Luck favors the prepared

I was interrupted mid-sentence by a literal bloodbath outside my window. A sea eagle struck its prey, a smaller sea bird. At first, I couldn’t even tell what it had caught because there was too much blood. I was in the middle of a Teams meeting and I completely lost my tongue. Sea eagles are mighty creatures of the sky, and it is difficult not to be in awe when you see them, with their wingspan of up to 240 cm. This could have been one of those moments when you wish that you had a DSLR with a telephoto lens mounted. But instead, I managed to snap the best picture I have ever taken.

PhotographyRikard ÖqvistMay 8, 2023nature, photography, preparationComment

Discipline equals freedom

The sun painted everything golden all the way to the horizon. As far as the eye could see, there was ice. My son Elis was riding his Stiga Snow Racer pulled by our dog Jussi. The three of us were on a round trip on the ice around a nearby island, with the sea as a backdrop. That morning, my son woke up at 05:44 which had interrupted my morning routine. But what an interruption! It was one of those mornings that you only get a handful of throughout a lifetime.

Diary, Habits, ParentingRikard ÖqvistMarch 22, 2022nature, discipline, habits, winter, ice, spring, parenting, dogComment

Everything changes, everything stays the same

Social interaction while wearing a face mask is kind of like joining an online meeting without enabling your camera. Even though the eyes communicate a very large part, probably most, of our message, it just feels extremely awkward to me. There is so much information lost with the subtle facial expressions and especially the smile. I do not like it at all. That’s why I am grateful to my past self that I listened to my gut feeling some years ago. My gut told me that we had to get out of town and move to the countryside, as soon as humanly possible. Which we did. Out here everything is exactly the same pre- and post-Covid. Nothing has changed. Mother Nature does her thing regardless of what goes on in the human world. It is a blessing to be reminded of that every single day. She is my immovable, solid foundation to which my life is anchored.

PhilosophyRikard ÖqvistMarch 29, 2021nature, virus, news, lifestyle, countrylifeComment

A cloudy sunrise

The beauty of nature is often most pronounced during sunrise and sunset. It is a symbol of a beginning and an end, in a cycle that repeats perpetually. Why is it so? I believe it has something to do with contrast. When the sun is close to the horizon, the contrast is maximized in many ways. It is the same bright sphere up in the sky during the day, but when the sun is close to the horizon, the shadows become longer, and the sky is painted in many colours. Everything around us is suddenly portrayed in a whole new way. Those things that used to hold no beauty at all, suddenly can become immensely beautiful for a moment, like a stone, a tree or even a virus outbreak.

PhilosophyRikard ÖqvistMarch 21, 2020nature, virusComment