↓
 

Holly Doyne

words, wool, and travel

Holly Doyne
  • Home
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Projects
    • Cross Stitch
      • Fractals –
        • Flower Spray
        • Fractal Clock
      • HAED
        • Dragnlings
          • The Case of the Empty Cookie Jar
        • Farewell to Anger
      • Heartstrings Sampler
      • Ink Circles
      • Klimt
      • MagicalQuilts SALs
      • Stitchy Witchy
      • Tempting Tangles –
      • WIP
      • Star of David
      • Lou
      • Dance at Bougival
    • Machine Embroidery
      • Flour Sack Towels
      • Quilts
      • Shirts and other garments
  • TFME
    • A Preface
    • Chapter 1 – The Road to Bosnia
    • Chapter 2 – Arrival at Blue Factory
    • Chapter 3 – Settling In
    • Chapter 4 – May
    • A – Task Force Med Eagle
  • Family
    • VierMaus
    • Gallery
    • Knit & Spin
      • Finished Projects 2007
      • UFO’s 2007
      • Finished Socks 2008
      • Finished Socks – 2007
      • Finished Socks – 2006
      • Prior to 2006 – Socks
      • Orphans and Odd-Balls
      • The 1995 Sock Yarn Review
    • Gallerie 2
    • Purim 2006
  • & Images
    • 11 The Terrace
    • Doors
    • 50 Ways
  • Kuwait Diary
    • Diary Entries
      • A – 25 May 03 – The Youngest Yet
      • C – 11 Dec 03 – BOB and Friends
      • B – 05 Sept 03 – Marines to the Rescue
      • D – 04 March 04 – Tempest in a Teapot
    • Background
    • FAQ
    • Gallery
Home→Categories Photos 1 2 >>

Category Archives: Photos

Post navigation

← Older posts

and family photos

Holly Doyne Posted on 2020-05-02 by Holly2020-05-02  

Miriam went excavating in the garage looking for, I think, some warm weather clothes. Personally, I think she is leaning way too far forward. This is not NYC, it just doesn’t get all that hot here around the bay, even on this side. And for that warm 1-2 hours in the afternoon? Just get out of the sun.

So anyway – she went exploring. All the way in the back* Miriam found a plastic contain packed with photo envelopes. She brought them up to the house and spent the next hour going through the box. Many of them she either didn’t remember ever seeing (or hadn’t seen).

George & Miriam

I am hoping to convince Angel, along with Miriam that the decent ones (defined as not blurry and some clue as to who&where really need to be scanned. One of those projects that has been on my to-do list for a couple of decades now.

Shana & Dani
Noah

Noah
Dani

 

 

*I would show you photos of the garage, but seriously, I don’t think you need to see. And, since the place is pretty packed, there isn’t really much to see. Except for everyone in the families (+ several others) treasures.

 

Posted in family, Photos | Leave a reply

Swedish Tourism

Holly Doyne Posted on 2019-01-11 by Holly2019-01-11

It was about this time last year that I went to Northern Sweden on a photography junket. Put off from the year before (2017) but that is a completely uninteresting story.

Cabin
snow and dog sleds
dogs at rest

northern lights and dog sleds
northern lights
sky at sundown (1330)

Reindeer
windmill farm
toward the north

nothern lights
northern lights
northern lights

northern lights

 

 

What brought back the memories and a relook at photos was a lovely notice from the Svenska Turistförenningen (Tourist Office in case you hadn’t guessed). They thanked me for my support last year and invited me to renew my membership. Even sent the form for the standard bank giro. Now, I enjoyed my time. Might even do it again. But voluntarily renew for 295kr + 185 kr Porto? Not likely. In case you needed the exchange – that comes to about $53.75 give or take a few cents depending on the exchange rate of the second.

They try to make it easy – I can pay on line by credit card, I can send a bank check. I can wire money. They won’t (any longer) take Euro Checks.

While it is true that the monies help their economy by supporting sustainable mountaineering and other valuable programs, I think I may keep my money a bit closer to home. But I did send them a polite email saying that I won’t be renewing, so please drop my name off their hard copy mailing list to save a few SEK.

