Door

The old city of Deventer is filled with treasures like this. Wouldn't it be something to arrive at your front door..

..and 2 mocking faces watch you while you search for your key?  ;)

Watching you

Stern eyes watch you from above..

..next to an entrance. Photo taken in Deventer.

Bicycle shed sign

This monumental building at Brink no 16 in Deventer is nowadays used by an organisation called "KunstaanZ", who organises exhibitions with contemporary art.

A large and colourful sign above the entrance catches the eye though; on which a gentleman and his bicycle tell that this was once the location for a 'Rijwielstalling' - which in formal Dutch means 'bicycle shed'.

I'm linking to signs, signs.

Umbrellas

Umbrellas and dark skies above the city of Deventer last Saturday, though very little rain! We felt lucky to have so much sunshine :)

A pig on a barrel

Last Saturday we enjoyed taking part in a guided tour through the beautiful and historical city of Deventer. This gable stone on one of the houses at the Assenstraat, picturing a pig on a barrel, was made by Dutch sculptor Anton Geerlings in 1984, so it's actually not that old. The text underneath the barrel ("DAT REGENVERCKEN") refers to the name this building had in former days, because of a deep well that used to be in the back garden.
In old Dutch the word "vercken" means 'large well' or 'large water well', and "regen" is Dutch for 'rain'.

Mr and Mrs Straw Bale..

.. selling pumpkins and gourds. Photo taken in the village of Bourtange earlier today.

Empty

Benches and swings in the park next to the Gösta Serlachius Museum in Mänttä, Finland. The sultry heat (+30°C, over 86°F) was probably the reason they stayed empty that afternoon.

Sunflowers

A field with sunflowers near Wezup. I'm linking to Floral Friday Fotos.

Chicken-of-the-woods

We passed a couple of trees last Sunday with a large yellow fungus that I'd never seen before. Apparently it's a species of fungi that grows on trees and is found in Europe and North America. Other names are crab-of-the-woods, sulphur shelf and, hence the title of this post: chicken-of-the-woods. In Dutch it's named  'zwavelzwam'.

The fungus is described as "fruit bodies that grow as striking golden-yellow shelf-like structures on tree trunks and branches. Unlike many fungi growing on trees, it is edible when young''. 
Hmm, to be honest I have no desire in taking a bite.. how about you?  :)

It happens occasionally however that it causes brown cubical rot in the heartwood of trees. (info from Wikipedia)

Cornfield

There are lots of cornfields in our region. Due to a lack of rain the past months many fields don't look as green as this one though. Photo taken last Sunday during our hike, near the village of Aalden in the province of Drenthe.

Pumpkins and gourds

A farmhouse cart filled with pumpkins and gourds for sale tell that somewhere, someday, Autumn will come..
We still manage to hold on to nice and warm weather though. Photo taken last Sunday in the small village of Wezup, about 30 min by car from our house.

Beavers' work #2

A bit further on our hike in Isojärvi Nat. Park than yesterday's post, we passed a small lake called Lepolampi and saw this sign:

 ..that indicated a detour was necessary..

..because a small part of the forest was flooded due to beavers! It must have been a while since, as many of the trees standing in the water were already dead.

Beavers' work #1

During our stay in Jämsä we made a day hike in Isojärvi National Park, known for its presence of beavers. We weren't lucky enough to see one, but we did see the results of their labour.

And this was the rest of the tree! I wonder if it's still standing now..

An old bicycle

Isn't this the perfect way to make use of an old bicycle?

Seen in the town of Keuruu. Happy Saturday!

A hug

Hugging a tree - photo taken in the town of Keuruu  :)

Keuruu railway station

There, at the left side of the door, is the railway clock that I showed you yesterday. We were in the town of Keuruu, located about 60 km from Jyväskylä in central Finland, to visit the Keuruu Old Church -more about that later.

'Rautatieasema' means 'railway station'. The building had so many elegant and fine details around the windows.

And the other side.

Train station clock

Tomorrow I´ll show you from which railway station this clock was.

Marilyn at Vapriikki

We very much enjoyed our visit to Vapriikki, a museum centre in the city of Tampere. One of the temporary exhibitions was 'the lovely Marilyn', showing the outward beauty, success and glamour of the life of Marilyn Monroe, but also it's other -dark- side. What a life she had.

Lots of personal items were on display: photos, film fragments, dresses, shoes, makeup, jewellery, and film scripts.

Tampere love locks

 Love locks on a bridge crossing the Tammerkoski in Tampere.

A lock with handcuffs... a bicycle lock... (?)

Waiting for mail

Following a dirt road near Koli National Park we passed this busstop (? there was no sign though) with a guy holding a mailbox on his knees.

To be honest I found him a bit scary when I came close for a photograph. Those toes! Brrrr!

Reflecting sky

Another one taken in Patvinsuo National Park, North Karelia - Finland. It's my contribution to Weekend Reflections.

Happy Saturday!

Patvinsuo National Park

The 15 km hike we made in Patvinsuo National Park was called Suomumkierto. The path followed more or less the shores of Suomunjärvi (lake Suomun); we're in the Finnish North Karelia region here.

Quiet and sandy lake shores.

Bridges and some small islands brought us to the other side.

Dragonfly

Usually dragonflies don't "sit" still long enough to take a photograph (not for me anyway), but this one landed on the wooden plank path in front of us and stayed there for about half a minute. We saw them a lot during the hikes we made in Finland. Photo taken in Patvinsuo National Park.

Rokua National Park

About 90 km southeast of Oulu is Rokua National Park, one of the oldest national parks in Finland. We enjoyed a day hike by following the signs of the Keisarinkierros trail. Along the route were many beautiful clear-watered lakes..

..and thick carpets of moss-like lichen on both sides of the path.

Wooden planks guide through wet areas, though the grounds were mainly dry now.

Market Hall

Besides a market at the open square, Oulu has a historic market hall that was opened in 1901. The city councel of Oulu decided to build an indoor market due to tightened food safety regulations. Specifically butchers had to move to the covered market.

Spread over 2 aisles are 62 wooden shop stalls that sell everything from food (meat/fish/bread etc.). clothes, handicrafts, and more.

Gulf of Bothnia coast

The town of Oulu is a popular holiday destination as it lies at the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia, and has a nice beach. We stayed in a cottage at Nallikari Holiday Village about 50 metres of the beach.

Life guards were watching the swimmers.

Fruit market

We're back from 2 weeks travelling through beautiful -and tropical- Finland. This photo was taken at the market in Oulu, at which mainly fresh fruit was sold like strawberries and raspberries.