Reclaimed light bulbs / Återanvänd gamla glödlampor

http://www.bulbs-unlimited.com/

http://www.bulbs-unlimited.com/

 

http://www.bulbs-unlimited.com/

I like the form of a the old bulb/lamp. I have plenty of these at home just laying around waiting to be some kind of a creation. In Sweden we like recycling and I can find people love this form of lamp just like myself. 

Photo: Frida Ramstedt, Trendenser.se

Photo above is from this blog

Photo above is from this blog

Tawakkul Karman got me interested

Christmas time is getting closer. Today we lit the 3´rd candle. We made some ginger bread for the second time this month. Last time we happened to burn most of them. The kids want to have their own ginger bread house so we are doing one of those. 

Last night we checked the Nobel festivities on TV where the winners had a lovely dinner in the Blue hall with the King and Queen of Sweden. One of my dreams would be to participate in this dinner one evening. The journalists focused a lot about how the crown princess Victoria managed the evening since she is pregnant. We are really proud of having a Swede as the winner of the price in literature, Tomas Tranströmer and I am particularly interested in one of the three Peace price winners. Tawakkul Karman from Yemen.  I haven´t heard of her before she got this award. 

Earlier today we went on a stroll to get some fresh air. We saw how much it had rained these past days. It is amazing that some streets are like a flood of water. No snow on the ground so far. The small amount we´ve gotten has disappeared in the rain. This coming week we are going to celebrate Lucia. Very nice and a special tradition. 

All the best from me

Anna

The storm Berit came our way

Photo above show a few guests leaving from a smorgasbord!

These photos are from Aftonbladet (Swedish evening paper)! Check them out at this address:http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article13995344.ab

This Sunday we were celbrating the first of Advent! We baked ginger bread and listened to the 4vikings-christmas-list on Spotify, also lit the first candle. This is my favorite list during Christmas!  4vikingscom4vikings-christmas-list-on-spotify

Since the radio was varning of the coming storm we stayed in all day and relaxed. 

In the store I found a new box of chocolate the other day. The new Aladdin made of dark chocolate. I was certain that the cherry chocolate one would have a special place in a box like this but no. I was really disappointed. 

All the best from me

Anna

A November Sunday in Sweden

It is still pretty warm in Sweden for being in November. Last year we had lots of snow coming at this time and now we can walk outdoors in ordinary jackets. Feels a bit strange. This is a photo taken on the stroll yesterday in a wonderful environment outside Gothenburg in Boras. 

We found this magical tree in the forest! The green color is so bright now because of the warm weather and it makes everything look a bit unreal. 

Wonder who lived in this cottage! Perhaps Santa?!

We have celebrated Alla helgona this weekend (all saints). We always visit our graveyard in the city on this day to celebrate our love ones. It is so beautiful to see the stars change place with the ground on this day.

All the best from me 

Anna

Mollösund a very special place in Sweden

Read about Mollesund at this address: http://www.mwhus.se/

I have spent a weekend at a lovely place at the West Coast this Weekend. Mollösunds Värdshus. If you go to Sweden I would recommend to visit more of the countryside than the big cities. From my point of view these look a lot the same all the world around. What you can´t find is remote places like this little hotel in Mollösund, a small old fishing village by the coast. If you like delicious food and seeing a genuine part of Sweden this is one of the best places. 

Are you among those who read grandmothers magazine Allas? This magazine has been around for a while and the past weeks I have had the opportunity to have it delivered just to see what secrets it holds.
When I have been reading it I must say it is so retro that it borders on the modern. Everything goes in waves and circles you know. Trend and backlash. Modern and post modern etc. Last week everyone talked about a survey on one of our swedish websites for mothers where the result showed that younger mothers want to stay at home with the kids. Something the government has tried to avoid since we are getting more and more elderly people who have to be supported. Hobbies that have been highly popular past years is knitting, baking bread all by yourself, growing plants. In this magazine you find all the recepies, cross words, novels etc. 

All the best from 

me

Anna

Imagine if Africa could make money of their sun and we of the freezing cold

Imagine if Africa could make money of their sun
and we of the freezing cold

In my town we put our garbage in white and black plastic bags. The black for garbage like non cooked food that is next summer going to feed the town  plants. Then we sort glass, plastic, newspapers etc. and leave it at a recycling place once in a while. This is a decision of our city council and make our city more eco friendly. We try and make the world a better place with our own small steps. 

Since we live in such a cold climate we love the sun and I believe we will in the near future create wonderful houses with ecological systems and a nice southern climate as a bonus. I´ll show you some nice houses built in a ecological manner according to some standards. These photos of houses is borrowed from the website: ekohus.net/

This one is my favorite. Inside the glass you´ll have a nice and warm climate many months of the year. There are grapes and fruits growing on the wall. 

