Lens-Artist Photo Challenge #245—Environments

The promp this weeks in Environments, that is the question of this week from Tina.

She wrote: We’d love you to show and tell us what it is about your own environment that is most special to you. Maybe you’re a city mouse (as above) who loves to travel to the country for a change of pace (as below) – or vice versa. Maybe you travel back and forth from home to work. Whatever your ‘druthers, this week’s challenge is to share your images and thoughts about environments, whatever they may be.

Environment has a huge impact on the way we think and live. I truly believed that. It doesn’t have to define you, but it shapes you for sure. People, family, you cannot leave them out of this, they are a huge part of the environment you live in

I have lived in three continents and moved about 27 times. I once counted them.

The most impact on the environment I want to live in has been where I grew up between the years from 5 year to my teens. A place called Kaitaa in Espoo Finland. it was a small area with single houses on rather big block of land near the sea, and woods. I did not live there all the time, I lived in Australia for several years on two different occasions.

So I  lived in a suburb about 15 km from Helsinki in a residential area just a few minutes away from the sea. Woods starting from the backyard, an area where we kids could play around by ourselves.  I have spent hours trying to find photos of the area, but no, it was nearly impossible and to get good ones totally impossible. Below there are photos of my current backyard. One of the houses in Australia, this one my had built as he did the one is Espoo also, the last image in this set.

So when I think of the place I now am most comfortable at is where I have a nature opening behind my window, privacy. I don’t have the sea as near as I would like, it is still near, but I have the woods, rocks and nature opening from my windows. I still live near Helsinki where I can sit in a cafe watching people, visit bookstores and take part in events and happenings if I wish. The need for this is less all the time. Age, it must be the age. 

Helsinki – our capital is a lovely place, but I do not wish to live there. (below) I was born there, lived there for the first 5 years, but the memories are very vague.

Between this I have lived in big cities, small towns and very different surroundings. I have traveled a lot in Europe, the US and Australia. Sunspot location and cities. All have had an impact on me and how I view the world, people. Life, really how I view  life.

Here are few places I’ve lived in when abroad

Hammondville, NSW, Mt. Gambier, SA, Adelaide, SA, Liverpool NSW, Cambelltown , NSW, Leaumeah, NSW, Nyack, NY, Las Vegas, NV , San Diego, CA

One has been a constant in my life, I want to live near by the sea and woods. Well in Vegas, not so much so :-)) Lake Mead was there… These are the important elements in my life. I tried to find scanned photos from San Diego, but could not find all that many on my hardware. La Jolla was a place we spent lots of time

We have had a summer house hour and half hour drive away in the countryside – solitude, our own little getaway. Once again woods, farmland and lakes nearby.  So that is what I come from and where I have ended up being. The photos below are from there, our summer haven. This has been in my life for 30 years, when we bought it was in a really bad state, but now after working on it for these years if is one of the best places to spend the summer.

I’m not really happy with this post, but I’ll just post it anyways.

Lens-Artists Challenge #245 – Environments

 lens-artist tag

PS. Due to this post I’ve spent hours going though my archives an deleted LOT of photos 🙂 something good came out of it.