And to tell the truth, if it shattered, what would I do?

Flower 1

Flower 2

The photographs were taken on July 3rd at Valtavaara hill in Ruka, Kuusamo.

Today I realized that when uploading photographs to Flickr a setting had changed, and the photographs were not publicly available for browsing. This happened some time ago already, and the latest 2,100 photographs were not visible to other viewers besides myself. I changed the visibility so that they are now available for viewing.

(Posting title is from the poem “What potion should I give the night so she’ll always wonder?” by Abraham Sutzkever.)

So what if people stare

Ruka 1

Ruka 2

Ruka 3

Ruka 4

Ruka 5

The photographs were taken at Ruka in Kuusamo on July 2nd.

This morning I rode the bicycle around the airport, getting 42 km of riding in two hours. When I came home I realized that some people are able to run the same distance in two hours.

(Posting title is from the poem The Toothless Wonder by Phil Bolsta.)

Before take-off, before we find ourselves

Ruka 1

Ruka 2

The photographs were taken at Ruka on July 2nd, showing Rukatunturi hills. The white plastic covers hide piles of show, stored for the autumn for the beginning of the ski season.

One of the things which I like about London is the multitude of cultures living together, and the glimpses of enjoyment of life one can see on the streets.

In Finland there is much less of this happening, which is a pity, and I do hope things will improve. Immigration is important for many reasons, not only because of the economy which benefits of new people coming in. There are less and less children in Finland, so we need immigration to cope with the challenges of aging population. Also, because Finland has been isolated, there are unfortunately quite a lot of hereditary diseases, and widening the gene pool (so to speak) would be rather beneficial. I really don't understand the arguments of people who oppose these benefits.

(Posting title is from the poem Don't You Wonder, Sometimes? by Tracy K. Smith.)

Everything looked like home

Ruka 1

Ruka 2

Ruka 3

Ruka 4

The photographs were taken on July 2nd while walking along the Valtavaara route at Ruka in Kuusamo.

Spending some time in London was rewarding although it was also exhausting. Most things were fine, but traveling in London posed problems.

We bought London travelcards, but they never worked at the underground gates. Well, once it happened that the children got through ok, and only my ticket generated an error message, but usually all the cards failed, giving error messages at gates, either "Seek assistance" or error code 09.

Luckily there was always a person somewhere near the gates to ask for help, and by showing the ticket we were able to pass the gates.

In bus traffic there were no devices for reading travel cards. One showed the ticked to the driver and that was fine.

In retrospect it would have been better to buy Oyster cards for traveling, but I'm not sure they would have worked any better, because lots of people seemed to have trouble passing the gates, even people with Oyster cards.

(Posting title is from the poem We wonder at our shifting capacities by Anna Moschovakis.)

There, no one to tell what to do

Lake 1

Lake 2

Cabin 1

Cabin 2

Here are two pairs of photographs, taken at the Valtavaara hill route in Kuusamo on July 2nd. Two of the photographs were taken with the LX100, two with the iPhone SE. Can you spot the difference?

After a week of traveling to London I'm back in Finland, and it is raining, heavily.

And oh the awful wonder of what is happening with Trump. I do hope truth and openness will win this case.

(Posting title is from the poem Wonder as Wander by Sharon Olds.)

I can only describe to you

Hill 1

Hill 2

The photographs were taken on June 30th at Ruka in Kuusamo, climbing to the top of Rukatunturi hill.

This morning I managed to go through all the photographs taken so far this summer. With the iPhone SE I have taken 2,000 photographs, and I'm getting somewhat familiar with the results. Often they are quite good. The LX100 is a much better photographic tool, but I don't carry it with me when I go riding the bicycle.

(Posting title is from the poem A Poem for Record Players by John Wieners.)

I looked long at the rearview mirror: there, the one man

Hill 1

Hill 2

Hill 3

The photographs were taken on the Pyhävaara hill in Kuusamo on June 30th.

Yesterday the car passed the annual vehicle inspection, at 17 years of age. The car needed quite a lot of repairs. For example the exhaust pipe, the oxygen sensor and the distributor had to be fixed. In addition, I bought new summer tires. The car should be ok, but further repairs need to be done at some point.

I have been following what is happening in the United States, and things are becoming more and more strange. Half a year ago the country seemed to be quite ok, and now things are all messed up. Of course that was to be expected when electing a dangerous and stupid narcissist as the president.

(Posting title is from the poem City Without a Name by Czeslaw Milosz.)

All day he draws and imagines

Ruka 1

Ruka 2

Ruka 3

Ruka 4

The photographs were taken on the Rukatunturi hill in Kuusamo on June 29th.

This morning I rode the bicycle to Oittaa in Espoo, and found a route I hadn't realized was available for exploring.

(Posting title is from the poem Apparition of the Exile by Bruce Weigl.)