Schoolyard Architecture?

The Rudan school.

Another Utility Box

I see more and more utility boxes these days. Probably because I am now looking for them. This one can be admired in Västerhaninge.

Lights Out

My latest photo project. The redesigned water towers in Handen. The official unveiling is next week when the lights will be turned on. Whenever I am in the area I have tried to shoot the towers from a different angle. Biking through the industrial area a while back I noticed this old street lamp at the Posten Företagcenter so I stopped for a few photos.

That Old Tree

November has been unusually warm. But very gray. And rainy. And dark. And... I could go on and on about the weather, but no one wants to hear that so here is my latest photo of the old tree.

Odd Dog

This is a very odd looking dog, or an odd looking dog sculpture. Made by the artist Ragnhild Alexandersson who specializes in that sort of thing. You can find it on the lawn in the inner yard at Poseidons gränd in Handen.

Fail of the day

Whenever I see a stolen and dumped car I usually inform the municipality about it. I did so a little over a week ago when I had seen a Volvo being smashed up at a shopping centre but that car (link), is still there. This car stands at the Industrial area in Jordbro. At a bus stop. Owned by a woman who lives not far from here (thank you Internet). It's been there for at least one week now. This photo was supposed to be a quality bokeh panorama, made from photos taken with the nifty fifty, but when I stitched the photos I realised that I had missed one photo! But as I am sure the car is still there I could always try again...

A Treat

My mother have home care. Three times a day she gets a little help from Haninge hemtjänst. They prepare her lunch and help her with clothing, and toilet visits if necessary. They also see to it that she takes her medicine. They did one better today. They baked her some "kubbar" using my grandmothers recipe. And they were very tasty.

Iskristaller

Suddenly I can't handle the cold any more. Out riding the bike yesterday my hands froze despite the fact that I was wearing my expensive winter gloves. But I did manage to get a few macro photos of ice crystals next to the path close to the old tree.

It has yet to happen

I shot one of my first ever portraits of a stranger here a few eons ago. It is a bench at the nature park, Slätmossen in Handen, overlooking a pond. Ever since that day I have always wanted to take another portrait here, but with a difference. If and when it happens he or she would have to climb up that birch tree.

Ice Patterns

Winter is here. The temperature dropped to freezing yesterday. I was prepared for that but it was a very cold bike ride. It felt more like -10C, probably because it was grey and windy. I stopped at the nature park and ice had formed on one of the ponds. As I'm typing this it is a few degrees below zero but at least the sun is shining from a blue sky.

November mist

The mist rolling in over the lake.

Ceiling Fixtures

A bit of minimalism today. Lots of construction at Tuvvägen in Handen. You have seen a couple of photos from this site in the last year.

Disappearing Path

Did I happen to mention in passing that November really isn't my favorite month? The disappearing path is a newish shortcut between Handen and Jordbro.

The missing window (s)

Symmetry is important don't you think? So when I look at this façade (it's the new retirement home in Tungelsta) I count three missing windows! Oh, and if you take a closer look you will be able to see a ghost in one of the windows.

The Setting Sun

The days are very short now. Not much sunshine of late. But just before sunset the other day there was a bit of light so i jumped off the bike and took a "Sunset" photo at Nedersta.

Utility Box

Another utility box. Spotted along a bike path I used to get to a little tree clad hill from where you have a good view over the central parts of Handen.

Rack-em-up

Still unused bike rack at a brand new apartment building in Handen.

A Future Museum?

This is a very tiny house. At Malmvägen in central Handen. Been a few years since someone lived here. They don't make places like this any more. Today it is surrounded on all sides by newer, bigger houses. Sadly I don't know any history about it, and it will be gone very soon as a developer have announced that three new homes will be built on this property next year. After uploading these photos to flickr I wrote a short e-petition at the municipality democracy portal where I suggested that the local trade school Fredrika Bremer-gymnasiet would make this into a little school project. They could move the little house to the school (just a few hundred meters from here), renovate it and make it into a little museum about days gone by. The petition went live a couple of hours ago and hopefully enough local people will see it and agree with my idea. I also need to figure out where the museum should be placed if the idea became a reality and one funky idea that came to mind was to place it on the roof of the City Hall building!

