Time to say goodbye to 2011

The mother wanted a photo calendar for 2012, so I created a collage where she can choose one photo per month. And here they are. She likes animals, winter snaps and some colorful scenes, so I hope she will be able to pic 12 photos from this collage. You have probably seen all these photo on this blog in the last year.

Firework Rocket

A new law will go into effect in Haninge tomorrow. If you want to have a firework display, you must now have a permission from the police. There are two exceptions. On New Years Eve, and on Walpurgis Night you don't need the permit. If you break the law you could be fined.

Better safe than sorry

Earlier this year a little girl was killed when she was climbing on a grave stone at a cemetery in Sweden. So now all grave stones that look like they possibly could fall over have been secured. This is my grandfather, Oskar Andersson's headstone, at the cemetery at the Medieval church in Västerhaninge. I think they have over done it a bit here. If this headstone fell over somehow I doubt it would kill even a squirrel.

All that's left...

...is the birdhouse.

For many years I would see the old woman walking home with her groceries. She lived in a little red cottage along Björklundsvägen in Västerhaninge. Yesterday the cottage was gone. All that was left was now packed into four yellow containers. Today the containers were gone. The cottage was owned by the municipality. There was some problem with the sewer system, so when the old woman moved, they decided to tear the building down. A neighbour told me a sad story today. The old woman, who is suffering from dementia, had been back a few times. On her last visit, just a couple of days ago, she had turned around when she realised that her house was gone and told the neighbour that she had forgotten her keys.

Surveying the Aftermath

I obviously had to visit the old tree at Välsta yesterday when I was out surveying the aftermath of Dagmar the Killer Storm (how does that sound Julie?). Sadly the tree looks to have been hit rather badly. At least one big branch have been broken off. After more that 260 visits to the Swedish Whitebeam, I have gotten used to it's shape and now it has changed a bit. If you have a few hours sit back and enjoy the slideshow below.

Aftermath of the Storm

A big storm hit Sweden yesterday. Thousands of people got stuck on trains. Many households are still without power. It stormed all night, and what a weird night it was. We had 10 C at one o'clock in the morning. After it was all over I jumped on the bike and went for a ride around Haninge. Everywhere I went I could see the aftermath of the storm, that was named Dagmar. On the top photo is the old church school in Västerhaninge. My friend Birdman lives on the second floor with his daughters. I noticed him out in the garden with one daughter. They were looking at the big fur that fell during the storm. Had the tree fallen in the opposite direction, the car to the right would have been history. The second photo shows the Mormon temple in Västerhaninge. The tree just missed the nativity scene with about a meter and I'm sure the religious people will have something to say about that. The third photo is from Handen and shows a Volkswagen that has been hit by a birch tree. There was much more damage but this will do for now.

Tomtenisse

The Swedish folklore Santa was known as a Tomtenisse. He was usually dressed in a grey suit and more importantly, he was dead! You would see him around farms, normally the farm where he lived when he was alive. Now after death he would come back to see if everything was all right with the animals at his old place. The Tomtenisse was a very tiny man. People would feed him by putting out a plate of rice pudding at the vestibule. It is said he was related to the wights. I don't know if that is true but I remember my grandmother telling us the story when she met a wight. God Jul everyone.

Christmas Lunch

I just enjoyed a very modest Christmas lunch. Home made rice pudding with cinnamon. And crisp bread with Yule-ham and apple-sauce. Everything was perfect. Now where did i put the glögg bottle?

A Christmas Tradition

There's no Christmas tree in the house where I live, and no exchange of Christmas gifts. Which means that our Christmas is totally stress free. But there's always Glögg. And plenty of it. You can get some facts about Glögg here. The tiny cup is made of tin, and on it you can see the Neck, an old mythological figure from Swedish folklore. Skål!

Winter Vs. Autumn

I took the autumn half of this diptych in early October. The only reason for taking the photo of the tree in Handen was to make a diptych when the first snow came, so here it is. We haven't had any more snow, and from this afternoon it is said to be warmer. The forecast for Monday is a weird one. We can expect something like 10C, that sounds more like spring than mid winter.

The Joy of Winter

If you don't have a garage, or a block heater, this is what you will have to do on a cold winter morning before driving to the mall/work place/anywhere really. It's the joy of winter!

Stylish and Dirty

Spotted this stylish snowwoman standing outside an apartment building in Handen today. I asked her for a portrait and complimented her on her scarf, but she just gave me a cold look.

A Sudden Change in the Weather

It has snowed a few times in the last couple of days. At the moment a very thin layer of the white stuff is covering the ground. This is a cottage at the Hammar Estate.

Adventsljusstake

Swedish word of the day:Adventsljusstake.

Puzzled

I haven't been out much with the camera lately. It is winter, but the lack of snow makes it very dark. The sun is only up for a few hours per day and most of the time it is hidden behind grey skies. So instead of walking around in the dark I tend to spend some time in front of the computer, taking the odd self-portrait and trying to solve a puzzle or two.

What a Difference a Year Makes

This is how the old tree at Välsta looks today, (or yesterday on the 15th of December to be more precise). No sign of winter at all. I shot the second photo precisely one year earlier. By this time last winter I had already shot four snowy photos of the old tree. I think it's safe to say that we will have a green Christmas this year.

