Happy New year !

I wish you all a very New year!

I will leave this year behind with some quotes I can relate to and someone has worded them better than I could.

Here are some winter scenery ro celebrate the holiday season.

“If you’re brave enough to say goodbye, life will reward you with a new hello.” —Paulo Coehlo

“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Although no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.” —Carl Bard

Winter Solstice

With the winter solstice, and these citylights I am now starting Christmas preparations and I take this opportunity to

I wish you and your loved ones a Happy and Peaceful Christmas.

I want to thank you all who have taken the time to look at my photos, press like and I really appreciate all the encouraging comments I’ve gotten this year.

These I took yesterday when doing my last minute shopping. The cobblestone streets in Helsinki with the rain made it hard to get really great shots of the season lights in the city from a moving car, but I ended up with moody, artistic shots and with a little help from the editing they came out OK.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #230 – Last Chance

For this week’s challenge is hosted by Tina Schell from Travels and Trifles  Lens-Artists Challenge #230 – Last Chance we’re show casing our forgotton or should I say our not yet published shots. Now, the challenge is remebering if I’ve posted them or not. I discover that I have not taken all that many photos this year… sad but true. It obviouly also depends how people defines much.

The image above is new from last week. winter can be beautiful

She wrote; But what about the images that are among our favorites but have not fit any of the categories? This year we’re giving you an opportunity to include images on any and all subjects that are personal favorites – BUT, they must have been created in 2022 AND must not have been previously published.

Here are my Last Chance photos, please link your post back to Tina’s original post and tag Lens-Artists if interested in participating in it.

Hailuoto was one of my favorite places to visit this summer, I posted several black and white images from that trip, here are some with colors. I love watching clouds and they played a big part in the photos I took there.

My summer house and the nature is a constant inspitation to me – below

Details from nature are often important things to photograph to me at least as they are found near and are beautiful,

I have taken still life shots that I have not posted lke these pearls

And I found this 🎅 Santa resting on a bench during summer…

Posted for Tina’s Lens-Artists Challenge

Frosty trees at dusk

White trees

Somewhere in Kirkkonummi
Closer look at the scenery

I stopped several times to capture the beauty of the moment of lovely winter views with snow covered trees and hovering mist

Snow covered lane

I am just going to put this here, as I went out today to take winter photos, I need to go through them. This is the first ones I am going to post. At this moment the sun was still shining. This Lane/ road looked so lovely I ad to stop to photograph it. Hope you enjoy it too.

Snowy lane
Nature is beautiful

Snowy nature

It looks lovely for sure, blueish skies and white snow, with a a subtle mist hovering over the landscape.That is it nothing elso to say about these photos.

Snow coverd birch trees by the road

A subtle mist hovers over the landscape on these two shots

Sunny winter day

The joy of sunshine, the past weeks we have not been blessed with lots of sunlight, but today, of the glorious weather with snow coved trees, blue sky.

I stepped out and took shots to all four directions from or house, and it looked lovely everywhere,white powder snow, blue sky and even the temperature was not that bad -7C ( 23 F ) I am going to post a shot also when its not shining and it looks OK, but there is a difference. On this happy note I wish everyone reading this post a lovely weekend!

10 AM looking east towards the road
at 10 AM View to our south facing backyard
10 AM looking North, this is the view from my office

10AM facing west looking at the spruce and birch trees on a upward hill

AND WHAT A DIFFERECE A DAY MAKES

How to Survive November 2022 – 30

I made it, this is the end of November. Thanks to my Novembers survivors Lepis and Susupetal for the company, I have heard songs that I haven’t in a while also made new discoveries. This has also made me again an active music listener, as I’ve grown older the less I’ve listened to music, And it’s a shame! Silence has been a good friend of mine, me and my thoughts, photos and art.

I need to keep up with this positive newly found joy of lisening to music.

Olavi Uusivirta is an actor and musician, As a musician, he is one of the most successful in our country. Three of his albums have achieved gold and Olavi (2016) received the award for rock album of the year at the Emma gala. Olavi Uusivirta has also acted in numerous films and on stage.

The song tells about a compelling longing for somewhere else, for a new environment away from the familiar and safe, perhaps for a new human relationship — towards the new and unknown. You can also think that the narrator of the song experiences a powerful spiritual experience, after which there may be no going back. However, something happens and ‘the new pedaling takes me with it’!” Uusivirta opens the song.

