Monday, June 25, 2012

Gulf of Finland - Photos for Friends

OK, I'm a little bit late for the party known as Tillerman's Photography for Bloggers 101 group writing challenge, but as I have been sorting through my 300+ pictures (auuugh!) from Estonia and Finland, I realized that I might have another hint for what makes blog photography fun for me. I never thought that this blog would last as long as it has. None of the diaries (yes, plural, there were repeated tries) that I started as a kid ever lasted more than a month. Many blogs end up having similarly short lifespans, and I sort of expected this one would too - but I hadn't taken into account the sociability factor that you get once you've found a nice spot in a circle of like-minded bloggers.

Funny how a bunch of people that you've maybe never met in person get to feel like friends, but they do (or if you're one of the usual suspects, YOU did -- hopefully you all know who you are even if I don't happen to call you out in this post!). And a lot of times, even if I don't specify it, I take a picture and post it here because I look at something and think "Oh, so-and-so would get a kick out of that".
Here are a BUNCH of cases in point (as usual, click on any picture for more detail).

The dinner picture above, from my first night in Tallinn? Who would I have been thinking of when I took that (and a number of other food pix which I'll inflict on everyone in due course) but Food Industry Professional Baydog?

Also from my first night in Estonia - this one was for archer extraodinaire Fuu. I'm not so extraordinaire but the arrows did actually start hitting the target by the 5th of 10 shots and moved steadily centerward from there. Haven't done this since the summer I worked as a camp counselor after my senior year in high school, but the camp had an archery range and on my free afternoons I would sometimes go do a bit of shooting for fun and it was fun to try it again.


Flemish coils of course remind me of the former "unblogger" Oh Docker - (thank goodness Blogger has relented on their temporary decision that he was a spammer - careful what you say about Marmite, everyone!)

and the same coil drying out in the sun after the storm passed through reminded me of a very old post featuring a Rhode Island weather report as given by a wild rose, with which the Peconic Puffin had been quite taken.

This didn't remind me of a blogger, but of my friend Joe Glickman, who has been after me to read his book about Freya Hoffmeister - Joe, my goodness, you didn't have to pay these people to remind me all the way up in Estonia, but I promise you your book is the next one I buy (even if I have to break down and get it from amazon!!!!).

I expect that my photos of the oldest operating drydock in the world (built beginning in 1740 if I'm recalling correctly, on the fascinating island of Suomenlinna, Helsinki Harbor) will be enjoyed by both Tugster (note the people for scale, I was trying for a Tugsteresque touch there) and Captain JP, who I unfortunately just missed there in Finland!

Antique telegraphs always remind me of the sort of details that the Bowsprite illustrates so lovingly.

Getting ready to wrap up -- this one's for the woodworkers and boatbuilders -- Doryman, Jimbo, Bob Easton, anyone else I've missed in that area and also Canoe-Building Uncle up in Jonesville (he doesn't blog but he would love all the lovely wooden boats in Suomenlinna so I was totally thinking of him too).

Here's some foiling Moth action in Helsinki Harbor for all the dinghy sailors out there - too many to list, sorry, and this is just a tease btw, I'm saving the GOOD one for the trip report for that day!

and here's one to get all my kayak friends dreaming.

Thanks to all the friends who inspired these. I don't always spell it out quite as specifically - but if you ever see a picture here that particularly appeals to you, there's a fairly good chance that that's not an accident.

18 comments:

Tillerman said...

You must be saving all the picture of the "porkuni" barrel race for a separate post?

bonnie said...

well, we sauna'ed, we sailed, we ate lots of smoked fish...maybe I decided that I had to save something exciting for my next trip?

bonnie said...

And I told TQ we should go there for a paddling trip sometime, we could be the mixed double porkuni champs of Estonia!

Zen said...

Great !

O Docker said...

That is indeed a fine coil.

Was the telegraph from a submarine? And, if so, what gave it away?

bonnie said...

The telegraph IS from a submarine, and I'm dying to know how you knew that, but I can stand being curious for a little while to see if anyone else is cleverer that I am.

Not that that takes a ton of doing or anything.

PeconicPuffin said...

I love me some rosa rugosa, it's true.
Of course a good coil of rope is nothing to sneeze at!

bonnie said...

Actually I also was thinking of the windsurfer crew when I was taking pictures of some kiteboarders who were tearing it up at the same time as the Moths, but none of those came out that well - it's the same sort of industrial section of Helsinki as background (we could hear what sounded like a gravel plant running full tilt all night on Pihlajassari, where I took the Moth picture, fortunately it was far enough away that it didn't keep anyone awake, and the island was lovely) and they were a little out of focus.

No windsurfers out that day that I saw but I bet they're out there - the Finns clearly love to take advantage of their long summer days by getting out on the water.


I did find some wild roses somewhere in Finland but I think those are on the Optio, which I didn't use as much as the Lumix and haven't downloaded to the computer yet. That's got video on it though so I hope to get to that soon.

Anonymous said...

Greta!!!

bonnie said...

Have you met, or are you just smitten afresh?

Tillerman said...

Was it the submarine Vesikko? The first photo on row three of this page looks very familiar?

bonnie said...

That's the one. It's the only submarine in Finland, and being a submariner's kid, I felt that if I was on the same island as the only submarine in Finland, the very first thing I wanted to do (well, except lunch) was pay it a visit.

I'm still curious if O-docker saw that site, or if there's something in the wording of the speeds that gives it away, or if maybe he just observed the curvature of the hull.

O Docker said...

Nope, I didn't try discovering which sub it is and hadn't seen that website.

And I don't know a word of Finnish.

But the words on the telegraph contain a clue. I was sure someone would have spotted this by now.

bonnie said...

OK, I'm not sure if I've identified it correctly or not but...could this page be considered to be a clue?

Anonymous said...

my guess would be the "8 o clock" position word "dieselmootori" underwater the sub would run on batteries, and there would be different "speed settings" for batteries. Having a separate setting for diesel suggests it's not running some of the time . . . so it's gotta be batteries or fins or kayak paddles. Right?

bonnie said...

I think Tugster and I are thinking similarly! O Docker, are we right? 'Cause what other kind of boat would mention that the diesel was running, right?

O Docker said...

Yup. That's what caught my eye.

I was trying to decipher some of the Finnish words - with no luck - until I found 'diesel' in the middle of it all.

Google translate says the word next to it means ' lectric '.

Ascinating, no?

bonnie said...

Otally!