Waiting for a good mushroom season

It has rained a lot in Helsinki recently. So I am sort of hoping that edible mushrooms can soon be found in nearby forests. I went to see earlier this month, but was a bit dissapointed because forest was almost empty and dry.

In July I was in Kuopio and bought this beautiful, big mushroom basket from the market place. It has four sections for four different kind of mushrooms. My favourite is of course porcini.

Very typical in Finnish forests is also golden chantarelle. Later in the fall you can find black chantarelles and yellow foot chantarelles.

Happy holidays!

I wish you all a very nice summer with lots of sun and warm weather. Enjoy!

Happy Easter!

I'm spending Easter in Ilmajoki. My husband is practising for the Paris marathon. It's a bit chilly outside -3 degrees Celsius and some snow, but not a lot. Dog is sleeping outside and the sun shining. Father was cross country skiing and we are making some light lunch. In the evening we are going to visit my father's aunt, who also lives in Ilmajoki.

Sunset in Helsinki

Sometimes Helsinki looks kind of cool, especially from the distance. This photo is from Kivinokka island looking downtown Helsinki. You might see the Hanasaari plant and some church towers.

Kivinokka, Helsinki

My husband, my dog Jekku and I were walking today in Kivinokka, Helsinki which is an island near Kulosaari. As you can see, no snow here in Helsinki today, but the evening was sunny and beautiful.

Vanajanlinna

In Vanajanlinna hotel, Hämeenlinna few weeks ago. I was attending a seminar. This Hotel was originally a hunting castle owned by Carl Wilhelm Rosenlew, an industrialist, it was built in 1920's.

No snow

It has been a strange winter in Helsinki so far - no snow or very little snow and the temperature has been mild. Like living in France or England. Well, almost.

Yesterday it snowed a little and I remembered how the smell of snow is so clean and so refreshing.

We are having the " a skiing holiday" ( a winter holiday) for schools in Helsinki this week. What a joke.

There's no ice on the sea. Which is amazing. Read more in Helsingin Sanomat

Changes

I shall work for our news agency Startel until the end of March.

It is producing news agency services (financial news, stock market information etc) and online services to corporate customers. Customers include leading Finnish companies, financial institutions and the principal media. Everything is written in Finnish.

I'm already waiting for my this years vacations. I'm travelling to London for a weekend in March, then to Paris and Bretagne for a week in April. Next summer we are travelling to the U.S.A. in July and in August we are going to Germany for a shorter time. My husband is travelling even more. He is going to Brussels pretty soon and in June he will be again in Uganda. He was already in New Orleans in January.

What else, well... I go to the choir rehersals every Wednesday and learn French on Tuesdays. Plus I try to do aqua jogging with my friend when ever we have the time.