Hoppas du far en fantastisk dag! Saknar dig!

Here is the latest angel spotting from this summer. Caught near Gota Canal

Havent seen many red headed before, very special this one

This sweet Sliema townhouse is now mine. Another renovation project. Should be ready late spring, let me know if you want to buy a funky, stunning 4 floor townhouse! It will be 3 bedrooms, have a roof terrace and a tiny little garden in the back (two trees!). Real city living!

Can you believe it...
My parents neighbours are moving house. So they GAVE my parents this old retro desk from the 60s. Some TLC later, it is transformed to this amazing piece of furniture.



My sister had joined two rooms to one bigger for my 15 year old niece. So we decided to do a complete makeover of the new room. We painted the end of the walls in retro grey, and bought funky wall paper the longer wall. The result was simply amazing!

Time for our annual holiday in Sweden! A small change this year. We went straight to Stockholm, not to my mums as usual. Met up with my sister, staying in my lovely friend Ninas flat in Söder, amazing place!
Yesterday we went to Skansen, where they were preparing för Allsång på Skansen. They were rehearsing the full 7 hours we were there, mad!



Today i got up early and took Isabella with me for a photowalk around Hagaparken. We were there by 930, and already at 10 it was so hot! The park is fantastic, and I was thinking of how fortunate the people of Stockholm are, who are so close to water and beacher all around this beautiful city.

We walked around the castle buildings and the butterfly park. Not so impressed with the butterfly section, felt quite abandoned, but the old coppar tents from 1700 something were stunning.

Toddlers and kittens dont mix. Or is it toddler who mixes kittens too well?

Stupid cat woke me up at five. Prrr, prrr, prrr...

Oh well at least it got me chance to admire the view from the balcony. What a sky, what a day ahead of us...
And to reflect on the sounds of silence in a house with a sleeping husband, three kids and a teenager on visit. I think that is def the price for getting up early... Being in the stillness of everybody elses sleep...

Tonight I read Pippi Longstocking for Milla for the first time. And she was absolutelly smitten by this unconventional redhead who sleeps with her feet on the pillow, lives on her own and can carry a whole horse. After i read the book from cover to cover to her, she spent another half hour just going over the crazy pictures again, giggling to herself...

Started a course in Visual Communication at Jönköpings Högskola. And I was immidiatelly hooked. The first lesson made me think of what kind of photographer I am, what kind of photos I take. And I realised that I take a lot of photos based on what I think that other expect me to take. I have tried to make my phpots as pleasing as possible for the viewer, and not primarily for me. So i thought that I should use this course to take photos that I want to take, and not think so much of how the photos will be received by you, the viewer.

Looking back, I see two reasons why i started taking photos more actively. The main reason was my kids. The beauty of a child is impossible to ignore. When Maja was born, I couldnt stop. A few years later, digital photography really kicked in, and then it became even easier to have full control of the whole process, which made it even more appealing for me. I never enjoyed the technical side of developing photos in the darkroom, to wait for the prints and the frustration when a photo didnt come out the way i wanted to. I started off with a 1 mpx Sony, and quickly moved up to my beloved Canon 300d. I have since gotten a Canon 50d but am not at all content with it, a fact i soon need to deal with...

Anyways, what struck me tonight after the first lesson, is that my urge is to capture that fleeting essence of a child, a person or a moment. And i feel i have deviated from this by trying to create photos which are technically perfect. So i will try to get back to capture the image i see when i look at my reality. So tonight i have been snapping away at Milla sleeping next to me.

Today we are studying for February exams. Me and Maja ared doing ICT and learning about webpages. Quite fun. Gives me the opportunity to show her how to blog. The Maltese school system is quite tough on the kids. From the age of 8, they have exams twice a year on what they have been covering so far. So first now in February and then again in June. But they quickly get used to it, my kids have not complained a bit this year. They know they have to go through it. Plus that they do know most of their curriculum. In a way it is still more of a revision, school has prepared them quite well.

