Some rust was found in our roof. We had to order a painters' team to solve that problem.

Painting took some more days we expected due to some rain...

* * *

Our nights are getting longer down here, in Turku.

My friend told me they'll have a sunset next week. He lives at Utsjoki, in Lappland. (H 24 sunny period begun at May 20th.)

Streetlamps needed longer and longer...

Shiny nights -
street lamps'
rusted memory

hurry up -
the sun is ready
also for you

silent forest -
cuckoo laid its eggs
in mosquitoe's nest?

before the autumn
I'm going to change
my mind

Reidar Särestöniemi 1925 - 1981

Artist Reidar Särestöniemi lived at Kittilä. One of his ateliers in the photo. That area is as a museum now, there is also a good cafe. By the river Ounasjoki also his childhood-home left as a museum. (Near this house.)

in the forest
one man's house -
& some mosquitoes

Some more photos here: http://juhanitikkanen.blogspot.com/2011/06/kekkosen-jalkia-kittilassa.html
and here:

http://juhanitikkanen.blogspot.com/2011/06/reidarin-museosta-jalkivaikutteita.html

and here:

http://mataleena.blogspot.com/2011/06/reidar-sarestoniemi.html

Lassagammi & Ailu

Some 40 years ago I visited many times my friend Ailu. At that times he lived (when stayed in Finland) in Pättikkä, place by the Swedish border in Finland's Lappland.

Ailu (Nils-Aslak Valkeapää) died a couple years ago. He built a new house over there, Skibotn in Norway, just before he died. That building is now sort of artists' residence.

nobody at home -
with the wind
a soft sound

Have a look:
http://www.lassagammi.no

A holiday trip to Norwegian side today. My wife asked at what time we will return to this cottage. "Before the sunset" was my answer. (It is not so long trip, but because of reindeers wandering on the roads etc.)

breakfast egg
cloudy side up claims
it's a good moorning

Peaceful countryside

I have spent several days now just traveling all around our Lappland... Now staying in the middle Lappland, near Swedish border. We hired a cottage here.

the wind, either,
not allowed
to rest

Our car in the parking lot is so happy; the sun warming her days and nights. A hay(na)ku:

shining
all over
the unsleepy sun

As you know, the sunrise here was around May 23rd, and next sunset will be around 18th. July. This place is 68 Degs North. (Muonio.)

wondering
where to wander
next

That hasty bird
not at all acquainted
with my ideas?

Not so frequently online; I'm visiting Lappland, returning southwards next week.

I took this photo when I was bicycling and stopped when I saw the dandelions blossoming.

dandelions swarms -
world's end
cancelled

This one I sent to Japan-EU English Haiku Contest in Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/haikucontest

桜咲く
also our dandelion
as bright as the sun

(桜咲く - sakura saku - cherry blossom)


Label:
- Japan-EU English Haiku Contest...

No way to
tell you anything
more than
this one.

I got The Collected Poems of Robert Creeley 1975 - 2005. Thank you Amazon! I had already his Collected 1945-1975. This one is from Robert Creeley's Windows (1990).

Next one is my comment for that photo I took when seated near Hyde Park Corner a week ago. I was just listening.

Two pigeons
discussing
€u-politics?

Labels: Robert Creeley, Hyde Park Corner, EU

      silent forest

    a crow caws twice 

      then silence

This one is a variation, or a follow-up for my earlier themes...

a humming wind
but I do not remember
anything

on my bare head
this empty
wind

All that water
flowing in the river -
a drinking fish?

This is a combination from some sources; one idea from one, another idea somewhere else. Whether this a senryu, or not, is a trivial problem, I think.

Superfluous
man looks out the window -
an useless courtyard

Ps. My calendar says it is a Europe-day. Finland ought to support Portugal (as we have supported Iceland's and Greekland's...) My opinion is that we are stupid. Who is laughing? Deutche Bank? Banks in Spain? Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. ?-(

This picture is "borrowed" from Tenzin Tsundue's Kora, stories and poems.

And this is part of the poem from page 11:

I didn't know
if I was there or here.
I didn't know
if I was here or there.

They say the kyang
come here every winter.

They say the kyang
go there every summer.

(Kyang - wild ass found in herds in Changthang (northern plains) of Tibet and Ladakh.)

