The photographs were taken on December 2nd.
I got this week 14 hours of exercise, all of it walking. The average about of exercise is about 11 hours per week, of which almost 2/3 riding the bicycle. Getting 570 hours of exercise in a year is not bad. Tomorrow I believe there will be snow shoveling in the program, at least the weather forecast promises a couple of cm of snow.
(Posting title is from the poem Eugenia Todd by Edgar Lee Masters.)
The photographs were taken on December 1st.
This morning I walked for two hours at Niipperi, exploring the nature protection area. There was a little bit of snow still left in some places, but the ground was soaking wet, and the ditches were flooding.
(Posting title is from the poem The Benefactors by Rudyard Kipling.)
The photographs were taken on December 1st.
It has been raining today, with thick cloud cover, and even at noon it felt like the sun would still be below the horizon. I went for a walk. In five days I have got 10 hours of walking, and because the roads and paths have been icy, it has been slower going than usually. There is very little snow left, making the landscape dark.
(Posting title is from the poem Word of Mouth by Alison C. Rollins.)
The photograph was taken on November 26th.
Snow has been melting away due to rain. Only about 3 cm is remaining, and in many places none. And more rain is in the weather forecast for the next two days.
This morning I walked for 2 3/4 hours at Kytäjä-Usmi outdoor are in Hyvinkää, 50 km north of Helsinki. There was plenty of snow, 10-20 cm. It was quiet. I didn't meet any other people walking even though there were some tracks in the snow.
(Posting title is from the poem Tooth Painter by Lucille Lang Day.)
The photographs were taken on November 26th.
Yesterday evening I got a broken tooth while eating a Christmas candy. It doesn't feel good.
(Posting title is from the poem Sweet Tooth by Russell Edson.)
The photographs were taken on November 26th.
This morning I walked for 2 1/2 hours, starting from Oittaa and going towards Nuuksio, circling around lake Sorlampi. The forest paths were somewhat difficult, due to a combination of snow, ice, water and mud. I fell a couple of times when the ice broke and my feet dropped into the mud and water beneath. Luckily the camera stayed aboveground. Tall rubber boots were certainly useful.
On the south side of hills little snow remained, and on the north side there was 10 cm of snow. There were lots of flooding. If the sun would have been higher it would have felt like spring. As it is, I started walking an hour before sunrise.
(Posting title is from the poem Air View of an Industrial Scene by Andrew Hudgins.)
The photograph was taken on November 26th.
This morning I walked for over two hours in the forests and swamps between Odilampi and Tremanskärr. The temperature was at -4 °C, and there was some snow and ice, but it didn't carry a man walking. I followed horse and deer trails, and other such tracks when possible.
(Posting title is from the poem Industrial Teflon Comes into Domestic Use by Fleda Brown Jackson.)
The photographs were taken on November 25th.
Autumn and early winter have been wet, with plenty of rain and snow that has melted into puddles. Today and tomorrow the weather is dry and the temperature blow 0 °C according to the forecast, but then it will warm up again, with some rain.
(Posting title is from the poem Song of Industrial America by Sherwood Anderson.)
The photograph was taken in Petikko on November 18th.
This morning I walked for over two hours in Juvanmalmi industrial area and Timmermalmi nature protection area. Both were rather quiet early in the morning. It started to snow, and temperature rose from -2 °C to +1 °C.
(Posting title is from the poem Industrial Lace by Alice Fulton.)
The photographs were taken in Petikko on November 18th.
I got this year 6,204 km riding the bicycle, which is 300 km less than in 2016, but my second best year nevertheless.
(Posting title is from the song Fairytale of New York by The Pogues.)
The photograph was taken in Petikko on November 18th.
Today I had a rest day from riding the bicycle and commuted by car and train instead. Tomorrow I'm planning to commute by bicycle again, the last time this year.
I have been looking at headphones, of similar type to ATH-M40x. The durability of headphones had proved to be quite a challenge, the current ones I have are 1 1/2 years old and having problems already.
(Posting title is from the poem Soliloquy on an Empty Purse by Mary Jones.)
The photographs were taken in Petikko on November 18th.
My bicycle overshoes are quite worn out, and keep on slipping. I ordered new ones, of different type, because those I have were no longer available. So it often happens these days. I guess when you find something that fits and performs well you should order an extra copy (or two) to replace the old gear when it gets worn out.
While I did shopping on the net I had a look at other bicycle gear in addition to overshoes. I have a Schwalbe Marathon Winter tire in the front and a Suomi Tyres W106 tire in the back. But are studded, with 240 studs in the front and 106 studs in the back. The front tire starts to get old, and I had a look at possible replacements. There are three versions of the Schwalbe tire for 28 inch wheels, and for the first time I realized that they have a weight limit: 80 kg, 90 kg or 115 kg.
Before getting a Suomi Tyres W106 tire, I had a Schwalbe tire in the back, and it got worn out rather fast. Perhaps the reason was that it was the one that is rated 80 kg, and when one adds my weight, the weight of the bicycle, and the weight of the bag I'm carrying, the limit is easily exceeded. One other other hand, most other tires don't seem to have a weight limit, so one wonders whether that is due to a less sturdy construction of the Schwalbe tires.
