Sunset at Nurmo river

This is Nurmonjoki, Nurmo river. Nurmo is part of Seinäjoki and this river flows trough it.

Malkakoski

This image is from Malkakoski, Ylistaro. There is a dam in these rapids. It was built to raise the level of Kyrönjoki to secure the severity of the floodwalls and to improve the recreational use of the river.

Grain

Some grain on a field in Kitinoja. This came out pretty nice.

Yellow field

This yellow field caught my eye at Kitinoja. I believe it is rapeseed. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Bird's eye lamps

One more Bird's eye shot from the tower of Lakeuden Risti church. These lamps are the same as these photographed a year ago.

Bird's eye, Panorama

Here is the first panorama shot in this blog. This is taken, again, from the tower of Lakeudenr Risti church. It's been merged from about 10 images. Here you can see the most of the central Seinäjoki. On the right is the "Alvar Aalto Center", which has a library, town hall, theater and the church designed by Alvar Aalto.

Bird's eye, New library

Here is the new library again. From another point of view this time. The photo is taken from the tower of Lakeuden Risti church. The library looks like fun from the outside. Let's see when we get in, how fun it is.

Bird's eye, Lakeuden Ristin puisto

This is the park of the main church of Seinäjoki, the Lakeuden Risti. The photo was taken from the tower of the church. This park is well taken care of. The "Lakeuden Puisto" park next to it should somehow be connected to this and treated as well as this one.

Empty Beach

This july hasn't been very good for swimming or beach activities. I believe the temperature hasn't gone over 20 degrees many times this month. I hope some warm days are still to come.

Hay Poles

It's been raining a lot this summer. This farmer decided to use the traditional way to dry up hay. It's a good method in wet summers like this.

Stocks

This stocks(?) resides near the church of Kitinoja. Would a public shame penalty be effective in some cases even today.  Might be.

T-Shirts in Ostrobothnian spirit

These t-shirts were sold in Tangomarkkinat. They have pleasantries written in Ostrobothnian dialect.
Some free translations "Small faults wont harm in a strudy person" or "Sheer of when hadsome walk" or "You have to have so much guts that you dont' obey on first command"...and ofcourse, some of them are a bit more vulgar.

Kitinoja Church

This is the church of Kitinoja, which was part of Ylistaro before. Now that Ylistaro is part of Seinäjoki, so is Kitinoja.

View from Isosaari

This is a view from Isosaari. The name means "Big Island". Well...the river Seinäjoki is so small that it cannot have very big islands. So the name is a bit ironic. In any case, there is a small camp, owned by the city of Seinäjoki. We had a chance to visit there and have some sausages grilled on open fire.

Poorboy, Kitinoja

Another "Vaivaisukko", a wooden boy standing by the church of Kitinoja. These statues can be found in many churches in Finland. The wooden statue has a coin-sized hole in it and people can donate money for the parish.

Almost flooding

It's been raining alot, so there is a lot of water in the river. Well ofcourse I should have another photo for comparison, but sorry I don't. Just trust me this is a lot. Kids say this is coca cola river. The water is so brown. There has been flooding in the neighbouring municipalities. Some bales had to be rescued from the water last week and some smaller roads have been under water.

Quiet town

It's quiet in the center of Seinäjoki. Even if the Tango festival is about to end few blocks away, it doesn't show here on "Kalevankatu", "Kaleva-street", which is one of the main streets in the city center. Seinäjoki did this pedestrian-oriented renovation to this part of the street last summer and they will continue renovating the rest of it, I quess, next week. 

The town is trying to make the center more alive. In finland it has been a trend in the last fifteen or twenty years to build large hypermarkets in the outskirts of the cities. That is eliminating the town centers.

When thinking of renovating the center, the pedestrian oriented thing is a good start. But if we want people to come into the center and walk on these pedestrian zones, there should be a lot of small shops, cafes and other stuff that would make it more alive. Now for example on this street, there are mostly banks and insurance companies. 

Also at the same time the town is putting all the parking space under a parking fee. That's just strange if they would want the people to come to the center. Of course that is common in towns size of Seinäjoki. People are just so used to move around by car that they prefer going to the hypermarkets where they can park for free.

Tango meets mall

Tangomarkkinat festival continues. Traditionally the winners of the last years Tango singing competions perform in free and paid concerts. This is a free one in the local shopping center. The singer is Heikki Koskelo, second in the last years competiotion.  Also you can see some festivalgoers dancing.

Tango meets the city

Tangomarkkinat,  "tango market" again in town, a huge tango festival. The festival has a tango singing competition, lot of tangoing and some market atmosphere. These photos do not have tango in them, only the market.

In tagomarkkinat people live in mobile homes or hotels.

Tango toilets as a bonus. When this festival is on, many of the main streets are closed. This is one of them.

Sheep as gardeners

 These sheep are grazing in a nearby area. They will keep the area trimmed for this growing season.

Fishing

This is a small boat on Kyrkösjärvi. I believe they are fishing. You may catch perch, pike, roach, ruffe, burbot, whitefish and trout, and rainbow trout.

Raining, raining

It's been raining a lot for the few days. The fire department had to pump water out of the cellars. I hope the rest of the summer holidays wont be so wet.

Lupinus polyphyllus

Lupines on the side of a road. Lupine is an alien species to the finnish nature and it has been declared it must be disposed.

The gate

This is a gate preventing people driving on the dam wall of Kyrkösjärvi. Notice the small moon on top.

Lakeuden Risti Tower and blue sky

The church tower again. It was a sunny and clear moment.

Kriiku's mill 2

Another view of the old water mill, Kriiku's mill. "Kriikun mylly". It's the day of midsummer festival. That's why the flag.

Ylistaro Church Rapids

More scenes from Ylistaro. You can see the church in the background.

Settlement by the river

Here are some of the newest settlements in Seinäjoki. The area near the center of Seinäjoki and near the river has been uninhabited to this day. The Myllypuisto park is also near and the river flows behind the photographer.

Ylistaro Church, "Komia Kirkko"

Another view of the church of Ylistaro. The main entrance.

Kriikun mylly, Kriiku's watermill

This is an old water mill  in Ylistaro. It has a cafeteria and a museum. Nice place to stop by along the Kyrönjoki river. You can also hire it e.g. for your own family celebrations. More information in finnish can be found here.

Seinäjoki River, Björkenheim

This is again, Seinäjoki river. This photo is taken from the controversial Björkenheim bridge. The dispute conserns the old bridge's bad shape. There are discussions about building a new bridge, renovating the old one or closing it from other than pedestrians.