For something a little different today, I thought I would show one of the local lakes in Autumn - though I am not sure what is gong on with the weather at the moment, as it was 21 degrees Celsius today, which isn't very common at the end of September.
This lake is named Pikku-Ahvenisto and is about a ten minute drive from my home. With it being an easy two kilometre walk around the lake, there is often young families there to take in the scenery and grill some makkara (sausage) at the lean-to supplied.
This is one of my favorite shots from the walk.
Even though this is only a few minutes from home, this is the first time that we have brought Smallsteps here for some reason. She loves the forest walks though and she is far braver than I thought she would be when it comes to climbing up the embankments and jumping across the rocks. She was like an excited baby mountain goat.
This smurf house is fly agaric and is a poisonous mushroom -though it isn't as toxic as many have been led to believe - though I wouldn't be eating them for fun - even though they have psychactive properties.
The colors of the autumn are in full swing at the moment and with the rare warmth, there are a lot of people taking advantage. I worked my ass off at home with the renovation prep earlier in the day, so we could take a couple hours off for this trip today. Then worked for another few hours in the dark, once we got home again. It was worth it.
Smallsteps is a bit of a forest baby at times, which is weird as neither of her parents are. My wife does like the lake and cottage life, but she isn't much of a hiker - at least since I have known her. These aren't all our sausages.
We decided a few weeks ago to have sausage and marshmallows on the fireplace every weekend and we decided to do it at the end of the walk around the lake - along with many other people.
Not a bad view.
And my wife kisses like a chipmunk.
Where my family are sitting (and at the other end of the panorama below), there is an old country house that can be rented for events. About a decade ago my wife and I attended a friend's wedding there. It isn't a fancy house, more of a very large cottage kind of thing, but it does have atmosphere and is a cozy place for friends and family.
While an easy walk, the forest path around the lake climbs up and down, with some areas being about 10 meters above the water level with a near sheer drop, which was a little bit of a concern with Smallsteps being so enthusiastic with where she wanted to play.
You can see the trees that have fallen in the water in the shot below, which happens in storms and heavy rain as the hills surrounding this particular lake are quite steep. We say some very large trees that have lost ther footing on the rocks they were growing on and had slipped to a rest on the hillside.
As you can see with Smallsteps in a T-shirt - it is unusually warm. But there is variation. It seems that while the temperature today was 21 here - the record in September was 28C - the low -18C - That is almost a 46C degree swing :)
There were a lot of Autumn leaves in the water and by the shore in the path of the wind, it looked like the layer was so thick you might be able to walk across them. In the winter this lake will freeze earlier than many as it is so small. If it freezes before the snows come, I will try to get there for some pictures as it can end up being quite glassy. Although, it is like glass in the evening too - These shots were taken about an hour before the water will still to completely flat.
Autumn in Finland when the sun is shining is a lovely place, full of burnt colours of yellow, orange and red. It is a signal of what is to some when the leaves fall off the trees and the days get much shorter though - darkness. Before the snows arrive, Finland is like a black hole that light cannot escape and people's mood change from summer promise to winter dread. I am a night owl, so I don't mind too much :)
See you soon.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]