OPRIKKA

It´s Technical And Emotional

2008-05-10T09:34:00.005+03:00

Often from one thing comes another. As you have noticed, I´ve been away from the blogland for a while. First I had some technical problems. My computer suddenly decided he (or is it a she...?) had a mind of his own, and refused to cooperate. After that was in order again, I found out that I was having a big problem with writing. I just could not scrabble a word, my mind was totally blocked! What an odd feeling. That must be really terrifying for those persons who write professionally. Has anyone of you ever experienced this kind of difficulties? But, now I feel I´m back in business again! Thanks so much to you all for bearing with me!

A good reason to write a post is a surprise I received from Jenny from Daisychain few days ago. In her blog Jenny showed once some funny plastic spoons, and she told they are for eating kiwi fruit. With the sharp end you cut the fruit and with the spoon in the other end you can scoop the delicious fruit in the mouth. I told that I had never seen such spoons before, they must be very handy. And so Jenny very kindly said she could send some spoons to me.

This week I received her parcel, all the way from Australia. But it was much more than the kiwi spoons! Jenny had included so many other lovely things there, too:

- shells from a nearby beach, where she often goes to
- a fine origami work
- cute, cute buttons
- beautiful fabric with my favourite colour pansies (I love the colour violet)
- a sweet card with a vintage Pinocchio picture
- and of course the spoons, in bright yellow and green colour, like the fruit themselves

Now it´s time to do some groceries today, and I´m going to see if they have any kiwi fruit in the supermarket, so I can test the spoons. Thank you very much Jenny for these lovely surprises!

Thrift Shop Finds

2008-04-20T19:28:00.012+03:00

Lovely spring weather has pampered us this weekend and I noticed that the cheery wagtail has arrived here as well. Today we had lunch out in the garden, which was very nice again after the winter. It is as if everything tastes so much better outside than inside the house.
Thanks to Anja from My New Classic Home for organising an interesting challenge. And then, I have finally photos of the thrift store finds to show to you. So here comes....

A skirt. I love turquoise colour and this retro/vintage fabric really caught my eye. There is also some metallic thread in the fabric, giving it a lustre effect. I paid ca. 6 eur for this skirt.

A pillow. Another fabric with retro/vintage pattern. The pillow was in excellent condition and I really fell in love with this combination of blue and orange. To me this fabric looks so delicious I could almost eat it. But I won´t. And the pillow was a bargain, only one euro.

An ornament. I found this ceramic ornament with influences from ancient Greece (9 eur). The height of this piece is app. 25 cm and it has holes in the backside so it is easy to hang on the wall. It is big enough to hold a vase with flowers, for example.

Cups & saucers. I seem to have an endless love affair with old-fashioned, romantic cups and saucers with flowers and golden or silver patterns. These cups didn´t have any saucers left and the saucers missed the right cups. But that´s not a problem. The saucers (which are a model of Swedish Rörstrand) are very good for example under flower pots or for soaps. The cups would make a lovely addition in our garden pavillion (or tea house;theehuisje in Dutch) to make a flower arrangement. I was also wondering if I could cast candles in the cups, but I´m doubtful whether the cups will break when burning the candles. Do you have any experience of candles in cups? Did your cups break or how did you do with them? I would be happy to hear your advice on this. : )

2 beds. Although we bought these old beds (I have only one pictured here) at a local thrift store before Anja´s Thirft Shop Challenge, I would like to show the beds here, because they fit so well in this theme of thrift store finds. The beds were used in a hospital in the beginning of the 20th century and they are all iron and very strong. The paint is not perfect any more, but I think it gives them a nice vintage feel. A very handy detail is that the bed ends are very easy to detach from the middle part, so if you want to have them stored in a smaller place, that is not causing a problem. Another plus point to my opinion is that these beds were also a great bargain, 17 eur a piece.

Last but not least. Well, this is not a thrift store find. It is my dear hubby fulfilling his lumberjack instincts... There are so many trees in our garden that have to be cut down. Here goes one of them. He was so seriously in action with his chain saw that he was an easy target for my camera...

Blue Eyes

2008-04-15T10:55:00.005+03:00

It´s that time of the year again when sweet liverflowers, Hepatica nobilis, are popping out of the ground. They are one of the first wild flowers in Finland that start to blossom after the winter. With their typical blue colour they are like big bright blue eyes looking and smiling friendly at you among the leaves, branches and moss. So beautiful! But as with the lily-of-the-valley, liverflowers are also poisonous, so it is not a good idea to decorate a cake with them.

The thrift shop challenge organised by Anja has resulted in some good finds that I will want to share with you as soon as I get the photos ready. That is the most difficult part in the challenge for me!

In the meanwhile you can take a look at Paperiaarre. Kaija has come with another great challenge, "A Matchbox a Day" . Each day she will make a matchbox with a new theme or decoration. She has also started a Flickr group about this and everyone is welcome to join. I will try to make a matchbox each month and already joined the group, but the matchbox isn´t ready yet. But I know what the first one will be about. It will be a cosy shelter for my "Snake Stone".

Caring About Old

2008-04-07T18:33:00.010+03:00

Via Something White I found Anja ´s blog My New Classic Home. Anja is organising a challenge week from April 9 to April 16, called Next Stop Thrift Shop. The purpose is to explore thrift shops, flea markets and such, and hopefully everyone who participates will make great finds. It´s about recycling and respecting old things and finding a new life for so many items other people don´t need any more. Please check Anja´s blog for more information about this exciting week.

Continuing with the theme of using old things, I was so lucky to get some lovely vintage fabrics from a friend of mine. Eija was sorting out her cupboards and chests and she found some fabrics she could not use herself, but wanted to give them to me. Needless to say, I was thrilled! I guess we crafty people get all excited when we get fabrics, buttons, ribbons etc. from others who don´t need them any more. So, Eija, thanks a lot ! : )

This is a lovely soft cotton flannel fabric.

This is another cotton flannel, so soft too.

