That he was going to carry it for a very long time

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The photographs were taken on December 27th in Nuuksio.

(Posting title is from the poem Faint Music by Robert Hass.)

A little enterprising and a little hungry

Snow 1

Snow 2

Snow 3

Snow 4

On February 22nd I walked in Nuuksio, starting from the parking place at Yli-Takkula. There was 23...30 cm of snow, in some places 50 cm, and the snow was soft and didn't carry a person walking, so it was heavy going.

(Posting title is from the poem Oxford Stroud Recollects Fishing with Electricity by R. T. Smith.)

Were Paradise to me

Yli-Takkula

Red

Path

On February 20th I went for a walk in the north parts of Nuuksio, starting from the parking place at Yli-Takkula. It was snowing a little bit, and the landscape was still in the winter phase.

(Posting title is from the poem Midwinter by Sophie Jewett.)

Where love dissembles itself as landscape

Posts

Red

Bell

Daisy

Fern

It was raining last Sunday afternoon, but I decided to go for a walk in the Nuuksio forests, to lake Hauklampi south of lake Saarijärvi in the north parts of Nuuksio. While driving there I realized I had left the compass home, and debated whether I should go somewhere else, to a place known beforehand. But then I decided that getting lost wouldn't be a big risk, as I had the map with me in any case.

However, there were thick clouds above and it was raining, occasionally heavily, which meant that there was no reliable information of the compass direction, and the map I had with me wasn't really an orienteering map, showing only the coarse features of the landscape.

I started walking anyway, trying to locate myself via the big features, such as hills and rocky cliffs. But the landscape in this part of Nuuksio is rather intricate, and finally I got confused, thinking that a particular cliff was another, and the path going below it was another one shown on the map. In addition, part of the cloud cover thinned a bit, and I thought that sun must be in that direction, even though in reality I was 180° in error of the direction. And after a half-an-hour walk I found myself near where I started walking, rather embarrased.

However, at this point the cloud cover started thinning in earnest, and sun became visible, so I decided to try to go to lake Hauklampi once again, using the sun in orienteering. And this time I managed quite well, going up and down hills, directly to a hill where the lake was visible.

I didn't linger long by the lake, as it started to rain again, and the map was getting soaked even though I tried to protect it inside the jacket. Getting back was easier than finding the lake, so I didn't get lost again.

These photographs are from the farm at Yli-Takkula where I left the car at the parking place. I'll post some more photographs later today.

(Posting title is from the poem The Lost Land by Eavan Boland.)

Come now, taste what the world has to offer

Fallen

Wood

Saarijärvi

Boats

Fence

Yli-Takkula

Here are photographs taken on Saturday, while walking in Nuuksio south of lake Saarijärvi and returning to the parking lot at Yli-Takkula.

I have commuted by bicycle on four days this week, even though yesterday and today it rained plenty. During the previous week I commuted by bicycle on five days. The daily commute is 32 km, 1 1/2 hours, which means in a week 7 1/2 hours of exercise. In addition, during the weeked I have gone walking in forests, typically for 3-4 hours. This means a total of 11 hours of exercise weekly.

In my teens I took part in cross-country skiing competitions, and then I trained for about the same number of hours per week. Of course, I trained much harder, but I think I'm getting into shape right now, as it starts to feel really pleasant to get on the bicycle or start walking in a forest.

Maybe I should also arrange for some rest days, because there is the danger of too much exercise, one should have time to recover after exercise. Now I ride the bicycle for 45 minutes each morning and afternoon during the work week, and this may be too much in the long run, as I'm no longer so young as I was when I competed in skiing.

(Posting title is from the poem What to Eat, What to Drink, and What to Leave for Poison by Camille T. Dungy.)

Heartbreak, looked at through the wrong end of distance's glasses

Nuuksio

Fence

Birch

Hillside

Saarijärvi 1

Saarijärvi 2

Rock

Marked

I took these photographs last Saturday while walking with the two oldest daughters in Nuuksio wilderness. We visited two places noted as worth seeing in the Espoo guide to outdoors. (See here, in Finnish.)

We started from the parking lot at Yli-Takkula, and walked west towards lake Saarijärvi, where we found the first place, smooth rock at the lakeside. It wasn't that special (maybe I'm not really a rock person), but the waves coming ashore made a soothing sound, which was enjoyable in itself.

The second place was rock also, the highest point in Nuuksio (as well as Espoo and the neighboring cities), at 114.5 meters above sea level. Note that the usually given height of 114.2 meters is outdated since new 1.12.2012 measurement. There was a pile of rocks marking the spot. However, forest is blocking the view, so there wasn't much to see even though the rocky hill is over 40 meters higher than lake Saarijärvi.

(Posting title is from the poem Written on the eve of my 20th high school reunion, which I was not able to attend by A. E. Stallings.)