And I hear a voice in the distance
The new rhythm takes me along
And gravity disappears completely
This is a forbidden game
It’s another reality
And if we’re being reasonable
The game ends with the autumn rains

”Laulu kertoo pakottavasta kaipuusta johonkin toisaalle, uuteen ympäristöön pois tutusta ja turvallisesta, kenties uuteen ihmissuhteeseen — kohti vierasta ja tuntematonta. Voi myös ajatella, että laulun kertoja kokee voimakkaan sielullisen elämyksen, jonka jälkeen paluuta entiseen ei ehkä enää ole. Jotain kuitenkin tapahtuu ja ’uusi poljento vie mut mukanaan’!” Uusivirta avaa kappaletta. 

Thanks PARALLEL LINES |in scale for hosting How to Survive November once again.

At the ‘How to Survive November‘ monthly theme we will combine photo and sound. You can select a piece of music to your taste and find a photo to portray the song or you can make a drawing, painting or collage. The picture can be from your archives or you can get it fresh. Enjoy and have fun!

How to Survive November 2022 – 29

I saw Kristoffer Kristofferson oin Helsinki in 2016

KRISTOFFERSON’S Singing has always been low and conversational, but that time it is even more so. Age and kilometers could be seen and heard both in Kristofferson’s singing and guitar playing, but it only brought more humanity to the show

It’s also due to his age that this time the legend didn’t talk as much as before, and it seemed like he was going through the repertoire of his familiar songs with a bit of automatic gear. Still with feeling and a style tempered by self-irony.

Don’t look so sad, I know it’s over
But life goes on and this old world will keep on turning
Let’s just be glad we had some time to spend together
There’s no need to watch the bridges that were burning

Lay your head upon my pillow
Hold your warm and tender body close to mine
Hear the whisper of the raindrops blowing soft against the window
And make believe you love me one more time for the good times

Rain on the window

Thanks PARALLEL LINES |in scale for hosting How to Survive November once again.

At the ‘How to Survive November‘ monthly theme we will combine photo and sound. You can select a piece of music to your taste and find a photo to portray the song or you can make a drawing, painting or collage. The picture can be from your archives or you can get it fresh. Enjoy and have fun!

How to Survive November 2022 – 28

Let’s try something else. WINTER

Antonio Vivaldi is a genius and truly stands out as the most creative among the host of composers who brought the Italian Baroque style to its zenith. His works ooze the perfection of the 17th-century Italian opera and concerto formats.

Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons,” or “Le quattro stagioni” in Italian is a set of four concertos. The generalized views suggest concertos as a conversation between – a solo instrument or multiple solo instruments and a wider ensemble. Antonio utilized the violin as the sole instrument in “The Four Seasons.”

Winter blue sky

Winter

The concertos end with “L’inverno” or “Winter.” The opening movement resembles a shivering person, stamping his feet in rhythm to stay warm. The middle movement portrays the pleasure of getting warm inside through a crackling fire. The final movement offers people outdoors walking down icy paths, while people inside houses feeling the relentless chill finding its way inside. 

At a basic level, “The Four Seasons” is extraordinarily authentic, an association with profound elegance and luxury. It is full of glistening and brilliant sonorities, ingenious innovations with vivid solo lines capturing the essence of nature. The most important factor that renders its popularity is the fact that it incorporates the basic human elements – the passage of time, the cycle of years and nature. The program incorporates seasonal images and sounds spectacular, without constraining the imagination. Each season offers a “point of departure” for a diverse range of metaphors.

Thanks PARALLEL LINES |in scale for hosting How to Survive November once again.

At the ‘How to Survive November‘ monthly theme we will combine photo and sound. You can select a piece of music to your taste and find a photo to portray the song or you can make a drawing, painting or collage. The picture can be from your archives or you can get it fresh. Enjoy and have fun!

I’m walking

I’m walking, I’m walking, walking in sunshine.

Helsinki seaside on a sunny day with the mist rising in the back and taking over the sunny sidewalks soon after these photos were taken.

A touch of spring

We are having a beautiful day with temperatures on the plus side and you can hear snow melting, but do we still have lots of it to melt.

3 pm

My husband was doing his best to give the spring help by making creeks so that snow and ice would melt quicker

Even nicer weather

What a difference a day makes added with sunshine, the snow covered trees look so nice.

I still haven’t ventured beyond my backyard to take photos, but I am happy to have this as my view.

Nice weather

it snowed yesterday, a lot! We got so much snow in our backyard, well in the front too 🙂 I took these first three this morning during the blue moment. The others a little bit later, you can see how it effected the colors.

Backyard
Front yard

Playtime

I have been watching these to dog friends play if not daily, then weekly. Looking at them from my office window. They are big, but still puppies and enjoying themselves playing in the snow. This time I decided I will take photos of them. Cute, aren’t they?