Young boy coughing
a cigarette in his mouth -
dusty spring

sudden hailstorm
expected the asphalt
blooming, too

We got some hail yesterday, and when the hails melted the streets were undusty.

There is a similar text I wrote some years ago, where a gentle spring rain tried to get asphalt streets blossoming. .-)

Life
was an adventure,
said the snowman.

solar winds

1.

The solar wind -
ozone current
swimming across the sky


2.

The solar wind -
misty clouds
whining away

fresh sun
through bare branches -
ozone wind

running wind
takes the river south -
coughing cloud

(This was dated some days ago; first version in Finnish, so this is a translation. Also this is one idea I'm returning now and then.)

Yesterday we found the very first blossoming coltsfoot,see here! (Click on the photo there.)

This bud here is just going to wake up. Click on it and the spider's thread is seen.

Kigo word: Spring (springhtening)

This photo's date is 8th April.

     ices going to leave - 
     the river 
     exonerating
 

dense fog #2

     dense fog -
     a whole world 
         unseen

dense fog -
wondering how our free sky
is carrying on

dark moon
heavy clouds
drizzling

happy together
to fly free -
plutonium particles

      Snow shower 
      on a blackbird - 
      diminishing shadows

         On packed ice 
         some fresh snow -
         Cool March

one day
after vernal equinox -
joyful spring

melting spring
inside my shoes -
vernal equinox

during last night
one broken icicle -
a roofquake

Finnish variation is found here:
http://juhanitikkanen.blogspot.com/2011/03/piharakennuksen-katolle-syntyi-kevaan.html

reflected
radiation from our old
waxing moon

I visited Helsinki 15th March. It was a bright sunny day. Listened from radio about Fukushima Nr1, Nr2, Nr3, and now also Nr4.

bright sunrays -
we should stay
indoors

Camera, my old Canon Pocket,
Data for this:
Shooting Date/Time: 15.3.2011 16:17:23
Shooting Mode Auto
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/1600
Av( Aperture Value ) 5.6
ISO Speed: Auto

seaquakes
moved Japan
two meters westwards

(Some sources said four meters.)

Picture copyrighted by U.S. Geological Survey March 13.2011

After this "seaquake" also Fukushima's nuclear Power Station is "out of order".

Fukushima I one of the 25 largest nuclear power stations in the world.

Fukushima reactors for units 1, 2, and 6 were supplied by General Electric.

Tsunami -
radioactivated
spring breeze

global warming
+9 meter sea level -
Japan's tsunami +10 meter


There is said that if, or when, all the antarctic ices melt the sea level will rise plus nine meters? (abt 30 feet.)

       resting 
       a while - 
       safe parking

chilly morning
a frozen sky
not breathing

Very cold nights here in Turku. - 20 - 24 Celcius. Traveling today by train to Jyväskylä; being 45 minutes late due to some problems. I'm not in a hurry, going to visit the cafe soon!

     Lost spring --
     some of the snowy trees 
     waiting the sun

1. Day

though
a sunny day
an old icicle
not going to melt
yet


2. Night

midwinter --
on the white snow
a frozen star


p.s.
15th morning a record temperature here in Turku during this winter: - 24 Celcius.
Outside. Inside + 20 C.

3. bonus

A cold night --
whose turn to make tea
this morning?

1.

snowy road
dim sunlight
overspeeding


2.

on snowy treetop
neither of the magpies
says anything

passing rapidly
our window -
snowflakes

midwinter -
on the icy road
a starving snowflake

February - 
on the snowy road 
sky's shadowing

Finnish roads got many internet-cameras. I check from those how the world looks like. Online here.

Main page: http://alk.tiehallinto.fi/alk/frames/kelikamerat-frame.html

    sooner or later 
    the spring is coming -- 
       is it?

Today we had a short walk by the Turku Art Museum. There is a small V. I. Lenin's statue. He is heading his eyes eastwards, down to the market place and over the River Aura. It is about seven hours trip by train from Turku to St. Petersburg, ex. Leningrad.

       Comrades ! 
       Let's all head 
       eastwards!