And a very stylish damast fabric with special warm colours. On the top there is a picture of a delicious looking fabric with fruit.

Hmmm.... I forgot this fabric, so I´m adding it here now. A festive one with shades of blue and grey.

Not Friday the 13th

2008-04-04T20:20:00.006+03:00

Since my last post about the snow fall it has been a whirlwind of 1001 things, so unfortunately I had to take a pause in blogging! But it is nice to bring now some good news, at least I think they are good - and I am so excited!

Last Friday I got a friendly message from the ever-energetic Jena from Modish. She featured me and my workspace in her column Handmade spaces. You can find the article here and also take a look at her fabulous blog! Thank you so much, Jena! : )

The other surprise last Friday was that one of my Alina handbags was chosen for product of the month in Taitoverkko, by Finnish Crafts Organization, and my bag was published in their magazine as well. In Taitoverkko you can also find lots of other artists and artisans representing various disciplines, like ceramics, woodwork, textile etc.

Yesterday evening I was attending the monthly meeting of our Astronomical Society Ursalo. We had a great evening with a guest lecturer PhD Rami Rekola from Tuorla Observatory (of which I´ve had a picture here,too).
He told us about the history and future of the universe and what all kinds of things there have happened in the cosmos. To me it was a fascinating idea that my wedding ring literally comes from the stars. All elements are the result of the life cycle of the stars. When active, they produce different elements and when they die, by exploding and bursting the stars spread those elements all over the space and to the planets. And then we make wedding rings of the gold that comes from so far... Am I being terribly romantic?
(Picture from Wikipedia article about the Sun)

What a Difference!

2008-03-26T21:40:00.008+02:00

It has been snowing a lot all day long and the landscape looks now like a perfect scenery for Christmas. We (Harri & me) just came in after having a good evening "gym exercise" in the garden. Someone would think we looked like two snowmen. I cannot emphasise how happy we are with our Yard-Man! It is a big snow blower (from Canada!! : ) ) and it really saves us from serious trouble in the family... Harri was driving the snow blower and I was shoveling those parts that could not be done with the Man. Now, comfortably sitting in the living room with a good cup of tea under our noses.

This is how it looked here yesterday, bright sky, sunny and birds singing everywhere.

And this is how it was today. What a difference! I didn´t want to go out too much today.

Happy Easter And Spring Equinox

2008-03-23T15:03:00.007+02:00

It seems that in many countries there has been a snow fall this weekend and cold, too. We have also had some snow here in South-Finland last night, but nevertheless, there is a harbinger of spring in our house. Claudia´s sweet little bird is flying to her nest to keep the eggs warm. With the spring equinox the spring has officially started for me!

Happy Easter and the start of Spring to Everyone!

Easter Week Themes - Pasha Dessert Ready

2008-03-21T11:39:00.005+02:00

Yesterday I promised to show you the ready, drained pasha. You can decorate it for example with fresh or canned fruit, or with chocolate eggs, like I did this time. Originally there were only raisins and almonds in this dessert, as the more exotic ingredients were not available.
Greetings to everyone from sunny Marttila!

Easter Week Themes - Pasha Dessert, How to Make It

2008-03-20T21:35:00.012+02:00

Pasha is a traditional, very rich Finnish Easter dessert that was introduced by people belonging to the Orthodox church. It was customary to eat pasha in Karelia, East-Finland, especially in that part which belongs to Russia today. Pasha is never eaten before Easter Sunday according to the Orthodox people. Today, this dish has spread all over Finland and it is eaten widely, regardless whether one is of Orthodox belief or not.
There are many versions of this dessert, but the essential part is curd cheese (quark), that gives pasha its distinctive flavour. If it is impossible to find curd cheese, you can substitute it for example with ricotta, but the dessert will not have the original flavour then.

Here follows one version, which is used in my family. It is important to use real (unsalted) butter here, as margarine will give a dull taste and spoil the pasha. Another important ingredient is the cream - the one that can be whipped, no light alternatives.

200 grams soft butter
1.5 - 2 dl caster sugar
1-2 tsp real vanilla sugar
juice of half lemon
250 grams curd cheese (quark)
2 dl cream - whipped
0.5 dl chopped almonds
1.5 - 2.5 dl mixture of dried fruit, preferably without sugar, except the glacé cherries
(I like apricots, prunes, raisins, glacé cherries, figs...)

1 or 2 molds with holes to let the pasha drain overnight + a cheese cloth or baking sheet.

Beat the very soft butter, caster sugar and vanilla sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy.
Then add the curd cheese and mix thoroughly.

Add the lemon juice carefully.
Then fold in the whipped cream.

As last, pour in the bowl the dried fruit and almonds and mix everything with a spoon until you have a well blended mixture. (For chopping/cutting the dried fruit I´ve found that kitchen scissors are a great & quick help here.)

Line a mold with a cheesecloth, so that excess liquid can flow out. I use these handy coffee filter "molds" that have holes in the bottom. This time I´m lining it with a piece of baking sheet and then I prick some holes in the paper as well. Important: if you use coffee filters, it must be one that has never been used for filtering coffee. Even one time filtering leaves a coffee taste in the plastic and it will give really an awful taste to the pasha mixture.

After filling the mold with a pasha mixture, put the mold on a plate. On the top you can put a smaller plate and something that functions as a weight and helps with the draining. Let drain overnight. I had two filters for this portion of pasha mixture.

The drained pasha will be shown here tomorrow.

Of course you can make this dessert also some other time, for example if you are entertaining. But here in Finland this is eaten only during the Easter. : )

Easter Week Themes - Finnish Chocolate Eggs

2008-03-19T17:45:00.011+02:00

Christmas, New Year, Easter, Midsummer... no matter what people celebrate around the world, something delicious will be served always. One of the Finnish classics for Easter is a chocolate egg called Mignon. It is made by Fazer, Finland´s number 1 chocolate maker.

