123 :: December Scenery

Jaana: December has been quite mild and cloudy and overall a dark month, but yesterday's Winter Solstice means that daylight starts increasing again. Today the length of day is 3h 34m, sunrise at 10:29 AM, sunset at 2:03 PM.

Kia: December has been very wet and yet unseasonably warm. Today the length of day is 6h 59m, sunrise at 8:46 AM, sunset at 3:45 PM.

A reminder of how our sceneries looked like in November, October, September, August, July, June, May, April, March, February and January.

Hyvää Joulua! Buon Natale! Merry Christmas!

Thank you all for your visits, comments and shared photos throughout the year. It's been fun, as always, to show you the similarities and differences between Finland and Scotland with our photos. Time for a break for the holidays now, but we'll see you again in 2014.

With our best wishes for a joyous holiday season and a happy New Year,
Jaana & Kia

122 : November Scenery

Jaana: For the most part November was grey and wet, but towards the end of the month we got a proper snow cover. Now just wait and see if it's here to stay. Today the length of day is 4h 59m, sunrise at 9:36 AM, sunset at 2:35 PM.

Kia: Many colorful autumn leaves are still clinging on, but I can hear Jack Frost knocking at the backdoor. Today the length of day is 7h 37m, sunrise at 8:16 AM, sunset at 3:53 PM.

A reminder of how our sceneries looked like in October, September, August, July, June, May, April, March, February and January.

We're curious to see how November looked like in your neck of the woods, so do share with us by leaving a link to your photo in our comments box!

119 :: Rusty Leaves

Jaana: Rusty freckles on rowan leaves.

Kia: Close-up of a Copper Beech leaf.

118 :: Walking Among Trees

Jaana: Walking among birch trees...

Kia: It's leaf-peeping season! I've been enjoying walking in this woodland of deciduous trees.

111 :: Sunflower

Jaana: A field of sunflowers greeting the passers-by.

Kia: A humble and solitary sunflower growing in the walled garden at Blair Castle.

109 :: Rowan

Jaana: Unlike last year, there's hardly been berries on rowan trees this fall. Instead their foliage is spectacularly colorful.

Kia: The Yellow-berried Rowan (Sorbus Joseph Rock) has its branches adorned with bountiful jewel-like berries. They are very attractive to fruit-eating birds, and this is reflected in the old name "bird catcher".

101 :: Bales

Jaana: It's rare that you see anything but fodder bales overhere these days.

Kia: It's harvesting time in the fields around Aberlour and a tractor is making the single bale wrapper work.

82 :: Cottage

Jaana: A little red cottage to rent at a camping site.

Kia: One of the picturesque cottages in the village of Luss, on the west bank of Loch Lomond.

76 :: April Scenery

Jaana: Suddenly there is no snow in sight (apart from a few odd piles here and there), but we're still waiting for some fresh, new green to show up. Today the length of day is 16h 40m, sunrise at 4:56 AM, sunset at 9:36 PM.

Kia: It has been raining regularly for the past few weeks with just a few sunny spells, and the weather is still colder than it should be at this time of year. Today the length of day is 15h 10m, sunrise at 5:40 AM, sunset at 8:50 PM.

A reminder of how our sceneries looked like in March, February and January.

69 :: Looking Up (A Bare Tree)

Jaana: Looking up an old, and still very bare, birch tree with polypores growing on its trunk.

Kia: Some of the trees in our area have little green buds, some have already the first blossoms, but many have still bare branches.

63 :: January Scenery

Jaana: In a nutshell, January has been beautiful! Today the length of day is 6h 19m, sunrise at 9:09 AM, sunset at 3:29 PM.

Kia: Everything looks more beautiful when covered by a soft blanket of fresh snow. Today the length of day is 8h 20m, sunrise at 8:20 AM, sunset at 4:40 PM.

61 :: Sunset

Jaana: On the winter solstice, December 21st, the length of our day will be a whopping 3 hours and 34 minutes.

Kia: On the shortest day of the year the sun rises at 08:46 and sets at 15:45, yielding a length of the day of 6 hours and 59 minutes.

60 :: Snow

Jaana: Winter has arrived with snow and cold temps (-23°C/-9.4°F at the time of this shot) that often bring along sunshine.

Kia: The first Sunday of Advent has brought us into full winter, with sleet and snow.

56 :: Puddle

Jaana: In October our puddles froze.

Kia: On a sunny autumn day even a mud puddle can be beautiful.

55 :: Rural Autumn

Jaana: On October 21st the fodder bales were just about the only reminder of autumn.

Kia: On October 21st this grain crop was still waiting to be harvested. Oats and barley have been Scotland's main cereal crops since the Middle Ages, simply because, unlike wheat and maize, both are willing to grow in this damp, sun-deprived climate.

From November on we'll be posting once a week, on Sundays.

54 :: Fog

Jaana: The only thing missing was a silhouette of a moose or a deer appearing from behind the trees.

Kia: Autumn fog eating up the pond.

53 :: Autumn Colors

Jaana: The scenery overhere is looking quite wintry by now, but there are still some autumn colors to be found if you look closely.

Kia: Autumn has arrived bursting with color. The fall foliage has been particularly beautiful this year, the most colorful since I moved here.

52 :: Fallen Leaves

Jaana: Decaying rowan leaves sugared with frost.

Kia: The free fall of a little leaf frozen in time by a spider web.

51 :: Sunrise

Jaana: sunrise at 08:31, sunset at 17:31, length of the day 9 hours.

Kia: sunrise at 08:02, sunset at 18:01, length of the day 9 hours and 58 minutes.

49 :: Autumn Bloomers

Jaana: An entire field of Sunflowers got bitten by the first frost before coming to full bloom.

Kia: This variety of stonecrop is called, rather appropriately, Autumn Joy Sedum. Its flowers bloom from August into November.