We go to war to feel free of the fear

Snow

The photograph was taken on December 22nd.

(Posting title is from the poem "Love my enemies, enemy my love" by Rebecca Seiferle.)

It is the signal to go straight

Car

The photograph was taken at Oittaa on April 15th.

I have been thinking, once again, about the stupidity of the Twittler with tiny grasping hands. The United States seems to be in free fall towards anarchy and/or dictatorship. But as they say, "I have fallen 29 floors and it doesn't hurt yet".

(Posting title is from the poem Falling by James L. Dickey.)

That works real good too

Cars 1

Cars 2

The photographs were taken on October 13th.

This morning I walked for almost two hours at Luukki, enjoying the snowy landscape. There was some ice on the lake, but it is very thin, for now. The weather forecast promises below 0 °C temperature for the next six days, so the ice could get quite thick.

My daughter is interested in riding the bicycle during the winter, so I'm installing studded winter tires to her bicycle today. The 24 inch tires have 144 studs, which should provide quite a good grip.

(Posting title is from the song How to Be Super Petty to Your Ex by Open Mike Eagle.)

How we do it all sometimes I wonder

View 1

View 2

View 3

The photographs were taken on October 2nd.

I'm planning to install winter tires to the car today. I hope none of the bolts get stuck. There might be 10 cm of snowfall next week.

I had a look at the weather forecast of FMI (Finnish Meteorological Institute), and noticed something rather interesting in the temperature measurements curve, see below. Is this proof of time travel? Or perhaps this is due to many-worlds interpretation? (No, it was the end of summer time here in Finland.)

(Posting title is from a song by Pussy Riot.)

The sun has distilled its particular worn essence

Harbour 1

Harbour 2

Harbour 3

Harbour 4

The photographs were taken in Helsinki on July 6th.

This morning I rode the bicycle for 1 1/2 hours, to Seutula and back from there. Today I'm taking the car to the annual vehicle inspection. The car is 16 years old, and showing some signs of wear. Last year there were no problems found in the inspection. I hope the same for this time.

(Posting title is from the poem Grand Central, Track 23 by Elizabeth Skurnick.)

Or cry against it?

View 1

View 2

View 3

View 4

The photographs were taken on July 6th.

Today I need to have the car serviced. The Check Engine light is on every so often, probably due to a malfunctioning oxygen sensor.

(Posting title is from the poem Kharpert, Turkey, 1915 by Gregory Djanikian.)

I make up as I trace them

Nuuksio 1

Nuuksio 2

Nuuksio 3

Nuuksio 4

The photographs were taken in Nuuksio National Park on July 1st.

I was traveling for five days, and got plenty of exercise, walking, running and swimming, but no bicycle riding. Today I rode the bicycle once again, exploring Espoo near the central park, and once again I managed to get quite lost. There doesn't seem to be much sense to the way the roads and houses are placed in Espoo.

When traveling I rented a car, and it turned out that the car had automatic transmission. I have always driven a manual car, and it took a while to understand that there is no clutch or a gear shift. After some experimentation I finally got the hang of it, but every once in a while I tried to use my left leg or search for the gear shift.

The car I reserved at rental service was "Ford Focus or similar", and what this turned out to be was a five-door Mercedes Benz A series car. After some adjustment, the car turned out to be quite nice, and handled well even on narrow and twisty gravel roads. I drove the car for 560 km, and when I got back home, I had to do the adaptation in reverse, but it was much easier.

(Posting title is from the poem What’s Broken by Dorianne Laux.)

Though there is not one reason I should want to

Lake 1

Lake 2

Lake 3

Lake 4

Lake 5

These photographs were taken at lake Myllyjärvi and lake Häkläjärvi on December 22nd, early in the morning, starting to walk well before sunrise. The day is now 27 minutes longer than at the shortest, so there is more sunlight for taking photographs.

When it has been really cold (below -20 °C) I have had problems with the LX100 camera, batteries freezing and the camera lens getting stuck. I don't remember similar problems from last winter, perhaps it wasn't quite so cold then. In principle the batteries should be quite all right, as there have been less than 100 recharges with either of them.