The first Mignon eggs were made by Fazer in 1896 and since then it has been in production uncontinuously, except during some second worldwar years. The idea of this egg originates in Germany, where the chocolatier Karl Fazer saw it and started the manufacture in his own factory in Finland. The Mignon eggs were so popular that they were delivered even to the tsar of Russia and his family.

The recipe is almost the same as it was in the 19th century. The production of these delicacies requires lots of handwork. The chocolate mixture consists of fine almond and nut nougat, which is poured into a real egg shell. Each Mignon egg weighs 52 grams and therefore the egg shells are carefully selected and put aside during the year. About 2.5 million egg shells are needed annually. At the first stage of the production, the eggs are emptied by making a hole in the shell. Then the shells are washed and rinsed. At the chocolate factory the empty shell is filled with an appropriate amount of the nougat mixture and the egg is allowed to dry. The hole is closed with a filling made from powder sugar, rice protein and little water.

Forest & Fresh Air

2008-03-14T18:34:00.016+02:00

Today I will continue with the nature theme. Sometimes I jump into my car, take the dogs with me and go to Tuorla, which is in Piikkiö, a municipality about 30 km from my home. In Tuorla, there is a school for agriculture and horticulture, but they also have a hostel, a small shop and a little country style restaurant, where one can have lunch or a cup of coffee or tea. In the shop they sell lots of products from small enterprises and farmers, either local or elsewhere from Finland. You can find there for example special jams, herbal teas or alcohol free drinks made from Finnish berries, plants and fruit. Or some delicious local goat´s cheese and typical Finnish bread.

I had lunch in the restaurant first, and then I took Opri and Peppi for that walk we always make, when we go to Tuorla. This time I had my camera with me, with a great intention to take many, many photos. But Opri was so unbelievably enthousiast about this stroll, that I was not able to do even a half of what I wanted. But here are some examples:

This is one of the observatories belonging to Tuorla Observatory, which is part of the University of Turku and Väisälä Institute for Space Physics and Astronomy (VISPA).

The forest nearby is full of interesting subjects for photographing. Today the light conditions were very good. The weather was cloudy but dry, yet bright enough for shooting photos. One can see many kinds of lichens growing in the trees there. And what is particularly delightful to see is that the special hanging lichen, below, (naava in Finnish) thrives there, too.

This kind of hanging lichen (usnea or alectoria) is very sensitive to pollution and will disappear if the air is not clean enough. Not too long ago this kind of lichen was not found in South-Finland, but the good sign really is that it has come back. And it looks so cute. It is as if a gnome had forgotten his beard hanging on a branch...

Then I noticed this lichen that looks totally different from the previous ones:

And there were many colourful "still life compositions" of mosses and leaves:

A little closer look:

This small part of a fallen branch is yet full of life:

This was also funny to see: in the fruitgarden of the school there were some apple trees with apples still hanging from the trees. Hmmm.... I wouldn´t recommend these for an apple pie or compote any longer, but the little mummies look all right on the picture.

This was our day out today, I hope to post some other photos also next time we go somewhere. Have a relaxing weekend!

A Spring Day

2008-03-11T20:09:00.005+02:00

Today we had a really fantastic spring day here in Marttila. The sun was shining, it was warm and I could really smell the scent of spring! I was trying to take a picture of this great tit that was fussing about something in one of the trees. But of course, when I had my camera ready, there was a breeze that moved the branches and twigs, and the birdie decided it was time to move on. I was sure the photo would be a disaster. But actually, I think the effect of the movement in the photo is perhaps not so bad after all, and it looks quite cheery. Happy March to everyone!

Four Secrets

2008-03-07T17:31:00.006+02:00

Chantal from Abacaxi & Hortela has tagged me with 4 secrets -series. But it is more than four secrets... ; )
Please open the door and come in.

4 jobs I´ve had:

- teaching history of art (as a "by-product" I learnt many new things myself as well)
- teaching (silk screen) printing on fabric (fabric printing is such fun)
- working in a greenhouse for cucumber cultivation (hot hot hot and good for condition)
- working as a group leader for tourists in Finland & abroad (much harder work than one would think)

4 movies I like:

- Heaven Can Wait with Warren Beatty & Julie Christie (I get stomach pain from laughing)
- Much Ado About Nothing with Emma Thompson & Kenneth Branagh etc. (another film of pure enjoyment)
- Gallipoli with Mel Gibson (a touching film about madness of the First World War)
- Poika ja ilves / Tommy and the Wildcat (an adventure film about a young boy and a lynx in Finnish nature)

4 places I´ve been:

- Bergamo (a beautiful town in Italy near Milan)
- Torquay (on a language summer course ages ago, South-West of England)
- Oostende (a coastal town in Belgium, fantastic art exhibitions)
- Vienna (an enjoyable long weekend with my husband in this elegant city, and we liked this Anchor Clock)

4 places I´ve lived:

- Amsterdam (the ever-sparkling city of the Low Lands)
- Alkmaar (the so called cheese town in North-Holland)
- Halikko (the place where I was born)
- Turku (European capital of culture 2011)

4 TV programmes I watch:

- news and actuals (almost addicted to them)
- Wallander (a Swedish detective series of author Henning Mankell currently on TV)
- New Tricks (a British series of a team of detectives investigating unsolved crimes currently on TV)
- Midsomer Murders (another British detective series on prime time Saturday evenings)

4 radio programmes:

- only Radio Finland in the car

4 preferred food items:

- fresh ginger (it also has one of the best scents in the world in my opinion)
- chocolate (yes, I am a chocolate addict, too)
- fresh fruit, berries and mushrooms (straight from our garden or forest nearby)
- cream (the great taste maker, whipped or not)

4 placed I´d rather be:

- art museums (all those fantastic museums I haven´t visited yet, like Moma, Prado etc. etc.)
- trip with a hot air balloon (could be anywhere in the world)
- lazy summer day (in our small garden pavillion with a good book and a delicious meal)
- ancient monuments or nature sights (pyramids, Pompeii etc.etc.)

And the next revealers...?

