Dog a Day Photos. Scandinavian-Style

I think I should be nearing the end of sharing the almost 1,500 photos I took on a recent trip to Scandinavian countries of Sweden, Denmark and Norway. So far I've written posts about views from hotel rooms, gardens, painted houses, children, water scenery, old churches,art, and royal bling. However, no trip account would be complete without the "Dog a Day" photo collection. Whenever I travel am always on the lookout for dogs to photograph. Partly, I miss Willie, but also just plain love dogs and seeing them with their owners in different countries. On this trip, other tour members noticed my obsession with photographing dogs and became my "dog spotters." Here are some of my favorites (usually not great photos because you know that dogs and children are famously on the move--but a delight, nevertheless):

This is "Wild Thing" out for his afternoon stroll through Vatta, a small village on Lake Vattern in southern Sweden:

















This is a young German hound, hiding behind his owner's knees at Sofiero Slott (former summer home of Swedish king and his princess)in Helsingborg, southern Sweden:















In Copenhagen at the Glyptotek Museum I spotted "The Prince Imperial with His Dog Nero", a sculpture by Carpeaux:




















In the ballroom of Frederiksborg Palace(housing the Denmark Museum of Natural History of paintings and decorative arts from the 1500s to present day) on the island of North Zealand (about an hour from Copenhagen)there were several Italian tapestries on the walls, featuring court dogs:




















Vigeland Park in Oslo, an exuberant celebration of the cycle of life in sculpture, was enjoyed by the Norwegians and their dogs as well as tourists:



After Oslo we headed north through higher elevations of Norway, boarding the Flam Railway for a trip past waterfalls, ravines, and sheer cliffs. People in Norway were very active and healthy-looking. Even the dogs, like this border collie got in on the act in an evening stroll along the lake at our hotel in Flam:















This little guy hiked with its owner to the Briksdal Glacier near Loen, Norway (I enjoyed getting off the bus, trains, and ferries myself and hiking in cool, rainy weather to see the scenery up close):




















This is "Ferry Annie" enjoying her ride across the Geiranger Fjord:














This handsome guy has musical interests. He's visiting the home of composer Edvard Grieg just outside Bergen, Norway(first photo is the Composer's Hut where Grieg escaped from his wife and children to write):

And finally, the best Dog a Day Photo of all--Willie in his favorite spot the day after I got home from trip. He was very glad to be rescued from the vet kennel by his friend Janice and get back to his home:

Friday Fences - Dry Stone Fences of Kentucky

This dry stone fence is on a thoroughbred horse farm in the central part of Kentucky--or better known as the Bluegrass Region. Stone fences, many of them over a hundred years old, are quite common in Kentucky and were first built by Scots-Irish immigrants to the state. The fences, sometimes called walls, get the name "dry stone" because they are built with no mortar, using limestone rocks and boulders collected from land cleared for agriculture. The fences are built from the ground up,usually in two courses side by side to get the sufficient strength. Stacks of rock are joined with longer flattish rocks that span two stacks. Gaps in the course are "chunked" with smaller rocks. Here's a closeup:


Friday Fences is a new meme hosted by my good blog friend Janis at Life According to Jan and Jer . Go there to sign up or check out the fences shared by other players.

Watery Wednesday and Some Thoughts on Solo Travel

Beautiful sunset on the waters of the North Sea - photo taken from my cabin on an overnight NFDS Seaways ferry cruise between Copenhagen and Oslo.

I remember this evening quite vividly from my late August tour of Scandinavia. It was mid-point of a two week tour and I had chosen, as usual, to travel alone but as part of a tour group. Usually this is the best of both worlds. During the day you're with other congenial people experiencing the different countries and cultures. And then at night you have private time to read and re-group which is essential for an introvert.

However, on this tour I began to wonder if I was getting too old to make these ambitious trips without a travel partner. I suppose I was just lonely and getting tired of each day figuring out how to gracefully join other couples for meals and conversation about what we were experiencing. And, I was feeling cut off from things back home because, for some reason, I couldn't sign on to e-mail, blogs, or facebook. I worried about how Willie was faring at the vet and if my elderly sister was okay. And then to cap it all, Hurricane Irene was moving along the east coast of the U.S. and I worried that the Dulles airport in D.C. might need to close and delay my flight home, stranding me in Norway. Without internet access couldn't figure out how to make alternate travel plans.

