silence

With the story of Evagraven still on my mind, the path slowly climbs untill we reach the wide mountain plateau. Early Autumn colors the moss. There is nobody here besides us, no houses, no cars, no roads. And when the steady rustle of my steps dies away when I stop for a photograph, the absence of sound is overwhelming.


summer route
droppings of a reindeer
still fresh

-Note: Evagraven (Eve's grave) is a ravine in the Funasdalen region, Sweden. According to an old story a Lapp woman named Eva died here in a snow storm, together with her reindeer.

stones / stenen

She has a small collection of stones, brought home from the countries she visited once. Just ordinary stones; grey, smooth, the kind you find on a beach or a hillside path maybe.
But to her they memorize breathtaking landscapes, new smells and colors, the taste of local dishes, interesting people she had met, and



endless skies
eyes fixed
on a flock of geese

---

Ze bezit een kleine verzameling stenen, meegenomen uit de landen die ze ooit bezocht. Onopvallende stenen; grijs, glad, zoals je ze vindt op het strand of op een bergpaadje.
Maar voor haar zijn ze een herinnering aan adembenemende landschappen, nieuwe geuren en kleuren, de smaak van plaatselijke gerechten, interessante mensen die ze had ontmoet, en



eindeloze luchten
ogen gericht
op een vlucht ganzen

daydreams

I am slowly finding my way through the many redesigned rooms and hallways. Hold my step to admire chandeliers. Lean close for a diamant brooch. It's still all about royalty here.
Standing in the former ball room, the thought of dancing feet comes easy. Scarlet dress, furtive looks. A shiny Rolls outside, ready and waiting.


stable window
traces of gold dust
in a sunbeam

leaves

 

 

 

apparently out of nothing..

.. a proud and healthy looking male reindeer appears and keeps walking in front of us in that typical light swaying, almost graceful, pace. I notice how the huge antlers follow every movement of his head, looking left, then right, nose high up in the air..


moving along
with the shade of the tree
summer heat

colors

It could have been either one of those perfect days we had last August.
A vast blue sky above a quiet country road, the intense green of fir tree forests, and the brightest sun ever reflecting on cornfields that stretch out beyond the horizon.

I wish I could have materialized those colors somehow, and have them stashed away for a rainy day.


lazy summer day
drawing suns
on a dusty bonnet

summer's end

On warm days they frequently come over to sip from the bird bath, or they just stand in the water for a while to cool off. And most evenings are spent with sitting close together on top of the street lamp in front of our house, high up from the ground.
I can't tell of course, but I'd like to think it's the same couple of turtle doves that has been visiting our garden for many years now.



summer's end
kids gather
at the school gate

the dad

It's not just the grades, the eagerness to learn, or the potential.
It's this and about everything else that he shares about his son's new life as a freshman that makes him genuinely glow with pride.



a boy's laughter
browsing the comics
at the bookstore

shell peanuts

A treat for both of us when I stayed with her as a child, was a handful of shell peanuts some time in the afternoon. Then we would play a board game together, or watch tv for a while.

And after we had finished eating, her hands would carefully search through the pile of empty shells to make sure no peanut was left to waste.

sepia colors

my grandmother

at my age

grotta

Down the dark and narrow opening, a ladder waits to bring us down the cave, or 'grotta' as they say here.
I am told that all the spaces below are not the result of erosion, but were probably shaped during the last ice age, when the ice made large volumes of bedrock crack into boulders.

There is no guide, there is no light. There is supposed to be a blue rope along the wall to hold on to, so you won't get lost.

arctic fall

watching the first geese

go south






-the cave is located on the Hornslandet peninsula, 300 km north of Stockholm (Sweden)

clouds

Today is the first day of her treatment. And all that she can think of during the forty five minute drive to the hospital is that perfect afternoon last Summer that she spent laying on her back in the grass, without a care in the world, naming the clouds.



checking her hair
in the rearview mirror
autumn colors

Zweden haiku #2

van zuid naar noord

de weg volgt de spoorlijn

of is het andersom

~

going north

the road follows the railway

or is it vice versa

Zweden haiku #1

glooiend landschap

buiten de dorpen

de stilte

~

rolling countryside

outside the villages

the silence

the host

I want you to climb a mountain, she says.
On her request we unfold a map on the veranda table, and follow her finger while she tells about views, flowers, and water that is clear enough to drink directly from the stream.



river bank picknick
in a birch tree
the teeth of a beaver

oorlogsschip

De kudde zwartbehaarde Gallowayrunderen verplaatst zich langzaam naar een groepje bomen, dat door zijn hogere ligging als het ware lijkt op te rijzen uit het landschap. Enkele dieren blijven even midden in een vennetje staan. Een witte reiger kijkt vanaf de kant toe. Geen van de dieren lijkt zich bewust te zijn van de wandelaars die hier vanmorgen met regelmaat passeren.

Boven me is de lucht donker en dreigend. De wind van zee is krachtig en maakt het voor het gevoel koud. Ooit kwam hier in het nachtelijk duister een dronken jutter voorbij; hij zag in de vorm van het bosje de contouren van een schip, en vertelde aan iedereen die het maar horen wilde dat hij in de duinen een oorlogsschip had gezien.



duinappartement
een rij zonsondergangen
in de trapopgang





-het 'oorlogsschip' bevindt zich in natuurgebied De Muy op Texel