Midsummer's Eve

Woke up to this.
Rain.
Rain.
And more rain.

Luckily our only plans for the day involved this:

Hehee...
We ended up rigging the big garden umbrella next to the grill.
And ate inside.
It was quite cool.


I managed to capture a semi-smile of Julia's.

I'll be looking after her on Thursday for a few hours.

She hasn't been quite sure of me yet...

potd 18.6.

These two are just too darn cute together!

I love the dimples.

Classmates.

Only Samuli's family spent the spring term in Sweden, so she had missed him.

And I had missed Samuli's mom :)

The kiddos (including Saara, and Samuli's siblings Emilia and Elias) played outside while Irina and I had tea and cake and chatted... lots.

And then a bit more.

Two peas in a pod

She's so much like me in ways... I never can sit properly on a chair either....

Tastes of summer

Were you wondering what I baked today?
The easiest summer taste.

What we call a sugar cake, more commonly known as sponge cake.

You need one glass.
Measure equal amounts of eggs, sugar and flour.
I used four big organic eggs in my cake.

You pour the sugar on top of the eggs and whisk away.

For a good long time, until the mixture is light in color and thick.
Whisk in the flour.

Butter and flour your pan, pour in the dough.


Bake for about 35 minutes in 200C/390F.
Test with a wooden cocktail stick to be sure it is done, if any dough sticks to the stick (heh), back into the oven for five more minutes.


Mmmmmm... smells sooo good.

How do you make it taste like summer?
You add whisked vanilla sauce or whipped cream and fresh strawberries.
Make yourself a cup of tea.
Sit in the sun.
Put your feet up and enjoy.

potd 17.6.

Baking today.

This is my favorite bundt cake form I own.

It's a glass one my Mom bought at some flea market.

It is beautiful.

I wish all of them were glass....

LOL!

My sweet little niece was at our house yesterday.
Apparently she had been all smiles and coos the day before and in a good mood even at the doctor's earlier in the day.

When it was time to do some bonding with me, it was also time for tummy trouble.
Poor kiddo.
Or was it my face?
As every time I got close and started talking, she'd give me a smile that turned into a pout and cry in two seconds flat.
So as she kept spitting out her pacifier (tutti), I thought I'd help her by keeping a finger close to it so it wouldn't escape.

And then...

...she flipped the bird at me!

Really!

It was hysterical... that middle finger just popped up on her cheek, aimed at me like... I know your game god mother...

Petra and I got the biggest giggles and you should have seen Julia's face then.. trying to figure us out.
Hopefully I'll be able to get a smily photo of her on Friday when we celebrate Midsummer's Eve together.

potd 16.6.

The girls set up a miniature flea market yesterday :)

Too cute.

Not fair!

It's summer.
Or so my calendar says.
June 16th in fact.
Bah.
It is flippin' 13C out there.
Windy.
Cold.
There's an occasional ray of sunshine.
But it's still cold.
Well, ok... it would be warm if it were early March.

Then again I shouldn't be surprised.
It's Midsummer week...
hah.
I remember one Midsummer's Eve it hailed...
I've spent several at a summer cottage/sailboat wearing my winter jacket and wool socks.
How come you only remember the ones you were cold, wet and miserable?
And not the ones that were blissfully warm and summery?
Strange.

I mentioned my honeysuckle a few posts back, here it is climbing up the apple tree:

I know it's kinda hard to tell, but click on it, and find the white blooms.

I'm off to brave the cold and go to the grocery store.

Because I have to.

We need dinner.

And Honey Nuts Cheerios apparently :)

potd 15.6.

Trying to look at the camera but sneaking a quick look at the tv...

Rainy cold day here.

Blech.

potd 14.6.

Oh my peace is gone.. heh.

These two came home on saturday and it's been a bit hectic since. There's a mountain of laundry, bickering and a lot of "Mooommmmmmm! I'm staaaaarving!!!"

Saturday was a lovely sunny, even sweltering day.

Then this rolled in:

Bringing forth a 90 minute thunder storm with lightnings galore.

It was a good time to snuck under the covers in bed with my thick book.

Oh hey.. the PRIZE.

For the question I sent out in the previous post to make you all crawl out of the woodwork..

I've decided I'll send a sampling of my favorite chocolates to the winner.

