But I think it watches for my last silver

Nuuksio 1

Nuuksio 2

Nuuksio 3

Nuuksio 4

Nuuksio 5

Nuuksio 6

Nuuksio 7

Nuuksio 8

These photographs were taken in Nuuksio, south of lake Saarijärvi, on September 19th, which was a wet day.

(Posting title is from the poem Mirror by James Merrill.)

For survival, it’s the little things that count

Nuuksio 1

Nuuksio 2

Nuuksio 3

Nuuksio 4

Nuuksio 5

Nuuksio 6

Nuuksio 7

Nuuksio 8

I have been using poetry as the source for posting titles here for some time. Yesterday I was too lazy and invented the title myself. However, it has been a nice thing to read a few lines of poetry each day, searching for a collection of words that would fit as the title, and provide some additional content to the images. You could say that I have been trying to use poems as frames for the photographs.

The photographs were taken at lake Pöksynhaara in Nuuksio on August 2nd.

(Posting title is from the poem Darwin’s Bestiary by Philip Appleman.)

To be one thought, one voice before we die

Saarijärvi

Path

Cabin

Bridge

Reflect

Isosaari

Frogs

Frogs

I have still hundreds of photographs to be processed, but at least I managed to go through the photographs from Friday, when I walked for 3 hours 45 minutes in the north part of Nuuksio wilderness, from lake Saarijärvi past lake Suolikas to lake Ruuhijärvi.

In fact, I visited ten lakes in all, in this order: Saarijärvi, Sarkkinen, Suolikas, Mustalampi (a.k.a Pöksynhaara), Valkealampi, Kakarlampi, Ruuhijärvi, Pikku Pöksynhaara, Iso Majaslampi, and Pieni Majaslampi. Of these ten lakes I visited seven for the first time ever.

There were a lot of new things to discover, and the terrain was variable, from wet swamps to rocky hills to dense forests. My orienteering skills have improved quite a lot, and I managed to stay on the map. Sometimes I even surprised myself with map-reading skills, finding the way even in rather delicately shaped terrain.

Here are photographs from the first half of the walk, from lake Saarijärvi to lake Ruuhijärvi. One of the photographs shows a small island, but the name on the map is Isosaari, "Big Island". Whoever has named the place has a sense of humor. Perhaps the same person may have given the name to lake Pikku Pöksynhaara? (The translation into English is left as an exercise.)

At lake Ruuhijärvi there were a lot of frogs wrestling in the water, engaged in their spring rituals. Some of the clumps of frogs were submerged for minutes and minutes, and I was wondering that they don't drown when staying under water for such a long time.

(Posting title is from the poem Wrestling by Louisa S. Bevington.)