Daydreaming in Helsinki

Lovely baby boy

2009-02-20T17:48:00.002+02:00

In case you are wondering why my blog seems to be totally neglected...

A baby boy was born to us in November 29th. He is really cute little fellow and his name is Tuomas. So, I'm at home on maternity leave and take care of the baby.

We have a nice winter here in Finland now. All of Finland is covered with snow - even Helsinki.

Waiting for a good mushroom season

2008-08-19T16:33:00.000+03:00

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!

2008-07-09T14:49:00.001+03:00

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

Happy Easter!

2008-03-23T13:38:00.002+02:00

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

2008-02-25T21:12:00.008+02:00

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

2008-02-25T21:09:00.009+02:00

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

2008-02-24T13:17:00.004+02:00

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

2008-02-22T00:53:00.002+02:00

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

2008-02-04T00:35:00.000+02:00

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.

Merry Christmas

2007-12-23T12:12:00.001+02:00

Nasu likes flowers

2007-11-27T23:23:00.002+02:00

Mikko's cat Nasu is fond of flowers. As you might notice!

Between Hindsby and Landsbo

2007-09-30T16:27:00.001+03:00

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Originally uploaded by Riikka's photos

Mushroom forest in Sipoo, Finland. We had a lovely afternoon.

Some ducks

2007-09-27T19:04:00.002+03:00

Evening walk Vartiokylä bay.

Day in a forest

2007-09-09T18:37:00.000+03:00

Picking some mushrooms in Sipoo.
Found some nice ones.
I especially like the chanterelles.
Porcini is great too.

I'm still here

2007-08-24T00:28:00.000+03:00

Cordelia asked if I'm still here - I am, even though I have been working overtime lately.

It's already the end of August and we have that feeling of autumn in the air. I have always liked the autumn days.

And what I have been doing, here's my last week:

*Friday 17 working, my husband left for a trip, watching the Mulholland Drive by David Lynch. Walking a really long walk with the dog.

*Saturday 18 doing some work in the garden, shopping, reading, cleaning, talking in the phone with a friend for a long time.

*Sunday 19 preparing a speech, getting my husband from the train station but beeing late

*Monday 20 working and working

*Tuesday 21 working and being tired

*Wednesday 22 working, giving a speech to some researchers and attending a panel discussion, later meeting some friends in a pub.

*Thursday 23 working, cleaning, watching some episode of the Lost.

Sounds pretty boring, doesn't it?

I am waiting
- the swimming hall in Eastern Helsinki to open after the summer break
- women's choir weekly rehersals to start
- French for travellers course to start
- the concert of Bo Kasper's orchestra next Monday in Helsinki
- a nice weekend for a mushroom picking trip to a nearby forest

Cheese salad with some fruit

2007-07-29T13:19:00.000+03:00

It's Sunday, and pretty soon it's going to rain.

I'm sad. It's the last day of my vacation. Do I really have to wait another year to have this feeling of freedom again?

Why I can't be a child again, without responsibilities? to wait and not to remeber. Not trying to stop the time, but encouraging it to fly.

I have been reading some Finnish food and recipe blogs. Nice idea. I began to think that I could share one of my recipies as well. Cheese salad with some fruit - I make it quite often.

Cheese salad with some fruit (for 4 people)

-some lettuce

-some lollo rosso

-6 fresh plums

- 1 apple,

- 2 kiwi fruit

- 200 g blue cheese

- 200 g Finnish cream cheese (or gouda)

sauce: 0,75 dl olive oil, 0,25 dl vinegar, salt, pepper and sugar, oregano

Slice everything and pour the sauce on top.

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Hedelmäinen juustosalaatti (4 annosta)

1 ruukkusalaatti

1 ruukku lollo rosso -salaattia

6 tuoretta luumua

1 omena

2 kiiviä

200 g sinihomejuustoa

200 g kermajuustoa

Kastike:

· 0,75 dl ruokaöljyä

· 0,25 dl viinietikkaa

· suolaa, pippuria ja sokeria

· oreganoa

Jekku, will you shut up?

2007-07-28T21:35:00.000+03:00

Sometimes it's quite annoying to have a Finnish Lapphund. This Finnish dog breed is in the top 10 list of the most favourite dogs in Finland. OK, it is CUTE, INTELLIGENT and FUNNY, but... it also has it's faults.

Like barking.

This reindeer herding dog surely knows how to bark and howl.

Jazz music

2007-07-21T20:10:00.001+03:00

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Originally uploaded by Riikka's photos

Pori Jazz, some applauding.

Cottage in an island

2007-07-18T21:23:00.001+03:00

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Originally uploaded by Riikka's photos

In Lohisaari. Bertie is a bit nervous about Jekku. Waiting for the rain to stop.

Driving somewhere in Finland

2007-07-18T16:23:00.001+03:00

We ar on our way to Ruovesi, where Ilona and Eero have their summer home. Jekku sits on the back seat.

Eating in Kuu

2007-07-17T21:55:00.001+03:00

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Originally uploaded by Riikka's photos

Having fun in restaurant Kuu. This Helsinki restaurant is specialised in Finnish food.

So many concerts and I never go

2007-07-17T12:24:00.000+03:00

It's sort of funny to live in Helsinki and never go to any concerts. A 15-year-old me would be seriously angry to a current 30+ me.

Last weekend we had Metallica, Rolling Stones (August) and Gwen Stefani (October) are yet to come.

It would have been wonderful to see Metallica, but I couldn't imagine myself waiting for tickets in line for hours and hours.

Gwen Stefani would be a lovely girl-thing to do. You know, just us girls. Also Suzanne Vega (favourite from ages ago) is coming to town.

Instead, I am going to a concert in Pori Jazz festival. I am going to see Elvis Costello and Steely Dan. What an adult thing to do.

Lönnrot's house

2007-07-15T00:13:00.001+03:00

Today we were having a nice day in the western Uusimaa / Nyland. We always have this urge to go to see some museums.

And so we did.

This time we drove to Nummi-Pusula and visited the dairy museum there. I was amazed to see a picture of my grandfather. Made 1957. Brilliant! We also saw a lot of other things - including these cheese making equipments.

The Finnish dairy company Valio restaured this old Saukkola dairy to a museum. Quite interesting.

From Saukkola we drove to Elias Lönnrot's birth cottage (Paikkarin torppa), but we couldn't visit it because they were having a open air play there. So instead we drove to Lammi house, which was Elias Lönnrot's last home. Both the birth cottage and the Lammi house are situated in the countryside of Sammatti, Finland.

The Lammi house was very isolated, because Elias wanted to do a lot of work like write a hymnbook and Swedish-Finnish dictionary. He didn't want to spend his time socializing with other people.

And if somebody doesn't know, it was Lönnrot who made/collected our national epos Kalevala.

Links:
Elias Lönnrot in Wikipedia (English)
More about Lammi house (English)
Lammin talo, Elias Lönnrotin viimeinen asuinpaikka (Finnish)
Search Sammatti in Finnish maps, Map of Finland

Hillfort in Helme

2007-07-06T16:42:00.001+03:00

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Originally uploaded by Riikka's photos

We are on our way from Setomaa to Halliste where our friend Andres lives. The photo is from Helme hillfort. After this it started to rain a lot.

