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Posts tagged ‘spring’

Aug 21

Warm days in Finland

Now I know I have a lot to update on the blog. I’ve been quite a bum in the last couple of months, ever since the warm days hit here. Can’t blame me, you know, considering that I’ve been deprived of warmth since December and spring didn’t arrive to Finland ’til April! So I gotta make my days worth and enjoy them to the most. I also have another excuse – I started intensive Finnish classes in Helsinki and the two-hour journey by train (two-way) plus the four hours class, by the time I reach home, I’m usually dead tired and not very inspired to blog  *sheepish grin*

Ok, enough with the excuses.

As the weather started to get warmer in May, we spent more time in the outdoor. The Linnapuisto (literal translation Castle Park) is just steps away from the flat so we often find ourselves having picnic there by the lake. Blue Eyes’ so-called “new” knee has been recovering very well and after 1.5 months on crutches, he finally ditched the two sticks and started walking on his own, albeit slowly.

Spring has arrived and fresh greens are found everywhere in Hämeenlinna

Spring has arrived and fresh greens are found everywhere in Hämeenlinna

Simple picnic - beer, cider and homemade sausage buns

Simple picnic – beer, cider and homemade sausage buns

Matias and Chienting came to visit one weekend in May, and we decided to have a day out on the road. Jarmo joined us also and the five of us ended up driving to Petays Resort, which is a holiday destination surrounded by the Vanajavesi valley. After that, we headed to Lepaa, the campus ground of a local polytechnic. There, they produce their own wine as part of their agricultural activities. We took a break in its cafe and sat down for tea and ice-cream while enjoying the sunshine.

Boys enjoying the sunshine by the lake at Petays

Boys enjoying the sunshine by the lake at
Petays

As summer reached its peak in July and with Blue Eyes’ knee gaining strength, we also started trekking in the woods and stumbled upon wild berries there. I particularly enjoy the blueberries as they’re so good with yogurt and honey. We also received an invite from Blue Eyes’ neighbour, an elderly lady, to join her for raspberries picking at a nearby farm. It was a sunny evening and there were so many ripe raspberries. We brought home 4 litres of berries and for the next one week, we had fresh raspberries for breakfast. I also made for the very first time my own jam with the raspberries. Btw, the shops here sell sugar especially for jams. They’re called hillosokeri, literally means jam sugar. Have I ever mentioned that you can buy anything from the shop here? *wink*

Blue eyes filling the boxes with fresh raspberries

Blue eyes filling the boxes with fresh raspberries

There was also the annual Finnish House Exhibition, which was in July that we visited. The exhibition attracted thousands of Finns to visit every year, as the locals seek for interior design ideas while various providers promote their goods ie. furnitures, landscaping, flooring, etc … It’s quite an eye-opener for a foreigner like me to see the exhibition myself. Btw, the new houses on display are actual homes of families, who have agreed to put them up for viewing in exchange for discounts on some of the homes’ furnishings. But apparently, there’s still a public discussion on whether the discounts are worth it considering that after thousands of people have thronged the homes, the owners need to spend some money to fix them up.

In July, we also made a weekend trip to Turku and Naantali, both places that I’ve not been before. That will be a separate post (promise to do it before summer ends!) later, so watch this space.

So here are more views of spring/summer this year.

May 12

Happy Mother’s Day (Spring’s here!)

Happy Mother’s Day!

And what great weather greeted us this Sunday 🙂 The parks start to sport a freshly green, while sprouts of leaves are growing quickly every day. It’s hard to imagine that it was dark and grey couple of weeks ago.

The weather in the last one week has ranged around 15-17C during the day while evenings were slightly below 10C. Although there were couple of days of rain but the sunny days were warm and nice.

Yesterday, I was able to wear my dress and flats out (without any additional layers!) for the first time in six months! The big deal is not the dress but the fact that I didn’t need to have another layer over me. Gosh, it felt so good. So light, so free!

On the same day, I wore my shorts out to the nearby park and sat down for coffee. Imagine that I had to have at least two layers of clothes on every time I had to throw garbage bags outside the flat, now, I can go out in shorts! Woohoo!

Our friends, who are celebrating Mother’s Day at Aulanko, invited us to join them for tea on this special day. It’s a great weather to be out. The last time I visited Aulanko, it was two years ago during winter. It was very cold and the forest was covered in snow, hence this time round, the view that waited for me is very different indeed. We went up to the Aulanko tower to watch the view from the top, and I could see the clear water Aulanko lake, as well as vast spread of pine trees surrounding the lake.

 

 

Mar 13

Spring or not?

So it’s almost the middle of March, which technically should be the first month of spring. Day is longer and warmer, more sunny days, birds chirping and the ground starts to spurn into life. NOT YET. At least not in Finland. Believe it or not, it snowed (?!!) today after a week of hiatus and once again the ground is covered by snow. And temperature in the past 2 weeks have averaged around -8C with one evening at -20C!

It’s winter still, except less gloomy and darker. And that makes A LOT of difference. If I have to choose between gloomy dark winter days and sunny winter days, I’d choose the latter anytime cos’ the former is seriously depressing. The looooong winter months actually don’t surprise me as it’s pretty much the same when I was in Vilnius, Lithuania 10 years ago. The thing I didn’t expect, probably, is the fact that I’d relive the experience (of long winter) again.

But to count my blessings, the birds are indeed chirping and the sun is out 🙂

So last week we were mostly in Joensuu, the city where Blue Eyes originates from. Blue Eyes had work appointments and I tagged along. Joensuu is situated on the eastern side of Finland and according to Blue Eyes, people are generally friendlier there. The city is a lot bigger than Hameenlinna and it has a university campus too. I took the opportunity to take some shots of the city during one of the sunny days. Here are some of them:

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