Vihdoinkin aurinkoa ... Sunshine at last

Kuinka olen odottanut lumista ja aurinkoista päivää. Tammikuun viimeiseen päivään sain odotella.

How I have waited for a snowy and sunny day. I had to wait until the last day of January for it.

Kuurainen männynoksa ... Frosty pine branch


Toinenkin kuurainen oksa ... Another frosty branch


Talvinen oksisto aurinkoa päin ... A wintery branch network against the sun


Viime kesän kukinnot verkkoaitaa päin ... Last years flowers against a steel wire fence


Tassunjälki ... Paw print


Äskettäin ohittaneen peuran jäljet ... A deer has just passed here


Aurinkoiset koivun rungot ... Sun baked birch trees


Hannusjärven jäällä ... Out on the Hannus lake ice

Sky Watch Friday N:o 29 - From Russia with love

Should you wonder about the title this week it has a reason and it is...

Tonight after work I was very tired due to a couple of nights partial insomnia. After having walked and fed the dogs and a few household chores I crashed on the sofa in front of the telly. Next thing I know is I come to life with my head on the cushions to a familiar tune. Dum dum du du dum dum dum. Dum dum du du dum dum dum. Taadaa tadaa. The Bond film 'From Russia with love' with the still one and only Sean Connery was just starting. This made me think of my picture video of my lovely Ljuba, a russian rescue, with the same title.

The skies have been rather non descipt lately but tonigth it was clear and many stars were twinkling above. This is due to winds from the east, ie. Russia, bringing colder and clearer wheather in their toll.

So the title has a double meaning.

There is a few sky shots this week too but I felt it would be nice to post a video as well this week. Even if it does feature my rescue girl it has a few glimpsies of sky in the background, so it's not completely unapropriate for this meme either.

First to a few moods from the past week.

Very, very grey even with lighter stripe at the tree line. Here is a channel between islands and there ususally is a bit of a stream and constant under current. Due to this the water is not frozen all over. I took the shot standing on a bridge.


Still grey but slightly brighter. A hooded crow is parching on one of the birch tree branches.


A blue(ish) moment


The wind makes a tear in the clouds for a little while.


Yesterday the sky at dusk took on a nice pink tone

Then to the main reason for this week's title:



Visiting sky watcher's are more than welcome to join in the fun by clicking on:

Kevään merkkejäkö ... Signs of spring?

Tässä on kuvasarja, joka antaa lupauksen siitä, että uusi kevät on tulollaan.

Here is a series of shots that do give a promise of the approaching spring.

Osman käämit vapauttavat siemenensä ... Bullrushes are dispursing their seeds


Nämä pajunkissat pitäisi kyllä vielä pysyä kuoressaan ... These catkins should in fairness still stay in their sheltering cover
Lepän hedekukinnot alkavat punertaa ... The male inflorescences of the Alder tree are starting to turn red

Also the bark of some shrubs are starting to turn into different colours as in the pictures below. Trees (especially) Birches get more colour in their upper thin branches too in spring. A certain dark purple tone is common for the top branch network of Birch trees and it has already started to happen but isn't strong enough yet to capture with a camera.


Oranssiin vivahtavaa ... Orange tones


Viininpunaista ... Wine red


Punaoksat lähikuvassa ... The red branches in close up

En ikävä kyllä tiedä kumpienkaan pensaiden nimiä mutta saattavat kuulua pajuperheeseen ... Unfortunately I don't know the names of either of these shrubs but they might belong to the Willow family

Nanalta tuli haaste ... Nana sent me a challenge

Haaste kuuluu näin:

Avaa neljäs kansio missä säilytät valokuvia
Valitse kansiosta neljäs kuva
Julkaise tämä kuva blogissasi
Selitä kuvan tausta
Haasta edelleen neljä (olikohan se neljä) blogin pitäjää

This is how the challenge goes:

Open the forth file were you keep photographs
Choose the forth picture from that file
Post this picture in your blog
Explain the background of the picture
Challenge four more blog keepers

Tässä on viime vuoden maaliskuussa otettu kuva Porkkalan niemestä. Löytyi Photobucketin neljännestä kuvakansiostani 'Ihana vesi'. Kuva on otettu vielä vanhalla pikku digipokkarillani mutta kyllä se silti kelvannee.

