An Arctic Rainbow of Colour...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2012

2011-12-30T20:53:00.002+02:00

I was recently asked by the host of the
V & M blog, to share any photographs that I have of my Christmas. Then I considered that it might be nice to add them here, also...on my old blog, which for so long has laid dormant. So here they are... just some images to share... that might bring you pleasure.

I live in Lapland, Finland, although I am British. My decorations are therefore a mix of both cultures, where wooden elves and straw decorations are more in keeping with the season and less is more.

The English side of me however, has twinkling tree lights on my indoor tree...something not on sale locally...and I purchase from the UK instead. :D

Outside we have snow of course and our outdoor Christmas tree with static green lights. Very calm.

With candle decor, created by a cone of snowballs with a candle in the middle.

A large wooden elf by our doorway

....and a metal cut out lantern hanging from the Pine tree.

A peeking elf by the front door.

Plus a wreath on the door.

We can get so much snow that the council tractor comes most days to clear it away. Today for instance we woke to a good foot of snow. These photo's of the tractor were taken on the 21st.

Indoors we have a traditional electrical candle set. This photo was taken from the outside and the reflections on the window made it look like a St.Lucia girl (a Dec 13th tradition in Finland and Sweden celebrating the return of light). She looks just like she is wearing the crown of light! You can also see an eery image of her smiling face! :D I love it! How magical!

Here it is from indoors...

These are in my kitchen. Traditional card cutouts of Tonttu's (Elves), log Tonttu's and straw Olkipukki goats. The Goats stem from distant tales of the God Thor riding across the Yule skies, his magical chariot being pulled by Goats called Tanngrisni "gap-tooth" and Tanngnost "tooth grinder". Over the centuries, it would seem that Thor became Santa... and Goats became Reindeer! However, Goats still feature strongly in Finnish and Swedish Christmas', by way of decorations and also on cards. Sometimes Santa is still seen with a Goat here!

Our Christmas table.

I have a number of decorations around the room...

A straw mobile, again with straw goats.

An old English Avon Nativity set.

An old singing Avon Snowman, again bought in England.

A reindeer fur covered Finnish Santa. Is this how he used to look, before he changed to wearing red and white?

Our Christmas tree indoors is a fake one, whereas the one outside is real. My eldest son wanted to decorate the tree this year and he loves red. I think he did a fine job!

Here are just some of the decorations on it....

A wooden elf figure.

I was given this heart as a present many years back by a Norwegian friend, one whom I have long lost contact with, (pre Facebook!) and every year, I place it at the core of the tree. :D

This year, I wrote each of our names on a bauble and the year with a gold felt pen. When Christmas is over we will all sign each others, as a reminder that we were all together for this Christmas and keep the bauble. Our sons now live away, as they are in education, so who knows what next year will bring, when they are already 19 and 21 years old? I hope we will be celebrating together again next Christmas though! :D

May I wish you all Season's Greetings.... Merry Christmas (Hyvää Joulua) and a Happy New Year (Onnellista Uutta Vuotta) from Sodankylä, Lapland in Finland.

Copyright InformationAll content, unless otherwise noted, is © ArcticRainbow and may not be reproduced in any form without express permission from the author, except for credited links directly to articles or to the main site. (I don't bite...just ask!) :D

This blog is no longer being updated

2011-01-28T17:58:00.001+02:00

For the time being this blog is not being updated. Thank you for your interest in reading back dated blogs.

Copyright InformationAll content, unless otherwise noted, is © ArcticRainbow and may not be reproduced in any form without express permission from the author, except for credited links directly to articles or to the main site. (I don't bite...just ask!) :D

The Sauna - The Great Finnish Tradition!

2010-12-08T18:23:00.008+02:00

The Sauna... one of the things Finns love most in life.

Pronounced Sorna in English, it is pronounced Sow-oo-na in Finnish (that is sow as in female pig btw!).

In Finland, the sauna is part of daily life.. literally from cradle to the grave. In days gone by, new life would be born there.. and often folk were taken there to die in older age.

It's a place of relaxation and peace. A place to chat and have a drink and socialise - whether with family or friends.

The savusauna or smoke sauna, plus the woodstove sauna is still popular, but most often families these days have an electric sauna. Most homes have a sauna as standard, even if it is a little small.. it will seat at least four people at a time. It is more unusual to be without one!

The sauna is a cultural heritage at its best. Documented for several hundreds of years at least..the sauna was in use at least once a week by Finns, when in much of Europe bathing was something to be done rarely or preferably not at all! These days the traditional sauna day is Saturday and families will sauna together.

If you would like to read more about sauna, there is also a Finnish Sauna Society! http://www.sauna.fi/inenglish.html

If you are unable to enjoy a sauna at this time.. then maybe this will ease your pain for short while! This is a fun iPhone app available very inexpensively (just 0.79€!) and developed by ATK-tehdas Oy, a privately owned company in Lapland, focusing on creating software for fun. Never before has it been this easy to carry a sauna with you!

Enjoy the ancient Finnish sauna tradition with the Sauna App for iPhone. This unique display of Finnish craftsmanship has been carefully manufactured in Lapland using only the best raw materials and tools, including Sisu, tar and a Macbook. The Sauna App reproduces the blissful auditory experience of the Finnish sauna. Just close your eyes, relax, and throw some water on the stones.

http://itunes.apple.com/fi/app/sauna/id404062422?mt=8

Copyright Information

All content, unless otherwise noted, is © ArcticRainbow and may not be reproduced in any form without express permission from the author, except for credited links directly to articles or to the main site. (I don't bite...just ask!) :D

October 7th a dog-gone day... literally!

2010-10-24T20:17:00.015+03:00

7th October. It is just a normal date of the year. Yet the 7th October is one of those days that I think I will always dread appearing on the calendar now.

Last year, on 7th October, our darling dog Fluffy died.

If you have read my blog over a long time, you will probably have read the blog about her. She was the most beautiful dog you have ever seen. Half Samoyed and half something else that made her black, instead of the customary Samoyed white. She lived up to her name... and beautifully so. Sadly, we had to have her put to sleep after a long battle with cancer. It was an awful day. It also happened to co-incide with the day that many years previously my own Dad had died. What a day.

We planned this year, that we would finally get her plot at the pet cemetery sorted out. We had to wait for all the winter and spring snow to clear, then all the summer mosquitoes to die off. Jake, our younger son, was planning to come home a day earlier, on the thursday, from college, in order to give Fluffy a candle at the cemetery. Fluffy was his life and he still misses her terribly. We thought we would surprise him that the plot was done.

We still needed to finish off varnishing the pyrographed plaque that we had made, so planned to do this and take the plaque up to the cemetery either on the tuesday or the wednesday. For some reason the varnish was taking ages to dry.. so it ended up being wednesday night before it was ready.. we thought we would dash up there on the thursday morning just before Jake arrived and then go back again with him later.

The thursday arrived and that day was naturally a little sombre.. but worse was to come.. much worse. The day turned out to be a day from hell.

Mark, my husband went out for the normal morning walk with Dexter, our remaining dog. He is nearly three years old and a beautiful, vocal, pale blue eyed Husky. He took ages to come home and I was getting a little concerned as to where they could be.

Mark came home, minus Dexter.

Dexter had run off, on a whim. Just before Mark got back home, Dexter had seen a whopping great big white reindeer in the forest and ran head long after it. He ignored calls back and just disappeared into the middle of nowhere, heading in a direction he had never been before. It wasn't like Dex had never seen a Reindeer before either! Mark walked and called him for ages, but to no avail. He came home dejected.

As he was making himself a cup of tea, I said that I would go out in the meanwhile. I trundled until I was on the verge of not knowing where I was.. calling all the time. Nothing. Mark went out.. came home, went out again. He went out on his bike, to cover more ground.

With Dexter gone we couldn't go up the cemetery, so the plaque stayed on the kitchen table. We started to make phone calls to the local police, the daughter of the local dog warden who spoke english and anyone else we could think of. I put an alert out on facebook and very soon messages were being passed around by others, to keep an eye out for our daft delinquent dog! (Thanks everyone!)

Jake rang his Dad to say he was nearly home on the bus. He was told about Dexter and that he would have to walk home as Mark was somewhere in the forest but wasn't sure exactly where! Then I got worried about the whereabouts of my husband! I knew he would find his way back ok, but it was cold out there and I myself didn't know where he was! Of course I need not have worried.. he came home eventually. However, he was hopping mad and seriously upset. Emotionally he was fraught with the torment of being guilty that Dex had run off, of not knowing where he was. He could not bear the thought of losing his dog and not ever knowing what happened to him.

After my cajoling we went up to the cemetery, to lay the candle and add Fluffy's plaque. Although the surprise element for Jake was now lost, it was something we all needed to do. It was dark by then, but we still did it. I felt a little angry with Dexter that he has stolen a part of Fluffy's day, but it was so intermingled with concern too. Where was he? His first time away from us, it was dark and cold and I worried for his safety. He can travel a lot of distance really quickly. By that time, he could have been anywhere!

Fortunately, Dexter is chipped and was wearing a named collar, a yellow reflective jacket and a red dog harness. He was going to be noticeable, if seen.

However, it was a real worry because stray dogs can be shot here in Lapland, especially if seen chasing reindeer. This time of the year is both reindeer round up time and moose hunting season. Therefore there are even more reindeer around the villages than deeper in the forests, more reindeer men and more huntsmen with their guns locally. Dexter was running the risk of being shot by accident or on purpose! On the other hand, the fact that he was wearing the yellow jacket meant that he looked like a hunting dog and other huntsmen might just leave him be. Naturally with him being such a handsome dog, there was always the chance someone might just keep him! So many things were running through our heads...and horrid, worrisome things at that!

During the evening and right through the night, we worked to try and find him. There was no point in going too far afield though, not in the dark. Mark walked the normal evenings walk.. but still no sign of him. I loaded his information on lost and found sites on the internet and Mark texted everyone he knew in Finland - literally!

We made signs to put up around town. I had to learn how to use a particular photoshop programme to do it too! We printed them off and put them in plastic sleeves, just in case the snowing started in the meanwhile. Mark didn't sleep all night.. just stayed up looking out the window on the off chance that Dex returned. I had about three hours. We were both wrecked.

I woke up at about six o'clock to find Mark gone from the home. He was already out and about putting the leaflets in town. He went to some obscure places, spoke to lorry drivers on their way out of town, businesses on the outskirts, went to a particular location that he thought Dexter might have gone to and put all the leaflets out in the postal boxes of houses that way, until he ran out and came home to print more out.

Then we got a break through. It was about 8am and a lady rang to say she had seen Dexter the previous night about 5kms away over by the television mast. Its a huge thing, in the depth of forest and an area Dexter had never been in before. The lady had received one of Marks leaflets in her post box. She had seen Dex at 6pm however and by 8am.. again he could have been anywhere! Nevertheless it was positive news and we were grateful for it.

Mark also spoke to a lady that I used to do business with and she said she would put the alert out on Lapin Radio, on the missing dog news. Thank you Merja! We didn't even know that existed! We know that many people heard it and about our naughty imp Dexter! :D

I put my coat on and said to Mark that I was coming with him on the next round. We drove to where the mast was and called and called. I went in one direction and Mark in another. I found a pathway that went on for what seemed forever and I walked a very long way in. Again nothing.

Then the mobile went. It was our good friend Minna. Now, Minna recently moved to Rovaniemi, which is 130kms away.. so realistically one would think she could not help much.. but ever the angel.. she did! Behind the scenes she had made calls to her husband, who is a reindeer herder, he had made calls to other reindeer herders.. asking them not to shoot if they saw Dex and to advise if they had. Minna made calls to friends she could think of that lived in our area. One of them was Sanne, whom I had met just a few days prior, whom Minna used to work with.

Sanne had taken it upon herself to call people that she knew, sent loads of texts.... and she was the one that rang Minna to say that she has had a call from another reindeer herder who had seen Dexter at Midnight , closer to Sanne's home area... which is a couple of kilometers back from the mast...so although six hours later than the previous sighting he was still fairly local. Then she herself saw Dexter! So Minna was ringing us to say, get to Sanne's road.. you might find Dexter!

Elated, we headed back south down the road we were on, to Sanne's road. It backs on to both forest and swampland. When we arrived, both she and her husband were waiting. As synchronicity would have it, Sanne had a day off with her husband.. otherwise she would not have been there! She showed where she had seen Dexter.. and her husband drove up the road to look elsewhere. Whilst we were with Sanne, he called to say.. I can see Dexter! Mark went dashing up to join him, in our car. I stayed on foot with Sanne. Unfortunately by the time Mark got there, Sanne's husband said Dexter had dashed off again, scared by strangers calling for him.

For a good half hour, we went back and forth up and down that road, with Dexter playing us all for fools! He can run fast that boy! Mark and I didn't see him.. but others were. He entered the swamp area and out again.. into the residential area, over to and into the forest! It was crazy. Then finally, Sanne's husband pointed out of his car, to Mark in his... and Mark saw, for the first time.. DEXTER! Mark jumped out of the car and called his baby.. he expected that Dex would just come over to him, him being his Dad and all... but Dexter would not comply. He was simply so spooked by being chased back and forth by vehicles and people that he didnt know, all calling him!!

Dexter went deeper into the forest. Mark had to bring the car to an abrupt halt, because the forest road just suddenly ended.. and despite having a very poorly ankle, he tried to go after him in a hurry. Dexter just disappeared again.. leaving poor Mark upset and confounded.

Sanne said to me that if Dexter was going over the ridge, that the other side was where the pet cemetery and the horse racing track was... so whilst Mark was in the forest on one side of the ridge, Sanne and I took to the other side. I called Jake at home, to tell him to come outside of our home and across the road.. which is a little further south than the cemetery area.

Sanne and I waited twenty minutes until Sanne said that if he had not appeared by then, he was not going to.. that maybe he would appear at another point along the road. Good grief! Where was this dog? Then my phone rang again.. from someone in my own road! She said she had just seen him and was trying to catch him. I called Jake to tell him to get home.. and also Mark. Mark was deep in forest still.. and Jake was in a bog! :D

We turned Sanne's car around and sped home. There as we drove up my road was this wonderful woman, Eva I believe her name is, holding her dog and MY dog Dexter! I could have cried. Dexter was SO happy to see me! As I was him! He was all over me. Big hugs all round for everyone involved.

I rang Mark and Jake. I told Mark I had him. 'What do you mean, you have him? asked Mark. 'You mean you have him in your hands, literally?' 'Yes, I have him on the lead! He is safe!' Choking back tears, Mark fell to his knees to greet his best buddy who was just as pleased to see him! 'You idiot' he said to Dexter.. 'that was me before!! It was me!!'

It turned out that during this last part, another phone call Mark had received to say that a man had seen Dexter crossing the road near our home. It would seem that from Sanne's husband being in one point, Mark in another.. Jake nearer home and Sanne and I at another point. somehow we had triangulated our positions and given him a scent and sound to follow and get back on track. He was after all in an area that he had never been before.

Such a relief. After which there was so much happy vibes at home, on facebook, over the internet and via texts. Dexter was a mess, was worn out and very pleased to be back home. He had been missing a hellish 24.5 hours and looking for a dog in forest is no easy feat. Without the help and support of everyone involved, it may not have happened! If Mark had not gone out to the places he did, with the posters it might not have happened. It really was a needle in a haystack scenario.

Later that day, we went back up, in the daylight, to Fluffy's grave. Dexter howled like crazy. He actually seemed to be saying.. 'Please don't leave me here! I don't want to be alone!' Mark reminded him, that is was him that had left US not the other way around!!! He slept like a log.. as did we later that night!

Dexter is now back in training. Boot camp style and he seems to be really enjoying it. Mark is going back over every inch of training that he has ever had and is taking him to areas that he has not been to before, to knock the curiosity factor.

Dexter, Mark and I would like to thank VERY MUCH everyone that helped when we needed it.

Fluffy also finally got her grave nice and tidied. Bless her. We really miss our girl 'Fluffstuff - Fluffskus'

Happier days... playing twig-tug-o-war

Copyright Information

All content, unless otherwise noted, is © ArcticRainbow and may not be reproduced in any form without express permission from the author, except for credited links directly to articles or to the main site. (I don't bite...just ask!) :D

Ten

2010-09-29T23:53:00.013+03:00

Have you noticed the forthcoming date of interest? A magickal mystical date of note? Well perhaps it is... we shall have to wait and see if it is... You've not noticed it? What date is it? It is the 10th of October 2010. What is so special about that you may wonder... well, OK.. I'll put it another way then..

10.10.10. See?

Now surely that does not happen very often does it? To answer my own question... nope...it does NOT and it will not do so again for a good many years hence.. long, long after we are all dead, our children are dead, even their grandchildren are dead. Scary thought isn't it... that is a L>O>N>G time. So, is this significant? Are we lucky to be living to see this?

Well, if you like numbers, or are spiritually inclined then you might be apt to thinking so. I remember thinking something similar on my birthday, 20th January 2001... I thought that I was lucky to be celebrating my big day on that date. 20.01.2001. It probably slipped by unnoticed by many other people though. However, 10.10.10 seems a biggie to me...although to others it will just be a number and nothing unusual.. just a quirk of fate.

What does a ten mean?

A tarot reader like me, would instantly say tens mean completion or the end of a cycle. A mathematician would say ten is one of just four 'perfect numbers' (3, 7, 10, 12) and that ten means the end of one series and the beginning of another..ie 11 and onwards. It is said to signify divine order and it creates decimals to build on.

More simply it is the stronghold of our lives.. there are ten main regions on our planet and the number ten creates our decades, centuries and even our millennia. It used to be that our year had only ten months until someone clever came along to give out more birthdays! :D We also celebrate our special anniversaries by the tens.

In the UK, the Prime Minister lives at number 10 Downing street. Did you know that the 10 used to be part of 3? Two perfect numbers! Yes, 10 Downing Street used to be three homes, but was knocked into one. (and still they moan it is tooooo small!!) Ok... I little off topic there, but it is still interesting! Ten is ever present, hey we even have ten fingers.. well, hopefully.. and those fingers complete tasks just like other tens.

Looking at the numbers themselves, the One is the perfect creation of matter being born and a Zero is seen as completion because it is drawn as a total circle, yet it is also the Void, from where all matter comes! It would seem to be a reverent number, would it not, a ten?

The Bible references amounts in ten quite frequently, the most obvious being the ten commandments, ten plagues, ten nations and the ten 'I am' statements of Jesus. Ten is a significant number.

Ten is also important in many other religions.. so many I will not go into them all.. but in Judaic traditions most notably there is the Ten days of repentance that run from the Jewish New Year (Rosh HaShanah to Yom Kippur). Upon completion of those ten days, the priest will say the name of God ten times. Yom Kippur is the day when God finalizes his Rosh HaShana decisions about who shall live and who shall die, who shall suffer and who shall prosper, in the coming year. Again with the end of a cycle and completions. Yom Kippur itself is even on the 10th day of the month. What is it about ten?

In Chinese 'Ancestor Veneration' traditions, after ten mortuary rites are given in our living world, the dead then move through ten courts of judgement within the underworld before any possible arrival of salvation. The family of the deceased have to complete rituals to ensure that each 'stay' in each of the ten courts is not too long. Again a process and completion. Again ten!

The Kabbalist Tree of Life symbol has ten esoteric points upon it which represent the process by which the Universe came into existence. The Tree of Life is often referenced to show the lineage from our human subconscious, all the way to our higher self or spirit and the matrix between them. Again a process and completion.

Even clever old Greek Pythagoras believed that ten was the number of the universe and expressed the whole of human knowledge. (Deep!) The Tetractys has a mathematical, mystical, sacred geometrical, complex meaning. The design of which holds significance for followers of the Kabbalah and Pythagoras.

In its simplicity, the Tetractys is a triangle, comprised of ten points that range from a base level and rise up in four rows to reach a point. It is a symbol of earthly man rising up to Spirit. (In contrast, the upside down triangle is Spirit reaching down into man). Symbol of triangles like these are seen on Tarot cards, for example.. the upward triangle is shown clearly in the card of Temperance. (Look at the Angels chest)

In fact the Tetractys is just one of many possible tarot layouts, with ten cards in a four row pyramid. The top apex card is the significator.

1 What you can see
2 What you can't see
3 What you can change
4 What you cannot change
5 What you can expect

Two interesting Tarot links:
http://www.cs.utk.edu/~mclennan/BA/PT/D-tet.html
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=66985

Back to 10.10.10.

Is it a time for us to aspire to spiritual or just overall growth or 'perfection' in ourselves? Are we going to be cast into a new time, a new cycle where everything is fresh and we learn from our past efforts? Is this a call for our own personal evolution? Is it nothing at all? it has been on my mind.. as you can tell!! (*Ten times over!*).

Several years ago, I lost a friend on the 10th of October. I remember saying to him at the funeral parlour, 'Ten, Ten till we meet again'. Every year on that date, he is especially remembered. It is a date that always calls out to me. So, what of this year? More than any other year perhaps?