Liz from This Finngarian Mama
Jess from Lobster & Swan
Claudia from Auxpetitsoiseaux

A Long-Haul Flight

2008-03-05T19:17:00.007+02:00

Last Monday was a good Monday. A very sweet migratory bird found it´s way from Canada to Finland. How lucky I am! Claudia from Auxpetitsoiseaux participated the Holiday Ornament Swap 2007 and so did I. But we were in different groups, and therefore decided now to do our own "mini swap".

This cute felt bird is cleverly done, because when it´s hanging, the wings spread out as if it were flying. I am going to use the bird for Easter decoration in our house and I will take some pics so you´ll see what became of my "Easter nest" with Claudia´s lovely bird. And, doesn´t the tag look just marvellous as well!

Thank you very much Claudia! : )

Day of Kalevala - Day of Finnish Culture

2008-02-28T15:05:00.013+02:00

Today, 28 of February is the day of Finnish culture. It is celebrated every year and it is also an official flagging day (we seem to have quite many of them in this country). At schools pupils may be doing some special things that are about Finnish culture, and many societies, for example, organise concerts, lectures etc.I must confess right away that we forgot to pull up the flag this morning, but maybe this post will compensate a little to that.

Day of Kalevala has its origins in the Finnish national epic Kalevala, that was compiled by Elias Lönnrot in 1835. It is a collection of poems Lönnrot collected in Karelia, East-Finland during his travels among peasants and common people. The published book had a huge impact on the patriotic feelings of Finns, then being a part of Russia. Many artists were struck by the poems and went to Karelia to search for inspiration and the "unspoilt mood".

One of the painters, who was strongly affected by Kalevala, was Akseli Gallen-Kallela.He took a very ambitious task and illustrated our national epic. Many of his paintings can be seen for example in the National Museum or Ateneum in Helsinki.Here is one example of his paintings for Kalevala. It is called "The defence of Sampo" (Picture is from the wikipedia site above telling about Akseli Gallen-Kallela)

Other pictures I like to show to you today are my photos of a cookie / candy tin I bought from a thrift store a few months ago. I was looking for old buttons and this tin was full of them. Suddenly I realised there was a picture of dancers in Finnish national costumes on the lid. As I work with the national costume fabrics and find them very fascinating, I thought it would be great to have that tin, too, and I asked if it was for sale. For sure it was, said
the girl, and so I came happily home with lots of buttons AND a cute national costume tin.

Left is a picture of the dancers on the cover. It is probably about midsummer celebration and people are dancing in the traditional costumes. On the side there is a serene panorama of a landscape from North-Finland, depicting a late evening or night, when it does not get dark at all. This tin just oozes Finnish summer sentimentality from the times already gone. At the same time it is also very naive, even humorous. I guess I found the combination very appealing.

The costumes on the tin are real, existing national costumes. For example the girl on the left with a black waistcoat, green apron and reddish skirt is wearing a costume from South-Ostrobothnia (West-Finland). The girl with a blueish striped dress and a white apron is wearing a costume from Munsala, a Swedish speaking area in West-Finland.

On the side of the tin you can see a landscape with diverse wooden buildings. In this red house peasants were living. The fence is a typical, much used type all over the country, and still nowadays very suitable for many purposes.

You may wonder what that curious little house on a column means. It is a typical storage room used in northern Finland.
It was built on a tree trunk in order to prevent bears, wolves, lynxes and smaller animals to plunder food. When peasants went to fetch supplies there, they used a ladder to climb up. In Seurasaari open air museum in Helsinki there is an example of this kind of storage building.

Even the church and the bell tower are situated next to a lake. It is commonly said that an everlasting Finnish dream is to live middle in a town, next to a
lake and in a free standing house...

Bright Eyes, Sharp Brains

2008-02-26T15:33:00.005+02:00

I´d like to introduce my new friend to you. He has such penetrating eyes, so he must be very intelligent. At least I assume so. But he is also very friendly. And he does not have a name yet...
Here he is:

I found this plaster owl in a local thrift store and fell immediately in love. The owl is app. 18 cm high. One can also regularly find plaster dogs in thrift stores here, but their prices have sprung up quite a lot for some reason. Perhaps there are many people collecting them? For this little fellow I did not have to pay much, which of course made him even more attractive to me.

It was particularly nice to find this owl, because late one night last summer, just before I went to sleep, I was going to close the bedroom window. Then I heard a soft "oehoo-oehoo" voice coming from one of the trees just few meters away. There was an owl visiting our garden. I could also hear the owl several nights after the first time, so he probably liked it there for more than one night only. Maybe he had a good catch of mice or shrews?

Wallpapers uncovered 1

2008-02-22T19:08:00.001+02:00

Wallpapers uncovered 1, originally uploaded by opri.

I am continuing a bit with the wallpaper theme. Here are some examples of old wallpapers we found in our house, when tearing off chipboard from the walls of some rooms. I think they might be from the 30´s to 50´s, but not quite sure. We have only some example pieces of these papers left, as they did not keep intact.

Wallpapers uncovered 3

2008-02-22T19:02:00.001+02:00

Wallpapers uncovered 3, originally uploaded by opri.

We found this old / vintage wallpaper, when tearing off chipboard in one of the rooms. It has quite a big pattern that does not fit in one photo.

Wallpapers uncovered 6

2008-02-22T19:01:00.001+02:00

Wallpapers uncovered 6, originally uploaded by opri.

We found this old / vintage wallpaper, when tearing off chipboard in one of the rooms. (same wallpaper as nr. 5, there are two kinds of flowers). This wallpaper was later covered by nr. 2, as you can see on the left of this picture.

Introduction By Himmu

2008-02-22T16:47:00.005+02:00

Some days ago I was contacted by Himmu, who has recently started her blog Huoneen nurkka (meaning: a corner in a room). She writes about handicrafts, handmade things, her own projects, and she also introduces persons, who are crafters, artisans, artists etc. I was very happy, when she told she had featured my work in her blog. Thank you very much Himmu!

