Today's flower - still around

A rose bud - still to be found in November. If you look closely.

PS The Today's flowers meme is hosted by LUIZ SANTILLI JR. . Please visit and enjoy.

The sun is fighting the snow in Sky Watch

The winter is approaching and with that comes the snow, but the sun doesn't give in without a fight.

PS Please visit Sky Watch Friday's own site for more.

S is for "Statsraad Lehmkuhl"

For one who was born and raised in the city of Bergen, Norway, the most natural choice for the letter "S" must be the Sailing vessel "Statsraad Lehmkuhl". Few things are more dear to us and few things symbolizes the city more than this ship. Anyone in doubt can look at my header.

The Statsraad Lehmkuhl is a three-masted barque rigged sail training vessel owned and operated by the Statsraad Lehmkuhl Foundation. She is based in Bergen, Norway and contracted out for various purposes, including serving as a school ship for the Royal Norwegian Navy (using RNoN's prefix "KNM", English: "HNoMS"). She was built in 1914 as a school training ship for the German merchant marine under the name «Grossherzog Friedrich August». After the First World War the ship was taken as a prize by Great Britain and in 1921 the ship was bought by former cabinet minister Kristoffer Lehmkuhl. (Hence the name, which means 'Cabinet Minister Lehmkuhl') With the exception of the Second World War, the ship has belonged to Bergens Skoleskib until she was donated to the aforementioned foundation in 1978 (from Wikipedia).

The shipowner Hilmar Reksten bought the ship himself and donated her to the foundation to prevent her from being sold to foreign interests.

The drawing below is from an old poster I once bought.


Norway has three large training sailig vessels, and this is the largest by far. Her dimensions is large, even by world standards. She has the following specifications:

• Sparred Length: 98,00 m
• L.o.a. (Length of hull): 84,60 m
• L.b.p. (Length of waterline): 73,00 m
• Width: 12,60 m
• Max. Height: 48,00 m
• Max. Draft: 5,20 m
• Gross tonnage: 1516 t
• Sails: 22
• Sail area: 2026 m2
• Speed: 11 knots (machine) / 17 knots (sails)

Of course we need some more pictures of the ship:

Here she is moored in Bergen Harbour ("Vågen"), close by the old fortress "Bergenhus".

A closer look at the decorations on the ships bow. Note the City of Bergen Coat of Arms to the left of the Norwegian flag

Here she is leading the convoy of ships leaving Bergen at the end of their stay at this year's Tall Ship's Races.

And a closer look.

Today's post is part of the the third round of ABC Wednesday. The founder, Denise Nesbitt, has changed the rules to make the system more practical. There is now a no-comment blog where you can post a copy or short version of your post with a link-back to your original post for the full version and comments. Scanning through this no-comment blog will give you lots of Smashy Ss. She has also set up a site where you can log on via Mr. Linky if you want to do that.

A month to Christmas

Anyone for a Christmas-tree?

Odd shot on the ball

Wrong season??

Please visit Katney's Kaboodle for more about Odd shots!

Today's flower is frozen

Frozen fruit

PS The Today's flowers meme is hosted by LUIZ SANTILLI JR. . Please visit and enjoy.

The snow has come

Yesterday night was marked by gale-force wind (20 m/sec +) and snow. We expected to wake in a snowdrift, but luckily it was only 5 cm. The clouds started to lift and we could see snowcapped mountains and a winter's neighbourhood. It is rumoured to last for at least four days more...

When you can't take pictures outside...

... you can use what is inside. This cyclamen lent a spot of life to the window sill when there was little of that outside.

An inscription in Greek

Not so long ago I was walking between these ruins lying outside an old stadium on the Greek island of Rhodes (Rhodos, Rodos). There were inscriptions on several of them, and once again I found my lack of knowledge of the Greek language a shame. As a tourist on an "tourist-infected" island like this, we get by due to among other things the double signposting and the courtesy of the Greek people. But I can't read a single thing. I felt like an illiterate. I know that these were probably old inscriptions, but the principle is the same.

What, for instance, might this mean?

R is for Road in ABC Wednesday

A road is an identifiable route, way or path between places.^[1] Roads are typically smoothed, paved, or otherwise prepared to allow easy travel;^[2] though they need not be, and historically many roads were simply recognizable routes without any formal construction or maintenance.[3

All this according to Wikipedia.

