Life only, throwing its sensual

Ice

Flood

Wood

Birches

Forest

Blue

On February 23rd I had a walk in Luukki, going west of lake Myllyjärvi to Revonkorpi, and from there to lake Hauklampi. It started to get dark when I got back to the parking lot.

I have been commuting by bicycle this week, and the conditions have been perfect, temperature raising to +10 °C in the afternoon. Next week promises to be cold, and there may be a lot of snow as well, so it is back to winter conditions. Fortunately I still have the studded winter tires in the bicycle so that is not a problem.

(Posting title is from the poem Accidents of Birth by William Meredith.)

Or told a Finn a joke or spent an hour with a Swiss-German

Ice

Melting

Swamp

Flood

These photographs were taken in Luukki on February 17th. I walked to Revonkorpi, passing lake Myllyjärvi, and returned via Hauklampi. Yesterday I walked also to Revonkorpi, but took a somewhat longer route north of Hauklampi. There was much less snow left.

Back to work today.

(Posting title is from the poem Deep Sorriness Atonement Song by Glyn Maxwell.)

Your will like the wind before rain

Swamp 1

Swamp 2

Lake 1

Lake 2

These photographs were taken yesterday in Luukki, visiting Myllyjärvi lake and Revonkorpi swamp. These are dark days, but even darkness has a kind of shine.

(Posting title is from the poem Don't You Wonder, Sometimes? by Tracy K. Smith.)

Always accurately know where to move and when

Fallen 1

Fallen 2

Dark 1

Dark 2

On Sunday I walked for 1 1/2 hours in Revonkorpi swamp at Luukki. I started about 50 minutes before sunset, and returned to the car when it was already quite dark.

Sunday was an overcast day, and it rained a bit when I was walking. A strong wind moved the trees, generating occasional sharp sounds in the forest. Otherwise it was quiet, and I didn't see anyone else after I had started walking from the parking place. I looked at the compass a couple of times, and didn't get lost, even though I needed to take some detours due to fallen trees and flooded swamps and ditches.

(Posting title is from the poem Brief reflection on accuracy by Miroslav Holub.)

Why do you walk with your face turned from me?

Fern

Yet another photograph taken at Revonkorpi a week ago. I should start processing the newer photographs, but I have been keen on reading books, hours each day. Nothing very challenging, mostly light reading, but that suits the autumn feeling.

(Posting title is from the poem The Waste Land by John Beer.)

Swinging a credit card like a scythe

Swamp 1

Swamp 2

Moss

Today the two youngest children went to the movies with their friend. Originally I was planning to see the movie as well, but then my oldest daughter wanted to go shopping, so that was what I did as well.

Mainly this meant walking in the center of Helsinki, from one shop to another. I got quite tired; for some reason walking for two hours in the city is more exhausting than two hours in a forest.

The above photographs were taken a week ago at the Revonkorpi swamp in Luukki.

(Posting title is from the poem At the Galleria Shopping Mall by Tony Hoagland.)

Living the briefest hues on the skin

Mushroom 1

Mushroom 2

Mushroom 3

Mushroom 4

It is autumn, and there are plenty of mushrooms in the forest. I pick them with my camera, safer that way.

(Posting title is from the poem Before Completion by Arthur Sze.)

But in the path we mortals tread

Fern

Signs of autumn in the Revonkorpi swamp in Luukki.

(Posting title is from the poem Consolation by Robert Louis Stevenson.)

You have dragged me on through the wild wood ways

Autumn 1

Autumn 2

Autumn 3

Autumn 4

I upgraded today the iPad to iOS 7, and I must say it isn't so easy to get used to the new system. Things look different, and there are enough differences in using the iPad to cause all kinds of confusion and mistakes. On the other hand, the upgrade itself happened without problems, all data and software were preserved, so nothing bad to report there.

The photographs shown here were taken in the forests and swamps at Revonkorpi, in Luukki, on September 21. I walked for the first time all the way up north, almost to the houses near the road. Two hours of walking, just about perfect.

However, I'm planning to make a longer walk next week, on an open swamp. One possibility would be Torronsuo swamp, about 100 km west of here, but the car drive there is just too long. I didn't know of this swamp until a friend pointed it out. Torronsuo is the biggest open swamp in southern Finland, and the national park seems to be worth visiting at some point.

(Posting title is from the poem The Body to the Soul by Eva Gore-Booth.)

I hear the thoughts I think

Colors 1

Colors 2

Colors 3

Colors 4

On Saturday I went for a long walk in Revonkorpi forests and swamps in Luukki. I walked all the way up north in Revonkorpi, until I saw the first house, and then I returned via another route south. It started to get dark when I returned home, and I brought a deer fly with me. Quite a tough critter it was.

These photographs were taken a week ago at Velskola. Autumn colors are starting to become more common, but not yet is the brightest season.

(Posting title is from the poem The Telegraph Operator by Robert W. Service.)

He would be felt through some aperture

Swamp

Fallen

Stream

Birch

Rock

Snow

Here are more photographs from Sunday, taken at Luukki in the Revonkorpi forests and swamps. I haven't processed the photographs from Monday and Tuesday, there is material for several postings later this week, more than a thousand photographs. The warmth of the sun brings out blue anemones as well as adders.

I walked for seven hours on Monday and Tuesday, and I'm feeling good. As a poet said, "To be human is to walk"; and if a poet didn't say so, she should have.

I may go for another walk, with the children, on Wednesday, May Day, which is a holiday in Finland, celebrating spring which is finally here.

(Posting title is from the poem Feel Me by May Swenson.)