The afternoon gathered distance

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The photographs were taken at Vuokatti on July 13th.

(Posting title is from the poem Fourth of July at Santa Ynez by John Haines.)

In the silence of worlds unknown

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The photographs were taken at Vuokatti on July 12th.

(Posting title is from the poem Hearing the Battle.—July 21, 1861 by Sarah Morgan Bryan Piatt.)

To those who call evil good

Flower

The photograph was taken at Vuokatti on July 4th.

Even though I abhor violence, today I feel great sympathy towards those who wish to punch nazis. It is remarkable how Trump and his minions protect neo-nazis and white supremacists, even though 73% of mass killings in the US since 1983 have been committed by white men. Well, perhaps this isn't so remarkable given that 90 years ago Trump's father was arrested at a KKK rally in Queens.

(Posting title is from the song If You Had A Vinyard by Sinead O'Conner.)

I'll look for you

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The photographs were taken at Vuokatti on July 4th.

This morning I walked for 1 1/2 hours in Petikko, tasting cranberries and blueberries. It remains to be seen how hot it will get today. The weather forecast promises 25 °C, and 30-40 mm of rain, accompanied by thunder.

(Posting title is from the poem So Long, Mom (A Song for World War III) by Tom Lehrer.)

I hide behind the golden door!

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These photographs were taken at Vuokatti on July 3rd.

Today, inspired by Guardian, I tried writing a poem about Trump, but failed. Here is the attempt anyway.

You are fired, you poor!
I pollute the air you breathe,
and wreck the road to my beaches.
Storms torment you,
I hide behind the golden door!

No ease from the eye

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Tomorrow I have two appointments with health care practitioners, to assess eye and tooth.

These photographs were taken at Vuokatti on July 26th.

(Posting title is from the poem Eye and Tooth by Robert Lowell.)

Speaking and listening: that was the contradiction

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Today I had six hours of meetings, one after another, no break in between, which was not good for the muscles. I have a standing desk in my office, which helps to avoid long stretches of sitting, but that wasn't possible today.

The photographs were taken in Vuokatti on July 26th.

(Posting title is from the poem Sitting with Others by Rodney Jones.)

His bulging eyes fixed on the ground

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Today I got my hands dirty and did some repairs to the bicycle. I hope it is now ok until I need to install the winter tires.

The conditions for commuting by bicycle are excellent even though the nights are getting to be cold. Today we had 7 °C in the morning and 22 °C in the afternoon. It is dry and sunny.

The photographs were taken on July 25th on top of the Vuokatinvaara hill.

(Posting title is from the poem The Chain Gang by Robert Winner.)

I want to see them, or any

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I walked for two hours this morning at Tremanskärr, exploring the swamps and forests in the east parts of the area. There were plenty of raspberries to eat.

The photographs were taken at Vuokatti on July 25th, walking around the Vuokatinvaara hill and up and down the smaller hills. The UKK walking route goes south to Koli.

(Posting title is from the poem Bears at Raspberry Time by Hayden Carruth.)

A sonnet might be made of it

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This morning I walked for two hours, exploring the swamps in the north part of Vaakkoi. For some reason there were no mosquitoes or other biting things, perhaps due to sunshine and wind, and the dry weather we have had recently.

These photographs were taken at Vuokatti on July 24th.

(Posting title is from the poem Sonnet in Search of an Author by William Carlos Williams.)

How people look away who once would look

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I commuted by bicycle on four days this week, and that felt good. The weather was rather perfect for riding the bicycle, as it was dry and mostly sunny, and the temperature was +10...+14 °C in the morning and +20...+24 °C in the afternoon.

The photographs were taken at Vuokatti on July 24th. The path signs, boards and steps were a little better than at Tahko, even though there was some decay. It was rather slippery and there was some flooding, because of rain.

(Posting title is from the poem The Romance of Middle Age by Mary Meriam.)

This is how you say, How did it go?

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I took 2648 photographs in five days while traveling to three skiing resorts: Tahko, Vuokatti and Koli. There isn't much skiing to be done now that it is summer, but the hills do offer wide landscape to enjoy, and plenty of exercise when walking up and down the steep slopes.

Tahko was the worst site, because the paths were in bad repair, signs missing altogether, boards and steps decaying, and in one place the start of the path was completely missing because of construction work. However, the landscape is definitely worth further exploration. Vuokatti had also problems with paths, except that the signs were a bit better, although there was plenty of decay. However, Koli turned out to be good, the signs were up-to-date on the walking paths, and paths were mostly in good shape.

Of course, this is quite natural, as Koli is the least dependent on the winter season for attracting visitors. I saw loads of tourist busses in the parking place at Koli, coming from Norway, Denmark, etc. However, the paths were rather empty of people, because of the rain, which flooded the paths in many places. Between Sunday afternoon and Monday morning there was over 30 mm of rain, which is half of the average amount of rain for a whole month.

The photographs were taken on July 13th. It will take some time to go through the photographs taken during the trip north.

(Posting title is from the poem “The Decay of ancient knowledge” by Nick Lantz.)

When to be wise means mostly not to wish for what you love

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Net

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On December 29 I went for a walk at the time of the sunrise, walking around the golf course at Katinkulta. The field was still mostly covered by snow, which was melting away. I didn't see the sun, but nevertheless there were some sunrise colors to be seen between the clouds.

(Posting title is from the poem The Ice Storm by Christian Wiman.)