I cannot rub the strangeness from my sight

Apples

The photograph was taken on September 2nd.

(Posting title is from the poem After Apple-Picking by Robert Frost.)

What was does not console

Apple

The photograph was taken on January 20th.

Yesterday I walked for two hours in Nuuksio with my daughter, walking across lake Kattilajärvi and lake Vääräjärvi. It was cold, -18 °C, and sunny to such a degree that one had to squint. We met only one person, and he was warming up by open fire by lake Vääräjärvi.

(Posting title is from the poem Disenchantment Bay by Timothy Murphy.)

I trust the sanity of my vessel

Ligularia dentata

Fly

Apple

I commuted by bicycle today, and got soaking wet. My gear (helmet, shoes, cycling shorts etc.) are still drip, drip, dripping... It was not raining everywhere, but one of the showers happened to be where I was, and it was pouring so hard that the street was flooding.

Paul Maxim wrote about his great, great grandfather Joshua Slocum, "the first man to ever sail around the world alone".

I borrowed Slocum's book of his trip from the local library, in a Finnish translation from 2005, and it was a great book indeed. I posted a book review (in Finnish) at the Valopolku blog. Slocum was not only a skilled sailboat-builder and sailor, he also knew how to write a story so that it hooks the reader.

My daughter started her guitar lessons today. We didn't buy a smaller-sized guitar after all, she is using an old full-sized one we had at home, and it seems to be quite ok for learning to play.

(Posting title is from the poem To the Harbormaster by Frank O'Hara.)

When the wild leaves loosen

Dry

Pair

Round

Green

Bird cherry

Apples

After dinner I went for a walk in the nearby forests. Autumn is approaching fast, foliage is starting to get a bit of color here and there. I ate a couple of blueberries, but they don't taste much anything any more. And I don't have much interest in mushrooms these days.

There is a pile of things to do at work, of the type "ready by tomorrow". Maybe things even out during the next few weeks. When people return to work after summer vacations there tends to be a rush to get things done.

(Posting title is from the poem Day in Autumn by Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by Mary Kinzie.)

Singular yet part of a flock

Red

Apples

Field

I commuted by bicycle today, and then I also went for a walk late in the evening; in all, 2 1/2 hours of exercise today, not bad. It was needed, as this week has been rather busy at work, one thing after another, and I didn't manage to catch up with things to do today either.

Well, so it is sometimes.

I have been thinking about the iPad recently, and also discussed with colleagues the topic of using an iPad for work. Is it good enough to replace a laptop? What can one do with it, and what you can't? It seems that it is rather good for storing and reading documents for meetings and travel. But writing, that is another thing. Maybe one would get used to the virtual keyboard.

(Posting title is from the poem The Vanishing Point by Emily Warn.)

As I was young and easy under the apple boughs

Black

Apple 1

Apple 2

In the garden blackcurrants and apples are ripening. I tasted today the first blackcurrants, and good they were. But it will take some time for the apples to be ready for picking. These are the first from the apple tree we planted two years ago, I hope they will taste good. At least they look inviting.

I commuted by bicycle today, even though I had stiff muscles this morning, thanks to all the chores I did at home during the weekend, including cleaning and waxing the floors. But still it felt good riding the bicycle, I like the commute. And there was no rain so the weather was perfect.

Speaking of apples, I have been thinking about getting an iPad, even though I'm far from convinced of the need to have one. One reason is that more and more stuff, including books, is being offered on the iPad, including the local library, and I have got the impression that reading books is not altogether impossible using the said device.

The other reason to think about the iPad is for the display of photographs. Currently I occasionally show my photographs from a computer, or (rarely) make paper prints using a commercial photo service, but neither of these approaches seems to work for me. But an iPad, especially the new one with the high-res display, that might make a difference.

But do I have enough use for such a device, that is the question.

And then there is the matter of space, does an iPad have enough? My Aperture library is about 115 GB in size, and my iTunes music collection about 90 GB, and then there are the movies (for the children to view, perhaps) and what about the e-books?

(Posting title is from the poem Fern Hill by Dylan Thomas.)

Spiraling towards darkness

Spiral, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Fallen, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Apples, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

I'm feeling tired, have been doing some renovation at home. But I guess some of the tiredness is caused by the shortening days, as it is increasingly hard to get a good amount of sunshine each day.

Here are three recent photographs, showing a bit of sunshine, a bit of the approaching darkness.

Bright is beautiful - NOT!

Road, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Autumn apples, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Apples, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

66,666, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Here are some more photographs from today, taken when I realized that the clouded day and the muted autumn colors fit together beautifully. It was such a good day to be walking outside, especially after the sickness which hit me three days ago.

The last photograph was included simply because it happens to be 66,666th photograph taken with the LX3. Go, LX3, go!

Apples

Apple tree, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Apples, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Apples, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

There are a lot of apples this autumn here in Finland. This is of course not at all uncommon, but still, there are a LOT of them. At the same time you start to feel that the summer is over and we are advancing towards winter and darkness.