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
We have had what we a typical Finnish summer lately, that’s to say, constantly changing weather, rain, clouds, sunshine and anything between.
Clouds at the harbor
Lahti harbour is where you will meet us Lahti residents, and summer residents especially in the summer. The harbour is full of restaurants and cafés. We had coffee at cafe Kariranta Located in the old Vesijärvi train station building, Kariranta is the true gem of the harbour. Pastries baked in the café will make your mouth water.
Coffee and strawberry and blueberry cheesecake
We went there after having chosen the paint to our kitchen floor. We have always thought that it was old traditional gray paint used in old houses, and apparently it is, but actually it was green with gray tones. So weird 😊
I walked around my summer house yard looking for bark, as we have lots of trees on out blot, So all new quickly taken shots for Denzil’sNature Photo Challenge #22Tree Bark
We have lots of birch tree on our yard, new and old one, that are about 100 years old. That ‘ what The photos are.
Young Birch tree bark with and ant
BirchBirchBirch (old tree)Juniper
Juniper
Maple treeMaple barkPussy WillowPussy willow barkPine treeSpruce tree barkbird cherry treehorse chestnut tree
The last two are from my archives, the first one is a from the redwoods and second one is from an old oak tree where the insects had done natures art work. To me it looks like and deer on a walk about.
Black is a color that lacks hue and brightness and absorbs light without reflecting any of the rays composing it. It is characterized by the absence of light, enveloped in darkness
He is looking for photographs of Black in nature. Guidance: The only criterion is that I would like you to photograph things in nature that are totally or mostly (so let’s say more than two-thirds) black.
Soil is the first thing I thought of, but at the moment everything is mostly green. I was not going to dig for it. Lets start with this pretty bird with a white beak. There is an another one too with a white beak 🙂 and one more. These are few things in nature that I have photographs of that are black.
The Black Phoebe is a dapper flycatcher of the western U.S. with a sooty black body and crisp white belly.
One of the most abundant birds across North America, and one of the most boldly colored, the Red-winged Blackbird is a familiar sight atop cattails, along soggy roadsides, and on telephone wires. Glossy-black males have scarlet-and-yellow shoulder patches they can puff up or hide depending on how confident they feel.
European Male Coot
Always seen on or near water, this wetland bird is a great example of a black bird with a white beak. As seen in the picture above it has a white beak with a white patch on its forehead, also known as a frontal shield, they also have red eyes. The males and females are very similar, however in breeding season the male’s frontal shield will be noticeably wider than the female’s.
Black squirrel, black cows and a dog. Alligator – Black?
One of the evergreens in my garden and also the ferns growing in nature appeal to me. Obviously I have taken many photos of it. Here are few of my favorite ones.
We drove back to our summer house and as I was sitting by the fireplace it started raining and I went from window to window trying to capture it. These are the unedited photos 😊
Not the typical plant to Finland, so obviously these are not from here, the locations were i took these are Red Rock area in Nevada and Nice in France. The last set is from Crete with yellow flowers.
Cacti, the so important part of nature in the desert. I found these as I went through my archive for this challenge Cacti
I found these as I went through my archive for Denzil’s NPC #18 Cacti
June, summer is here even though the temperatures are not that high. Nature is giving us its best that’s for sure. Midsummer is here and we are enjoying the light.
Bees, the so important part of nature. I found these as I went through my archive for this challenge Bees
Bees
I found these as I went through my archive for Denzil’s NPC #17 Bees
Huge mountains, rugged foothills. Gorgeous views in my opinion. Worth taking a photo in my mind.
I looked at my old photos and noticed many that I have not given too much thought to, these are two of them. In these photos from Sequoia- ( more to come)I am returning to my past style. Let the photos speak for themselves. As it what I am better at than writing 🙂
June, summer is here even though the temperatures are not that high. Nature is giving us its best that’s for sure.
Birds, not my expertise at all, sometimes I get a nice shot, but sometimes is the thing as I do not have the equipment to get the spot on shots. I found these as I went through my archive for this challenge Birds feeding and drinking
I’m at my happy place, I can hear the birdsong, sound of the wind, bee’s buzzing in this so called place of silence. and smell scent of the Lily of the valley.
Lily of the valley (Convallaria majalis) is well known for its delicate bells and beautiful sweet scent. You’ll find lily of the valley throughout the northern hemisphere. Signifying the return of happiness, the plant is synonymous with the month of May, and it is indeed the birth flower for May.
Lily of the valley meaning
A symbol of purity, joy, love, sincerity, happiness and luck, lily of the valley . It’s actually the national flower of Finland, and in France, on 1st May for La Fête du Muguet, lily of the valleys are gifted to loved ones. This French custom dates back to the 16th century ) – symbolizing luck and happiness.