See also my Finnish blog:

http://juhanitikkanen.blogspot.com/2011/01/kaytiin-paivakavelylla-taidemuseon-maen.html
Three liner in my Finnish blog is something like this:

   from pure white snow 
   rising 
   Lenin's bare head

    old steamer -- 
    snowgulls 
    still overwintering?

Sleepy snowy winds

Yesterday I visited Helsinki again, this time by an Express Bus. Two hours sitting. Tried to read some haiku; slightly the misty morning woke up into a dim light. Mist. Soft.

        misty morning -- 
        snowy winds 
        still sleeping



   sleepy wind --
   slightly warmer day 
   for the forest

I visited Helsinki and returned yesterday. The train arrived as planned by the Time Table. This time. Turku is westwards from Helsinki.

     To the west!
     Red light 
     disagrees

parking lot
filled with
snow-capped cars

(Published today in Taro Kunugi's Facebook as my comment.)

This weekend we have got some rain. Plain water. +2 Celcius. This winter's beginning so early (in November already!)was one of the coldest I do remember. And usually winter begins here in January, (as today), and February is the usually the coldest month. (In March the sun is getting higher and is able to warm during lenghtenig daytime.) Let's see what is going on in near future.

Here is my own car:

    A happy car 
    sheltered by soft snow --
    peaceful January!

smoke from chimneys --
global warming theories
cancelled?

End of the year --
this freezing snow
fell in love to me?



Happy New Year!

I read my calendar and found that:

       eight minutes 
       longer day today --
       this dwindling year

21st Dec Sun from 9:22 to 15:14
29th Dec Sun from 9:23 to 15:21

This is here in Turku, 60 Degrees North, in Utsjoki (70 Degs North) not any sun at all.

Ice-lantern # 2

 
the day after Christmas -- 
pretty new snowflakes 
just born

inside 
ice-lanterns 
candles flicker

Merry and warm Christmas!

Not whistling,
suspicious bird,
just looking

A Happy Christmas for you!

winter solstice --
a dog barks at
the bright sky

       new snow 
       on the old one ...
       the sky's breath

One of my favorite lines in Ogura Hyakunin Isshu:
Poem Nr 15 L5: yuki wa furitsutsutsu. The whole waka (=tanka):

As I gather herbs
From this field in early spring,
Intending them for you,
The falling snow starts to gather
On the sleeve of my outstretched arm.

-- Emperor Kōkō

Also Ogura Poem Nr 4:
Yamabe no Akahito's waka in 'Turku-area-language'

In English:

As I venture out
Onto the shore at Tago Bay,
I see snow, pure white,
Falling now ever deeper
On Mount Fuji's lofty peak.

-- Yamabe no Akahito

English translations' copyright by

http://www.jlit.net/authors_works/premodern/hyakunin_isshu/poems_01-05.html#top

snowing
large flakes
as nothing else
to do


(Mr. Santoka wrote many two-liners, also as well as some four liners!)

Snoring # 3

December night
or this cloudy day --
snoring sun

shoveling snows --
an unfinished snowman
arguing

Snoring #2

Reading
Takuboku's poems --
a snoring sofa


(Ishikawa Takuboku 1886 - 1912, quite many translated in Finnish some years ago. Tried to read it again, but ... The language is not tankapoetry written in Finnish but some kind of raw-translations only. Otherwise Takuboku is an interesting poet, I think, anyway.)

 
Snoring car -- 
December snow 
silently all over

From the poem The Man with the Blue Guitar by Wallace Stevens:

The sea drifts through the winter air.

It is the sea that the north wind makes.
The sea is in the falling snow.

This gloom is the darkness of the sea.

After a chilly night a chilly morning. When having my morning tea by the window I saw our squirrel. It seemed to seek something, food perhaps?

The snow is sheltering the soil; under the thick snow there is much warmer. But the snow is not so thick at all yet. Does the squirrel know it?

 
Chilly morning -- 
buried under warm snow 
squirrel´s supplies?

a clinky winter

Arctic cold reached us. Our weathermen are surprised. Seems to be a winter, just now, already, this early. But I do like how river is rapidly icing. Icing river is making some noise. Word clinking's etymology: Middle English clinken, probably from Middle Dutch, says Webster.

  
a chilly wind 
clinking 
in the river's ice

Radio Telegraphy

Finnish Radio Officers celebrated yesterday; our Union is 90 years old. Telegraphy is no more used commercially. I met many retired Radio Officers; returned from Helsinki with an old friend of mine. In the train's cafe he had one beer and I a small bottle of red wine.