That should make you comment..ha!

I know you are out there.. more than three...

potd 13.6.

Make a wish... and blow.

Out and about

Sitting at the computer right now, I'm enjoying music drifting in from my neighbor across the street. They are having a party, plenty of cars parked out... birthday, confirmation or engagement party? Could be any of those, really. I'll have to ask when I see them next. But they do have someone with a great voice playing the guitar, right now it's a song by Eagles. Makes me smile... unexpected moments like these.
I was going to walk to the grocery store, but now I think I'll wait a bit.
And enjoy.

And type :)
I was downtown yesterday with my camra in tow to see if I could find bits that felt like Helsinki to me during Helsinki Day. I found out I'm one picky photographer. The spots where the people were weren't talking to me at all. I either had to look up:

..or venture into the sidestreets.

I was taking this photo and it made an old lady stop and start looking at the wall.. and then me.. in confusion..
I left her guessing ;)
And smiled as I walked away.


Just a few steps away I found this gate.
I've no idea if the lady was still looking at me...


One of my favorite things in town are our green trams.

Inside too.

Now the song is Suspicious Minds.. and it's two guys with guitars.

I need to take my camera into town more often. Especially to the sidestreets. And high points. As we have no skyscrapers the city is defined by church steeples. Take the girls with me, plan a route to include an icecream kiosk, and shoot pictures with Saara. Haul my big ass zoom along.

Switched to a Chris Isaak song... good tunes.. beats the radio hands down. Nice harmony here. Wish you could here this with me.

Mika went to pick up the girls, they'll be home in three hours or so.

It'll be nice to have then home again. Although I have enjoyed the quietness of the house, the wind and birds have been my radio.

Lay down Sally...

Fixing tupos here. hah. Ridiculous how many I make.

On the road again...

Do I have you singing along yet?

Dancing in the dark..

*grin*

When you read this leave me a note on your favorite summer tune.

I'll have to insist.

Because I know Laura isn't the only person reading...

Would a little prize make you show yourself?

Well why not?

It's time for a little summer blog fun.

I'll add a picture of the prize tomorrow, I'll keep this open for a week.

For me... anything by The Eagles.

potd 12.6.

One of the prettiest views in town.

Looking at the church via Sofiankatu, a museum street.

It was Helsinki Day, my city turned 459 years old.

potd 11.6.

Sun, cherries and a good book....

potd 10.9.

Rust and crumbling tiles

I'll give you more photos of our barbecue today.
The knob in yesterday's photo belongs to it.
Our grill is in dire need of help, but I'm accustomed to it's slow dilapidation.

It still has a few years in it.

Isn't it amazing how a bright orange flower fades like that?

Today I started with a 5K walk (nordic walking), I've washed three loads of laundry, built a miniature kitchen sink and even had time to walk outside with my camera.

Imagine that.

I went to take pictures of my beautiful pink rhododendron but got sidetracked...

Still playing with sun flare effects...

And finding beauty in shadows.

The honeysuckle I brought from my grandmother's garden after she died, has now climbed halfway up the appletree.

I'll show you tomorrow.

potd 9.6.

Rust.

Beautiful.

Textured.

Underappreciated.

potd 8.6. and a little more

Hello there :)
Would you like some strawberry cake?

---

What do mean what cake?!?
This one :D

Ok, ok... enough teasing..
I did a little (pun intended) baking today.
With polymer clay.

Not much else going on... lazy days.
I did find myself a new jacket while downtown today though, very cute.
I was in town because we went to see this:

I.loved.it.

Feel free to call me a trekkie.
I enjoyed how true it was to the original series as far as characters went.
Added bonus points for including Leonard Nimoy in the cast.
Once I got over the fact that Spock was played by the same guy who is the veeeeeeery scary Sylar in Heroes, that is... He fit the part though. As Sylar he gives me the heebie jeebies.

You know what my real problem was today when taking self portraits?
I kept looking myself in the eyes instead of the camera lens in the mirror.
duh.
I'll have to try again tomorrow.. maybe with the stand and remote control..
I won't have myself to stare back at, hehee.

Tomorrow, I hope to do some scrapping and laundry.
In the evening it's the miniature club meeting, we're making books.
I think I'll go google some spellbook pages now.

potd 7.6.