I also liked very much the flower she had made from reflective thread and attached to the hat she had knitted. These new reflective materials are such a clever invention, so versatile. One can be safely elegant in the dark. (Here in Finland it is important to wear some reflective material, if walking alonside the road in the dark, because there are no street lights or special pedestrian paths on the countryside. Therefore it is safe that the car lights hit the reflectors in time and the automobilists can detect people walking there.)

Himmu´s blog is in Finnish, so those of you, who can read Finnish, please find it here. And otherwise you can also look at the pictures! : )

Belle & Boo From Etsy

2008-02-20T16:05:00.006+02:00

Last week I was in full excitement when I saw a parcel in my mailbox. There was my order from Mandy of belle & boo.
Mandy is illustrator, who makes truly ravishing pictures inspired by children and her favourite childhood books. I really love the way how she draws animals and children together in a warm and tender relationship. I was absolutely sold, when she introduced her limited edition (signed & numbered) gocco print Belle and Boos Lovely Day in her blog. I also got hold on a set of her adorable Boo tags. Mandy also included a lovely card in the package as extra. And can you imagine, the parcel arrived in two days from London to Finland. That is more than superfast, I´d say!! For me it remains now the task of finding a nice, suitable frame and enjoying the beautiful print.

Mind Gym

2008-02-19T18:05:00.005+02:00

This is something I just have to show to you!
On Sunday I was searching for some cards in my storage boxes, when I stumbled upon this old game I received from Santa Claus when I was a child. Luckily I have some of those old games left and they are still very usable, not missing all the essential parts.

This was one of my favourites. It is very simple and very tricky, just as a good game should be.
It is called Fantastic Dominos (Fantastiset dominot) and it is an altered version of the old domino game.

Here you have one board that can be used on both sides (so you have 2 games in 1), and they have different patterns consisting of sort of spikes. Then there is a set of these black domino sticks, each of them has punched holes coordinating with the board patterns. The player should find the right solution by setting all the sticks on the board in the right position. All sticks must be used, of course. This can be played very well on one´s own.

I am not quite sure whether this Fantastic Dominos is Finnish or was it sold in other countries as well. If you know anything about it I´d love to hear! And of course it would be great to hear about those games you had and played with as a child. If you have any photos, please feel free to email me, maybe we can make a set for others to view.

By the way, I will not put this domino game back where it was. I am going to keep it on the table in our living room for more regular brain training!

A February Morning

2008-02-15T20:31:00.007+02:00

With these pictures I wish everyone a happy weekend!

Juniper berries riping in abundance, 9:00 o´clock in the morning.

Grass surrounded by hard, icy snow, 9:00 o´clock in the morning.

Frosty "landscapes" in a window, 9:00 o´clock in the morning.

Friendship And Shelter

2008-02-14T10:08:00.006+02:00

Happy Valentine´s Day to everyone! Or perhaps I can say Happy Day of Friendship to you all, as that is actually how we call Valentine´s Day in Finland.

After several very foggy days the sun has come through and is shining very brightly, so I had a chance to take some pics in our garden.

There are these two old aspens that stand side by side on one spot. They both have been broken by strong winds and therefore don´t grow any longer, but are rather in process of decay. When you look carefully, you can see some holes in the trunk, especially in the one on the left.

Not being able to reach the skies any more, "that old couple" still kindly offers shelter and home for birds and other small creatures in all those small cavities and holes they have. It´s nice to watch that and we are not intending to get those trunks away, but just letting them go through their natural process.

Wallpapers

2008-02-12T17:37:00.000+02:00

Today it´s all about wallpapers. Once in a while I browse the web site of Finnish Tapettitalo (House of Wallpaper). They have a vast collection of special wallpapers that are not to be found elsewhere. When renovating an old house, especially when it has a wood/log structure like ours, it is important to use old techniques and traditional materials as much as possible. The good thing is that Tapettitalo sells wallpaper that is manufactured according to old methods, so their products will be suitable for our house. Besides that, I think Tapettitalo´s collection is so versatile and beautiful that it is difficult to make decisions. (All pictures here are by Tapettitalo/Pihlgren&Ritola)

This wallpaper comes from the collection "Traditional" and is called Vadelma (Raspberry). If not sure for the rest of our rooms, we have in any case decided to buy this wallpaper for our "bakery" (we call the room that way, because there is a big old baking oven there that is heated with wood). I am so fond of this yummy Raspberry wallpaper!

This is another favourite of mine, called Hyasintti (Hyacinth), also from the "Traditional" collection. This wallpaper is available in five colours schemes.

One more example from the "Traditional" collection is this Karjalan kirjonta (Karelian embroidery)
It is inspired by an embroidery technique much used by women in Karelia in the old days. I think it is a clever way to transfer textile tradition onto a wall in form of wallpaper.

Tapettitalo sells also wallpapers by famous Finnish designers like Birger Kaipiainen, Rut Bryk, Erik Bruun,
Tapio Wirkkala, Lisa Johansson-Pape etc. The following examples can be found in the "Designers Collection". The first one is a very intense wallpaper by Ritva Kronlund, it is called Avaruuslintu (Space Bird), here in blue version, but also available in yellow.

Rut Bryk has designed this delicate butterfly wallpaper called Apollo (available in three colours).

Annikki and Ilmari Tapiovaara designed this geometric 2+3 wallpaper in 1958.

From Erik Bruun is this wallpaper called Linnaeus

And last but not least, there are these supercute wallpapers Leikki and Metsola for children! Absolutely adorable, if you ask my opinion.

Tapettitalo happily ships their wallpaper also to other countries, so the collection is not only limited to Finnish customers. If you are in need of new wallpaper, you can ask for samples from Tapettitalo.
Happy browsing!

Book Sale Acquisitions

2008-02-08T22:12:00.000+02:00

In January book shops start with sales in Finland. Some days ago I came home with these books:

First there is Lucinda Ganderton´s Creating Vintage Style - stylish ideas & step-by-step projects. This book is just chock-full of delicious pictures and ideas to carry out at home. I´m so glad I found this!