We sailed on the high seas a while. I remembered my trip up to Canadian NWT:

 
         a message 
         from the northern icefields --
         drifting iceberg

All Saints' Day, All Hallows day

We are going to visit the graveyard today. Got a long-burning candle with us to put it there in my mom's grave. (My father still lives; he is 92 years.) Today is also the New Moon. So the nightly sky was somewhat empty, just a few star between some drifting clouds. I read some Santoka, and stopped by this one:

The frosty night's bed must be somewhere.

Translation's copyright by Hiroaki Sato.

      No-one 
      slept with you, 
      o chilly night?

In my notebook the first version was a two-liner:

         Calm autumn day -- 
         a candle

a crane having
one more frog --
a warm autumn

comment moderation on again, sorry

Due to unknown url into my comment (which I removed) I had to turn comment moderation on again. Sorry for that. Tikkis

juhani.tikkanen@gmail.com

(gmail got a good enough spam-filter)

 
no more leaves 
to fall down -- 
this windy autumn

Between me
and this autumn rain
one leaking umbrella

 
a nervous bench --
an undelivered 
snowfall

 
a squirrel
participating 
this hectic autumn

 
yellowed leaves 
going to move ... 
a ceased snowfall

Fallen leaves - Zen

This morning this express train from Turku to Helsinki is ten minutes late, as usual.
During the last winter due to lot of snow. Now lot of fallen leaves on the rail making those slippery.
Checked my Email - waiting a message; none yet.
Surfing and found following:

Zen and the Art of Poetry: An Interview with Jane Hirshfield
by Ilya Kaminsky and Katherine Towler


url: http://www.bu.edu/agni/interviews/online/2006/towler.html

                ten minutes late --
             a morning-train's zen 
                for the fallen leaves

      chilly night -- 
      so many happy leaves 
      landed safely

wherever I walk
the fallen leaves crowded
all the paths


Yellow leaves sailing
from the shore
to the open sea


These are from September 2010 Kukai
(Both none points...)

autumnal equinox
these lenghtened nights
also swelled


(Autumnal equinox was on 23rd September)

            migrated cranes --
            nightly sky so bright,
            so bright

As a comment in:

http://haikubanditsociety.blogspot.com/2010/09/september-2010-moon-viewing-party.html


This is one from the series I posted (migrating cranes) in my blog 22nd September. And September 23rd night was so bright!

http://juhanitikkanen.blogspot.com/2010/09/porukalla-on-mukavaa-muuttolentaa.html

      September field -- 
      from the forest 
      some fallen leaves

     Flying objects 
     and a rainy sky -- 
     my umbrella is ready 

      unknown sleeper 
      occupied the whole bench --
      a long autumn

Sketchbook

lingering heat --
hems of pine cone 
widely open

This text-section was in Sketchbook-August 2010:

http://poetrywriting.org/Sketchbook5-4JulAug2010/0_Contents_Sketchbook_5-4_JulyAugust_coolnessheat_Kukai_Results_.htm.

Photo's data 7th Aug. 2010: Canon EOS, 1/250, F/18, ISO 1600. Manual settings.

Through morning sun
sudden thunder
squalls

This I wrote as a comment into Fred Masarani's Facebook today:
evening fog--- / thunder and lighting / and my neighbor sings

After a very warm summer we have now a warm autumn, raining a lot. Today heard a sudden noise (thunder!), and after that a heavy rainshower.

waning August moon --
longing for
many warm memories

;-)

I wrote this a comment for
samuru999.blogspot

august afternoon --
two or three ravens
flying behind the trees

I wrote this a comment for
magyar-haiku.blogspotSee the text also there.

When visited my mother-in-law I followed what was happening in the forests. Somewhere near us was some ravens. Great birds, I think. But they eat carcasses, I think. There are many bears, but the bears are eating all kind of berries etc? Some wolves near that area but not exactly so near, so what those ravens ate?

A four-liner

so many haiku
in this world --
August moon passed
safely