Today I tried out the new shoes while commuting by bicycle, 25 km in all. It felt good, but there is still some hurt in the feet left, and it may take some time until they heal properly. Anyway, I think the new shoes were a sensible investment.
This time of the year there is a great deal of interesting details to take photographs of, so here is a sample of what was available today. A hot day, much hotter than yesterday, as it was 25 °C already by 9 am. Now it is finally getting cooler; at 9 pm the temperature is at 24.5 °C. But tomorrow will be another hot day.
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Pine Coppices
17 minutes ago
4 comments:
I'm glad about the shoes! I love to see fireweed, or rosebay willow herb as we know it and these images are lovely. Did you know that it got it's name as it was introduced and escaped from Victorian gardens as a result of the expansion of the railways? The steam trains frequently set the edges of the railway lines on fire, and fireweed was very quick to colonise the freshly burnt land and then seeds got carried along the railway.
@Colin: I had no idea about that concerning fireweed. In Wikipedia they say: "Epilobium angustifolium, commonly known as Fireweed (mainly in North America), Great Willow-herb (Canada), or Rosebay Willowherb (mainly in Britain)".
At one point I debated what name to use here, and selected fireweed, basically flipping a mental coin.
It is interesting how much cultural information is included in plant names.
I checked also the Finnish Wikipedia page about fireweed, and it turned out the name "tulikukka" - fire flower - has been used for it, referring to the fact that it is one of the first plants to arrive after a forest fire.
I have this book and often refer to it. It is full of interesting information such as folklore, origins of names and such like:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Flora-Britannica-Richard-Mabey/dp/1856193772
Perhaps there is a Finnish equivalent.
@Colin: I have a couple of Finnish flora books, and one does have a list a alternate or folk names for each plant, but nothing like this book seems to have.
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