I don´t know what it is with Swedish cookery book authors, but they simply write very appetising books. My favourite Swedish author is Anna Bergenström. In her books everything is perfect! The recipes are delicious, the photos are beautiful (most of them taken by her daughter Fanny Bergenström) and she writes in such a warm way about food and cooking, that it makes one feel very content. Unfortunately I´m not sure if her books are translated in English as well.

And as if that was not enough of cooking and baking, I finally got also this book in my hands: tee hyvä kakku (making a delicious cake) from Finnish Sirpa Talka. This book has been praised in various magazines, and indeed there are many interesting recipes to be tried out. I will show you some results later, when I have made something.

Thank You For Making Your Day

2008-02-06T14:09:00.000+02:00

Dear Marjolijn from Something White sent me an unexpected, but a very pleasant message. She wanted to pass the "You make my day" award to me. I am so happy about it, thank you bunches! Please visit her enchanting blog and discover so many beautiful things.

Because I am quite new here in the blogland, I cannot pass on the award to ten people yet. But I will start with four persons and their blogs:

Jess for her blogs Lobster and Swan + Record the Day
She has a very touching way of writing about things, and I admire her diary of daily collages.

Jenny for her blog Daisy Chain
I like to read about her colourful life - and special collections - in Down Under.

Kaija for her blog Paperiaarre
It is interesting to read how she writes about creating and making things. And her books are beautiful.

Bradford for his blog The Bedlam of Beefy
He introduces amazing finds, design items and gift ideas. Things I have never even dreamt of.

Runeberg Cake vs Shrovetide Bun

2008-02-05T18:55:00.001+02:00

On the left a typical cake named after Finnish national poet,
Johan Ludwig Runeberg. On the right a Shrovetide bun filled
with whipped cream and marzipan.

Battle of Pastries

2008-02-05T17:04:00.000+02:00

5 February is a special day in Finland. We then celebrate the birth of our national poet Johan Ludwig Runeberg, who lived in the 19th century. The celebration mainly consists of flagging in honour of Runeberg, and eating cakes that are named after him. Quite a nice way of celebrating someone, I think, especially because I like those cakes very much. (Please find the history of the Runeberg cake here and also take a look at the great design pieces of Tonfisk.)

This year, however, there is a problem. Sometimes it happens that Shrove Tuesday falls on the same date as Runeberg´s day, like today. For Shrove Tuesday we Finns also have a delicacy called shrovetide bun. It is a kind of sweetbread, risen with yeast, and filled with whipped cream and marzipan or jam. By the way, there are strong opinions divided between those, who insist their bun with jam, and those who consider marzipan as the only real filling in the Shrove bun. Finns tend to have an aversion to marzipan, I truly cannot understand that, as I am a fervent lover of that stuff. How about you, what is your relationship to marzipan? : )

But what´s the problem then with this all? I read in a couple of newspapers that many bakeries don´t sell Runeberg cakes and Shrovetide buns as much this year than they do normally, when the dates are different. This year most people either buy cakes or buns. The bakeries were guessing, which pastries would be more popular and would win the battle. Anyway, they cannot complain of my shopping behaviour, as I bought them both today!

And for those of you, who might be interested in trying to make a homemade version of the Runeberg cake, here comes a recipe. I can´t remember any more, which magazine published the recipe, but I´ve had it for ages and it is quite easy to follow. You can use the normal cupcake forms, either paper or metal and you´ll get app. 20 cakes, depending of course, how big forms/moulds you use. Good luck with baking!

200 g soft (not melted) butter
200 g caster sugar (ca. 2.5 dl)
2 eggs
2 dl fine breadcrumbs
2 dl finely ground almonds
2 dl wheat flour
1 tea spoon baking powder
(2 drops of bitter almond oil, not necessary)
raspberry jam (I prefer the homemade jam, if available.)
2 dl icing sugar
water

Preheat the oven to 200 Celsius.
Beat soft butter and sugar until you get a light and fluffy mixture. Add the eggs one by one. Mix the breadcrumbs, ground almonds, flour and baking powder in another bowl and then add gradually to the butter-egg mixture. (If you use bitter almond oil, you can add it now.)
Next form the dough into a ball and turn it out onto a lightly floured working surface. Roll the dough lightly into a long "tail form" and cut it app. into 20 pieces (or less, depending how big you want the cakes). Put the pieces into the cupcake forms. With your finger, make a cavity in the middle of each piece and then fill it with raspberry jam. Bake the cakes in 200 degrees Celsius for about 15 min. (this maybe more or less, depending on your oven) Take the cakes out the oven, and if needed, you can add some more jam in the middle. Make the icing by adding some drops of hot water to the icing sugar, mix carefully, and squeeze a circle of icing round the jam.

I hope you´ll enjoy the cakes!

Tagged - 7 Random Facts

2008-02-01T20:50:00.000+02:00

Already February, I hope you all have a good start to the new month!

Jess over from Lobster and Swan tagged me (already some days ago), and here I come with my revelations...

1) I know this may sound overreacted or exaggerated, but I am terribly afraid of being abducted by aliens. On the other hand, I would love to go to some strange planets to see aliens...

2) I am a total loser in mathematics, this is not exagerrated. Then, some ten years ago, I got interested in astronomy, but I can´t remember any longer, how it exactly began. Anyway, at a certain point I realised one
could have astronomy as a hobby without having to be a genius in maths and physics. That was very comforting.

3) When I was a child, we searched and collected beautiful, extraordinary and colourful stones in the nature with my
friends. We were quite sure our collection would be interesting enough to begin with our own "stone museum".
The museum never came into existence, but I still have some of those stones left that I found in the nature and
they are very precious to me.

4) Nowadays I very seldom go to the cinema. The reason for that is the extremely high level of volume being used
there. It really hurts my ears and I don´t find it a pleasurable evening out, if I have to put earplugs in my ears in
order to survive the cinema visit.

