Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #71 – Creepy

Halloween some days gone… I thought you might still have some interesting thoughts and images left for us and this challenge – things Creepy!

If you look up ”Creepy” in a dictionary, it says ” causing an unpleasant feeling of fear or unease”.

Here are some of my creepy nightmares… and in the header my worst scenario. Just how many spiders were at work weaving all those nets? And that – in my own garden…

When a sudden look down a side street – reveals an abandoned house – or, maybe not…?

When it is raining men…

…or they suddenly dissolve in a haze – right in front of me.

Or – I have to pass through dark tunnels …and I notice someone lurking inside.

I also avoid walking in the forest late nights…no option…when there are tree trolls towering 2×5 meters high and wide.

Seeing a giant Gunnera waking up…gives at least me the creeps…

And, Totti…? Is that you?

 

According to a recent study, the creepiest job was working as a Clown, and among the creepiest items mentioned, were dolls. Personally I clearly can relate to ”unpredictability” as an important component of creepiness. If you are interested in reading more of this study, On the nature of creepiness, here’s a link.

We just have to remember that being ”creeped out” is deep down a good thing for our ability to survive! So – now we are looking forward to seeing Your Creepy answers!

 

Thank you for the many inspirational and varied entries for Patti’s Monochrome challenge! Some of you were not much used to monochrome before, but found your own ways to answer to the challenge – clever and innovative!

Have you seen these:

• Photo Robert sends us an elegant flower gallery
• Jeremy of Picks of Pics lets us in on breathtaking views
• An interesting study of what filters can do, we get from Laura of Poetrypix
• Olga of Stuff and what if...sends almost ethereal images and verse

As always, Amy, Tina, Patti and I hope you will join us.

 

 

Wordless Wednesday

Friendly Friday – Looking Up

Amanda, at ”Something to Ponder About”, asks us for the Friendly Friday Challenge to look up! When visiting my daughter in Umeå this winter, she made me look up to see this tiny Wolkswagen bubble hanging from the ceiling. Frankly, I loved it.

So, you had better be looking up in order not to miss those funny things!

Thursday Thoughts – Shaun Tan and the Museum of Failures

A short trip this summer to Dunkers in Helsingborg – for Shaun Tan, our beloved, Australian illustrator of children’s books. On arrival, we found that the Museum of Failures also had an exhibition there.

My (and my children’s) greatest admiration is his book and movie on ”The Lost Thing”.

The exhibition of drawings and paintings from his books, also featured a reading room – all Shaun Tan – style.

A short trailer…

The whole movie was shown at the exhibition – had to see it again!

 

Corporate flops – as shown on the Museum of Failure was quite interesting, but I only photographed two things. This museum is a celebration of history’s failed products & services and the lessons learned from them.

I didn’t know Trump had launched a board game!

Wikipedia: Trump: The Game was launched in May 1989, with the tagline, ”It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s whether you win!” Trump appeared in a television commercial for the game. Trump and Milton Bradley hoped the game would sell two million copies, although the game ultimately sold poorly. By August 1990, Trump acknowledged that the game may have been too complicated. The rulebook was more than 12 pages long. Trump said the game had sold 800,000 units.

As of 19 September 2018, the game is considered a collector’s item.

Mmmmmmmmmmm…some of my favorites – not My mistake!

I think I will have to bike to our local shop and buy some for Saturday …

 

Anniversary – Again!

Bilradion släpper ut ljudkombinationer som tränger in i mitt påväghemkörningsmedvetande. En ny planet är funnen. Igen. Den här gången är den i storlek med Vår Jord. ”Betydelsefullt”.  ”Viktigt”. Säger man där borta i USA. Men den är för nära sin stjärna, den nya planeten – och således alldeles för het. Ytterst vill man finna liv – naturligtvis. Och sen? Om vi finner liv?  Vi har en ny värld att förstöra, nytt liv att döda, nytt. Om igen. Ingenting hos mänskligheten i mänsklighetens historia kan övertyga mig om att vi skulle ha lärt oss av gamla misstag. Lycklig skulle jag bli – om Du kunde övertyga mig om motsatsen.

