Have you ever heard a swan take off?
They are surprisingly large when they spread their wings. Wings flapping, you can hear pure power as they lift like an airplane on a runway.
It was very early in the morning when we were here last September. “Here” being the place in these photos, somewhere we had never been before nor would we go back. It was just a moment in time, now memorised in photos, giving it disproportionate weight in the photo stories of our lives. It was just a place we happened to drive by.
The children’s slide in the shallows whispered of fun times and happy laughter, but in September it was silent and cold. There was a veil of fog on the lake just before the swans took off, near the other shore. My kids threw pebbles into the smooth, still water.
And then we rode on.
40 replies on “Lake”
Beautiful photos. How crisp and still the day must have been for those water reflections.
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Thanks! It was a magical moment, silent but also a bit cold! 🥶😄
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Mikä ihana tuokiokuva etätyön lomaan. Palauttava mikrotauko.
Kiitos ja kivaa päivää sinne!
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Kiitos ja samoin! ☺️
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Poetic descriptions, Snow. I haven’t seen a Swan or goose take off.
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It’s quite a spectacle. I’ve seen it a few times – or actually it’s more about hearing it. The volume of their wings flapping is surprisingly loud
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I am having a hard time imagining it. Might have to google it!
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Please do! Although I suspect the sound would not be as loud on video as in real life
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You stopped and memorialised the moment in time brilliantly. I indeed saw and heard a swan lift off, and land on another occasion, and it’s quite spectacular. I took a photo of it too, maybe you’ll remember it. Find it here: https://manjameximovie.wordpress.com/2016/08/20/wpc-rare-slovenian-sights/
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Your swan pic is great!!! What a capture
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I’ve also watched swans take to the skies. Your lovely photos are typically Finnish, how I’m looking forward to being able to return. Hope you are all doing well. Marion
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Thanks Marion, hope you’re well too and that soon we can all travel freely again ☺️ This was from a weekend trip we did, we rented an RV and saw lake scenes that we wouldn’t see in Helsinki
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Beautiful scenery. I’m not sure I have seen swans take off so I’d add it to my list haha
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You definitely should! 😄
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Stop overs are also our thing! With kids on the road its not quite a luxury rather than a necessity.Too much sitting and then they become grumpy.We had the same thing numerous times and I never regretted it.Beautiful sceneries, a moment of rest , little playtime and some big reflections pays off.
And what´s the thing with always throwing stones in the water! (Universal instinct right?)
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Yeah, random stops are the best (if they work out)! I used to throw stones in the water too, it really is universal! ☺️
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Your moment in time is strangely reminiscent of one (or more) from my past. We have lots of photos of lakes ringed by evergreens, but like you, we may never return to those specific places or even know exactly where they are (in my case). Still, they capture a time and a mood, and I love the idea that you can set out from Helsinki and I from various spots in the U.S. and both come across scenes like this that become a part of collective memory.
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Oh, I love that idea too, parallel experiences in different parts of the globe. But then again, borders are arbitrary and we are all just one planet, aren’t we? Hmm, got a bit philosophical again! But yes, a nice thought. And I never record places I visit either (and don’t use geo tags on my phone) so it’s very unlikely I’d find them again. And I don’t mind. I like the exploring and the element of surprise
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The words are as beautiful as the images. Things that stay in the heart.
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Thank you, Peter. Things that stay in the heart – yes
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This is almost poetic, Snow…how beautiful <3<3
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Thank you, dear Moon!
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A moment in time. Some stay with you and some don’t. One of the functions of photography perhaps, to help remember moments that would otherwise slip away.
Thinking about it, I don’t recall ever seeing a swan take off, but I have seen big birds like geese and turkeys do so, and they do make a racket.
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We saw a gigantic turkey at a farm last summer, I wonder how its take-off would sound!! If it even can fly. The swans look like they’re running on water just before they lift, it’s such a sight
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The swans would be most impressive. When I’ve seen turkeys flying it’s been quite ungainly. My best bird flying experience though was back in Washington State, when a pair of bald eagles flew into a wood and landed on a couple of branches just in from the edge. I waited, figuring that they’d fly out eventually. Instead, I suddenly heard loud crashing and banging as they flew off through the wood, breaking branches left, right, and center.
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That’s surprising! The bad boys of the bird world: “Let’s just fly through it!”
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I guess. I used to see eagles fairly often but never saw anything like that before or after.
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I’ve never seen anything like that. Though we did see plenty of eagles and condors when traveling in Argentina. But they were high up, silent to us
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Lovely. And I appreciate your wonder at the rising of the swans. Having lived in the so-called Central Flyway, one of three north-south-north migration lanes over the USA, I’m quite familiar. The big birds – swans, geese, cranes – are
magnificent in so many ways. Their in-flight calls, in particular, have echoed through my life and dreams. Thank you for bringing me back to that touchstone once again.
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How nicely you put it into words – echoed through your life and dreams, I like that thought. Thank you for reading
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“For long spells they would fly in silence, but most often they maintained noisy communication, arguing, protesting, exulting; at night especially they uttered cries which echoed forever in the memories of men who heard them drifting down through the frosty air of autumn…” – James A. Michener, “Chesapeake, Voyage Eight: 1822”
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Ah yes. Exactly like that. I can picture it
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Throw stones in water is really universal, also stacking up stones!!
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Kids are kids, and we are all the same no matter what language we speak 🙂
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It looks like a nice, peaceful place. Why would you never go back?
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Simply because I have no idea where it was 🤷♀️ Somewhere we stopped on a long road trip. And next time we’ll head another direction
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Hahahah! I like exploring places that you just run into randomly.
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Me too!
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A beautiful place to drive by! Wonderful photos 🙂
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Thanks Julie! 🌻
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