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Today I will be 38
Another day, another year
It doesn´t matter that much anymore
but thanks for the best wishes!

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I have to change my winter tyres to summer tyres today. The last recommended day is tomorrow but there hasn´t been any snow in weeks. My usual guy who changes them has disappeared from the face of the earth, so I will have to use another place.

My World 29, fire truck

There is this cute little red fire truck in every public happening. It might not always be the same but most of them are similar. This is a Mercedes-Benz truck and it´s the pride of Soukka-Sommarö free fire brigade. 112 phone number on the door means the local emergency call number.

Backside of the car. That´s where the hoses are attached and where water comes. The red surfboard with handles on the roof of the car might be handy when rescuing someone from water or ice. Sommarö is the largest island of Espoo, which means they probably have many sea rescuing operations too. Soukka is just an ordinary suburb but close to sea.

Collection of different nozzles.

All the hoses in neat stacks.

Other side of the car with powertools. Axes, pry bars, pliers, chainsaws, electric generators and lighting equipment etc.

That was my My World this week. See more worlds right there.

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Hello my tree
Waking up to a beautiful morning
can´t be much better
when you have good company

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I was driving to work when I took this
yes, I know it shouldn´t be done
Going to work is still stimulating and inspiring
I find new stuff every day
Still inspired after all these years

If there is also sun
and some good formations on the sky
then I couldn´t ask for more
it´s that simple
I have such simple needs

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Yellow bricks
Red roof tiles
A Satellite TV dish
A fireplace for real wood
Maybe an oven too
A typical finnish dream house

Cloudbusting 332, sky watch

The spring is here in full force and like the nature, the skies have also waken up to full bloom. Every day brings many new wonderful sights and it feels so liberating after the winter, when there was perhaps only one small opportunity in a week to catch something. What have I, and the birds, seen this week then?

Altocumulus Lenticularis, aka UFO-clouds, from yesterday. They spawned and disappeared so much faster this time. I just love them.

A big whirlpool, like having the drab winter washed off.

Just some ordinary puffs going to the sea to catch some fresh sea breeze.

That was my Sky Watch this week. See more skies from all over the world in Sky Watch Friday.

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A big glacier of a cloud reflecting from the still slightly frozen bay of Otaniemi. Towers of TV-station and Olympic Stadium are the only indications that there is a big city of Helsinki on the other side of the bay. Mornings are still very cold and the nights could be around -4C (25F).

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It took a long time this year until the sea was unfrozen. The last ice melted in April and some lakes might still be frozen. Now the hobby fishermen can´t wait until the day at work is over and they can place their rods on the shore and catch some fish.

I have no idea what kind of fish they will catch this way.

My World 28, Tapiola

7:25 on the way to work I stop at Tapiola, the most urban area in my hometown Espoo. In a clear spring morning it gives an air of some hypermodern high profile place such as London Docklands or La Defense in Paris. At least with some tight framing! Not much people around yet as they are coming to work at 8.00.

Waterfall building (Vesiputoustalo). There is a waterfall coming from under this building to a large pond, but it´s not much in use because it costs a lot.

Architectural detail.

Stockmann is the most prominent department store in Tapiola. This is only a side entrance.

New covered bridge across the streets below. It´s attached to the department store.

Miniature Tapiola as a park for kids learning to bike with tricycles. At the front two iconic hipflask-houses that are an essential part of Tapiola-skyline. Hipflask is a nickname for 4 ordinary apartment buildings in Tapiola because they have an unusual futuristic 60´s design. One of the real hipflask houses is seen in the distant background.

People coming to work, probably to clothes department that is up there.

That was my crisp and clear morning this tuesday morning. See more My Worlds right there.

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There is no such thing as perfection
never aim for perfection
because if you do
then you get nothing done

If something is slanted
it has to be slanted enough
to become meaningful
to be complete but not perfect
because it´s imperfect to begin with

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I waited this one to morph
to mould itself just the way I wanted
to be the elephant it was promising to be
Almost there but not really
The search for a perfect animal cloud continues
and some day it will come

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At the computer at dawn
like always
A song called Dawn Poems comes up
instrumental but still
I want this one to be a glorious dawn
because outside it´s just a grey wall

An abstract version of the previous one and playing around with the colours.

Cloudbusting 326, sky watch sundogs

Crawling half an hour in the morning traffic
watching the thinly veiled skies
Every now and then I caught a glimpse of these beauties
moving along the parhelic circle away from the sun
Still they wait for me when I finally get out of the bus
and I climb to the hill to get a better shot
They almost insist that I share them on friday
of course I had to

Walking the sundog

That was my sky watch this week. See there more skies that insisted to be shared this friday.

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I felt a bit down yesterday but that was then. What a difference a day makes! I have loads of uplifting new stuff from yesterday and I have many ideas for tomorrow and beyond. Many things to build on. I guess, I hope and so on.

...and then something else. Lots of puddles everywhere. Don´t drive in this puddle or the birds will have to wake up from their afternoon siesta.

