Nostalgia

I received an invitation to an exhebition opening in the post. The artist is someone I used to date. The invitation took me way back in time, to the late 80's my dears. We didn´t date for long, but long enough to leave retainable memories. I still remember how I liked his smell. He lived in a cottage and he always smelled of wood or perhaps the forest. He spoke with a beautiful dialect, he was from Joensuu and I can recall the way he laughed. I used to be a bit of a clown when I was younger and I made him laugh, well, not sure if I was all that funny, he might also have been just kind;)
He has made a name for himself as an artist. I´m very happy for him.
I´m not going to the opening. I wouldn´t know what to say. But I will see the exhebition. There was no drama involved in us breaking up, I believe it was more a coincident. We were supposed to meet in a certain place at a certain time, but I couldn´t make it. And there was no way I managed to let him know, he didn't have a phone in his cottage. I did leave a message at the place were we were supposed to meet, but I doubt he ever received it. So eventually when we met, we were quite distant and far too clumsy somehow to find a way back. And very young.
I do take responsability for what happened. You see, what we used to do was, when we met we decided on our next meeting. But we never had a plan B in case one of us couldn´t make it!
He did something very special for me once, he had a glass porch and one winternight, when he came to meet me at the bus-stop and we had walked through the woods and when we were approaching his cottage I could see it glow in the dark. He had lit the porch with lots and lots of candles. For me. I never forget that glowing cottage.

Nostalgia. On a saturday.

Algebra while washing

I had a fit today and the outcome of this fit was I washed my huuuuuuge carpet, I have a large rose-kelim. It is now drying outdoors. Took a little nap with my darling cat once I had finished. Woke up to my neighbour offering zucchini-soup. Delicious! The cat also enjoyed some.
I bought a year 1916 edition of Algebra at the fleamarket. Hilarious! The language is just fantastic. Some of the tasks are too difficult for my little brain, some have been very very exciting. I used to love maths and algebra at school. Or I loved the tasks I felt I could comprehend.

Above are my frogs.

Seamonsters on a windowsill

In the weekend I listened to my Mariza cd´s. I have not listened to them in ages. I have been so lucky to have seen Mariza in consert many times. Last time I cried at the Barbican centre in London some yrs ago, I believe it must have been in 2008 or 2009. My oh my, how time flies! Transparente is my favorite album. I lay in bed, cat by my side and breathe in the wonderful music.

I have been painting a plank. I´m making a windowsill for my cat. She has enjoyed the view from an upperwindow I keep open all the time, but autumn will eventually be here and I´m going to have to close the window, so therefore I´m making a windowsill for her to sit by the window.

My caring present has been well received. And used! Oh joy! They returned to basecamp on saturday and it has been in use since, apparently a certain someone has a stiff back. Poor thing.
Now my P is driving to lake Inarijärvi where he is kayaking until mid august. The "wrap" is apparently also travelling to Lapland;)

Oh, a funny and scary incident from last week. I decided to enjoy a nightswim by myself. Cykled to the sea and whilst enjoying the soft warm seawater I suddenly felt something touch my leg!!!! I emmediately thought it must be a seamonster of some sort so I swam ashore in less than a few seconds! So there I stood on the shore, out of breath, heart beating like crazy and slowly realizing I will probably never be grown up!

Things, tap-dancing and first love

I bought this bracelet in Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy in 1983!!! I was 14 yrs old and in love with Jean-Luc. I´m not sure Jean-Luc was aware of my romantic feelings - I did blush fairly often and stumbled upon words when we spoke.
Still, quite fantastic that I still have this bracelet. I never use it. Perhaps I should;)

Woke up this morning to a soft and hairy paw kicking my leg. A little someone was tap-dancing on my thigh in her sleep. Proof below;)



I have no words to express the horrible news regarding Norway. I cannot comprehend where all this hate comes from? It will take a lot of time to come to terms with these kinds of horrible actions taking place.

A little caring on the way

I also managed to complete the "wrap" for my P (not really sure what to call him) today. I shall send it to the base-camp tomorrow. I believe they are returning to base-camp on saturday afternoon so then he will hopefully receive my little package. And perhaps my wrap will bring ease to his tired body. Not that he has ever complained about beeing tired;) Not even after completing a 800km ski-excursion last winter in arctic conditions. I just assume that having a physical profession, he might occasionally have some exhaustion in his body.