December vs. October

Normally I am pretty good at re-shooting any scene. But this time around I missed a bit. This is a newly pawed walkway/bike path at Håga in Västerhaninge. I was going to make a Different seasons diptych, but I shot the December photo from a slightly different angle so that didn't work. If and when it snows I will go back for another try.

Santa's Sleigh

I spotted Santa's sleigh today. It was parked in front of the greenhouses at Tungelstavägen in Tungelsta, which probably means that Santa was there buying some Christmas flowers for Mrs. Claus.

Half Elf, Half Orc?

How does a grotesque warrior like this half orc celebrate Christmas? I'm guessing it will be a violent Christmas.

Coffee & Stories

Jujja was part of the legendary music scene in Handen, The Ultrahuset. And he could tell you a few stories. We usually meet a few times every week at the cafe. During one one of those meetings Jujja and Tompa Eken told me a few good stories. One was about The Stone Roses. It dates back to before the band became world famous. They had played a gig in the Stockholm area the previous evening, and when they arrived to Ultrahuset, they didn't feel like playing. So they said that the place wasn't big enough for them, and they told everyone that they were going to party with a few of the babes that they had with them. Then it was the story about when Henry Rollins played. And that night when Dave Grohl was there...

Pimped Author

Famous author Ivar Lo-Johansson is dressing up for the winter. Here he is posing near the commuter station in Tungelsta. I don't know who pimped him but it might have been The Knitter for all I know.

Tungelsta Christmas Market

I visited the annual Christmas market in the park in Tungelsta today. The greenhouse was filled with people. A few members of the local historical association, Folk och Trädgård were selling their homemade handicraft, and you can see two of them here. Liza Sergler on the top photo was selling socks and mittens. Marita Jacobsson specialises in kurbits painting. The felted wool figures are also locally made by Kirsten Rasmussen. If you have a very good memory you might remember a photo I took of the posing Mr. Rasmussen earlier this year.

Sixties Santa

Vintage Santa in the display window at my barber's place at Åby in Västerhaninge.

The promised snow storm missed by many kilometres, and turned into windy weather with a lot of rain.

Winter Rose

The red rose across the road from my favorite cafe in Handen is still there, despite the recent cold weather. But there's a snow storm coming this evening. The forecast said something like 20 cm of snow and very hard winds. I think it is time to order winter tyres to the bike now.

The Laundry Worker

Every now and then I stumble upon a sculpture made by the late chainsaw artist Lennart Jansson. This figure depicts a laundry worker. When I met Lennart a few years ago he told me that this sculpture was part of a group that he had hoped that the municipality would buy, as they were interested in art that showed local history. A century ago Haninge had a big laundry industry, with many family owned businesses. Today all that is left from that period are two or three barns. Sadly the municipality decided to buy another artwork, and after his death some of Lennart's sculptures have been more or less abandoned.

The old Dodge

Spotted this 1966 Dodge Polara parked at the grill in Tungelsta. Seems to be in very good condition. The owner, (a young guy with some serious tattoos), was enjoying lunch and I asked him if I could take some snaps of his "raggarbil", and he was obviously fine with that. There's another photo of the Polara in black and white at flickr.

Winter Vs. Autumn

To the left is how the tree lined avenue at the 200-year old Hammar estate looks like today. The unused driveway is being fixed. It is supposed to be winter now, but it sure doesn't look like it. To the right how it looked on a misty November day back in 2009. I shot the 2009 photo with the Canon 300d, and the winter photo with the Canon 550d.

Reamde

I haven't used the camera at all this weekend. Instead I have spent a few hours reading this novel. It weighs 1.2 kilo. Number of pages is 1042. And as you can see it completely hides my face in this self-portrait. Reamde by Neal Stephenson. What are you reading?

Symmetry

Back in March I shoved you a photo of the old Stationhouse at the Tungelsta commuter station. Here is a more recent snap, closing in on a window on the second floor. The former station master still lives in apartment there. Funny story here. My brother, who lives in Cyprus was standing on the platform one morning not too long ago when the station master walked up to him and said, well Tomas, if you are waiting for the train, I'm afraid it will be a long wait as the trains will not start running here for a few weeks yet. So he had to take the bus.

Runestone Update

As you might remember I visited Småhamra a few months ago. That's where a previously unknown rune-stone from the Viking Era was discovered by the farmer Rolf Norlin. The plan was to have a ceremonial raising of the stone on the spot where it was found. The archaeologist Roger Wikell who translated the runic inscription was planning to invite a few people, including the farmer, the local historical association and one or two journalists. Sadly it didn't happen that way as someone from the Swedish National Heritage Board decided to do it on her own more or less. Roger was very upset about this. He also said that the stone had been poorly positioned and that it might fall over any day. I had a look for myself a while back. It looked OK to me, but then again, I'm no expert, and the last I heard about it from Roger was that he is hoping to move the stone come the spring. Anyway, this is how it looks now.

Ambulance Helicopter

Theme Day. Action. This is an ambulance helicopter circling over central Handen earlier this year. I was talking to a few people when we suddenly heard the helicopter. I grabbed my camera and took a few quick photos before it disappeared over the roof tops. They were trying to find a place to land, and a minute later they touched down on a grassy area in a nearby park. The reason for all this was that a man was running after a bus, he slipped and was run over by the bus, his life could not be saved.
Click here to view thumbnails for all participants