We Experience Ruska

About the end of September/early October, leaves started changing here.  That marks the beginning of ruska, which roughly translates as "autumn" but, from what I understand, plays more on the emotional connotations that are used less frequently in English, such as "autumnal," "the autumn of our lives," etc.  It seems a bit like the concept of evanescence in Japanese culture, this sense that you have a final gasp of beauty before all things fade (and all thing WILL definitely fade).

While not as spectacular here in Helsinki as it is further north and certainly not like New England, it's still pretty beautiful.

This first picture is from a park near the water in Helsinki; I took it while I was waiting to head to a friend's house for a dinner party.

Of course, this is from our fabulous viewing deck.  While the colors were not super spectacular, I liked the way they stretched all the way to the water.

Surprisingly, though, given the number of trees in the area, the colors haven't been so dramatic everywhere.  I think it's because, in general, Helsinki doesn't seem to get those sudden changes in climate that high mountains and NE do in the States. I mean, if it's 55 degrees here during the day, it tends to get down to all of 45 degrees at night.  We've also had lots of rain recently, so what you really have is a mush of leaves on all the walkways.  At least so many people walk and the leaves get pulverized so quickly that I have yet to slip on them!  Give me time.