I remember thinking that my mood was as dark as the waters outside my cabin window and it was a sleepless night. But then, morning came. My fellow travelers invited me to join them for breakfast and to sit with them out on deck as we cruised up the narrows of the Oslo Fjord and disembarked from the ferry in Oslo without any problems. They loaned me their smart phones to check google news about Hurricane Irene. They even shared cold and cough medicines! My spirits lifted right away and I was eager for the last leg of the journey, the majestic mountains and waters of Norway.

Now, over a month since I returned home, I no longer think that I'm not capable of traveling alone any more. I'm thinking of eastern Europe and, especially, Russia. Maybe a river cruise where I won't have to be constantly packing and unpacking and figuring out how door keys and shower faucets work. And for sure, I'll have my own electronic toys instead of just an ancient cell phone. Alice Steinbach said it best in her book Without Reservations, The Travels of an Independent Woman: "I decided to take a chance and temporarily jump ship, so to speak, from the life I'd fashioned for myself." That's what solo travel is all about--getting out of your comfort zone and making some memories that will last a lifetime, even if it's not always the most comfortable thing to do.

Want to see some more "watery" photography? Click here for the players.

Teaser Tuesday - Hornet Flight, A Tale of the Danish Resistence WW II

This is the Hornet Moth, a single engine biplane that was used in espionage for England in the early part of World War II. In Ken Follett's Hornet Flight, Churchill was losing one British bomber after another in flights across the North Sea to strike northern Germany. At that same time--1941--just across the North Sea in Denmark, German occupation of this small country was becoming more threatening. As in other European countries, local government officials tried to appease, and in some cases collaborate with, the Nazi occupiers, putting many Danish people in danger of losing property and even their lives. A quiet resistence movement soon began operation in Denmark with everyday citizens attempting to sabotage the Germans. Hornet Flight is the story of one part of the Danish Resistence.

Teaser Tuesday is described by its host, Miz B over at Should Be Reading ,as a "weekly bookish meme" open to any reader who wants to play along. If, like me, you're always curious about what people are reading or on the lookout for the next great read, then this may by your meme. To play, just click on Miz B's link above for the simple rules.





Horent Flight
by Ken Follett

" Would you mind making a drawing of that radio equipment you were describing to me earlier?" Poul's tone was casual, but his body was stiff with tension.

Harald had wondered whether that subject would come up again. "Sure." pp. 108-9

Book description from cover: It is June 1941, and the war is not going well for England. Somehow the German's are anticipating the RAF's flight paths and shooting down British bombers with impunity. Meanwhile, across the North Sea, 18 year old Harald Olufsen takes a shortcut on the German-occupied Danish island of Sande and discovers an astonishing sight. He doesn't know what it is, but he knows he must tell someone. And when he learns the truth , it will fall upon him to deliver word to England--except that he has no way to get there. He has only an old derelict Hornet Moth biplane rusting away in as ruined church--a plane so decrepit that it is unlikely ever to get off the ground--even if Harold knew how to fly it.

Sunday Morning Trifecta

Ah-h-h! Willie, Gabaldon and the Sunday Courier-Journal.

Fall Chores

Last week the Courier-Journal printed its annual article on folk lore weather predictions for the upcoming winter based on tree readings, woolly worms, foggy mornings, squirrels' nut gathering habits, thickness of corn shucks, and even persimmon seeds. According to the old sages, we can expect some weather doozys this year, starting with a light frost on October 20. Time to think about those fall chores now in this mellow fall weather if you don't want to be looking out dirty windows, being #20 on the furnace repair list when that first frost comes, or waiting for AAA when the car won't start on that first cold morning.

I was checking out a couple of favorite blogs recently like Homespun Living and ran across this "Mother-of-All" Fall Cleaning Checklist. Pretty handy. Now I'm almost positive that I won't be checking my spices for expiration dates or polishing the silver for the holidays, but I'll definitely wash the windows inside and out and schedule a car and furnace inspection. If you want to work on this checklist while the weather is still mild, go to the Homespun Living blog to find the link to print off your very own copy of the MOA Fall Cleaning Checklist and tick some of these things off this weekend.

Friday Fences - A Swedish Garden

Strangely enough, this rather homely vegetable garden fence is on the grounds of a rather grand family estate in southern Sweden, Lofstad Slott. I think this is a variation of wattle fencing where supple branches are woven together to make different fence designs.

And then a bonus photo of this small cottage to the left of the garden. The red paint is quite typical of southern Sweden because the paint is made from local minerals like iron oxide.


Friday Fences is a new meme hosted by my good blog friend Janis at Life According to Jan and Jer . Go there to sign up or check out the fences shared by other players.