And now the weather

No one needs days like this. Gray and rainy.

The Duck Man

This is the Duck Man. His real name is Åke. You can find him at Lake Bylsjön most every day, year round, feeding the ducks. It's a 7.5 km walk to the lake at the Tyresta national park from his home in Brandbergen, so he gets a good workout during his daily promenades. Today he thanked global warming for the fine weather. And it has been an unusually warm Autumn this year. We talked for a bit about cycling and digital cameras. Åke was considering buying an electrical bike and I told him about my two singlespeed fixie bikes.

Poles & Wires

There's a big forest in Handen. It is popular with joggers as there are lots of different trails here. I have used it a few times, but it was a few years ago now. There's a little hill here and from the top you can see a few local landmarks, including the renovated water towers and old city hall, also renovated and turned into apartments. And on that hill you can also see these poles and wires with the high rises in Brandbergen as a backdrop.

That Old Tree

A group of girls out horse-back riding near the old tree yesterday afternoon, just before sunset. My445th photo of the Swedish Whitebeam.

The King's Torch

Found a bit of color during my visit to the beach. This plant is called Kungsljus. Back in the day people dipped the stalks of this herb in tar or pitch and used it as a torch, hence the name which translates to The King's Torch. You can also make tea from it. If you want to know more about this plant there's lots of fact at Wikipedia.

The Beach

The beach and the pier in November. Gray skies, not very cold,around 10C but it did rain a little.

Pearl, or no pearl

Beachcombing at Årsta Havsbad. Well, not really, I didn't expect to find any pearls or anything. But while strolling in the sand I did find a few very small shells washed up on the beach for me to photograph with the help of the extension tubes and the Nifty Fifty. This could be what we call Hjärtmussla, Lagoon cockle, an edible salt-water clam, but I am only guessing. We had a very gray day in Haninge today. And it did of course start to rain while I was shooting these photos.

Brick Wall Graffiti

There's an old brick building behind the indoor driving range in Jordbro, close to the rail-tracks. It's been abandoned for many years. For a while it became a popular hangout spot for drug users. Later the local graffiti artists found their way to the old building. Then, maybe two years ago someone decided to fix the roof and clean up the area. But after that nothing more happened. Biking past it yesterday I noticed a big hole in the fence so I decided to walk in and have a look around. Someone had parked a rather big boat on the backside, which faces the railroad. Other than that all I could see were all the brick wall graffiti.

A walk in the park

In a post last week I mentioned that I was done with the colorful Autumn photos, but I was wrong! My computer died on me a week or so ago and I thought I had lost a few snaps from a walk in a park, Eskilsparken in Handen. But then yesterday I found them in a Picasa temp file! So here are three of those photos. Red leaves. Lovers on the lawn, and a macro flower photo.

Stairway

This ugly concrete stair is older than it might look. Back in the day people walked up and down here to the old commuter station in Handen. A new station opened in the mid 1970s a little further south. If you click this link and scroll down a bit you can see both the old station house and the stairs in a photo taken back in 1970 from the little beach that I stood on the other day shooting that fine Autumn reflection photo.

A Final Autumn Photo

Most of the Autumn colors are gone today. This was the scene at Upper Lake Rudan a couple of days ago. Shot from the little beach.

Afternoon Light

I had to think hard before coming up with a suitable photo and idea for the November theme day. Ephemeral is Efemär in Swedish. November is not my favorite month. It gets dark so early in the afternoon this time of the year. Sunset today was just before 4:00 p.m. which means that we had daylight for no more than nine hours. And that's why I picked this photo of the Afternoon Light for the theme day. The sun was on it's way down at the Eskilsparken yesterday when I took this photo of the common beech.