Saying bye to October

Hello all! With this collage I will participate both in A month in photos challenge and in Mosaic Monday.

It's a pity the squirrel pics became too blurry to show them larger. In a larger photo you could see more clearly how satisfied the little critter looks having managed to reach the roof of the bird-feeder. He/she is definitely smiling. :)

Have a lovely November!

Happy Halloween!

Hei! Osallistun Pieni Lintu -blogin MakroTex-haasteeseen näillä Pyhäinpäivä/Halloween-kuvilla. Kun viikon aiheena on pimeä, odotettavissa on tunnelmallisia postauksia!

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Hyvää Pyhäinpäivää!  Happy All Saints' Day!

In Finland, All Saints' Day is nowadays celebrated on the Saturday between 31 October and 6 November. This year it falls on the 31st October. The tradition is to light candles and visit the graves of passed away relatives and loved ones.

Celebrating Halloween is becoming more popular also in Finland. The origins of this feast are fascinating, but not few dislike seeing how the commercial interests are now driving this event.
However, I needed to try to take some spooky snaps for the MakroTex Challenge. Next Tuesday's theme is dark. Aren't these pictures very dark and scary? :)  Happy Halloween!

"Aah ha ha ha..."

Hidden... and waiting - Piilossa

Hello! I want to start this post by thanking you all for your lovely comments. You make this blog so much more interesting. Recently, it has been delightful to read your ice skating memories. 

Now to the MakroTex challenge! This week's prompt is hidden and I chose the topic nearest to the heart of every gardener in the autumn: the bulbs.

I grow most of my tulips in the ground, but every autumn I pot up some bulbs and store them in a cool space. Last year I tried 'Mount Tacoma' (in the photo above); they are really pretty but I didn't like their "fragrance".  I replanted the bulbs in the garden and this year our potted tulip will be the enchanting 'Sweet Desire'.

The bulbs, now hidden under the soil, go to sleep and will dream of spring (this is not a science blog)...

... when they will wake up and look like this:

J.W.A. Lefeber, Holland

Clicking the MakroTex link above, you can see what others have been hiding. :)

Have a beautiful day! 

Tässä postauksessa ollaan siis piilossa.

Kiitos jo etukäteen kommenteistanne ja ihania loppusyksyn päiviä!

Dreaming

Photo: Disney

One of my all time favourite films was shown on TV today. "Ice Princess" is a 2005 American figure-skating film directed by Tim Fywell and starring Michelle Trachtenberg, Joan Cusack, Kim Cattrall and Hayden Panettiere.

I'm not dreaming of becoming an ice princess, but like every country girl born and raised in a cold country, I love ice skating, especially on a lake. :)

With these collages, I participate in Mosaic Monday, one of my favourite link parties.

What I'm dreaming of is the crystal clear ice that makes it possible to skate everywhere on the lakes. I have experienced it only few times in my life. The ice is strong enough to carry a person and clear enough that you can see the water beneath, some aquatic plants and perhaps even fishes swimming around. 

Planning this post today, I learned a new term, 'congelation ice'. Over to you, Wikipedia:

"On the surface of lakes, or other bodies of still freshwater, congelation ice is often called black ice. This ice has frozen without many air bubbles trapped inside, making it transparent. Its transparency reveals the colour, usually black, of the water beneath it, hence the name. This is in contrast to snow ice, sometimes called slush ice, which is formed when slush (water saturated snow) refreezes. Snow ice is white due to the presence of air bubbles.

Black ice grows downward from the bottom of the existing ice surface. The growth rate of the ice is proportional to the rate that heat is transferred from the water below the ice surface to the air above the ice surface. The total ice thickness can be approximated from Stefan's equation.

Black ice is very hard, strong and smooth, which makes it ideal for ice skating, skate sailing, ice yachting and some other ice sports. Thin, clear ice also has acoustic properties which are useful to tour skaters. Skating on clear ice radiates a tone whose frequency depends on the thickness of the ice."

This photo was taken in March, the ice wasn't good for skating but it was just lovely for walking:

♥

In these days, it looks like this outside...

... but it also looks like this:

Have a lovely week ahead!

Fallen leaves of Rosa pimpinellifolia/Rosa spinosissima 'Plena'

Dusks and dawns ~ Nostalgia

This week's theme of the MakroTex challenge is nostalgia. A lovely theme that I first approached by taking close-ups of some accessories, toys and craft supplies from my childhood thinking that those distant but so familiar colours and textures would be great triggers of nostalgia. The result was a series of happy and colourful photos with some red colour in all of them. It didn't work. I realised that if a sentimental longing for a period in the past has a colour, it's something between pink and lilac. :)

Pieni Lintu -blogin MakroTex -haasteessa on tällä viikolla mielenkiintoinen aihe, nostalgia. Aluksi lähestyin aihetta tälläkin kertaa esineiden kautta  -  kiipesin ullakolle ja valitsin kuvattavaksi leluja ja pieniä käyttötavaroita.

Valitsin esineitä, joissa oli punaista... ja tuloksena oli kuvia, jotka eivät jotenkin sopineet tähän blogiin eivätkä postaukseen ollenkaan. Mietin asiaa ja oivalsin, että nostalgia on liilanvärinen tai vaaleanpunainen. :)

Olisi kyllä mielenkiintoista toteuttaa kuvasarja jostain oman menneisyyden paikasta, rakennuksesta, leikkipaikoista, kaupunkinäkymistä, ehkä jopa mustavalkoisena. Myös aava merimaisema herättäisi nostalgisia tuntemuksia, mutta nyt joudumme tyytymään järvimaisemaan. Tässä siis kuvia näistä aamuista ja illoista...

