Washed up on the shore of a world

Snow 1

Snow 2

A weather forecast for tomorrow promises a little bit of snow. Have to see how that goes, but I'm planning to commute by bicycle anyway. Here are two photographs taken in Helsinki when we still had snow, on March 17th and 19th.

I have been excessively busy this week, things are happening at a rapid clip. On the other hand, I have been blessed with colleagues who are skilled and dedicated indeed, and I wonder at the way they manage to solve difficult problems and even keep to schedules. Life would be misery without these great people.

(Posting title is from the poem Misery and Splendor by Robert Hass.)

Was so transparent that the scene came through

Winter 1

Winter 2

These photographs were taken on March 16th, showing the winter landscape we had after the snowfall.

So far this year I have got only about 600 km of riding the bicycle while commuting. Most weeks I have commuted by bicycle only on two days, and a couple of weeks I didn't use the bicycle at all. But if the weather holds like now - no snow or ice - there will be quite a lot of more kilometers this month, 32 km each day.

During the winter I have spend much more hours walking in forests and swamps than riding the bicycle, but this typically changes in spring and early summer, when I tend to commute by bicycle almost daily, and thus have less need to exercise otherwise. But this again changes during the summer vacation, when I don't need to commute by bicycle but can instead go for (really) long walks. The only problem nowadays is that I have gotten to know the nearby forests and swamps almost too well, and there is not much that I haven't yet explored.

(Posting title is from the poem The Triumph of Life by Percy Bysshe Shelley.)

You that I followed, my line or path or way

Rock

Path

Swamp

We got some new snow in the middle of March, as shown in these photographs taken on March 15th. I went for a walk in Tremanskärr forests and swamps, exploring the snowy landscape. But the snow didn't last long...

Today was a rather cold day, because of the wind. I commuted by bicycle, and when returning home I had headwind of 6 m/s. The weather forecast said that a little bit of snow would be possible, but I didn't see any.

In the morning when I opened the door, I got a little bit of surprise, namely there was a mostly eaten hedgehog on the path just outside the door. Whoever had done the eating had left a bit of the fur (with the needles) and the brain (which had frozen into a solid clump during the night). I guess a fox may have done it. Or maybe a pet cat on the prowl, but do they eat hedgehogs?

I must admit I know very little of animals. Or birds that matter. I wondered about the whooper swans which I saw at lake Tränuhals, namely how well they can land on ice, especially as the ice in not smooth this time of year but has little holes on the surface, due to all kinds of small things such as needles which have fallen on top and then got melted into the ice when warmed by the sun. So, is there a danger of breaking a leg when a swan lands or takes off from ice?

(Posting title is from the poem You That I Loved by A. F. Moritz.)