Monday, March 05, 2012

Goodbye to King Winter .................


I've got a lovely email from a blogging friend , Jack Mathews of Sage to Meadow in Texas. Jack has given his 2011 Prairie Sagebrush Awards for blogging, and the award recognizes bloggers Jack follows for their excellence in writing, photography and art on the blog. He included Thyra, and I was very happy and honored of being in the company of these other bloggers. I'm a Dane - and therefore it was a special joy and honor to me to receive this award for "Goodbye to King Winter", a post about my dear country, Denmark.



This post was one of the recipients of the 2011 Prairie Sagebrush Awards, created by Jack Matthews, nature writer, historian, and creator of the truly fine blog Sage to Meadow.
 


  
Norsminde
On the 19th of February was still snow everywhere and spring seemd to be far, far away. The small harbour of Norsminde south of Århus was ice-free though, and the sky and water had a lovely strong blue shade. A clear cold winter's day brings fine colours!







Skovmøllen on a foggy day.
 The next week-end was foggy and raw and the sun seemed so far, far away. It was nice to see that the people at the restaurant of  Skovmøllen (the old Water Mill-restauurant) saw to that the little birds were fed with Danish bread and fat-bowls. There was also morning bread with cinnamon and the birds seemed to like it!  Notice the little blue tit. It is so ruffled. I hope it will cope.
Great tit and a ruffled Blue tit eating Danish morning bread with cinnamon.



















Mossø Lake


Torup Lake


dike at the army road (in the old days used for cattle-fence)
icy paths














A clear day on the 5th of March in the lake district in the middle of Jutland. There was a thin layer of ice on the big lake, Mossø, and a thicker layer on the small lake Torup, where we usually take a rest in summer. But the path along the meadows was icy and not advisable to walk on this time. The army road along the heath was better, but still lots of ice on the side-walks. How different it looks from the summer season. The colours are dark and brown, umbra and sienna. Not a sound from the birds, not an insect in the air.

winter aconite
a forest path!
icy feet

fresh kid
















On the 6th of March my usual little walk down to the park between the sea and Marselisborg Castle. At the Donbæk cottages were still ice on the ponds, where the duck stood freezing- or are they freezing? I hope they don't feel the cold as much as we do. The first winter aconites. Still ice in the forest paths - and on the goldfish-pond. Where are the goldfish in winter? Probably well looked after in another warmer place.....














After a long unwilling pause I have reached the 24th of March on my daily walk, and suddenly I saw a fine spotted woodpecker in the Forst Botanical Garden. It was very busy and did not notice the disturber. Snowdrops and winter aconites en masse. The duck pond was almost ice free - only a small layer in the farthest corner. King Winter, get lost........


Mols Bjerge
Mols Bjerge
Mols Bjerge

snowy showers far away

And the last camera trip was to Mols Bjerge in the National Park on Djursland on the 26 of March. It was easy to see that the snow had covered the hills for a long time. The grass was yellow and withered, but soon the hills will be green again. It was very, very cold and windy that day, and there was snow in the air. Everywhere in the horizon we could see the snow showers fall over the landscape from dark clouds - and on our way home we drove through snowy weather. The last time this year I'm sure!

The next trip is to-morrow, the first Saturday of April, and the weather forecast says 20 degrees Celsius - a giant difference from the beginning of the week with 3 degrees Celsius. Welcome spring, oh! you don't know how welcome you are! The birds are singing - and I saw the first butterfly yesterday! Goodbye king Winter. 
  

photo in February and March 2011: grethe bachmann





Friday, March 02, 2012

The First Day of Spring ..................

