This is a classic place in Piteå, Ekbergs Konditori. This small café has been around during all of my years in Piteå. A place that looks just the same as it used to be. If you ever go to Piteå, don’t miss Ekbergs and their famous sandwich “Landgång”.
Previous posts:
Piteå Through My Lens – Part 5 – Rådhustorget
Piteå Through My Lens – Part 4 – City Center
Piteå Through My Lens – Part 3 – City Church
Piteå Through My Lens – Part 2 – Christinaskolan In Infrared
Piteå Through My Lens – Part 1 – Behind Statt
This is Piteås Town Square. When I grew up in Piteå there was a toy story on the left side of the Christmas Tree. I guess the feeling of joy will always be felt when I go back to this square.
As I previously blogged about, I really like dark photos. They are hard to accomplish, and they need a lot of thinking to come out good. Even so, I’m trying to explore this type of photos, and during my photo capturing hours in Piteå this was one experiment where I tried to keep the darkness in the photo.
Best wishes for Saturday.
Link to other posts about dark, infrared and B/W-photography
– Autumn in B/W
– Infrared Autumn Photo
This day, the day before Christmas Eve will always be strange. Three years ago my foster-brother Ola Hansson passed away, on this day. I still think about him a lot, and hope that his memory will be kept among all of us that he touched in his life time.
Instead of writing something new, I reblog a post from before in honor of his memory as the great person he was.
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I guess this blog post is as personal as it gets, but at the same time this blog is about “life in general” so I’ve decided to share some thoughts around a personal subject.
Since I’m going to Piteå shortly from now; a trip that I’m really looking forward to, this will be the first time in winter since last christmas and I guess there will be memories from last years visit. Last christmas was a really odd one. My foster-brother, Ola, that lived with our family during my whole up-bringing passed away on the evening of the 23:rd of December.
This picture was taken the next morning, in the morning of Christmas eve. At that moment, when the picture was taken, we still hadn’t got the message.
The morning was really chilly and calm, and in many ways respectful of what we didn’t know at that stage. Now, 10 months later I guess this picture means a lot more than just trying out a new camera that was the main purpose for this picture.
My brother lived in the southern parts of Sweden, and I guess we hadn’t spoken nearly as much as we should’ve done, but last year (in 2010) that changed, and we had started to make some plans together. Not big plans, but nice small ones. Ola had been ill in the winter/spring of 2010, but we all thought that he now would fully recover. Our plans came to a sudden end during the christmas Holliday… Will never forget when my father answered the phone and I instantly could feel what’ve happened.
I’m really proud of my brother. He made a remarkable life journey both in his private life as in his career and in many ways he could be a role model for many others. When Ola was in the middle of “högstadiet” (between middle school and high school in US) his grades were really poor (around 1 in Swedish terms) and he struggled in many parts of life, and the future, to be honest didn’t look that great but one day my mother and Ola made a deal.
My mom asked
– Ola, do you want to stay home from school for two days?
and you can guess what the instant answer was? 🙂
– Of course!!”, he said with a big smile!
My mother replied:
– Ok, you can call in sick but you have to do one thing during the days you stay at home, and that is to study for the test that you will have a few days from now.
Ola thought that this deal was great! And I can imagine that it was a great feeling that a parent told you to call in sick… so he stayed home, listened to his KISS-albums, but he kept his promise, he studied!
When the test results came back Ola had the best score in his whole class, and he was proud, he suddenly felt as if he was as good as anyone else, and this wasn’t so hard! This was a big day of change for him in his school work, and I guess in his overall life. When he left high school he had 11 (I think it was out of 13 or 14) 5:s (grade A+ internationally) and the rest was 4:s (like grade A:s).
I have so many stories about Ola; like the first time when he was baby sitting for me and my sister and mixed cinnamon with cocoa and made us, in a strong bossy style, drink half a litre of that brew, not listening to our loud childish complaints. A horrifying moment at that time but afterwards a great laugh, and all about young minds.
After finishing school and he had left his national services behind, he then after a few years of work in the paving industry, started his own firm in the same branch. A firm that got really successful.
After some time he also met his wife and started a family. A family that I know he loved above all.
With love and respect
This song was performed by Ola Sigfridsson at the ceremony
Whenever I discuss music with friends and acquaintances about Best Album Ever, this comes up as one of those that should be on the list. With no big dips, and an album that shifts in tempo but still keeps it together as an album. Awesome.