Monday mosaics

A new week has begun and it's time to join Mosaic Monday at Judith's Lavender Cottage!

Not having much time for organizing photos and having taken far too many of them recently, I participate today with a collage of the small pretty things I saw yesterday when having a walk and enjoying the beautiful Sunday afternoon. These sweet little pansies still brave the frost.

First there's the original... and then I did some "photo editing". I can't help it: there weren't these fun programs when I was young, I enjoy so much playing with them now. :)

The pencil sketch effect (somewhat adjusted), in the second mosaic, is always my favourite. Which one do you like most?

♥!

Kodinhengetär-haaste... and autumnal photos

Hello all! ♥

Irma from the blog Wonders gave me (and nine other bloggers) a 10 question challenge about... myself as a domestic goddess. So, as you can guess, this post takes me seriously beyond my area of expertise. :)

Also this time, the questions and my answers are in Finnish, because the participating blogs are all Finnish... Sorry!

I'd love to share with you some photos of the most delicious-looking food ever and of my gleaming kitchen, but because those photos are yet to be taken, there are some recent outdoors views, and one of the lovely pelargoniums still blooming, now safely indoors.

I will try to take some food photos though. Very tasty food is prepared in this house (especially by other members of the family). It's just that when the food is ready and served, we certainly don't (take photos and) let it become cold...

Irma Wonders-blogista haastoi minut vastaamaan kymmeneen Kodinhengetär-kysymykseen. Kiitos haasteesta! Irman blogista näet muut haastetut bloggaajat. Tässä minun vastaukseni:

1. Mitä reseptiä et uskaltaisi kokeilla: Hmm, varmaankin uskaltaisin kokeilla mitä vain, mutta jos haluaisin tarjota juhlavassa tilaisuudessa jotain, joka tarjoillaan heti uunista otettuna, sitä kannattaisi varmaan harjoitella monta kertaa etukäteen. 

En yleensä laita liharuokia enkä erityisemmin haluaisi kokeilla esimerkiksi äyriäisreseptejä.

2. Onnistuu-aina-reseptisi: Pasta, jos vain on tomaatteja ja parmesaania saatavilla.

3. Viikon paras syömäni ateria oli: Äidin laittama kasvislasagne. 

4. Taloustyö, josta oikeasti tykkään: Joku harmitteli äskettäin miten tylsä työ on kesä- ja talvivaatteiden huolto ja säilytykseen paneminen syksyllä ja keväällä. Minusta se on mukavaa touhua, jos on riittävästi työ- ja säilytystiloja. Siinä tulee samalla katsottua, onko aika jo luopua jostain vaatteesta.

5. Taloustyö, jota vältän viimeiseen asti: Nykyisin en ole kovin innostunut ruoanlaitosta, mutta onneksi kaikki perheenjäseneni ovat taitavia ja kekseliäitä ruoanlaittajia. Keittiön siivouksessa olen kyllä paras.

6. Hyvät tapani: Teen listoja, koetan olla järjestelmällinen, koetan siivoilla pienet sotkut ennen kuin niistä tulee isoja.

7. Huonot tapani: Teen aina ensimmäiseksi hauskoja töitä, kuten kukkien- ja puutarhanhoito, tavaroiden järjestely, pölyjen pyyhkiminen tms. Ikävät työt (esim. kylpyhuoneiden siivous) saattavat lykkääntyä ja unohtua...

8. Kekkerit pelastava niksini: Iloinen mieli. Kauniit kattaukset. Helpot ja maukkaat tarjottavat, esimerkiksi ruokaisat salaatit. Kuohuvat juomat.

9. Ärsyttävä etikettivirhe: Oma vai jonkun muun tekemä?... En taida useimmiten kovin paljon välittää etiketistä. Kun muistetaan toisten huomioon ottaminen ja tavalliset hyvät tavat, asiat yleensä sujuvat ihan mukavasti.

10. Mottoni: "Minkä teet, tee se kunnolla!" 

Tätä haastetta ei erityisesti jatketa eteenpäin, mutta jokainen kiinnostunut voi kysymyksiin vastata. Käy Irman blogissa kertomassa asiasta... ja jätä viesti tähänkin, jotta osaan tulla vierailulle blogiisi! :)

Ihanaa viikonloppua!

Isn't autumn gorgeous? Mother earth is wearing her very best colours... and father sky says: "Challenge accepted!"

Have a warm and cosy weekend!

Postcards #15: Thank you!

During the past weeks, you have seen a lot of photos taken on our summer holidays in different parts of  Europe. Now it's time to post the last ones and to say thank you.

Thank you to our family members for making this travel possible... and for lending me the camera. :)

Thank you to my fellow-traveller for the wonderful time and his good driving. Thanks also to Chiara, the voice of our navigation device, for always staying calm and finding the best route for us even in the unexpected situations. :)

Thank you to the friends and relatives for the delightful time together... and for the great cooking, of course.

And finally, thank you, dear readers, for your always lovely and interesting comments!

Happy autumn to everyone!

Happy Mosaic Monday!

Frost and northern lights

Hello! I just had to share with you these pastel shades of a frosty morning... and my first ever photos of aurora borealis, taken yesterday evening.

Sharing also with 

Our Beautiful World 118 ~ Weather

and

MakroTex challenge ~ October

♥

Have a lovely day!