Ritva Sillanmäki Photography

Flower of the day – Cholla cactus

This one I know – I think, my guess is Cholla 🌵cactus

The various species of Devil Cholla are all Club Cholla, so-called because they have club-shaped joints with well-defined tubercles. Devil Cholla have no sheaths on spines. All are low-growing, often forming thick mats that can be impenetrable. Spines come in all colors, but can be sharp as daggers.

Mojave Desert of southern Nevada is where I took these photos

Opuntia parishii
Desert: Mojave Desert of eastern California, southern Nevada and eastern Arizona
Height: Up to 4 inches
Joints: Obovoid segments up to an inch in diameter
Flowers: Lemon-yellow with greenish centers
Fruit: Fleshy, smooth, yellow, to 3 inches long
Elevation: 6,000-8,000 feet

For Cee´s Flower of the Day.

Lens Artists Challenge #267: Recharge

lens-artists

Guest host Egidio of Through Brazilian Eyes says he turns to nature to rejuvenate and asked us how we recharge our body’s’ batteries. I would have to agree to that, nature does that.

Music, art and good food and dessert and wine accompanied by friends.. got to love that.

This weekend is a good sample of recharging for me, if you have read any of my posts you know that I am a often at my summer house, like many other Finns are, away from the city, hassle and buzzle of everyday life. Outdoors, barbecue, sauna and glass of wine, maybe two. Nature surrounding us is it the forest, lakes, sea or fields , as in my case.

Driving this road already set the mood for the moments ahead. Below water as an element is recharging. I love the sea.

Animal’s well you got to love them. Veikka and Tinka are my most recent pets. Cuddle them and you relax as you hear them purr.

Forest, trees, well the lungs of the earth, they are so important at the prospect of recharging no matter what the season.

If you would like to participate weekly in Lens-Artists Challenge, click here for more info.

the smell of autumn fills you up

Captures from Finland, Nature

Six words in a the title and photo to match – linked to Six Word Saturday at Debbie’s

Saturday Classics – 16092023

Captures from Finland, Saturday Classics

I was yesterday watching a music program called, Vain elämää ( just life) were various artist do covers of each others music. The host of the day said a line that resonated with me, I used to listen this song a lot back when… I can’t make you love me.

I had to think a bit before it hit me as to who’s song this was, Bonnie Raitt. Adele has also made a cover of this song, but I do prefer the original. How about you?

Lepis is hosting Saturday Classics, you can add your own link here Saturday Classics

On Her page she writes: This blog is back with hosting the Classics after few years break. This time we’ll be playing on Saturdays and you can link straight here on this own page. Rules: There are no rules, as long as the song you play is a classic in your mind. Linking open 8 am and closes 12 pm.

Monochrome – Stairs

Black and White photos

It’s like climbing a staircase. I’m on the top of the staircase, I look behind me and I see the steps. That’s where I was.

Jeanne Moreau

The world is like a grand staircase, some are going up and some are going down.
Samuel Johnson

“No amount of smiling at a flight of stairs has ever made it turn into a ramp.”

~ Stella Young

I love black and white photography – or monochrome, what evet we wish to call it. So under this Monochrome title I will try to post regularly images that I think look good in this format. Hope you enjoy them.

Flower of the day – Peony

Flowers

This one I know – Flower of the day is peony, a pink one 🙂

For Cee´s Flower of the Day.

Enjoying September weather

Captures from Finland, Photography

September has been rather rainy, but today we have blue skies and lovely comfortable temperatures . I am enjoying my backyard and the sunshine

Rainy day

Captures from Finland, Photography

“The best thing one can do when it’s raining is to let it rain.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“The sound of rain needs no translation.” – Alan Watts

“When it rains, the streets start to get deserted! And the rain has a special sympathy for those who wander in the street despite the rain!”

“The only thing I shall want for a rainy day will be my umbrella.”

“Some people walk in the rain, others just get wet.”
― Roger Miller

Flower a day – Deep Purple

Flowers

Flower of the day

I got a lovely bouquet from my husband and it had so many flowers in it, and I could name few, but some were just pretty flowers without a name tag to me, and well, that’s my approach to flowers anyways, if they are pretty it is good enough for me.

No facts this time either

Posted for Cee’s Flower of the Day

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #266 – time

lens-artists, Photography

Donna has chosen Time as her theme.

