Daniela was on her way to a family BBQ when I spotted her. She lives in Handen and works as a nurse. She enjoys travelling, often to warm and sunny places. Her family comes from Chile. Later this year Daniela, and her sister Pamela will travel to South America where they will stay for about two months, visiting family in Chile, they will also go to Argentina. After shooting a couple of portraits on the lawn Daniela asked me if I could get a few photos of her with her sister, so we walked over to their yard where her brother Daniel were busy grilling steaks and hot togs for the family.
I asked for a burnout when the guy riding the Can-Am left the cafe yesterday but that didn't really happen so he will not appear on any photo.. Don't see to many of these bikes out on the roads.
Biking through Lake Rudan yesterday I noticed three people trying their best to set up a tent on the lawn between the two lakes. That can sometimes be fun to watch, so I stopped for a closer look. Two of them had green hair which was another reason for me to see what was going on. Turns out that there's a three day long festival for University students. The event is called Dunder och Brak. Nea is one of the organisers. She told me that there will be a few hours of fun on Saturday, around midday, when two hundred or so students from across Sweden will play games, and possibly even enjoy some alcoholic beverages here. Sounds like a good photo op to me! Nea's friend is nick named Snigel.
Earlier this year Fredde was out jogging in Handen, he usually combines a visit to the gym with a five kilometre run. On this run he met a girl. They started talking. Fredde suggested that they could maybe go for a run together one day. Little did he know that Kristina was a very good Ultra Marathon runner.
Life is good. It is summer. The sun is shining. You are out with dad. Who is a big guy. Metal fan apparently, with a lot of tattoos. You get to sit on his shoulders. Not a bad view from up there. Is that a candy store over there? Lets have a closer look. Yes, sure looks like it. Lets go over there and buy something!
This is how Husby in Österhaninge looks at the moment. Husby dates back two thousand years. There is a grave site from that period here. The farm got it's name 1500 years ago. There was many Husby farms in Sweden back then, as it was a place where farmers paid their taxes to the king. To see both a Winter and Autumn view of Husby check out this post from a couple of years ago.
It was a good thing that all the people that decided to spend part of their Sunday at my favorite beach, Årsta Havsbad, down at the Hårsfjärden Bay, did just that, and you can see a few of them here, because on Monday the more typical weather of this summer was back,i.e. clouds, clouds and more clouds, and no sign of the sun.
It is that time of the year again. When the fields around the local farms are filled with wrapped in hay bales. Has a surreal feel to it sometimes. Especially at night. Took this photo near the old tree yesterday. Not sure how the farmers are coping with all the rain, lets hope for the best.
Arrived home after a sunny bike ride just now. Decided to rest on the grass for a while. That is when this little bugger decided to check out my hand. In the background you can see my front door. I reckon it around two millimetre long, or short if you like.
My third post about the Viking Era runestone that was found last spring in a field at Småhamra. Previous posts here and here. Since my last post the farmer Rolf Norlin, has been out ploughing again, and just as my friend Jim guessed last year when I told him about the historic find, Rolf found the missing piece of the runestone in the same field. So it is now possible to read the whole inscription, and the discussion now is if the two pieces should be put together or left like you can see here.
I had to leave my bike (seen partly in this photo), with the Bicycle Repairman as it didn't have any brakes. The bike also needed gear stuff, a new chain and some brake wiring. The Bicycle Repairman told me that he was going to give me a call when the bike was repaired. Well, he hasn't called yet, and the bike shop is now closed for two weeks so I spent an hour yesterday going through the roughly three and a half bikes that you can find in my cellar. All broken, but I think I have managed to fix one of them. Now if it would just stop raining...
You learn something every day. My aunt stopped by for coffee and cake today. She told me a bit of local history that I didn't know. This building across the road from me has been a restaurant for the last decade or so. During those years the house have been rebuilt a couple of times, (this photo is from earlier in the week). Before that it was a private house for many years and back in the 1970s a local teacher, Ulla Nygren lived there. What I didn't know was that my family owned the land here between 1908 and some time in the 1950s. Kerstin told me that when she was a little girl her parents grew raspberries here. That was around 1948 or so. A couple of years later a butcher from Handen, called Franzén, bought the land and built a new home for himself, his wife, and his three daughters. They also set up a butchers shop here. The store was then bought by another family, The Danielsson's. They opened a grocery store here and also a cafe that my mother used to visit,possibly with my aunt as they were school mates.
I started smoking when I was 12 years old. Quit after a bet with myself. If Sweden won the ice-hockey world championship I would give up this bad habit. This was back in 1991 I think. Sweden won the tournament and I quit smoking. Since then I have only smoked twice. The first relapse was the same week as I quit. Out on an island partying with a few friends where everyone smoked I found it impossible not to. Then, a couple of years later I was island hopping in the Greek archipelago with a childhood friend I hadn't seen for 15 years. We visited Santorini, Paros and Ios. And it was on the party island Ios that I smoked my last ever cigarette. We were having drinks at the big square in Chora and I borrowed a cigarette from my friend Peter. It tasted like death. These days I can't stand if anyone smokes near me.
Pick your favorite Mustang. Top photo shows the original from 1965. Second snap is a modern convertible Mustang from 2006.
I think yesterday was the warmest day of the year. Grace in Perth will of course laugh when I say that it was very warm (25C), when I decided to go for a little photo promenade around Tungelsta. This is Hagstugan at Skogs Ekeby. Three hundred years ago the foreman at the farm lived here. Today it is a summer house. For a much colder and winter like view of this cottage press here.
It is Monochrome Monday here at the Haninge blog. This is a forest at the Rudan nature reserve. I was out shooting with a friend recently, and the plan was to walk further into the forest here near the upper lake, but as I was attacked by a number of Kamikaze mosquito's that excursion was put on hold.
One of my hobbies includes visiting old farms. I also find it interesting to document historic buildings and old cottages. Maybe it is time to add another category of buildings to that list now. Not sure how to describe that category. Perhaps something like this: Stuff that should have been blown up a long time ago.
A century ago Handen was a rural place with a few big farms. All the farms are if not gone, at least not in use any more. Today Handen is a modern urban area with a couple of big malls, a hospital, one or two industrial zones, many large apartment buildings as well as many family sized houses. And if you jump on the commuter train you are only a fifteen minute ride away from central Stockholm. So that is why I was a bit surprised to learn about the existence of this little red cottage at Malmvägen. It doesn't look like anyone live there, which is a bit of a shame I think. It is as central as you can get. You can walk to the hospital in under three minutes, and it is not more than a five minute stroll from the big mall which in itself is next to the commuter station.