The sound is on the more modern hard-rock style like Tool and Alice in Chains, but I think there’s also some similarities with Green Day, and even though I’m not a big fan of Green Day, I really like their sound. Easy Accessible Modern Hard Rock. This is not an album that will keep you occupied in analyzing the lyrics, and try to think about every single word, or note for that matter. But it’s really good in it’s simplicity and youthfulness.
So why the name Hoobastank and how did they end up together? I found this print-out from an interview where this was discussed:
Purcell: Let me start off with the obvious question, where did the name “Hoobastank” originate?
Lappalainen: Hoobastank was an inside joke between us and now we think there’s no real meaning of it. It’s like Jamiroqui. What is Jamiroqui? What does Jamiroqui mean? We have different interpretations of it. One definition is an ice-skating term for when you try to do a triple axle and fall on your butt. That’s Hoobastank. I heard a couple of kids on ESPN say that it’s two monkeys having sex. It’s up to your own interpretation.
Purcell: Why was the spelling of Hoobastank changed? I noticed it used to be HoobUstank and now it’s HoobAstank. What’s the deal with that?
Lappalainen: The whole thing with the “u” to the “a” was we just kept getting “Hoo-Boo-Stank” and there were totally different spellings of our name. It made it a whole lot easier with HoobAstank.
Purcell: That’s pretty interesting. Where’d you guys meet?
Lappalainen: Dan and I we met in ’92 and we used to be in a band called Idiosyncratic. Then Dan and I went our separate ways. When I left, Dan and Doug got together and started writing music. Then one day I saw Dan’s number in the paper and I called up and said “Hey Dan, what’s going on?” He was like “Ah nothing,” so they both came over to my house. Dan and Doug showed me some of their stuff. I thought “wow this is actually kind of cool.” I showed them my stuff and Dan and I just started clicking again. We found Chris a couple months later in a recycler (a newspaper for musicians). Three months later, Hoobastank was formed.
Source: http://hoobastank.no.sapo.pt/interviews/hoobustank-fan-source.txt
The band (at the year of this album):
Doug Robb – vocals
Dan Estrin – guitar
Markku Lappalainen – bass
Chris Hesse – drums
So, we’re getting close to the top. So far we’ve covered places 40-11, and it’s time to enter top 10. It’s almost impossible to compare the albums so close to the top but I’ll give it a go.
So, this will be an outsider. But an awesome outsider…
First out, in the top 10:s is the album Red Eden, by Sara Isaksson.
If Stephen Simmonds is a well-kept secret internationally in the category male singers, Sara Isaksson is almost an even more kept secret in the female singers category.
The album Red Eden is a quite low-key album where Sara:s incredible voice truly has the ability to shine. This will never be the album to listen to before a night out on town, but a great album to listen to when you get back home.
I guess in some sense it’s an album for musicians, but on the other hand it’s just an easy listening country, singer/song-writer album put together for everyone.
I couldn’t find any YouTube tracks from this particular album so I settle with the Spotify playlist.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
If you’re interested in tech, gadgets, cars, f1 and so on you might like my “tech-blog” http://lifeinsumpan.com. While this blog is aiming at thoughts, life’s great mysteries and of course Photography, http://lifeinsumpan is more on the shallow parts of life.
I guess that these blogs together might illustrate life in general; we’re all not just one-sided. Everyone has many sides depending on where you choose to look.
Hope to see some of you over there as well.
Best wishes for Saturday
Earlier today I posted the following text on mine, and my two co-writers new Swedish Blog http://KKAAPP.wordpress.com. After I’ve posted it I started to read about the history behind the text a little bit more, and found this English version.
Great story to keep in mind for the weekend.
Happy weekend!
Go placidly amidst the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its shams, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy
I’m currently spending time in a relatively cold Piteå (-27 degrees right now). The Palt dinner (traditional dish in the northern parts of Sweden) at mother’s is just finished and the effects of the ”paltkoma” (you get VERY tired after eating this dish) begins to make itself felt. Those who think that they are tired when the alarm clock rings at 7:00 after a Swedish typical Christmas party at work, have never eaten more than three of my mother’s ”paltar” and tried to stay awake an hour later …
It feels almost unbelievable that it’s Christmas again, and just like every year, this is a time to summarize the past year, and start thinking of what to look forward to, for the next.
For many people, Christmas is an incredible great time of year. Hang out with family and friends, sit together at the Christmas tree, watch a movie with a loooong preceded best before date, Christmas music played in the background, traditional bad jokes, and the possibility to once again listen to those family stories that are told every year.
For some others, it may be the opposite, ie that Christmas brings anxiety and pressure, perhaps because they’ve lost someone, failed to get kids, poor economy, unable to be with the people they want to celebrate with, or simply have less pleasant memories associated with Christmas.
