| My world of.... |
| My world of snow and ice | ||
| My world of spring flowers | ||
In this series of pages called "My world of..." I will show a bit of my little corner of the world as seen through my eyes. It is an off the beaten path place where I live, at the shore of Lake Mälaren in Sweden, called Sundbyholm. But a lovely place to be.
This page is a mere collage of photos, with a few words in between, showing you a tiny bit of 'my world'. And the theme this time is "Snow and ice".
I was inspired by my regular walks towards the lake and the surrounding area to write this page. Especially in mid winter, when it often gets below freezing and we have some snow and ice, the landscape transforms. And during a sunny day it is such a joy to go out with my camera and capture the feeling of winter. While slowly the days get longer, the small wintery details that nature treats us with, are a pure joy to the eye.
All the photos in the collage below are clickable, so you can view the larger photo.
My world of snow and ice
Encased in ice
Icicles
Icicles
January on the shores of Lake Mälaren in Sundbyholm, Sweden, the place where I live. On this bright sunny but cold day the sun was making these icicles sparkle like diamonds.
Icicles are often formed during bright, sunny, but freezing weather. Ice or snow is melting by the warmth of the sunlight, but at the same time refreezing as it drips off. Over time the continued water runoff will cause the icicle to grow.
In this case the wind over the Lake Mälaren caused lake water to splash over the twigs and branches at the lakeside. The continued water runoff from these branches during the freezing temperatures caused the icicle to grow and grow to a fantastic and fascinating display of icicles.
But not only icicles were formed, even the most crazy forms were created, like these 'ice bubbles' encasing grasses and some leaves with ice at the edge of the lake. It looks more like something otherworldly to me, and not belonging to my part of the planet. The creativity and beauty of nature never seazes to amaze and fascinate me!
Frozen Lake Mälaren
Walking to the "Udden" / peninsula
Tegelslagarstugan
cracks in the ice at the harbour of Sundbyholm
-13 C / 9F today during our lunch walk! And feeling proud that we did go on our daily lunch walk despite the cold. Ok, ok, I need to admit that it actually was not that bad; being dressed in trillions of layers of clothes and 'warmed' by a bleak shining sun. It turned out to be a really nice 5 kilometers walk!
details at the harbour of the frozen lake, covered with a fresh dusting of snow.
Ramsundsån
The snow covered beach at Sundbyholm
A frozen leaf
Icicles
Frozen in ice
Sundbyholm castle
Frost on red berries
The lane towards the castle bordered by beeches, planted at the end of the 18th century.
Sundby church
January: the days are short, the evenings are long. The sun is setting around 3 in the afternoon and doesn't show its face again before 9 in the morning. So it is best to make the best of the evening as you can, and what better way than to bring some light into the darkness.
Bringing light into the darkness
During the long winter evenings we often burn a candle outside on the deck, using our home made candle holders. Yep, you see it correctly, they are made of ice! It gives a wonderful effect, these icy candle holders, and they are sooo easy to make. The easiest way to do it is by simply putting a bucket of water outside for the night. The temperatures here are cold enough to freeze the outer rim of water in the bucket within 24 hours (if it is not that cold, it might take a few days). This is not enough time to freeze the whole content in the bucket, only the outer rim (which is the meaning). Just turn the ice form out of the bucket when the outer rim is frozen, and it instantly forms into excellent rustic candle holders. Perfect for outside on the deck, bringing light and instant coziness during the dark long Swedish evenings.
It is always fun to see how they turn out, as they are never really the same. The ice candles in the photos above are all done with the 'bucket' method. But you can easily fancy it up a bit by putting decorations in the water, e.g. flowers or branches from a christmas tree, but then you need 2 buckets (double boiler method) to keep your decorations in place in the outer rim.
Simone & Åke, Sundbyholm, Sweden
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:-) Simone