The trap of having a soul

I looked at the horizon, saw the distance sea and tried to keep looking forward because I couln't dare to look back. Behind me laid the memories, small pieces of the story of a life. In my soul there is an ocean where words in book seem to disappear, ink burring as they sink into the depths.

A cold breeze hit my skin and I felt the emptiness around me. There was the abyss.

I took a deep breath and I jumped, but not to fall into the deep but to push myself onwards in this swirl, this typhoon that is living in hope that past stays in history and the future remains a mystery. The present will always be a gift.

(Inspired by Critina Letrán http://ricon-desastre.blogspot.com/)

water IS life

Imagine yourself in a beautiful scenery of mountains and rivers, of beaches and sea, of places where everything seems to show where heaven meets the earth. Hear the sounds of leafs, of the wind blowing the sand or the trees, the sound of the waves crashing and of the rivers' flow. Somehow you feel at peace and you feel grateful for being part of this planet, of this land, of everything that surrounds you in that moment. You feel humble as you see the power of nature, and that is because nature does not need people to be creative. People however, need nature for creative inspiration, for food, for supplies that we aren't able to get anywhere else.

For a while now I have been hearing about the next world crisis, the next world war, that will not be around oil or gas, but water instead. Water, our most valuable asset, will be our ultimate destruction if we loose it.

Living in cold areas, occasionally the pipes freeze and you have no water for cleaning, cooking, showering, or any of our daily chores. Indeed, we are lucky. Not everyone has the privilege to have cleaning routines or fancy ways of cooking.

Today I saw a documentary that highlighted these issues. People are forced to live under a monopoly of interests around water, where they are clearly the victims and so are their following generations. Children and their parents are forced to choose between washing their clothes, cooking, or washing themselves so that they are able to work properly and stay away from social stigmas.

Ancient traditions required the dead to be thrown into the rivers as well as village discharges. The notion that water can recycle has been incorporated in people's minds and that knowledge has passed through generations, and it has blown out of proportion as the world's population keeps increasing. Water can only take so much, and after a threshold value of contamination it actually becomes polluted and harmful for human beings, animals, and plants.

Think twice before leaving your tap open; re-use water for watering the plans (mine get cold tea!) and think of ways to help other manage their own water supply.

Remember: No water, no life.

New year, new look, and new stories

And so a new chapter begins.

This year I will absolutely be more dedicated to this. I got some amazing inspiration from people around me that have mostly photography blogs. Photography is still a new thing in my life, but I am trying to commit to it. Although in Norway there are tonnes of people making wildlife photography, and have fantastic photos, that is not my goal. I want to tell stories through photos, I want to share a view of the world and that is why I write this blog. Since what I love the most is the sea, please don't think that is strange if I have many references to it, and the same goes for Norway.

So, after writing so many times "I", only one more thing is to be said; I am looking for the joy in life and that is what I want to show.

Here is a little treat from BBC. A short documentary that I found that clearly shows the conflicts between humans and animals and the way they have been dealt with.

Wild: Polar Bear Diary - the story from the other side of the ocean

('http://www.youtube.com/p/37F92A11576BCAA8?version=3&hl=en_US',)

Please try to keep up with me! your comments will be very welcome :)

Unexpected sightings

In the last few days I have been feeling very frustrated. No job, an undedicated boyfriend and barely any sun, can really get to you. So, in one of these days I just ran away. I went where no one could find me, relaxed alone and enjoyed the sounds of sea birds. When I came back, everything was the same and I still felt like escaping...There is a small island close to the house, and that was the place I chose to hide. While sitting on a rock, I found myself looking at the sea in search for something. It was very quiet and that is usually when you see harbour porpoises around here. So I stared and stared, enjoying the breeze and the sound of the water hitting the rocks, when suddenly I saw this black thing in the water. It was hard to be sure because the light reflected even shadows of small waves, but once I saw it for the second time I had no doubts. It was a mother with its calf and they were swimming through the fjord, just passing some small fish farm cages. They quickly disappeared, but a few minutes after there was a single habour porpoise in the same area. I was really happy. It truly made me smile, the first and last heart-felt smile of the day.

Photo practice

The day started with a beautiful light, full of great shadows that made a fantastic effect in the snow. I was lucky to find for the first time, tracks of an otter. Here, the otters slide in the snow and aim for the water. You can clearly see the swoop of the sliding and suddenly you see the marks of its paws! I also had the pleasure of seeing a perfectly marked print of an Elk (Alces alces) which usually go around scrapping the trees.

Roads here are full of warning signs to alert people for elks crossingthe road. Apparently, that happens very often! I saw it happening only once, but at that one time 4 elks showed up!

Vesterålen is full of wildlife and, although birds here don't sing much, you can have great close up encounters with fantastic animals!

Norway Wildlife

The first morning in Norway, just after you wake up, what do you think you can hear? Absolutely nothing...Well, maybe some magpies, but not all that crackle and mix of bird songs that I am used to hear in Lisbon. There, birds even sing at night! Here, not so much...you may be lucky enough to hear the white-tailed eagles, but when it comes to birds so far I haven't heard any special songs. Perhaps birds here spend less energy in singing and more energy in gathering food - that's my theory. But one thing that Norway has that not so many places have, is a great light. No matter which time of day it is, you can go outside and be dazzled with how fast it changes and wonderful everything looks, especially with tonnes of snow around you. So, that will be the plan for today - go out with my compact and practice nature photography, so that I can capture the best of this wonderful light, and hopefully some wildlife too! It is very often to look outside from the window and see an eagle just circling around followed by sea gulls! Apparently, sea gulls don't like eagles and chase them away from where maybe they have their young. Eagles are known here for also taking cats! So, don't leave your cat outside when you know there is an eagle around.

Tonight I will post some photos for you to comment on. I will try to go around and take photos at sunset, but usually here animals are most active at sunrise. Wish me luck!

Space dynamics

In viking lands it is very often that one feels dazzled by the beauties of nature. It is so different from the hussle and bussle of the city...You wake up in the morning and just feel purely amazed by your surroundings. Mountains, fjords, and all the wildlife that comes with it, just make a true nature lover feel at home. One of the things that still dazzles me are the northern lights. Visible only at high latitudes, these gorgeous events caused by Sun activity remain one of the wonders of nature.

I found this website that describes and updates solar activity:

http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/resources/blog.php

http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/mission/science/prediction.php

as you can see, solar flares have been very intense recently, and I hope I am outside when the northern lights happen.

Also, you may be able to find some other curious things up in the night sky

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/science/index.cfm?SciencePageID=47

the Cassini spacecraft has been going around Saturn and is going to pass through its largest moon - Titan - in 3 days! Curiously, one of the moons is called Pan :P

So, keep that in mind and don't forget to have your eyes in the sky when you go out at night!