7 years ago I started blogging with WordPress. I hoped for a way to communicate my thoughts and peculiarities – I think I wrote something about that on my About page…Since then I have met so many wonderful people out there, got so many beautiful friends and learned so much, growing with you over the years. Thank you, all!

So…Who was I 7 years ago? In many ways much the same – but then again not…

Today I am sharing my very first post – only in Swedish at that time. The English translation would be something like this:

Driving home I listen to the many sounds seeping out from the radio. A new planet has been discovered. Again. This time, the size of our own Planet Earth.  ”Important”, they say over there, in the US. But this new planet is soaring too close to its star, and thus being too hot. Too hot for new Life to be found on its surface. Because that is what the scientists want to find – of course. And then? If we find Life? Then we have a new world to destroy, new living beings to kill. Again. Nothing in mankind or in the history of mankind can convince me that we have learned from history, from previous mistakes.

Nothing would make me happier than – if you could convince me otherwise.

Varekai – Cirque du Soleil

Ever since I first saw Cirque du Soleil on TV…I have wanted to see them. And I did, some years ago. And, I was not disappointed.

This year they were back in Malmö, with astonishing Varekai – Tales of the Forest. With that title, I was already mesmerized. And the story of Icaros is a story I read as a child as well as a grown-up. These old stories always teach us about life – and for making the story come alive, I cannot think of a better way than this – Cirque du Soleil!

https://www.cirquedusoleil.com/varekai

No flash or filming allowed, so these are the posters, and in the header, the scene before opening. The Forest, dense with trees, and the staircase leading up to a path under the ceiling.

Icaros falls to the ground, in the Forest on top of a volcano. All the creatures living here…can make anything happen…

Founded in 1984 in Canada, they tour the world every year and their success and their prizes are innumerable. If you have not seen them before…I urge you to go. It is the  ultimate art performance. The ultimate dresses, make up, music, acrobatic stunts, stories and… Life!

 

Wordless Wednesday

Giant’s Causeway – The Loveliest Day

Soaking wet after the dog walk tonight, I desperately long for a lost summer. When in Ireland (a rainy country they say…) this May,  we had sunshine, 20 degrees C and no wind on the north coast. I just have to go back for the photos…think I will show you just How…lucky we were, and what a glorious day we had at Giant’s Causeway. Our landlord told us the weather had not been this beautiful any day this year, 2017.

The walking distance makes this trip a half day tour, but in full sun, everything is just amazing and you can walk any distance… There was even the possibility, for elderly or disabled people, of using a van.

The Giant’s Causeway is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption. (Although legend has it built by the Irish Giant Fionn…)It is located in County Antrim on the north coast of Northern Ireland.

The area was declared a World heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986. According to Wikipedia, there was a poll in 2005, where Radio Times’ readers voted the Giant’s Causeway as the fourth greatest natural wonder in UK.

 

 

 

Most of the columns are hexagonal, although there are also some with four, five, seven or eight sides.

…and flowers grow between the terraced pillars

The little pools make the area more alive…

Excellent playground – if you are careful…

…and bring granddad!

The Giant’s Causeway and Causeway Coast World Heritage Site is today one of the most popular tourist attractions in Northern Ireland. Read about the legend of the two fighting giants from Ireland and Scotland, and the building of the Causeway, here.

WPC: Collage

A bit late…but still. Collage Cars! Pictures taken at Kyrkö mosse, Ryd,  and at Nostalgia, Ronneby. For more information about Kyrkö Mosse: Visit Sue at Words Visual and Viveka at Myguiltypleasures.

WPC: Surprise

 

Surprise – well, some surprises over the years are not easily forgotten. First out in the header – when our neighbours had not picked their red apples before the snow got them…and the second one – the first time I saw a swimming bus… in The Danube!