Clover ~ Trifolium L.

I was looking up from my books “Flora In Color” to find out which kind of clover this is. I think it’s Zigzag Clover (Trifolium medium L.) or Red Clover (Trifolium pratense L.) Either way, I love these clover flowers because of how it changes from a bud to into full bloom and, of course, because of its colors.

I took some pictures yesterday but they were no good at all. The wind was too strong making the plants swaying too much. I went back today. Also today is windy but not as much as yesterday. I brought my tripod with me today but still it was pretty hard to get sharp enough pictures.

June has passed way too quickly. It’s 1st of July tomorrow. Wishing you all a wonderful July 🙂

@ Visavuori Museum

Yesterday we visited Visavuori Museum together with friends of ours. It was the home of the sculptor Emil Wikström from 1894 till his death in 1942. It is situated in Sääksmäki, about 130 km from Helsinki.
We took a guided tour. Here is some of what the guide told us. Emil Wikström himself designed the first building with a combined studio and home which unfortunately was distroyed by a fire. He then decided to have the studio and home separate and built two buildings. The one with the tower was his studio the other their home.

Window in the cafeteria. The cafeteria which once  was the bronze foundry.

You can see four of this lantern/lamp designed by him in the front of the main railway station in Helsinki. There are the statues in stone of two pairs of mythical giants, also called the stone men, holding lanterns in their hands.

An organ, up in the tower, built by his brother.

The living room.

The kitchen stove and oven.


The family home.



Finnish Silverline is sailing the lake Vanaja from Tampere to Hämeenlinna with several stops of which one is at Visavuori. We had planned to by ship go to Hämeenlinna (2,5 h). Due to unfortunate reasons we didn’t. We will make the tour an other time. But we went down to the dock the see one friend go. Thank you dear friends for a wonderful, interesting day.

Cirsium heterophyllum

I read the following on Wikipedia: “Sientific name Cirsium helenioides also known as Melancholy Thistle. It is native  to Europe and western Asia. The plant grows up to 120 cm tall.”

Snow-in-Summer Cerastium tomentosum

Right before we, on Midsummer Day, left from our friends from their summer place I took these pictures. Old time favorites from my childhood. I have, I can’t remember for how many times, decided to buy of them. Unfortunately I forget the decision as often. Next time I drive past a garden shop I will stop and buy some. I just read online that they often grow in dry, sunny areas with poor soil. That’s perfect. Poor soil here 😉

Midsummer Sunset

At 10:45 pm about one hour before sunset here in the south of Finland.

Also this year our friends invited us to celebrate the Midsummer at their summer place. We had a great time.  Thank you, dear friends, so much for having us 🙂

Today the summer solstice takes place. Here in the south of Finland the sunrise is at 3:54 am, sunset at 22:50. Dusk to dawn is 1:52 minutes.

Midsummer 2015

Lense Attack

I’m eagerly, every morning, checking for any signs of day lilies to get flower stems. No stems yet. Thumbs up there will be many. Today my eye caught a beetle on  a chive flower. I was super quick back inside to get my camera. I don’t know what he’s doing. Is he a flower munching beetle or is he setting eggs or is the black spot poop. It’s okay if he munches the chives but I hope he will leave my lilies untouched. I could see the lense annoyed him because he started to crawl away. It looked like he decided to escape, leave the field. But, NO ! He turned around. Showing me his most scary, most mean face. Leave me alone or . . . I warned you ! Now I’m gonna get you. This is my best attack position. Arrrgh ! Oops, he collided the lense ! What happened to him. I was not able to find him after the last picture. Maybe he fainted or then he was able still to fly away. Good thing is the lense is fine.  Sorry beetle, sorry. I hope you are fine.

The Beautiful Gray Cat

I can’t resist posting yet another picture of my favorite cat in the neighborhood. My other post was in mid. November 2014. I now know where he lives. I saw him sunbathing on the terrace in the early spring. We seem to have the same schedule and the same paths as we often meet him in exactly the same place.  He’s adorable.

Blooming again :)

I was pleasantly surprised, to in the beginning of last week, to notice my Clivia is going to bloom again.  I didn’t expect it to bloom again this quick. Only about two months since last time. I don’t know it is now the wrong time of the year for it to bloom or the wright. Justhappy and enjoying it’s colorful flowers.

HKL/Helsinki City Transport 70th Anniversary ~ 25th Samba Carnaval

Yesterday the Helsinki City Transport celebrated its 70th anniversary. They arranged a tram exhibition of about 10 trams. The oldest, a wooden tram “Jumbo” from 1917. My husband says his family took the tram to visit an aunt in Brändö/Kulosaari when he was 4 years old. Really ? Are you really able to remember it after taking the ride once or is it something you have been told. No, no he said we took the ride more than once. The bridge to the Brändö island, in 1948-1950, was a narrow wooden bridge. I remember well the rattling and shaking. The tram is reconditioned and looks beautiful.

From the trams we went to the Senate Square for the 25^th Samba Carnaval. Oh no, it began to rain ! Poor dancers. It rained for about two hours. That was for how long the event took place. Good thing it was not raining too hard. Neither it didn’t bother the dancers. If it did, at least they didn’t show it.