Earth houses is a concept of building houses you read about them here at this Swiss website:
http://www.erdhaus.ch/ The photos down below are from this website!

Imagine if Africa could make money of their sun and we in the North of the cold. What if we could get our electricity from this. Is it a crazy idea? Anyway it would be a good way if we could make enough energy out if it. A nice way of excluding the coal and nuclear plants. Wouldn´t that be nice? Would Africa be the new Arabia when we don´t want oil any longer? Is it so that we don´t need oil today but the multinational companies makes us belive we do?

All the best

Anna

Håkan Juholt is in trouble again

The right wing party Moderaterna in Sweden made a reformation two elections ago. The leader Fredrik Reinfeldt took his Allianceparties to a great success. He called his party the "new" moderaterna, the new working party. I think many of us were tired of seeing those stereotypes most often male ones so this was right in time. 

What did the Social democratic party do? They found Håkan Juholt?! He was elected after Mona Sahlin when she didn´t got enough support by her members. After two catastrophic elections they needed to do something and chose Juholt. An old familiar stereotype in the Social democratic party. Maybe you recognize the style from your country. They are to be found everywhere! Like one politician said yesterday: "He has given daily news a face." He seems to fall into trouble all the time. If it isn´t his fiancee doing fraud. It is about him trying to gain too much money for his apartment or want money for a rent car and his own at the same time... I can see nothing more than greed. 

If you ask me how they could win next election? They need to start a real reformation. A young well skilled, female is to be found and her name is Veronica Palm.  Let her save the Social democratic party and give Reinfeldt a real battle in the election. Suddenly Reinfeldt wouldn´t seem so new any longer.

Best of luck to Socialdemokraterna, 

I think you need it!

Anna

Weather news in October

This weekend strated with a windy friday. The rain was pouring from the sky. I hardly couldn´t drive the car since it was both raining and falling small hails. It didn´t really show at this film but you will get an idea of how it was.

Then everything just went better and better. The sun showed up and it was pretty nice even if it was a bit cold in the wind. We had some old friends from Norway sleeping over. We went for a walk to show them our neighberhood and the nice enviroment. Of course we showed them the lake.  This Saturday we decided to visit my sister in the forests close to the western coast. We were going picking Mushrooms. 

 

Here is a pic of me and my sister, the mushroom hunters. 

Over and out from Sweden!

Anna

Nobel prize, mushrooms, swedish lunch

Hello 


Yesterday we had the cinnamon bun´s day! If you haven´t tried it, you have to. Here is a pic from last time when I was baking. 

2011 Nobel Prize Announcements
Tomorrow at one o clock they will announce the winner of the Nobel prize in litteratur. This is one of five prices of the memory of Alfred Nobel 2011. One favorite if one should believe Ladbrokes is Bob Dylan. That was a surprise if you ask me. 

This is Ladbroks list with the odds today

Bob Dylan	5,00
Adonis	6,00
Haruki Murakami	8,00
Tomas Tranströmer	10,00
Assia Djebar	10,00
Ko Un	14,00
Peter Nedas	16,00
Les Murray	16,00
Philip Roth	16,00
Thomas Pynchon	20,00

Today I had my lunch in my studio. Mushrooms my sister picked the other day with my newly baked bread and potato soup. If you like the recipes of the bread just put a comment. It is so easy to make and it is really delicious.

We have such wonderful days when the fall is arriving. We know it is soon going to be dark and we try and spend as much time as we can outdoor. 

All the best 

Anna

Ps. It is not often I put a lower price on an item but I decided we all needed some cheering up after the light period. I tried the necklace myself this Saturday and It feels great wearing even at the opera in Gothenburg. 

More creativity at the office

I was googling to find some inspiration on creative rooms. 

This first one is not my cup of tea but some guy must have thought this one was very creative...

Here are som pics from Google creative areas. They are hard to beat as an employer. What if you feel a bit tired in the morning? Just take this way to the "fika" (coffee break), like we say in Sweden. I worked at a company that partly was bought by the Autodesk company. After visiting us and our fika moments in the morning they saw positiv synergies and started doing this in the US.

Imagine working laying like this?! I don´t know if you would like to be the owner of that company. Yes I guess you would when you know it is Google!

This is a photo above is the opposite of creativity! A Swedish guy Johannes Hansen writes about creativity and the importance of the enviroment for most people! Press here to read his blog: Johannes writes (sorry in swedish) about this issue!