Linni just turned 9. Today she had her party, at the bowling alley. It was really really nice. Best party she ever had i think! Just 11 kids, really nice atmosphere. Took all my girls to the hair dresser yesterday, Linni wanted to look pretty for her party. Maja cut hers quite short, and she looks so much like me when i was little!

Arent they just stunning, my amazing angels!!!!

Dear friends,

I am writing to you to ask for your help. Yesterday, in a split second, we lost our dog. One second he was there, the next he was gone. We were walking just near our house, an area he knows very well. As we live in the middle of the country side, he is used to run around freely with his sister Trisha when we go out for hikes. But yesterday he just never came back home with us. We have no clue what could have happened to him.

 

PLEASE PLEASE if you live in Malta: forward this blogpost to anyone you know and maybe we might just find out what has happened to Tramp. We miss him beyond what any words can describe, and just want him to come home to us again.

Thank you

Anne

... turned 43.


Feels like last week when he turned 28, but hey we all know time flies. What is so amazing is that this man is still so very much the best man i can think of! We had a mindblowing weekend at the Westin, staying in their amazing penthouse. While being there, I knew that this would be one of those weekends that we would remember for the rest of my life.

Life is not a straight road, and my god have we been through some tough times. But I just couldnt imagine my life without him, and feel so lucky that i decided to join that Greenpeace ship such a long time ago...

Sep 23:
Girls went back to school today. Well Maja and Linni did, I still have Milla at home for another week!

I think this was one of my best summers ever. It has just flewn by, full of fun, sun, love, relaxing. A summer that creates memories for life.

So now I am sitting here. My 4 year old is watching Peter Pan, I am browsing on the computer, wondering when to go shopping and whether it will rain today... A nice day indeed, a perfect way to spend my day...

The rumours had been flying the whole week. It will rain this Friday! On the day, we did see some clouds, and we did catch some precious rain drops. Nothing that stopped anyone from enjoying the beach though. The storm unfolded late at night instead, with flashes lighting up the sky for miles and miles.

The heat is simply not lifting... sooo manana all day long, impossible to stay alert before 9 in the evening!



We go down to the beach at 4 - 5 in the evening. The water is like a blanket, so warm... so soft... We stay late, sleep late, get up late.... Summer is at its peak....

My niece, Isabella, told me that i should update my blog more often. She is so right... But it does take a lot of time, wish there was an easier way to quickly upload some text and pics.... And it doesnt get any faster as I have started to shoot my photos in RAW. So all images are enormous, which means i have to convert and resize them before i can upload them here.  But i do find that RAW does give better quality. I know that the debate of Jpg versus RAW is never ending, but i did the shift a month or so ago, and although it is a space killer, i am happy. So i just bought a back up of, get this, 1 TERA byte! How big is that!??

Anyways, we are still in Sweden, yesterday we had a fantastic end-of-summer day with sunshine, clear cool air. We went to a nature reserve in the morning, where they had free pony riding. Milla went seven times... She was so happy, trying out each and every pony they had!

In the afternoon, Isabella took us to her stable and showed the girls how to take care of a horse. We also had a mini photosession in the hay!





Nowadays they pack the hey into giant plastic cubes for storage. They look like huge sugar cubes stacked on top of each other. We had fun climbing them!



On Saturday my little god daughter is turning 16. Happy birthday Isabella!



All photos above are straight out of the camera, no post editing. And all shot with Canon 50 mm lens.

In Sweden. A real breather from the heavy Maltese heat. At my mother´s place in Västergötland. Milla and Linni are sharing a drink

Stunning. She is so beautiful. Due in only four weeks

Have for the last two months been exploring the word of stock photography. You upload images to an agency, who then sell them for marketing purposes. And today a friend of mine pointed out that there is a picture of a baby who is very look a like to Milla in Aftonbladet. Great fun! Nice to see where pics are used!