Staying over in Setomaa

2007-07-03T20:59:00.001+03:00

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Originally uploaded by Riikka's photos

Today we are in Setomaa, Estonia. We are staying the next 3 nights in this house. The weather has been sunny. We have been hiking.

Sangaste

2007-07-02T14:28:00.001+03:00

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Originally uploaded by Riikka's photos

Sangaste castle in the Southern Estonia.

Pyhäjärvi spa

2007-07-02T09:09:00.000+03:00

Today we are near Otepää in Pyhäjärvi spa. We have been enjoying ourselves. Yesterday we were in Tartu and visited the botanical garden (very nice!), the museum of art and the Jaani church.

In the afternoon we drove to Otepää and Pyhäjärvi spa by the Pyhäjärvi lake. We visited an ancient hillfort in Otepää, relaxed by the lake and had a nice walk. We also followed triathlon competition.

Today we are going to have a lava stone massage and later in the afternoon we are going to visit Sangaste manor house. Tomorrow we shall continue our journey to Võru.

Tartu

2007-07-01T13:33:00.001+03:00

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Originally uploaded by Riikka's photos

It's Sunday. We are in Tartu. Sun is shining and we are having some salad by the townhall.

Driving in Estonia

2007-06-30T16:20:00.001+03:00

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Originally uploaded by Riikka's photos

First day of our trip to Estonia. We had lunch in Controvento in Tallinn. Now we are arriving to Põltsamaa.

Day for cleaning and gardening

2007-06-21T12:20:00.001+03:00

I'm back home in Helsinki. What I ought to do is "juhannussiivot" (cleaning for the midsummer weekend). Well, I have been working in the garden. The day lilies are blooming, and so are the rose bushes.

My juhannussiivot is going to be something not so big, just normal weekly cleaning. But I quess many families in Finland clean really throughly for this holiday. It is the old tradition. Then after everything is very clean inside the house, you bring two young birches by your doorstep and put some summer flowers in a vase.

A link to a nice Midsummer in Finland page

Long time ago

2007-06-17T23:22:00.001+03:00

Long time ago
Originally uploaded by Riikka's photos

Katja ja Riikka

This is an old photo of me and Katja. I took this with a mobile phone. I'm just testing how I can do mobloging (mobile blogging) using Flickr and Blogger together. Seems to work. Amazing.

Flickr

2007-06-17T23:14:00.001+03:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Waiting for the summer vacation

2007-06-14T23:26:00.000+03:00

My summer vacation starts tomorrow.

Six weeks of joy and relaxation. No wonder I have been waiting for that.

Finnish genealogy for Americans

2007-05-19T18:18:00.001+03:00

As you might already know, one of my dearest hobbies is genealogy - tracing my ancestors.

One part of my family research has been trying to find out more about those relatives of mine who went to the USA or Canada at the end of the 19th century or at the beginning of the 20th century.

My family comes from the old province of Vaasa in Finland, we might also call it the region of South Ostrobothnia.

I have been very lucky during the past few years. Thanks to my own research in the National Archives and different parish offices in Finland, but also thanks to marvellous internet databases and very helpful people with their e-mails, I have been able to find what happened to my lost relatives.

Maybe it's time to give something back. Help the Finnish Americans to trace their roots in Finland.

So here's five good hints:
1. Do your research first in the USA, find out as much as you can by asking relatives, neighbours. Look the old family bible, there might be something written on it. Or find old photos, old letters.

2. Deepen your research, look for census records (online), draft records, marriage records, death records. Maybe www.ancestry.com databases and www.familysearch.org can help you.

3. Seek for travelling documents. After 1892 most people came through Ellis Island. In Finland, go to the web site of Finnish Institute of Migration ( Siirtolaisuusinstituutti). They have online database on passports and ship records.

4. Look for the Finnish church books online in the web site of Finnish Genealogical Society. The database is called HisKi. We also have a new database in Finland called Digiarkisto. They already have some communion books online. If online doesn't help, write an e-mail to the parish office - they will help you (it might be slow and they charge for their services - however, the price is usually reasonable).

5. ASK for help. For example the Finnish Genealogical Society has a good mailing list in English. It's called Finngen.

Last, but not least I made you a podcast in English about finding your ancestors in Finland.
You can open in here:
* Podcast about genealogy by Riikka

Short interview with Panu

2007-05-15T22:58:00.000+03:00

What are you doing right now?

Panu: I'm emptying the washing maschine.

Are you going to do something nice this week?

- I'm travelling to Paris tomorrow.

What was the last book you have read?

- The Shadow of the Wind. It's written by a Spanish author Carlos Ruiz Zafón. It was a mystery novel. The plot was interesting and at times it was funny. The novel told about books and what they mean to different people.

Let's change Eurovision to Easteuropevision

2007-05-13T01:20:00.000+03:00

I was just watching the Eurovision song contest, which this year was held here in Helsinki, Finland. (yes, we did won last year with Lordi...).

This year wasn't that great for us. Our Hanna was number 17. Which, I have to admit, wasn't a huge surprise...

Instead, Eurovision song contest this year reminded me of the Intervision song contest (former Eastern bloc answer to Eurovision). The winner was Serbia (1). Then Ukraine (2), Russia (3), Turkey (4) and Bulgaria (5).

Serbia's winner was Marija Šerifović with a song called Molitva.

East European countries voted for other East European countries or Russia. The former republics of Jugoslavia voted for the former republics of Jugoslavia.

Oh well, Scandinavia isn't that neutral to this phenomena (voting for you neighbor) either. Sweden and Iceland gave Finland 12 points (highest score).

Even though Finland didn't win this time (it sure is pretty amazing that we won last year), I think we still won something. We were able to show the rest of the Europe that we can make terrific tv shows with the best visual effects ever !!!!

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Euroviisuvoittaja oli siis tänä vuonna Serbia. No, ei ainakaan voitettu vähäpukeisuudella näitä kisoja...

Eli miksi Viro antoi Venäjälle 12 pistettä?

Interviewing could be fun

2007-05-09T23:49:00.000+03:00

I have an idea for this blog. I could do some interviews and publish them as posts. Nothing serious, rather something very casual. Friends and family.

I start with a test. So, basically I interview myself.

Interviewer (A): Why are you up so late? It's almost midnight?

Riikka: Well, I was working late and had things to do when I finally got home. I like to have some time to relax before I go to bed. So here I am, writing my blog and surfing virtually.

(A): So, what was the coolest thing you did earlier this week?

Riikka: I went to a wine tasting. Lovely Sauvignon Blancs! I have also eaten a lot of asparagus lately.

(A): What is on your mind?

I think about the seeds I planted and the mini greenhouse I bought. It is just amazing how the seeds have already turned into little plants. The wonders of the nature. This reminds me of getting my clematis back in for the night as it can be frosty. I also think about a stupid and tired joke I made today. They laughed, but I didn't.

(A): This week's tv hints in Finland?

Ooh, I quess it would be the Eurovision song contest held here in Finland next Saturday. We have our Hanna Pakarinen singing a not very special and a sort of melancholy type of song. Nothing like Lordi last year. ( You can download Hanna's song here)

Thursday (20.00 channel YLE1) you can see Antiikkia Antiikkia (Antique Antique) and Wenzel Hagelstam doing evaluations in Helsinki railway station.

