A beautiful old farm building

I tried to make this photo of a beautiful old farm building look a little bit like an oil painting:

 



 

PS

I added two other "oil painting photos":

 

 

 

 

 

The First Snow

Not much so far, but still some of the white stuff on the lawn, early in the morning:

 

And this is how it looked just after sunset in the afternoon (about 03.15 p.m.):

This was the view at about 04.30 p.m.:

 

Car Carrier Seine Highway in Strong Headwind

It was a fairly rough ride for the car carrier Seine Highway (148 m x 25 m) this afternoon in Øresund, but the ship is powerful enough to take the strong wind blowing against it:

The somewhat smaller car carrier Autoprestige (129 m x 19 m) was also going northwards in the Sound, but it turned around and continued southwards, presumably due to the strong headwind.
Now, about an hour later, I can see that the Autoprestige is again heading north, as the wind seems to be have lost some of its strength.

After the storm: Still quite windy in Øresund

No ships to be seen in my part of Øresund now, because it is still quite windy after the storm last night:

Storm report: So far the major "damage" in my location - the Christmas tree lost its lights

What a difference a day makes!

This was my view yesterday:

And this was the view a few minutes ago:

So far, the only "damage" has been that the Christmas tree lost its lights. Let's hope it stays that way. But the worst is yet to come, according to local weather reports.

The Christmas tree on the lawn before my house

 

 The Christmas tree on the lawn in front of my house looks nice, with Øresund in the background.

The Danish Navy's pollution control vessel Gunnar Seidenfaden in the Sound

The Royal Danish Navy's pollution control vessel Gunnar Seidenfaden (56 m x 12.3 m) was this afternoon going to the Kattegat area. Two weeks ago its sister ship Gunnar Thorson was seen in the Sound.

A "flying Christmas Saucer" has landed in Helsingborg

This "flying Christmas saucer" has landed on the Rådhustorget square in central Helsingborg,

without most people even noticing. I think it's quite nice.

The Hamnkrogen restaurant in Helsingborg in Christmas "dress"

Hamnkrogen, a popular Helsingborg restaurant is "dressed" for the Christmas season:



The Hamnkrogen restaurant. (On the left the Knutpunkten ferry terminal.)

The "Official" Helsingborg Christmas Tree on the Stortorget Square

The "official" Helsingborg Christmas tree always stands on the city's main

square, Stortorget. This year statues wear Santa "hats".




Helsingborg's main Christmas tree and one of the statues wearing Santa "hats".



The Christmas tree seen from the other side. (The Junkbox is nice too).

 

 

Another view of Stortorget with the Christmas tree and Christmas lights.

 

 

The up to the medieval Kärnan tower.

 

Two ships from this morning

 

The Antiqua Barbuda registry tanker STI Highlander (183 m x 27 m)
was on its way to Ust Luga.



The catamaran type work boat Lillgrund (22.5 m x 9.5 m) is according to its
owners, Danish Foniks A/S, used for "crew, work, transport, diving".

Views from my balcony (21): A cold December 2 morning in Øresund

The night must have been rather cold, because still at about 7.30 a.m. there was a frosty white cover on the lawns and some of the neighbouring roofs:

Cargo ships TransPine and Silver Lake in a windy Øresund

Yesterday afternoon the wind was quite strong in Øresund:

The Swedish 178 m x 26 m ro-ro cargo ship TransPine did not struggle when it was going northwards in the Sound, but you could see that it was quite windy:




The TransPine was on its way to Antwerp.

The going was more jumpy for the smaller freighter Silver Lake (81 m x 16 m):



The Silver Lake was heading for Skuddenshavn.

PS

I added this "windy" image:

"Music for the Advent Period" from Dresden on German ZDF: Russian soprano Julia Lezhneva was the star of the evening

The Dresden Music for the Advent Period concerts have been broadcast on German
ZDF since the year 2000.

The Music for the Advent Period concert from the Dresden's beautifully restored Frauenkirche, broadcast by German ZDF on the First Sunday of Advent, has for years now been a wonderful beginning of the Christmas music season on television. The concert today was no exception, even without Chief Conductor Christian Thielemann this year conducting his fine Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden.



Markus Poschner made his debut with the Staatskapelle Dresden.

Due to the sudden illness of Franz Welser-Möst, who was scheduled to conduct the Advent concert this year, the Generalmusikdirektor of the Bremen Philharmonic, Markus Poschner, was the "master of ceremonies", and he did it very well, indeed.

American mezzo soprano Joyce DiDonato - one of the most sought after mezzos in the world - gave a commanding rendition of Pietro Mascagni's Ave Maria, and I also enjoyed the singing of German tenor Klaus Florian Vogt.



Soprano Julia Lezhneva in front of the Staatskapelle Dresden.

However, for me the young Russian soprano Julia Lezhneva (she is only 23!) was the "star" of the evening. I had never heard her before, but listening to her singing Tu virginum corona and Alleluia from Mozart's Exultate, Jubilate, made it easy to understand why she has been blessed with so much critical acclaim despite of her young age.



Julia Lezhneva sings like an angel!

And it is not only the beauty of Julia Lezhneva's voice, but her entire personality that mesmerizes audiences. She sings - and even looks - like a little angel, without the slightest trace of diva behaviour, which is so common among many of her older, more well known colleagues. One can only hope that she stays this way!

The Kammerchor der Frauenkirche Dresden (The Frauenkirche chamber chorus) also deserves high marks. Their sensitive singing and beautiful phrasing greatly contributed to the success of the evening.

PS

Here is a video for those who are not familiar with the captivating voice of Julia Lezhneva:

 

First Sunday of Advent drawings by Albert Edelfelt

In 1897 the Swedish magazine Ord och Bild published these Advent drawings by the Finnish artist Albert Edelfelt:

Sailing in the Sound on the Last Day of November

It was nice to see the Swedish yacht Lacee Bee in Øresund yesterday afternoon:

 

 

Cargo ship Bornholm going to Kotka

The small cargo ship Bornholm (118 m x 15 m) was yesterday morning on its way to Kotka (Finland):




Bornholm heading for Finnish Kotka yesterday morning.