Yesterday (Friday) I felt no need to pick and arrange leaves for photos - the wind and the rain had taken care of that and had created their own artwork on the ground...
September on the whole was unusually mild, and there is still quite a lot of greens dominating in the trees - but the variety in colour is increasing. On my walk around the old cemetery the other day (late Wednesday afternoon) I picked up a few freshly fallen horse chestnuts and some colourful maple leaves from the ground, thinking I might make something of them back home. Got a bit difficult to carry them all with my bare hands, though (the outer shells of horse chestnuts are very prickly!) so changed my mind along the way, and decided to just make a temporary art installation of them on a park bench, and take photos instead... ;-)
At the beginning of this week, we had a couple of very warm days again, and Nature keeps exploding with new colours every day. Then there was thunder and lightning and for now it’s cooler again… But here are some collages of flowery photos from my walk on Monday (just around the old cemetery close to where I live) : Horse Chestnut tree, Lilacs and Azaleas.
And things leaning against tree trunks:
A very old headstone of unusual shape (and inscription impossible to read); and some brand new tools.
Sharing with Outdoor Wednesday and Through My Lens
At the opening of the Orangery in our Town Park on World Environment Day, there was also an exhibition in a tent outside, of creative “recycling” art made by school children.
Yesterday (Sunday) we had lovely weather for November – clear blue sky and around +9°C.
My camera fell in love with the reflections in the windows of the old church in the town centre.
1. From Germany
2. From Ukraine: ‘Wedding in the Kyiv Province, 1891’
3. From Russia
4. From São Paulo, Brasil
5. From England: All Saints Church, Brockhampton
6. From Germany
7. From Canada: Parliament Buildings, Victoria B.C.
8. From John in England: ‘Happy Postcrossing’
Thanks John, for the inspiration to join Postcrossing.
My letterbox is a lot happier these days.
Geh' aus, mein Herz, und suche Freud
(Paul Gerhardt 1653)
Gå ut, min själ, och gläd dig...
Go out, my soul, and seek joy
German hymn from 1653; first translated into Swedish in 1725; still one of our most beloved summer hymns in Sweden. (The lyrics are basically on the same theme as How Great Thou Art, which is probably better known to most of my readers here.)
♫ Listen to a choir singing it at YouTube ♫
(I denna ljuva sommartid/Stockholms Kammarkör)
Friday (8th June) was Graduation Day in most schools here.
Florists had a busy day…
I don’t know anyone who is graduating this year but there is a ‘Senior High School’ close to where I live so I went there to snap some photos.
Friends and relatives waiting in the school yard.
It’s common for family and friends to carry placards with the name and often an old baby photo of the graduate. Supposed to make it easier for them to find each other in the crowded school yard…
Finally here they come.
The graduates usually wear white graduation hats (old tradition) – and then people hang flower bouqets and balloons and whatever around their neck.
Afterwards, it’s tradition to go riding around town on lorry platforms. Singing and shouting and whatever, celebrating “freedom”. Usually they have some placards or banners on the side of the truck. The one above had the cleverest messages of those that I saw: “Newly divorced” and “Cutting the umbilical cord”.
Hopefully off towards a bright, independent future!
I got a little bit nostalgic watching them…
Traditions haven’t changed much since “my day”!
New collage of some old photos from my album, digitally colourboosted to compensate for loss of original colour through the years… The green lorry in the upper right hand corner was ours (my class).
Linking this post to Straight Out of the Camera Sunday
(please ignore the nostalgic photo collage! LOL)