Posted in Photos, Travel | 1 Reply

Not visible here

Holly Doyne Posted on 2018-07-28 by Holly2018-07-28  

It was during the winter that I sat outside for hours, middle of the night to watch a lunar eclipse. There was another one last night (the 27th) which was not exactly visible in my half of the world.

I didn’t miss it completely as both the Eldest and a friend in Southern Germany sent me some lovely pictures. So I will share with you and we can all enjoy the sky sights by proxy.

through the lunar eclipse

and the series from Christian in Bayern

Early in the evening
closer view
and it starts

closer
red moon
and partial

Posted in Photos | Leave a reply

Rivers and Roads

Holly Doyne Posted on 2018-02-20 by Holly2018-02-21  

The River first: Rio Dulce.

We docked in Guatemala and promptly boarded (ok, more or less promptly. At least they offered the birders a separate group or two) smaller vessels called Pangas

our transport up river

in which to go up the river. As we first traveled along the coast then up the river, there was a significant contrast between the trash


and the very expensive houses.


Then of course there are house boats masquerading as sailboats from a variety of European, North American and MidEast origins some of which appear to have been at anchor for a significant number of years.

[this is an aside – skip if you are so inclined. A couple of years ago there was a serious discussion on the ISTM TravelMed server list about a family asking for “advise” before they set out. Family currently of seven – 2 adults and five children ages 11 and below, two of whom were still in diapers. Their plan was to get on their sail boat and go around the world. Obviously they wanted advice. But, as it turned out, they were not really interested – no need for immunizations they said – better our children are exposed to real disease an not to artificial compounds. etc, etc). The nurse practitioner finally got them to agree that setting out with one of the two adults at 28+ week pregnant was not their smartest move. Reading on someone’s blog about their wonderful birth experience in the South Pacific with a local midwife was not the same as having it work out for you. Etc Etc.
This morning, looking at these boats I finally figured out, other than the child endangerment, what was bothering me. I am a physician. I seriously believe that all of us owe a couple of things back to the world. The first is simple: if you have had training and a profession that has been contributed to by the public- you owe something back to that same public. i.e. – don’t train and then not practice. The second is that everyone should contribute to some extent. Taking off around the world with five – six children in tow means that, other than spending some money in foreign ports – you are not contributing anything to the world. You are not demonstrating responsibility to your children and you are tasking advantage of your privileged status to use assets that others might need. This is all part of the “western world has little of the population but uses most of the resources” argument.
If those I had seen on the boats were retired, no complaints – done their share. But most of those whom I saw were of the age of avoidance and escape.]

contrast that to those who are native to the area and live along the river with large families, little money and even less education as every member of the family is contributing (fishing to transporting water, wood, accosting tourists).

net fishing
salting the fish
peddling wood



And then there were the birds: yes many of the common birds:

pelicans:



egrets, herons, gulls….




About 1130 we docked, had lunch at a “local restaurant” (only tourists) we headed to Quirigua. (queue bus ride) After finding out that I didn’t have to stay with one of the guides, I took off on my own to take a couple of pictures and just enjoy bird sounds, peace and quiet. This site is a Mayan archeologic site and not on the direct tourist runs which meant that it was only our ship overrunning the site.




The bus ride back was a version of “Mr Toad’s Wild Ride.”

All of us were relieved to be back on the ship; the roads were full of holes, the speed was high and passing large lorries around curves and up hills was just routine. All of the buses made it back without incident, but sleeping through those two hours was really a challenge.

I skipped diner in favor of peace and quiet. Seems like every gathering is viewed as an opportunity for a lecture. Thinking seriously, this is not the venue for me. At this point in my life I enjoy the quiet, discovering/learning on my own and not being continuously interrupted with unasked for voices in my ears.

Plus – the food is just meh.

Posted in Photos, Prose, Travel | Leave a reply

Lunar Eclipse

Holly Doyne Posted on 2018-01-31 by Holly2018-02-02 4

starting at 0348 and running through close to 0708. Now, the moon had set by then and the sun was up but still…..