So in conclusion... we have many types of tens... and many more I have not mentioned! What can it all mean that ten is used in so many ways and so profoundly? Does it indeed mean anything at all? I am left to wonder what 10.10.10 will mean for me, for you, for mankind, for the planet.

Let's see... let me know!

Copyright InformationAll content, unless otherwise noted, is © ArcticRainbow and may not be reproduced in any form without express permission from the author, except for credited links directly to articles or to the main site. (I don't bite...just ask!) :D

Moving house....

2010-09-18T16:30:00.007+03:00

Well yes.. but not how you think I meant it!!!

My husband called out to me the other day.. 'Quick, get your camera!' So, I dashed over to the kitchen to see what the fuss was.. expecting really to see some Reindeer or something ambling around out there.... and what was going past?

A HOUSE! Well, that is a new one... that certainly does not happen everyday!

It was of course, holding traffic up a bit.. not that we really suffer with lots of traffic here! I don't know where it came from.. or to where it was going...but I do know it went past my house...S.L.O.W.L.Y.

:D

Copyright InformationAll content, unless otherwise noted, is © ArcticRainbow and may not be reproduced in any form without express permission from the author, except for credited links directly to articles or to the main site. (I don't bite...just ask!) :D

An amazing blogger! RESPECT (off topic)

2010-09-16T18:16:00.006+03:00

I just viewed this article on the BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/world_news_america/8999217.stm

It is all about one of my fellow bloggers in the blogosphere. I have never met her, she doesn't know me, she lives half a planet away.. and she is double my age. Yes, she is NINETY! How fantastic is that?

Meet Phyllis Greene, who is in hospice care in Ohio.....

Her blog is at http://wedeb90.blogspot.com

Copyright InformationAll content, unless otherwise noted, is © ArcticRainbow and may not be reproduced in any form without express permission from the author, except for credited links directly to articles or to the main site. (I don't bite...just ask!) :D

A slideshow of Autumn 2010 Sodankylä Lapland Finland

2010-09-12T17:45:00.003+03:00

It has been the colourful season! I thought this was the best way to share the amount of pictures I have taken. I hope you enjoy it. The colours continue... but many leaves are now shed.

Copyright InformationAll content, unless otherwise noted, is © ArcticRainbow and may not be reproduced in any form without express permission from the author, except for credited links directly to articles or to the main site. (I don't bite...just ask!) :D

The cost of food shopping in Finland

2010-09-10T17:32:00.024+03:00

Many people ask me about the cost of living in Finland. To me, everything seems expensive. Not only because of high VAT, but also because things just seem to be given a silly price tag in Finland.

For example, I was looking at mattresses and beds lately (a blog for the future) OMG! Horrendously expensive!!!

I have though, been meaning to run a blog of the price of food for ages.. but just not got around to it. Last week, I did a small food shop and remembered to take a few photos. *It just goes to show that my husband is so used to my weird ways, when he did NOT think I had lost the plot, taking photos of our shopping!!*

I am curious to know how these prices relate to that near you. I know they seem a lot more to me than I would be paying in the UK ...and I have not lived there for six years. I may be out of touch. Realistically, I did not buy that much. I also used up a variety of vouchers and saved 6.90€ against the bill, which was 68.81€ as a final figure.

Reductions are quite common in the shop I shop at, which is the Valintalo in Sodankylä. I think it is a really good shop and whilst it doesn't have everything I need...and I have to go to Lidls or KMarket to buy other bits and pieces.. we do do the vast majority of our shopping there. The staff are good and very friendly. We know them well now.

My first reduction was 1.30€ for pullonpalautus (bottle returns). This is quite usual all over Finland, but something that stopped in the UK, many years ago. When buying a bottle of something, (fizzy drink or alcohol) you have to pay a bottle excess charge, but you get this back, upon the safe return of the bottle, as long as the barcode label is still on it. It used to be that the machines gave you back cash, but now it prints a receipt which you hand to the cashier. I think it is good to have a system like this, it is a much greater greener initiative. The only downside for me, is that it does not extend to all bottles and containers, like shampoo bottles, squash/juice bottles etc.

Large coca-cola sized bottles are worth 40c back, smaller bottles 20c, glass bottles 10c and tins, (beer, guinness etc) vary. As you might tell, with just 1.30€ for returns, we do not drink a lot of alcohol! In fact, most of our returns are on fizzy drink bottles.

I also had collected some stickers from a gift collection that the Valintatalo had been running, but had chosen not to buy the 'supposed reduced priced' items that were on offer. For each row of stickers you can claw back 0.20€ and a whole pamphlet full of stickers, a euro. Not a lot really.. but it is all money after all! So, I surrendered those. I had 5.60€ worth. I always ask for the stickers. I think the staff know me as 'sticker woman' or better still as the '30% off sticker woman'! :D

Valintatalo is quite unusual in the fact that more often than other shops, they do use an orange reduction sticker on goods if they are running low on dates and oftentimes, items are not even close to useby dates, they just want to clear space. It used to be a 50% sticker, but these days it is 30%. I guess even big companies are feeling the pinch. I am not ashamed to say that I buy most of my meat that way. Even if I do not need it at the time, it goes into the freezer until I do. It all helps a budget. Meat is a horrendous price here, so it makes sense to do that in my book! :D

Here is the list of what I bought last week.

Jauheliha mureke (This was a type of meatloaf I was actually quite surprised at this price - most unusual - plus when we baked it, it was very nice...although I did wrap it in bacon slices first!) You can see this on the left hand corner, in a black box. 3.79 €

Fazer Maitosuklaa 200g (essential chocolate!) 1.69 €
Fanta Mandariini 1.5L (on special but excluded the bottle charge) 1.29€
Coca-Cola 1.5L (excluded the bottle charge) 2.19€
Pullopantti (bottle charges) 2 x 0.40 € 0.80€

Päärynä Guyot (fresh Pears) 583g 2.19€ @ 1.99kg 1.16€

Sitruuna (fresh Lemons) 0,546g @ 3.79kg 2.07€

Paikkakunnan Peruna (fresh local potatoes) 776g at 1.25€ per kg 2.22€

Pall Mall Blue 30g (loose tobacco) 3.25€
Pedigree Pal Kana (tube of dog food) 1.79€
Taloussokeri 1kg (granulated sugar) 0.99€

Quaker Ruis Fras (cereal) 3.39€
(actually this was supposed to be on special with 30% off, but I have just noticed whilst doing this blog tha we didn't get the reduction on the receipt!) It should have been 2.37€ .... just goes to show I need to check my receipt better!

Atria Broileri Paisti (fresh chicken breasts) 700g 4.49€
In Finland, manufacturers like to pre-dress the breasts with some kind of sauce, but you can wash it off if you prefer!

Perhekalkkuna (turkey slices) 250g 3.09€ /30% off / 2,16€
Rypäle Vihr (fresh green grapes) 500g 1.79€
Maissi (frozen sweetcorn) 450g 1,29€
Kevytmaito 1.5L (semi skimmed milk) 1.19 (x4) 4.74€
Meira Curry (curry powder) 25g 0.95€ (x2) 1.90€
Meira Inkivääri (ginger powder) 22g 0.99€
Meira Minttu (dried mint) 8g 1.69€
Marli Vital Puolukka 1L (Cranberry type juice) 1.39€
Airam Vakiolamppu (lightbulbs) 1.39€
Ranksanleipa 350g 0.89€ /30%off/ 0.62€ x 2 1.24€ (a supposed French style bread unsliced but cheap by Finnish standards!)
Pehtoori leipa 2.19 /30%off/ 1.53€ x 2 3.06€ (a country style slice loaf which makes up for the price of the french style!!)
Valkpapu Tom (Tinned baked beans) 420g 0.75€ x2 1.50€
Tomaattimurska (crushed tinned tomatoes) 400g 0.49€ x2 0.98€
Liha maksa (Friskies dried cat food) 2kg 5.89€
Energizer Hightech (4 AA batteries) 5.49€
Powerlife Micro (4 AAA batteries) 3.59€
Bio Luvil 1.35kg (soap powder) 5.99€
Flora (Margarine) 400g 1.49€

Total 74.41€, which when less the vouchers was 68.81€. All items are showing in the photograph other than the soap powder, tobacco and spices - which had already been put away and I had forgotten about! :D but the photo gives you a good idea of what the money is worth here. 68.81€ roughly equates to £57 UK pounds or $88 (US Dollars). Could you buy more or less with that money?

One other benefit of Valintatalo is the Ukkosbonus euro - point/credit reward system which runs from 1st Sept to 1st Sept annually. Every December I get a wonderful bonus cheque back, redeemable in cash at the supermarket. Generally I get back about 200 euros or so. :D Very handy, just before Christmas! in my opinion, it is much better than occasional vouchers off in the post that come via other schemes. Herra Sentti (Mr Cent) is the cartoon like figurehead of the promotion and there are also several Herra Sentti 'stretch the cent' weeks when there are special offers available for anyone presenting their Ykkösbonus card upon transaction. In fact, that is on right now, until the 15th.

VAT in Finland, is currently 23% on food and 13% on non foods.

Copyright InformationAll content, unless otherwise noted, is © ArcticRainbow and may not be reproduced in any form without express permission from the author, except for credited links directly to articles or to the main site. (I don't bite...just ask!) :D

Bearing up to the Autumnal Lapland

2010-09-01T00:02:00.020+03:00

So, this year's Lapland Summer has come to an end...it is always short...and we are now in Syksy (Autumn).

In fact, August is partly Summer and partly Autumn.. and Autumn will be over in a couple of weeks time in all likelihood.

Lapland is the region that has eight seasons of the year you see... YES.. Eight! They are Autumn-Winter, Winter, Spring-Winter, Spring, Spring-Summer, Summer, Summer- Autumn and of course Autumn.

In August the berries popped up to say hello and 'Pick me! Pick me!' Autumn is the harvesting month when many Finns go off into the forests..and many foreigners also come to earn money from picking berries in the wild. It's not easy work though..the mosquitoes are around until mid August at least..and it is also back breaking when done for hours on end!

The much missed Moon also came back to our sights... and I for one was so pleased to see her! Yet she also indicates that a coolness blows on the wind and Winter beckons from just over the hill. Then came the cold snaps at night, whilst we slept...(in the beautiful darkness). That has made for the colourful changes in the leaves around us. It really only takes a couple of nights to see the change! The Autumnal leaves display beautiful colours in Lapland. It depends on how cold the temperature drops as to how colourful they are. Many visitors visit Lapland now...especially for this seasonal change.

I've had a full month during August, as you can see by the fact that I have not blogged. Amongst other things, I've taken time out to have a bit of fun and have got back into face painting... which is something I have not done since the lads were small. The main thing though, has been that our sons have moved out - so we have had a lot of arranging to do with regards to that and lots of travelling back and forth - fortunately all on beautifully sunny days!

They are both in Rovaniemi now, 130kms away.. (week days anyway).. at two different places of study. They are growing up and our way of life is changing again.. just like the seasons. Here are a few of images from Rovaniemi.

The beautiful Church in Rovaniemi
http://www.rovaniemi.fi/Kansainvalinen_sivusto/English/Culture/Architecture/Rovaniemi_Church.iw3

The Kirkkolampi pond next to the church, with its delightful fountain. I miss things like this in Sodankylä! Whilst Rovaniemi is more busy.. it does seem more cultured!

The main thing that I do not like about this season is that it is the start of the hunting seasons. As a non Finn, I was not brought up to hunt and I do not like the culture of it .. at all. On day one of the Bear season, 24 beautiful Bears minimum were killed. HIDE Bears HIDE!

74 Bears have be taken overall from this region, as 'allowed' by government permit. Total amount however will be a whopping 198. It makes my heart bleed.

http://www.iltasanomat.fi/uutiset/kotimaa/uutinen.asp?id=2239616
You can drop this page into Google to translate it!

Anyone that knows me, knows just how much I LOVE BEARS..so this season really pains me deeply. It annoys me intensely to see the photographs of hunts-people in the newspaper, proudly displaying their kill. They have the look of pride on their face.. as if it say.. "Look at big brave me, I have killed this Bear, this BEAST!" .. all I say is Yes, big brave you, with a GUN! Try it without, then see what you have to say about it! I appreciate the Bear is a dangerous animal in the wrong scenario.. but they still, in my opinion, deserve to live.. and they were here first!

How could anyone hurt this gorgeous creature?

Then it will be the Wolves and Wolverine, the bird/game season, the Moose season... For me, it is one big downside of Finland. Just as well we don't have Whales here!! OK.. rant over.

On a nicer note.. Last week I went a picking berries from outside. Literally outside my house are Puolukka *Cranberry family, Blueberries and Juniper berries. Yummy. It certainly makes for some nice cakes! :D

As you can see, I have a special berry contraption that acts like a big hair comb. It plucks the berries from the stems and they fall into the container. Mine was filled in just ten minutes. It is however, the sorting out of the berries afterwards that takes up most of your time! It is then that I wish I had a friendly berry elf. LIKE THIS FELLA!

Copyright Information

All content, unless otherwise noted, is © ArcticRainbow and may not be reproduced in any form without express permission from the author, except for credited links directly to articles or to the main site. (I don't bite...just ask!) :D

Happy 22nd Wedding Anniversary to my husband - Speechless

2010-07-30T21:28:00.002+03:00

Thank you my darling! This blog is simple, short and unequivocal.
'Speechless' by the late Mr Michael Jackson pretty much sums it up...

I LOVE MY HUSBAND.....

Copyright InformationAll content, unless otherwise noted, is © ArcticRainbow and may not be reproduced in any form without express permission from the author, except for credited links directly to articles or to the main site. (I don't bite...just ask!) :D

One misty summer morning in Lapland

2010-07-26T22:40:00.018+03:00

These images were taken from my kitchen window, several weeks back now... in June.. one misty morning... I just forgot to upload them! It was really eery... it was about 4am if I recall....

I couldn't decide which ones to load.. so I loaded them all!

Copyright InformationAll content, unless otherwise noted, is © ArcticRainbow and may not be reproduced in any form without express permission from the author, except for credited links directly to articles or to the main site. (I don't bite...just ask!) :D

Finland's Weather Frog predicts....

2010-07-07T16:11:00.010+03:00

Did you know that the Finns have an alternative to the Groundhog? :D
Finlands Froggie prognosticator is Professori Sammakko (also known as Taisto Heikkinen of Hyrynsalmi).

I recently discovered the Sammakko's pages.... and so far the Finnish folks froggie friend seems to be quite correct!! (She says whilst looking at a dour, grey, thoroughly wet and dreary summers day through the window...)

Professori Sammakko predicted a pretty good June (which it was) and Midsummer season. He is famous apparently for his often incomprehensible accurately weather forecasts!

The Frog said that June would be good, but that in July it would rain. (It rains as I write!) Throughout July, the air will apparently be good and not cold, but after the 10th it will rain for several days. (Here we go......)

August will be hot with some places seeing over 30 degrees centrigrade (HOORAY!) and most areas will be having 25 to 30 degrees. The berry season will be moderate or perhaps fairly good.

We shall have to see about the rest.... surely it cant be the same ALL over Finland!! :D

This is todays weather... oh yeah... GREAT... not.

If you want to find out more you will need to read Finnish or use the Google translator!

http://www.puolanka-lehti.fi/sammakkoprofessori/ennustukset.htm

Oh and NOTE TO AMEL.. This is one frog you CAN'T eat! :D

Copyright InformationAll content, unless otherwise noted, is © ArcticRainbow and may not be reproduced in any form without express permission from the author, except for credited links directly to articles or to the main site. (I don't bite...just ask!) :D

Hyvää Juhannusta! and some pagan christian ramblings...

2010-06-26T15:14:00.015+03:00

Paganism was widespread throughout Europe in early times and Finland was no exception. Up until the year 1316 (and so I've read, even into the 1800's of orthodox southern Karelia) the time now reserved on Finnish calendars as Juhannus was actually a celebration of nature and especially of Ukko, the sky and weather Thunder God.

The time then was called Ukon juhla. There would be Thunder festivals of light, fertility and for guaranteeing the abundant harvests. The creation of beer and the consumption of it, would hail his honour. The people would set bonfires, many, many of them and the largest would be the bonfire of Ukko itself, in Finnish it was called the Ukko-kokko. It was also a time for cleansing of the soul, in the fight against evil, as well as to celebrate the summer solstice.

This bonfire example was found on the killinkoski.fi area website.

Mikael Agricola, (c. 1510 – 9 April 1557) the father of the Finnish written language and devout christian reformist wrote in poetry about the pagan times pre-Juhannus. You can tell he didn't think much of the revelry!

Ja kun kevätkyntö kylvettiin,
silloin Ukon malja juotiin.
Siihen haettiin Ukon vakka,
niin juopui piika että akka.
Sitten paljon häpeällistä siellä tehtiin,
niin kuin sekä kuultiin että nähtiin.

Roughly translated as:

And when the Spring plowing was sown,
a toast was drank to Thunder
Thunder was sought by the bushel, (an old measuring term for dry corn and harvest of)
maidens drunk like old women.
Then there was a lot of shame done,
as well as heard as was seen.

At the same time however, the R.C. church held the day in memory of John the Baptist and when Christianity swept the country, rather than disband the day, the old celebration was simply renamed. John the Baptist washed over the old Ukko...at least in name, for many celebrations continued and survived the reformation... even until this day. St. John's day however was translated into Finnish as Juhannus.

One might well ask, why St. John the Baptist was feasted on that day? It's a quarter day celebration and just as Yule time, or the now christian christmas, marks the birth of Jesus, Midsummer marks the birth of John the Baptist. Which is interesting really, to me anyway - because most Saints are remembered for their day of death (or their birth into heaven) rather than their birth into this world. Apparently his birthday is based on the Gospel of Luke and because he was said to be the prophet who was born six months before Jesus in order to announce Jesus' arrival. Hence why, John the Baptists birthday is celebrated exactly six months before Christmas. John acts as his sacrificial twin, he the dark twin of midsummer and Jesus the light twin of the winter solstice.

Being that I have pagan leanings, I find pagan shifts of dates to christian calendars interesting and I like to see the reasonings behind them... and how, in reality, the pagan aspects are still afoot! For instance in paganism the sun has two energies or personalities... there is the light and the dark god, the Oak King and the Holly King. They, as nature itself, battle over the seasons, the favour of the Goddess and the light that pervades this world through the aeons.

Some well known pagan writers have identified Jesus as the Holly King and John the Baptist as the Oak King. Remember the christmas carol... The Holly and the Ivy? There is a line which says..."Of all the trees that are in the wood, the Holly bears the crown" ...interesting eh? Anyway..I digress...

The Juhannus of todays generation is a popular time for festivals, parties and gatherings of any kind, weddings especially. Most families will, if they have one, disappear into the forests, to their summer cabin and the towns, at first maniacally busy on the day prior to Juhannus, then become suddenly and incredibly quiet! Shops are closed early at midday at the latest of Juhannusaato (Juhannus Eve) and then are closed all the day long of Juhannus. It is also, of course, a Finnish flag day, in fact it is the longest time the flag is raised during the year, as it stays up from 6pm on Juhannusaaato to stay up all night - and doesn't come down again until 9pm on the evening of Juhannus itself.

In areas close to rivers, there are bonfires set - and whilst many do not question or even realise why this happens.. it is of course harkening back to the festivals in honour of Ukko the Thunder god.

Sauna and the magical cleansing that this brings is a fond way of spending time together. In previous days, youthful, tender, verdant green Birch tree branches will have been collected from the forests and made into what is called a vasta or vihta. Or one can cheat and buy them from the supermarket, fresh...or even frozen in the freezer compartments!

These are gently whipped onto the hot naked skin, to improve circulation, it also brings a fresh, forest like aroma to the sauna. I personally love the smell of Birch. Its nice also added to the sauna water in the form of Birch oil.

Then of course... there is the manic heavy drinking that goes on at Juhannus! Being that this is the land of a thousand lakes, it is popular to go out on your boat - especially when completely plastered. Naturally, for those of us, with half a brain... this is a totally lethal combination and annually the police get prepared for the loss of life. Its always on the news at Juhannus.

Of course with Juhannus over.. the winter spirits are turning again in their sleep.. the days, now filled with 24 hour daylight in Finland will gradually, gradually lessen.. the wheel will turn and summer will give way to autumn and autumn very quickly to the snows of winter.....Holly and Oak will battle again.... but for now.. there is sun! Happy, lovely sun! Hyvää Juhannusta!

Want to make your own Juhannus vihta?

And here..just for fun some totally Finnish Juhannus alcohol recipes!
I am sure you will get the joke!

"Atlantic salmon eye"
1 glass of Koskenkorva vodka
1 blueberry......

"Reindeer Tears"
A glass of Koskenkorva vodka
A couple of cranberries.....