In November I replaced the car battery with a new one, and it has worked perfectly. There have been articles about cars getting stuck due to batteries not working, but I haven't had any trouble since installing a new one. This morning the temperature was at -26 °C, but now it is warmer, -15 °C. I'm planning to visit a river during the weekend, to see whether there are interesting ice formations to be found.

(Posting title is from the poem Disregard by Ai.)

And I took all the time in the world

Lake 1

Lake 2

Lake 3

Lake 4

I did some repairs to the car today, replacing the battery and two H7 lamps. The battery has run out several times, and I decided to replace it with a new 60 Ah battery to see whether that fixes the problems. At the same time I replaced two H7 light bulbs. The left side bulb is really difficult to replace, because there is so little room, but when I removed the battery, it was easy to do. I hope the car is now ready for the cold and dark of the winter.

The photographs were taken at lake Vaipo on October 16th.

PS: The Panasonic LX100 did rather will in 2015 Roundup of Advanced Zoom Compacts by Digital Photography Review.

(Posting title is from the poem Evening Practice by D. Nurkse.)

And with his bound heart and his young eyes bent

Road 1

Road 2

Road 3

Road 4

Road 5

Road 6

These photographs were taken on October 6th in Helsinki. I commuted by car because of meetings, and I got stuck in a traffic jam. It took 1 1/2 hours to get home.

My car is over 15 years old, but I had something even older that was still working, namely an electric shaver, which was from the 1990s. However, two weeks ago it finally got broken. I bought a new one, one of the cheaper models. It seems to work quite all right, but I'm not convinced about the durability. The more expensive models seemed to be even worse in this regard, as they are packed with unneeded features and complicated technology.

(Posting title is from the poem After Fifty Years by William Faulkner.)

Nothing happened that was worthy of poetry

Luukki 1

Luukki 2

Luukki 3

Luukki 4

Luukki 5

Luukki 6

Yesterday I had the annual vehicle inspection, and the car passed without problems. The car is now 15 years old. The inspector commented that usually there are no problems with these cars (Toyota Avensis). Last year I got a similar comment. There is much less electronic in my car than in the new cars nowadays, which may make the car more durable, and easier to fix if there are problems.

I celebrated the inspection by riding the bicycle for 1 1/2 hours. It was good. And today morning I walked for two hours in Vaakkoi, across the swamps in the north part of the area. It was quiet.

The photographs were taken in Luukki on July 20th.

(Posting title is from the poem An Annual of the Dark Physics by Norman Dubie.)

I seen it with my own eyes

Gray 1

Gray 2

Gray 3

I had the car serviced today. The car is 15 years old, and it turned out that the brakes need extensive repair, which means another visit to the repair shop. The guy at the shop said: "The car doesn't have any sale value, but it has a lot of use value."

These photographs were taken on April 4th, which was a gray day, and so was today. We even got a bit of rain. And for the night the forecast promises a little bit of snow. I have been commuting by bicycle, and it is good, even though I have felt physically tired once in a while. I have been getting 1 1/2...3 hours of exercise each day for 13 consecutive days without a rest day in between.

(Posting title is from the poem Fence Repair by David Lee.)

I have not made this show purposelessly

View 1

View 2

View 3

Here are some blurry views taken when traveling from Brussels to Helsinki on Tuesday. It has been blurry later this week as well.

(Posting title is from the poem Gerontion by T. S. Eliot.)

You, to teach me to see it

Field

Crash

On December 25th I went for a walk with my daughter to Petikko outdoor area, which we hadn't visited for some time. Trees had fallen down in the recent storms, and someone had driven a car along the walking paths, crashing to a tree.

The roads have been slippery here up north, but everything has worked out fine. It is raining today, and the snow is melting away fast.

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

To gauge the depth I ran my finger across that scar

Blur 1

Blur 2

Blur 3

Blur 4

These photographs were taken on December 2nd, a blurry day as most have been during the last weeks. The last photograph reminds me of having the cracked car windshield replaced with a new one. That wasn't cheap, but fortunately not quite so expensive as I had feared.

The weather is now cold, -6 °C, but will get warmed again tomorrow. And next week the forecasts suggest that the temperature will be between +5..-2 °C, so it can get slippery, or maybe not. The studded winter tires in the bicycle are a great asset for the daily commute.

(Posting title is from the poem The Desk by David Bottoms.)