A selection of clips showing types of views of different types of trees taken February 21st, 2026, in Berkeley, CA, silent and stabilized post filming (with the known artefacts).
The spring is bursting fully. On 22nd, it was tee shirt weather and small birds were very active and singing. Heard a hummingbird, saw and heard many small titmouse and sparrow sized birds, even a very small woodpecker, and a hawk and later a pair of probable hawks. And a seagull, which is sort of normal for a seaside city. I think the small birds have a mating season.
Crows, too, seem restless, but that might be them ending their winter. Back in Finland, the local crows (gray and black, not all black as in Berkeley) would form larger flocks and many migrated south during winter. The crows here seem to have some winter flocking behavior, even though they do not migrate.
The bird activity coincides with the swelling of buds and opening of young leaves in many deciduous trees. The earliest fruit trees which began to bloom weeks ago are finishing their season, as are faster magnolias. It is stressing to think of all the seasonal blooming which I am missing instead of photographing it. But there are new trees coming to bloom, though one magnolia that was among the first to start in my neighborhood is still going strong. Weird to think that spring began in February.
Dappled shadows on tree trunk, blooming fruit tree, redwood with creeping ivy.
Magnolia, February 21st, 2026 (not the one I have been following in my neighborhood)
Click the image above to open a free 48-piece jigsaw puzzle made in Jigsaw Explorer
I am still processing current events, which have been shocking, but I think there is now a change occurring. The old era is crumbling and new will emerge – I see similarities between this change and the change from medieval to Renaissance in that the Renaissance was overhyped as Age of Reason (while in fact, superstitions flourished as did witch hunts and religious wars), just like the current age of atheism has led to a proliferation of cults, superstitions and die-hard fanaticism. Whether the emerging civilization will be more civilized than the dying one is debatable, considering the decreasing literacy rates and the fact that people no longer read much. Worse, critical thinking seems to have been discouraged to make people to conform the centrally managed ideologies, and this has been going on long enough to erode educational standards.
In Finland, which was supposed to have one of the best education systems in the world, some education official had recently stated that the schools should focus on learning processes and how to become good people rather than on concrete skills, which I interpreted as capitulation – children will not learn because they are not able to learn, so they must be taught to learn before they can learn. I did not go to the original news to find out exactly how would the educators grade learning of learning processes and what are the metrics for success but I suspect the standards to be lenient enough to process students out of the system regardless of their actual skills, especially the concrete ones.
Anyone who has discussed with a fundamentalist atheist will soon have realized that their faith is as unshakeable as their urge to convert everyone else, and any doubts about non-existence of God will be met with vehement proselytizing, while any vestige of deistic religious practice will incite their wrath. Ironically, as the old religion fades from mainstream culture, it does not lead to new atheistic world but a hodgepodge of cults, including some seemingly irrational ones.
Combined with decreasing literacy rates, apparent disfavor of critical thinking relative to obedience to centrally directed ideologies, the current system seems to be a perfect incubator for superstitions and cults among masses deprived of their traditional (or any other) culture and seeking meaning to their lives.
It has been written that none should present a problem without offering also a solution. My proposal would be to go medieval, that is reintroduce trivium: logic, grammar and rhetoric, that were the classical curriculum to the modern student body.
Logic, i.e., critical thinking wherein facts could be tested according to a system of formalized structures to detect fallacies, would be absolute minimum. Offshoots of logic, especially arithmetic and natural sciences in general, as well as traditional humanities from times before deconstructionism, would also be useful.
Grammar, especially its application in literacy, is crucial for the functioning of society and of individual within a society. Without ability to communicate clearly, in speaking, reading and writing, information transfer between individuals and generations becomes difficult, as does organizing the societies.
Rhetoric is an obvious application of logic and grammar, but the art of communication is difficult. I have read complaints that modern youth cannot communicate. I interpret those complaints as modern youth having been abandoned without teaching them rhetoric. Without an ability to convey one’s needs and wants, and to persuade others, a person is crippled in a society. Maybe the modern youth have their own society where they communicate amongst themselves, but even then, the intergenerational information transfer has been disrupted. Or, the young today no longer hear the teachings of their forefathers.
In any case, before I got distracted, I meant to post a video of a skipper butterfly in a flower, edited from one taken on October 5th, 2025.
October skipper. Skipper butterflies do not like cold weather, so the temperatures had been quite warm. Now, this winter, the fruit trees and magnolias seem to bloom early.
And I also added a jigsaw puzzle via Jigsaw Explorer.
Bubbles mosaic view of a skipper butterfly on plant. Clicking the above image will lead to 110-piece jigsaw puzzle, courtesy of Jigsaw Explorer.
Looks like people do not want any. I had some for sale on consignment since September 2025 in two shops and only 3 of 12 in one of them sold. I will be getting a payment for the three and the unsold items back. I’ll discover what happens with the other shop on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, I need to figure out what to do with the 9 and the rest of the unsold stock. Rather demoralizing, but a learning experience, I suppose.
150-pieces, a winter forest in Finland
If anybody is interested in 150-piece tube puzzles, those are available as print-on-demand in CreateJigsawPuzzles.com, link in the banner.
I also saw a flight of geese (based on honks and flight pattern) going north-north west, but they had disappeared by the time I had adjusted my device for photography. Weird.
The night after that, it was really windy. There was a tree branch on the sidewalk, when I was getting to my car. The morning wind came from north, soon after it turned and arrived from east. There were a few more geese, seemed to be going sort of westward (towards the Bay). The direction does not matter, I was surprised to see any, going any direction.
Just another free jigsaw puzzle via Jigsaw Explorer. A depiction of light on Finnish forest lake water.
For people who have only a short break, 24 pieces. Access the puzzle by clicking the image. For those who want more challenge, the number of pieces can be adjusted at the beginning of the game.
I wanted to make something for Pinterest, but of course, it should be here, too.
This is a color saturated bubbles rendering of a close up view of tree bark I photographed this month (August 3rd) in Berkeley. Unfortunately, I have forgotten which tree.
After processing the photo for different versions (maybe one or more of them will make it to POD designs), I uploaded this image here and copied the planktonpunkt.com image link to Jigsaw Explorer to make a puzzle.
If you are bored with the Big Corporate flavors but do not want to pay $$$ for specialty sodas, do as I do.
Buy cheap, no brand or shop brand bubble water (mineral or seltzer) and add juice concentrate to your taste. Bonus points if home made from self-grown and picked berries, but commercial juice concentrates should work just as well. The amount of extra chemicals in the ‘soda’ depend mostly on the concentrate used. As a city slicker, I buy concentrates with minimal numbers of additives, especially avoiding artificial sweeteners and azo dyes, which may make the ersatz sodas healthier than many big brand sodas.
This may or may not count as Survival September 2025 post, but IMHO survival comes in many forms, and if this helps others with their finances and health, that is preparedness, too, and more resources for other prepping.
I have become more active on jigsaw puzzles and other short form posting, because I am now also in Pinterest, and as I make designs there, some of them seem to lend themselves for jigsaw puzzles, which I post here and on Pinterest.
White magnolia flower modified from a photo in jul10 folder (63 pieces, click the image to play)
Other photomodifications may make print-on-demand designs, whereas others might go to commercial jigsaw puzzle site.
A palm top and a plant growing from the trunk, an interpretation (108 pieces, click the image to play)
This is a mosaic bubbles version of a photomodification of a palm top and an epiphyte growing on it, also from jul10 folder, photographed in Berkeley.
PlanktonPunkt 