Personally, this year, like every year, contained amounts of both positive and negative events. If the year is to be characterized as a good or bad year I do not know, but I know that there are both memories and experiences that will mean a lot to me for the rest of my life.
A while ago I posted a story “I wish you enough” by Bob Perks, and perhaps that story is about what actually makes us happy; the mixture of the negative experiences that, in turn, creates contrast and makes us appreciate all the positive things in life? There are many clichés in that area, but I think there is a lot in that story. To stop, think and take contemplate about the year that’s gone is an important part.
An interesting phenomenon that increasingly made itself felt in recent years is Facebook, and how it affected our lives. If I may make one, perhaps exaggerated parallel, I think Facebook in a way is a year-round Christmas spirit with friends, colleagues, acquaintances and fb friends that gives us positive pushes and “likes” the positive things that happens to us in our life, and with simple small presses of a button, we all have a chance to mean something to someone else, and share their joy and life experiences.
I know I’m going a bit far with the analogy above, but somehow I feel that Facebook with all the “friends in real life”, colleagues, acquaintances and fb friends that I share my experience with means a lot to me, and I am grateful for the people I have been fortunate to have around me, both there and in ordinary life.
Merry Christmas to you all, the followers of this blog, my Facebook friends, and whether you have the best Christmas as you hoped for, or for some reason have one of those less enjoyable “middle Christmases” that puts the rest of the year in a better perspective, I hope you get a great end of the year, and that this Christmas is what you want it to be.
This is a pic I took a few months ago (also in Piteå). The pic has just been lying around on my computer but I recently got some new inspiration in composition from a close friend of mine and the composition of this pic is actually a suggestion from my inspirer; and I think the result came out so much better than the original. It’s strange. Sometimes you just need that push to get out of the blocks.
In terms of other adjustments I’ve added some Noise reduction. Part from that the image is all natural.
During my winter holiday I spent some time in Piteå. The 27:th of December was a remarkable day in terms of a beautiful sky and a clear moon, so I spent a whole day walking around in my old home town. On my way back (behind Nolia for those that are familiar with Piteå) I came across some electric wires, and just behind the wires, The Moon – so I thought I’d call the pic Electric Moon…
Hope you all get a good start of your week.
This is the second time I’ll make a post with a reference to Paulo Coelho. The writer that never got The Nobel Prize, but definitely should have got it by now.
The article is from Paulo Coelho’s blog and it’s about how we sometimes just let our dreams vanish instead of keep chasing them.
I hope you find it interesting…
Sunday evening and I will soon hit the bed. Before I do that I thought I’d share a great and inspiring Quote I came across earlier today. The quote is by Woodrow Wilson.
Hope that it can inspire some to a great week start
We grow great by dreams. All great wo-/men are dreamers. They see things in the soft haze of a spring day or in the red fire of a long winter’s evening. Some of us let these great dreams die, but others nourish and protect them; nurse them through bad days til they bring them to the sunshine and light which comes always to those who sincerely hope that their dreams will come true.
Since this weeks posts mainly is from the Gläntan beach in Piteå I thought that these songs might fit well into the other material.
First one is a great song from Deportees, Islands and Shores! It’s one of those rare songs that first is ok – good, and for every play it just get’s better.
The second one is from an upcoming artist from Piteå, Ludwig Hart.
Hope you enjoy!
As the readers of this blog already know, I’ve spent the last weekend in my home town, Piteå. A weekend that promised some, but delivered a lot. Met some old friends, spent time with my family, had a Palt-dinner (local course) and also had an amazing photo session on saturday.
Since we had cloudy weather on friday (and to be honest I also felt terrible due to my cold) I didn’t expect much for saturday, but what a day it turned out to be.
This is my first posting from that day.
Hope you enjoy!
(Please watch in full screen mode)
Currently i’m in Pitea, in the northern part of Sweden and today was all about photo. Started off early and headed out to Glantan (a beach close to, in Sweden famous Pitea havsbad).
And what a morning! The colors and the light were all there. During the morning I made a time-lapse of the sun rising with my D7000 and took stills with the Olympus, D5000 and my iPhone. I also tried out my new Sigma 70-300/macro.
In a few weeks time I will visit my home town, Piteå for a family visit. These occasions are always a great get away from my daily business. In Piteå everything goes in half the pace and you take more time to think and reflect while you’re there.
This visit I will also do a photo project with a time lapse of Piteå river. Keep your fingers crossed for great weather.
This is a pic I took in Piteå during my summer holiday.
Hope you have a great finish of your weekend
Saarimner.com 