
I have always thought there are really no “cool” bugs in Finland. After a walk with Alanna in the sunny forest, I have to admit: there are. I am just really bad at spotting them.

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.

I have always thought there are really no “cool” bugs in Finland. After a walk with Alanna in the sunny forest, I have to admit: there are. I am just really bad at spotting them.


Girls’ hobbies consume the beginning of my week – Monday circus school, Tuesday cheerleading and comic club, Wednesday Scouts…
On most days, it is better to wait nearby than drive back and forth. In decent weather, I try to take a walk. And maybe take a picture of an acorn.

My SLR has become temperamental, working only when it wants to. Therefore I don’t often carry it with me on random walks.
I regretted it bitterly as I stumbled upon a collection of perfect spider webs and the hunter on the prowl.
Then again, if I had been carrying my camera, it’ unlikely I would’ve have seen it. That’s how it seems to go.



Transition day: laudry, unpacking, preparation, cleaning…
One of the biggest disappointments of becoming an adult is that you don’t magically know how to do things right. For example, packing for a trip.
Or folding a fitted sheet.

In Finnish forests, the flowers tend to bloom early and only briefly. Season is short, so this time of the year, forest are mostly a sea of different greens.
Mushroom season is starting, tho, so it’s worth keeping your eyes on the ground!




Every year, the terraces of Helsinki seem to collude to invent one new drink or ingredient. This year it’s rhubarb – and, more specifically, the Rhubarb Spritz.
Luckily it’s rather good.
I’ve had quite a few.

People are always curious what is the hardest thing in raising twins. They expect me to describe jealousy, trouble finding own identity, or sharing (or not sharing) friends and hobbies.
No-one ever understands that the hardest thing is to stay patient in the face of stubborn insistence of getting exactly what the sister does.
Exactly.
Even when it makes no logical sense.
The biggest daily fight in our household is whose turn is it to wash teeth first. Every night!
Somehow it remains irrelevant that the other one will go 2 min later.

Despite my grumpiness about the spring and rain… summer is coming.

Appearance of willow catkins (pajunkissa) is a sure sign of spring – although the whole reason the catkins have “fur” is to protect the flowers from the cold.
In Finland, there is a tradition of collecting willow branches before Palm Sunday, decorating them and having kids go around the neighborhood to exchange the branches for candiy. It’s a Finnish version of “trick-or-treating”.
Or, actually, you should say that trick-or-treat is American-style virpominen. After all, the Finnish tradition has been around for hundreds of years.

Nothing to add.