Like the inscriptions on tombs

Zoo 1

Zoo 2

The photographs were taken at Korkeasaari Zoo on July 12th.

My Specialized Sport TR bicycle shoes are starting to need replacement, being worn out. I have got over 25,000 km of riding with them. However, the shoe model I bought six years ago is no longer available, and I need to look for a replacement. Before the Specialized shoes I had Adidas bicycle shoes, but they didn't fit my feet, and in fact my feet got so bad that ordinary walking and standing was hurting. With the Specialized shoes I haven't had any pain or inconvenience. I guess I need to go to a bicycle shop and try out shoes, but usually there are few choices available with shoe size 48 (13 in US).

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

Immediacy is retro

View

Rocky

Rocks

Here are photographs taken at the top of Sallatunturit fells, where I climbed with the children. In the last photograph you see my new running shoes, the only ones in the shop that fitted my feet. I'm growing used to the color. I got a comment that the shoes are "retro style", but I don't remember this color ever been in fashion. But then, I don't follow fashion.

I got yesterday the new battery for my MacBook, from the second shop I tried. (I'm still discussing getting the refund from the first shop.) So far so good, have to see how it goes. The old battery had 207 charge cycles at the end, not terribly many, but it was quite swollen already, preventing the touchpad from working properly and making the bottom of the MacBook bulge. Now that is fixed.

There is still 1 hour 10 minutes left of the first charge, the endurance of the battery feels like luxury. The old battery lasted well under two hours in use.

(Posting title is from the poem Paragraph by Rae Armantrout.)

Feels like burning and flight and running away

Rubus odoratus

I commuted by bicycle today. The morning was fine, but it started to rain after noon. When I commuted back home it had been raining for some time, and occasionally it still rained quite heavily.

I got completely soaked. And at one point, when making a turn on the wet asphalt, I slid sideways with the bicycle but fortunately I stayed upright and didn't fall.

Later I went for a walk with the youngest daughter, testing my new rubber boots. Namely the hiking shoes I bought in April (or was it March) last year have developed a leak, in the same place in both shoes. Apparently Gore-Tex isn't a guarantee of durability. I have walked only about 700 km with the hiking shoes, that shouldn't be too much.

Because of the leak in the hiking shoes I bought rubber boots, a tall model suiting wide feet, size 47: Kontio Classic by Nokian footwear. These boots I'm very familiar with, having practically grown up wearing them. I hope they are as durable as they used to be years ago. In any case, when I tested them by walking across a ditch, no water leaked inside. I think I'm now quite well equipped for the wet summer conditions which we are apparently having this year.

(Posting title is from the poem This Hour and What Is Dead by Li-Young Lee.)

One year in new shoes

Sticks

Ground

Water

Oak

Fallen

Shoe

In March, 2011, I bought new Sievi shoes for hiking in the forests (model SIEVI GT 16 S3). The shoes looked rather fine then, and I thought that it would be nice to take a photograph of them one year later, for comparison.

Well, above you see what has happened to the shoes. They are not so fine any more, but in excellent condition nevertheless.

I have walked about 1200-1500 km with the shoes in one year, in all kinds of weather, from +15 °C to -28 °C. I have gotten them completely wet - Goretex does not help if you step up to your knee in a puddle - very muddy, and abused them in various other ways.

But the shoes seem to be durable. In the instruction leaflet there was the text "if you take prooperly care of the shoes they will last a very long time", and I believe it.

However, I have to say that I have not pushed the shoes to the limit as I described a year ago: "Impact protection for the toes is said to be 200 Joules, and compression 15000 Newtons. Heat resistance of the soles is 300 °C, and the steel midsole has penetration resistance of 1100 Newtons. Energy absorption of the seat region is min. 20 Joules. And then there is Gore-tex for waterproofing."

Hurt feet

White flower

Daisy

Fireweed

Curved

Now that I have been commuting by bicycle several times a week, my feet have started to hurt. But it goes away if I take a break of several days. I have been thinking about this. Finally I concluded that the shoes I'm using are to blame: they are too small and narrow for my feet.

So, today I went (while I was commuting back home) to a bicycle shop and tried new shoes, aiming for a wider design. And the first pair I tried fitted perfectly: Specialized Sport Touring Shoe, size 47 (13 US/UK). I haven't yet tested them in actual use, except for putting in the Shimano cleats and checking them out.

Have to see how it goes. It is not good to have such pain in the feet; it hurts especially going up and down the stairs.

Active shoes and weather

Path

Boards

Trees

Fresh green

Blur

Green

Field

Red barn

I wrote earlier about "active weather", and today we had it: sunshine, clouds, rain, sunshine, rain, clouds, sunshine, ... For a photographer, it was great indeed.

And then about shoes: as I have written a few times, I bought in March new hiking shoes made by Sievi. Now after six weeks and 150-200 km of use, I feel quite good about them.

The Sievi shoes are sturdy, waterproof, and very good on rough terrain. But only when the weather is cool enough, 10 °C or less. I wore them one day when it was wet and +18 °C, and it wasn't so nice then. But today it was cool, only about +8 °C, after the rain.