"Koskenkorva Coffee"
1 sugar cube
Coffee
Koskenkorva

Put a sugar cube in your glass. Pour a little coffee until the sugar dissolves.
Pour Koskenkorva until the sugar cube is seen again!

Now, it has suddenly gone very dark there is also some thunder rumbling - as I finish this piece! Yay! How appropriate! Hail Ukko! (but please don't knock my internet connection off!)

DOUBLE Hyvää Juhannusta! ;D

Copyright InformationAll content, unless otherwise noted, is © ArcticRainbow and may not be reproduced in any form without express permission from the author, except for credited links directly to articles or to the main site. (I don't bite...just ask!) :D

Happy Summer Solstice!

2010-06-21T20:06:00.007+03:00

I hope that the longest day of year, shines much Love, light, enlightenment and renewal your way!

Spare a little of your light...for the problems around us.. the pollution of our seas, our air, our minds. Direct Light wherever you feel you need to send it! Light up the dark corners of our planet!

Light a candle whether physically or metaphysically... Light = Life!

Ancient Mother I feel you calling
Ancient Mother I hear your song
Ancient Mother I see your laughter
Ancient Mother I taste your tears

I hope the day has found you sunny and glowing!
May the Noitarumpu symbol of Fertility, bless you today and always! :D

Copyright InformationAll content, unless otherwise noted, is © ArcticRainbow and may not be reproduced in any form without express permission from the author, except for credited links directly to articles or to the main site. (I don't bite...just ask!) :D

A Hard Day's Night at the Midnight Sun Film Festival Sodankylä

2010-06-20T17:16:00.018+03:00

After our church event, the four of us - Amel, Janka, Sally and myself..wandered over to the site of the old Kitinen school grounds, where the Midnight Sun Film Festival was being held.

This year is the 25th annual event. Although the event is still quite primitive in many ways to international expectations, it is very popular and people come from all over.

I was quite surprised to see just how many out of towners were there.. and not so many locals really. We nabbed one of the incredibly limited tables in the refreshment area and sat down for a chat. Sun turned to a spot of rain and up popped a very delicate rainbow... can you see it? (Just?)

I held the seats whilst tickets were bought for the film we wanted to see.. 'A Hard Day's Night' 1964 with The Beatles in it. Billed as a karaoke film, there are a few karaoke films shown each year..but not all are in English. Last years big international karaoke billing was apparently Mamma Mia! They are really popular...especially at the time of day it is presented...when everyone has had a bit to drink! :D

A lovely picture of Sally, with the old school, in the background. This will be demolished soon..and a new housing development built there.. so it will be interesting to find out where the event will be held in future years.

It started to get a little cold by half past eight and as we didn't have plans to see any other films, we had to decide what we were going to do for the several hours inbetween - until the karaoke film started. The film was set for a 1.30am start after all! Although we really tried to talk her into it.. Janka decided she was already all-filmed out, having seen at least four or more - and said she was off home.

Although we were having some hilarious laughs and fun... Amel, Sally and I decided to all go home too...just for an hour and then meet up again at Amels house, for a drink, prior to the film and then cycle there...so we could have a drink and not drive and fully enjoy the rest of the night.

I met Sally later at about 10.45pm, on the bridge, just before town and we stood there for a few seconds, enjoying the stillness of the river, which often can be quite turbulent (when it's not frozen as it is during the Winter).

And the beautiful view! This picture makes it look darker than it was though...

After sharing a bottle of vino and some nibbles at Amels, we headed back to the school site at about 1am and locked our bikes up outside the tents. That's quite an un-Finnish thing to do, locking bikes up, but I wasn't going to take any chances!

The film that was showing beforehand was The Good, The Bad and The Ugly...there had been talk of Clint Eastwood attending.. but of course, he didn't come...it was reported in the newspaper that he said he would like to, but his schedule didn't allow. It certainly would be great to have someone wonderful like Clint visit - there are a lot of film directors that visit each year, but the icon of EASTWOOD would be a real feather in the cap!

As we queued I had the pleasure of hearing the cemetery scene music! Cool! I would have liked to have seen that film actually...but I have seen it umpteen times already! Amel admitted whilst in the queue, that she didn't think she knew that film... so Sally said she would loan her the DVD. Its a classic! Perhaps we should make another night of that!

Here, from www.entertonement.com is a brief reminder of that classic music....

the good the bad the ugly sound bite The Good The Bad And The Ugly Theme sound bites

When we got in to the tent it was actually just gone 2am.. they were running a good half hour late. I was beginning to get a bit fed up with the middle aged couple in front of me in the queue by that time... to the point of me bursting out laughing because I couldn't look at Sally and keep a straight face! They just couldn't keep their hands of each other! LOL! Nice really, a bit of lurve, but a bit much after half an hour!

The atmosphere was really good in the queue and moreso in the tent - which was pretty much filled up, quite amazing considering the time and the fact that it was the big tent and not the smaller one.

Sally and Amel

Amel and I

I think I captured everyone's excitement in this picture.
Can you see all the orbs?

The words appeared for the songs, in a box just above the screen. The film also had subtitles in Finnish and German. It was actually quite interesting to see how Finns translated (or not as the case may be) Liverpudlian phrases such as com ed! :D Sally and I (plus a handful of others) laughed out loud at lots of the uniquely british jokes and sarcasm!

I personally (as a Brit) found the film really interesting because of the volume of rather well know British actors and actresses in it..(most of these were probably lost on the other filmgoers) some that would only be more well known later on in their careers perhaps. Names like: Anna Quayle, Lionel Blair, John Junkin, Norman Rossington, Victor Spinetti, Derek Nimmo, Marianne Stone.... but there were so many background faces that were uncredited, that I recognised. I looked on my favourite site imdb.com - A Hard Day's Night and read that even Phil Collins was in it as a member of the audience in one scene. I saw lots of faces, younger versions of.. but I don't think I caught his!

It also had the wonderful late, Wilfred Brambell (later well known from Steptoe and Son) - playing the role of Paul McCartney's pain in the derriere Grandad. A great role and just perfect for him!

It was quite sad in many ways.. to see from the safe easy seat of the future.. these young faces... and to know what happened to them during the journey of their life and for some their subsequent demise.

Athough the storyline to the film was quite limited, it was a great film, so good that its been digitally remastered with today's technology... with great humour and silliness especially from the wonderful late John Lennon! What made the film really special was the fact that EVERYONE sang their hearts out!

I was pleased to have gone and seen it 'again'... the last time was when my Mother was still pregnant with me.. (I was born January 1965) then, I tried really hard to enjoy the film, but of course everything was just a TAD muzzy, muffled..and 'hearing' it second hand..just didn't cut it! LOL!

Ive been wondering what film they might do next year.. there aren't really that many films that are musicals of well known songs these days.. in the 50's and 60's there were loads... Singing in the Rain, West Side Story...etc...Mamma Mia is an obvious choice and could be repeated, although it's already been done.... but the top contenders have to be Grease...Fame...Hairspray...Rocky Horror Show...The Commitments or The Blues Brothers (I love that one!)

This image is from the festival site itself.. lots to look at there..
http://www.msfilmfestival.fi/galleria2010/01_pre/pages/page_9.html

Other funny events of the evening...(well, to US anyway!)

A man walking across the playground, wearing just a dressing gown and slippers! He had obviously just had a shower in the school somewhere...but not got properly dressed again afterwards.... whaat?

A TOTALLY naked man (not a nice view either) changing after his shower, in full view of everyone, outside of his little camper he had parked up on the school site. No one intervened, not even a festival steward. That could only happen in Finland and be thought of as acceptable.. which it isn't!

A seemingly dead tiny beetle on our table. I said he wasnt dead, he was just resting his eyes.. He'd had 'A Hard Days Night'.. what with being a Beatle and all.. (((oh dear.. groan...))) No one believed me, but I touched him, he woke up and carried on doing his stuff!

At Amels I was bothered by a mosquito, which I then clapped out of the air. It landed on its back, still alive-ish and wholly intact. We wondered if I could resurrect him too...I laid my hand over his body and he started spinning and whizzing around under my hand! You wouldnt have believed it if you hadnt of seen it! (Then I put him out of his misery)

Having to push down the cork into that bottle of wine, as it turned out Amel didn't have a corkscrew. We tried a couple of things, but got there eventually with the end of a fork! Sally and I were damned if we were going to not open that bottle! :D Amel, I know what I am buying you for Christmas now! :D Damned fine bottle Sally! Thanks! :D

THANKS GIRLS.. I HAD A GREAT NIGHT OUT!

OK.. So, finally thanks to the wonder of the internet.. I can share with you the film that I saw.. have you got a few minutes? LOL! I am sure that there is at least one LongTallSally I know, that would LOVE to see this film again! ENJOY!

Many thanks to the youtube user AndQuiteFrankly for these uploads!

Copyright InformationAll content, unless otherwise noted, is © ArcticRainbow and may not be reproduced in any form without express permission from the author, except for credited links directly to articles or to the main site. (I don't bite...just ask!) :D

The small, old, wooden church of Sodankylä

2010-06-19T17:51:00.013+03:00

On thursday night I spent the evening with my friends Amel, Sally and Janka. Sally had been asked to give a short reading at the old wooden church in Sodankylä as they were holding multi national service at 6pm.

Forgetting the language issues, this was quite unusual for two reasons: The church holds services there very rarely and is only ever open during a brief period in the summer. It is a popular venue for weddings then though.

Some, like this couple, elect to arrive the old fashioned way.. by boat. This image was in the local newspaper a couple of years ago. Nice eh?

The church held this service in tandem with the time that the Sodankylä Midnight Sun Film Festival is being held. I don't think this service has been run before.. or at least, if it has been, I have not been aware of it. However, I am not a member of any of the church groups here. Sally however, has a little girl that goes to the mother and toddler groups and that was how she got to be involved. So, we (the international lot!) decided that we would go and support our friend.

Actually, there were only a handful of people that went.. I don't think it was well advertised to tourists, but Sodankylä is quite good at not advertising events! I guess, you could see that as part of the olde world charm.

As usual, as soon as you enter the church, you feel a dramatic drop in temperature. The little wooden church is very old, it was built in 1689! It is situated right at the edge of the Kitinen river and is sitting on top of many graves apparently.. Laplanders of old that wanted to be buried under the church. It has a lovely feel to it however and I always end up sitting there, wondering just who, over the years, has sat just where I sit. If there are any electrics in there, they are very limited and there is certainly no lighting!

As you can see from the plan, it is only small.... :D

It was renovated extensively in 1926, but fully in keeping with the area, the local workforce used only local materials - even the nails were hand made! As you can see, prior to this, the church was very weary!

One can only imagine how dark and how cold it would have been all those centuries ago for the devout folk that travelled many, many miles - arriving during the winter by reindeer sled, through the dense forests and over frozen winter rivers to join the congregation there weekly. The late well known local painter, Alariesto, painted this image of the church...which gives an idea of how it was.

I didn't like to take pictures during the service, but save to say that Sally did her speech very well! It was an interesting service, the female priest had some very interesting things to say, aimed at the normal person of today. 'God is in your rucksack, he is with you always' was one sentence I remembered. The service was in English, with Finnish, Saami and German songs. That was different! :D

The choir sang the English songs phonetically.. many of them not understanding the actual english words, so they sang the sounds as they had written them down phonetically in Finnish. I would not have known, had Sally not told me! They also did very well in the semi light.. although a few folk had mini headlights straps on their head, in order to see what they were singing.

This is the altar.

They have a lovely wooden Bear guarding the entrance too.. I love it! Well, I love Bears, especially standing Bears! This one looks SO happy!

Afterwards we went for a drink, enjoying the atmosphere at the local Film Festival. That however, is another blog!

A sunny walk at 10.30pm

2010-06-12T23:09:00.007+03:00

It's been a beautiful sunny and blue skied day today...(Saturday) with lots of lush green leaves catching the rays.... and it reminded me that I hadn't loaded these images on to the blog. It' actually 2.43am right now as I publish this blog and it is of course light still outside! :D I've got used to it over the years.. but it is a weird phenomenon really.

These pictures are actually from a walk out with our husky Dexter, one evening a couple of weeks back. I was hoping that I would be able to take some nice pictures of Reindeer, from the Reindeer farm near us, as Mark had said that they were all, (especially the young) in stalls, close to the path the night before... but sadly, when we got there, they were no where to be seen.. all the stalls were empty... :(

The time was 10.30pm.. yes 10.30 at night! Now, we are in the time of 24 hour daylight. Soon, at midsummer it will be the 'Land of the Midnight Sun' - all being well that is.. that the clouds don't roll in!

Anyway.. now it is even brighter at that time of night than it was then (two weeks back). but still, hopefully you will enjoy the pictures and see that right now... night is not night here in Lapland at all... :D

Walking with Dexter. This is the part of the forest that is immediately behind our home. Dexter just loves it! Even more so when its covered in snow of course!

The berries were just starting to come out and say "Hi, we're alive!"

This the tree that is home to some kind of bird of prey, Mark has seen and heard it a lot recently.

Can you see up high..it's nest? I tried to zoom in on it.

There are of course zillions of trees out there...but I found this little twee one..and it was asking... "Is it Christmas yet?" So cute that tiny tree!

Past a little house and it's sheds...catching the sun.

Then we continued around toward the Reindeer Farm and followed the security border of the airport. (Yes, there is an airport at Sodankylä...really tiny and not for commercial aircraft fortunately. Blink and you miss it). One day, I will take some photos up there to show you how small it is. :D

I love this picture! I love how the sun got captured!

Past just one of many swamps... the bright sunlight was dying by now...drabbing down for only a short while, to come bouncing back with zest by 2am!

Back on the road... and on the way home...

An unfamiliar sight of advertising... the circus' annual visit. I have a friend who is going to that tomorrow - it's rather expensive apparently, 20-30 euros per adult, but fortunately as her child is under 3 the child goes for free. It will be interesting to hear what it was like.

Home again, Home again.. jiggedy jig!

(PS. Clapping season has commenced.. the mosquitoes are out in force!)

Copyright InformationAll content, unless otherwise noted, is © ArcticRainbow and may not be reproduced in any form without express permission from the author, except for credited links directly to articles or to the main site. (I don't bite...just ask!) :D

Congratulations Germany! Eurovision Winners 2010

2010-05-30T02:03:00.008+03:00

Well, we all just sat down to the annual Eurovision fest.. and as expected that awful UK song was a total flop.... Oh well.. ' BoomBangaBang! '

There were ' All kinds of Everything ' for everyone to like though... ;P before it was ' Making your mind up ' time... everyone did ' Poosh da button ' and the contestants finally met their ' Waterloo! '

It must all seem a ' Fairytale ' for Germany's Winner Lena Mayer-Landrut - at the end, she looked well out of it... almost like she was up high in the sky on a ' Satellite!'

Ahh heck.. ' What's another year? ' till the next one.. in Germany! Hopefully then it will include some ' Hard Rock - HALLELUJAH! '

Totally hilarious slip up by the organisers... did you see the stage invasion during the Spanish entry.. a shame it didnt happen to another song entry, like Azerbaijan... I wouldnt have minded hearing that lovely song twice.. and I know the boys would have like to see Armenia more than once... not necessary for the song though! Yet, it was Spain that we had to listen to twice.. sheeeesh... (if you missed it.. you can see it at this youtube link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uWCTeIv-Tc )

So...who did YOU vote for - or who did you like? The Finnish commentators here, seemed rather shocked about some of the obvious block voting...especially the lady commentor, but that is how it goes, each region likes similar things...as well as using tactical voting of course.

I liked France.. and I also liked Greece.. but I supposed that their government didn't really want to have to win, what with finances as they are... probably just as well for the UK too... but I also really liked CYPRUS... and think it was the best natural song of the show.. but heck.. Eurovision is not about the best song winning is it???

CONGRATULATIONS TO GERMANY! Quirky lyrics, but very catchy!
Quite Lily Allen like in many respects...

Question... which song mentioned above.. sadly didn't ever win eurovision?

Copyright InformationAll content, unless otherwise noted, is © ArcticRainbow and may not be reproduced in any form without express permission from the author, except for credited links directly to articles or to the main site. (I don't bite...just ask!) :D

Off Topic - Wanted - English Arcus Arcanum Tarot Deck

2010-05-29T01:56:00.004+03:00

Just on the off chance that one of the 'followers' on this blog can help, I thought I would mention here, that I am on the look out for this particular Tarot Deck. I missed out on it recently, only finding it after it was sold on a Finnish auction site for ten euros. Grrr.. bad timing... oh well.

The Arcus Arcanum Tarot is on the horrid old place E-Blah...BUT it is most often in the French or German versions and I want the English one. :D

So... IF you have it...and IF you are interesting in selling it... or you see it on sale somewhere.. please do let me know!

On the otherhand if any of you have the French or German versions and can convince me that they are still worth having (eg, if the booklet only is in the French/German but the cards have English headers)... then let me know about that too please!

ThankQQQQQQQQQQ.......

Copyright InformationAll content, unless otherwise noted, is © ArcticRainbow and may not be reproduced in any form without express permission from the author, except for credited links directly to articles or to the main site. (I don't bite...just ask!) :D

Spring is FINALLY here in Sodankylä!

2010-05-24T22:35:00.015+03:00

Last week, Spring FINALLY arrived to us here in Sodankylä, Lapland.

Everything started to melt some while back, just a little, on and off.. but then last week, the temperatures rose dramatically and in a rather unseasonal early way.. zooming up to +25c ! It's a good month early!

The sky was a beautiful blue, the sun shone and of course, shone all day long...even when hidden behind clouds intermittently, it remained light and lighter into the nights...which are now reaching up to midnight. It was wonderful to have windows open, even if we do have to have mesh over them to keep insects out and our cats in!

The trees immediately by our house were just beginning to go green...so nice to see!

What snow was left, melted gradually away and remnants disappeared.... :D SPRING!

These photos were taken last week.. the first at:

8.30pm

The second a day later...at 11.30pm (YES, nearly midnight!)

The deciduous trees, all sprung into action, deep from their winter slumbers.. and all recognised the call within days of each other.. I find that action in unison quite amazing... As the image at the top of this blog shows, the leaves were opening and uncurling. Sodankylä is now GREEN and I have grass growing! :D

Its amazing to think that what was once like this..

is now this... :D

Of course Spring (and also Autumn infact) are generally very quick seasons up here.. and it will soon be what I describe as 'The Clapping Season'. Clapping season? = Summer!

That is when Lapland is FULL of a million new friends...and I don't mean tourists...I mean MOSQUITOES! I am hoping though, that as the opening start to Spring was so hot, that there will less this year, for when the bogs and marshlands are kept wet, long after the melts, the mosquitoes thrive, thrive, thrive! We shall see...I have seen a few around already!

The weather lasted a good week, but of course, nothing stays the same forever and this last couple of days have been rather over cast, damp and horrid... food to fuel the savage wee beasties... Hopefully the sun will be back soon!

Here is an interesting link to the YLE Finnish news website.. about our unseasonally early warm days! Although it does point out that as yet, you wouldn't want to be swimming in any Lappish lakes.. Brrrrr... :D
http://www.yle.fi/uutiset/news/2010/05/heat_wave_warms_inland_waters_1702015.html

GOODBYE SNOW... see you in late October/early November!!

Copyright InformationAll content, unless otherwise noted, is © ArcticRainbow and may not be reproduced in any form without express permission from the author, except for credited links directly to articles or to the main site. (I don't bite...just ask!) :D

May the 4th be with you... (off topic)

2010-05-04T22:15:00.003+03:00

HAPPY STAR WARS DAY!

(( A perfect day for heavy breathing and getting away with it! :D ))

I LOVE STAR WARS! All hail, the Church of Jedi!

Happy May Day - Beltane - Hyvää Vapunpäivää

2010-05-01T23:37:00.013+03:00

Whatever you celebrate at this time of year, I hope you have had a great time!

My sons have gone off to Rovaniemi to be with the girlies for the weekends...as it's full on carnival spirit this weekend in Finland. Vappu is one of the two main holidays in Finland. It is a celebration of Finnish Workers’ Day plus the celebration of Spring. With my boys away.. this is our first weekend alone for.. oooohhhh... twenty years??? LOL.. YIPPEE.... we can carnival too!

Spring is my favourite season. Having said that, I miss the colourful nature of a British Spring. Currently, here, the snows are gradually melting, the outside of my home is clear of snow.. but the playarea and the forest next to my house is full still. However, the snow that is still here, is changing in its density and so its not good to be on!

Having said that.. the snowfall is still coming ..on and off..even last night it snowed for a while, then turned to rain. (Fortunately rain is not something I see much of, so I didn't mind it so much!)

This is how it was.. (Yuck!)

Now it is all gone... (Yay!)

Daylight is increasing and very, very soon it will be 24 hour daylight again! It's a wonderful, yet strange phenomenon and it's already playing havoc with my sleep routines. It's getting dark-ish but even at midnight the sky is only a mid blue, not navy black. It is light again by 3.30am. So, not much night going on at all. It will not be long until the Moon and stars will not be visible at all.

