Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Always wrong to the light, so never seeing

I commuted by bicycle today, and it wasn't so good, as part of the way was covered by ice, and I had to be really careful. I took five photographs today, none of which was any good, so here are instead two photographs from yesterday.

(Posting title is from the poem For Once, Then, Something by Robert Frost.)

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

It's necessary to talk about trees

Today I did go out for a walk after dinner, when it was quite dark, as the moon was hiding behind clouds every once in a while. There is not much foliage left in trees, and thus the dark season is upon us. I do hope we get snow soon, it would lighten up the landscape.

Addendum: This is posting number 2002 at Light Scrape, the milestone of 2000 postings went unnoticed on Sunday.

(Posting title is from the poem What Kind of Times Are These by Adrienne Rich.)

Monday, October 29, 2012

I have had to learn the simplest things

Well, the weather stopped being frosty and turned to rain instead. Morning was rather nice, and we had a spell of clear blue skies, but then it was wet. I commuted by bus, and didn't go for a walk. Feeling tired, but I'm not quite sure why. Maybe it was the early darkness falling. Lenght of day is now at 8 h 54 min, not terribly short yet.

(Posting title is from the poem Maximus, to himself by Charles Olson.)

Sunday, October 28, 2012

I see myself in the shadows of a leaf

Here are four more photographs from our walk today in Meiko wilderness area. A fine day, good for walking. I don't think I have time for such things tomorrow.

(Posting title is from the poem Self-Portrait by Afaa Michael Weaver.)

Bore the weight of lake water

I did quite a lot of walking today. First I went out with the youngest daughter, walking the nearby roads and paths, looking at the frost and the remaining autumn colors.

Then the oldest daughter wanted to go out as well, but somewhere farther away. She suggested Meiko, and I was easily persuaded, even though the car ride takes some time.

We walked around three lakes at Meiko, lakes Korsolampi, Immerlampi and Kakarlampi. Of these the smallest, Kakarlampi, was almost completely covered by ice. Well, mostly rather thin ice, but it is a start. There was a lot to be seen, and we enjoyed the sunshine as well, having picnic by lake Kakarlampi, on the sunny rocks facing south.

It was easier to walk than earlier, because the ground was partly in ice and swamps carried a person rather well. In fact, we saw several people picking cranberries, which is now easier than before thanks to the frozen ground.

(Posting title is from the poem Paean to Place by Lorine Niedecker.)

Saturday, October 27, 2012

But the true fair, that is the gentle wit

It has been cold, -8 °C last night, and the forecast promises almost as cold for this night. I went with the children to the Helsinki Book Fair, to have a look what is on offer. There were a lot of people there, and it was a bit tiring to walk around the halls, but it was nice anyway. I didn't buy any books for myself, but the children all found something they liked. Not a bad day, but tomorrow I'm planning to be outside, looking at the frosty landscape.

(Posting title is from the poem Amoretti LXXIX: Men Call you Fair by Edmund Spenser.)

Friday, October 26, 2012

See how in a living swarm they come

We got snow today, not a lot but at least the landscape changed. The weather forecast promises cold weather for the weekend also, down to -8 °C during the night. It feels almost like winter.

(Posting title is from the poem The Snow-Shower by William Cullen Bryant.)

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Haunting the black air, braver at night

Today was a busy day once again, and I was tired, but after dinner I went for a walk with my daughter, taking some photographs of the autumn scenery. End of October is nearing, and it seems that we are importing more and more of Halloween traditions to Finland each year. I don't know whether I should be happy about this.

(Posting title is from the poem Her Kind by Anne Sexton.)

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

I don't believe that dreams are false

I was too busy and too tired today to take any photographs. Instead, here is photograph from last weekend, taken at Meiko lake. I heard later that Meiko is quite "wild" in the sense that wolf and lynx have been spotted there. Certainly a place worth exploring!

Today we had the retirement party of a colleague, it was his last day at work. I'm feeling sad, and also happy for him, as he is someone who knows what is worthwhile about life. I have benefited greatly from his advice, and so have so many others that is seems that he has been supporting us all. This mixture of sadness and happiness feels rather special, I think it is due to noticing the deep humanity of a fellow being, who is an example to us all.

(Posting title is from the poem The Answer by Bei Dao, translated by Bonnie S. McDougall.)

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Whispering something about clouds and cold wind

It seems that currently I just can't arrange time for taking photographs. I commuted by bus today, but I didn't take photographs then, but instead I read e-mails and a book of poems. Later I went to the library with the children, who seem to be rather big consumers of books, just like I am. Here are two photographs taken during the ride to the library.

(Posting title is from the poem Reading an Anthology of Chinese Poems of the Sung Dynasty, I Pause To Admire the Length and Clarity of Their Titles by Billy Collins.)

Monday, October 22, 2012

But fear to be fully awake

I commuted by bicycle today. Afterwards I was a bit too tired to go for a walk to take photographs. Thus, here are five photographs taken during the weekend, one at Tremanskärr swamp and four at Meiko lake.

Posting title is from the lyrics of My Grudge Blues by Meiko Kaji.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Walks in a world of wilderness

Another milestone reached, I have now taken 100,000 photographs with the Panasonic LX5. The LX5 does have some problems, but nothing serious so far, mainly the click wheel which ofter refuses to register when turning it to the right. This is inconvenient when changing aperture to a smaller one, which I often want to do, and sometimes I need to try half a dozen times to succeed with the wheel. Also, sometimes the LX5 changes the aspect ratio by itself to the widest setting; this may be due to a contact issue with the aspect ratio switch.

However, the main thing is that the LX5 allows to take photographs good enough for my purposes, it hasn't yet failed me once.

Today I went with the children to Tremanskärr swamps, which only takes a ten-minute car drive. We walked across the swamp, in rubber boots, had picnic on the rocks behind the swamp, and walked then all the way to lake Kurkijärvi, and returned from there.

Yesterday we were at Meiko, but going there and back requires more than one hour of sitting in the car, which isn't good at all, even though the landscape at Meiko is something which I really like to explore.

Meiko is a bit similar to Nuuksio, but there are differences, and of course I also like the unknown about the place, all the surprises, the possibility of getting lost (even though not seriously), finding something you have never seen before. And the quietness: Meiko is a much more quiet place than Nuuksio, at least I have found it so, but that may be partly due to the time of the year, so few people have been there. But it seems that there is much less noise in Meiko, as the big roads are some distance away. But wasting time sitting in a car, that is not a thing I do voluntarily.

In any case, today Tremanskärr was also a quiet place, we only saw one person during the walk, she was picking cranberries on the swamp, but that was all, we seemed to be the only people visiting the place.

(Posting title is from the poem A Sweet Nosegay, or Pleasant Poesy, Containing a Hundred and Ten Philosophical Flowers by Isabella Whitney.)