A treatment kind and fair

Lake

Silhouette

Stone

Kolmikulmalampi

Mustalampi

Frogs

Black woodpecker

This morning, when the children were at school, I went for a long walk in the Nuuksio National Park. I started from the Siikajärvi side, mainly because I don't like the Nuuksio center where there are often busloads of tourists milling about. Ecologically it is of course a good thing that few of these people venture far from the parking lot there, but still it spoils the wilderness feeling for me.

The day was perfect for walking, about +11 °C, and occasionally there was a thin cloud cover on the sky. For taking photographs I was out a bit too late, but still it was nice to be walking in the forests at Nuuksio.

It was mostly silent, but at lake Vähä Romlampi there was a racket going on. A bunch of frogs were making noise near the shore, quite a sound from relatively small frogs. At first I couldn't understand where the sound came from until I walked near the frogs and they got silent.

When I returned to the car, a black woodpecker was making noise on a utility pole, quite a daredevil.

Later today I went for a walk with the children at Pirttimäki, in the other side of Nuuksio, but that is another story.

(Posting title is from the poem The Frog by Hilaire Belloc.)

And then on tremulous wing came back to me

Serena

Colors

Gonepteryx rhamni on a Pulmonaria obscura flower

Blue anemone

Fir

Ground

House

Kurkijärvi

I went for a walk in Kurkijärvi forests, starting from the parking lot of Serena water park.

Today I managed to identify the flower I was wondering about yesterday, as there were quite a few of them in the sunny slopes north of lake Kurkijärvi: Pulmonaria obscura. Yesterday I hadn't realized that the flower changes color when it gets older. And I caught a butterfly, Gonepteryx rhamni, in the same photograph as the flower.

(Posting title is from the poem The Tuft of Flowers by Robert Frost.)

Head empty of flowers

Swamp

Lizard

Blue anemone

Flower

Up

Kurkijärvi

Later today I went for a walk at Tremanskärr, going across the swamp and having a look at lake Kurkijärvi. It was a fine, warm spring day, and a lot of things were happening in the forest.

It seems that my head goes empty of plant names during the winter, and it takes some time in spring and summer to remember even the most common species. The flower in the photograph titled "Flower" is something I should know, but I didn't manage to identify it. Have to try again later.

Update: The flower I was wondering about is Pulmonaria obscura. I think it is in flower surprisingly early, but that may be due to the sunny spot where it is growing.

Attending a gig of a teenage pop star

Stage

Guard

Signing

Not my usual subject for photographs, but the daughters persuaded me to give them a lift to a nearby shopping mall where the teenage pop star Robin was giving a short performance. I'm sure that this isn't going to be my usual subject matter in the future either, but the daughters had a good time, and even got signatures of Robin.

Merrily, merrily shall I live now

Reeds

Lake

Sticks

Flooded

Flooded

Wood

Bells

Bee

Yesterday I posted a story about Francisco, who managed to repair his broken LX3 with another LX3 acting as an "organ donor". And today I commuted by bicycle and didn't take photographs (well, maybe one or two but they don't count).

But luckily I have in reserve some photographs from yesterday, taken when I went for a walk with my daughter. It was a fine day.

And it was a fine day also today. During the night there was rain, but that stopped at about 6 am, and the cloud cover was already thinning when I started my bicycle commute to work. And when I returned, it was sunny, birds were singing, and it really felt like spring.

I was disappointed when it took 55 minutes to get to work, the same time as on Tuesday even though I felt that I was faster. But when I rode back home, I was five minutes faster than on Tuesday. I think this was just due to wind. Anyway, 32 km on a bicycle doesn't feel at all bad, especially as the route is so fine.

(Posting title is from "Where the Bee Sucks, There Suck I" by William Shakespeare.)