Friday (16.30 channel YLE1) you might want to see the programme called Sukupuu (Family tree). This time it tells about the family of Ujainen. A Newspaper publisher family from Southern Ostrobothnia. They are descendants of Könni clock smiths and a Club war hero Jaakko Ilkka.

Sunday (21.00 channel 4) Movie night! There's Mel Gibson trying to find out "What women want". He plays with Helen Hunt.

May day

2007-05-02T23:58:00.000+03:00

First of May ( May day) is always a big thing here in Finland. It's called Vappu "Valborg's day". It's a national holiday, nowadays less the workers day it used to be, more the day of picnicing and having fun, drinking champange or sparkling wine.

This year First of May was rather cold. We are having frost at night time. The flowers in my garden don't really enjoy it. Poor them.

¨

They are talking about Estonia and Russia in the evening news. Russia is bullying around. No question against who we have our army.

Sunday walk in Helsinki

2007-04-24T18:03:00.000+03:00

I took this photo while walking last Sunday in the southern part of Vuosaari (called Uutela) in Helsinki. The sea is beautiful, isn't it?

The coast is rocky and there are some pines, spruces and birches. Also some junipers.

Prefabricated houses in Finland

2007-04-19T12:25:00.000+03:00

People in the US think that prefabricated houses are something for the poor people. Not in Finland. It has nothing to do with a mobile home. Of all the single family houses built in Finland last year 68 percent were wholly or partly pre fabricated.

See yourself.
Look the photos of the Finnish manufacturer Kannustalo.
Or look at the biggest manufacturer of pre fabs in the whole Scandinavia Finndomo

Wedding in Kärkölä

2007-04-15T20:33:00.000+03:00

This weekend we attended a wedding party in Kärkölä. My husband's cousin got married. It was a cosy wedding with a lot of relatives. The ceremony was held in Kärkölä church. The bride and groom were lucky, weather was so sunny and rather warm.

Today we were first spending some time in Hollola summer house, later in the afternoon we arrived back to Helsinki and did some gardening work.

Easter wishes

2007-04-05T20:50:00.000+03:00

HAPPY EASTER !!!

HYVÄÄ PÄÄSIÄISTÄ !!!

First flowers in my garden

2007-03-26T23:09:00.000+03:00

I want to share this with you. I took this photo yesterday in my garden in Helsinki, Finland.

It's a spring crocus. We are having a very warm early spring in Finland right now. They said on tv yesterday that here in southern Finland the spring is 3 weeks ahead of its normal time.

Eli kuvassa on krookus pihallamme Helsingissä, näitä aikaisin tulleen kevään merkkejä.

The blind masseuse and other stories

2007-03-16T19:37:00.000+02:00

I went today to a masseuse who was blind. Very nice experience. It lasted for 45 minutes. I truly needed some massage for my strained muscles in my back.

I kept wondering if massage is easier to do when you are blind, if you can sense better with your hands. I didn't dare to ask, how would she know. We talked about that being a masseuse or masseur is a very traditional profession for a blind person, but nowadays things have changed a lot. With right kind of equipment a blind person can for example work with the computer for the IT-industry.

Last week we were on holiday in Athens. The weather was lovely, very spring-like, there were already some flowers blooming and the sun was warming the air. We also visited the island of Egina (=Aegina) which is known for its pistachio nuts.

Athens had a lot of history and culture to offer. We visited for example the archeological museum, Acropolis, Agora and Kerameikos graveyard.

I liked strolling in the narrow roads of Plaka, which is a town part near Acropolis. In the evenings we often ate supper in the area of Psyrri (Psiri), which is known from its restaurants and bars.

Here are some hints for eating in the Athens:

Lunch: I would recommend a restaurant called Byzantino in Plaka. It is situated near the small park on Kydatheneon street. We ate dolmades and moussaka.

Dinner: Taverna Tou Psiri in Psiri (Psyrri). Decoration is nice and so is the price level. You can choose what you want to eat from the kitchen. Also it seems to be popular among the local people, which to me is always a good sign. Address: Eschilou 12.

Ten other Riikkas and their blogs

2007-03-03T20:21:00.000+02:00

I went to see if I can find other Riikkas in the internet - and I did.
Here is a list containing 10 other Riikka blogs:

The blogs are in random order, so this is not a top list. I am just truly amazed how brilliant women the Riikkas of the world are. It must be the name :-)

I urge you to go to check them, all are different from each other and there's all kinds of things to be learned.

Going to Greece

2007-03-03T18:43:00.000+02:00

I have a winter holiday right now. (yes, you can be envious if you want to!)

We are travelling to Athens on Monday. I have always wanted to see Acropolis. I am also looking forward to eat in some nice restaurants. I really love Greek food.

Here's a recipe:

Feta salad

Some green salad
4 tomatos
1 red onion
1/2 cucumber
some feta cheese
12 black olives

sauce: olive oil, vinegar, some salt and pepper

Last Thursday we went to see my brother singing in a choir. The concert of Akateeminen Laulu was with quite modern type of music. Also a lot of Kalevala, as it was Kalevala day (28th Feb) here in Finland. Kalevala is our national epos. My parents were also here, as my brother has his 30th birthday tomorrow. Happy Birthday to him!

Deathly accidents and icy roads

2007-02-21T11:24:00.000+02:00

I was coming with my mother last Sunday (18th Feb) in Ilmajoki, Finland this road, which is called 67. We drove very carefully because we noticed that the road was extremely slippery and icy. It was clear that it was not salted at all.

Monday we all in Finland heard sad news from this road. Two young women had been killed in car accident with a truck between Ilmajoki and Kurikka. The road was icy, as it was on Sunday.

So, be careful out there! The road might not be salted.

Genealogy in Seinäjoki

2007-02-16T15:48:00.000+02:00

I am waiting the working day to end.
Then I'm heading for a train that will transfer me from
Helsinki to Seinäjoki.

Tomorrow I'm attending a family research or genealogy event in Seinäjoki.
This is my dearest hobby and I'm hoping to meet a lot of friends and strangers.
Relatives as well.... I'm also going to follow some interesting speeches about old maps
and farmers as court members in 18th century Finland.

I wonder if I'm going to catch the moment of blue in the train. It's so pretty, the Finnish countryside with the snow, when the twilight comes.

Fun in the dog park

2007-02-11T01:00:00.000+02:00

We went with our dog Jekku ( Finnish Lapphund ) to a dog park here in Eastern Helsinki today. It was a pretty day, but a bit cold. A lot of people were cross country skiing around Vartiokylä bay.

I made a video of Jekku in the dog park. Just press play!

As you can see, our Jekku won his racism against mopsi type (=pug type) of dogs...

See a larger video in YouTube.

Olimme Jekku-koiran kanssa Puotilan koirapuistossa käymässä. Vaikka sää oli kirpeä, niin hiihtäjiä piisasi. Paljon ihmisiä perheineen oli myös Vartiokylänlahden jäällä. Mietimme, että kestääkö jää jo tarpeeksi hyvin. Valkamissa näytti hyvinkin ohuelta. Jekku tapasi koirapuistossa Sallin ja voitti rasisminsa lyttynaamaisia koiria kohtaan. Lisää voit katsoa videosta yllä. Paina vain play tai katso video isompana YouTubesta.