(Posting title is from the poem Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard by Thomas Gray.)
The photographs were taken on November 18th.
The length of day is now 5 hours 47 minutes. Soon, soon it will start getting longer.
(Posting title is from the poem Night of Love by Paul Laurence Dunbar.)
The photographs were taken on November 12th.
I commuted by bicycle, and had to take a detour because a path I have been using was in bad condition because of snow and ice. In the morning we had -2 °C and in the afternoon +2 °C. So far this year I have got 6,102 km riding the bicycle. It may be that I reach 6,200 km, but I won't get to 6,500 km which I got last year.
(Posting title is from the poem The Seasons: Spring by James Thomson.)
The photographs were taken on November 12th.
This morning I walked for 1 1/2 hours. There is about 10 cm of snow remaining, and it seems that we may have a white Christmas, as the temperature is below 0 °C.
(Posting title is from the poem On Education by Elizabeth Bentley.)
The photographs were taken on November 19th.
This morning I walked for two hours in Petikko. There is 10 cm of snow remaining, and some ice on the paths. The walk provided plenty of exercise. Thanks to the snow, it wasn't quite as dark as it would otherwise have been. The length of day is now 5 hours 49 minutes.
(Posting title is from the poem The Difficult Miracle of Black Poetry in America by June Jordan.)
The photographs were taken on November 19th.
We got some more snow today. The depth of snow is now 12 cm, but some of it will be melting away because of rain. Still, the snow makes the landscape brighter.
(Posting title is from the poem To the Nightingale by Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea.)
The photographs were taken on November 19th.
The snow hasn't melted away, there is 10 cm still remaining. For tomorrow some more snow is in the forecast, with some rain on top.
(Posting title is from the poem To the Right Honorable William, Earl of Dartmouth by Phillis Wheatley.)
The photographs were taken at the Elma event in Messukeskus, Helsinki, on November 11th.
We got 15 cm of heavy snow today. I didn't commute by bicycle, which was a wise decision as the road conditions were challenging in the afternoon. There is some snow shoveling in the program for the evening.
(Posting title is from the poem The Ancestors Explain How Envy Grew by Afaa Michael Weaver.)
The photographs were taken at the Elma event in Messukeskus, Helsinki, on November 11th.
Last week it happened that alpacas became a symbol for those who resist nazis in Finland.
(Posting title is from the poem There Is a Birdsong at the Root of Poetry by Jennifer Moxley.)
The photographs were taken at Tremanskärr on November 5th.
This morning I went for a walk in Petikko, walking along the paths and taking photographs. It was rather quiet. I thought about neo-nazis and other such disturbances.
(Posting title is from the poem Departures: Chapter One by Lisa Russ Spaar.)
The photographs were taken at Tremanskärr on November 5th.
Today the length of day is exactly six hours. The weather has been cloudy, so it feels even darker.
(Posting title is from the poem The Grey Hills of Oxford by Sina Queyras.)
The photographs were taken at Tremanskärr on November 5th.
So far this year I have got 6,035 km riding the bicycle. This morning it rained, and there was snow slush and ice on the road, but the studded winter tires provided plenty of grip. In the afternoon the rain stopped, and there was no snow or ice remaining.
The length of day is now 6 hours 3 minutes, and the day will get 16 minutes shorter in 13 days.
(Posting title is from the poem Before Sextet by Bernadette Mayer.)
The photograph was taken on November 4th.
This morning the temperature was -7 °C when I started riding the bicycle, but it warmed up during the day to 1 °C. In the afternoon it started snowing, but that will turn into rain during the night.
In the beginning of this week I did some repairs to the bicycle. The rear tire had got badly worn. Earlier I have written here how good the Schwalbe Marathon Winter tire is, but it turns out there is a big drawback: they are not durable. When I inspected the tire I noticed that 1/10 of the studs were lost, and many of the remaining studs had gouged the inner tire so that it was leaking badly.
I bought a new winter tire, made by Suomi Tyres. It has only 106 studs (the Schwalbe had 240), but is seems quite robust. The price is half of the Schwalbe tire, which lasted less than 2000 km of riding. It remains to be seen how well the new tire handles the varying road conditions.
One needs to take it easy during the first 50 km of riding, so I haven't yet done any heavy braking, but otherwise I liked the way the tire performed today. There was a thin cover of packed snow on the road, slippery enough for testing winter tires. I rode through the central park. Thanks to the cold weather the paths were not muddy, but there were some hard ridges on the path in some places, and one had to take care what way to ride.
(Posting title is from the poem Little Chief by Louise Ayres Garnett.)
The photographs were taken on November 4th.
This morning I walked for 2 1/4 hours at Vaakkoi, circling the lakes and swamps. The level of flooding was remarkable. There was 1 cm of snow on the ground, and occasionally it was snowing. The sun peeked between the clouds.
This year is Finland's 100th anniversary as an independent state. Today, December 6th, is the Finnish Independence Day, and there a plenty of festivities to enjoy.
(Posting title is from the poem Mother, I cannot Mind my Wheel by Walter Savage Landor.)
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