A broken LX3, resurrected by Francisco

Red

Trees

Drops

No, I have not suddenly traveled to Spain to take photographs. The photographs above were taken by Francisco, who repaired his broken LX3 with parts from my broken LX3. Francisco's photographs from today are posted here with his permission. As you can see, the "recombined" LX3 works perfectly!

As I have written here previously, I mailed my broken LX3 to Francisco so that he might be able to repair his LX3.

Yesterday Francisco almost succeeded in the repairs, except that focusing didn't work properly. And today he fixed this problem as well.

Here is Francisco's story from yesterday, slightly edited for the posting:

I finally managed to make a mixture with both broken cameras and in the end got something half-working. Here's what I did:

• Replaced my LX3's LCD screen with yours: mine had a crack since the camera fall from my hands and the display was not showing any image. -> OK
  
• My LX3's lens didn't extend, so I was hoping to use yours, but when I tried to turn on your LX3 the lens got stuck. Anyway, I replaced the lens module as well. -> OK?
  

After these replacements, "our" repaired LX3 did turn on OK: lens extended correctly and display showed image. But, and here's the problem, pictures are always out of focus. I guess I did something wrong when replacing lenses, so I will have to open it again and take a second look at that, but it'll be tomorrow.

I could take some pictures of the process... only in the beginning. After a few shots I completely forgot to keep on taking pictures and when I realised it was too late and the new camera was already put together. Here are the pictures I took.

Below are three of the photographs in which Francisco documented a part of the repair process. (Taken with an old Nokia phone.)

And here is what happened today:

Great news, I could finally fix the LX3 completely! I don't know exactly what was the problem, but after removing the lens and placing it back again the out-of-focus problem dissapeared, so now it is a fully operational LX3 again thanks to your LX3.

I'm really happy about this. It is good that my LX3 was of use, and it is great that Francisco now has an LX3 that works. I admire his initiative in finding a way to repair the camera. I hope the recombined LX3 has a long career in producing fine photographs!

Was the view that I knew what was true

Wet

Spring

Bicycle 1

Reflect

Blue anemone

Dry

Pond

Playground

I made a mistake this morning. I felt a bit heavy in the feet after riding 32 km on the bicycle yesterday, and commuted by car instead of bicycle. But later I felt so good that I don't think it would have been too much to commute by bicycle again today. And it was a beautiful, sunny spring day, part of which was wasted sitting in a car.

But after work I went for a walk with my youngest daughter, to have a look at spring flowers. And later, after dinner, I went riding the bicycle with my two older daughters, to a pond nearby. It was a pleasure to be out and moving.

(Posting title is from the poem The Foggy, Foggy Blue by Delmore Schwartz.)

Leaving behind him a lengthening trail

Tall

Rock

Gray

I commuted by bicycle today, and it was a pleasure. More that half of the way was beside trailway tracks, where there wasn't much other traffic than occasional fellow-commuters on bicycles. It took 55 minutes to get to work.

Originally I intended to return home by bus, but in the end I returned by bicycle. So, 32 km on a bicycle today, not bad. The return took a bit over one hour, being uphill, and also I lost my way a couple of times and had to backtrack a bit. And even though it was raining while I rode the bicycle towards home, it was a pleasure, quite different than being inside a car.

I think it is possible to take some minutes off these times, so commuting by bicycle is a bit faster than by bus, which takes one hour 5 minutes. And it isn't much slower than by car, which takes 45-50 minutes, sometimes longer.

I didn't have the LX5 with me, so here are two photographs from yesterday and one from today, when I went by car to the local library.

(Posting title is from the poem Life Cycle of Common Man by Howard Nemerov. Highly recommended.)

Double, double toil and trouble

Street

Train

Boats

Bubble

I have cars, train, bicycles, boats in these photographs. I'm planning to start commuting by bicycle tomorrow, have to see how it goes. It is 16 km to the Ministry, and the same back, so in the beginning I'm planning to ride the bike to work and return by bus, and vice versa.

(Posting title is from Song of the Witches by William Shakespeare.)