse-cafe,
The sun created a beautiful mosaic of gold.
And then it was outside for a family snap –
Yes, we were all playing n-icely
With our ice sabres.
Wishing you all a n-ice holiday!
For more silly posts, please visit: Our World.
Bathing in snow
Winter is here in a flurry of snow
And it’s the busiest season of the year for us
With eight concerts in nine days!
This weekend will be full of music
And song and laughter –
But I just won’t have time to visit any of your blogs.
(I never know whether to switch off Comments in this kind of situation
Or whether to leave them on, knowing I will not be able to respond.)
Oscar reminds me you won’t mind if I don’t visit –
I think he’s telling me to enjoying the enchantment of the season!
For more cuteness, please visit: Camera Critters.
The lost art of tree hugging
We tend to take them for granted – the trees –
Even when their bare bones
Create art on a sun-drenched wall in winter;
Or when the mistletoe
Hangs like disco balls from their weathered branches.
Some say ‘tree hugger’ as if it were a bad thing.
But I agree with my son,
More of us ought to take the time to thank the trees
For their beauty.
For more tree-mendous posts, please visit: Our World.
Off leash
Exuberance and joy are just other words for beauty.
(And having a huge snowfall really helps the magic too.)
For more exuberance, please visit: Camera Critters.
Frosted skies
It’s cold and deliciously wintery now.
But a couple of weeks ago,
When it seemed as if winter would never arrive,
The promise of winter hung in
The frosted sky
Painting hopes and lake
With glorious tones of gold.
For more fabulous skies, please visit: Skywatch.
Love in a cold climate
The key to enjoying a cold climate
Is to embrace it.
It finally started snowing and
The neighbourhood echoed with
Happy cries and drawings by children on the cars.
The snow turned everything to silken
Puffs of cotton wool.
(Can you see that big puddle making a heart?)
It’s still snowing!
And we’re still enjoying
Our dreamy winterland.
For more snow and sun, please visit: Our World.
Playtime!
Guess what happened this week?
It finally snowed and snowed
And snowed!
Even in the horizontal, whip-the-snow-in-your-face storm
Oscar just didn’t want to come into the house.
Look at those eyes pleading
For just five more minutes of snowtime!
For more playful animals, please visit: Camera Critters.
Enchanted
Last week I went to a small mining town called Roros in the Norwegian mountains.
(You can see pictures of it here.)
It snowed and snowed and I fell in love with the perfectly preserved wooden houses
That make up the town. Most of these houses are about 300 years old.
Back then, the people worked in the copper mines (now closed)
And lived in these beautiful cottages,
Although I’m sure they were considered to be the huts of the poor in those days.
Even the rubbish bins on the streets were picturesque.
Twisting lanes, old wood and the heavy snow
All added to the enchantment.
In a secret old courtyard,
I discovered Santa’s sleigh –
And then I knew I was in a fairytale
(At least for a couple of days).
For more enchantment, please visit: Our World.
The beauty in the grey
High up in the mountains of Norway
The grey sky is laden with snow,
Which turns the slag heaps and old copper works
Into objects of beauty.
Next to the old smelting house, where copper was melted,
The waterways create graceful patterns
Topped with an icing of snow.
Even the brick tower holding the power lines
Is turned into an electric beauty.
Yes, my friends, there is beauty in the grey.
For more skies, please visit: Skywatch.
Give love a chance
The ‘rules’ say that two male dogs will be wary of each other.
Luckily, dogs don’t know the rules
And just follow their hearts.
(Picture taken in the middle of winter when Oscar met a new friend, Eddie.)
For more sweet pictures, please visit: Camera Critters.
There’s snow business like snow business…
Last week I said we’d seen the last of the snow.
I shouldn’t have.
After all, this is Sweden where it can snow well into May.
This morning we woke up to snow. The horizontal kind.
There’s nothing like a happy dog to teach you how to enjoy the moment –
No matter what the weather.
For more happy animals, please visit: Camera Critters.
The last of winter
Winter is fading away and spring buds are gently showing their heads,
So now it’s time to enjoy the full glory of winter colours:
Majestic and glittering,
A world in silver and white -
And, if you’re lucky, a winter explosion of colours.
(All pictures taken in February. Please don’t feel sorry for me – spring is already on its way.)
For more colours, please visit: Camera Critters.
A colourful world
February is a a time where nothing much happens;
Where life unfolds with the rhythm of the seasons –
And splashes of colour surprise and delight:
February fog
A magical parchment sky,
A glittering rainbow world.
It’s true though that change is good for the soul,
When one kind of colourful world
Is exchanged – even though briefly – for another.
It’s nice to get away and gain a little perspective –
It helps you appreciate all the good things you already have.
The true harvest of my life is intangible – a little star dust caught, a portion of the rainbow I have clutched. — Thoreau
The vibrancy of Time Square, NY
For more stories, please visit: Our World.
Let it snow!
When winter breezes in with Arctic breath
And white kisses flutter down from heaven,
Then the only way to enjoy winter –
Is to embrace it!
(It’s not really winter anymore here… but that inbetween time when we’re waiting for the warmth to come. I just couldn’t resist posting this photo though!)
Oscar enjoying - 20 C!
For more wisdom, please visit: Camera Critters.
Who says what?