Posted in Photos | 4 Replies

There are times

Holly Doyne Posted on 2018-01-27 by Holly2018-01-27  

I am sure for all of us when you can only shake your head and wonder.. “ What was I thinking?” I wish I could say that it is a seldomly occuring experience but that would not be true. Most of the times the situation is one of stupidity and mild humor. The kind of thing easily laughed off or repeated to friends with a depreciating smile and shake of the head.

And other times, frankly it is just bone headed stupidity or failure to pay close attention to details. In this case it is not the slightly more than 100gm of weight that I have been hauling around in my backpack since leaving h9me earlier this month. It is the fact, that after all my careful planning I have a very nice 60mm lens nestled safely in its compartment. A lens I had been planning on using while out meandering around Stockholm. A lens that works just fine when attached to the correct camera body. The 7D non-full frame camera on the shelf back in Berkeley, and not the higher end 5D or 1DX bodies which both weigh a ton but are “too upscale” to fit to this lens.

Argh

Posted in Photos | Leave a reply

Cloudy

Holly Doyne Posted on 2018-01-24 by Holly2018-01-25  

As it turns out, I am both glad for the extra couple of nights here in Absiko and a bit irritated. But really, it is not like the weather is specifically targeting me now is it? According to all the Aurora forecasts, it should be decent tonight.

Decent that is if there wasn’t a cloud cover extending toward the north. And guess what direction one normally finds “northern lights?” As if you couldn’t guess from the name….

I spend most of the day just taking it easy and trying to organize my stuff. It is amazing how fast one can turn a small single room into a disaster with just a 19″ carry-on and a backpack of electronics. All if it is probably helped by the fact that there are only a couple of shelves, four hangers and no drawers or storage space in sight. On the positive side, it should be impossible to lose anything in the room as there isn’t even an under bed where items trying to escape could crawl.

so the best I can offer you today is various shots of the lodge insides ….

library
side room

seating area
front lounge

all of which are quiet in the middle of the night.

As pretty much are the surrounding buildings – we are about 2km from town in case anyone was wondering …

classical buildings almost anywhere in Europe
the grounds, with just a bit of snow

Posted in Photos, Travel | Leave a reply

Driving to Narvik

Holly Doyne Posted on 2018-01-23 by Holly2018-01-24 2

It is only about 40km from Abisko to the Norwegian border and some kilometers from there to Narvik which is the closest reasonable size Norwegian city. Primarily an industrial town where iron ore is moved from rail cars to ships, fishing, and equipment sales/repair are key. Tourism isn’t all that big a deal here. Like the majority of western Norwegian towns, especially those north of the arctic circle, Narvik is on a Fjord….

So anyway – we left around sunrise (i.e. before 1000) and returned after sunset (1500) which means that there are not all that many hours of daylight.

sunlight translates to rose colors and less blues

Our first stop along the way? More reindeer inside a corral covered in frost. This herd was mostly yearlings.


and otherwise just watching out the window

manmade structures and frosted plants
with the contrast between

once past the border we also happened to be over the ridge and headed toward the Fjords. One has to remember that this means the Atlantic Ocean, salt water and open water. It also was significantly warmer than Abisko (like 25*C warmer although it was still below freezing….)

looking at the Fjord
or flats with the tide going out
or houses along the edges of the bay

then there are some of my favorite things – bridges –

current bridge
new bridge because it is important to save 20km drive
and already sunset

of course, although you might not agree – we decided that this particular mountain looked

like Falkor*

.

