When the sun is setting, between dusk and darkness, there is a moment when the light turns blue. And the world stops for a heartbeat.
Fire is hypnotising.
A long time ago, I had a friend visiting from Hong Kong. She could not tear herself away from our fireplace. Living on the 32nd floor, she had never seen a real flame bigger than a candle flame.
One of the first (and best) things we did when we moved in to the house was to replace the fireplaces iron door with a bigger glass one.
All the wonder, without the smoke.
I went mushrooming on my own. Major feat. Actually bringing home almost 10l was an even bigger feat.
Good mushroom spots seem to be big secrets, shared only with the closest family. Asking experts (or anyone who regularly picks mushrooms) where to go is almost sacrilege. You either get a very vague answer, or they tell you outright they only go to their family spot. Even internet forums come up empty.
Having no family who go mushrooming – especially not in Espoo – I was on my own. I used AI to identify a right type of forest. And went in blind.
The first hour was pretty desperate… Not helped by the fact that it had been windy, so the forest floor was covered in fallen leaves – each exactly the same shade as the mushrooms I was looking for.
But then I found them. And the best thing is that where you find one, you are bound to find another.
I marked the spot.
A lot of my pictures lately have been taken outdoors: in forest, on streets or simply of flowers outside houses I pass.
Both at work and at home, there is rarely a period longer than 5 min when no one is asking me for something. (Unless I’m having a nap, but that is not a particularly photogenic moment). So when I’m out walking – during the girls’ hobbies, on my way home from the office, etc. – that’s when I look around for something to point my camera at.
It’s fine. But even I think it is monotonous.
I have 126 days left. I’ll try to get back to more intentional photography!
I was listening to Alanna read her homework chapter to Stuart tonight. I was surprised how well Stuart was able to catch all the little mistakes, whether she mixed up letters (which can change the meaning of a word) or got the endings wrong.
Considering that he probably didn’t even understand what all the words meant, it is quite a feat.
Definitely requires a lot more concentration from him than from me.
Sometimes little things will stay with you for a long time.
For example, when I was maybe 14, I read an article about a study that found that the first stall in public toilets is, on average, ~30% cleaner than the others. Apparently, people don’t like to use the first one,
I have always picked the first stall since.
And I don’t even know if it is true.
There are five “ghost metro stations” beneath Helsinki. They were excavated at various points over the years, only for plans for new metro lines to change. Most remain unused. One has been used for squash courts.
I could also tell you that the Helsinki (and Espoo) metro is the northernmost metro system in the world. And that it has the world’s only undersea metro station.
None of this changes the fact that the daily commute by metro is a very boring affair.
Amidst the red and yellow leaves, a freshly bloomed rose and a rosebud stand out. Call me old-fashioned, but it feels wrong. Roses belong to summer.
Someone ought to have a word.
It’s a guaranteed rabbit hole in any conversation with fellow parents: how many chores should kids do?
We are still at a pretty basic level. We expect the girls to clean up after themselves: to tidy their rooms (and whatever else they have scattered around the house), take their plates away, put their laundry in the basket and clean up the kitchen after making their own snacks or breakfasts.
For bigger jobs, such as raking leaves or cleaning up the garden, we expect them to pitch in for a few hours.
I think the girls are soon ready to take on more responsibility around the house. In fact, we’d probably have insisted on it already, if getting them to do their chores weren’t such an enormous chore for Stuart and me.
Stuart, Alanna and Kiara took me out for dinner to celebrate my birthday.
Over the years, Stuart and I have perfected the art of maximising the number of dishes you can taste in a restaurant. We never order the same dish, and often go half-and-half on starters, sometimes even on mains.
The girls complicate the maths, as they are just as keen to taste everything. With you have half a starter to start with, sharing it with two other people tends to leave you with very little.
When the dish is very small – or exceptionally good – we claim it is super spicy. But even that doesn’t always work anymore.
I sit in a a many meetings. And I mean many.
Years ago, I realised that unless I am looking at data or a demo, I need something to keep my hands busy. Otherwise, I easily slip into multitasking mode and start going through my messages. And if it is not a problem that I am only listening with half an ear, I really should not be in that meeting.
The advantage of remote meetings is that you have more options than just drawing lines in your notebook… Over time, I’ve gone through different activities: knitting, painting watercolors, lifting weights… Meetings are also a great moment to sew new badges onto scout uniforms.
Naturally, not all of these are equally suitable for meetings with the camera on.
Lately, I have taken my doodling up a notch. Still not particularly useful.
But satisfying.
