Swimming, boating, fire-cooked crepes, sauna, bbq, hammering, hand-picked wildflowers, ice cream – long days outside and never-ending bedtime giggles.
A perfect day for little people.
Day 110: Summer Cottage
Tag: Finland
Day 109: Not Quite the Midnight Sun
In a few weeks, the day will be at its longest in Finland. Stuart struggles to sleep in the light, but I have no problems. I love the long evenings. It feels like you gain a whole new day after working hours.
Even when the sun sets below horizon after 10pm, it doesn’t actually get dark anymore. This image is taken at 23:55.
Dusk.
Day 108: Poison and Beauty
When Merlin, our late Schnauzer, was in puppy school, he surprised me by learning the command ‘leave’ in 5 min. He surprised me even more by actually obeying it – regardless of what he found on our walks.
It was harder with kids.
Finnish forests are full of delicious berries and plants. It takes a lot of repetition to ensure the kids do not experiment with anything, even when they think they know. Lily of the Valley is easy, but some plants are easier to confuse – and more poisonous.
At least we don’t live in Australia.
Day 103: The First Is The Best
The first ice cream of the summer!
Well, of course,we have had ice cream in the past months. Actually, in the past week. But not from an ice cream kiosk. (At least, not most of them. A mall kiosk does not quite count.) And we had not eaten any outside. (Almost none) And nothing in our T-shirts, with the sun shining.
Hard to explain why, but this was definitely the first ice cream of the summer. And it was great.
Day 96: Gentle Walk
Alanna is still recovering from her cold. And I am still working long hours.
Luckily this time of the year means the sun is still high when I end my day. Good time for a gentle walk to the seashore.
Day 86: Old Kokkola
I travelled to Kokkola for work today. It’s a small town on the shores of the Gulf of Bothnia. In spring, before the nature awakens, there isn’t all that much to see. In summer, it can be nice (so I hear).
The old town of Kokkola has some beautiful wooden houses from the 18th and 19th centuries, with a few dating back to the 17th. They were definitely worth a walk.
Day 73: Early Morning on the road
At the moment, the sun rises in Helsinki at 6am. In just a week, it will be 20 minutes earlier. The change is so fast, you can really feel it – and Finns are almost unrecognizable from the dark, crumpy winter dwellers of just a few weeks ago.
Getting to the office early feels decidedly more humane when you are accompanied with blue sky and the first rays of sunshine.
Day 64: Next-Level Egg Hunt
In my family, escape rooms are a thing. We regularly go with my siblings, their partners, and sometimes include our parents. The girls have tagged along for a few times as well – and keep begging to come again.
So this Easter, I built them their own escape-room-style egg hunt. They had to solve puzzles, break codes, search for clues, and even reveal invisible writing. Along the route they had to uncover boxes and find matching keys or number codes.
A few of the challenges were quite hard, but the girls managed to locate all of their eggs. Apparently, it was more fun that our “typical” hunt, so I have a feeling we may have started a new tradition.
A great addition the already existing tradition of spending the Easter in our summer cottage with my parents
Day 63: Finnish Spring
Is there anything more over-romatisized than spring? Maybe Paris. Or worse: spring in Paris.
Maybe in warmer climates spring bursts in to flower the moment winter ends, bringing sunshine, birdsong and love. But not in Finland.
After 6 months under snow, there is not a lot colour in Finnish nature in early spring. The frozen ground needs time to thaw before anything green dares to show up. It’s wet and brown. It is a challenge to find much beauty anywhere.
Those warm, sunny moments can be glorious, though. Finns peel off their winter jackets and run out with the first signs of milder weather – enthusiastic for light and already waiting for summer to begin.
In other words, the best thing about Finnish spring is its proximity to summer.
Day 53: Happiness
The girls and I decorated the willow branches for Palm Sunday. The combination of bright colors and cheerful catkins make me happy – especially as we had fun decorating them together.
Projects like this can be hard to start after a full day at work, but once you get going (typically bacause you have to, like now, with no other opportunity before Sunday) they are well worth it!
Blue Moment 