So it may be something like this one - an old gravel road leading into the mountains surrounding Bergen

Or it may be a more modern edition, with a dual carriageway. Luckily on a Sunday morning in November.

It may lead into a tunnel,

It may lead onto a bridge,

Or it might lead to a one hour queue outside one of the oldest cities in the UK on the hottest day in a hundred years...

Today's post is part of the the third round of ABC Wednesday. The founder, Denise Nesbitt, has changed the rules to make the system more practical. There is now a no-comment blog where you can post a copy or short version of your post with a link-back to your original post for the full version and comments. Scanning through this no-comment blog will give you lots of Rare Rs. She has also set up a site where you can log on via Mr. Linky if you want to do that.

Odd shot wheel

I did not invent the wheel, but at least I found one.

Please visit Katney's Kaboodle for more about Odd shots!

Today's flower that was

Something found wilting in a neighbour's garden

PS The Today's flowers meme is hosted by LUIZ SANTILLI JR. . Please visit and enjoy.

While we still had frost..

The frost has gone again, but when you do get a chance to take some pictures between the showers, you use the opportunity. Here is small fishing vessel buoyed in a small fjord nearby. The picture was taken shortly after sunrise.

The moon in HDR

HDR (High Dynamic Range Imaging) is according to Wikipedia:

In image processing, computer graphics, and photography, high dynamic range imaging (HDRI or just HDR) is a set of techniques that allows a greater dynamic range of exposures (the range of values between light and dark areas) than normal digital imaging techniques. The intention of HDRI is to accurately represent the wide range of intensity levels found in real scenes ranging from direct sunlight to shadows.

This is a technique that I have not tried properly, and when I now had four exposures of the full moon taken the other day, I found that I might at least try. Photoshop CS3 is supposed to do it by itself, but result was not great - it lost all background information, although the moon was good.

I next tried the Program Photomatrix 3.1, purpose-built just for making HDR that can be further processed in other programs. After a few stumbling blocks, it worked fairly well as a first try. I lost some details in the moon, but the evening sky survived very well. It was post processed in PS CS3.

A little more try and fail and I might get it.

Frost and haze in Sky Watch

Those lazy, hazy, frosty days of November....

PS Please visit Sky Watch Friday's own site for more.

It is getting cold

We are in the middle of November, so we can hardly call it summer any more. However, even a bit of frost can be made into an interesting subject for photography (or at least - I think so).

Q is for Quack in ABC Wednesday

I was out strolling today. In the back of my mind the letter Q was a passenger - in the vain hope that a bright thought might occur. Nothing happened until I suddenly heard: "Quack-quack"

No problem.

Quack No. 1

Quack No. 2


Quacks Nos. 1 & 2

Today's post is part of the the third round of ABC Wednesday. The founder, Denise Nesbitt, has changed the rules to make the system more practical. There is now a no-comment blog where you can post a copy or short version of your post with a link-back to your original post for the full version and comments. Scanning through this no-comment blog will give you lots of Quaint Qs. She has also set up a site where you can log on via Mr. Linky if you want to do that.

Odd shot - macro miss

Never test a new macro lens when the wind is blowing!





Please visit Katney's Kaboodle for more about Odd shots!

Today's flower - next year

Next year's flower is ready this year

PS The Today's flowers meme is hosted by LUIZ SANTILLI JR. . Please visit and enjoy.

Rusty canyon?

You are not looking into the a local version of a canyon containing iron ore. It is a rusty welding point in a kind of gate about to break. I found it the other day while out walking.

Please sit down

I found this bench today by Alvøen Hovedgaard in Bergen, Norway today. It has been well used and seems to be in need of a lick of paint, but could still be a friend in need for sore feet.

Paulie (PERBS) collects benches - I hope she will enjoy this one.

A medlar berry

When one buys a new tripod and a macro lens there is just one thing to do - start trying it out. One place to do that is in what passes for a garden. Even in November.

Bergen "internal" Skyline in Sky Watch Friday

Yesterday's view across the lake "Lille Lungegaardsvann" in Bergen, Norway.

PS Please visit Sky Watch Friday's own site for more.

Three yellow berries

They might look like billiard balls, but they are only three small yellow berries.

PS I have just discovered that this was my post number 500 on this Blog. Who would have thought...