Its a shame that I have to give up the celestial bodies to gain some sunlight and warmth! Oh well, such is life. Meteorological conditions here being what they are.... I am blessed.

I am now turning my face to the Sun and I am smiling at the rays of the future.....

Happy May Day! :D

Read more about:

Beltane
May Day
Vappu

Copyright InformationAll content, unless otherwise noted, is © ArcticRainbow and may not be reproduced in any form without express permission from the author, except for credited links directly to articles or to the main site. (I don't bite...just ask!) :D

Sacred Mämmi Finnish Easter Food

2010-04-05T14:20:00.020+03:00

Mämmi is a traditional Easter dessert dish in Finland. The Swedish also eat it, but it is called Memma there. Although not seen so often on Easter postcards these days, in decades gone by it was quite favoured as an illustration of Finnish culture. I have dotted throughout this blog some vintage Mämmi postcards.

Mämmi is one of those dishes that you either love or you hate. Actually, I personally have not found many Finns who really love it, although I know they are out there!

I remember a few years ago, I was stood in the supermarket buying it for the second year on the trot. A Finnish man I knew was stood in line behind me and pointed out my Mämmi box in my trolley with excitement. 'Aha!' he said 'So...you are buying our unique Mämmi! Have you tried it before?' I think that he thought I was trying it for the first time and didn't know what I was letting myself in for! He showed quite a shocked expression when I replied that Yes, I had certainly tried it before. 'Oh!.. Do you like it?' he asked further. When I said yes, he replied that I had truly become Finnish if I did! LOL.. However, when I asked him, if he liked it, he screwed up his face and said... 'Me? Oh no!' I don't like it at all! ROFL!!! The fact is that Mämmi is a bit of a cultural joke by product and that is mainly down to how it looks.

Mämmi, it has to be said, does not look nice at all. In fact it looks like the contents of something rather unsavoury connected with babies! :D Lets put it this way.. there is a joke that goes.. A foreigner is offered a bowl of Mämmi whereupon they are so shocked at the sight of it they blurt out: "You Finns, you seem to eat your food twice!" Hmmmm..... IF you can get past what it looks like and the feel of it in your mouth, then you will have made a large step into understanding Finnish culture and food habits! My best and nicest description would be that it looks like chocolate brown thick sticky and stodgy porridge!

Mämmi takes so long to prepare that few people bother to make it themselves these days. It is easier to go to the supermarket and buy it ready made! However, if you have the right ingredients and a fair dose of patience.. then you can make it yourself. I imagine that Finns that crave it and who live abroad simply have to do this... I cannot imagine it being on sale in any other country! If it is.. please tell me, I'd love to know!

Manufactured Mämmi is easily found in the shops during Easter, sold fresh or frozen. It is made from water, rye flour and powdered rye malt, seasoned with molasses, salt and dried orange peel, which has been ground to a powder. The mixture has a long slow, laborious cooking process, whereupon the contents naturally sweeten. It can take several hours to do and after baking in the oven, it should be chilled for up to four days! Then and only then, is it ready to eat. Hence why people just buy it from the shops!

Prior to the mass manufacture of Mämmi, home made versions were stored in rectangular containers crafted from weaved Tuohi, (Birch bark). These boxes were called Tuokkonen.

Finnish manufactures still remember these boxes in their presentation. Although the containers are now made of cardboard, the design is that of Birch tree bark. This year I noticed that individual mini portions were on the market also. In fact I sent a couple of those back to the UK, when my Mum returned. I wonder what they made of it! LOL!

Most people eat Mämmi cold and whilst it can be eaten as is... most Finns would encourage you to add some cream and sugar! Some people also eat it as a spread, set on top of bread. I don't fancy that myself. I keep it as a dessert. I have also read that some Finns mix the Mämmi into semi softened vanilla ice-cream and have Mämmi ice-cream - which doesn't sound so bad. Some also mix it with Maitorahka which is a curd cheese like Quark and have Mämmirahka, but I don't think I fancy that at all!

Mämmi lasts some time in my house, being that I am the only one that will actually eat it! I can't say that it is my most favourite dessert on the planet, but I do like to have some at Easter. You should see the lads faces when I am eating it. My elder son, turned to see me eating some yesterday and simply shook his head in disgust! LOL!

I am not alone in liking it though. The Finnish society Martat occasionally run food courses on how to make it. www.uudenmaanmartat.fi There is also a spring time beer containing Mämmi, (although Mämmi is probably only a small part of the process) Laitilan Kievari Mämmi - produces up to five versions. It's available via ALKO the government run monopoly alcohol shop of Finland. http://www.alko.fi/tuotteet/fi/777826 and it's like most things in Finland.. expensive at 3.94 euros per half litre bottle.

Mämmi was also highlighted in the last few years by a North African man, now a Finnish citizen - Ahmed Ladarsi, who first fell in love with it in the late 1970s when someone gave it to him as a joke. He created the first ever book of Mämmi, which tells of it's traditions and history, along with eighty - yes 80 recipes of his own! It is in Finnish of course but if you are interested, its ISBNs are ISBN-13: 9789524941709 and ISBN-10: 9524941708.

It is priced between 30-35euros. Yes, books are indeed horrendously expensive in Finland! I found this recipe (from his book) in this interesting Finnish recipe blog http://mammituokkonen.blogspot.com/2010/03/mammi-pizza-mammipitsa.html and it is in English for those curious enough to look! Note the name of the blog - Mämmi and Tuokkonen! I have to say, that I would NEVER have considered Mämmi for pizza!

Mämmi has however, been around for centuries, it has been claimed to have been eaten since the 13th century but definitely before the reformation and has certainly been discovered in 16th century Latin texts. Some scholars have said that it can be traced back to medieval Germany but that it came this far north on religious crusades.

Daniel Juslenius, a theology professor from Turku described Mämmi in the year 1700 "It is true that it has a blackish colour, but is unusually sweet and is eaten at Easter in memory of unleavened dough."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Juslenius

The method of making Mämmi has not changed much over the years as can be told from this guideline published in 1751 by Professor P. Gadd, also from Turku: "One part of rye flour, two parts ground rye malt, which sweeten in hot water, place in the Birch bark container and cook in the oven with mild temperature for 6-7 hours."

As an Easter food, it was originally eaten during Lent. Purification and purging were the required element in those days and Mämmi served its purpose two fold, in that it had a laxative effect on the consumer and kept long enough for them to not have to be cooking over Easter Friday, when many activities were banned. Lighting a fire was not possible....so Mämmi became the Easter bread. It's lack of acidity was favoured also.

If you would like to try making your own Mämmi, here is a recipe! Enjoy!

6 Litres Water
1/2 kg Rye Malt
1.5 kg Rye Flour
Molasses to taste
1-2 Teaspoon Salt
4 Tablespoons Grated orange rind/zest, previously dried and ground to a powder.
Syrup

Method
Mix 500g of Malt with 1 litre of tepid water and put a thick layer of Rye flour onto its surface. Cover and leave it in a warm place for two hours. Sift the remaining malt and flour together. Uncover the pot and mix thoroughly. Add 1 litre of boiling water. Cover the surface with another layer of the Malt-Flour mix. Cover again and leave the mixture in a warm place for an hour. Repeat until all the ingredients are used up. Finally add the salt and dried orange zest powder, boiling together for 10 minutes, stir well all the time. Give the mixture a final beating and fill the ovenproof container that the Mämmi will be served in. Bake at 150°c for three hours. Remove, cool and then refrigerate for a good couple of days.

Here endeth the Easter sermon on Finland's sacred Mämmi!

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All content, unless otherwise noted, is © ArcticRainbow and may not be reproduced in any form without express permission from the author, except for credited links directly to articles or to the main site. (I don't bite...just ask!) :D

Easter Creative Activities for children...and adults!

2010-04-04T02:28:00.019+03:00

Other than decorating Willow branches (vitsat), activities at Easter time in Finland, include painting or decorating with paper, empty chicken egg shells (Pääsiäismunat) etc.

Tiimari is the favourite arts and crafts store here in Finland and the images shown of eggs are from their website. Often the eggs have been decorated by cutting up the very fancy paper serviettes we have here and glueing them on. Lovely!

You can view the Tiimari Easter brochure here. It's interactive, so you can turn the pages! http://www.tiimari.fi/stc/lehti/paasiainen2010/

Children also like making easter figures of a rabbit (Pääsiäispupu) and chicks (Pääsiäistipu).. and believe it or not..they love growing grass!

Well, at this time of the year, especially up here in the Arctic, there is not much grass around.. only snow.. so growing your own, on the kitchen window sill, is the perfect opportunity to remind us of fresh growth. Special packets of grass are sold in most shops. When my Mum went back home after her recent holiday, I sent a packet back with her for my youngest niece to try. I bet they found it rather odd, especially as there is lots of grass everywhere in the U.K.

With the internet at the end of pretty much everyones fingers, this generation of young children can also play online Easter games, like this one.. where they can decorate a chick by deciding on the colour palette!
http://www.perhekerho.net/lapsille/moonan_varityskirja_paasiainen.htm

Click the link below to reach a larger version of this Easter image.. to print out and colour the old fashioned way! :D

http://www.perhekerho.net/askartelu/k_pa/p_paasiainen_11.htm

Of course, Easter is not just for the children... creative adults will buy or make a wicker wreath and decorate it for their front door. They will decorate their homes with lots of fresh or even fake flowers, eggs etc.. its a favourite time of year for many. Here are a few examples, that I have found on the web.

I made one myself this year..filled with lots of beautiful pastel coloured feathers! I love it! It's on my front door! :D

I hope that these Finnish Easter ideas, might spawn some creativity in your house for what is left of this - or for the coming Eastertides....

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All content, unless otherwise noted, is © ArcticRainbow and may not be reproduced in any form without express permission from the author, except for credited links directly to articles or to the main site. (I don't bite...just ask!) :D

The days of Finnish Easter week and old cultural beliefs

2010-04-01T17:45:00.002+03:00

The Finnish Easter of yesteryear birthed many ancient and quirky customs, some that continue to this day. The whole week surrounding Easter, is one historically of religious remberance - of torment and suffering..but also with a healthy dose of pagan folklore and old Finnish culture. The so-called 'Quiet Week' was also called Kiirasviikko (The week of the Kiira) - see Thursday for more info. Each day of the week has it own particular name and custom. However these days, most modern Finns no longer observe these rituals and probably do not even know about them. These daily titles come from real days of yore!

Palmusunnuntai is Palm Sunday - which is the christian remembrance of Jesus riding to Jerusalem, with people cheering, taking his hand and walving palm branches along his path. This celebration has left a legacy with the Virpominen willow boughs as described in my last blog. Spring Willow branches symbolise the victory from death and also new life. This stems even from pre-christian paganism.

Malkamaanantai is Easter Monday. Milk is the subject of the suffering Christ, the time of Jesus's arrest in Gethsemane and St. Peter's denial. In Finnish folklore, if sheep were sheared on Easter Monday it was said that their wool would grow abundantly. This also was said to be true for girls that cut their hair that day.. that it would grow faster. How the two link... I do not know!

Tikkutiistai is Easter Tuesday (although it literally translates as stick tuesday!) Why? Well, because people used to carve special Spring sticks like matches, to burn in the Easter fires for good luck on that day and the forthcoming year. These matches could also be set along the slots in the wall to prevent any evil trolls (trulli in Finnish) from entering the house. Religiously, this day remembers Jesus and Pilate in front of the Council.

Kellokeskiviikko is Easter Wednesday (translating as Bells Wednesday) because bells were put on cattle as protection, to scare away any possible evil energy that visited at Easter. This day also remembers Jesus' condemnation.

Kiirastorstai is Easter Thursday (and technically it is Cleaning Thursday) although also Holy or Maundy Thursday. The name of Cleaning Thursday originates from the Bible incident where Jesus washed his disciples' feet on his last Thursday. However, in Finnish folklore the people of Finland believed that the Kiira was a malicious spirit with a playful nature, that lived in the house and yard - which could face expulsion on the cleaning day. Therefore this day would be also be a time to make lots of noise whist cleaning, so that evil spirit would go away and stay away. I think the Kiira would be known as a Brownie spirit to those in the UK.

Good Friday is known in Finland as Pitkäperjantai (which literally translates as Long Friday!) is the day that Jesus' suffering, crucifixion and death are remembered. In the old days it would be a fasting day also.

Easter Saturday is known as Lankalauantai (Thread Saturday). This day remembers Jesus in the grave and the grave itself. Folklore held the belief that all the evil forces were on the move on this day and there was some element about Witches harrassing goodfolk with twisted yarns - hence it's name. Spinning was prohibited.

These two days in old folkore were apparently classified as the worst possible days of the year! This was especially probably the case for children who lived in some parts of western Finland, because the tradition was that they were whipped at dawn on Good Friday in remembrance of Christ's suffering! How awful! Glad that one stopped!

Belief was that this was when evil was afoot, because Jesus was in his tomb at that time and evil was free to do as it wished. In really old days, no one did anything on these days. They did not light a fire, cook, visit friends or family.. or even leave their homes for a second. However they would set and light many large bonfires in advance of these days, left to burn in remote areas, by the edge of rivers etc.. to enchant the evil away from populated areas. They also observed a rule to not eat forbidden foods such as milk and cream - I presume because of Malkamaanantai, when Milk was the significant object portraying the suffering of Jesus.

Pääsiässunnuntai (Easter Sunday) also known as Pälkkä-pääsiäinen, brought some relief I expect... and yet it too came with its own omens and form of divination for the coming year. It was said that whatever creature or animal one saw on the morning of Easter, would be the same personality or trait that they would endure for the year. For example, if you saw a rabbit you would be fertile, a cow lazy, a horse strong, a fox cunning etc. Religion called for this to be the day when that curious Finnish food Mämmi would be eaten. Mämmi was classed, in generations gone by, as the non acid Easter bread. Jewish acidity had been a symbol of evil at that time, so the acidic removal from the Easter diet was then classed as important. These days Mämmi is kept purely as a dessert! (I will be running a blog on Mämmi soon!)

It was also believed that should the sun dance at dawn on the morning of Easter that the coming of spring could be celebrated along with the resurrection. People would go out and watch sunrise from as high a spot as possible. This is the day for eating Easter foods such as Mämmi, Pasha and chocolate, especially in the form of eggs (known for celebrating new life for aeons!) that either the Easter Chicken/Cock or the Rabbit brings.

Easter Monday is called Toinen Pääsiäispäivä the second day of Easter, also known as Pääsiäismaanantai and the resurrection is celebrated also. Just like the friday, it is a general holiday.

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All content, unless otherwise noted, is © ArcticRainbow and may not be reproduced in any form without express permission from the author, except for credited links directly to articles or to the main site. (I don't bite...just ask!) :D

Virvon, Varvon - virpominen rhymes for Easter

2010-03-29T22:14:00.016+03:00

Sunday was Palm Sunday - also known here as Palmusunnuntai, Virposunnuntai or Virpomissunnuntai and on that day, many Finns practice Virpominen.

Virpominen was originally an old Karelian Easter tradition, which later absorbed into the Finnish Easter Witch tradition.

During Virpomissunnuntai, one can expect that little Witches will appear at the front door, offering the blessings of good health and prosperity for the year ahead - for a small fee of course!

The Witches carry with them - often in a wicker basket - an array of decorated branches of budding Willow. They will have twisted, tied or glued on to these all manner of colourful dyed feathers, pipe-cleaners (to look like caterpillars), strips of tissue paper or crepe paper, little chicks and little eggs.

They will first ask if you would like your home to receive a blessing. Once you say yes, they recite their 'Virpomisloruja' blessing and as all Witches know, blessings and spells are best said in rhyme! This is no different.

Depending on the region of Finland that you are in and whether you are male or female, the version will subtly change. There are many many versions. Some rhymes are very, very old.. some are very long, with much poetry - colourfully wishing you a bigger home, prosperity, God in your soul, forthcoming easter eggs and some really old rhymes even mention something for about your cow!

Today, as it is generally young children who visit in the guise of Witches, the rhyme is more brief. This is what the Witches have said to me all the past six Easters that I have been here. It's the shorter version and I believe, the most popular:

Virvon, Varvon! (These words indicate the Witch is waving their willow switch!)
Tuoreeks, Terveeks (Fresh, Healthy -)
Tulevaks, Vuodeks! (- Forthcoming Year!)
Vitsa sulle! (Twig for you!)
Palkka mulle? (Reward for me?)

Compare that loru to this much older one... I showed this to my friend Minna and she asked "Where did you find this? This is certainly a much older fashioned one. I know only the shorter version!" This gives a little credence to my opinion that much older historical and 'flouncy' Finnish cultural texts are being gradually lost. A shame really... She helped fully translate it for me.. as some parts were rather weird!

Virvon, varvon! (These words indicate the Witch is waving their willow switch!)
tuoreeks, terveeks (Fresh Healthy -)
tulevaks! Sunntaiks muna. (- Future! Sunday Egg)
Vitsat teille! (Twig for you)
Muna meille? (Egg for us)
Voilusikka lehmästäis, (Butter spoon for your cow)
Kaakkutaikinastais! (for your Cake pastry!)
Virvon varvon vitsasella (Waving, waving of the twig)
Rikkaaks, rakkaaks, (May you be rich, loved -)
Ison talon isännäks.(- the landlord of a big house)
Viikoksi velkaa, (The weekly debts -).
Vuuveksi vappaata, (- be yearly free of)
Sinulle vitsa! Minulle palkka! (Twig for you, reward for me)
Annotko munan vai markan? (Do you give egg or Markka?) (the old currency)
Kilteiksi pienet piimäsuut! (Small buttermilk mouths (kids!) be nice or well behaved).

Funny eh ... how things change!

I always make up small bags of treats for my visitors. These are the main sweets I put in, but I add others too.

Some people give a small egg, some give biscuits or make some small cakes. It's become so that sometimes people offer money... but I prefer not to do that. I'll put the blessing twigs I have 'paid for' in water and a few weeks later, I'll have lovely willow catkins in my kitchen! :D

We had lots of snow overnight on Saturday... about six or seven inches.. (the car had to be dug out again!) The weather had been appalling, literally chucking it down most of the day. Here is Mark during a brief respite of snowstorm.. during just one dig out that day!

Whether this was the reason for less Witchy callers this year or not, I don't know. (One would imagine snow would be the one thing that Finns were used to.. but it was horrid out there!) Perhaps the previous Witches have grown up and out of the tradition or just moved locality. I only had the door bell ring three times on sunday with a total of six Witches (normally it is more than double that!) My friend Minna was late getting back from out of town because of the snow, so could not call by with her daughter, who is four this year. It was to be her first ever Virvon Varvon. Oh well.. I shalln't complain that some sweets are left over... (Wicked Witchy Grin!)

My first Witch this year, was another little darling, who was taking part in Virpominen for the very first time. She is only a little over two years old. She is a real sweetie! She came dressed as a puppy dog apparently because she told Mummy that the Witchy headscarf was itchy. Bless!

You can see how bad the snow was behind her in this picture! She is holding her palkka/reward. I made a special bag for her, with softer sweets as she is so young.

She had made 'with Mummy' a lovely vitsa, covered with feathers, little chicks and eggs....I don't normally get something so well decorated!

The other Witchy visitors, were two boys.. one was a Witch and the other was Batman I thought.. but I guess he could have been a Witches black cat! :D

Then there were two more Witches and a cute Easter bunny.

Today, Minna's daughter visited to do her Virvon Varvon after playschool. She was, this year, the only one in the traditional style, wearing a shawl and headscarf. The local Tiimari store is now selling Witchy black hats..so there are more of those now. In some ways thats a little sad, but its a sign of the times I guess. I got TWO willow twigs from her... so I am doubly blessed! She was funny, as she wanted to say the phrase inside the house.. rather than on the doorstep. Really, what she wanted to do was to say hello to my huge Husky Dexter! :D I still managed to get a photo of her on the doorstep, before crossing over my threshold!

As you might be able to see, her twig already has some blooming catkins! Yaaay! Spring!

I have a few blogs to leave this week, with regards to Easter or Pääsiäinen so keep do come back soon!

Just in case you missed them.. here are a couple of links to last years Easter blogs.
http://arcticrainbow.blogspot.com/2009/04/witchy-easter-to-you-hyvaa-paasiasta.html
http://arcticrainbow.blogspot.com/2009/04/easter-food-in-finland.html

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Spring?????

2010-03-08T15:10:00.004+02:00

My mother comes to visit soon. (and NO..that is NOT her above!!!) My Mum arrives on Thursday. I had told her that March could be a bit of a funny month, weatherwise, with the change over of seasons beginning to start. I told her to be ready for a bit of ice and sugar-snow (where the snow hardens with a crust on the outside but has lost density within - causing one to go through it with ease as you lay foot pressure on it!)