Time can indeed be looked upon in many ways, here are some thoughts on time from greater minds than mine, to me time is so abstract and also so tangible.

So here are some thoughts on time and a photo to go along with it.

“Time and tide wait for no man.” – Geoffrey Chaucer

Woman walking in early morning low tide.

“Lost time is never found again.” – Benjamin Franklin

sitting alone – feeling the lost time on his shoulders

“Time flies over us, but leaves its shadow behind.” – Nathaniel Hawthorne

“Time is a created thing. To say ‘I don’t have time,’ is like saying, ‘I don’t want to.’” – Lao Tzu

“Time is the wisest counselor of all.” – Pericles

“Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.” – William Penn

“The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.” – C.S. Lewis

“Time is a great healer, but a poor beautician.” – Lucille S. Harper

The outside beauty can fade and wrinkle but the inner beauty remains.

“Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend.” – Theophrastus

“Time is what keeps everything from happening at once.” – Ray Cummings

From beginning to the end

Remember to link to your post and use the Lens-Artists tag in the reader section. Thanks Donna, I had such a hard time with this one.

If you would like to participate weekly in our Lens-Artists Challenge, click here for more info.

Mushrooms pop up in the rain

Nature

My first post to the this challenge, six words in the title and photos to match it.

Posted as part of Six Word Saturday

Saturday Classics – 09092023

Captures from Finland, Saturday Classics

We are having a really misty morning, its nearly 11 and all is still under the misty. Don’t see no sun…

So, here are photos from this morning and song to go with them

Lepis is hosting Saturday Classics, you can add your own link here Saturday Classics

Flower a day – Pink is the color

Flowers

Carnation

I think this is a pink carnation, I am not all that good with flower names.

No facts this time

Posted for Cee’s Flower of the Day

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #265 – Black and White and Monochrome

Black and White photos, lens-artists, Photography

I’ve been into black and white photography for the longest time, so Anne Sandler’s challenge this week is really appreciated. Thanks, Anne!

Is monochrome black and white? Is black and white monochrome? You may be surprised at the answer. I was after I did some research. Here’s what I found.

Black and white is the result of only using black or white and shades of. The shades of meaning grayscale. Here are some black and white photographs.

I have always carried a torch for black and white photography 😂 I thought it went well with the header image .

Still life

Cities…

Then, well portraits in black and white are my all time favorite thing to do

Monochrome photos contain variations of only one color and nothing else. Meaning, different shades of one color like blue, red, green, etc. Here are some of my examples.

colored monochrome

Remember to link to your post and use the Lens-Artists tag in the reader section. Thanks Anne, I love to create black and white images.

If you would like to participate weekly in our Lens-Artists Challenge, click here for more info.

Saturday Classics – 02092023

Saturday Classics

Harvest moon, we had one last night. Super moon, but here due to the weather it was behind the clouds

Lovely song, I do like it. One of my favorites

Lepis is hosting Saturday Classics, you can add your own link here Saturday Classics

Flower a day – Hydrangea

Flowers

Hydrangea macrophylla

The Japanese are famous for their mesmerizing gardens and revolving stories around their flowers. The hydrangea is no exception: legend has it that a Japanese emperor gifted blue hydrangeas to the family of a girl he loved to make up for neglecting her.

I got a lovely bouquet from a friend and the main flowers was this colorful hydrangea. Loved the details and colors of the pedals. It’s said that including hydrangeas in flower arrangements invites good fortune into one’s home. Purple hydrangeas are said to be particularly lucky as they symbolize abundance and prosperity.

Some facts

For one type known as bigleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla), you can change the color of their flowers by adjusting the soil pH with soil amendments. The more acidic the soil, the bluer your hydrangeas will turn out. The more alkaline, the pinker your hydrangeas will be.

The hydrangea represents gratitude, grace and beauty. It also radiates abundance because of the lavish number of flowers and the generous round shape. Its colors symbolize love, harmony and peace..

Hydrangeas don’t have petals.

Those beautiful petals aren’t petals at all. They are sepals, which are leaves that protect the flower bud. Only after they age do they turn from green to the pigmented colors you see.

Posted for Cee’s Flower of the Day.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #264: primary colors

lens-artists, Photography

I’m certainly drawn to color, all colors. So, it delights me that Sofia picked primary colors as her challenge this week.

Flowers in Primary colors, trying to find a blue flower that was not more in the violet, purple shade is was hard. Did not totally nail it here either.