Aaaahhh.. after days and days of rain and cold, there is finally sun.
However it is still cold, ha.
You just can't win.

I've been reading Pioneer Woman Photography most of the day (thanks Sharyn!) and have been learning a few new tricks. The first one being that pretty flare effect. I had no idea I could to that without photoshop! I love it.
I may have to read through the entire blog and start practicing more. Photo of the day may just go on through July as well ;)

It's so nice and quiet in our house. Except for the formula 1 cars on the tv. The kiddos have been delivered to my in-law's for a week. Oh the fun we will have... In our plans for the nest week: go see the Star Trek movie (yes, we are nerds), scrapbooking, daily walks, working on Esther's house (that's miniature) and meeting friends.

Yesterday was the miniature fair, it was good fun as always. Hectic , tiring on your feet, but fun. All photos from there are on Saara's camera so I won't be able to show those until next Sunday.
You can see pictures of what I bought on my miniature blog, link in the sidebar :)

potd 6.6.

I forgot to tell you that on Monday morning on my walk I came across a fox in the forest. He (or she...) was using the same path, I slowed down since I had never seen a fox in the wild, and was surprised when he kept coming towards me and passed me at ams legth. He had a dead rat in his mouth...

This little fox is from the miniature fair and is needlefelted by my very talented friend Hanna. At first I thought my witch Esther would be an animagi that changes into a fox.. but he could also be just a pet :)

Either way, he's cute.

potd 5.6.

Want to know how Niina surprised me today?

She went to the basement, took down the dry laundry from the line, folded it into the basket and carried it all up two stories!

Then she piled it into individual piles for everyone.

Wow.

potd 4.6.

Rainy.

But pretty, nonetheless.

Not hot anymore...

Tuesday saw the end of hot hot hot weather.
It was still nice enough to sit outside with friends :)

Friends from work and my sister-in-law. From left to right: Maija, Petra, Jenni and Sam.
I baked a veggie quiche (lots of herbs, cheese, red pepper, tomatos) and the cake you already saw. Saara made some yummy lemonade.


This little one slept pretty much through the day... getting hungry here. She's gaining a chin every time I see her, heh.. so cute.

Right now I'm up to my ears in minis. Trying to finish off everything for saturday's fair, I am getting there... only two days to go though... eeekk! Lucky fot me it's raining and cold outside so I have no distractions.


Niina's spent the last two nights sleeping over at different neighbor girls, only comes home to eat.. pretty much. Saara's got a friend sleeping over now. We in full summer mode here.
I'm off to have breakfast and then hit those minis again... I have seven more hydrangea stems to make, then I need to "plant" them in pots. I also need to make some mini foods from polymer clay today.
Tomorrow I'll panic.
Ha.

potd 3.6.

This one is the silly one.

Will not let me take photos...

This one was just plain lucky.

potd 2.6.

Rhubarb cardamom cake with fresh strawberries on top....

potd 1.6.

Lilies of the valley are gracing my garden with their fairylike precense.

Happy June!

My lilacs are in bloom. They smell so good.
The blooms are so high up I had to go take the photo from Niina's upstairs window :)
My apple tree however has about five blooms this year...

I survived the heat of the Womens' 10K.

Here's Niina giving me a high five at about 6K.
We had a good walk, it was hot, but there were enough opportunities to fill my water bottle.
And at the finish area there was sparkling wine and strawberries provided by the male teachers.
In the photo you can see Saara's english teacher in the red cap, beside her is our former student who is now studying to be a physical education instructor and behind me our special education teacher.

I promised a picture of the Marimekko cooler:

Love the strawberries. So cute.

What's planned for today?

*scrapping (AMLT deadline today, yikes!)

*planning tomorrow's menu (friends coming over)

*grocery shopping (the fridge is empty, so is the pantry. Have to get to vacation mode menu wise)

*visit to the garden center (Saara needs tomatos for the veggie patch)

*enjoying the sun (in my case that means reading in the shade... it'll be a hot day, heh)

Laura, the smiling girl and boy busts are given to one boy and one girl through grades 1-4. Not all schools give them out, but it's been a long tradition in ours.

I'm off to have breakfast.

And start my June version of a photo a day.

In other words.. I'll be back later ;)