Jack and I visited the park this morning and this Canada goose followed us around for a bit. I think he was looking for a handout, but visitors are not allowed to feed the birds. They have a keeper who comes every morning to feed them a proper avian diet. We kept a respectful distance anyway because these birds are big and often aggressive, especially during nesting season which should start soon.
Canada Goose
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Omaisuus.
Omaisuus is Finnish for property. The juvenile gulls are fighting fiercely over the ownership of a fish (looks like a perch). The adult gull is looking over from the side. At times the adult joined the melee and in the end when the fight moved to dry land, the adult managed to pick up the fish from the ground and fly away. Sadly, I couldn’t get good shots of all the the three in fight or the adult flying away.
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From Nightjar, click for full size!
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From Giliell, click for full size!
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I love to travel by train and this old rail station always makes me feel as if I’m on a grand adventure.
Grand Concourse Hall Union Station
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Näkyvyys.
Näkyvyys is Finnish for visibility. In this sightseeing cruise (in May 2016) in the Helsinki Archipelago the visibility was OK. The freighter in the horizon was probably coming from the Port of Helsinki in Vuosaari or from some other Gulf of Finland port east of Helsinki.
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From Nightjar, click for full size!
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From Giliell, click for full size!
© Giliell, all rights reserved.
I’m still in Toronto without Jack and although I miss him, I’m secretly smiling that I don’t have to take him out for a walk. The weather around here just keeps going from bad to worse. Yesterday we had snow and today we’re having a blizzard. The forecast for next week is no better with continued temperatures below zero and more snow to come. Again, ugh!
April Blizzard
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From Nightjar, click for full size!
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Valleray, trying to evade the camera.
© C. Ford, all rights reserved.
Plants are waking up after the winter. Click for full size.
©Charly, all rights reserved.
Mattolaituri.
Mattolaituri can be translated as carpet-washing pier. It is a tradition in Finland to wash carpets, especially the ubiquitous rag rugs in lakes, rivers or the sea, usually with tall oil soap, in the summer.
The practice is a bit controversial as the detergents are water pollutants. Myself, I’ve washed my carpets on the floor of the laundry room in my apartment building, but I as a kid I was often with my mom or grandma when they were washing carpets in a river.
In the bonus picture, a carpet press and beams for letting the carpets dry can be seen. The press cuts the drying time significantly.
Tall oil is a by-product of chemical pulping, along with turpentine. Tall is Swedish for pine. In the dominant kraft pulp process, the non-volatile resin and fatty acids of wood (especially pine or birch) form crude tall oil soap with the cooking chemicals (white liquor) and the soaps can be separated from the spent cooking liquor (black liquor), purified and the fatty acids used for making soap.
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