(your reference is Micheal Ende’s Die unendliche Geschichte)

Posted in Photos, Travel | 2 Replies

Gates of Lappland

Holly Doyne Posted on 2018-01-22 by Holly2018-01-22  

just a bit of snow was to be found from the road going waist deep


and going toward the only bit of “open” water that we saw

=

in Absiko National Park where we stopped early afternoon –



before moving on as the sun was setting (still before 1400)

to view the Gates of Lappland as seen from one of the hotels.

the gates
and towards the lake

Posted in Photos, Travel | Leave a reply

Abisko National Park

Holly Doyne Posted on 2018-01-21 by Holly2018-01-21 4

We left the hotel about 2100 and returned almost three hours later. My fingers were cold…

The photos are in chronological order – and no editing has been done to this point other than shrinking so that it was possible to upload the photos. The exposure times varied between 5-15 secs with f1.8 and an ISO of 1600. Suggest you up the brightness of your monitor or darken the area around you. I will repost a few when cleaned up








Posted in Photos, Travel | 4 Replies

Sami

Holly Doyne Posted on 2018-01-21 by Holly2018-01-22  

These photos are in sections – the first being relating to stopping in one of the Sami villages partway to Abisko. If I understood Maria correctly

there are about ten families involved and around 5000 reindeer which they move seasonally from the high mountains to the forests with the seasons and available food (grasses to mushrooms to lichen). Where as the old methods aren’t always practical (hello, roads, rails, traffic and other modern inchonvieneces causing significant injury and animal death) they have been replaced with snowmobiles and large trucks.

The reindeer hanging out here I assume are primarily for tourists



and sledge pulling –



the trees are all stark white against the snow and limed with ice-


our break was in the small house

with reindeer skins for flooring

and lunch cooked over the open fire

while sunset comes early (not even 1400….)



Posted in Photos, Travel | Leave a reply

Over the river and through

Holly Doyne Posted on 2018-01-20 by Holly2018-01-20  

the woods to find Reindeer, Moose and anything worth a photo stop.

reindeer

moose hiding in the trees

early morning – as defined as sunrise +/1 an hour


the trees just coated with snow –


the river that I mentioned

complete with small idiot bird swimming

and ending with domesticated “wild life”


in spite of potential auroras tonight – it is overcast. Our drive out ~50-60 km in the direction of Norway didn’t help. Looking at a couple of the monitoring sites – Aurora Forecast and Spaceweather.com it seems we are the only ones not happy with the weather.

(FYI – published time is as of PST, not UTC+1)

Posted in Photos, Travel | Leave a reply

Oh roar a roar for Nora –

Holly Doyne Posted on 2018-01-19 by Holly2018-01-19 2

Nora Alice in the Night. For she has seen the Aurora Borealis Burning Bright – Pogo….



Posted in Photos, Travel | 2 Replies

Icehotel

Holly Doyne Posted on 2018-01-19 by Holly2018-01-20 1

Now, this obviously appeals to a large number of people. Bus loads of tourists, a significant number of weddings and plenty who stay overnight. There are two sections to the Icehotel – the temporary one which lasts only until everything melts and the permanent area which also has both rooms and suits.

I repeat – lovely to look at, but I can’t imagine sleeping here. But people do – in fact one of our group spent a night here before the start off the tour.

From the outside it doesn’t seem to be much –

the seasonal Icehotel

while inside you have carvings both on the wall and free standing –



some regular rooms –

and then there are the named rooms complete with artist plaque outside –

the King Kong

sea creatures
Victorian Suite
Victorian Suite

along with objects



and

Posted in Photos, Travel | 1 Reply

Dog Sledding

Holly Doyne Posted on 2018-01-18 by Holly2018-01-18  

Before I forget – yes, Kiruna is north of the Arctic Circle. Sunrise this morning was 0955 and sunset 1344 giving us a grand total of 3 hours and 49 minutes of true daylight. That would make it also obviously why as I start writing this about 1515 that it is quite dark outside.

getting organized before sunrise

 

And it was along the river and through the old growth forest that we went.

old growth and charging sled dogs

 

As you might note – the species of pine/fir here are tall, slender and have short branches which gather the maximum sun possible and decrease the chances of breakage from snow build up.

after a couple of hours and several photo stops it was lunch break. The dogs


are two teams of 12. The couple who provided the teams today have about 60 dogs in total. Lars mentioned that the dogs much prefer racing (which involves a lot of running and not pulling all that much weight) to today’s task which is pulling a sledge with 3-4 passengers. The alternate mode of transport today was a snowmobile –

which is Peter’s personal vehicle complete with trailer for gear.

and for the birders:

a jay
and an arctic tit

Posted in Photos, Travel | Leave a reply

Kiruna

Holly Doyne Posted on 2018-01-17 by Holly2018-01-17  

Leaving the hotel early wasn’t a problem. The snow wasn’t a problem either and it just wasn’t all that cold to a “born in Minnesota gal.” My first challenge was finding the T stop tucked back in a construction zone followed by trying to figure out the ticket machines and the gates. As it turns out, paper ticket holders have to be let in by a physical operator….

