It’s time for the next chapter in Ice Swimmer’s series Harakka – an Island. Our guide will take it from here. Thanks, Ice Swimmer.
1. Odd Spruce, Rocks and open sea, ©Ice Swimmer, all rights reserved
This view is from the top of the island, towards southeast. I wonder what has happened to the spruce.
It’s time for another chapter in Ice Swimmer’s series Harakka – an Island. Thanks again Ice Swimmer. Now, take us away…
Fireweed behind the laboratory, ©Ice Swimmer, all rights reserved
We come back from the shore and take a closer look at the fireweed behind the Artists’ Building, the former laboratory. [Read more…]
We’re on to chapter 4 of Ice Swimmer’s series, Harakka, an Island and today we’re heading toward the water. I’m always drawn to big, open water and these photos show off the sea beautifully. I’ll let Ice Swimmer fill you in on the details.
The western shore of Harakka is visible from Uunisaari and one conversation with Nightjar in the comments of a posting with a picture of Harakka from Uunisaari sparked the idea to go and explore the island.
1. Open Sea in the Southwest, ©Ice Swimmer all rights reserved
There is a path from near the northwestern corner of the Artists’ Building to the other side of the earthworks behind the building. The path leads to cliffs on the western shore of Harakka. When looking southwest from the path one can see some islands, but also open sea.
It’s time for the next chapter of Ice Swimmer’s series, Harraka – An island. Thanks again, Ice Swimmer. I’ll let you take it from here
1. Main Door, Former FDF Building, ©Ice Swimmer, all rights reserved
The building is from 1928 and it used to belong to Finnish Defence Forces and nowadays it is used by artists who can hire studio space for five years at a time there. This is the main entrance.
2. The building and the Birch, © all rights reserved
There is a big birch next to the building.
3. Rusty Ring, ©Ice Swimmer, all rights reserved
A ring fixed into bedrock next to the building. As for the picture, Caine was definitely an influence for me in this kind of photography.
4. Corner, ©Ice Swimmer, all rights reserved
We’re going around the building. This is the northwestern back corner.
5. Backyard and Fireweed, ©Ice Swimmer all rights reserved
There was a lot of fireweed in bloom on the island. Now we’re in the backyard of the Artists’ Building, looking at earthworks built when Harakka was partially fortified.
6. Tractor, ©Ice Swimmer, all rights reserved
The little tractor is probably used for hauling various things.
7. Chemistry Equipment, ©Ice Swimmer, all rights re
The building was used by the FDF as a chemical laboratory. For that reason, while there were plenty of wild raspberries, strawberries and other berries growing on the island, tasting them didn’t feel too attractive. The building is actually the third site for the FDF Chemical Laboratory. At first, the laboratory was in downtown Helsinki, in the same building that housed the University of Helsinki Chemistry Department and after that in one of the garrisons in Helsinki before it was moved to the island.
8. Whose Island part II, ©Ice Swimmer, all rights reserved
The ratio of shoes / webbed feet is fairly small.
9. Birch stump, ©Ice Swimmer, all rights reserved
At the southwestern corner of the building, there used to be a birch.
Now we have seen the building used by military chemists and subsequently artists and some of its surroundings. Next, we’ll go a back, a bit south in the backyard of the building.
(link to previous post, Harakka an Island: Chapter 2)
Terracotta Park, Pointe Claire, Quebec ©voyager, all rights reserved
This photo was taken in a place called Terracotta Natural Park and it’s right in the heart of Pointe Claire. It’s a huge park (almost 100 acres) with lots of connecting and well maintained trails. It’s one of Jack’s favorite places to go, but unlike our woods at home I won’t allow my boy off-leash here because of the threat of coyotes. We’ve never seen one ourselves, but there are signs posted at every entrance to the park advising extreme caution and noting that they’ve been spotted in the area. My husband grew up near the park and we’ve been taking our dogs to it for about 15 years and this is the first time we’ve seen such warnings. That probably means there’s an established population of coyotes. And why not? The park is exactly like their natural environment and it’s filled with their natural prey plus it has the added bonus of human leavings. As their environments shrink or die all animals, including large predators, will move ever closer to populated areas just trying to eke out a life and avoid extinction. I think they have as much right to the land as we do. Maybe more. At least they’re not destroying the planet.
Today we’re back with Ice Swimmer for the next chapter in his series Harakka, an Island. Thanks, Ice Swimmer. I’ll let you take it from here…
1. Crossroads, ©Ice Swimmer, all rights reserved
In picture 1 we’re looking south. The low wooden building is the brackish water aquarium building. We’re going to go uphill, to our right.
2. Geese Uphill, ©Ice Swimmer, all rights reserved
A barnacle goose family is blocking our way. They’ve got little ones so the parents may get aggressive.
3. Geese Uphill in More Detail, ©Ice Swimmer, all rights reserved
A closer look at the geese.
