In May It May

This is probably the toughest time to live in the north. It feels like the spring will never arrive. We’re in May. My feeds on social media are filled with green grass, bare toes and balcony beers that belong to people living outside the Arctic Circle.

Meanwhile up north:

I quickly realized this was a bad day to wear sneakers.

 

Last Friday I woke up to a white world. On the previous day, I was wearing sneakers, for the first time in six-seven months, celebrating the winter finally being over. Hah!

Looking at the bright side: The sun is back. Next photo was shot at 11 PM.

Kirkenes in midnight sun.

 

This weekend we finally got to see two digit numbers on the thermometer – Saturday was 16 °C. People were actually walking around in t-shirts and I have a strong feeling that we will see the trees covered with green leafs very soon.

24/5 – The trees have buds, a sure sign of spring!

 

This entry ended up being all about weather…

We talk a lot about the weather around here and during one of these regular daily conversations, only that this one happened with a foreigner at the scene and therefore in English, I was told this joke: “You know why they call it May. Because it may, you know. It may snow, it may rain, blizzards may be, may be sunny, it may May”.

 

The vacation galleries

The day has come!

As I left work today, I had this happy feeling in my tummy, called VACATION!

It will only last a week, but this I know: A week of vacation and traveling is worth many weeks of everyday life. My colleagues will barely notice that I’m gone, while I will feel that a lifetime has passed when I see them again.

Yay.

I’m celebrating by packing and looking up my old traveling galleries ❤

Marked day, Seguin – Haiti

Freetown Christiania in Copenhagen

It always rains in Bergen

Boat-tripping in Turkey

Russian city-beach, Lipetzk ❤

Dreamy Havana

Bye bye, Holland

Where did you fly last time you got on a plane?

Hello Hello, new autumn

It’s that time of the year again, another autumn of new beginnings has come.

I find myself in the beginning of my third year in arctic Norway. 70° north is not quite the North Pole, but I find it pretty exotic.

Perlemorsky

POLAR STRATOSPHERIC CLOUD, I THINK I LOVE YOU!

Imagine walking to work, tired and grumpy, and then seeing this! The color play is even more amazing IRL, all pink, purple, yellow, pearly… like the trace of a unicorn in the sky.

Phony Finnmark vol.1

kautokeino church

my first home in Finnmark

Alta

Alta main street

Eliasbåten – Langfjordbotn, Alta

Alta summer

Alta summer

Nordlyskatedralen

photo session

selfie

bbq

@Alta museum

Northern Lights Cathedral

climbing

buhuuu :*(

Northern Lights Cathedral, sunrise

also shot with phony (before the upgrade):

phony summer vol.1 – phony haiti – phony winter – phony turkey – phony autumn

this is not Oslo..

Above stuff…

Mountain sunset

a chair with a view

Cabin shadows

little cars

Snow world

all those christmas trees!

Kira playing

b & w challenge – people 3

I’ve been challenged by Julita Wozny to post black & white photos for the up-coming five days. Yay!

In return I nominate PERCEPTION 😀

Mr., in order to take this challenge, you must post B&W photography for the next five days, and each day nominate another photographer to enter the challenge. Good luck!

My Favourite Backyard

I haven’t really presented this place properly, while seeing how many posts I’ve published from this exact spot – an introduction is long time due!

I call it my “recreational garden”

I used to live in one of the yellow buildings surrounding this backyard. Now, I live in Drammen, but I’m still hanging out here a lot. Not only because of the flowers.

Magnolia

Ah, Magnolia. How nice is that? There is the man who makes the flower magic happen:

see the gardener between the magnolias?

Somehow, summer arrived Oslo in April this year. I’m not complaining! I’ve been feeling like on summer vacation for the last couple of days. I’ve been reading many books in my personal little park, yes 😀

I wonder who’ve been watching me from all those windows…

Apart from those slightly paranoid thoughts, life is quite fantastic!

Happy.

 

 

Haitian Monument

Citadelle Laferrière

View

Inside the citadel

Looking out

Would you dare?

Balancing on la citadelle

View

The citadel is the largest fortress in the Americas! And people from all over the world come to see the sight, according to my personal guides – two local boys, who probably should have been at school, but followed me around instead.

Haiti was the first country in the world to free itself from colonization (1804). The Citadelle Laferrière was built to keep the newly independent nation of Haiti safe from French incursions.

(for the weekly photo challenge)

Forest Teeth

Threshold to the underworld…

Parc La Visite – Haiti

This was shot in Parc National la Visite in Seguin. I visited the national park in Haiti last year too. The endemic forest in Seguin is magnificent. It’s one of the few areas in Haiti that still remain green.

Read more about it here: fondationseguin.org