Central Station to the Arlanda Express wasn’t all that hard either nor was checking into Norwegian Air. Security ran faster and smoother than anything I have seen from TSA. And then I waited and waited. We left about 30 minutes late and arrived in Kiruna after 1300.

Did I mention this trip is a photo tour?

Didn’t think so.

Anyway, the pair of photographers/guides are from Sweden (Peter) and Australia (David) met us at the airport. One of my fellow travelers did what anyone with sense knows not to: he packed his meds in his checked luggage. Which of course never made it from LA to Stockholm. Cue a couple of hours of waiting while Peter helped him get new scripts and meds picked up from the apoteka.  End result was that it was 1600 by the time we arrived in camp and could get settled.

We had dinner around 1730. BTW – hours of light are only about Five.

two beds in the cabin
my very own sauna
table, food prep area and lots of power points


and the cabin I have to myself….I really think I need some sleep…

 

 

Posted in Photos, Travel | Leave a reply

Fireworks

Holly Doyne Posted on 2017-07-04 by Holly2017-07-10  

Did I tell you that I skipped the fireworks at the stadium on Monday night in favor of 4th of July fireworks?

I had the bright idea – which turned out to be not so bright – of catching the photos from home. I can see all three bridges from my upstairs window. I can see the Berkeley Marina – home to the local fireworks. What I hadn’t remembered is how low the fireworks are actually shot.

When you sit out in the open, the fireworks can seem to fill up the sky stretching up and out to cover your view. In reality, they are not more than 100-200 feet in the air. This creates a problem if you are up on a tree covered hill of more than that in elevation. As it turned out, the fireworks were beautiful. And just on the other side of a lovely, thick, bushy tree….

see the slight bit of light?

with the occasional bit shot from the SF side

across the bay

 

Even having fireworks photography not in my grasp this year didn’t take away my fun of the As actually pulling out a victory at the Coliseum. Not pleased about the pitcher who gained the win, since it was his fault the White Sox tied the game in the top of the ninth…. The fact that the rookie short stop managed to hit a homer was nothing to the relieving pitchers credit.

Ah, well, back to the cross stitch.

Posted in Baseball, Photos | Leave a reply

Carl won’t leave

Holly Doyne Posted on 2017-07-03 by Holly2017-07-04

No I don’t have a house guest who has been here longer than three days. What we have is a marine layer – fog in the evening completely obscuring the sky. Since Berkeley can occasionally be thought of as a University town, a literary location you might have figured out the reference:

“The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on”

and thus is referred to as Carl.

It makes attempting to photograph the night sky impossible on this side of the hills (and Hayward Fault).

George and I went to the game and watched along with over 40,000 other fans the As manage to lose yet another game. They have younger players. They are learning; but those errors are costing way too much. I was sorry to see Cotton take the loss since the relief pitchers were the ones whose continual provision of wonderful pitches caused the White Sox batters to run up the numbers and make recovery impossible.

I was going to stay and take fireworks photos from the parking lot, but just got too cold and too tired. My excuse was that there was just too much light (grin).

Posted in Baseball, Books & AudioBooks, Photos | Leave a reply

You can’t stay

Holly Doyne Posted on 2017-07-02 by Holly2017-07-04  

One of the guys from that photo class on the 26th and I were going to attempt to do night photography this evening. George had volunteered to be the chauffeur. The eldest begged off after having to work late. She turned out to be the smartest in the group.

(and yes, the As lost this afternoon).