As you can see, I have added a text in Finnish to this post. I shall be doing that also in the future, because clearly at least some of the readers want me to write in Finnish as well. More discussion about this in my earlier post.

Kirjoitan nyt siis tässä blogissa aina muutaman rivin myös suomeksi, koska jotkut lukijat siihen houkuttelivat. Enemmän keskustelua asiasta aiemmassa postauksessani.

Hairdressing

2007-02-06T23:30:00.000+02:00

I went today to hairdresser. I felt so dark and gloomy and asked the hairdresser to bring some light at least to my hair. And she did. Soft light copper.

I have been waking up at 5.30 AM. It's the new shift I'm doing. You can quess if I like it or not...
I should be in bed by now - otherwise I won't get enough sleep.

It has been terribly cold in Helsinki today. Freezing. This is really the day you would need long woollen underpants if you happened to own a pair. I try to avoid going out.

See Helsingin Sanomat story about the weather in Finland

This is a test.

Sunday in Helsinki

2007-02-04T23:25:00.000+02:00

I went today to Cafe Ekberg. A very traditional Helsinki Cafe situated in Bulevardi ("Boulevard"). Established 1852. (Pretty old, isn't it?).

I met two of my friends. Sari and Eve. Sari has her birthday today, so congratulations once again! We ate some Runebergin torttu - a small cake which got it's name after the famous Finnish poet Johan Ludvig Runeberg.

Runeberg has his birthday 5th February and we celebrate it every year in Finland. (so as you can see we ate our cakes one day ahead...).

Read more about Runeberg in Wikipedia.
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Later I made an abstract of an article in Estonian women's magazine called Anne for my language course tomorrow. We had a warm day again here in Helsinki, but we still have some snow. I have to wake up really early tomorrow. My working day starts next week at 7 and that's a killer.

Language problem

2007-01-28T14:32:00.000+02:00

I have been wondering. This blog is in English, but should I write in Finnish as well?

(Haluaisitteko hyvät blogini lukijat, että kirjoittaisin tätä englannin lisäksi myös suomeksi? Jos niin, niin miten?)

If yes, then how should I do that?

Few lines in English and few in Finnish? Or every other post in Finnish and every other in English? Same text translated or different text?

Or not at all? Just in English. Or maybe something in German? Estonian? Swedish?
To be or not to be....

It's just that I have a Finnish blog called Sukututkimus www.sukututkimus.blogspot.com. But this blog is strictly about genealogy (searching your ancestors and that stuff).

This weekend we were visiting my parents-in-law at their vacation home in Hollola. The weather was bright and sunny. The dog enjoyed, except the moment when the cat (called Nasu) decided to hit him with his pawn.

Finally, winter.

2007-01-23T21:36:00.000+02:00

I visited my parents last weekend.

Winter is finally here. We had -23 degrees Celsius on Monday, it's like -10 Fahrenheit. Everything was covered with snow and ice. Sun was shining.

It's amazing feeling, after all this darkeness -- and suddenly everything bathes in white.

More photos about Ilmajoki.

Photobook part 2 - Kuvakirja osa 2

2007-01-17T22:33:00.000+02:00

Well, now I have my Ifi photobook. See my earlier post about this subject.

And I have to say I'm pleased. It's not de luxe model but works well with soft covers. Colours are all right and paper quality is good.
Here are some photos of the book:

Inside the book

And outside:

Sally Spectra

2007-01-16T23:19:00.000+02:00

Finnish News Agency STT writes that Darlene Conley who acted Sally Spectra's role in the soap opera Bold and Beautiful died last Sunday. The cause of death was cancer. She was 72 years old. B&B is very popular in Finland as well and Sally was important part of the show. She played the part in tv since 1988, which makes it almost 20 years.

In Finland B&B is about one year behind the USA. So Sally will be in B&B here in Finland until next December.

(STT kirjoittaa, että Tv:n Kauniit ja rohkeat -sarjassa Sally Spectraa esittänyt Darlene Conley on kuollut. Conley, 72, menehtyi vatsasyöpään sunnuntaina Los Angelesissa.)

Sally has always been my favourite character in the B&B. She is a ruthless business woman, cunning and conniving owner of Spectra fashions. Often she was a little too much to handle.

This brings me a lot of memories. The B&B was the real soap opera in Finnish TV. As a real soap opera I mean a show that came from TV 5 days a week and not just once a week. When B&B first started I remember how quiet it was in the grocery store at 6 or half past 6. (I can't really remeber the time).

Nobody was there, every single female was at home watching the B&B. Including my mother, my grandmother and my grandmother's sister. Sometimes it united the three generations together in front of the TV set.

My grandmother really liked the show and so did her sister Armi. We often discussed about the plot or the characters with them. Like Sally, they secretly admired Eric Forrester.

It is so strange to think that they are all gone now, my grandmother, her sister and even Darlene, who played the much hated and loved Sally.

People write about Sally:
- Dana: We'll miss you Darlene
- Elisa: Farewell Sally!!!

In Finland:
- Medis: Sally Elää
-The Sleeper: Sally on kuollut
- Handis: "Sally Spectra" kuoli

Blogs in different countries

2007-01-15T02:12:00.000+02:00

A blog should be interactive. That's my honest opinion. So I'm trying.
I'm going to list all the countries I have visited during 2005 and 2006. Then I will find a nice blog from each country and try to comment it.

How does that sound?
Dull...
well, let's see.
------
2005: I went in springtime to Saarenmaa, Estonia. I spent my summer holiday in Provence and Languedoc, France and then in October I spent a week in Lisbon, Portugal.

2006: I went briefly in summer to Estonia (Tallinn, Viljadi), Latvia and Lithuania (Nida). Then I spent 3 months in Ithaca, NY,USA. In December I went to a business trip in Sweden.

So, here it goes! selected or random blogs from the countries I visited:

1. Estonia (Viro): Stseene magamistoast. She is quite funny and writes in Estonian:

"Ma pesin just nüüdsama hambaid - kolmveerand kolm öösel ja neli minutit. Braavo! Rekord. Küll mu hambaarst rõõmustaks (aga ma ei käi tal külas, nii et see saavutus jääb nimetamata)."

2. France (Ranska): Tribulations d'un entrepreneur Jean-Hubert writes about being an entrepreneur in Paris, France. His business is real estate. He usually keeps his posting rather short. No wonder, because being an entrepreneur doesn't leave you with much extra time. He writes in French:

"Suite à l’achat d’un appartement en 2002, j’ai commencé à m’intéresser au secteur de l’immobilier, tant dans ses tendances que dans ses métiers et activités connexes."

3. Portugal (Portugali): Phronesis Bev lives in Setubal, Portugal and writes in English about living with two languages.
Bev writes:

" I chose to live here - not because I'm retired, nor for the golf or the cheap beer (although I do appreciate the price of good wine). And it's not because I was looking for low-salaried work that no-one else wants to do. And no, I didn't come because I fell in love with a Portuguese guy."