Here are some colorful birds, blue, yellow and red.

Fruits and berries

Doors and windows

Well then there is odds and ends of color pops

Remember to link to your post and use the Lens-Artists tag in the reader section. Thanks John, I love taking people shots, and happy to have the opportunity to share them

If you would like to participate weekly in our Lens-Artists Challenge, click here for more info.

August End

Captures from Finland, Landscapes

I don’t know why I am having such a hard time getting back to the groove of posting. I have not taken many photos, well of flowers I have, as I got several bouquets for my birthday and I needed to use them to get some nice flower shots.

Yesterday was a typical Finnish August day, sunshine and rain in sequence. I went to the seaside with the idea of sitting there and enjoy the scenery and relax, and take few photos. I did take some photos, but sitting there and relaxing, no. Did not happen it started to drizzle and rain. I did get some nice shots of clouds.

August is coming to an end, this morning I woke up to a thunderstorm – a good one. Lots of rain, and flashes and the pressure of thunder made windows resonate. It was so close. I should have gotten up to take photos, but I rather continued sleeping.

Flower a day – Red-leaf Rose

Flowers

Rosa glauca

also known as Read-leaved rose, Redleaf rose ( punalehtiruusu)

Roses and briars (Rosa spp.) are large-flowered, prickly shrubs. Their leaves are imparipinnate. Fruits are achenes which, however, are not visible, but enclosed by the enlarged receptacle, the whole being called a hip.

The genus comprises between 100 and 250 species, depending on the defining criteria. They are distributed over the temperate regions of the Northern hemisphere. Roses have been cultivated in China and the eastern Mediterranean at least for 4,000–5,000 years.

Red-leaf rose is native to the mountains of Central Europe. It has been a fairly common ornamental in Finland since the 19th century. This species does not produce suckers. Its stems are erect and fairly tall. The slender, spreading young branches are covered in a waxy bloom. Prickles are fairly sparse, and they are slender and straight or slightly curved.

The little flowers are pink and made up of five petals. They are formed in small clusters and will have a light scent at best.

The orangish-red fruits are called hips. They can help add color during the winter since they can take a while to fall off. You can also cook with them and use them in alternative medicine.

Posted for Cee’s Flower of the Day

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #263: Faces in a Crowd

lens-artists, Photography

Your challenge this week is to share images featuring faces, in a crowd or standing alone, human or animal. Selfies are approved. I am looking forward to seeing your take on “Faces in the Crowd”. Don’t forget to link to this post and be sure to tag your post with Lens-Artists to reach the widest audience.

For John’s challenge this week, I have these shots to share. Hope you enjoy them.

I captured these face in Cape Verde.

Face from our trip to Hong Kong

A local market in Goa India…lovely colorful clothes and expressive faces

Sri Lanka…

framed all over… and all kinds of things

Remember to link to your post and use the Lens-Artists tag in the reader section. Thanks John, I love taking people shots, and happy to have the opportunity to share them

If you would like to participate weekly in our Lens-Artists Challenge, click here for more info.

I needed to add something in monochrome – of course

Weather

Captures from Finland, Photography

I have been uninspired and slightly depressed ( I just had a birthday) about growing old, a small age crisis 🙂 plus for some reason I actually ache real physically. So much joy in getting old. So I have been absent from the blog world mostly. I will weather this, I am totally working on it. As a positive person I do not dwell on these for long.

I took these some days back when we had some rainy days. They someway reflect my mood…. I see a small light ahead, and it is getting brighter. A minimalistic take on the weather

Flower a day – Lions Ear

Flowers

Lions Ear (Leijonankorva), Leonotis nepetifolia

also known as lion`s tail and wild dagga, Klip Dagga

Lions Ear, Leonotis leonurus, is a plant species in the Lamiaceae family. The plant is a broadleaf evergreen large shrub native to South Africa and southern Africa, where it is very common. It is known for its medicinal and mild psychoactive properties.

Medicinal Uses. It is said that… ( what I read about it)

Klip Dagga has long been used in African traditional medicine as a treatment for fevers, headaches, malaria, dysentery and snakebite.

It has an effect on the uterus – depending on the dose it will stimulate- or suppress menstruation.

In Trinidad it is a common cold, fever and asthma remedy.

