Photo (and Poetry) Blog
Day 200 of 365
Day 200 of my "365 Days" project. Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly.
This is the only butterfly I've seen this year. Normally, the whole garden would be full of butterflies; I have a lot of flowers that they love. I guess that the strange winter this year wasn't good for them.
Haiku Tuesday
Along this road
Goes no one;
This autumn evening.
by Matsuo Basho (1644-1694). Basho is the most famous poet of the Edo period in Japan. Translation by R. H. Blyth.
Day 199 of 365
Day 199 of my "365 Days" project. Horse, Elfvik Farm, Lidingö.
I went back to Elfvik several times to test the new Canon 5D Mark III. This was one uncooperative horse. Besides eating all the time, which didn't make for a pretty picture, he was just staring at the camera with the most bored look on his face.
And of course, because I couldn't take the picture I had planned, I was even more determined to do it one way or another. This was the best shot in the end. But I'm planning on buying a lot of carrots.
To Be Continued
Day 197 of 365
Day 197 of my "365 Days" project. Goats, Elfvik Farm, Lidingö.
The Elfvik Farm is a seven hundred years old farm on the island of Lidingö, north of Stockholm. The farm lies in the Långängen-Elfvik nature reserve, surrounded by woods and pastures.
Twenty minutes drives from the center of Stockholm and you're in the country side. There are horses, sheep, goats, cows, pigs in the farm; and deer, stags, hares, foxes and many other wild animals in the woods.
I went to Elfvik, five minutes drive from home, to test my new camera, a Canon EOS 5D Mark III.
I'm truly amazed by the new 5D; I was shooting in low light at about 8:30 pm, at maximum zoom (105 mm) with f 8, and the ISO didn't go higher than 320!
Unfortunately I didn't bring a tele lens, and therefore all the animal shots had to be heavily cropped. And still, the image quality is quite good, despite the the crop.
Day 194 of 365
Day 194 of my "365 Days" project. Strawberries and wild strawberries.
Directly from the garden. This is summer!
Day 193 of 365
Day 193 of my "365 Days" project. Deer.
Pretty good camouflage, wouldn't you agree? Hard to spot these fellows.
There are a lot of animals in the woods behind our house, and deer are no exception. Plenty of them to go around and ransake one's garden. In Sweden there are no real fences around the houses, and animals can walk around freely.
I have been lucky this year; the winter has been very mild and there was plenty of food for them. They did eat some of the crocuses, but that's more like having a dessert after a good meal. Delicacies for the fine connaisseur deer, extra crisp crocuses.
Unfortunately I had only my nifty-fifty lens with me, and the deer were pretty far away. Not so bad considering. I've tried not to move (they'd bolt at the first move), and fired several shots, hoping some of them would be good enough.
Haiku Tuesday
Chanting and humming
gongs immerse the green valley
in cool waves of air
by Mukai Kyorai (1651-1704), translated by Sakuo Nakamura. Kyorai had first trained as a samurai, but he gave that up at 23 and dedicated himself to writing poetry.
Day 192 of 365
Day 192 of my "365 Days" project. A walk in the woods: blueberries.
The woods behind our house are rich in blueberries.
The Days Gone By
O the days gone by! O the days gone by!
The apples in the orchard, and the pathway through the rye;
The chirrup of the robin, and the whistle of the quail
As he piped across the meadows sweet as any nightingale;
When the bloom was on the clover, and the blue was in the sky,
And my happy heart brimmed over in the days gone by.
In the days gone by, when my naked feet were tripped
By the honey-suckle's tangles where the water-lilies dipped,
And the ripples of the river lipped the moss along the brink
Where the placid-eyed and lazy-footed cattle came to drink,
And the tilting snipe stood fearless of the truant's wayward cry
And the splashing of the swimmer, in the days gone by.
O the days gone by! O the days gone by!
The music of the laughing lip, the luster of the eye;
The childish faith in fairies, and Aladdin's magic ring -
The simple, soul-reposing, glad belief in everything, -
When life was like a story, holding neither sob nor sigh,
In the golden olden glory of the days gone by.
by James Withcomb Riley. Riley (1849-1916) was an American writer and poet.
Day 184 of 365
Day 184 of my "365 Days" project. My summer garden.
Garden? Jungle is probably a better word. But that's the way I like it!
The peonies are finally blooming!!!
Pink beauties - Sarah Bernhardt and Dr. Alexander Fleming.