5) My skin colour is very, very light and I don´t get tanned, actually. Mostly I just burn my skin, if trying to get a
fashionable brown-bronze tint. As a teenager this was a complete disaster for me, I had a feeling that everyone
else was more beautiful and I just looked like a strange creature. Now, many years older and wiser (....laugh....) I´ve come to accept how I am, and I don´t even try to sunbathe any more, because I know it will not lead to

desired results.

6) My top favourite sci-fi series is undeniably Babylon 5! The most touching character in the series to my opinion is
Londo Mollari, a Centauri citizen and a truly controversial personality. In the last episodes his destiny was so
tragic, that tears were flowing freely, when I watched what happened to him.

7) Some years ago I had a considerable amount of shoes. There were times that I could not fall asleep, but was
feeling far too brisk. So, what to do? Then I realised that instead of "counting the sheep" in order to get to
sleep, I could try to count my shoes. And guess what, that worked! I did not even finish counting and I was
already in the dreamland. Nowadays I don´t have so many shoes, so I have switched to crossword puzzles.

Going to Space

2008-01-31T22:49:00.000+02:00

Yesterday was a very exciting day. The Astronomical Society of Ursalo, which I am a member of, is regularly invited to schools here in the area to tell pupils and students about astronomy, space and space research. Yesterday it was my turn, with our chairman Erkki Suutari, to go to Tupuri primary school to be a "guest teacher".
The main topic for the day was our solar system. We had many enthousiast classes during the day and the pupils had so many questions to ask!! : )
I was very kindly allowed to take some photos in order to show them here to you, all my blog readers.
So, here follows a selection of the pics, and for more photos, please visit my Flickr account.

Solar system 9

2008-01-31T22:39:00.001+02:00

Solar system 9, originally uploaded by opri.

Space rockets 5

2008-01-31T22:37:00.001+02:00

Space rockets 5, originally uploaded by opri.

Ursalo at Tupuri school 1

2008-01-31T22:35:00.001+02:00

Ursalo at Tupuri school 1, originally uploaded by opri.

Ursalo at Tupuri school 4

2008-01-31T22:34:00.001+02:00

Ursalo at Tupuri school 4, originally uploaded by opri.

A bit of everything

2008-01-25T20:51:00.001+02:00

A plant still life 1.

View to the river Paimio

2008-01-25T20:36:00.001+02:00

View to the river Paimio from our garden 2.

January sky

2008-01-25T20:35:00.003+02:00

Lovely bright blue sky today 3.

Frozen

2008-01-25T20:35:00.001+02:00

Frozen pine cones on the ground 4.

Millefolium in winter

2008-01-25T20:07:00.001+02:00

Sights in our garden today 5.

Garden of Delights

2008-01-23T19:00:00.000+02:00

Days are getting already considerably longer here. Even in Lapland it is not 24 hours dark any more. This leads inevitably to thoughts of summer. And gardens.

There is a very special garden in the South-East of Finland, in the municipality of Parikkala. It is the garden of Mr. Veijo Rönkkönen. He is a self-educated artist, and just a few weeks ago he was awarded Finland prize worth more than 30 000 EUR for his life long work. I´m very happy his work and creations have been recognised in this manner, because he makes truly amazing sculpture.

Scuplture by Veijo Rönkkönen.
Photo by my friend Edwin Vink.

Parikkala is a small municipality of app. 6000 inhabitants (well, here in Marttila there are only about 2000...) and it lies near the Russian border. In fact, from the garden of Veijo Rönkkönen it seems to be less than one kilometer to the Russian border. If you come to Finland in summer and are heading for East-Finland and Karelia, please make sure to reserve some time to visit this garden. It is a wonderful place to see, even if you are not such an art devotee, because the approach is far from the often so clean lines of contemporary art exhibitions. There is no entrance fee to visit the garden.

You will also see Veijo Rönkkönen´s house there, because this place is his home, but you are not very likely to meet him, he likes to be on his own. But he is happy to keep his garden open for the enjoyment of other people. The garden itself is also very beautiful, with many sorts of plants, so if you are a hobby gardener yourself, you´ll sure like this. Finnish highway nr. 6 passes this place, and the municipality has even built a parking place next to it, so it is all quite easy to find.

Sculptures by Veijo Rönkkönen.
Photo by my friend Edwin Vink.

Scupltures by Veijo Rönkkönen.
Photo by my friend Edwin Vink.

His first scupltures Veijo Rönkkönen made already in the beginning of the 60´s, and at the moment there are hundreds of scupltures in the garden. Veijo Rönkkönen uses concrete as the main material for the figures. The seasons and years let their marks in the sculptures, so on some of them you can see moss, for example, like in the first picture of the girl reading. Veijo Rönkkönen went to work in the paper mill nearby when he was 16, but now he is retired. Besides gardening, he likes to yoga on a very regular basis. Therefore you will see an enormous group of figures in all kinds of asana´s, yoga positions, in the garden. It is a very peculiar sight.

Sculptures by Veijo Rönkkönen.
Photo by my friend Edwin Vink.

It is already several years ago I last visited Veijo Rönkkönen´s garden, but I´m really looking forward to be able to go there again and see what new figures he has made. If you wish to see more pictures of these amazing art works, you can find them here. Mr. Seppo Hiltunen has made a fine collection to view online.

Digging For Dutch Gold And Silver

2008-01-11T19:45:00.000+02:00

The Netherlands has so many talented jewellery designers. When I lived in the city of Alkmaar (some 40 km to the north-west from Amsterdam, quite near the coast), I used to take inspiring walks in the centre of the town and check regularly those small special shops, what they had to offer. And they sure did have a lot. The only problem was that being a student with a very limited budget, I couldn´t afford to buy all that gorgeous stuff I was admiring so much.

I find it very typical for all Dutch towns, that there is a big variety of small shops selling almost anything between heaven and earth you can think of. Like a shop in the centre of Amsterdam, for example, that sells only toothbrushes in all colours and forms. Well, and perhaps toothpaste, too...
Alkmaar is a town of about 100 000 inhabitants and best known as the "cheese town" of Holland. During the tourist season loads of people come to visit the so called cheese market, where they can see a kind of play, how cheese was traded in the old days. I must say quite honestly, that there is not so much to see in that play, it is far more interesting to take a walk and look around the town.

