valentine's friends

in finland valentine's day is translated as "friends' day" (business idea of the finnish post, says my father). so we had a little card making workshop. the little girl was very disciplined, she finished all of them even though it was a lot of choosing colors and stickers. this card model is from kerho (heart-shape and stickers). we had nicer stickers at home. my friend N finally came back to Helsinki from Tokyo, and brought lovely animal stickers to V. i was the one wanting save them, V would've used all. yesterday we went and got her her own scissors.
and i got a letter from a honeymooner from Viet Nam!
now we're off to the sunny streets!

fog day, outside

pictures from outside on that foggy sunday. i just couldn't get enough of it! and snow too. what a strange winter.
i'm so excited about having a clearer feeling that Manteli will be ready for us, and that it's going to be quite soon. i'm very curious to find out how it'll feel, to actually live there and have no small city flat to get back to. i used to only dream of living in New York. and i loved Tokyo. and i have never ever lived somewhere contently, in every place there has been something wrong, or i've just known it's going to be temporary. our 'temporary' life in this flat has lasted for 3 (short) years - it's my second longest period in one place. me in the countryside. of course the difference is just that. it's us in the countryside.





i think having a forest is so important for a kid. i remember having very funny and very exciting games following footprints in the snowy forest. we were sure there was something strange going on: we heard morse signs from far away, and noted down letters. "the train at 10 in the evening, big load." and to have the freedom to let the kid go out on her own... V was very proud and happy to go out alone already. well, there was this guy to keep an eye on her.

fog day, inside

after much hesitation we ran to the bus yesterday to see a changed Manteli! the weather in town looked so boring, but in the countryside the fog was wonderful. and with a bonus: snow! pictures from top: continuation to the kamari series. view from the window to the field. the pride of the house: the one ready corner with the stove (i wanted to take a good photo of it, but forgot) (or actually i forgot to ask Y to take the good photo). working room with white papers. they will become darkish, 'indigo grey' says my hero, Y. having a fire again and heating lentil soup on it, looking at the fresh new plaster (the pigment doesn't show too much), having running water in the bathroom with Super taps (another photo i forgot to take)... i didn't want to leave! Y had spent the night there on a mattress. S & R and their kids A, O and baby R visited, and said it looks ready to move in! wonderful... i can't wait.


the wind had torn a big branch of a syringa (lilac, syreeni) and i brought some home. too early for this kind of spring signs!

cat pillow

i have finished making a little something! a long time ago i had an active day: there was a back part of a cardigan i had started to knit last winter. i thought i could to make a hat out of it. on that same day i made another hat too, and i was feeling like Puhti. (the most positive feeling one could imagine!) after all it became a little cushion that everybody likes, including a real cat, H.

a book

Y found a great book in the sales. (maybe i should start a blog about Y; Collected makings and doings of Y) it is called Suomalainen talonpoikaistalo. i don't know how to translate 'talonpoika', maybe it's just peasant. it's anyway about house groups around Finland, originally published in 1979 (which explains the super contrasted photos). there are wonderful houses, built in 18th and 19th century. a lot of information on building techniques. inspirations for window frames for example. and decorations. in the summer i want to build a little playhouse for V, ideas that don't fit to Manteli could be used in that. i love these doors, quite surprising!

step by step

i finally finished one work, so i get a little break.

this is how it was in the summer of 2005: digging and changing the bottom logs on three sides of the house. we dug a cellar too. then came the grovel and new floor construction with ecowool insulation. this is a power picture; this situation is so far behind! new floor boards in 2006:


this is showing how much extra stuff is there on the way. the room has insulation wood fibre boards on the walls, we will have only one bare log wall. next up: wallpaper ("Ken kiuruista kaunein"), floor treatment (some kind of bleach), painting the ceiling. electricity works. we really have a wonderful electrician, or actually two, father and son. and Y said the plumber was great (i didn't meet him), now there's a working shower in the bathroom and a tap on the outside wall! something even more wonderful happened too, but i want to see it with my own eyes before saying anything. also some new plans came along.

needle works

works by V. the first one is Snufkin's hat (Nuuskamuikkunen). the yellow stitches on the bird are her first sewing. she's so fascinated with needles. what kind of a mum lets a 2-year old play with needles?

today we've just been at home again. i'm so happy being at home, it's almost crazy. our baking for laskiainen is chocolate-apple cake - it turned out wonderful, just wonderful! we had 'laskiaispulla' at a nice bakery last week with C, baby M and Y on his lunch break. it was as good as they get. maybe we go there again on tuesday!

Y is in Manteli with C and the pipe guy!