This picture was taken nearly a year ago in March in the Porkkala peninsula. I found it in my forth Photobucket file 'Wonderful water'. It was taken with my old camera, a little digital pocket affair, but it'll do.

Watery Wednesday N:o 20

Even if snow and ice is the main picture over here at the moment there still is some places where the water flows freely. Lucky for some.

A picture story of one of our outings with the double trouble duo (only joking).

We came across a lonely cygnet...


Who comes and disturbs my peace?


Damn those humans. They have to come and trample all over the place.


What does my right eye see? More intruders!


Yummy! A big, fat bird steak swimming around.

Hey there! You ugly hairy thing on sticks!


Here is how I'm gonna scare you away.


In your dreams. I don't scare that easy.


Hey sis! What's going on here?
Look bruv, there's a fat steak swimming around.
I am not a steak you silly mutt. I am a majestic swan and I am dangerous too.


Ha! Like I would be frightened of a floating steak.
You will be!!!


Oops! Oh no I slipped.


Heeelp! I am slipping between the stones. Get me out of here!
Not so brave now, eh! Hiss hiss.


So the cygnet rules supreme once more over his rocky shore in the channel.


I wasn't scared. Honest! I just couldn't be bothered anymore.
Yup, yup! Of course you weren't my dear. Braveheart is your middle name.

So endeth this true story of an episode in a dog's life.

Not amused? Well perhaps you prefer to be cheered up by other watery picture stories from all over the world by visiting:

Parasta lunta ... The best kind of snow

Tänään pääsin valoisaan aikaan koirien kanssa rannalle ja lunta tuprutteli hiljakseen. Se oli juuri sellaista lunta jota rakastan. Isoja, höyhenen kevyitä lumihiutaleita eikä tuulenvirekään käynyt.
Syy, että tähän kykenin oli se, että minulla oli tänään keskellä päivää kuntoutuksen tentin suorittaminen koululla, enkä siis mennyt töihin. Luulenpa, että se tentti meni aika hyvin. Se tietty on ihan mutu tuntumaa.

Today I got to go out with the dogs during daylight and we headed to the seaside. It was slowly snowing. It was exactly that kind of snow that I love. Light, fluffy snowflakes light as feathers and not the slightest little breeze was blowing. I had this opportunity as I had to go to school and do my health maintenance test in the middle of the day and thus did not go to work today. Btw I think the test went quite well. Allbeit it is just how I feel it went.

Viime syksyn siemenet törröttävät lumesta esiin ... Last autumn's seeds sticking out of the snow


Yksi siemenpesistä on saanut päällensä lumihiutalekoristeet ... One of these seedpods have caught a few snowflakes


Lumihiutaleita havujen päällä (mänty, kataja, kuusi) ... Snowflakes on furtree branches (pine, juniper, spruce)


Lumihiutaleita kasveissa (kaislaristikko, kanerva, puolukka ja oksaan vangittu tammen lehti) ... Snowflakes on plants (a criss cross of reeds, heather, lingonberry, a trapped oak leaf)


Lisää lumihiutaleiden koristamia yksityiskohtia (kaisla, osmankäämi, oksat) ... More details decorated with snowflakes (reed, bullrush, branches)


Hiutalerypäs hiljakseen leijalee maata päin ja jää osittain oksaan kiinni ... A cluster of flakes slowly float downwards and get partly trapped on a branch

Utuinen aamu ... Misty morn

Pystyyn kuollut ja latvaton ... Died standing and topless


Pystyyn kuollut ja kallellaan kuin Pisan torni ... Died standing and leaning like the tower of Pisa


Utuinen laakso ... Mist in the valley


Merisumu on nielaissut horisontin ... Sea mist has engulfed the horizon
Kaksi yksinäistä pilkkimiestä heikoilla jäillä ... Two lonely ice fishers out on weak ice

Mellow Yellow Monday N:o 3

Already in its third week and seemingly an instant success is this brightly coloured meme. What fun it is to try and think about yellow things to photograph and they are all around. Thankyou Drowsey for opening up my eyes to this fact.

This week my focus will be on yellow buildings or buildings with yellow details on them.

Traditional style


Another traditional style house nestling among the trees


A two story cottage by the sea


Main entrance to a single story detached house


Resently built three story apartment blocks


Colourful outside paneling on two story terraced houses

Go to this meme site and brighten up your day by clicking on the button below: