There’s no one to see

Museum 1

Museum 2

The photographs were taken at the Magritte exhibition in Amos Rex museum on March 3rd.

(Posting title is from the poem Delphine Is on Silent Retreat by Amy Key.)

And once, when I was very young

View 1

View 2

The photographs were taken at the Natural History Museum in Helsinki on July 28th.

(Posting title is from the poem The Worm by Ralph Bergengren.)

And yet the thing that most is your desire

Museum 1

Museum 2

Museum 3

The photographs were taken on February 25th at the National Museum of Finland.

The weather continues to be sunny. We had -11 °C in the morning and +1 °C in the afternoon. The road starts to be ok for summer tires, except for some patches of ice in shadowed spots. Riding the bicycle feels good indeed.

(Posting title is from the poem Of the Mean and Sure Estate by Sir Thomas Wyatt.)

How long film needs to be

Mine 1

Mine 2

Mine 3

Mine 4

Mine 5

Mine 6

Mine 7

Mine 8

Today I walked for 2 hours 40 minutes, exploring swamps southwest of lake Luukki. There is a small river going south, and it provided a lot of opportunities for taking photographs.

These photographs were taken on July 8th at Tytyri Mine Museum, which is 80 meters underground.

(Posting title is from the poem viewfinder by Kirby Knowlton.)

With painted wooden sticks

Arktikum 1

Arktikum 2

Arktikum 3

Here are three photographs hastily taken in Arktikum museum at Rovaniemi. I didn't correct the flaws in these photographs in post-processing, let them be as they were. But I recommend highly the exhibitions as Arktikum, they were of top quality and well presented.

One of the attractions was a photography exhibition by Pekka Sammallahti, titled Arctic Mindscapes, which was there until 3rd of August. Somehow I managed to confuse Pekka Sammallahti with Pentti Sammallahti, who is my all-time favorite photographer, and at first I was a bit disappointed not to see the kind of photographs I was expecting.

But when I had looked at the photographs for a while (none of them is shown here), I realized the quiet strength of them, for example a photograph which was mostly black-and-white, except for an iceberg floating on the sea, showing blue color.

Pekka and Pentti Sammallahti are brothers. Pekka Sammallahti is a professor at Oulu university, specializing in Saami language and culture. Pentti Sammallahti is a world-famous photographer.

(Posting title is from the poem Culture and the Universe by Simon J. Ortiz.)

Soon upon his vision break

Flowers

Windmill

These photographs were taken at Seurasaari Open-Air Museum on June 26th.

I rode the bicycle this afternoon, but it was almost too warm for it, +28 °C. Afterwards I went swimming with my daughter, and the cold water felt good.

(Posting title is from the poem Open, Time by Louise Imogen Guiney.)

In the overall wandering of mirroring mind

Gulls

Squirrel

On June 26th I visited Seurasaari Open-Air Museum with my daughter. There are a lot of gulls and squirrels on the island.

(Posting title is from the poem Corsons Inlet by A. R. Ammons.)

Little souls who thirst for fight

War 1

War 2

Keys

Phones

On May 4th we went to Hämeenlinna, and in addition to Häme Castle we visited other museums nearby, including Museo Militaria, which is "a war history museum showcasing the history of Finnish artillery, engineering and signalling from the Middle Ages to modern times."

I'm not really into war, but I took some photographs nevertheless.

(Posting title is from War is Kind by Stephen Crane.)

Who filled the moat

Gull 1

Gull 2

Fence

Moat

Duck

Here are some views of the museum area at Häme Castle in Hämeenlinna. The photographs were taken on May 4th.

I have got 10 hours of exercise this week, half of it riding bicycle, and the rest walking and various other activities. Nowadays I'm getting 2-3 times the amount of exercise I got three years ago, and it is good.

I have recognized only recently one benefit of walking in forests and swamps, and that is improved balance. It used to be so that when in an old forest there was a dense thicket of fallen trees across the way, I got an "Oh no!" reaction. Nowadays I usually get on "Oh yes!" reaction.

In fact, the so-called obstacle course is meant to be training for this kind of situations, and I'm getting the real thing when walking in forests and swamps. In addition to fallen trees some of the landscape is rugged so that one needs to climb across boulders, and up and down rocky hillsides.

But that doesn't change the fact that while my balance and coordination has improved, I'm still far from excellent in these skills. So, you won't see me doing parkour or engaging in rock climbing. However, even though balance and coordination is something that generally won't be improving when one gets older, I'm better than I used to be, which is fine.

(Posting title is from the poem A Song for Myself by Melvin B. Tolson.)

Your pure face turned away

Prison 1

Prison 2

Prison 3

Prison 4

Here are photographs taken at Hämeenlinna Prison Museum. The children wanted to visit Häme Castle in Hämeenlinna, and we bought area tickets, allowing us to visit other museums in the area. The prison museum had been organized rather well, but I must admit that spending even a little bit of time inside the building started to feel constricting.

(Posting title is from the poem In Prison by Jean Valentine.)

The train into the velvet

Espoo

Train

The WeeGee Exhibition Centre in Espoo contains all kinds of interesting things to see.

(Posting title is "computer poetry" generated with Infinite Monkeys N-GRAM Algorithm.)

The clock too oft deceives

Clocks

Today I walked for 2 hours 40 minutes, exploring forests and swamps. There is almost no snow left, but the swamps are still mostly frozen, so they can be crossed rather easily. Except of course in those spots which are not frozen.

The photograph was taken on February 21st in the clock museum in the WeeGee Exhibition Centre in Espoo.

(Posting title is from the poem Lines on Nonsense by Eliza Lee Follen.)

But if she stopped to listen, it disappeared

Big

Teeth

Bones

I commuted by bicycle on Friday, and it was good. During the winter the city was spreading gravel to give pedestrians traction, and that is not so good for bicycles, but fortunately on some places the gravel has already been cleaned away.

I bought some new clothing to be used this winter for riding the bicycle, but there hasn't been much use because the cold part of the winter was so short. Also, I bought a new backlight, but now the sun is soon rising early enough so that there is no need for lights any more. However, I don't complain, it is great that spring seems to be starting this early, a month or so before normal.

The photographs were taken in Luomus, the Finnish Museum of Natural History.

(Posting title is from the poem Bones and Shadows by John Philip Johnson.)

But the Lion just can’t trust his teeth

Reflect

Blue

Phote

Luomus, the Finnish Museum of Natural History, provides lots of things for the photographer. And it was nice to see how the children used their phones to take photographs and record videos.

(Posting title is from the poem Why Nobody Pets the Lion at the Zoo by John Ciardi.)

The question that he frames in all but words

Birds 1

Birds 2

Birds 3

Luomus, the Finnish Museum of Natural History, has great exhibitions, and here are some bird-related views. It is great that you are allowed to take photographs inside the museum.

The weather is holding near 0 °C, and it hasn't been raining or snowing, so the conditions are excellent for commuting by bicycle. I haven't yet changed summer tires to the bicycle, but maybe there is time for this during the weekend. Another thing is that the sun rises already at 7:26 AM, which means that soon there is no need to use lights in the bicycle while commuting to work.

(Posting title is from the poem The Oven Bird by Robert Frost.)

Had nothing else to do but act as scribes

Balcony

Stairs

Shell

Specimens

Look

On February 19th I visited with the children Luomus, the Finnish Museum of Natural History. There is plenty of things to see, and what is even better, you are allowed to take photographs inside the museum. Here you see a sample of the collections.

(Posting title is from the poem Cacoethes Scribendi by Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.)