4. Latvia: Juris writes about mobile phones and telecom industry in Latvia. Not so surprisingly, the blog is called Telecoms in Latvia. He seems to know the latest rumours.

He writes in English: "Anyway, according to news reports, the most desired Christmas present this year in Latvia was a mobile phone."

5. Lithuania (Liettua): Tomas has a lot of artwork in his blog called Captain's bridge. The blog is written in English.

He says: "The nature creates the metaphors that are incredible rich with insights into the mystery of our inner world that shapes everything we see or handle."

6. NY state, USA: I chose a blog from Ithaca, NY. Jenna, a sorority girl at Cornell writes about her life in the semi-official Cornell student blog. The blog is called "Oh no she didn't".

Jenna writes things like this:
"Oh, frat guy. Pretty sweet deal until you treat him badly and you are never allowed in the door of any of their parties again, and you can pretty much forget about his cute friend."

7. Sweden: Lycklig.org Pernilla writes about life and her son Theo and her dog called Biggles. She writes in Swedish:

"På förmiddagen promenerade vi i skogen med Biggles. Så långt bort från alla raketskjutare, som inte fattat att nyår är över, som möjligt. Biggles var ganska glad större delen av rundan, vilket kändes som en lättnad."

And where can you find blogs from different countries ( blogeja eri maista)? You could use Globe of Blogs or Blogflux.

What I found out was that it's pretty difficult to find blogs in English in countries like Latvia or Lithuania. They don't seem to list them. Also in Portugal blogs seems to be written mostly in Portuguese. It would be interesting to know more of these pages where blogs of different countries are listed.

In Sweden I found a website called "Var är du" that shows Swedish blogs on the map. That's nice! If you want to find blogs in Finnish or from Finland you should use www.blogilista.fi

Getting rid of Cingular

2007-01-12T16:48:00.000+02:00

When I spent my three months in the USA last fall I had a Cingular connection in my mobile phone. Pay as you go - prepaid connection.

Which wasn't always that fun. It never worked inside big buildings in Ithaca. Neither did it work any where in the countryside near Ithaca. It did, however, work very well in New York City.

Well, now the AT&T has told that Cingular ceases to be.

Vanishes all together and is replaced by AT&T.

New York Times says following: " One of the biggest “de-brandings” in advertising history is to begin Monday when AT&T starts changing all Cingular marketing to adopt the AT&T name."

Goodbye Cingular.

Something about the subject in Finnish from Digitoday. I was a little bit ahead, I must say.

New Year's plans

2007-01-09T11:15:00.000+02:00

Isn't it always fun to start something new? and the beginning of a new year is a good time for novelties.

I registred me and my husband for an Estonian language course. We both speak a little bit Estonian, thanks to our 10 month stay in Tallinn (1998-1999). I'm really looking forward to this. We have been a little bit worried - our Estonian language skills have been gradually deteriorating. For this reason it's good to continue learning the language.

Estonian and Finnish are quite close to each other. In this sense it's fairly easy to learn the language, but the language has nevertheless its own tricks. One feature is the problem words "pulmasõnad". It can be that there's a same word in both languages, but the meaning is very different. Like Estonian word "pulmad" (d's are pronounced as t's) and Finnish word "pulmat". In Estonian the word means "wedding" and in Finnish "problems".

Other interesting word is "hallitus" - in Estonian it means "mold" and in Finnish "government". In Estonian blue cheese is for example "sinihallitusjuust", in Finnish it would be "sinihomejuusto".

If we are going to make progress in this course, I would think that we could reward ourselves with a weekend trip to Tallinn.

Chicago

2007-01-06T19:14:00.000+02:00

My husband is currently attending a conference held in Chicago. While he is there - and I'm here in my home Helsinki, Finland - I keep wondering, what the city is like and what it used to be in the 20's and 30's. The time of organized crime and Al Capone.

I had a relative who lived there since the beginning of the century until his death in 1950's. He was called Andrew Nelson (Antti Pitkämäki). He was my grandmom's uncle and he worked in the construction business. He had a wife Amanda and a son called Frank E. Nelson. Frank was an insurance guy. They were active members of Finnish congregation in Chicago. I checked from the Census records, that they had lived in 334 West 79th Street (1910) and Albany Avenue (1930) in Chicago. He never visited Finland again. My grandparents invited him to come to the Helsinki Olympic Games in 1952, but he answered that he was too old. It would be fun to know more about him, but unfortunately his son is dead and didn't have any children. I found Andrew's obituary in Siirtokansan kalenteri.

I have actually been to Chicago myself as well. Or actually I have been in the airport. That's not really Chicago, isn't it? I quess the closest we get to Chicago here in Finland is by watching the ER.

Photobook ( kuvakirja )

2007-01-03T03:05:00.000+02:00

I sent today an order to Ifi, which is a Finnish photo service. But not just ordinary digital photos. I wanted to make life easier. I used the possibility to make a book of my photos (kuvakirja). The book has 36 pages and over 100 photos and some texts that I have written. And it was fairly easy to make with a program I could download from their site.

I got this idea from Kelli, who is Rick's wife in Salt Lake City. And Rick is my relative. Kelli and Rick had been in NYC and made this hardcovered book of their holiday photos. It was really nice and professional looking. Kelli told me a name of this American photo making service. But I'm in Finland now, so I checked which ones do offer the similar kind of service.

Ifi's photobook "kuvakirja" starts at pocket size 6,95 euros to hardcover deluxe models, which start at 29,95 euros. Until 60 pages and 360 photos.
Extrafilm.fi has somekind of "kuvakirja" but doesn't say how much
Colorkolmio advertises new possibility: "kuvakirja", but doesn't say how much
Colormailer says you can order "albumit" beginning from 9,50 euros. Hardcover deluxe versions start at 29,95. Until 50 pages.
Fujikuvat tells also that their novelty is "kuvakirja" but how much and where is bit unclear.
Kuvakirja.fi makes like the names tell you - books of photos. They start at 26,35 euros, but if you order more the price drops. 20-100 pages.

Anne-Riitta told me that she had tried Multikuva. She said that the hard covered book was fine and paper was of good quality.

And of course, there are many European photo services that have photobooks. The shipping charges can be a little bit more than in Finland, but if you are lucky you can find something with very nice quality and prices. Just write to Google "photobook" and see what happens.

I have to say, I really would like some more price competition in photobooks in Finland. The photo services could also put their prices in their internet pages.

If this photobook is going to be a success and doesn't fail me, for example in quality, I'm never going to buy a normal album in my life again. It is such a dull work of sticking or glueing your photos to the albums.

Who visits me?

2007-01-01T02:38:00.000+02:00

Kiinni jäit!!!
Koska luet tätä tekstiä, se tarkoittaa että sinun täytyy kommentoida. Kommentoi ihan mitä haluat, kunhan teet sen. Laita tämä teksti omaan blogiisi ja nappaa kaikki blogiasi lukevat.
Itse jäin kiinni Hannan judanssit-blogissa.

You are caught!!!
Because you are reading this post, that means that you also have to comment. You can comment whatever you like, as long as you just comment. Put this text to your own blog and catch everybody reading your blog. I was caught reading "Hannan judanssit" blog.

Merry Christmas

2006-12-24T13:15:00.000+02:00

... and very happy New Year 2007!