There is still some below zero nights but these will survive. I don´t know what these are, I just photograph them. Crocus?

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Most days are still boring grey non-entities with little or no variation at all. Sometimes I snap something from the window as I´m too uninspired to go outside. I don´t even bother to open the dirty window of my dingy office. There was something intriguing happening here. The 1pm sun being eaten by the darker one, at least that´s the way I felt then. I´m not so sure now. You don´t even need to be anonymous to say that this is boring. I know it is. Still it needs to be shown today because there has been so many grey days in a row.

My World 27, Suomen joutsen

Suomen Joutsen (finnish swan) is a sailboat that was build in 1902. Since 1956 it was harboured in Turku and it served as a school for seamen. In 1991 it was transformed to a museumboat. Finnish Swan is an essential part of the city of Turku. The boat is situated in the mouth of Aura-river that runs through Turku.

The whole boat seen from the parking lot of Forum Marinum- sea museum. On the other side of the river there is a still active ship yard.

Black Swan under the foremast.

These are the masts of the neighbour museum boat Sigyn, but I liked this photo so much that I´m including it here. I have taken these photos in 2003. The weather was really great with good backgrounds then. I have seen the boats since that day too, but the skies have been boring on those occasions.

That was my salty My World this week. See more worlds in My World.

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The best show of 8pm primetime
is not the reality TV series they keep broadcasting
Now there is new things on the menu
the layered veils of the skies
the glimmer of buildings in the sinking sun
those guys playing frisbee
the golfers practising their putts
bunch of stupid kids on their bikes
making a noise that nobody understands
The life that was taken out from the freezer minutes ago
and it´s still fresh and tasty
like it was always meant to be

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I haven´t had much halos in this blog. I would have liked to have those but there hasn´t been much when I have been out. I have seen this as a sign of a lacking spirituality in my life lately, not that I´m looking to be a saint or something. Yesterday this 360 degree full halo followed me all the time when I was out. 3 hours or so, like it wanted to make sure that my easter was going to be a good one. To start the 4 day period under a good sign. Time to reconnect with people, time to feel the inner peace. There wasn´t even any rain that usually follows a halo.

Happy easter, even if it´s something that you don´t have.

Cloudbusting 320, Sky Watch

I wake up early like always
6am or so
Then I see a slice of something usable
from the tiny window above the computer
I don´t have all the clothes on
so I have to be fast because it´s really cold
and I don´t want the angry dog lady to see me
CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK!
...CLICK!...and CLICK!
then dive back in
10 frames, all good focused multilayered complete visions
just some levels and it´s all there
Sometimes life is so easy
and it all CLICKS almost without trying

See more sky watching from all over the world right there in Sky Watch Friday.

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Looking back
I wish I could make many things undone
but if I really could make them undone
have I really lived then?

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There is this building near me that reminds me of U2 and their stages, in a small way of course. I have never seen one except from TV. Once I saw a part of U2´s stage that was higher than the stadium they were playing in. That sure was an odd banana. The sound of music was very clear even if I wasn´t in the stadium to see them. The best concert I never went to.

My World 26, weekend

In sunday I went to a theatre in Helsinki. (Svenska teatern) I have passed this theater for 37 years but never been in there. I had such a different vision what it looks like inside. Now I know. There is angels on clouds (got some clouds in this post too, hah) in the ceiling.

Should I fix my bike and do some biking this summer? That´s what I always think but never do. Leaving a bike out there for a night is no good. There is nothing left. That wheel twisting behaviour seems to be in fashion here too. That sucks.

Melting snow has made some areas look like a swamp. It´s fun for a while and it offers a chance for many puddle studies.

That was my My World this past weekend. See more of them right there.

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Ice melts and turns to puddles
puddles turn to sea
my great salt snowy desert is gone tomorrow
I don´t mind the ch-ch-ch-changes

On the other side of the sky
light glows and glimmers
the yellow dim hues
the small lonely wanderers
the layered opague transparencies
the memories of distant years
yes, all that is there
and more

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The friendly sky people have written
"happy weekend"
above the sinking sun.

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Close-up...

...and the whole scene with icy ditch. Usually it´s the bigger pictures that are better but this time it was the close-up that should be first.

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I took the memory card out from the camera to get one photo from my camera at work. After that the camera said there was an error with the card and when I tried to download all the other photos later then it said that there is no photos. Aaaaarrggghh. I had to format the card in the camera. Maybe next time I just use an USB-cable to get the photos. Well it happens, I think I still have something in store for tomorrow. This was a new problem I haven´t had before.

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Diving towards the light of summer. We changed to summer time last sunday and now it feels that there is a lot more light. Summer time lasts from april to the end of october. That is 7 months. I think it´s ridiculous, why not have the summer time all year then? How come the "ordinary" time lasts only 5 months? I think it´s just unnecessary noodling but what do I know.

I managed to get out and take a "real" pic of this sunset while it was still good but the layered bus window reflection was kinda cool. I was inside the bus when I took this. Incredibly I got a mostly clean window instead of one with mud all over it. Lights added a nice futuristic feel.