Snow, snow and snow

we have some snow in out backyard, and it is so hard to tell the time.

Still Snowing

I have been watching the weather change, yesterday it snowed again and I went to the patio to capture it with my backyard view as a backdrop.

Juniper and pine trees
Winter

Juniper in the snow

Birch tree

Snowing

Three weeks I have been home and the cough continues, I am so tired of this. I have been watching the weather change from really to cold to the plus with grey skies and melting snow. Yesterday it snowed again and I went to the patio to capture it with my backyard view as a backdrop.

Snowing

In spite of been stuck at home I decided to participate to a challenge 52 frames. One photo a week on a certain topic. The first one was my BW selfie I took just at the beginning of my omikron journey, the second of my frosty tree. I am working on the third.

close up of a pine tree on snow

These shots have nothing to do with the challenge, obviously, other than that the scene is the same as in my previous shot, my backyard view. I took some more artistic liberties with the featured image at the top, does it work, or not?

Pine trees on a hill

What winter looks like

At night before I closed the blinds it looked like this, so pretty

Night time
Snow covered oak tree

What winter looks like – 12

I am continuing to share winter photos, yesterday it snowed. These are what it looked like from my window.

I have no plan other than that I am going to share pictures of what winter looks like. These pictures were not taken on the day I post them, but random shots of what winter can look like in southern Finland.

snowy day

Not all images are new, actually most are images are images that accumulated in my archives waiting to be edited. I have re-processed them for these posts. My intention is that all the pictures would look good, no matter what the weather was the day I pressed the camera shutter button to capture a view or detail of winter.

What winter looks like – 11

I am continuing to share winter photos, these I took yesterday of a ball hydrangea that is outside now covered with snow, that I dusted of and this is what I captured.

I have no plan other than that I am going to share pictures of what winter looks like. These pictures were not taken on the day I post them, but random shots of what winter can look like in southern Finland.

Ball Hydrangea

Not all images are new, actually most are images are images that accumulated in my archives waiting to be edited. I have re-processed them for these posts. My intention is that all the pictures would look good, no matter what the weather was the day I pressed the camera shutter button to capture a view or detail of winter. . I will keep it simple, one photo in the post and an other as a featured image.

What winter looks like – 10

I have no plan other than that I am going to share pictures of what winter looks like. These pictures were not taken on the day I post them, but random shots of what winter can look like in southern Finland.

Spruce trees

Not all images are new, actually most are images are images that accumulated in my archives waiting to be edited. I have re-processed them for these posts. My intention is that all the pictures would look good, no matter what the weather was the day I pressed the camera shutter button to capture a view or detail of winter. . I will keep it simple, one photo in the post and an other as a featured image.

What winter looks like – 8

I have no plan other than that I am going to share pictures of what winter looks like. These pictures were not taken on the day I post them, but random shots of what winter can look like in southern Finland.

Not all images are new, actually most are images are images that accumulated in my archives waiting to be edited. I have re-processed them for these posts. My intention is that all the pictures would look good, no matter what the weather was the day I pressed the camera shutter button to capture a view or detail of winter. . I will keep it simple, one photo in the post and an other as a featured image.

What winter looks like – 9

I have no plan other than that I am going to share pictures of what winter looks like. These pictures were not taken on the day I post them, but random shots of what winter can look like in southern Finland.

Spruce trees

Not all images are new, actually most are images are images that accumulated in my archives waiting to be edited. I have re-processed them for these posts. My intention is that all the pictures would look good, no matter what the weather was the day I pressed the camera shutter button to capture a view or detail of winter. . I will keep it simple, one photo in the post and an other as a featured image.

What winter looks like – 7

I have no plan other than that I am going to share pictures of what winter looks like. These pictures were not taken on the day I post them, but random shots of what winter can look like in southern Finland.

touch of light

Not all images are new, actually most are images are images that accumulated in my archives waiting to be edited. I have re-processed them for these posts. My intention is that all the pictures would look good, no matter what the weather was the day I pressed the camera shutter button to capture a view or detail of winter. . I will keep it simple, one photo in the post and an other as a featured image.

What winter looks like – 6

I have no plan other than that I am going to share pictures of what winter looks like. These pictures were not taken on the day I post them, but random shots of what winter can look like in southern Finland.

winter greens

Not all images are new, actually most are images are images that accumulated in my archives waiting to be edited. I have re-processed them for these posts. My intention is that all the pictures would look good, no matter what the weather was the day I pressed the camera shutter button to capture a view or detail of winter. . I will keep it simple, one photo in the post and an other as a featured image.