All the best

Anna




SVD har lagt ihop ett bildspel från Googles kontor om du vill kika!

Could we ask greece for some money

I think we need some extra cash to the Swedish government at this time. We need to put some money to the cancer sick people so that they don´t need to go to the agencies to apply for jobs they can´t get and we also need to put a little more money with our elderly, build new roads etc. Wonder if we could ask the Greek people to give us this money? We might have a nicely planned economy going on here in Sweden. There are lots of possabilities with our way of running a country but it is not perfect. A Chinese friend recently told me that in China they refer to Sweden as the best run communist country in the world?! I was a bit surprised and told the guy that we at this moment are governed by a right wing party. He also looked very surprised at that fact. 


Anyway my suggestion above is all about the demonstations in Greece. I don´t really understand why it would be ok to retire at 50, pay very little VAT and then when they have run out of money ask us to pay for the vacation?


All the best from me
Anna

Above a collage I made 10 years ago. I let it speak for itself!

We are alll made of cosmic matter

I love being inspired by odd creating like these gifanimations and manipulations by photos. I like the idear of us being a part of something big. 

This project began from the theory that humans are made of cosmic matter as a result of a stars death. I created imagery that showcased this cosmic birth through the use of dust and reflective confetti to create galaxies. The models organic bodily expressions as they are frozen in time between the particles suggest their celestial creation. In addition, space and time is heightened by the use of three-dimensional animated gifs. Their movement serves as a visual metaphor to the spatial link we share with stars as well as their separateness through time. Read more at this address: http://ignacio-torres.com/projects/stellar/

All the best

Anna

Personal style from....

Wouldn´t it be nice to walk on water like jesus did? If you´re into army you can wear those shoes inspired by a tank. 

Photo: http://www.fashioncraz.com/odd-shoes/

Photo: http://www.12thblog.com/funny-and-odd-fashion/

Should we be happy for this gentelmen finally finding his own style?

All the best from me

Anna

Dressed in meat

Photo: http://fashionopen.files.wordpress.com

Somehow I like when people think outside the box but this is two steps too far! 

Why not taking it cool with some ice jewelry. Up here in the North we are getting closer to the dark and cold period so I don´t think this jewelry would be very appreciated here but in some warmer areas perhaps. And it is inspiring to try and think outside the box. If you like to read more about this artist named Katharina Ludwig. Press this link: http://guestofaguest.com/gift-giving/the-best-guests-come-bearing-gifts-ice-jewelry/

All the best 
Anna

Some of my friends think it is so cute so they get sick

We live in a cute small area. Some of my friends think it is so cute so they get sick. Imagine yourself pink wooden houses in a romantic style and lots of roses and flowers in the yards. Perfect small lawns. The neighbours are always very “Truman show” happy and ask about the weather. I like these small houses and the neighbours. Therefore I never like any of the houses Fred find. Few days ago we experienced a not so cute experience suddenly a big Volvo park on a big rock in the playground we have between the trees. It was one of the warmest evenings this summer so there were lots of people out looking at this young guy who seemed to be completely lost. He had driven fast into a narrow path with lots of big stones on either side of it and finally parked on top of one. While trying to reverse his vehicle he manage to demolate the whole front of the car.
Swedes aren´t much of exaggerating when something happens or aren´t much of reacting at all, only when they have some vodka things start happening. If I generalize we tend to observe instead of doing something. At least in the beginning when we don´t have the whole picture clear like in this case. Two neighbours managed to call the police and was hoping that they would take care of this guy, who looked like he saw demons. At the time when the police arrived the guy was gone. The car wasn´t going anywere. Later the police captured the guy and he was quite influenced by narcotic substances but they let him go the other day. I don´t know why. The problem for the guy were now to remember where he parked his car. One week passed and he couldn´t remember. An article in the local news paper about the car didn´t help him ring any bell. After two weeks he made inquiries about the car at the police office. They started looking and when I got home on Monday this week finally something happened. I was hoping on seing this young guy fixing his car by himself but the police had ordered a big truck to get it up to the road.

I took a photo of this Volvo so you can see for yourself. I remember an American friend always use to laugh at the big lamps in the front of almost every car up here in Sweden. I hadn´t noticed until he pointed it out. I guess it is good to have some extra lights during the winter time when it is pretty dark up here.