Studies suggest that teas or tinctures made with the leaf possesses anti-nociceptive properties, is anti-inflammatory and hypoglycemic and therefore lend pharmacological credence to the folkloric uses of this herb in the management and/or control of painful, arthritic, and other inflammatory conditions, as well as for adult-onset type-2 diabetes mellitus.

Both Klip Dagga Leonotis nepetifolia and Wild Dagga Leonotis leonurus are excellent heart tonics.

They are used for heart conditions associated with anxiety and tension and will calm palpitations, tachycardia and irregular heartbeats.

The dried foliage of Leonotis – both Wild Dagga and Klip Dagga – can be used as a legal substitute for marijuana (ganja, cannabis, hemp).

Smoking this dried herb gives an euphoric-like effect and exuberance.

The flowers are the most potent part and can be smoked or used as a calming tea.

For Cee´s Flower of the Day.

Flower a day – Yellow Toadflax

Flowers

Yellow Toadflax( Keltakannusruoho )

Name also: Butter and eggs, Common toadflax

Look at its glowing yellow flowers.

Toadflaxes are abundant in western Asia and around the Mediterranean. Many of them favour culturally-influenced areas, at least to at least a certain extent.

Yellow toadflax is a perennial, strong-rooted herb which has root buds. It flowers on roadsides right up until late September. In Finland it is native to coastal rocky outcrops. Inland plants may be established aliens that arrived later. Yellow toadflax has a beautiful flower and has thus been transplanted into gardens as an ornamental and found new habitats in this way.

For Cee´s Flower of the Day.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #262: Framing Your Photos

lens-artists, Photography

This week, Amy’s challenge of framing has me looking at my old and new photos.

Frames, so many of them including window’s, doorways and alleys the most obvious ones. Sorry for the overload of photos.. I am still keeping my style, more photo’s less words.

Windows the obvious frame

At the window…

In an mediaeval castle

framed all over… and all kinds of things

Remember to link to your post and use the Lens-Artists tag in the reader section. Thanks Amy 🙂 , this was fun.

If you would like to participate weekly in our Lens-Artists Challenge, click here for more info.

I needed to add something in monochrome – of course

Apples and apple pie

Photography

August, the Time you see apples 🍎 in the trees and obviously take some photos. Try something new, Like baking a apple pie with a new recipe?

There is a recipe for a Finnish version of an apple pie

FINNISH APPLE PIE

MAKES 1 PIE
TAKES 50 MINUTES TO MAKE

INGREDIENTS

Dough:
125 g butter
½ cup (120 ml) sugar
1 egg
1 ½ cups (350 ml) wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla sugar

4-5 green granny smith apples (depending on the size of the apples)
3 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
3 tbsp butter

INSTRUCTIONS

Mix the butter and sugar in a bowl by hand. Add the egg and whisk. In a separate bowl, mix the flours, baking powder and vanilla sugar together. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture about ½ cup at a time. Work it together until you have a ball of pastry dough.
Preheat oven to 200°C. Wash the apples and slice them very thinly.
Use one tablespoon of butter to butter your pie dish. Take the dough out of the bowl. Spread the dough (about 5 mm thick layer) to the bottom and sides of the pie dish. Set the apple slices tightly starting from the edges. Sprinkle the sugar and ground cinnamon on top. Spread little pieces of butter (2 tbsp together) on the top of the pie.
Bake in the oven for 25-35 minutes. Remember to check it every 10 minutes to avoid burning the edges.
Enjoy with vanilla sauce or ice cream!

Flower a day – Meadow Vetchling

Flowers

Meadow Vetchling (Niittynätkelmä)

Name also: Meadow pea, Meadow pea-vine

Look at its glowing yellow flowers.

Meadow vetchling has never been an important nutritional or medicinal plant, although it has probably been a useful fodder plant.

Meadow vetchling spreads widely through its runner-like rhizome to form large stands. Sexual propagation is however problematic: pods don’t develop on most of the flowers and the seeds are prone to being destroyed by insects. It makes an impressive sight however when it is in bloom, and it stands out easily among the surrounding grasses. It climbs up to become visible by using its tendrils to climb on other plants.

Meadow vetchling is the only yellow-flowered species out of the members of its genus that are established in Finland. At first glance its flowers might look like bird’s-foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus), but the latter has a tendril instead of a terminal leaflet, and it doesn’t use other plants to climb on.

For Cee´s Flower of the Day.