It was the very first day with a mild weather and the sun shining like I don't know what. I postponed my shopping for the week-end, this could be done to-morrow, and went down to the beach. The Marina is soon ready for all those boat-people, or as Hyacinth Bucket, excuse me, Bouquet, says: the people who are "yachting". There is a single sailboat out in the bay. It's very misty out there; the land on the other side of the bay lies in a haze. It's the peninsula Mols with the hills.  In the good old days there was a little ferry, which took you across the bay with your bike. That was a good idea, but good ideas are sometimes being removed by the politicians. You'll never know what they think of. Now they are trying to put some tax on American magazines, and I'm so grumpy, for there are some magazines I just love to be day-dreaming over, not sports, but fashion. I should have kept my old magazines. Well, 'll try to forget it now. They don't get my vote the next time.Here's a photo of a villa. I took a few shots of villas, and they are some pretty houses, situated along the beach road, some are placed up on a hill that runs all the way along the beach. I would like the red one. If I win the Lotto - but no,  I guess it would have to be a very large win, if I should be able to keep a house at all here. And then comes the expense for heating up the house in winter, and all the taxes. No, my flat is cosy and okay, and I've got no energy to move to another place.....    The kayaker looks like he's rowing between sea and sky. It must be a lovely sport. To enjoy such a morning, rowing silently along the beach.  You can see the beach road here. Two young girls are walking towards the forest a few hundred meters away. Usually people are running like wild, red or blue in the face. To walk is almost out of fashion. Or -  if you do walk, you'll have to walk with two sticks. This has a special name which I have forgotten. It should be good  for your back. I have tried those sticks, and the next day I had a pain in the back.  Here's the red villa on top of the hill. There are many long tall beeches in front of the hill houses, in summer they are not easy to see. But I'll stop this display, for they could fill a whole post. Except here is a shot of the workmen, it seems people can afford to have their houses repaired, although the rules ar being changed all the time by the politicians. I have moved up on the hill myself now, up some stairs where they suddenly have removed the steps. So many strange things happen! So I had to walk up steep on trampled earth, but I wanted to go up into the park. From the top of the hill there was a good view down to the road. A biker, then one came running, another one, they are really tough those runners. some are running 10 kilometers a day. Or more if they are Marathoners. Inside the park some sparrows were sitting in the sun in a tall bush. They were singing a little.  There are already many flowers in the lawn. This pretty white flower is what you call spring snowflake. The Danish name is Dorothea-lilje, named after some saint, a young girl who was a martyr. On the other side of the big lawn are the Donbæk-houses from the 1800s; they were once inhabited by farmers and foresters, now they are used for storing etc. by the gardeners who's working in the park.                                                                                     
The green bags protect newplant tress, but the dog had been there already, peeing up one of them. The dog had a really funny walk. The park is a good place for walking the dog. On a hill in the back of the park are some pretty trees, it's difficult to see now how pretty they are with their foliage, but here is a good view down to the bay -  and on a hot summer's day the trees deliver a cooling shadow.
view from the hill
  There is a big group of various Japan cherry in the park, which queen Margrethe received from Japan once, they are blooming in various weeks. The tree on the photo was filled with buds. In  fourteen days it's filled with beautiful flowers maybe. I like the poplars, they fill a whole long avenue. Behind them is another villa, not a normal size, it's the queen's "summerhouse", Marselisborg. Outside the castle by the driving road is a traffic circle. When the bus passes this to the bus stop after the circle, the bus driver sometimes says: "Margrethe's runddel"
( round, meaning: Margrethe's behind).  We're not always very respectful, but this doesn't mean anything bad. We like our queen Margrethe. The young bullies say she's cool.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          













On my way home a great tit was finding insects in a tree, but it flew quickly away. In the garden of the forester's house is an old kind of well,  I don't know what it's called. The lake in the Botanical garden was now without ice. 




































A seagull was enjoying the view from a tall tree without branches.The twigs look like an old man's hair. And some other seagulls enjoyed the sun standing in line upon stones in the lake. And then I met the sweet little tortoiseshell, the first butterfly I have seen this year. 

In the villa gardens were lots of eranthis and crocus.When I passed our local shop, three dogs were waiting outside. They did not bark.They were sitting very quiet and well-behaved. They looked so sweet, but I never go close to dogs I don't know. Furthermore I'm allergic to dogs, so it comes naturally, but I like to observe them.  
GB

 


The last photo is the Italian house, my favorite house.



click to enlarge
photo Århus, Strandvejen, Mindeparken, Forstbotanisk Have, 2 March 2012: grethe bachmann

Small Tortoiseshell, my first Butterfly this Year....


















The first butterfly I have seen this year is this Small Tortoiseshell. After a long walk, where I had given up to meet any butterflies - I had heard that someone had seen butterflies yesterday - a small tortoiseshell came flying and sat in front of me for a short moment, before it disappeared again. A sweet little butterfly, but they are all beautiful little creatures.




photo 2/3- 2012: grethe bachmann