All the best
Anna

People aren´t prepared that the robbers are in the bank

Something that seemed so difficult to understand has suddenly become pretty clear to me. I am talking about the savings 70% of the Swedish people are doing in funds for the retirement: Tonights show of “Uppdrag granskning” (a Swedish TV-show that investigates supposed injustices) showed that Swedes rank in the top all over the world when it comes to this form of investing money. They are putting all of their savings into pension funds and at the end they realise that they have given away approx 38% of their money to the bank because of all the fees?! Is this what we want to do?
They explained a lot of things in this show last night like noone are supposed to understand where the bank got their index from. They just want you as a customer to believe that you have put your money in a good place and feel safe even if the funds are hitting an all-time low. That is what they use this index to. They just want the reader to see the headline and that is meant to give you a good feeling. The journalist asked a retired CEO of a bank department, if he and his wife could understand the meaning of the information that followed with the fond payment at the end of the year. And not even they could understand the essence of the information. The reflection after realising what the real profit was: that they were trying to hide it and to make the fees invisible. As I see it the only winners here are the banks. Yesterday I was thinking about saving more, but now I am certain that I should save in other forms (like in the matress) or spend the money, but to do it myself. I can lose a great deal of money and I wouldn´t have lost anything if I would have done that since I don´t need to pay the bank fees any longer. Like one of the guests at this show said: “People aren´t prepared that the robbers are in the bank.“


All the best
Anna

Richard Branson is an inspiration

I read an article about Richard Branson in Time Magazine today and he seems like an inspiring person with a fresh mind who goes his own way successfully and also without following the stream.
He has aeroplanes flying all over the world and instead of flying less he proclaims to fly more and pledge that 100% of the profits goes to developing clean new fuels. He plans to fly one 747 using clean fuel next year to prove that this can be done. This guy also has dyslexia and actually thinks that this has helped him in his work. In his company they use normal language instead of using phrases that nobody understand, like “financial service industry”.

Without mentioning any companies here in Sweden I think this would be something that really would help advertsing give more results. Use language and words we understand and don´t make it so complicated. We don´t have the time for that. Sometimes it seems as if a slogan sounds cool but no one understands it, it’s better than the other way around?! Is it? You tell me? What also is cool with Branson is that he hardly ever says “no”. He is known as “Mr. Yes” because whenever someone comes up with an idea he encourages that person to try it out within reasonable limits.


All the best
Anna

Photo from commons.wikimedia.org

Some people seem to leave a smile on your lips...

When it comes to relations with other people there have been a lot of friends through the years. Some of them for a long time and some I have been trying to avoid after meeting them once. I haven´t always acted the best way but I tend to reflect, think and compare and somehow I think I learn how I want to change that way. I have grown to be more Anna nowadays and hopefully also a better person. If you know me you can let me know what that is . I think we all search for different things in relationships but joy and respect is of great importance for me. We all seem to be short of time so it is nice to know what we are looking for in a relationship and skip relations were you don´t get it. I have been more into that idea after growing older. Some people seem to leave a smile on your lips and some people make you need a long nap after spending time together. It is just to find those waterwholes.


All the best
Anna

Change habits for moral reasons

I read at expressen.se webpage about a young girl who saved 23 newborn Iceland horses today. In iceland they get the horses pregnant and then they empty their blood cause there is some enzymes in the blood that are used in meatproduction. I think it is a little “Matrix” over this story. When the little foal is being born it is sent directly to be slaughtered. This Swedish girl saved 23 foals who arrived by plane in Sweden yesterday. A honorable thing to do. I think this is a reminder for many of us. I think it is important to think about what we consume and also be aware of how this is being done. Perhaps we can spare some of these habits just for moral reasons.
One can always ponder over if it is necessary to develop medicals, machines, food and clothes for human beings. I think many of us understand that this probably must be done but there is a moral line somewhere when we don´t care about much more than money and ourselves. I think you and I have to decide where that line is and try not to cross it. My line is drawn exactly where I don’t eat baby animals. You might think this is silly but I think why should I buy that when I just as well can have something else on my plate? We are doing some nasty things by buying products we don´t know much about. Some of them is for a good cause. I think this would be one to start with in Iceland. 


All the best
Anna

Photo from www.djurskyddet.se

Gustav Vigeland

It isn´t often I feel fulfilled and want to see more and more when I go to a gallery or a museum but I have found one artist who’s work I love. It is the genious Gustav Vigeland. He made art like a god. Like Michaelangelo searched for the divine I think this man found just that again and again in his sculptures. I almost started crying while seeing some of his sculptures. I didn´t thinkt a man who created so much in his life was blessed with sharing this with a woman but after visiting this indoor museum I understood that he married one of his models. He fell in love with her beautiful hands. All and everyone of us who tried to create art with hands as focus know how beautiful a hand can be and also how difficult it is to remodel this part of us.

Vigeland has also made the medallion who is given in the name of the Nobel peace price. A salute for Gustav Vigeland.


All the best
Anna