Here's still one photo from Ithaca, NY. My husband took it a little before he left the upstate in December.

Dog show

2006-12-17T20:21:00.000+02:00

I went to dog show last weekend here in Helsinki. This video is from there. It was a nice show, I went to see the agility races. They are always much fun.

My husband got back from the USA today. Safe and sound.

The dog was very happy and so was I. There's a small Christmas tree in our living room. I thought it might be nice to have at least a small one. It brings you that Christmas feeling.

Finding some photos

2006-12-13T03:58:00.000+02:00

I went through my book shelf and found some older photos. These were the ones I had taken in 2003. They brought back some memories of that summer.

Like this:

Here's my relative Kristine from USA in front of the so called "poor man". Wooden statue is in front of the church (this case Ilmajoki church) and in older times you were meant to put your coins inside for helping the poor.

Kristine and his father Waino were visiting us June 2003.

Panu's brother Mikko and Minttu got married in Hollola June 2003. Life really goes fast. It seems to me like yesterday.

Bread crumbs revenge

2006-12-10T01:27:00.000+02:00

I went to have lunch with my brother and father today. My father was visiting Helsinki, he had a meeting here yesterday. I can recommend the Empire Plaza in Kamppi Shopping Mall. Nice food. Not as good as I ate in Chinatown, NYC, but OK for Helsinki.
I hadn't seen my father for three or four months so we had a lot of catching up to do. I told about my trip to the USA.
After the lunch my father left for train and my brother and I, we went to do some Christmas shopping. It's always so hard to decide what to buy. I'm not a much of a shopper. It always amazes me that somebody can consider it to be a nice relaxing hobby. For me it's just a lot of stress.
Later I visited a friend of mine who has a small baby. It was nice, baby was a cutie and her other child, who is now almost 2 years old, had grown a lot.

When I got home, dog was nowhere to be seen. This is not unusual, oftentimes he sleeps downstairs and is too lazy to get up. But what I did see, was some pieces of plastic and some bread crumbs on the kitchen floor. The naughty thing had somehow managed to drop my bread from the table. And of course, eaten it all.

"You surely have some stomach ache now", I said to him when he finally came to see me. I think this might have been a somekind of revenge for me not being around. You know, he sometimes does things just out of boredom or to annoy us. Usually he gets the trash bin from the toilet and spreads the papers and such around.

Back home in Helsinki

2006-12-06T17:05:00.000+02:00

I must admit that this blog has been severely neglected during the past three months. But now I'm back home from my trip to the US.

The dog was happy to see me and I was happy to see him. Now he is watching what I'm doing here.

The evenings are boring because my husband is still in Ithaca. It will take about 2 weeks until he is home as well. We talk together with this Skype program. It's quite marvelous and let's us talk for free with our computers.

The work seems to be pretty much the same, I have some new things to learn, but that's it. I though it might be more different because there have been some major changes in the organisation.

And what I have been doing since I came back to Finland. Well, I have been working, taking the dog out for walks, swimming, cleaning, reading some books (Nick Hornby), watching some TV (news, The Lord of the Ring and some episodes of Lost) and shopping. I went for example to IKEA. It was crowded.

It's the Independence Day of Finland today. 6.12. We have been independent for 89 years now. This day is also a national holiday.

Later I'm going to watch TV. They will show, as always, the annual Gala Reception at the President's Palace in Helsinki, hosted by President of Finland.

If you want to peek what it looks like, see it as direct show (or later as videos) in YLE pages. Kuvagalleria = picture gallery, Videot = videos.

Links:

The president's press release about the Reception
Independence Day of Finland in Wikipedia.

Visiting relatives in Utah, USA

2006-10-03T07:05:00.000+03:00

The last week I have been visiting my relatives who live in Orem and Provo, Utah. I also visited a mining town called Scofield. During my visit we also went to see some of the beautiful canyons in Utah and northern Arizona.
This is from Red Canyon, Utah.

In Ithaca, NY, USA

2006-09-08T07:52:00.000+03:00

I have spent the last week in Ithaca, NY. My husband is a visiting scholar in Cornell University this fall semester. I have had a really nice time. Next weekend we are going to travel to New York city.

Holiday in Lithuania

2006-08-17T21:00:00.000+03:00

We spent our summer holiday this year in Lithuania. The photo is from Nida beach in Curonian spit. Waves were nice and the weather just perfect.

... And the living is easy.

2006-07-14T13:02:00.000+03:00

I have been working the whole summer - it's amazing how fast the time is rushing by.
Currently my husband is in Spain, he has a work trip and I'm alone with the dog. This weekend I'm going to do some gym and maybe go swimming on Sunday.

I took this photo of Zinnia (flower in my mother's garden) with my dad's camera - it's much better than mine. I'm seriously considering of buying a new digital camera. But what would be the best for me. Any suggestions?

Le weekend

2006-06-17T20:27:00.000+03:00

I'm so glad I got the charger for my camera back. This means I can once again take some photos.
Midsummer rose

We went to Minttu's graduation. She is now a Master of Sciences in Geography.
Minttu

Tomorrow we are going to barbeque, just me and Panu.

Lazy evening

2006-06-16T20:55:00.000+03:00

It's one of those evenings - the air is filled with the birds singing. Somewhere an aeroplane going far. Still warm - it would be nice to drink something cool.

Went up to Vartiokylä fortress with the dog. The view is nice.

Naantali

2006-06-11T20:50:00.000+03:00

This week I travelled to Naantali, I was there in business - in a seminar. I stayed the night in Naantali spa hotel. It was wonderful - I sat in the whirlpool with 37 degrees celsius and did some swimming in that big swimming pool.

This weekend we met some friends and today I've been doing some work in the garden. It seems to be an endless task. I also went to gym and swimming with a friend of mine earlier today.

The weather has been nice, I hope it continues. It's really a shame that I have to work when the summer is finally here.

Trip to Loviisa and Ruotsinpyhtää

2006-05-29T00:25:00.000+03:00

We travelled on Sunday to Pernaja, Loviisa and Ruotsinpyhtää. It was a nice weather, sunny and a bit warm. We ate lunch in Loviisa and later went to Ruotsinpyhtää. In Ruotsinpyhtää there are old iron works, part of which is nowadays a museum. Also some craft worker's shops. Some history of the Ruotsinpyhtää (in Swedish Strömfors) iron works here.

The most interesting thing I heard was that the iron works was run by a women Virginia af Forselles. She inherited the farm from her husband and ran it over 50 years.

In Pernaja graveyard I found a big family grave that belongs to family called "von Born". There was also a grave of the grandmother of former Swedish prime minister Olof Palme. She was Hanna Maria Palme, maiden name von Born (1861-1954).

Thursday - holiday

2006-05-25T19:08:00.000+03:00

I have been in the garden today. I changed the places of some plants and planted the Dahlias my husband brought from Holland. It's a little bit late for the already, but on the other hand they don't tolerate frost very well. The little apple tree seems to have these little insects once again ...

And there are snails in the garden. I read somewhere that you should kill them in vinegar water and throw back to forest. Any other good methods for killing the snails?

Garden looks very spring-like. Tulips, hyacinths and such.