While walking together with the wife, we saw some things not good at all: someone is using the roadside for dumping their old home electronics. Not nice. (Maybe be this is what the Basic Finns party means when they say that "green is out".)

And one more word about the Nokia E7: I found another use for the device. It is good for taking self-portraits when out in the forest, thanks to the reflective display.

Hard wind - and the LX5 vs. XZ-1 question

Shadows

Birches

Saplings

Pine

Sunny

We had hard wind and bright sunshine today. I went for a walk and took some photographs. And thought a bit about cameras (LX5 vs. XZ-1).

But first a little about shoes. I have a feeling that the new hiking shoes made by Sievi may be the best I have ever had, better even than those made by Meindl which lasted 6-7 years. But it is still too early to make a judgement.

The Sievi shoes are good for hiking, although they are originally designed for occupational use, so-called "safety shoes".

I read a nice story about the old days, when such shoes were being introduced on factory floors, but not without resistance. They were thought to be heavy, hot, slippery, cumbersome - and perhaps also bad-looking.

In one particular factory there was a lot of resistance, but in time things settled. After many years a worker went on the day of his retirement to the office of the safety inspectory, and gave his work shoes to the inspector. It turned out the worker had peeled away the outer surface of the safety shoes and glued it onto ordinary rubber boots.

Is there a lesson in the story? I don't know. But at least the safety shoes have developed a great deal - the ones I have are a pleasure to walk in.

Well, back to photography. Andreas bought the Panasonic LX5, and provided interesting views on the difference between the LX5 and the Olympus XZ-1.

I thought about this for a while, and I must admit I'm of the same opinion: 24 mm wins over 28 mm any time. Even though the XZ-1 seems to get rave reviews, and the lens is bright, it is not the same as having 24 mm at the wide end.

It will be interesting to see what Andreas can do with the LX5. He already established a RAW workflow, so things seem to be on track.

But I'm not willing to jump to the LX5, although it has a better lens and sensor than the LX3. But I don't think it is so much better than the change is worth it. Today I took photograph number 166,666 with the LX3, and it is still working well.

In new shoes

Park

Pine

Oak

Puddle

Sievi

Well, I went ahead as planned and bought new shoes. The shoes are made by Sievi, for professional use.

The salesman commented that these are real shoes, at least in terms of size, as my shoe size is 46, which is 12 (or 12.5) in the UK (US) system.

When I was preparing to pay for the shoes, I was asked what company I come from. It turned out the most shoes they sell are for personnel of various companies, and people who pay "with their own money", like me, are a rarity. Incidentally, one of the customers of Sievi is the Finnish army.

The shoe model I bought is SIEVI GT 16 S3. Perhaps I went a bit overboad, as these shoes have so much features. It is a bit like buying a SUV to be used in a city.

The "information notice" which came with the shoes refers to all kinds of safety standards, for example on slip resistance on various surfaces. It is interesting reading.

For example, impact protection for the toes is said to be 200 Joules, and compression 15000 Newtons. Heat resistance of the soles is 300 °C, and the steel midsole has penetration resistance of 1100 Newtons. Energy absorption of the seat region is min. 20 Joules. And then there is Gore-tex for waterproofing.

Well, I guess any of this doesn't matter if the shoes are not good when walking.

I walked for an hour with the shoes today, and they feel good in the feet. For some reason they feel lighter than the Meindl hiking shoes I had earlier, but this may be just because of the springiness of the soles. I should have tied the shoelaces a bit tighter, and so my feet moved a bit around, but otherwise there weren't problems. But one never knows the fit after just one hour of use.

In the notice they say that it takes some time for the shoes to adapt to the feet, so they recommend only a couple of hours of use during the first days. It is nice to have shoes which are designed to be used by people who walk all day - these should be good enough for me.

Here are some photographs taken today, one of which shows the new shoes. At this point the shoes look rather fine. But one has to remember they are intended for walking in mud and other challenging conditions. Maybe I should make a new photograph after one year, to compare.

The importance of footwear

Night

Moon

Windows

Birch

Bill Bryson claimed in the book A Walk in the Woods, of which I wrote on Sunday, that the avarage distance an American walks in a day is 350 yards. This sounds pitiful. How can one not walk.

I walk usually an hour each day, sometimes much more. This means that I need to replace shoes quite often. Luckily, some shoes last a long time, such as my last pair of hiking shoes, which were made by Meindl.

I think I got them six or seven years ago, and they served well, in all kinds of weather, being waterproof. But last weekend they finally gave up.

Now I'm looking for a replacement. Meindl is of course an option, but then there is the Finnish shoemaker Sievi, which defines itself as "manufacturer of Safety and Occupational footwear".

I have a pair of everyday shoes made by Sievi. They call the shoes "professional footwear", because they have toe protection and anti-static properties, and Gore-tex as well. These shoes are also at the end of their use. So it goes. But they served well.

Coming back to hiking shoes, Sievi has some excellent models for such use. These shoes are a good fit to my feet which are rather wide. I have problems with narrow shoes, and unfortunately narrow seems to be the fashion all too often.

Well, I guess there is nothing else that go shopping and try the shoes out. This is not something I enjoy. Maybe one should buy several pairs of shoes at once. But one never knows in advance how well the shoes work in practice.