Good night dear all!

Rakastan

Rainy grey day here in Helsinki. I use the day for planning work ahead, next month will be hectic. Fun work, to complete custom made namesigns for an upcoming talkshow made by an indipendent tv-production company.

But a furry little friend keeps stealing my attention;) Rakastan. That is finnish. It translates "I love". I do love this sweet thing. She has brought soooooo much pleasure, laughter and affectionto to my life.

Terrible blogger...

...award goes to me! I´m sorry for very bleak posts lately and for not commenting on your posts. I do read all your blogs!

End of week turned out rather more active than I had planned. My friend T came to visit saturday and she wanted to work with me on my allotment (yes I am very spoiled with friends who want to do things with me and for me - unconditionally and without asking!). It now looks so well organised and clean of any weed I hardly recognise it as my allotment;) I shall enjoy it while it lasts...for a few days the most! How come weed grows so fast and not all the lovely edible stuff I have planted!
After hard work on my allotment I prepared dinner and we enjoyed some rosé wine. Rosé is just perfect for summer, isn't it?

Today when I came home I found my orchid had dropped one of its flowers. And it had dropped it on my knitting-project. It looked very sad but beautiful against the grey yarn. I´m knitting some sort of a "wrap" to be used on aching or injured bodyparts. The yarn is called Kipuapusilkkivilla and it consists of 70% handwashed sheep wool and 30% untreated silk. The wool and silk are combined during the carding phase. The combination works well on various symptoms, for ex. rheumatic pains. I am making this "wrap" to a certain someone whom I´ve mentioned a few times on the blog. No, I am not dating anyone. But occasionally I meet with a very nice person. This very nice person works as a wilderness guide and canoeing instructor, so I imagine he might have a few sore muscles at times...and as you probably can guess, this is his high-peak-season so we haven´t met in a looooong time. Not that I would keep count or anything. But I knit. And spoil a certain cat with plenty affection. Not sure what knitting and spoiling a cat has to do with anything really. REALLY!

And yes, it´s him I sang to on the phone if you have to know;)

Time

With some friends, it feels as if no time has passed. Though in fact it has. I met my friend H last time one and a half yrs ago! But it felt as if we had met yesterday. H has now left for Gothenburg and I hope to see him soon again. We had a wonderful wonderful time. The most memorable moment for me was when we jumped from a platform into the sea and there was that little hesitation just before jumping, that do-I-really-dare-to-jump-moment. And how it felt like forever before you hit water!

Now the house feels empty, it´s just me and my cat. And a huuuuuge pile of laundry.

Above is an old watch my mother gave me.

Summer

Summer at it´s best!
I have my swedish friend H visiting and we have been busy enjoying the summer. Beach, swimming, sunbathing, cykling (I managed to borrow a bicykle off a friend), cafés, night-movie coming up, meeting friends, cooking together...

We´re soon off to the beach again. Tjohooooo!

Cloudy days

It´s cloudy today. That´s good. I get things done. The heat is really lovely but it also makes me feel rather drained! I don´t mean to complain about it - it is just silly that we try to go on our normal ways when the heat is at it´s peak. I´m glad I live so close to the sea and the beach.
This week my friend H arrives from Gothenburg and there´s also outdoor-cinema on the agenda.
But forst I´m going on a hunt for a small shelf where I can store my spices. Update on that later.

Above is the door to my bathroom cupboard.

July

I have spent plenty of time in the sea and on the beach. I have also spent plenty of time riding my bicykle. And spent time with friends in water and on bikes. Occasionally at a wonderful café in Kalasatama called Ihana kahvila. Today I met a man at the café who started talking to me and told me it is possible to swim nearby, in fact at Kalasatama harbour. So me and my friend explored the area and found the place where you can in fact jump (approx 3m high) and there is a ladder to climb. We will try it out within the next few days. He was very nice and I bumped into him later and I swear, I did think for a split second that he was going to kiss me, so happy was he;) He was very straight forward, he said "I like it that you are so curious and excited about swimming". He is right. I am related to fish. I love to dive and swim. And I love to jump from high places into deep water.
Next week my dear friend H is coming to stay for a week. He lives in Gothenburg.

Happy july dear friends.

PS. He did call back (I´m referring to my previous post). And I did sing.