Happy New Year! - Onnellista uutta vuotta! - Felice anno nuovo!

Hello all! I hope you have been able to enjoy this festive season together with your loved ones.

Soon it's time to say goodbye to 2018. Weatherwise it was a startling year. In Finland we had a winter with much snow, the spring went by too fast (as it always does around here), the summer was exceptionally sunny, the autumn first exceptionally bright and colourful, then mild and cloudy until the first days of December when the first snow fell. It's snowing also today, softly and quietly.

My 2018 in photos, first Jan, Feb, Mar and Apr...

... May, Jun, Jul, Aug...

... Sep, Oct, Nov...

... and Christmas! :)

Wishing you a happy and healthy New Year!

Kiitos tästä vuodesta, rakkaat lukijat. Onnellista uutta vuotta!

💜

The previous reviews: 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017

The same procedure as every year - Melkein täydellinen toukokuu

As every year, I eagerly snap photos of all signs of spring, so faint and shy at first and then ever more confident... The spring, however, hasn't been "as every year" but "of a lifetime". The warm weather arrived suddenly and with it a burst of growth and a spring flower explosion. Imagine the lush green nature, an ideal temperature... and no mosquitoes yet. :)

By now, however, the rain would be needed!

Thank you very much for your interesting comments and emails concerning my previous post. Comments are again disabled until I have visited all of you. Sorry!

Have a lovely Sunday!

Hei ja ihanaa sunnuntaipäivää! Tässä postauksessa on aikajärjestyksessä kuvia toukokuulta. Kuu on ollut melkein sanoinkuvaamattoman ihana, kaunis ja lämmin... mutta nyt luonto, viljelykset ja puutarhat tarvitsisivat kipeästi sadetta.

Kiitos kommenteistanne edelliseen postaukseen! Kommentointimahdollisuus on taas "pois päältä", kunnes olen käynyt vastavierailulla. Pahoittelen.

♥

2016 revisited

This is how 2016 looked in our neck of the woods...

Sinin Kasvihormoni-blogissa

on upea katsaus menneeseen puutarhavuoteen.

A month in photos - December 2016

Onnellista uutta vuotta 2017!

Happy New Year!

Hello, darkness!

Nyt nautitaan kynttilänvalosta!

Osallistun näillä kuvilla MakroTex-haasteeseen (tämän viikon aiheena on PIMEYS) ja postauksen lopussa on myös kuukausikollaasini. Marraskuussa siirryttiin vihreästä syksystä valkeaan talveen... ja nyt toivotaan, että lumi tällä kerralla säilyisi ainakin jouluun asti... :)

Ihanaa joulukuuta kaikille!

Here in the north, between latitudes 60–70 °N, daylight starts to be scarce. 

I don't mind darkness at all... and I love having woodland walks in the evenings. We have again some soft and white snow and, reflecting the artificial lights and moonlight, it clearly increases the brightness. (Did you know that the fresh, dry snow reflects 80 to 90 per cent of the incoming light, whereas wet snow reflects only about a half.) Plus: If you happen to fall in the dark, you fall into the soft snow.

Lisäys: Otava sattui olemaan juuri oikeassa kohdassa, kun eilen maanantai-iltana päätin yrittää ottaa oikein pimeitä kuvia.
Jalusta, pitkä valotusaika, kameran itselaukaisin.

It's not the darkness itself nor the cold itself, but the combination of the two, that makes us Finns often ask why on earth our ancestors chose to settle in such a climate... :)

I found the image below, titled "Any Finnish year", on Pinterest. (I wasn't able to verify the original source.) It's very good, even though in a chart drawn by me, the slice that represents "summer" would be smaller and the "autumn" slice larger.

A Finnish year.

Have a lovely December!

♥!