Photos from my summer

[luzula]

Posting photos from my summer has gotten to be a tradition for me. Here are some from this year:
May is totally the summer, right? Anyway, here's me carrying the front banner in the syndicalist May Day parade.


This is the view through the mosquito netting in my hammock when I woke up in the morning, having slept in a tree...


...and here's the hammock, hanging in the tree.


Here I am making like a koala on a branch.


And here I'm standing on a rope bridge between two trees, looking happy.


This is the Aitik open pit mine near Gällivare, in the far north of Sweden. Wow, it's big.


Me standing on a low mountain during a botanical inventory.


The rare plant "fjällbrud" (pyramidal saxifrage), or Saxifraga cotyledon. I climbed a mountain just to see it; unfortunately it's not in flower.


One of the lakes I swam in this summer; this one is below the "fjällbrud" site.


Airing out my feet after climbing the mountain with the rare flower. It took me five hours to climb this mountain--there was no trail and the terrain was very rugged (but admittedly I also spent a lot of time being distracted by interesting plants and other things). It took me an hours to descend on the other side, which had a good trail.


Another rarity: this is the fern Diplazium sibiricum, which only grows in a few places in Sweden. I hitchhiked to get to this site; the people who picked me up asked where I was going, and I explained. They were silent a little while, and then politely said: "I guess that's an interest as good as any." Ha.


The holes that an evil squirrel ate in the bottom of my hammock. Arrrrgh!


A mystery organism. I have no idea what it is; I've just sent away a question to a biologist who I hope can answer.


This is Rönnbäck, the place that a mining company wants to turn into a huge open pit mine like the one pictured earlier.


Me posing with a prospecting stick that the company left behind. We will defeat them like we broke the prospecting stick! The previous photo was taken out on the island in the lake (which is really a hydroelectric dam).


People resting in the sun after climbing a mountain top.


Me smelling a "doftticka" (Haploporus odorus). It's a rare polypore fungus which smells very good, kind of like anise, but sweeter.


Me with the beetle "tallbock", or Monochamus sutor. It has lovely long antennae.


Here's my hammock! It's a Hennessy hyperlite with an extra-large rainfly, and I love it. It's more comfortable than my bed (which possibly says that I ought to get a new bed, whatever).


And last, here's me, having swum in the lake (same lake as last photo). Although "lake" is dignifying it too much--it's a shallow pond full of peat moss, which is why I'm literally crawling up, since it's hard to stand on the bottom.

Comments

[green_grrl]

All the pictures are showing, and they're beautiful! It looks like you had an absolutely amazing summer. :-)

[luzula]

Well good, then! It's just me who can't see them for some reason. And yes, I did have a good summer. : )

[kabal42]

I'm loving your pictures :) Rönnbäck is far, far too pretty to be turned into a mine! *shakes broken stick with you*

I do love that you go to such lengths for your rare plants :) It's a great interest, is what. And now I'm finding myself curious about the mystery organism too. I'd probably just think "what a strange, yellow moss" and go on my ignorant business - but now I'm curious!

[luzula]

Thanks! I will update you about the mystery organism. It's not a moss (I know mosses) but possibly an alga? Or a fungus? Or a myxomycete?

[luzula]

I now know what the mystery organism was: the alga Trentepohlia aurea. : )

[kabal42]

Oh, cool! Thanks for getting back to me :)

[glitteryv]

I can see all the pics as well. Lovely shots. I felt like I experienced a little bit of your wonderful summer with you. :)

[luzula]

Thanks! Yeah, it was a good summer. : )

[riverlight]

Gorgeous! Those lakes look AMAZING.

[luzula]

I collected new swimming-places this year (that is, places I'd never before gone swimming) and got sixteen. : )

[riverlight]

Soooo jealous!

[rachelmanija]

Gorgeous photos! Defeat that mining company - that's a beautiful spot and it would be a tragedy for it to be destroyed.

[luzula]

Thanks! We will do our best. : )

[scribe]

Oh man, Luz, your life is so awesome! I am jealous of your hammock. :D

[luzula]

Well, of all the things you could have been jealous of in the pictures, the hammock is actually easy to obtain! Like, if you'd wanted to go swimming in the same lake or whatever, that would be much more work. : )

[seascribble]

I want to come have cool wilderness adventures with you, all of that looks AWESOME, and you look like you're having so much fun in every single one. How cold was that not-lake?

[luzula]

You are welcome to come have adventures in the wilderness with me. : ) Yeah, I really love having that kind of summer, since I work indoors otherwise.

How cold was that not-lake?

Not that cold! Since it was shallow, it warms up in the summer.

[exeterlinden]

Looks like you had an awesome summer. I am insanely envious of your outdoor adventures :)

[luzula]

You should come have outdoors adventures with me next year. : )

[exeterlinden]

Yes! :-)