Near the cheese market there are lovely narrow streets and tiny shops. It was in one of these streets, the Hekelstraat, I once discovered a fascinating jewellery shop called Sieraadmaakzaak of designers Linda Hoogenboom and Harry Brookhuis. (Sieraadmaakzaak meaning like: jewellery making shop / business)
Their jewelleries and objects are mainly made of silver and gold, but they use some other metals, too. The style is very modern and geometric, and recalls, to my opinion, also Cubism or some paintings of Wassily Kandinsky. When I graduated, I was so very happy when I received a Sieraadmaakzaak ring as a gift from my ex-in-laws. We went together to the shop and I could choose a ring I liked most. Can you imagine how happy I was!

Now I have discovered that the Sieraadmaakzaak has moved, they do not have the shop in the centre of Alkmaar any longer, but they have a web site instead, so we can all admire Linda´s and Harry´s work and even purchase it easily.

Below rings from Linda Hoogenboom. Left: made of silver, right: made of gold.

Bracelets made of silver by Linda Hoogenboom.

Left: Salt and pepper sprinkler made of silver by Harry Brookhuis. Right: Silver brooch made by Linda Hoogenboom

The web site is only in Dutch, but you can contact Linda and Harry hier for any enquiries, they are very friendly. If you see the word "verkocht" next to a product, that means the piece has been sold. They will not make a similar piece again, so you can always be sure you have a very unique design for yourself. Nowadays they live in a farmhouse, about 15 km from Alkmaar, so they have not moved very far from the old city centre.

And, by the way, if you get hungry after visiting all the shops in Alkmaar, there is also a very good Indonesian restaurant near the Cheese market, where you can enjoy the famous Indonesian rice table. It´s called Deli Indonesisch Restaurant and you´ll find it on the Mient 8.

And Then There Is Snow...

2008-01-09T18:45:00.000+02:00

We did not have a white Christmas here in the South-West, which obviously for many children was quite a disappointment. Well, at least for me, when I was a child. But now we´ve had our share of that white stuff and the landscape looks very winter-wonderland.
We can clearly see all those traces and foot prints (or should I say paw prints?) that hares leave in our garden. And I can also see very clearly that they love to munch those plants I did not remember to cover in the autumn, like the poor, poor, little jasmine bush, for example.

Our dogs just love to play in the snow. That´s quite fine, no problem with that. I just do NOT like what comes next. Look at those paws, completely covered with hard, tiny snowballs that stick to their fur like the best imaginable glue in the world. The only way to get rid of these mini-snowballs in a reasonable time, is to put the doggies under the shower. And what do you think, do they like THAT part...

19th Century School Books

2008-01-05T19:19:00.000+02:00

Happy New Year 2008 to everyone!

This is my first post and I´m quite excited about starting this blog. I´ve come across so many lovely and inspiring blogs, so I encouraged myself and thought it was time for me to give it a try as well.

Few years ago my husband and I bought this old school building where we are now living. The older part dates from the end of the 19th century and the newer part from the beginning of the 20th. The municipality of Marttila wanted to sell this building, because it was a bit outdated and small for modern purposes and they had built a new school in the village. Well, we became the lucky owners and a life long renovating-gardening-painting-hammering process began...

In Finland it is quite usual nowadays that many municipalities close the doors of small village schools in order to cut down on costs, and the pupils will have to go to a bigger school further away. For many people this is a big disappointment, as they love the small schools and the relaxed and safe atmosphere there. Quite often one can read heated discussions in the newspapers concerning these closings. Some of course very against the plans and someone supporting them.

It would be very interesting to hear how the situation is in other countries. Is there a similar tendency as in Finland, that small schools are closed and what happens to the buildings then? Are they torn down or used for other purposes?

When we moved in here, we started of course exploring the whole place. It was such fun to find a very messy small storage room in the side building. We found so many cute things there! They had been made by teachers and pupils and used years and years ago for the school plays. There were costumes for little gingerbread boys & girls, a princess crown, knight´s harnesses of cardboard, a mushroom costume made of paper... It is just amazing how much time and effort people used to put in order to create a cosy and enjoyable school feast.

But what struck me perhaps most was a pile of old books. Looking inside and seeing that they were old school books from 1879, to be used for biology lessons. On yellowish paper, there were drawings of human parts and exotic animals... of plants and fossils. And the text! Partly so old-fashioned and certainly not from today´s world, I was laughing out loud.

Here above you can see the title on the first page, in old Finnish, literally translated like: "Atlas of the Realm of the Nature". And the next thing you´ll see is the human skeleton and other parts of the human body:

But there are also pictures of many domestic animals and, as I already mentioned, of exotic animals. You can see all sorts of plant life and cell & protein structures, details to be learnt carefully.
Many plant and animal names used in the books are still correct today, but some of them have undergone changes, and are not quite valid any longer. It is funny to see how the language changes in the course of time.

When I saw those pictures, I knew right away I would want to do something with them later, just didn´t know what. But now you can see some of them in the header of this blog and I´ve also used a selection of them in my web shop to add some illustrations and "cosiness" there.

Compared to modern school books there is a difference in the lack of further informative text. But maybe these books functioned as a sort of atlas only, that being the main purpose really. And for more information there was perhaps another book or/and the pupils listened to the teacher and made notes. In any case, I did not have this kind of "nature atlas" at school, we just had the usual one, with maps of all over the world.

I wonder what people will think of our language of today over 130 years?

Mammouth + Real saffron

Long-eared night bat
Crocodile of the Nile (see the funny eyes...)
Picture of the scary shark above the text: named something like "human shark",
referring perhaps to the fact that it might devour even humans...

Dear visitor,

2007-12-30T17:52:00.000+02:00

This blog is under construction, but I´ll hope to start posting very soon.

Thanks & hoping to see you here later!
Mirka