Last week however we had ooodles of snow. At least two nights on the trot, we had about 12 inches of snow. Having cleared the front of the house on Tuesday night, on Wednesday morning, the car had to be dug out again! Normally this sort of weather is the claim of February.

On February 2nd, (Groundhog Day in America) Punxsutawney Phil of Gobblers Knob, Pennsylvania Seer of Seers, Prognosticator of all Prognosticators, saw his shadow and therefore predicted six more weeks of winter! Oh no!! I thought... maybe he was wrong..and anyway, surely that is just for the USA? It would seem that he was right though - and for Finland too perhaps! :D (YES that IS him shown above...LOL!)

Today, the weather has been manic. First of all, there was RAIN! (Haven't seen that phenomenon for months!) then HAILSTONES - biguns too! Then snow, then a snowstorm! Now, the skies are clear and glorious sunshine and -2!

Here is a video of the snowstorm! Entitled SPRING!

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Kakslauttanen Husky Farm trip

2010-02-28T22:44:00.028+02:00

Yesterday afternoon, we went on a drive further north - 125 snowy kilometres to the Kakslauttanen Husky farm in the Saariselkä region.

My younger son had to get some paperwork signed there, for a possible work experience contract. He speaks fluent Finnish and has the required addition of English, needed for tourists, so it's ideal for him.

If the local employment and economic development office employment and economic development accept the documents when he visits them later on this week, then he will be set to start working there for the next three months. His dream type of work too. He simply loves dogs. He helped his dad when he was younger (about 12 years old) when my husband was working at another husky farm. For both of them, there is nothing finer in life than being with a dog. They both speak dog fluently!

Anyway.. I thought that some photographs would be agreeable! :D

Joyously c-c-c-c-cold at around -15 to -20ish... with ice on the inside of the car window as usual! :D This is the sort of view on the road...

And this is the ICE! :D

To get to Kakslauttanen means crossing the border from Finnish Lapland to Saami Lapland.

This is just a little of the husky farm's surrounding...its really very big and is home to around 200 dogs including the puppies! Much larger than the one that my husband worked at before.

After signing the documents, we were shown around and I got to take some snapshots of the dogs! :D

Most of the dogs have their own little dog houses and are on long chains next to them.. but there are younger puppies that are kept under different conditions, in large, secure cages. They are the first dogs you see as you enter.

Lots of cute little faces, peering out at you!

This is Clyde - (partner of Bonnie of course) He is about two or three months old. Look at the size of those paws! I think he is going to be a BIG boy!

And here he is with Bonnie!

The cages also have an outer cage so that when the handler goes in to feed them, should one escape, they do not get very far. Simple, but very necessary!!

There is one very small and undersized puppy, which is black and white in these images. His white brother and sisters are much larger and he almost gets lost! For this reason, he is being fed separately, as you can see in the photo above - to give him the best chance possible. SO cute! He has his little head stuck firmly in the food bucket!! :D

The layout of the farm after that, is simplistically well organised and very clever. In the other farm that my husband was at, there was a lot of lugging of dog food, back and forth between kennels. Here, the dogs are all in rows, with avenues between them. The food is delivered by ski-doo (snowmobile) in winter and probably a mönkijä (ATV/Quad-bike) in summer, when the snow gives way to mud!

**One interesting and somewhat relevant side note is that the ski-doo was originally meant to be called the ski-dog designed to be a practical replacement for the dogsled. However, during an oversight the prototype painter misinterpreted the name and painted Doo, instead of Dog on the first one - and it stuck! Quite funny really!**

The avenues of dogs are home to groups of dogs. If they work together in a team, they live close to each other. When the doghandlers organise the teams for sled treks, the layouts are marked with names and in different colours. The colours denoting what colour/size harnesses they wear. Simple but ingenious and makes the dog handlers life much easier I would imagine!

Doesn't he look a handsome brute!

Having got a Husky myself, I can attest to the fact that they LOVE to be on top of things! Especially their dog kennel! I think this one must be female, she looks so elegant and refined! Like a Queen on her Kennel.

These are the type of sled (this one is empty of course!) that the huskies are hooked up to.

My son came away a happy lad and looking forward to getting stuck in. It will seem very strange to have one of 'my own puppies' living away from home...but he is growing up and I have to 'let go' a little, as his Mum. Kids grow up SO quickly!

Here are some links for you!
http://www.huskyfarm.fi/
http://www.kakslauttanen.fi/winter_kakslauttanen_specialities.php

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Cultural differences Pancake Day - Laskiaistiistai

2010-02-16T19:21:00.005+02:00

To celebrate Shrove Tuesday or Laskiaistiistai as it is called in Finland, we have had a bit of Finnish Shrove Tuesday'isms and also part British.

In Finland the tradition is to have Laskiainen pulla (buns)... with cream and jam - served a bit like a scone (but nowhere near so nice as scones are) the bun is more bread like. Then Finns also serve a traditional Pea soup.

We didn't have the buns today, but did have the Pea soup. We really like that but I have to admit to cheating. We buy it tinned! It comes condensed and once reconstituted, we have it with some chopped ham topping. This is known as Hernekeitto.

Here is a link for Finnish Shrove Tuesday recipes!

http://www.finnguide.fi/calendar/shrovrec.asp

Wikipedia tells that the origin of the word Laskiainen is derived propably from latin "carne lasciare" ("leaving the meat out", as the fast began on ash wednesday). It also is celebrated in a carnival like manner, as most of the schools and universities end the days teaching at midday and the students and children wil go out and find a hill or anyplace you can slide down something where they gather to play in the snow. In cities with universities the university students usualy have a big party in the evening.

After our Pea soup, we had the best bit!! Lemon pancakes! My sons girlfriend, who is Finnish, definitely gave the Brit version the thumbs up. She couldnt believe that something so simple tasted so good. :D She ate three.. and this is a teenage girl that doesnt normally eat so much! :D Praise indeed...

Here is my favourite recipe for pancakes - which you can also use for yorkshire pudding.. but it relys on having a Tupperware quickshake or some other shaker that is marked for 500ml of fluid.

In the body of the quickshake put:

250ml Milk
2 Eggs

Add the quickshake whisk gadget and the lid and shake.
Reopen and then add plain flour right up as far as you can go - no measuring.
Put the lid back on and shake thoroughly.

Thats it!!! So easy, simple and CLEAN!!!

Happy Pancake Days... :D

And in case any non english are reading this.. and would like to know more about British tradtions for Pancake day and more.. here are a couple of great links.

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/shrove.html
It also has a regular pancake recipe there too..for those who do not have a Tupperware Quickshake!
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/pancakeday/recipe.html

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Happy Valentines Day & Chinese New Year too!

2010-02-14T14:47:00.007+02:00

In Finland, Valentines Day is Ystävänpäivä. That literally translates as Friends Day. It is not just for lovers, it is for all to embrace their shared friendships. That's rather nice but sadly there is no real separate day for Lovers.

In fact that is VERY Finnish, to my way of thinking! LOL.. Sorry, but the Finnish, especially the men, are not generally rated at the top of the Worlds Greatest Romantics - although I am sure there are many out there! (I know of at least ONE! - Do tell me if you have one!)

Hence I find it quite hard to get a real lovey dovey card for my husband.. I always end up making one. He does quite well with his card.. but its always a blank one, so that he can write what he wants to... (ahhh...bless him!)

Anyway...
HAPPY FRIENDS DAY! Have a good one! Virtual hugs to you!

By way of a small present from me, here is a pretty snowy image I took recently with my new camera! Taken outside my house, a close up shot through the trees. Enjoy!

Did you know that today is also the Chinese New Year? Can't be good for Chinese restaurants this year financially with both popular events on one day, they dip out a bit. Fortunately, the Chinese community does celebrate the New Year for FIFTEEN DAYS! :D Wow, that is some sort of celebration eh? Cool! So, I expect they will make up for it.

I hope it is an auspicious year for us all, Chinese or not!
Terveisiä Kiinalaisille! Onnea!

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A newly resident blogpuss pet cat!

2010-01-26T00:54:00.008+02:00

As a big cat lover, I just could not resist adding the new widget that you can see over on the left hand side of the blog. Maukie also looks very much like Mojo one of my own cats! I thought he was adorable and great fun. I hope that whenever you visit my blog, you will pet the ArcticRainbow blogpuss and get pleasure from his interactiveness! :D

Here is a photo of my cat Mojo! Both he and my other cats have been rather bemused by Maukie!!! He likes mice...especially e-mice, so runs yours over him now... he miaows, purrs and plays! :D

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What to wear in Lapland - for WINTER

2010-01-09T22:08:00.012+02:00

This is a question I get asked often, so I thought that I would run a blog on this, both now for the Winter and also another during the Summer. As they obviously aren't the same! :D

The main thing to remember is that creating several layers of thinner clothing is generally far rather better than wearing something really bulky over something thin. Unless you have a canada goose expedition parka - which is the ultimate (if expensive) coat you can get imho! My husband invested in one last year and can't rate it highly enough! He is out in the snow a lot though...

It's been a 'Damn it's cold!' week here this week, the warmest being -20c and the coldest -33 - with everyone either saying Brrr!! (English) or Hrrrr!! (Finnish). Still, we are not even in the coldest part of the year.. that is to come in February, but it has been darn cold. My poor husband has to work in a unit that has doors always part way open.. so in the winter like this he freezes at work! Don't know if that is legal or not.. but there you go! Fortunately Wednesday the 6th was a national holiday, for the last day of Christmas, so he got a day to keep warmer at home!

I walked to town the other day and it was -20c. My friend Amel walked to my house, coming from the other direction, the following day and it was then -26c. That extra minus factor makes a lot of difference, I can tell you.

This is what I wore when I walked to town over my own normal underwear.

Thermal underwear - top
Long sleeved thick tshirt type top
Cowl neck jumper

Thermal underwear - full length leggings, mine are quite thick actually
Short leggings over the top of the leggings
Pair of jeans

Pair of knee high type pop socks which again are fairly thick
Pair of loose top socks
Pair of thick socks over the top of these, similar to fishermans socks - although mine are hand knitted and brightly coloured! :D

Thick fleece type hat
Fleece type fingered gloves
Knitted mittens over the top of the gloves
Scarf
My good ol' trusty mid length coat

One would think that I would not be able to walk with all that lot on, but it's not bad at all! The only part of me that was actually talking to me was my face - or at least my cheeks - and my knees!

You may have noticed that I was wearing two layers on my hands. Why? Well, fingered gloves are great for having the use of your fingers still, but alone - the heat gets lost out of them very easily. Having another layer all around the hand, with a mitt, makes the world of difference and your hands stay toasty warm. When needed you can slip off the mitt and use warm fingers (still with the fingered glove on) to do what you need them to!

Protection for your face is also vital. If you are going to be out and about much in the cold and the snow, try using a good old fashioned basic such as Vaseline/Petroleum jelly. If you wear make-up (like me) then put a good lot on your skin prior to 'putting on your war-paint' and after a few minutes wipe the surface of your skin with a small towel to remove the excess. Not only does it keep your skin protected, it keeps it supple and gives you a dewy fresh look! :D Of course it also takes care of your lips and eyelashes too! Waterproof mascara is the better option too, as eyes tend to run naturally in the cold and actually, when it's really cold, eyelashes will freeze and go white! (Quite cool looking actually...in more ways than one LOL!)

Like this from Amels blog. This is what happened to her when she visited me.

Another thing to mention is that wearing jeans in the snowy environment is fine if you do not intend to be playing snow games! If you ARE going to be in and out of the snow, then your jeans will be useless - if they get wet, they stay wet and will freeze on you..so that is a definite no-no. Really then you need to have a pair padded of ski salopettes or all in one type of padded outfits. Again, even with these you do generally need some layers of other thermals and clothes etc on underneath. Eyewear is paramount for those sort of activities, either ski goggles or glasses specific for the environment.

The main thing to remember is that once you are cold out in the snow, it is very hard to warm up, so wearing more than you need is vital.. you can always take something off!

Other extra little things you can buy are ear warmer headbands, ear muffs or even earbags (these are like little ovals that you hook over your ears - they look a wee bit like a mini french beret for each ear!) Then you wear your hat. This place sells them, but you can make your own.

Worried about slipping? That is a natural concern. One that I TOTALLY understand, having slipped during my first winter here. I actually broke my elbow then, so it made me very cautious afterwards!

During the deep winter, the snow here is quite dry and often so dry it is hard to make a snowball with - let alone a snowman! As long as you have good winter boots, with a good tread, you should be okay. However, at the start (Oct/Nov) and the end (Mar/Apr) of the winter season, we generally have lots (and I mean LOTS) of rock hard ice - several inches thick at that. It's caused because the snow melts and refreezes so much during the seasonal changes and it really builds up. Not nice at all.. everything resembles a skating rink!

Then I put on my wonderful Yaktrax. These are a very simple, but innovatively designed piece of footwear that everyone should own. As the weather gets worse yearly in the UK - these will become more of a godsend than you could ever of imagined! They simply hook over the shoe you are wearing and grip to the snow and ice with the wiring underneath. I cannot recommend them highly enough!

Recently in the newspaper, the ran an article about what to wear to keep warm in winter when out and about. They interviewed a few people and asked what they would wear at -10c and then again at -35... and as you can see, they were all out on the same day but with completely different ideas of what to keep warm in! Interesting. If I recall, they all said they had their thermals on... the young girls were in and out of shops so didn't want to swelter...fair enough I guess, but I do hope they had a hat in their bag somewhere! You cannot NOT have a hat!!

The last guy is certainly toasty warm. In fact you see quite a few people wearing stuff like this here, especially the older generation. Not so many qualms about fur here.....but it's not for me though!

This is what the newspaper suggested.

So, whatever you wear...I hope you will now wear it warmly in Lapland!

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Totally off topic, just to have that feel good factor!

2010-01-04T20:14:00.003+02:00

The first youtube video is of one of my most favourite songs. It hits the spot everytime I listen to it.. from way back in 1976, The Isley Brothers, with Harvest for the World

And then this fantastic Black Eyed Peas and Oprah Winfrey video that my friend Amel sent me today.. truly a feel good vibe to it. It all starts with the one lady at the front...if you have a look on youtube, you will see several versions of this, but this has more clarity of sound. Others show the wave effect a bit better.. but its a great 'Happy New Year' worthly type of video.

Hope they pick you up! If it does, please comment!

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HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

2010-01-01T02:43:00.014+02:00

So, it is here, it is all new, it is fresh, it is vibrant and full of hope. 2010.

Breathe a sigh of relief, 2009 is dead, defunct and sacked. :D

This is a new day, new month, new year, new decade. Goodbye to the decade of the 'Naughties'! :D My goodness where has a decade gone? I can still clearly remember bringing in the Millennium and all that went with it, the expected Millennium bug etc... Ten whole years.. gone.

My boys have grown up ten whole years, I have changed my life and my homestead and I sit here wondering where the next ten will take me and my family. I hope that they don't go so fast!

2009, if I am honest was not such a nice year for me. Well, it was a mixture of blessings and misfortunes. 2009 was the year where I worked for other people. I closed my AR business online and worked from the first week of the year till nearly the end of it. First at a local hotel, then at a relatively local Gold mine, in the office.

However, I lost two beautiful and irreplaceable friends in that year. Magick my beautiful black cat on my birthday (of all days..) and my dog Fluffy more recently. Someone said to me recently that odd numbered years do not fair so well for them....I will have to think more on that and see how it goes in future years too!

Remembered with so much Love:

Magick (image taken in 2006)

Fluffy (image taken in 2008)

I was also saddened by the sudden death of Michael Jackson....whatever your side of the fence you are on regarding MJ, his musical talent is a huge loss. I know a lot of famous people die every year, along with millions non-famous... but still it is sad to lose some great artists. Goodbye also to Karl Malden, Molly Sugden, Edward Woodward, Patrick Swayze, Farrah Fawcett, Eartha Kitt, David Carradine, Bea Arthur, Pat Hingle (Commissioner Gordon in the old Batman films) Natasha Richardson and the darling Wendy Richard amongst others.

There were of course, good points of the year though... my Mum came to visit in the summer, Steve at Christmas, my younger son finding L.O.V.E with his girlfriend. Other than that I am pleased to say that we survived another year... and as they say in The Matrix. "We are still here and we are not afraid!" :D

So - what hopes of the fresh year? Well, naturally good health for our family and pets, extended family and friends - prosperity and growth in as many directions as possible. Mentally, physically and spiritually. I would hope that I can cut down on the cynical 'alien-moi' part to my life here, as it is very hard to be a non Finn here in this land.

I stood outside this evening with a glass of home made 'Baileys' Irish Cream in hand and said to myself that I was shedding any negativity and bitterness that was in 2009 and was opening myself up to draw in the fresh positivity of 2010. I stood there enjoying the snow falling on my head and the relative quiet that this area offers with intervals of gentle fireworks. Its the one time of year that we do have them! Still not manic though and just enjoyable.

Have you made a New Years Resolution? My husbands is to get back to fitness again... and mine? Mine is to increase the amount of recycling and upcycling I can, in my craft work. Yeah, yeah, going by my photo above (taken Christmas day and processed quite roughly in sepia on my new camera and not from a wholly flattering angle!) I know it should be a resolution to lose weight but I love craft and fiddling around making stuff.. and have been drawn more and more back to it than ever before. So maybe 2010 will be a really creative year for me. Who knows, I might lose some weight at the same time? (Oh.. was that a flying pig??)

Here is something I made earlier...and sent to my Mum as part of her present. It's a heart for her Christmas tree. I try to send her something for her tree every year. I made this from teased wool. Its a technique called Needlefelting which involves poking the wool into shape with a barbed needle. This took several hours to do - but it was worth it.

Hope you had a good New Years 2010 celebration.
HAPPY NEW YEAR GUYS!

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As the season draws to a close....

2010-01-01T01:16:00.017+02:00

I have had a busy few days, as I guess you all have! We had a lovely Christmas together and to be honest it was much better than I had envisaged!

I got a couple of very unexpected pressies - and other than a couple of things not arriving in time from the UK for the lads, everything was received well by everyone!

It was a really warm day in our house, some Christmas music playing (although I know the lads hate it!) but they put up with it as I love it and I really miss British carols at Christmas. Finnish ones (Sorry Finns) just suck. They do not have the same oomph for me. I guess it is all relative. So, we had that going, the dinner cooking - a roast this year and not the Finnish Joulukinkku (Christmas Ham) but a couple of chickens. Believe me when I say that you do need at least a couple as they are very small here for some reason (and expensive at over 9euros each). Perhaps they are not pumped full of steroids? Damned tasty though! :D

Dexter, our beautiful Husky was the star of the show, as this was the first year that he was really old enough to understand that everything was very different this day. All the presents were under the tree.. and there were four for him. Three toys and one full of edible goodies. In years by, our previous dogs always had pressies and George our Border Collie would always root out his one with gusto. This year, Dexter just seemed to know what to do.. and was busy opening his squeeky bone, when 'squeak' happened and he suddenly realised what the game was! Oh he was so funny.. and then he found his other one...then another and then the food!!! Oh my! He was just such a happy bunny all day.. it was so lovely.

After we ate, the eldest son of mine slunk off (as is usual) to go play PS3 something or other. We had pulled our crackers and sat there looking silly with our hats on and were playing with the toys inside them. There was a pack of cards, so my husband and I played Snap! We had a real laugh when it got to the end of the pack when he said to me dryly... 'You didnt shuffle them then darling!' We had gone through the whole snap process and my number was concurrent to his! LOL! Derrrrr..... Then the younger son, who had said 'NO' to boring old Snap! decided that he would actually play and as is expected with such a simple game.. he actually had a laugh and enjoyed it. Then I decided to instruct him in the rules of 'Charades' We had a lot of fun with that too, almost wetting ourself at one point and he even created a new genre, TV show/Film, Play,Book etc.. and Playstation game - indicated by a wiggle of thumbs! Kids! Still.. a new generation.. new ways. I have to say that by the end of the games.. he said that whoever invented Charades should be shot! :D So, maybe he WON'T be playing that again in a hurry!

I spent the evening fiddling with my best pressie - a new camera - which I had been hoping for and was desperately in need of - I had been dropping hints left right and centre and was hoping that it had been picked up on. It came with a wind-up though - so that I thought I didn't actually have it! Here is what happened...

I got given a digital card - a HUGE 2 megs worth and I thought.. oohh maybe I HAVE got a new camera after all!! Then I got some AA batteries ... LOL... I was pleased as I thought, well I DO need them! Camera? Camera?

Then we opened all the rest of the pressies bar one and the tag said.. "Well, who would have thought I would have ended up buying you this?" I looked at it and thought.. Hmmmm... THAT does NOT look camera shape to me.. damn!!

I asked if it was a storage box - as I always need them for my craft things. However, I opened it up and inside was a power tool!! LOL... Yes, a tool! I had said I wanted one, so he HAD listened after all. It's a hand tool, that has drills, sanders, buffers, you name it. It has a screw on holder for the table, to which you add the tool, then you attach a long additional tube.. to which you attach the small head of the tool... so you dont have to work with the heavy tool in your hand.. just a lighter weight, more easy to use item! So I was really chuffed with that.