My husband went out with his friends, so I'm here alone with the dog. I suspect I'm going to watch some telly this evening. Maybe this tv serie called Lost. See what comes from Finnish television.

Always something new

2006-05-15T13:12:00.000+03:00

Last weekend we were in the summer cottage in Hollola. We had a visitor from U.S., a professor who is a friend of my husband. The weather was nice, but not as warm as week before.

On Sunday we visited the Hollola church (built 1495—1510) and had a very good quide. I have visited this church several times, but you always get to hear something totally new about the history of the church or of its's statues. One is the Virgin Mary with the Child Jesus. It was perhaps carved in Stockholm at the end of the 15th century by a carpenter from Lübeck.

The ancestors of my husband have been the vergers of Hollola church between late 17th century until the beginning of the 20th century.

Coffee

2006-05-06T12:49:00.000+03:00

I suddenly have a big desire/urge to drink a cup of coffee- which is amazing because it's been over two years since I last drank coffee. I had to stop because my stomach didn't tolerate it anymore.

I can smell coffee, but perhaps it's still the smoky feeling in the air from yesterdays big fire in Helsinki city center. Makasiinit (the old railway storehouses) were on fire.

It's funny to think that about 5 pm I was sitting on the balcony of my working place which is pretty near Makasiinit and I was looking at people sitting on the grass in front of the empty buildings - just like any normal Friday afternoon with warm temperature. Everything seemed so peaceful. I didn't notice any smoke when I left from work (19.20).

I went to have dinner with my friends in a restaurant few kilometres away. A friend of mine, S, comes to the restaurant at 20.15 and tells that she saw a lot of black smoke coming from Makasiinit. It's obvious it's an arson. We are all mad - who are these idiots that are so stupid to make a big fire in the middle of Helsinki. I hope they will face the consequences of their deed in one way or another.

This has made me dislike the rioting activists even more. I have never understand people that destroy other people's or public property.

Other blogs about the fire 5th May:
The voyerism of destruction(Eng)
Makasiinit ilmiliekeissä (Finn)
Makasiinit (Eng)

08.05.2006 : My husband is reading this and says I shouldn't jump into conclusions about the activists. Maybe I shouldn't, but I think there are other, far better ways to protest than throwing stones to windows or destroying property.

Joy of Vappu

2006-05-02T10:34:00.000+03:00

The first of May, Vappu, went just fine. We had a marvellous weather here in Helsinki. We had some picnic in Kaivopuisto park with a lot of other people. I had made some pumpkin soup and sandwitches.
Vappu eve we had dinner with some friends in restaurant Elite.

Six questions - kuusi kysymystä

2006-04-27T00:55:00.000+03:00

I got this meme or challenge from "Tositarinoita ja haavekuvia" blog. So you should ask me 6 questions. Not seven or five, but six. They can be any questions you like, no matter how weird - just ask them.

HAASTE: Kysy minulta kuusi kysymystä. Ei seitsemän tai viisi, vaan kuusi. Sillä ei ole väliä, kuinka turhia tai omituisia kysymykset ovat - kysy ne joka tapauksessa. Liitä tämä sen jälkeen omaan päiväkirjaasi ja katso, mitä sinulta kysytään.

Jään odottamaan - I shall be waiting....

Cycling season started

2006-04-18T10:34:00.000+03:00

My husband and my brother went cycling Easter Sunday. As you can see, still some snow there on the background but most of the roads are already dry.

Thinking of birds

2006-04-16T18:57:00.000+03:00

Spring is near and it's the time to think about the birds. I wonder whose nest this is?
Picture taken in Jurva, Finland, 15th April Easter Sunday.

Finding family in USA

2006-04-10T18:15:00.000+03:00

I found some relatives in USA last week.

My great aunt asked me to check if I could find her second cousins from the Finnish church books. I did, but many of them had moved to USA in the beginning of last century. Thanks to Ellisisland.org and ancestry.com websites I was able to find some of them. They had moved from Jalasjärvi, Finland to Minnesota Iron Range area.

I found their descendant Rita, who is my father's third cousin. It was so intresting to read from her mails what things are special to our family, like the musical talent. She told me that her grandfather Axel (Akseli) had played the violin.

Mini green house

2006-03-13T16:54:00.000+02:00

The spring isn't exactly here yet, but it sure is in my thoughts. The temperature is about minus ten Celsius, but I'm already dreaming of next summer.

I'm about to start the growing season in advance. I bought this mini green house that you can place on the window sill. And of course, the seeds!
I have for example Snapdragon (Leijonankita) and Carpathian Bellflower (Karpaattienkello).

Seeds online in Finland:
Korpikangas
Isoäidin kasvit
Exotic Garden
Hyötykasviyhdistys

Mp3's

2006-02-18T21:31:00.000+02:00

I've been having a digital day.
We bought a MP3-player and I had to find the suitable program to convert cd-songs to mp3 files. My husband of course wanted to fill the mp3 player with all of his cd's. I added my Misia cd, he put his Van Morrisson and Bob Dylan.

I phoned to my uncle who's in the hospital. He seems to be a little better.

Dull or not dull?

2006-02-15T11:23:00.000+02:00

Winter in Finland is long and dark. The hardest thing to do is to get up in the morning and head for the bus stop.
Here's my bus stop in Eastern Helsinki. Not a place of joy...

Today I'm going to meet "Mr Citron", the CEO of a Finnish company. You can imagine why I call him that.

This evening I'm going to my choir. I have a pillow with me, because I've been experiencing some back problems recently. The pillow helps to sit straight. I should find my deep abdominal muscles and exercise them, says my physiotherapist. But how? It's so hard.

Not a very surprising result

2006-01-29T23:04:00.000+02:00

The results of the presidential elections are clear now. Not very surprising result, so I didn't watch the tv and the counting today so much.

My brother came by later in the evening and we discussed about choirs and singing. He told me that he has joined a new choir. The audition was on Thursday. Good for him, it's a big choir with 80 singers.

Fun with the dog

2006-01-29T00:35:00.000+02:00

My husband was playing with our dog Jekku on Saturday afternoon. Jekku loves his soft toys. The one in the photo is the cat number 2.
Later in the evening we went with friends to eat in restaurant Wellamo in Helsinki. The food was very nice - it has been a long time since I have eaten Russian pelmens. We used to make them home when we were living in Tallinn between 98-99.
Tomorrow I'm going to vote in the presidential elections. The choice isn't hard to make.

Beautiful morning

2006-01-26T00:18:00.000+02:00

This photo was taken 22nd January, between 9 and 10 o'clock in the morning.
The sky is always so beautiful in the countryside. This one is from Röyskölä village, Ilmajoki.

It was a nice day at work today. I even felt some sort of enthusiasm and the time just went so smoothly. We had some guests in the evening and later I took the dog for a walk.

Tomorrow I shall go swimming with a friend of mine. It will do good for my aching foot.

Managing the cold - Punatulkkuja talvipakkasessa

2006-01-23T11:06:00.000+02:00

I'm glad that the period of very cold weather seems to be over today - it's only -7 degrees Celsius (19.4 F) . It was quite cold yesterday -20 degrees C (-4 F). We gave sunflower seeds to bullfinches (punatulkut) - as you can see in the photo- I quess they are both female, because they are not so red. I was once again in Ilmajoki last weekend, I was attending a seminar "Women in History" in Isokyrö.

