Scandinavian Letters: Öga.

Öga.

Öga is Swedish for eye. Jackdaws have light-coloured irises which makes their eyes look more eye-like for the human eye. Jackdaw is naakka in Finnish and kaja in Swedish. This jackdaw was on the quay of Helsinki Market Square in November 2016.

The letter Ö, used in German, Estonian, Finnish and Swedish is the last letter in Finnish and Swedish alphabets and so this post concludes the series.

This has been a fabulous series, and I hope everyone has enjoyed it as much as I have. Many thanks to Ice Swimmer for meeting a tough challenge with such flair and ease. Click for full size!

© Ice Swimmer, all rights reserved.

The Beautiful Town Idstein – Part 3 – Hexenturm

Hexenturm means “Witch tower” and according to this plaque it is the oldest building in Idstein.

Plaque Hexenturm

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The only way to approach the tower is through the gate. This is the view of the tower as one approaches it.

Hexenturm

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Hexenturm

©Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size

And another angle, from the entrance to the castle. And the view of the pavement leading from the gate to the castle and the tower, which looked rather interesting in the evening light.

Hexenturm

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Tiles

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The name was given to the tower allegedly because there were incarcerated women accused of witchcraft, but according to German Wikipedia there is no evidence for his although the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Whatever the truth, nowadays the tower has a much better purpose – it is  a nesting site for kestrels Falco tinnunculus and jackdaws Corvus monedula. We have heard the birds but we did not see them and of course, even had we seen them I could not make pictures.

Hexenturm

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Jack’s Walk

©voyager, all rights reserved

It’s another beautiful day here and I’m enjoying the freedom of being outside without being all bundled up. For the past few days Jack and I have been walking in a new area because our usual forest path hasn’t been cleared yet of several large fallen trees. Jack thinks this new route is pretty swell. It runs close to the river and he’s been able to frolic in the water every day. I don’t think the route is swell and it’s not because of the wet dog. It’s because of all the dead trees. Several years ago my area was hard hit by the emerald ash borer beetle. (Agrilus planipennis) It destroyed every tree in the park that connects with this path and many more were cut down in neighbouring areas to help to help prevent the spread. What was once a lush green park with mature trees is now riddled with decaying stumps and fallen branches. Our winters have become so warm that these critters can now survive this far north. One more victim of climate change.

Scandinavian Letters: Äng.

Äng.

Äng is meadow in Swedish. The sunset picture is a variant version of a picture from the Laajalahti Nature Preserve I’ve used before and sent to this blog. While there are trees in the picture, there’s open land that is used for as a cow pasture there, in order to restore traditional seashore meadowland.

The night time picture is from summer 2017. I was walking home from my cousin’s wedding and decided to take some night photos.

Ä is used in at least Finnish, Swedish, Estonian and German. In different languages, different pronunciations are used, but it’s generally a wovel pronounced in the frontal part of the mouth. In Finnish and Swedish it’s the second to last letter in the alphabet.

Click for full size!

© Ice Swimmer, all rights reserved.