I think it is time to get out the macro lenses. There were a lot of these on the pond at the end of my sewage disposal facility. I also saw a first butterfly at work and a first toad. The toad was in the plant, on the road where forklifts are driving so I took it carefully outside, over the road and into a grove.
©Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
©Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
Sikinsokin.
Sikinsokin is Finnish for “all mixed up”. And the roots of the pine and the birch (see the white bark) seem to be just that and the erosion has revealed it.
This place is in Munkkiniemi, Helsinki and is by the sea, so at high water, waves and ice may have eroded the soil.
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© Ice Swimmer, all rights reserved.
Fabulous ice from Avalus, click for full size!
© Avalus, all rights reserved.
Stunning shots from Nightjar, click for full size!
© Nightjar, all rights removed.
Jack’s been playing in a lot of mud lately and he needed a bath. Giving him one at home can be a bit of an ordeal, though, so instead I took him to the lake for a swim. It washes off most of the dirt and it’s definitely more fun than a bath. We met this friendly couple while we were there and Jack kept us all entertained with his goofy splashing around. He loves to be the center of attention. We had a good time and it was nice to see the water. It’s the only colour I could think to find in this dull, dreary, cold and barren landscape.
At the lake
©voyager, all rights reserved
© Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
©Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
©Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
©Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
©Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
©Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
RO-RORO-RO means roll-on, roll-off. The cruiseferries in these pictures carry passengers as well as cars and trucks to Tallinn and Stockholm. The white ship can carry 3700 passengers and 400 cars or about 60 trucks (tractor-trailer rigs). The red ship can carry 2500 passengers and about 230 cars or 60 trucks. Both are about 30 m wide, the white ship is 200 m long and the red ship 185 m long.
The strait between islands Kustaanmiekka and Vallisaari that the red ship is going through is 81 meters wide. Imagine driving your apartment block through it.
A big part of the business of the cruiseferries has been that they’ve got restaurants and night clubs and people travel in them to get cheap booze, either from Estonia or duty free alcohol and tobacco on the ships to Sweden as they go via Aland (making a quick stop in Mariehamn), which isn’t a part of the EU customs union.
Being the kind of floating hotels and shopping malls with garages that they are, AFAIK, the ships guzzle quite a lot of fuel per passenger kilometer.
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© Ice Swimmer, all rights reserved.
Oh, the cuteness! From Giliell, click for full size.
© Giliell, all rights reserved.
It’s another rainy day here, but the temperature has climbed to 13°c and it actually feels like spring. I was able to shed my scarf and mittens and puffy coat and enjoy the freedom of just a rain jacket. Jack and I went to the park to celebrate and we saw the surest sign there is around here that winter is at an end. The swans have returned. During the winter our swans are kept in an indoor pool and it is always a welcome sign when they return to the pond. We have one bonded pair of swans and last year they had three cygnets. I didn’t see the female this morning, so perhaps they have already nested in the quiet end of the creek.
©voyager, all rights reserved
Quench.
This hooded crow was quenching the thirst, drinking from a puddle in the sidewalk, in Hakaniemi, Helsinki, between the round Ympyrätalo and triangular Arena building. I’m guessing the puddle was less salty than the sea (which isn’t all that salty, about 0.5 % salt) and definitely less salty than the water in the puddles on the lanes for motor vehicles.
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© Ice Swimmer, all rights reserved.
Last one, from Nightjar, click for full size!
© Nightjar, all rights reserved.
I’m posting the daily bird today because it’s a Russian bird who’s name is Jack. Well, I’m not really sure his name is Jack, but I was told he is a Jackdaw. He and his amigos were pretty bold about begging and stealing food while we were docked at the Moscow Canal.
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