The last book I've read: Anna Gavalda: Kimpassa (Ensemble, c'est tout) French journalist and author has written a witty novel about 4 people who start live together and learning to care for each other - their life becomes so much better

The last cd I've heard: Mísia: Drama Box
Fado and other songs with heart and strong female voice.

Odd habits - omituiset tavat

2006-01-17T19:32:00.000+02:00

I got a task from Veloena. I have to reveal my strange habits, 5 of them. And then I have to send this task to five other persons. I will link the persons to the end of this post and I will notify them with comments about this task. They have to do the same.

"Tehtävänanto: paljastan viisi omituista tapaani. Tämän jälkeen valitsen seuraavat viisi ihmistä, jotka haastan tekemään saman perästä. Heidän tulee myös kirjoittaa nämä säännöt merkintäänsä. Linkitän haastamani ihmiset tämän merkinnän loppuun ja käyn ilmoittamassa heidän kommenttilaatikkoihinsa haasteesta ja tästä merkinnästä."

My strange habits:

1) I store things in plastic bags, even if I don't mean to do this. I guess the problem is, that I don't empty my plastic bags and they begin to form a collection. Yes, secretly I'm Kassi-Alma.

2) I'm drawing fingers when I get bored (like in seminars). Some fingers have long nails and some have rings.

3) I like to sit in National Archive (some might consider it strage but I love it) and go through microfilms including law cases from 17th century Finland.

4) I sing a lot of South Ostrobothnian traditional folk songs when I get drunk.
"...Anssin Jukan puukkoon se painoo
puolitoista naulaa.Sillä se sitten kutkutteli
tuota Pikku-Lammin kaulaa..."

5) I make funny faces when I'm alone in the elevator

I will send this task to Metal Mama, Greygriffin, Narcissa, Hanna&Ida and Ellinoora. I hope they will reveal their own strange habits - because actually it's quite fun...

How many times I have moved?

2006-01-16T22:52:00.000+02:00

The car is OK now. We got the battery changed - there was something wrong with the old one.
This week I'm going to start to be active again. Tomorrow I shall have the Swedish lesson with our teacher Carl and on Wednesday I will attend the choir rehearsals.
I wonder when I start the excercises in the Gym - next week perhaps? It's been quite dull to have a long flu. I don't know if I will be able to do anything anymore.

I discovered a new meme:
How many times have you moved homes in your life?

1990 From Southern Ostrobothnia to a student flat in Tapulikaupunki, Helsinki
1993 To another student flat in Vallila, Helsinki
1995 To a university town in Southern Germany
1997 To a new flat in Helsinki
1998 To Copenhagen, Denmark
1998 To Tallinn, Estonia
1999 To Southern Ostrobothnia
2000 To Helsinki, a flat in Munkkivuori
2000 To a flat in Pitäjänmäki, Helsinki
2004 To a house in Eastern Helsinki

That makes 10 times.

Car trouble

2006-01-09T18:01:00.000+02:00

Monday didn't begin very well. I was leaving for Helsinki. I tried to start the car in Ilmajoki but it didn't. Lights came but the engine was still. The battery was so dead.

Luckily I had the cables, so we jump started the engine with the help of my dad's car.

Now I'm a bit tired, 350 km of driving by myself all alone. Just the radio and the dog to keep me company.

Countryside visit

2006-01-08T17:21:00.000+02:00

This weekend I've been visiting my parents. My husband was in business trip in USA, so I took the dog and we decided to have some quality time walking in the middle of the snowy fields.
The weather was nice and sunny. Winter at its best.

I'm sorry but the dog Jekku didn't want to pose for the camera.

Around Christmas

2005-12-30T00:30:00.000+02:00

Christmas sale in Vanha Ylioppilastalo (Old student union house in Helsinki) just few days before Christmas. As you can see, it was growded. I bought some candles.

Pinja (my husband's niece) had
her first birthday party. She
seemed to be happy with her birthday
present.

The beautiful sunset in Ilmajoki in Boxing day (26th December). It was nice to have a white Christmas after all.

Merry Christmas

2005-12-23T22:11:00.000+02:00

Funny things

2005-12-20T18:26:00.000+02:00

The concert went fine.
All hesitation and excitement dissappeared at the moment when I came to the consert hall. Everybody was in a good mood, the singers and the audience.

This week I've been wrapping Christmas presents. My husband has seen the huge package I've bought for him, but he doesn't know what's inside. It's something practical, as always. That much I can reveal but not more - just in case that he happens to read this.

The funniest thing is that our dog Jekku has already find all his Christmas gifts.

We had bought him a soft toy (he loves them). One day it just lay on the floor, all wet and dog was behind the chair hiding.

Some days ago my husband's brother gave us his presents in a plastic bag and Jekku's gift was on top. The bag was lying on the floor and as we arrived back home, we saw that he had opened the grey coloured wrappings.

A small plastic bag full of little artificial bones was in the middle of the floor, one side open and you could see that several bones had faced their destiny....
Poor little dog with an upset stomach.

Well, it's nothing that a carrot casserole (porkkanalaatikko) wouldn't cure.

Choir's concert

2005-12-14T16:22:00.000+02:00

After half an hour or so I should be going to my choir's concert. It's not the first time I present my singing to the growds, but anyway, I'm a bit worried.
I haven't practised that much.

I'm dressed in red as instructed. I have put my notes to the black folder. Everything should be in order.

I wonder how many people will come to listen to this women's choir singing Christmas carrolls?
I secretly hope that it won't be many.

Finding Christmas presents

2005-12-05T09:43:00.000+02:00

Why couldn't the adults write to Santa Claus and make a wish list?
Every Christmas it's so hard to come up with good ideas what to buy for your husband, parents, the in-laws, brother, niece etc.
And when you ask, they say "oh, we don't need anything".
I said to my mom that, "haven't I bought you a gift every year during 20 years? - What makes you think that I wouldn't buy one this year?"

People are strange.

Making cakes

2005-12-04T18:34:00.000+02:00

It's Sunday and I should be cleaning.

Well, I'm going to make the cakes first. My mother gave me a good recipe. I'm going to make blueberrypie and a nice cake for Christmas. Blueberry pie is for the independence day 6th of December. Some friends are coming over and we are going to watch the presidents ball.

Earlier today we visited Christmas sales which were held in Immersby, Sipoo where a relative of my husband lives. His wife Kerstin makes handicrafts. We drank some "glögi". It was a crispy weather, so it was nice to drink something warm.

Self-Portrait Meme by Sedis

2005-11-14T08:57:00.000+02:00

Sedis would like all of us to join the Self Portrait meme: It has to be a portrait of you, either a drawing or another type of portrait. You can see portraits of Sedis and Anita K here.

It sounds very nice, so I will add mine with a big nose and all.

It's Monday, but I have to be at work so late as at 11 o'clock. I had a dental appoitment this morning at 8, but it went very smoothly.
Yesterday my brother-in-law and his wife gave me their keyboard for a little while, so I can see, if I need to buy one.
Being in the choir and all, it would be nice to learn the tunes by playing them and singing along.