Since it was completely socked in around the bay we thought to try the other side of the hills. Well Mt Diablo Park might be a good place to be. But the park gates are closed and locked at 2030 in the evening leaving you on one side of the divide or the other till morning. Since we hadn’t come prepared with sleeping bags or camping gear, this didn’t sound like a great idea.

Driving around, there didn’t seem to be any other decent place without either lights or trees obscuring the sky. Back over on our side, the fog was almost to the top of Grizzly Peak taking out that option as well. Seems like one needs a combination of good pre-trip scouting and a lot of luck with the weather. July is probably a better bet if the skies clear (meaning the weather needs to warm up a bit.).

Posted in Photos | Leave a reply

Up from the depths

Holly Doyne Posted on 2017-06-23 by Holly2017-06-24 2

the only way I can describe this past week is like a deep well. It has been a combination of the chemo hitting me, the house construction with the jack hammering and pounding to the point where it seems like my whole body vibrates to a complete lack of interest in people and/or food.

I think I am starting to get it together which means that I will release the last weeks worth of blog posts as soon as I have a chance to go back and clear out the worst of the evil thoughts and bad languages.

Tonight I am allegedly participating in a class over at Rodeo Beach on the Marin headlands on night photography. The only challenge, besides going completely manual on my camera is going to be if the fog – aka marine layer – doesn’t cooperate enough to let us see the sky. It is pretty hard to photo the night sky when all you see is a blur of white descending to the tips of the closest dunes and hills.

Posted in Around Berkeley, Photos | 2 Replies

Post navigation

← Older posts
January 2021
S M T W T F S
 12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
31  
« Dec    

Recent Posts

  • Ending the year
  • I took down the calendar
  • All dressed up
  • Seventh night
  • Sixth Night

Archives

All Pages

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Projects
    • Cross Stitch
      • Klimt
      • Stitchy Witchy
      • Tempting Tangles –
      • MagicalQuilts SALs
      • HAED
        • Farewell to Anger
        • Dragnlings
          • The Case of the Empty Cookie Jar
      • WIP
      • Fractals –
        • Flower Spray
        • Fractal Clock
      • Star of David
      • Lou
      • Dance at Bougival
    • Machine Embroidery
      • Flour Sack Towels
      • Quilts
      • Shirts and other garments
  • TFME
    • A Preface
    • Chapter 1 – The Road to Bosnia
    • Chapter 2 – Arrival at Blue Factory
    • Chapter 3 – Settling In
    • Chapter 4 – May
    • A – Task Force Med Eagle
  • Family
    • Knit & Spin
      • Finished Projects 2007
      • UFO’s 2007
      • Finished Socks 2008
      • Finished Socks – 2007
      • Finished Socks – 2006
      • Prior to 2006 – Socks
      • Orphans and Odd-Balls
      • The 1995 Sock Yarn Review
    • VierMaus
    • Gallery
    • Knit & Spin
      • Finished Projects 2007
      • UFO’s 2007
      • Finished Socks 2008
      • Finished Socks – 2007
      • Finished Socks – 2006
      • Prior to 2006 – Socks
      • Orphans and Odd-Balls
      • The 1995 Sock Yarn Review
    • Gallerie 2
    • Gallerie 2
    • Purim 2006
    • Purim 2006
  • & Images
    • 11 The Terrace
    • Doors
    • 50 Ways
  • & Images
    • 11 The Terrace
    • Doors
    • 50 Ways
  • Kuwait Diary
    • Diary Entries
      • A – 25 May 03 – The Youngest Yet
      • C – 11 Dec 03 – BOB and Friends
      • B – 05 Sept 03 – Marines to the Rescue
      • D – 04 March 04 – Tempest in a Teapot
    • Background
    • FAQ
    • Gallery
  • Kuwait Diary
    • Diary Entries
      • A – 25 May 03 – The Youngest Yet
      • C – 11 Dec 03 – BOB and Friends
      • B – 05 Sept 03 – Marines to the Rescue
      • D – 04 March 04 – Tempest in a Teapot
  • Cross Stitch
  • Shirts and other garments
  • Heartstrings Sampler

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org
©2021 - Holly Doyne - Weaver Xtreme Theme
↑