In the forest

I guess everyone has a certain landscape or scenery that they associate as a strength giving, safe place. For me that special place is a Finnish forest. Well, a forest in another country will also do, but I prefer a Finnish one, probably because I grew up here and am most familiar with it. It's a place where I can find peace, think undisturbed and just relax. Finnish forests are predominantly tall needle forests (birches are also very common trees) often with large boulders or rocky outcrops. Moss, lichen, mushrooms and berries grow in the Unterholz. Now of course it's way too early for berries or mushrooms, but they can be picked in late summer and autumn - a popular family activity. I was lucky enough to grow up in the quiet countryside and my parents and grandparents always taught me many things about the forest, as we were frequently there.

At the moment there are warnings in this area of bears and elks on the move, so I wasn't too keen on going into a deep remote forest risking bumping into a bear cub with an angry parent. So me and my mum chose a forest walk in a nearby smaller forest, where there is also a wooden observation tower for seeing the surrounding scenery. It's a lovely walk and it was good to be back there, as I hadn't been for a while.

Here are some of the photos I took on our sunny stroll. Maybe you'll get an idea what it looks like around here (there is something else as well apart from the forest, but not depicted here). By the way, there was still little snow in places!