4. Uphill, © all rights reserved
After a bit of an undocumented detour, the goose family is elsewhere so we can try going up the hill. It seems there’s a dead tree at the end of the road.
5. Dead Tree and a Windmill, ©Ice Swimmer, all rights reserved
Indeed, a dead tree, a lamp post and a windmill/wind turbine. And there are a few gulls.
6. Footprints, ©Ice Swimmer, all rights reserved
Going up the hill and looking at the gravel, one begins to wonder: “To whom does this island belong?”
7. Building, ©Ice Swimmer, all rights reserved
The gulls are observing their surroundings and we can see a vaguely neoclassical building.
St. Lawrence River, Pointe Claire, Quebec, ©voyager, all rights reserved
Jack and I have arrived safely in Pointe Claire and we’ll be staying here for a week or two before heading home. The weather here is really humid and hot so we decided to head out early and what better place to go for a walk than beside the scenic St. Lawrence River. The road that runs beside the river is called Lakeshore Drive and it’s a very exclusive address. The homes along it are all large, beautiful and most definitely out of my price range. That’s alright. Looking is free and dreaming is fun and at the end of the day I’ll still be content with my own little house.
Belle Anse, ©voyager, all rights reserved
This is one of the stops we made on our way back to Montreal. It’s a lovely small Gaspesian beach surrounded by the typical wildflowers and grasses of the area.
We’re starting a new series today on Affinity, courtesy of Ice Swimmer whose photos are always a delight to receive and to share. This time Ice Swimmer is taking us along on an adventure, one delightful chapter at a time and in the spirit of telling a good adventure story we’ll be posting a chapter every few days. I’ll let Ice Swimmer take it from here.
Foreward
This photo series is dedicated to the memory of Caine. The pictures had been taken while she was still alive, but I didn’t get around to making a writeup, so I never sent these to her and then it was too late.
Chapter 1 – Introduction
Harakka from Kaiva, ©Ice Swimmer, all rights reserved
Harakka is an island in Helsinki, Finland. It is located in front of the southern end of the Helsinki peninsula. The island is accessible by boat from Kaivopuisto. The introductory picture is taken from the hill Ullanlinnanmäki, the highest point of the park Kaivopuisto. The island has been home for a lighthouse in the 18th century and during 19th and 20th century in military use, until 1989. The buildings in the island were built for the Russian garrison before the independence and for Finnish forces after that.
Now the island is a nature preserve and there is a Nature Centre to educate children at daycare and in schools about the environmental issues, renewable energy, natural history and conservation coastal and archipelago flora and fauna and also further develop said education. A community of artists also uses one of the buildings in Harakka as studio, exhibition and meeting space.
The Finnish name Harakka means magpie. Supposedly something on the island has looked like a magpie. The Swedish name, which is older than the Finnish name is Stora Räntan. In modern Standard Swedish the name would mean “The Large Interest Rate”, but it was probably something else in the local dialect.
Inukshuk on the Portage River, ©voyager, all rights reserved
This is another section of the Portage River and if you look closely you can see that someone has taken the time to build a few inukshuk on the shoal, probably while waiting for a fish to bite. The water here is very clean and these are bring home to eat fish if you can catch one.
Barachois, Gaspe Peninsula©voyager, all rights reserved
This is one of two public beaches in a small community that sits on the northern edge of the Malbaie Salt Marsh called Barachois, which fittingly means salt marsh in French. We don’t come to this beach very often because it is mostly sand an I find sandy beaches pretty boring. I’d much rather go to a stony beach where you can beach-comb for treasure. I’ve found all sorts of interesting things on the beaches of Gaspe; fossils, agates, seaglass (I have a large collection of this), pretty stones only some of which I can identify, bones and driftwood. I collect and then negotiate with my husband about how much I am allowed to take home. As a result I have collections here and there. At home I’ve made a little beach that grows year by year, but here my treasures mostly live in jars because the real beach is so close by. I say you can keep your groomed white sand beaches. Give me the sticks and stones and bones on a beach full of treasure.
Amazing how expressive a few cuts in the wood and an occasional hole can be.
©Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
Gargantua Mountain, ©voyager, all rights reserved
Today we’re sharing Jack’s drive to get to his favourite beach. The road we take winds through Gargantua Mountain and it doesn’t matter how many times I see these cliffs they always take my breath away. It amazes me that trees can grow and thrive in these conditions, rooted in rock and hanging on the edge of a precipice. Everything here seems to grow madly and even the road isn’t safe from the creep of nature. All along it now we see plants biting into the tarmac and steadily moving forward. Every year it gets worse and there’s no effort to halt the growth. At one time there was a thriving campground and restaurant on the mountaintop, but the owner died several years ago and no-one took over. Now the buildings sit empty and the road is just used as a shortcut from here to there.