New Love

Passalacqua Cremador espresso – check the yellow package at the right hand side of the photograph... 70% Arabica with 30% Robusta coffee beans. Good stuff with a strong character. Goes well with my handpresso domepod (not in the image). I got one when I turned into 50 in March and I will not leave the shoreline for camping without it.

FINALLY

... I got some holidays and I got time for paddling. I'm sorry folks, posting to this web site is sometimes painful: the images pile up and I have too much to do (again) in too little time. I got nominated this January as the chairman of the board of the Union of Artist Photographers, Finland, and I am therefore also a board member of the Artists' Association of Finland. My daughter also takes quite lot of my time, so occasionally, I am full of anxiety and got a strong need to go out to the sea.

The great expedition of this year (cell phone images)

Two weeks at sea, 352 kilometres and terrible heat wave.

At the Baltic Sea...

Finally, my first r e a l holidays after one and half years of taking care of our little family with Riitta!

I felt stiff, sometimes a bit unsecure at the open waters -and I have to admit that I spent few first days sleeping my tiredness off... no early wake-ups and long days. So did 'Auntie' Alli, my long-time paddling buddy. For me, whose longest expedition was 700 kilometres before Lumi was born, 350 kilometres and two weeks was extraordinarily lazy time. Vilma 'the Body', my other good friend paddled half of the trip with us. Her nickname comes from her obscure habit of participating body-pump excercise at local gyms...

We arrived Kaunissaari harbour accidentally at the very same day, when they had a local celebration, and turned back to west. Fortunately, weather was fine so we had lots of opportunities to admire the huge Suursaari at the horizon. Unfortunately it has been part of Russia since 1945.

More shots from the sea