30 Apr 2009

Metsäretkellä ... Walking in the woods

Olen poissa kotoota tiistaihin asti mutta yritän vastailla palattuani.

I'm away from home until Tuesday but will try to respond at my arrival.
















Tämän vappunaamarin kera toivottelen Hauskaa Vappua!
With this First-of-May masque I'll bid you all Happy First of May!

Today's Flowers No 38 - Some new ones



This Sunday meme is hosted by Luis Santilli Jr, Denise Gullickson, Laerte Pupo, Denise B. Castro
To participate and/or view wonderful blooms click on the above icon.


I find wild growing mosses and other things in the forest as beautiful as those glorious products of man's creativity. The Heather in fact is carrying last year's flowers as they do flower in the autumn with pink flowers but still, the dead ones are pretty too.


I just love to follow the developments on those spring trees and shrubs this time of year even if everything in this collage is not just flowers.


These are all new arrivals for the week in nature except for the woodeanenemies. I had to incorporate them as I've seldom seen ones that pure blue and that thickly growing.


The gardener's joys. New ones are the Daffodil buds (I saw some that were partly open but liked this picture more), the Striped Squill (also called Puschkinia) and the Hyacinth

I shall not be home until Tuesday but will try to respond to you then at the latest. In the meanwhile thankyou for your interest.



If you are interested in what Helsinki is like then you are welcome to view my new blog Helsinki Daily

Sky Watch Friday N:o 42 - Sea moods



Sky Watch Friday is a very popular meme that is hosted by Klaus, Ivar, Sandy, Louise, Wren and Fishing Guy. To view some wonderful skies or participate in the meme just click on the above banner.


Between the rocks in Kopparnas


Over the Laurinlahti bay


Towards the bottom of the Laurinlahti bay


Over the Kivenlahti bay


A sunset over the Kivenlahti bay a couple of weeks ago


Another view of the same sunset




If you are interested in what Helsinki is like then you are welcome to view my new blog Helsinki Daily

29 Apr 2009

Härski Kanadan hanhi ... The cheeky Canada goose

Pitemmittä puheitta päätelkää itse kuka haluaa olla kukkulan kuningas

Without any further ado decide for yourselves who wants to be king of the hill


Minun henkilökohtainen kauneushoitolani ... My personal beauty salon


Hei kaveri, sopisiko joukkoon ... Hey mate, could we join you there


Rasittaa noi tunkeilijat ... Pushy guys are so irritating


Jospa käyttäisi hieman pelottelutaktiikkaa ... Perhaps some scare tactics would be beneficial


Tämähän onkin hauskaa ... Hey, this is a load of fun


Apua, korstohan on ihan hurjana ... Help, that big guy is totally out of control


Kukahan se on se kukkulan kuningas näillä vesillä ... Who is the king of the hill in these waters now


Krokotiilikierroksia ja tuuletusta ... Crododile rolls and general celebration


Niinpä niin. Sillä välin valkoposkihanhet valloittavat maakaistaleen ... Yeah! Meanwhile the Barnacle geese take over the strip of land


If you are interested in what Helsinki is like then you are welcome to view my new blog Helsinki Daily

Watery Wednesday N:o 33 - Stonebay at night


To participate in this meme hosted by 2sweetnsaxy just click on the above icon

Sea views after sunset








If you are interested in what Helsinki is like then you are welcome to view my new blog Helsinki Daily

Tiedotus asiaa ... Informative post

Ajanpuute hallitsee kovasti elämääni viime aikoina ja nyt on ollut pakko todeta, etten vaan voi olla kaikissa haasteleikeissä mukana. Toki tiedän, että varsinaisia lukijoita ei blogillani ole kuin kymmenisen vaikka seurantalista toki on pitempi. Se kyllä riittää vallan hyvin kun itsekin aktiivisesti seurailen noin kymmeniä blogeja päivittäin ja muita sitten ajoittain lisää. Jatkossa tulen siis osallistumaan keskiviikkoiseen Watery Wednesday haasteeseen, perjantaisin Sky Watch Friday haasteeseen ja sunnuntaisin Today's Flowers haasteeseen. Muut päivät ovat omille valinnaisille kuvilleni. Milloin mitäkin.


Lokkien leikit

A lack of time is dominating my world lately and now I have had to make the decision to reduce the memes I'm participating in. Of course I realise that actual readers to my blog is about 10 or so even if the followers list is longer. That's quite okay since I myself like to follow actively about ten blogs and then a few more on occaisions. In future I want to continue with the memes Watery Wednesday, Sky Watch Friday and Today's Flowers on Sundays. The other days will be for my own pictures of choice. Whatever whenever.


Dancing gulls

28 Apr 2009

My World Tuesday - Flowers and Birds


To show off your world and view other worlds around the globe just click on the above icon.

My World Tuesday is hosted by Klaus, Ivar, Sandy, Louise, Wren and Fishing Guy. A big thankyou to all of our wonderful hosts.

Spring is such glorious time. The best time to do birdwatching and then there are such wonderful amounts of bright springflowers in the parks and nature

Today's edition comes from a place called:


It is the fairly modern commercial center of the town Espoo (right next to Helsinki), where I live, but also offers a lot of nature and parks. It's not as such a new area but has undergone a lot of changes and new developments in the recent years. A recent introduction but from a different perspective to this same area was given by Chrome3 for MWT.


Here is an architectural view to start with. This is the hotel Tapiola Garden behind a pool of water. Two in fact. A big square one and this small round one in front.


Walking along we come to this bridge crossing a narrow channel


There I saw this bird that I've only seen in pictures before. It's called an Oyster Catcher.


In the park, where the grass would turn green if we had some rain, two Seagulls were kissing while a Magpie respectfully turned the other way


Continuing the walk I noticed how the new leaves were bursting out on trees and shrubs.


Also the Lark tree is making new soft needles


In the brook the Water Irises are already tall and soon they'll have their glorious yellow flowers


The Lupin leaves were already quite big too


Walking along the walkway amongst shady trees ...


... we come past the marina, where not too many boats were out in the water yet.


In places the white Woodanenemies were growing like a carpet on the woodland floor


In other more open spaces the Coltsfoot was specled on the ground like little suns


We come past a carpet of Bird-in-a-bush flowers (a natural variety)


This Magpie had found something under a bush ...


... while this Blackbird ...


... and this Field Fare were considering jumping into one to hide from the camera


Then we walk past a field of Striped Squill flowers ...


... and arrive to a field of blue Scilla flowers


At one point we walked passed some red Osier Dogwood shrubs. Only these were actually both red and green on the same branches. I've never seen that before. Only seen either red or green one coloured shrubs.


Finally we arrive at the seaside bay, which Tapiola is situated at.


There I saw a pair of Eurasian Wigeons


I also saw a pair of Tufted Ducks allthough the tufts aren't really visible in this photo.


There were lots of Barnacle Geese there ...


... and a Canada Goose as well


The pussywillows and many other trees and shrubs were already flowering ...


... while others had already gone to seed


Turning back we cross the bridge over the Ring I road (there are three ringroads around the Helsinki area) ...


... and walk past this water tower


In one place near the center of Tapiola a pipe with a bit of a differense was sticking up behing an apartment house


So we have taken our walk and have come back to the center part.

There's a lot to take in but this is just to give you an overall view of what I saw and experienced on this walk, which I would not have taken you on had I not left my car in for service a bit earlier and wanted to just kill some time before it would be ready to collect again.


If you are interested in what Helsinki is like then you are welcome to view my new blog Helsinki Daily