I went to the kitchen to start doing the food and after five mins a box was seen left on the kitchen table. I didn't see it arrive. I tried my best to ignore it, despite the fact that it looked suspiciously camera box shaped! My husband eventually sidled up to me and said.. "Well? You gonna open that or what?" I said.. "It's not for me!" He said.. "Yep - it is! You know it is.. you have been doing your best to ignore it.. I know!!!" God.. I tell you, that I was SO trying to stifle a smile, but I just couldnt keep it in!!! I read the tag and it said knowingly... "SMILE! - It's Christmas!" lol!!!! (Like he had read my mind) and inside was the bestest camera ever!! :D I LOVE IT and I LOVE my MAN too! :D Bless his cotton socks! It's an Olympus SP-565UZ. Here is a great review page for it...

http://www.digitalcamerareview.com/default.asp?newsID=3951&review=olympus+sp565

Its got SO much to it, it will take me some while to get used to it! Yeah! No more moaning about my camera! No more 'camera envy'! I've spent some days trying to get used to it.. its so hard when something is new, but when I get pictures right.. they are great! LUCKY ME!

On Boxing Day 26th December, our friend Steve flew out from the UK and he is here with us until the 2nd. Our younger son's girlfriend has been with us since the 29th and goes home on the 3rd, so its been a nice full house for us.

I hope that the season has been merry and warmly loving to you all too!

I do have some other Christmas images that I promise to upload soon.. a mixture from both cameras.

Sooo... it is now Goodbye to the decade of the Naughties! I am quite happy to say goodbye to 2009 (What about you?) and happy to say hello to 2010... :D

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All content, unless otherwise noted, is © ArcticRainbow and may not be reproduced in any form without express permission from the author, except for credited links directly to articles or to the main site. (I don't bite...just ask!) :D

A handmade Christmas Greeting ...

2009-12-23T03:21:00.004+02:00

I was recently browsing one of my favourite sites - the auction site www.specialistauctions.com.
(It's a breath of fresh air compared to ebay!) As I was looking for something in the CRAFTS CATEGORY for my Mum. There are quite a few different things in the handmade items category but on that day, I ended up in the handmade greetings cards category.

I have bought from Cobweb-cards before and I can't recommend their cards enough.. something really different available there, a great line of fairies, spiritual, pre-raphaelite, gothic and fantasy 'out there' cards for sure... but then I espied a new seller called paintinglemonjane who was offering made to order cards from £2.99 and I couldn't resist giving them their first sale and trying out what they had on offer. I picked up the listing that was advertised as an A5 card with a wedding image, but it was possible to have whatever image I wanted.

I have been so delighted that it prompted a blog! :D

As the advert said:

Personalised Greeting Cards  made by Helen Jane© This auction is for a personalised commissioned hand made card, lovingly created for you to your specific requirements.   Card shown is a decoupaged bride. Embellished with gold borders and a specially created tag . Card shown is just a sample. Your card can be embellished with whatever you wish and to whom you wish.   A matching tag and insert is designed to suit your card. No two cards are ever identical.  Birthday, Engagement, Wedding, Anniversary, New Home, Graduation, Christmas . The list is endless. You just let me know who your card is for,what sort of things they like and leave the rest to me. I will come up with ideas for your card and let you see a prototype for approval before sending it off to you. Your card can include a verse in your insert or left blank.   Your card will be sent in a card backed envelope for safe arrival to you.

However, once we started communicating it became clear to me that the service being provided was something extra special. For starters, the service includes a novel 'virtual card' service.. so that the buyer can see the card, have changes made and really get the card that they want, without the card even having been made in reality first. I have to say it was a stand out service and I will buy from this seller again. They say that a picture paints a million words so here is the card and the process of it being built.

I sent three images that I rather liked for the card and the cardmaker let me know what she thought would work best. In this case, we went for the Reindeer and aurora image, which was on an old postcard I own.

I am however - (unfortunately for paintinglemonjane) - a fussy old moo! So, we tried a few variants and had several emails between us discussing elements etc. She dealt with all my requests with patience and dignity - a true professional. The end result can be seen in the slideshow and above. I was delighted with the card and my Mum was totally delighted with it too! Paintinglemonjane even posted it to my Mum for me.

I highly recommend paintinglemonjane, with her shop entitled 'Sweet Smell of Success'. She is also a talented portrait artist and offers graphite pencil and pastel portraits from £20-£40. Click here to view her listings! http://www.specialistauctions.com/shops/paintinglemonjane

Click both items on Auction and in her shop to see ALL the items available.

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All content, unless otherwise noted, is © ArcticRainbow and may not be reproduced in any form without express permission from the author, except for credited links directly to articles or to the main site. (I don't bite...just ask!) :D

Light out of the darkness....

2009-12-21T11:36:00.002+02:00

Hi all,

As you can see it has been a whole month since I blogged last. It's been a horrid month one way or another, which I shalln't go in to too much. I've been healthy and fine, but work has been the real bugbear!

Anyway, long story short... whilst I shall miss the income, my temporary contract comes to an end at the end of this year (although I have actually finished now before Christmas) - I shall not miss the job, the place or the mentality of it. Nine months been and gone.. amazing really where the time has gone! The upside is though...that for you, *hopefully*, I shall have more time on my hands to share blogs with you all.... Although as I join the ranks of the unemployed, I shall have to try and find work or a course to go on!

OK.. so December is a fairly active month of course.. many things going on with the run up to Christmas. It all started with the opening of christmas down in town... which I attended, took photographs and video.. and then lost the whole lot on my camera during processing... I could have screamed! So, that was that blog that never was! If I am honest though, last years event was much better and this years, was horrid because the weather suddenly warmed up, the snow melted, it rained and was slushy, wet and slippery everywhere.. not ideal conditions for an open air event set in the main road. There were dances from lots of children dressed as elves, more dances from elves, then more and some more. To be honest it was tad boring this year for me. It's been the same every year.. and needs a new dance routine. The kids enjoy themselves and that is what matters though - its really nice to see their faces, all so new to life enjoying what is new to them.

One element that was new this year was some kids doing a bit of circus like acrobatics...all standing on top of each other in a pyramid. Given the weather conditions, it was immensely brave of them! The one thing I did miss were the Saami girls.. as there were none this year.. and so no dancing from them. Santa was there though.. the REAL Santa too.. in his sleigh pull by a Reindeer. Darn it, I just remembered that I had taken some lovely close ups of that Reindeers face too.. oh fiddlesticks! Oh well, can't be helped! I snapped an image from the local newspaper...so you can see what the elves dressed like. Elves dress in grey or red, those dressed in grey were the ones doing the acrobatics.

Moving on, December 6th was the Finnish Independance Day, naturally a flag day and if it is a weekday, then it is a day off. Sadly this year it was a Sunday.. so no such luck! People light blue and white candles on that day and many watch a Presidential ball on the television. (Here is a link to my blog for Independance Day 2008, which explains more.. CLICK HERE

This was the view outside on that day. You can just see the Finnish flag on the flag pole.

December the 13th was St Lucia's Day. Again, I planned a blog for that.. and it never happened, time was against me. Here is the link to last years blog for that too....CLICK HERE

However, I read an article in the local newspaper and it was so sweet and evocative that I thought I would share some images and info from it.

Its tells of 'Children at a nursery waiting restlessly on the stairs for the parade of Lucia to come..their cheeks red with excitement whilst older high school students lean, relaxed, on the balustrades.....The hubbub and buzz stops when the lights go out. Two tonttu (Elves) descend the stairs with lanterns in hand... 'Shhh! - Lucia kommer!' they say in Swedish... 'Lucia tulee' they say in Finnish... (Lucia comes)

Heads turn as if pulled by a connected yarn ...towards some white dressed characters. Lucia is in front of the procession. Her face sinks within the darkness, but in their hands are a candle. There on the steps the group sings Lucia's songs. A belt of stars shine brightly in the sky, its message silently twinkling of 'Santa Lucia' (as they sing her name). They sing many songs in both Finnish and Swedish and between the lit candles of songs of joy, peace, love, courage and honour. Small groups continue with the candle sticks into the foyer. The lights are extinguished, the main lights come on and the atmospheric moment is over'.

Doesn't it sound SO lovely?

Now.. I have to tell you that my husband always jokes with his dry wit...that they must look really lovely whilst being chaperoned by at least two burly men carrying heavy duty fire extinguishers!! :D

Pretty girl, Ellen Husberg was crowned Finland's National Lucia this December 13th. This image from the yle website.

Lucia's role includes visiting old peoples homes, childrens schools and other establishments. In the early morning of St. Lucias day, girls will dress up and bring cakes and drinks to their parents.

Here is a clip of Ellen Husberg at a Radio station, whereupon another Lucia comes (Looks to be a member of the station crew actually), sings to her and offers cakes. I always love the song they sing! (Swedish language but still of interest even if you cant understand it!)

http://www.yle.fi/extrem/audiovideofoto/video_flash.php?id=611435

Here are some links to read up more about St. Lucia.
http://www.yle.fi/uutiset/news/2009/12/lucia_brings_light_during_darkest_time_of_year_1269606.html
http://www.sweden.se/eng/Home/Lifestyle/Traditions/Celebrating-the-Swedish-way/Lucia/
http://www.folkhalsan.fi/default.asp?path=228;273;14384;14387
http://www.folkhalsan.fi/default.asp?path=28;32;6850;2231;6854;7392

It is now Winter Solstice time, Kaamos beauty surrounds us. Now, just like the snow that surrounds me...there will be a 'flurry' of winter blogs to present... so watch this space!

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Is it really that time again?

2009-11-23T18:48:00.008+02:00

Well, I hope that you are healthy and happy out there.... I am getting over a cold that has been through the whole family and I now have the mother of all tickly coughs left to show for it. I don't have my tonsils anymore, so I often have that problem. That and losing my voice. (That's when the flags can be seen flying from our roof!)

How is it where you are? There are lots of bugs and supposed piggie flu here. There is actually supposed to be more up here in Lapland than down south. I don't know how true that is as in reality 'they' are not actually testing for it, just happily giving out the vaccines and the tamiflu. Someone I know recently had the vaccine, got ill with it then had the tamiflu afterwards to sort it out! I know of a few teenagers that have had a rough ride with the vaccine too. I've wondered about why there is more swine flu documented up here and have considered that it can't be helped by the amount of awful spitting that people do up here - personally I find it disgusting - but its a big thing here - especially with the younger generation - I'm sure it can't help!

So....I've elected NOT to get a) the flu - any kind of it - LOL! b) the H1N1 (swine) vaccine c) or the tamiflu - no matter how pretty its chemical formulas pattern is . I don't believe in it personally. I suppose it is a difficult call for parents of young kids though. However, I myself still would not give it to my child. I do not believe it has been tested enough. I have had the regular vaccine for flu though - many weeks back.

It seems to me that so many here call a good old fashioned cold the flunssa (flu) when it's not. Flu (to me anyway) is totally debilitating - something you cannot continue with, everything aches and you have a heck of a temperature too. It's waaaay different from the common cold and even that is bad enough. (That's why it kills nasty invading green aliens in the movies! LOL)

OK, enough of that... I just hope you ARE well.

At work the Christmas Tree has been up for the past week or so, decked out with lights and a lush amount of snow :D The external doorway has candle lanterns hanging from it - sorry the picture didn't turn out well, so I don't have one of that to show. It's actually quite hard to photograph in dark snowy conditions and still capture 'the ambience' without it all going fuzzy. There is a lot of talk about seasonal get togethers and the time ahead of us. I actually MISSED the works do when I was ill - which really miffed me as I organised the whole event! Oh well.

If you are wondering what the grey unit is next to the tree it is the battery warmer that cars can plug into on a timer - ingenius.

Yes, people are full of that merry seasonal word - the big tree is down in town again, set in the middle of the roundabout awaiting its decorative lights and the village's opening ceremony. This is the link to last years blog!

.....Anyone would think it was CHRISTMAS! :D

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Hyvää Halloweenista Happy Hallowe'en...

2009-11-01T15:47:00.019+02:00

I hope that you all had a nice and safe Hallowe'en/Samhain! :D

I was making and baking most of the day and wore myself out - not having the time to blog this yesterday!

It is obligatory in this house to carve a pumpkin lantern, although in previous years here, I have had to make do with a melon as pumpkins were not in the shops! I made pumpkin cookies - a firm favourite in this house and pumpkin pie. I used up the last of the pastry by making jam tarts and some beefy dog treats for Dexter.

Jakes girlfriend Minna said it was the first pumpkin she had ever even held, let alone seen cut into a lantern in the flesh, although she had seen it on TV. It goes without saying that she hadnt eaten the cookies or pie before either. It is interesting how cultures differ.

More and more Hallowe'en IS being adopted here though. The Tiimari store has endeavoured to include a Hallowe'en range, although I dont think it has taken off very much - up here anyway. (Question to my Finnish readers - What is it like down south?)

Having said that, I am really pleased to announce that after five and a half years of living here in Lapland, we got our FIRST ever Hallowe'en witches this year! As you may have read, Witches fly at Easter here... So it was actually quite a shock to have these three girls, two - sisters perhaps - dressed in Tiimari red witch outfits and another cute little devil! Overall a totally different feel from the Easter Witch outfits and thankfully - for me - very much like Hallowe'en should be! Granted they arrived the day before Hallowe'en LOL.. which was part of the shock, but they still got rewarded with plenty of sweets for their trouble and their daring in coming out in the cold dark snowy night to ask 'Karkki vai kepponen?' (Sweets or trick? in Finnish)

Don't they look great? They made my day!

I've heard of some people refusing kids anything - telling them to just come back at Easter instead, that Finns do NOT do Hallowe'en - but I would not be so harsh - they are kids after all and just out for a bit of fun. In the UK it really is trick or treat and the tricks are NOT nice! So, they are lucky to be refusing in Finland - or they might find their bins turned over or their windows egged and floured!

We also had three lads on Hallowe'en itself, but they were not really dressed up apart from a painted on moustache (?) and purely opportunists in my book - probably heard from the girls that this was a good place to visit! Still, they were not to be refused some sweets. My eldest son had answered the door and said, 'Oh we dont have any sweets' - the rotter! So the kids ran off and when he came inside and told me what he had done I was really quite cross, so much so that I made him go out into the snow to find the boys and make them come back! (LOL....'Big Witchy Cackle!')

In actual fact, I think my pumpkin looks more scary today than yesterday... LOL...

Ok, so what else.. Oh yes, Dexter, our Husky had his second birthday last sunday. I meant to blog this then, but time just escaped me. I cannot believe where the year has gone since I blogged his 1st Birthday images!

He got a couple of new toys one rope bear, which no long looks like a bear..LOL.. and a squeaky mouse with a long tail, which actually is still intact - as he has fun tossing the tail up and making it squeak. We bought that because he has a wicked fondness for hunting voles in the forest and doing the same to them! Poor things...

Oh and of course he had his birthday dinner and candle - when we sang 'Happy Birthday' to him.. all the time he was just looking at his dinner thinking 'Cant I just eat it???' :D

I am glad to say that it is back to being pretty in Lapland. We have had some beautiful sunrises and sunsets this past week or so. It truly is one of the things I like most about living here. These photos I took when we were driving home, so please excuse the mucky windscreen! Beautiful colours, almost sci-fi ish and showing us the arc of the planet - up here at the top of the world... lovely!

The other images I have taken, I have put together as a slide for ease. Enjoy and have a nice week!

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Lapland - it ain't pretty all the time folks!

2009-10-17T21:10:00.019+03:00

I took these two beautiful photographs, on the 8th October. It was the day after our Fluffy died. It was a beautiful day and I found myself thinking it was a gift, serving as a reminder that life goes on...

However, I thought I would show you the flip side! This is the yucky season part 1.. the part two is at the start of spring...on the other side of snow time.

As you can see it has been foggy, icy, melty, misty, slidey, slippy, sloppy, wet and yucky! (Pretty much matches how I have been feeling of late I guess!) *THANK YOU ALSO TO EVERYONE WHO HAS SENT ME MESSAGES OF CONDOLENCE ABOUT FLUFFY, VIA THE BLOG OR PRIVATELY - IT WAS MUCH APPRECIATED. LOVE YOU ALL....*

Nice huh?

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All content, unless otherwise noted, is © ArcticRainbow and may not be reproduced in any form without express permission from the author, except for credited links directly to articles or to the main site. (I don't bite...just ask!) :D

Snowy, Fluffy sadness

2009-10-10T22:59:00.013+03:00

Wednesday brought much sadness into our home, as we lost our darling dog Fluffy, who was a much loved member of our family. She was 11 years old and had been suffering from cancer of her leg for some time. She was the most beautiful and unusual of souls, a family protector and loving, affectionate friend to the end.

It was during the early summer when we noticed there was something wrong with her paw. The local vet gave her three courses of antibiotics. The first helped, but then it got worse and the vet said that Fluffy would need to have a toe amputated. So we saw another vet in Rovaniemi who performed the procedure and took samples for testing. We had to wait a few weeks for that to come back, as it had to go to Germany of all places - and when it did, it confirmed our worst fears - that our sweet Fluffy had cancer. The vet explained that the type of cancer she had was likely to reoccur in the area of the original site, but it would not move to internal organs. He suggested a total leg amputation or putting her to sleep as an option.

Fluffy just after her op.

The latter was an absolute no-no. We discussed the amputation, but felt that it was such a radical move when she was aging. We wondered if she would cope and decided that she would. We booked the appointment for the operation, but by the time it came to be, Fluffy had three other sites of cancer on her leg and the worst had appeared - literally overnight - on her shoulder. This made it absolutely impossible to remove the leg, as the cancer was so invasive there already.

Again we were offered the option of putting her to sleep, but at that point she was not in pain and was still Fluffy, playing, eating, drinking, going for walks - albeit more slowly. We just couldn't do it to her. In most respects she was still normal.

Fluffy loved the snow, being half Samoyed she was just made for it, with deep, dense, luxurious hair and when we moved to Finland, she delighted in it. We hoped that she would continue to live long enough to see her favourite element of snow once more, but at the time that seemed almost impossible.

Then my Mother told me of someone in my home town who had been using Manuka Honey from New Zealand for their dog and whilst very expensive, we decided to give this a go - anything was worth trying for our Fluffy. It is made by bees that feed on the flowers of the Manuka bush - the New Zealand Tea Tree which is related to the Australian Melaleuca tea tree. Manuka honey therefore has anti-bacterial properties. It can be used as a topical antibiotic and antifungal for wounds that fail to close. Instead of buying ready made cream, we bought 'Spirits Bay' plastic jars of Manuka Honey from the UK and Mum posted it to us. Each jar was £28 and had a UMF (Unique Manuka Factor) of 20. Here is a site that will explain this fantastic helper from Mother Nature - there are three reviews worth reading. http://www.ciao.co.uk/Spirits_Bay_Manuka_Honey__Review_5738199

We applied the Manuka Honey to Fluffys cancer sores and to the bumps that were under the surface and bandaged her up. She also thoroughly enjoyed eating it daily. We also gave a little bit to Dexter, our Husky, so he didn't feel left out. It worked. Gradually the largest sore on her shoulder closed up. Amazing. It certainly perked her up and helped her. We knew we were fighting a losing battle though, after all this was cancer. The big, dark, horrid b**st**d of C.

She bore her illness with dignity, she was an excellent patient, putting up with washings and dressings and having to wear a Tshirt over it all. Although her walks with her beloved Daddy and brother were getting shorter all the time, once in a while she would do the whole long walk and still thoroughly enjoyed it. She still ate and drank as normal. She was still relatively happy in herself.

We discussed several times as a family, that in the event of her pain becoming too great that we would have to give her the final ultimate gift of release. No matter how hard that was. The vet had said that this type of cancer can, with effort on the part of the human, be handled quite well, but would in all likeliness suddenly change.

And so it did. Wednesday morning we woke to find Fluffy in a lot of pain. We gave her her normal painkiller. Then another, yet still she was unable to find a peaceful spot. My husband called me at lunchtime to discuss the situation.

Around lunchtime the snow started. Well, actually it was a blizzard. By the time I came home from work, we had several centimetres of snow, at least 25. I knew it was for Fluffy.

I took her outside into the front garden and she buried her face into the snow and just wanted to lay there. She was so pleased to see the snow! We had managed to get her from this summer to snow time, I was so pleased about that - for her.

By the time I got home she had just had her fourth painkiller and we were by that time concerned that it would also be causing her stomach pain. She looked so sad, something she had not presented previously. She was dragging her leg, whereas before she had been able to put weight on it slightly.

