VRETA AREA, APRIL 2013

UPPSALA, APRIL 2013

STOCKHOLM, APRIL 2013

SWEDEN

The five days I spent in Sweden during April 2013 were five of the greatest days of my life. I adored so many things about Sweden - birch trees, roe deer, melting snow, bobsledding, cranes returning from the north, the drumming of woodpeckers, Stockholm's mind-blowing architecture, Uppsala Cathedral, Uppsala's rune stones, Nils Oscar ale, herrings, rye bread, blueberry soup, cool modern trains, tramping across frozen lakes and swamps etc. I was very fortunate to stay with friends (respect Nat and Rob) in a small town called Vreta, not far from Uppsala, a university town north-west of Stockholm. The following posts will feature photographs from those five days. I hope you like them. LJ, January 5 2014.   

KOSCUISZKO

I tramped to the summit of Mt Koscuiszko on New Year's Day. Sublime stuff. A tremendous way to start off the new year. LJ, January 2 2014.

TED HUGHES

When finishing my nature poems, I was reading Ted Hughes' classic Birthday Letters, which I picked up for $1 at Campbelltown Library a few months ago. I'd never sat down with it before. My god, the man could write. Such a fierce imagination. Every time I finished reading a series of his poems I felt I should pack in the business of crafting verse. I'll never be that good. LJ, December 22

A DISPATCH FROM THE LAND OF GLOW WORMS, GREATER GLIDERS AND SOOTY OWLS

I just sent my nature poems through to my publisher. Exciting and surreal!

LJ, 17 December 2013.