Today's adventure ended up in two locations that are quite close together, but look very different. The first is from a little lake jammed in a valley between two hills, which despite its small size, is quite deep, bottoming out at 25 meters (80+ feet). It is only about 500 meters long and maybe 200 wide, so it is just a sliver of a thing. But, because of the depth and the size, it is often quite calm. However, today it was windy, so there was no "full mirror" on the surface.
Lots of people go walking around the lake and it is probably at its most popular in a month or so, when the Autumn colors are abound and reflecting off the glass-like waters. We will head back there. But, it is also a popular area for people to go berry-picking and mushrooming also.
We just went for some fresh air and a walk with our loaner dog, who really liked sniffing about the path and of course, getting a nibble on some of the sausage that we grilled in the council-provided lean-to.
Finland is pretty much a country of trees and lakes, and that is about it. So, even when living in residential areas, no one is ever that far away from nature, and I think that this has an impact on how much people get out of their own homes as well as, how down to earth people tend to be here. A lot of culture is dominated by a sense of practicality and most people are generally pretty handy when outdoors.
As you can see, even with the wind (that you can't see), the lake is still pretty calm. Also, while that mushroom might look like a smurf lives in it, it is quite poisonous. Or hallucinogenic, or something. Not sure, but I won't be eating one, unless very hungry.
And this is where we cooked our sausages (and some marshmallows) along with a couple other families who were enjoying the surprisingly warm and pleasant weather. In Finland, there are thousands of such places dotted around the countryside, where the local councils build and stock with firewood so that campers and hikers have a place they can rest and grill. This one is relatively new, because a few years ago, some clowns burned down the old one.
And then, onto the next place, which is another local council initiative, where they find some random field and fill it with flowers. There is sometimes one next to our house with a lot of wild flowers planted in it, but this one was a field of sunflowers. They are beautiful for a few months of the year and it feeds a lot of bees and insects.
This one was alongside a highway and is about half a kilometer long, and a hundred meters wide. It is also only accessible through a wheat field, which means some farmer has had hundreds of people a day trapesing through their grain. Though, most people have kept to a small track only, which you can see us walking along also.
We were unfortunately in a bit of a rush to get home though, or else I would have spent more time taking images there. My wife's newly-married niece called and will drop by to say hi, so we decided that we would make some dinner so we can all eat together and talk. It should be nice! Especially since I don't have to talk much, since her husband is uncomfortable speaking English with me.
These kinds of weekend trips are great, since they are close, but the change in scenery is quite extreme compared to our normal home view. It feels like being a lot further away than we actually are and that change brings with it a shift in feeling too. Every time we do these kinds of things, we always say "we should do it more often" but we never seem to up the frequency much. Perhaps that is just human nature, where we tend to fall back into the groove of life easily, making change, more difficult.
Talking about grooves of life, now it is time for house chores. The laundry awaits!
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