I knew. I said it was time. Our youngest son (Fluffys best friend) was adamant.. no, not yet. Our elder son thought that she might be having an off day and be better the day after, as had happened once before. My husband was unsure of which way to go, but we knew this day was different. With each minute he was thinking more and more as I was - hard as it was. We discussed the fact that because Fluffy had had more medicine than usual, that we were nearly out of tablets...in fact just two left... and we doubted that the vet would prescribe more if she saw her. Finally, with much sadness, we all agreed and called the vet.

We had previously arranged with Annukka our vet, that when and if the time came, that she would come to our home, rather than us have to take Fluffy to that 'scary place' that she didn't like. We would rather that she left this world from the comfort of her loving home, with all her normal things around her.

We all kissed and hugged her and gave our tear filled goodbyes and I asked Fluffy for forgiveness. She was anaesthetized (as it is done prior to any operation) - this we asked for - to save her from any further pain, then, when she was fully asleep, the vet euthanized her.

God, we were so upset... naturally we still are. Its taken me a few days to get my head straight enough to do this blog for her. We always will be sad and upset about her passing, as Fluffy was special. Our younger son especially has taken it very hard as Fluffy has been his best friend and confidante since he was five or six years old. They were like twin souls and he is naturally left bereft and empty. I feel so much for him. We are all feeling it, going through a gamut of emotions, the worst of all being guilt - but his pain is so sad and nothing can help it, for his Fluffy is gone and he misses her so much.

Many may not understand this kind of loss. I make no apology for it. For I, We, loved our dog - we adored her. She was more than a dog. She was our friend who was like a human, just wearing furry fluffy clothes. She was one of us, she was family. We are less of a family without her and the world is a worse place without her.

The last photo that I took of Fluffy was quite rightly, with her beloved best friend.

Fluffy was buried the following day at the local pet cemetery. Our son refused all offers of help and carried her across the deep snow and then laid her down into her final resting place, then covered her over with the prepared soil. We left special candles on her grave. So gut wrenchingly sad.

This is a compilation of Fluffy photographs....

Goodbye our darling girl. RIP forever baby. Sleep well, be whole again. Wait for us on the Rainbow Bridge.

(With thanks to Anita for this wonderful Rainbow Bridge link): http://www.indigo.org/rainbowbridge_ver2.html It takes a while to load, but is certainly worth viewing.

This is how we would like to remember her. Beautiful, Elegant, Snowy, Fluffy.

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And so it starts.... SNOW!

2009-10-05T11:02:00.004+03:00

This was my view this morning.

Apparently there were about ten centimetres of snow in Rovaniemi. This photograph of the Arctic Circle Santa Village webcam.

It is a little earlier this year than last... when it arrived on the 27th October... but as usual, I don't expect it to be permanent yet.

So... now for our winter tyres!

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October means Moose hunting starts....

2009-10-04T15:10:00.018+03:00

I probably will upset the applecart here, but this is one part of living in Finland that I do not feel in tune with. I just do not like it - so wouldn't ever take part in it. I am not a born hunter, I don't even like to kill spiders... mosquitoes is about the only creature that can 'get it' from me.

So, my viewpoint is somewhat different to those all around me. I was not brought up in this environment, it was not drilled into me to be a hunter, use a gun, a knife or whatever.

There are varying hunting seasons throughout Finland, for bears, birds and moose etc.. and last weekend the moose hunting season started. It should last until the end of the year, but daylight will be limited by then, so most is going on right now. Moose can be incredibly huge beasts, beautiful, majestic and regal, but do cause an awful lot of car accidents each year with even the slightest of encounter generally writing off a vehicle - if not the passengers inside it. I myself remember that the moose was here before the car and that a car should go slower with drivers more observant, but nevertheless, this is one of the main reasons that are given to justify the hunts. If I were to hit a moose, I certainly wouldnt blame it, as I believe that it is I who is in it's territory, not the other way around - it has every right to be there. Another given cause is the deforestation that these herbivores generate. I think they just have to eat to survive.

I recently had a discussion with someone I work with, about hunting and found out quite a few interesting things - which were also somewhat horrifying - to me at least. In Sodankylä alone, there will be approximately 700 of these creatures killed. These are taken by groups of hunters that have banded together and each group gets a quota allowance from the government. My colleagues group can take 13 adults and 3 babies. I have to say that this made me quite sad. I had no idea that they took so many, or the young, even though I appreciate that they are not an endangered species in any way shape or form.

I asked how they knew how many there were to which they said that a helicopter flies over and does a general head count in a particular zone and generalises a figure. (http://www.rktl.fi/english/game/monitoring_populations/snow_track_counts/moose.html) Now, in the five years that I have been here, I have only seen ONE moose, so my belief is that there are not as many out there as they think.. but what do I know?? That is just my feeling, my opinion. The moose that I was lucky enough to see, was lovely. I didn't have my camera available to take a picture, nor would I probably have had time to take a photo, but it was just entering the forest on the same side of the road as our car, one morning on the way to work. I was so delighted to see it...although the same might not be said for it seeing me! LOL... We stopped the car, to watch it. It moved slowly and beautifully into the forest and then stopped. It stood there watching us, probably wondering what we were doing. It was not that old.. but it was so, so lovely to see. I hope it makes it through the winter!

I was concerned that as Moose have just the one offspring annually, or two if they are lucky, that the population might be getting smaller. What happens if they shoot more females than males or vice versa? I understand that these gentle giants actually have very few predators, save for man. Sure the bear or a wolf might get involved occasionally, but really man is their main enemy. Do we have the right to 'balance nature'? Surely, it would only take a virus in their population one year and the numbers could suffer dramatically. I think that if the hunters were not allowed to hunt them, there would be a riot! It is just so natural for them to hunt here.. it is second nature - since the stone age Moose have been here - as you can see in the cave drawings.

A moose reaches maturity between four to five years of age and is aging by ten. If it is lucky it will make it to the age of 20 and I dont know that many make it that far, some not making it past their first year of course and after their first year alive they are very cautious, naturally, of mankind.

The hunting groups themselves, are very well organised, have to be fully trained, with an examination course and then licensed annually. Overall of Finland this year there were 51519.5 licences supplied and 10484.5 in Lapland. They wear bright red clothing in the forest for personal safety and thankfully, the rules are quite tough too - you cant just go out and start blasting away. Dogs are specially kept for hunting here and most dogs are living outside the home in cages all year round, rather than as pets. These dogs live for the hunt season and roam to find the creature, barking furiously when they find it - to alert the hunters.

From what Ive been told, just one person in a hunting group takes the shot, the person who has the best line up and view and can take the shot with the least stress to the animal - which I am thankful for at least, although occasionally the animal will run and the shot will not be clean. They also use moose hunting towers to shoot from.

The Moose is gutted in the forest, drained of blood and taken on a quad bike or similar to a small log cabin in the forest, where they disect its flesh and share the kill between the group. Moose is said to be similar to beef, but tastes more like buffalo apparently and it's very lean.

In 2008, 57,097 was the amount of Moose taken. (http://www.rktl.fi/english/statistics/hunting/)

One of the popular comic strips in the newspaper here is Helge - a moose who worries and is followed around by some amusing hunters. Recently the cartoons have been very apt. The TV news showed the police out in the forest checking up on hunters, asking to see their licences. It seemed that many did not have their permits on them as they should...so had to report immediately to the station to provide them. The first comic strip relates to this and I found it quite humorous! Click the image to view them larger.

Man: "Moose hunting season starts tomorrow. I have got everything ready in good time - let me think: gun, ammunition, forestry knife, axe, rucksack, toilet paper, matches, radiophone - everything is packed. Good! Now I can sleep with a good mind. Goodnight!"
Wife: "Hunting licence?"
Man: Image infers a - 'Gulp!'

Dog: "Wow! Fresh tracks and they come more and more!" (ROFL!!!!!)

Hide Moosey hide is my message!

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Signs that tell the summer is over, Autumn is here....and....

2009-08-20T20:30:00.021+03:00

1. The children are back at school and in my case, the lads are back at college and my youngest, Jake, is on his new course, of Forestry, having left school in May.

Sodankylä was the last of the local area councils to return to education... As you can imagine they were quite happy about that this year! So, they went back on Monday 17th August... a whole week later than others and half a week later than in Rovaniemi.

2. Rug and mat washing... the great Finnish tradition! Found in virtually every Finnish town, is the public mat washing amenity. Ours is by the side of the Kitinen river. It has long rinsing basins, drying racks and a big old fashioned mangle - yes they still exist!! Finns love to wash their mats you know! It is such an event that it even makes the front page of the Lapland region newspaper! I find that rather humorous actually!
Click here to read the online, albeit shortened version (Finnish) Everyone is at it!

These pictures, taken on Friday 6pm-ish..show it was a glorious evening!

The mangle.....

Note how the rugs are all left to dry by their owners... safe in the knowledge that they will still be there, upon their return several hours later!

There is even somewhere to keep the kids happy whilst doing the task!

3. The trees are starting to change colour. Birches are turning yellow rapidly and Rowans are turning a gorgeous red. Autumn happens quickly here. As the temperatures drop overnight, the leaves change their bright green colours to their glorious traffic light cousin colours... This picture of a Birch only tells a small part of the story...it was quite light when I took this picture, so it was hard to show up!

4. Darker and darker nights.... (and mornings!) The lights on for longer.... So, the midnight sun has certainly left us for another year... Here is an image taken outside of my home, at 11pm during the month of June... that I forgot to share online then. Apart from the long shadows, you would never know that it was taken so late would you? Ahh.... how nice and unusual those months of light are....

5. Orange sticks. (?) Yes, that's right, I said orange sticks....LOL. During the last week, the council workers have been out and about with armfuls of them. It is the annual stick month! (What on earth??? You may ask...) Ok, honestly...it is a simple but clever system of road marking, done now, in readiness for the long winter dark months.

These plastic sticks are about 4-5ft high and pushed into the ground at the road side at regular intervals. To the top of the pole is a reflective strip. They are there to show winter drivers just where the edge of the road is! They have to be that long, or the snow would totally over take them! (It tries really hard to to that...as the image below lent to me from my friend Amel shows! Can you see the stick in the heap of snow to the left of the road?) With many roads totally unlit, you certainly need them - to guide your way along the road, show turnings etc! Amels husband Arttu (R2), tells me they are called Aurausviitat in Finnish.

6. Berries....the blessings of Finlands forests... oooh yummy!

My son's girlfriend's grandmother, bless her.. gave us a whole load of berries last sunday. Jake was on his way home on the bus, after spending the weekend with his love, Minna, (who lives in Rovaniemi) when her grandmother stopped the bus at the bus-stop near her cabin, to offer them to him...(the bus driver didnt seem to mind....) and it was not 'just a few' either! It was a whole large carrier bag full of boxes of fresh blueberries that she had just picked! She is in her early 70's and very agile ... as the contents of the bag showed! She really does not look it either! (( Many thanks Annikki! It was really kind of you! ))

Being the avid cook that he is, Jake made a lovely blueberry cake for us.

The rest is in the freezer - for now... but I expect that I will have to get my mehumaija out and make some berry juice concentrate! When I use that clever tool.. I will have to blog about it... sooooo Finnish!

7. Hunting season... ((shudder)) I detest it. Right now it is bird hunting season... Moose hunting comes later on.... :(

8. Having to wear a cardigan occasionally..... and the radiator on at work once or twice :(

9. ICE on the windscreen first thing in the morning, on thursday this week.... yep... already!

10. Everyone at work discussing the fact that the change is upon us!

These are just some of the signs that tell the summer is over, Autumn is here....and....Talvi tuleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee..... (Winter comes.....)

(Please Mother Nature.. a few more warm days first; pretty please)

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A different kind of reindeer....

2009-08-08T19:34:00.032+03:00

As I mentioned before, my mother came out for a visit from the UK, in July. Whilst she was here, I was working on the whole, during the day, but took long weekends instead. With it being a fairly new job, I couldn't take time off.

Anyway, when my Mum was here, it was her birthday, so we threw her a party. That was on the first weekend here. A few friends came too, that had met her before on one of her other visits.

We made chinese, something that you can only get if you drive at least an hour or two - and even then, ours is much better! LOL! It was a boiling hot day, so not the time to be making peking duck, spare ribs, double fried chili beef, chicken and cashew nut, egg fried rice and desserts! It was worth it though.. who knows when I will next spend a birthday with my Mum? Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves and appreciated the food too!

Later on in her stay, we drove north to show Mum what was there. We had explained that pretty much, it was forest, forest and more forest... but still we went! We just pointed north and drove.. not planning anywhere at all... just seeing where we ended up. Yeah... we went out as a different kind of reindeer (tourists!)

We drove through Vuotso, which is the border to Saami land. Everything from there on is in duplicate - Finnish and Saami language - two totally different languages.

At the border there is a shop called Sompion lahja ja koru (Sompio's gift and jewellery) which is decorated on the outside with the Saami flag painted on its wooden walls. It also has a curio outside, one of those very beach like quirks you might find in many a tourist destination... where you stand behind an image and put your head through the hole, to look like another person. I have been to this place before and I have to say that this curio is really good and has stayed in excellent condition - although of course, they bring it in during the winters!

We had a laugh with it as you can see. We were in fits, as Mum had her head at just the right angle and it seemed to be totally in keeping, not out of place at all.

Me at my inelegant best! :D

Larking....

Outside, there are also examples of the old Saami way of life. There stands to the right of this photograph a njalla, which is the old way to keep foods during the winter, up high above the snow and hopefully bear free.

Also an uncovered lavvu (kota teepee) type home. Traditionally the way the Saami would live - oh.. and there was also a rather unfed 'reindeer'...LOL!

We went into the shop, where you can have a go at horn pyrography if you wish and the owner can give you a certificate to say that you have officially crossed the Saami border. As I knew they did this, (and for free) I asked them to supply my Mum with one when she paid for her goods. Mum didn't have a clue of course, as I had asked in Finnish.

Mum with the leather art on the shops doorway, decorated with the noitarumpu symbols.

We then went on again and there was another spot on the other side of the road, that took my eye, but by then we had decided to focus on another place, so we didnt stop.. but I would like to go back there one day. It has lots of decorations outside...ok, a bit touristy.. but it looked cute.

Finally, we ended up in Saariselkä. A nice area, which has recently undergone a major facelift, to enable many more tourists to stay there.. http://www.saariselka.fi/index.php?la=en By the time we actually got there, we only had time to get a bite to eat and hit one of the shops there, the Kuukkeli, which is a rather large place, that has a little bit of everything...so there weren't so many photos taken there..too busy shopping! I have some other general photos, but will blog those later...

However, there is a wonderful piece of simple artwork there in Saariselkä....quite appropriate for me of course! So, I had to have a photo of it. There are quite a few references to rainbows in that village and I believe that there is a company called rainbow's end there too.

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National sleepy head day

2009-07-27T21:20:00.008+03:00

Today, believe it or not, has been Finlands National Sleepy Head Day!

Yes.. on 27th of July, there is an annual event for it too... held down south in Naantali (nearer to Turku and Helsinki regions broadly speaking..)

I don't know the history of this event, how it came to be... but Unikeonpäivä as it is called in Finnish, celebrates the lazy, sleepy person of the house!! Tradition has it that the last person to get up, should be dowsed with water... preferably by dumping them into a large body of water...better the local river or the sea if nearby. Preferably not a ditch I would imagine! Failing that, having water thrown at them is the next best thing. That person then gets called the lazy or sleepy one (or both perhaps) all day! (Weird eh?)

Having read a little online it is apparently based on the story of the Saints of Ephesus who slept in a cave for some 200 years during the Middle Ages whilst hiding from persecution by Decius, the Roman Emperor at the time. How that translates to chucking someone in a river I do not know!

In the city of Naantali a person of note or a celebrity is chosen every year to be to person who is thrown in the sea at the port. Believe it or not, this happens at 7 a.m! Doesn't sound like much of a lie in to me! Afterwards there are many parties and celebrations that go on long into the day. It's become a real family event! It was covered today on YLE.fi and the person chosen to be the sleeper was the West Finland county governor - Rauno Saari. Here is his picture from the Yle site.

Funny eh? The sleepers identity is kept secret until the event starts and generally they will have done some charitable or beneficial works for the city to be chosen. Perhaps we should start this off in Sodankylä? I can think of a few people I wouldn't mind suggesting as the sleeper!! (Wicked Witch of a grin!)

The last person up today from this household was Lazy Jake, so he had a bit of a sprinkling.. but I was lenient! It is the summer holiday after all... not that he smiled about my lenience! :D

I am sorry that I myself have been blog quiet for the last few weeks.. I promise I have NOT been asleep! :D What with working full time I have been rather busy of late... plus my Mother came to visit from the UK for a couple of weeks.... more on that later.

You can read more in Finnish at this link:

http://yle.fi/alueet/turku/2009/07/rauno_saari_molskahti_unikekona_mereen_888516.html

Plus a little here in English:

http://www.yle.fi/uutiset/news/2009/07/sleepyhead_day_888443.html

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More on midsummer...

2009-06-20T23:00:00.007+03:00

I found this today at the YLE news website and just confirms what I was saying about Finland being very quiet during midsummer and alcohol consumption!

http://www.yle.fi/uutiset/news/2009/06/finland_closes_shop_for_midsummer_808326.html

And sadly, this one too.. every year there are statistics for drink induced drowning... sad.

http://www.yle.fi/uutiset/news/2009/06/at_least_nine_killed_in_midsummer_mishaps_816666.html

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Hyvää Juhannusta / Midsummer / Litha

2009-06-19T23:46:00.008+03:00

Here in Lapland, Juhannus is already in full swing!

Technically friday is Juhannusaato (Juhannus Eve) and everyone is out celebrating, having sauna together and getting drunk! Today there are very few people working.. it is similar to a Bank Holiday - classed as a holy day and on saturday.... Juhannus itself, EVERYWHERE is shut within Finland!

We've been out today visiting the family of my younger son's girlfriend... and on the way home, by the side of the main road are dotted the occasional log buildings. I say its a main road, which it is, but it is naturally heavily forested area either side and not that busy at all - in fact so dead today, that I don't think we saw even another car on the way home - and it's a good 3/4 hour journey! There was one building, that we noticed on our drive out.. although we knew what it was, we remarked on how much it looked like it was on fire, with smoke oozing out of the logs.. but it was actually an outdoor log sauna.. on its own in the field - a long way from any other building. On the way home, several hours later, were seen five large men, brightly red hot in colour, sat outside with just a white towel around their lower halves...around a camp fire, having a good drink. This is the style of Juhannus! Never mind the mosquitos...sauna, fire, drink! :D "Hyvää Juhannusta!" (Happy Midsummer!) - Wish I'd have had the guts to stop and take a pic of them!! :D

However, I found some great images at this link
The header image and many other stunningly beautiful photographs are located here

The Finnish flags are flying everywhere and of course, there is no night to be seen for several weeks yet.. and so everyone will be up for the majority of the night.. if not all of it! If you are walking home from an event at 2am, 3am, 4am or what ever... it all looks the same as if it were 4pm for example! It takes some getting used to as it can seriously mess up your body clock if you let it.

I will leave you with an image of Tupasvilla...(Cotton grass / Eriophorum vaginatum) in bloom in most swamps now!

View more here..

May I wish you all.. a very happy and safe Midsummer where ever you are!

This from Wikipedia:

Before 1316, the summer solstice was called Ukon juhla, after the Finnish god Ukko (The God of Thunder). In Karelian tradition, many bonfires were burned side by side, the biggest of which was called Ukko-kokko (the "bonfire of Ukko"). After the celebrations were Christianized, the holiday is known as Juhannus after John the Baptist (Finnish: Johannes Kastaja).

Since 1955, the holiday is always on a Saturday (between June 20th and June 26th). Earlier it was always on June 24th.

In the Finnish midsummer celebration, bonfires (Finnish kokko)are very common and are burnt at lakesides and by the sea. Often two young birch trees (koivu) are placed on either side of the front door to welcome visitors. In Midsummer night the sauna is typically heated and family and friends are invited to bathe and to grill.

In folk magic midsummer was a very potent night and the time for many small rituals, mostly for young maidens seeking suitors and fertility. Will o Wisps were believed to be seen at midsummer night, particularly to finders of the mythical "fern in bloom" and possessors of the "fern seed", marking a treasure. An important feature of the midsummer in Finland is the white night and the midnight sun. Because of Finland's location spanning around the Arctic Circle the nights near the midsummer day are short or non-existent. This gives a great contrast to the darkness of the winter time.

Many music festivals of all sizes are organized on the Midsummer weekend. It's also common to start summer holidays on Midsummer day. For many families the Midsummer is the time when they move to the countryside to their summer cottage by the lake. Often Finns spend the whole of July at the summer cottages. Midsummerday is also the day of the Finnish Flag. The flag is hoisted at 6 pm on Midsummer eve and flown all night till 9 pm the following evening.

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Happy 'would have been' 100th Birthday today....

2009-06-15T21:04:00.009+03:00

To my Grandad. Gerald Clement Grant - born 15th of June 1909.