I’m at my happy place, I can hear the birdsong, sound of the wind, bee’s buzzing in this so called place of silence.
Blossoms…
Here are some signs of spring , the joy and the glory of nature. I had made up my mind not to take flower pictures as I have so many of them already, but I did anyways.
Apple tree blossoms are in full bloom at the moment, what a glorious sight
I’m at my happy place, I can hear the birdsong, sound of the wind, bee’s buzzing in this so called place of silence.
The variations of green…gotta to love it.
Here are some signs of spring , the joy and the glory of nature. I had made up my mind not to take flower pictures as I have so many of them already, but I did anyways. Cherry tree blossoms…well got to love them
I’m at my happy place, I can hear the birdsong, sound of the wind, bee’s buzzing in this so called place of silence.
The variations of green…gotta to love it.
Here are some signs of spring , the joy and the glory of nature. I had made up my mind not to take flower pictures as I have so many of them already, but I did anyways. Forget me not – I did not forget these tiny little wonders
🦋 butterflies are so lovely … Here are some I have been lucky to capture.
And as Denzil wrote: For Nature Photo Challenge #13 we focus on Butterflies. Butterflies of course are beautiful, photogenic, and interesting. They deserve to be protected just because they are butterflies and worthy of our love and protection. However, they are also highly useful insects.
If you ask me to name these species, no, not able to do that, but as stated they are lovely.
I love being on the beach, soft sand, the soothing sound of the waves and the color of the sea.
As far as capturing birds goes, Pelicans are one of the easiest. Bid photography is not my strong point, i don’t have enough patience and not the best equipment for it either. I can always try, I like the in the mood sense. It was a rather crisp and windy day, I even had to but on a jacket. I took these at Ocean ridge in Florida.
Driving from Charleston to Hilton Head Islandille took us couple of hours. We set the navigator to Coligny Beach. We barely got out the car when a trolley driver, Zanden, offered a ride to the beach, which happened to be only 200 meters from the parking lot. We hopped on and right away Zenden started asking if we would be interested in having a vacation costing only like 20 dollars per night. I smelled time-sharing and told him that we are not interested. Then he asked where were headed and hearing Savannah he offered free city tour and Ghosts & Graves tour for two, if we were willing to hear Palmeras Resorts sales pitch. So, we ended up going, knowing full well what was ahead of us.
So we went to see a condo close by with the sales person Taquian once she had done the surveys of us and told us the rates – $29,900 for 60 months. After the tour of the condo, she asked if we were interested, and we said – no. Then she had to ask for her boss to come and ask the same question. And the answer was still the same but only the boss could sign for our Savannah Tour vouchers. They claimed that about 20 percent of the people that listen the sales pitch sign up. I very much doubt it.
Anyway, after about waisting 90 minutes of our time we got the tour vouchers in a envelope that read Mr. Sillauwaki. I guess it’s understandable to turn letters n and m upside down if you have dyslexia or something?
Eventually we made it to white sands of Coligny Beach. The beach was very easy to walk because close by the water the sand was quite hard. By the beach there was a bar that had an excellent three-piece band. At first, I thought they had a female singer because one of the voices was so high tuned.
Beach Band
Please do not walk on the dunes
Sand fencing collects windblown sand to create new dunes and the beach plants help hold the new dune in place with their roots.Stay seaward of the fences and don’t store or leave anything in the sand fence area.
Dunes provide important storm barriers that protect upland property from the effects of wave energy, and can store storm water in the troughs between the dune peaks to minimize flooding. For these reasons, we need to protect our beach-dune system and encourage the formation of new dunes.
Many of our native species have habitat which is only found in dune fields including dwarf live oak, prickly pear cactus, sea oats, six-lined racerunner lizards and Spanish bayonet.
Our beach and dunes provide important wildlife corridors that can get animals from one end of the island to the other without crossing roadways.
Harbour Town with its light house
Next stop on the island was the Sea Pines area. It was sort of a gated community and you had to pay $9/car to get in. It was worth the visit because the area included Harbour Town with its light house and the Heritage Links Golf course. I not a golfer, so the world-famous 18th hole of the links meant nothing to me but the view from light house to the 18 th hole was nice.
Last pit stop in the island was at Salty Dog Cafe in Sea Pines Beach.
The lovely Shem Rock in town of Mt. Pleasant. Had a late lunch at Tavern & Table by the creek and prepared ourselves for the sunset. We walked along the Shem Creek Boardwalk, the boardwalk is a total of 2,200 feet long, it offers panoramic views of the marsh and Charleston Harbor to catch the glorious sunset.
The sunset was lovely changing colors depending were you looked, from warm tones to cooler ones the later it got from the sunset.
Ritva Sillanmäki Photography 