He was one of identical twins...so I should also be saying Happy Birthday to my late Uncle Ron too! Grandad is shown above in the only image that I have of him digitally. This photo was taken on the day he gave me away in July 1988.

He would have been 100 today had he still been alive. However, he died when my eldest son was only 5 months old.. and now he is aged 18! (Where do the years go?)

An odd thing happened to me today, really odd, which is why I decided to share this birthday fact......

I was at work, with my head in a computer, when all of a sudden, I heard someone talking out in the corridor. I was pretty sure it was Finnish, but I was in that sort of 'zone' where it could have even been English.. but the tone of the voice suddenly caught me. My god I thought.. that sounds like my Grandad...and it really did.. in fact, I wouldn't have been at all surprised if he had walked in through the door of my office! For a split second, I thought he was out there.. OMG, it was REALLY weird.

As soon as I clicked on the voice, it was gone. Was there someone out there that sounded like him.. or had I picked up on him? Had I zoned into another frequency? (It wouldn't have been the first time I've heard voices from spirit).. and no I don't need locking up! LOL!

I settled myself back in to my chair and looked at the date. Suddenly I remembered that it was his birthday today and that my Mother had reminded me recently that he would have been 100.... Ohh it felt r-e-a-l-l-y weird ...

So, if you can hear me Grandad. 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY in the BEYOND'....

Sorry, no message from the Queen! :D

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All the flowers of tomorrow are in the seeds of yesterday....

2009-06-14T23:37:00.005+03:00

I recently built in borders to my front garden, so I've been having a buyers fun time out, in the dept of:

Home and Garden>Gardens and Gardening>Plants Seeds and Bulbs

at www.specialistauctions.com

It's a great place. Free to list, with many great features - which include - listing in any currency you need, up to seven images per listing and a free shop area. Plus it is only 3% commission when your item sells.

Anyway, today, I have been buying lots of seeds to fill and decorate my garden with. It's so GREAT to see so many seeds and plants being listed and that plant and seed sellers with sense, from around the globe, are looking to the virtues of the specialistauctions.com site to trade on!

A few weeks back, I purchased some of these Painted Lady Runner Beans from the seller lynsgarden and they are already doing very well out there! Not one failed.. PERFECT! I grew them indoors initially, starting in the sauna, then the bathroom, then the balcony once it wasn't so totally cold. Even still, since they have been in the borders, we have had cold days with some light snowing.. nothing that settled though.. and they havent been bothered by it. The photograph above, is from some while back now.. soon I will show some more current images.

So far I have everything growing to plan, runners, peas, spring onions a small herb area and sunflowers. I also have some boxes of flowers hanging over the balcony: Allium Shoenoprasum, Painted Daisies (Chrysanthemum Carinatum), Ostrich Plume mixed Asters, Gypsophilia and Gazania Sunshine Hybrids.. all doing ok, but still fairly small and a way off flowering yet. In the meantime I bought a whopper of a hanging basket to stave off my desire for some colour!! :D The next thing on the list is to try and seed some grass into our pretty patchy and confused tiny lawn outside our home....

The only things that have yet to do much are some Parsley, Currant Tomatoes and Catnip in pots...Sweetpeas that are in between the runners and mini parsnips.. but I don't hold out so much hope for the parsnips as they were old dated seeds, but I thought Id give it a go anyway.

My most recent purchases have been from
http://www.specialistauctions.com/shops/Heavenscent

Ive just bought... Kale and Broccoli

Tequila Sunrise Snapdragon

Canterbury Bells and Polemonium,
Lupins and Siberian Dianthus

and Poppy seeds!

I've also bought some Stunning Fringed Poppies from the seller, Lunar. What a nice lady she is.. she has even given me a freebie of some Aquilegias seeds to try out! Both she and Heavenscent are curious to see how the plants will fair under a different climate. That is partly what I love about the site.. the sellers actually have personalities, they are interested in communicating with you, working with you and helping you out. The site management is the same too! Truly refreshing!

It will be interesting to see if everything grows quickly enough with the short seasons of Lapland...albeit with our 24 hour light of Midsummer. There isn't so much sun around right now though.. quite overcast.. but I guess the plants are still getting some nutrients from the light. When it is sunny though, it does get very hot here. My only other bother is the HUGE mosquitoes that are swarming off the bogs, you get attacked by them as soon as you go out the door.. Today it chucked down with rain.. most unusual for us to get loads of it.. and my Sunflowers took a bit of a battering, but they seem ok. Just the back drop to them is splashed black with soily mud! Great!

This really is my first year as a gardener of any kind.. so it's all totally new to me!! :D

Oh yes... My tomorrow is going to be colourful!
Yet, what else can you expect with ANY of your purchases at www.specialistauctions.com - it's a blooming great and blossoming site! :D

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Help to save Polar Bears with care2.com petition!

2009-06-09T21:50:00.002+03:00

This is something we can all do.. .so come and help.. do your bit please.
Just a minute of your time, to help these wonderful creatures!
CLICK ON THE IMAGE LINK.

Urge Congress to Permanently Protect the Arctic Refuge!
Target: U.S. House of Representatives
Sponsored by: Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is home to caribou, snow fox and millions of migratory birds. It is also the most important onshore denning habitat for America's vanishing polar bears.

But this natural treasure is constantly under siege. Time and time again, the oil industry and their allies in Congress have sought to open this special place to harmful new drilling, threatening all of the wildlife that depend on it for survival.

We need to permanently protect the Arctic Refuge! Tell Congress to reject drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and to permanently protect this special coastal plain.

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Proud!

2009-06-07T22:21:00.020+03:00

Sorry that this particular blog is late. I've had flu in the last week (no piggies involved!!) and spent a fair bit of time in my bed! I am much better now thankfully!

Anyway, to catch up, as promised here are some pictures. Last saturday, our youngest 'finnished' school! :D He is very pleased to say the least as he hasn't really enjoyed it much - although I know he will miss some of his friends. His particular class was populated with many children from the outlying reaches, some coming in to school from a distance of 50-60kms... therefore those children (or should I say young adults!) will find it harder to keep in touch and are less likely to bump into each other on the street.

It was an unusual service, different from anything in the UK, but sadly I don't think anyone past the first few rows could actually see anything that was going on - which is a real shame. I don't know why they didn't use the stage, it would have made sense..but there must have been some reason, I guess.

Naturally, there were speeches, of which we didn't catch everything that was spoken and it didnt help that we couldn't see what was going on - or that several parents were chatting around us..(probably bored) Oh well... There was also a cameraman filming it all from the only real gap where you might see... in the isle...in case you wonder who it is in the photos! Apparently it is possible to purchase a dvd of the event later - I guess for those who couldn't see.

The highlights:

1. The classes being given their leaving certificate and a red rose. ( Yes, even the boys.. got a flower. There is no way on earth that would happen in the UK.. ) I thought it was quite nice really.. but am not sure that our son agreed though! As the students names were called out, if they were a girl they had to courtsey and if a boy, they had to nod their head. Each class stood in a row to the front of the hall and it was difficult to see really. I had to hope for the best, that I caught his image on camera.. so I just held the camera up in the air above my head.. and fortunately I did.

You can just see him receiving his rose from Anna his form teacher. He is wearing a black shirt. (There are no school uniforms in Finland) Before her, was the Headteacher who handed out the certificates.

2. The teachers all singing at the end of the ceremony. They sang to the pupils...that they had done their part as teachers and now it was over to them, wishing them well in life. It was nicely done and well sung. We heard that song fully, whereas the others we didn't because the music was louder than the singers, plus I had a clear view of Anna, the 'luokan-valvoja'.

That title translates literally as class watcher but might also be similar to form tutor - a Teacher who is your reporting teacher, but doesn't necessarily teach the pupils in a class) Anna is actually the handicrafts teacher, but she has been very helpful and considerate of our lad and his particular issues and problems. Our youngest, is a strong minded, vocal individual, so I expect she is a more than a little bit glad that he has graduated! Having said that, she did tell me later that she was quite sad, as this year was her first group of students to leave.

There were stipends given ranging from 50 to 100 euros, financial gift awards donated by local groups to certain children of merit. One boy won 100 euros for good attitude towards schooling Another girl got two stipends, one from a Saami group because she was studying Saami. These stipends were kept secret until the day itself.. and those that won looked really surprised! I thought one was going to faint from shock! Fellow pupils cheered as names were called out for stipend winners.. it was really nice to see how others were genuinely pleased for their fellow classmates.

After the ceremony ended, there were photographs to be taken.

Our son with Anna

3. A card from Anna, handmade. Roughly, it translates as: Care a lot for people when young. When you have grey hair you need lots of wonderful memories. For congratulations and success in your life! Anna This was inside his folder that they gave him, accompanying his certificate.

People stood around outside the school, chatting and saying their goodbyes.

Photographs were taken with friends.

With some of his class

Then there was a small meeting of his class..(there was only 17 students in his class)...so we left them to it and watched from a distance. There was lots of hugging and emotional farewells going on, not knowing when next they'll meet! Sad really...

(You can just see that the Finnish flag was flying too)

And here is what it was all about.. His 'Todistus'/ Certificate of Proof.

With the official Sodankylä rubber stamp!

Here is our fine fella... The pics taken later at home.

Although there was no mention on the day, of a foreigner in their midsts, an English boy coming through the whole school, nor the success of his achievements in learning Finnish, we as his parents are rightfully PROUD of him.. and state it here clearly so no one is unsure. This is no ordinary feat. He even speaks with a Lappish lilt!

Now, he waits to find out which of his course choices are accepted, for when he goes to Ammattikoulu (Profession School) in August. Right now? Well, like most kids.. he is just enjoying the Summer holiday. We just need some Summer weather to go with it really.. although saturdays event was a gloriously sunny day, the last week has seen a fair bit of light snow and hail! Brrrr....

CONGRATULATIONS!!! Well Done!! We are proud of you!!

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FIVE YEARS LIVING IN LAPLAND!

2009-05-29T22:08:00.007+03:00

I really cannot believe where five years have gone to, but on the 29th of May, 2004, we did move abroad from Great Britain, to Finland.. and the Lapland region of Finland at that. I can categorically state that we had a lot of naysayers at the time, many people gave us six months at the most and thought we would be back in blighty by then.

We are fighters, we don't do things the easy way and do not give in. Living here has not always been easy, but then again.. where is? We have achieved quite a lot in five years, especially considering that coming here almost wiped us out financially - but the drive to do it was greater than the risk of financial burden. So, some of these achievements might seem minor to other folk, but to us, there were a lot of mountains to climb, that have either been conquered or reduced in size along the way. 'Longest journey, start with first step' so Confucious say.. and that is one of my favourite sayings. It's very true too. We stepped out of our comfort zone, into the unknown and it has been a long journey...one that is ongoing.

I wanted today to make a list of just some of our achievements and there are many more than just this list:

1. Sticking with it and staying put, despite some very trying times, emotionally and financially in the first few years!

2. Putting both our children through Finnish school successfully and seeing them grow up from boys to young men, with skills that will hold them in good stead for the future.

3. Getting to grips with Finnish against all the odds. It took four years before my husband and I got any formal education in Lapland - and a letter to the Lapland Government to get it sorted - so whilst good that we taught ourselves a bit, we had also learnt a lot of wrongly self taught Finnish, not having a Finnish person on hand to correct our pronounciation etc... and it's SO very hard to undo what is already in your head! If I said we had fully learnt Finnish, I would be totally lying.. that is a long way off.. but we are getting there, making progress.. and that is all that we can ask for really.

4. Both of us having work. Me also having Arctic Rainbow and the enjoyment I get from it. Work for foreigners is quite a hard thing to find up here, if you can't speak the lingo - or a decent amount of it, it's pretty much no way jose!

5. Our younger son, aged 16 having an evening telesales job - in Finnish. It has to be said that his Finnish is excellent. Out of our two sons, he has benefited most with the language because he was younger when he came here. Had we come here a couple of years earlier it would have helped our elder son so much more.

6. Our older son aged 18 having a suitable course in datanomy, to feed his ambition for computers and programming.

7. Upgrading our life, not suffering aggression on a daily basis from strangers or having break-ins or thefts as we did in the UK. Living a more peaceful, tranquil life.

8. Making some really great, supportive Finnish and international friends here in Sodankylä.

9. Feeling more 'out of the loop' of sensationalism, journalism, big-brotherism etc... (and that is priceless!) Not knowing what is going on in the world, unless we want to know it.

10. For me, learning so much more about the Noitarumpu drum - which was partly what drew me here.

11. Teaching our children that the world is a small place and getting smaller every day, that you are not limited to just living where you were born, that life is an adventure and you should at least try something rather than live to regret not trying it at all.

12. Continuing to face our obstacles together, as a close, loving, united family - when we could have been pulled apart, by doing something so drastic.

Curiously enough on a day when I look at achievements, today was also our younger sons final day at school! Tomorrow morning we go to the school, (yes - on a Saturday!) for an assembly and the receiving of their leaving certificate reports. We as a family, will also be remembering that there is someone missing from the line up, his best friend Matti who died when he was just 13. I have said it before, but he just would not be where he is now, without the assistance of Matti. Matti was a very special friend. He is/we are indebted for having known his friendship during difficult times.

I hope to take some photographs and share them with you tomorrow!

On a different note.. I also wanted to share a couple of funny moments that happened today.

1. Whilst driving home, I saw a man wearing just a towel wrapped around his waist... swiftly moving from a wooden outhouse to his wooden home, looking as red as a beetroot! Oh it was funny - especially as his home is right next to the road! It was about 4.15pm and he had obviously just had a sauna! (many wood smoke saunas are built outside)... I wished I'd have had the camera handy! Lucky for him I didn't... LOL!!!

2. This fella.... I just HAD to buy him! It's an apple filled doughnut.. but what a great shape... a Pigs face! I've never seen one like that before.. have you? It made me laugh!!!

Oh and would you believe it!! I saw that little white baby reindeer again...or at least it looked like him.... AND a second baby reindeer today! The latter one was brown and was sucking from it's mothers underside - by the side of the road! Wow! It was soooo cute! I am hoping to catch a photo sometime!

Here is to the NEXT five years, where ever they take us, I hope we will be happy, healthy and prosperous!

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Countdown... 1 day to go... and simple pleasures of today!

2009-05-28T20:32:00.012+03:00

Here are some simple pleasures that I have experienced today.

1. First thing this morning, during the drive to work... I saw my FIRST baby Reindeer. Now, I have seen oodles of Reindeer roaming, but never a tiny baby! It was really very, very young, a day or so old - if that I would think. Unfortunately I have no photograph as it all happened so fast. It was pouring down with rain and the twee thing was stood protecting itself from the rain by curling itself under its mothers belly. A really lovely sight! It looked a little like this fella, but it was very light coloured, almost white. Really cute!

2. At lunchtime I was reading the local newspaper, the Sompio. Within it's pages was an article about an educational visual arts competition, held between schools all over Finland. There were categories for various years, but the theme of the competition was broadly related to Finnish history and it's autonomy in the era of the 1800's. In the first age range of years 1 to 3, the first and second prize was awarded to children that go to our local school, Aleksanteri Kenan koulu in Sodankylä. How great! Out of all the entrants, first AND second for that age range!

The pictures, really were lovely. I especially like the colourful, descriptive and imaginative winning entry (shown above and below) by Leni-liisi Huikuri who is apparently a 2nd grade student, but I also liked the faces on the runner up picture, by Jenni Alatalo. Well done to them both!

1st place. Leni-Liisi Huikuri, "Miten Suomi syntyi?" (2. lk. Aleksanteri Kenan koulu, Sodankylä) "How was Finland born?"

It also came with a delightful story!

"Ilo oli ylimmillään! kuningas Igor Venäläinen ja kuningatar Sophia Ruotsalainen saivat tyttären nimeltään Lenisabeth 1, vihreähapsisen pienen lapsen. Silmät loistavat, kuin taivaan siniset tähdet. Ranteissa päivän kakkarat, kaulalla helmi nakki makkarat. Nutussa raitoina virtaavat kosket, mansikan punaa hehkuvat posket. Suuna Sirppi kuu, hiuksilla kruununa kuusipuut. Hameessa leimuaa revontulet. Lapsen hoito oli rankkaa. Yhtä pissaa ja kakkaa! Kiukku linnassa yltyi, Kuningas karjui ja Kuningatar kirkui. Siitä seurasi avioero! Lenisabeth Suomalainen vaelsi suruissaan Lappiin. Hän rakastui Sampo Lappalaiseen, meni naimisiin ja sain ainakin 5 miljoonaa lasta. Tänä päivänä Lenisabeth Suomalainen on jo vanha viherlapsi, ja minä Leniliis Huikuri 8 vuotta, olen hänen rakas lapsenlapsi".

Which roughly translates as:

"Pleasure overflowed! Russian King Igor and Swedish Queen Sophia had a daughter named Lenisabeth 1st, a green haired small child. Her eyes shone, like sky-blue stars. Around her wrists were daisies, her necklace beads were of frankfurter sausages. On her jacket were flowing stripes, strawberry buttons reflecting red smoldering cheeks. A mouth like a sickle moon, on her head a crown of six trees. Her dress was marked by the northern lights. Caring for the child was hard. *She was equally nasty and nice! It was an increasingly spiky castle, the King was a pig and the Queen yelled! It was soon followed by a divorce! Finnish Lenisabeth walked sadly in Lapland. She fell in love with Sampo in Lapland, she married and got at least 5 million children! Today, the Finnish Lenisabeth is an old person, and I Leni-liis Huikuri am 8 years old and I am her beloved grandchild.

*=(Finns will recognised that I softened that particular sentence!)

This is the 2nd placed entry.

2. Jenni Alatalo, "Minä ja pojat kansan urhokkaan" (1. lk. Aleksanteri Kenan koulu, Sodankylä) "Me and boys in national bravery"

Which one is you Jenni?

You can see all the entries here.. click the link marked voittajat to see all the category winners! http://kohtaamisia.moana.fi/fi/index.php

3. The final pleasantry of today, was finding a shop I didn't know existed... well.. I did - sort of, but I'd not really worked out how to get to it before. I've been putting in a new border to my front garden. I've bought lots of seeds and have been bringing on all sorts of flowers and vegetables including runner beans. I needed garden canes, to support them as they grow.. but could I find any? I was just getting blank looks from shopkeepers! One person even told me that growing runner beans in Lapland was exotic! Hahahaha! Exotic?? Hmm... It comes to something when friend in Spain has to offer to send you beansticks!...(thanks Sophie)..but its hard to get some things here..

Anyway.. I asked someone today at work where they thought I might find them. She described somewhere I had seen, but I had to go round the back. Inside there I found a great little gardenwares place.. that I have seen every summer for a short period of time, but thought it was part of another shop. It backs on to it you see, I'd been inside the other shop which has household wares and presumed that was all there was for gardenware! So didn't realise there was a separate part. Derrr... So, today I was joyful at finding garden canes. (Welcome to life in Lapland!.... simple things eh?)

Just one day left...!

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Countdown... 2...

2009-05-27T23:14:00.001+03:00

Not long now!

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Countdown... 3.... and my first EVER blog award!

2009-05-26T22:19:00.007+03:00

Three Days left on the countdown to five years.....

Today I had a very nice surprise. I was awarded my very first bloggers award!

Rita (whose blog you can read by clicking the link) left a message to say that she had awarded me an OSCAR no less! Why? Purely because she likes my blog and I am on her list of favourites! That's really nice to hear. It is so nice to get feedback.. and nice to have friendly messages left after a blog is published!

At the same time a fellow Sodankylän also got the same award.. Amel, my Indonesian friend.

Nice eh? Thank you Rita, very much indeed!

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All content, unless otherwise noted, is © ArcticRainbow and may not be reproduced in any form without express permission from the author, except for credited links directly to articles or to the main site. (I don't bite...just ask!) :D

Countdown... 4.... and my Rowan Tree

2009-05-25T22:16:00.005+03:00

Four Days...

Hooray...The trees are all beginning to unleash their leaves in Lapland!
My Rowan Tree is waking up!

Rowan is said to be derived from its old Norse name Raun, although it is possible that it might also be connected to the word for Rune. It is often used for making runes infact. It has many other nicknames taken from folklore, which include: Thor's helper (what a great name!) the Whispering tree, Quickbane, the Rune tree, the Wicken tree, variations of Wiggy, Wiky or Wiggin, Witch Wood etc.. and several more too. It's a lovely tree and there are many trees of Rowan around here, but I am SO glad there is one right outside MY house! A protective, magickal tree the Rowan is blessed with many traditions, handing down age old beliefs, that it offered protection from evil spirits.

Well, technically my Rowan is on the other side of my fence, but as there is just forest on the other side..I claim it and I love it!

Sadly, not only the trees are waking.. its been quite wet of late....and so the mosquitoes have been VERY happy to wake up too! :o

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Countdown... 5....

2009-05-24T15:51:00.002+03:00

Five Days...

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