tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-273177492024-03-07T20:19:51.132+02:00Matti in FinlandWelcome, Tervetuloa, Välkommen !
Greetings from Paradise! I hope to be posting some things that deal with genealogy concerning Finland and the Red Lodge, Montana area with the hope someone out there may have some info to help my project. I may from time to time post about events that I have experienced here in Finland and my personal opinions on world affairs, etc. So stop on in and drop a line or two!SaunaMattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09393454063504062128noreply@blogger.comBlogger56125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27317749.post-61615321009451359512013-01-26T21:49:00.000+02:002013-01-26T21:49:14.616+02:00A New Beginning 2013<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggbxEswYdyWj3SEHXBZlyEuq377XucVdy53TSZIn7j5swHOd7xDa40RM_U4NT8VF8hSArQ6K9ZhliIQZweYjMSWkazQGyE7luDLruFXgfv-jvPXyxinIEZjY0tsFW7Lgu0JQbp/s1600/20130123_150337.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggbxEswYdyWj3SEHXBZlyEuq377XucVdy53TSZIn7j5swHOd7xDa40RM_U4NT8VF8hSArQ6K9ZhliIQZweYjMSWkazQGyE7luDLruFXgfv-jvPXyxinIEZjY0tsFW7Lgu0JQbp/s320/20130123_150337.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: large;">S</span>o it has been almost two years since I last made an entry into my blog. I guess I should be more active with it. Well I have had many things happen in the past few years and I should have been keeping up to date with them here. It would be more easier to do so.<br />
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We are thankful for what the past two years have given us. Tiina was cleared of her cancer with a final control check-up in October 2012. I turned 50 in June 2012 and now Tiina just turned 50 this month. Niki left for Wisconsin to be an exchange student for the current school year last September. He is having a blast there as everything is always so "awesome". Alexi was confirmed last October. He also bought a drum kit. He found out through his uncle that the snare drum is a real good one and an old one and to never sell it! <br />
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Stay tuned for more posts to come! I am planning out what to post next. SaunaMattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09393454063504062128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27317749.post-50034931312398328422011-09-25T13:22:00.000+03:002011-09-25T13:22:36.411+03:0021 Years in the Old CountryThe other day I just realized that I have been living in Finland for the past 21 years. That date passed on the 5th of September. What can I say? Well I am very fortunate and happy to be living here. I love this country with all my heart. Now before my good friends back in the States decide to question me, you will do so because you always have, I miss my home state of Montana, more specifically the Fox, Roberts and Red Lodge communities. I miss the mountains and the country fresh air and the land that surrounds all. I miss the people, family and friends. Most all I knew have passed on to greener pastures and bluer mountains but I still miss them. Basically I miss or am homesick for what was. My life is here now and this is where I am happiest. I won't get into the politics of it all because there is way too much to discuss. So perhaps I will save that for a later post. I have kept some close connections and gained new ones via Facebook.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcr8eFcQcU9WxRziQqG8bMxUfaHwfDWHJ1h6ovtNlZgxjgLUvAyeq5Z9Ay8e4t7rz35sw-kMmmGkBL3ig9nXWCFOtK82hm4t4NyoabyW5QVl_Gy_Mf49makynrIXGsCz-t8vP-/s1600/04062010128.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcr8eFcQcU9WxRziQqG8bMxUfaHwfDWHJ1h6ovtNlZgxjgLUvAyeq5Z9Ay8e4t7rz35sw-kMmmGkBL3ig9nXWCFOtK82hm4t4NyoabyW5QVl_Gy_Mf49makynrIXGsCz-t8vP-/s320/04062010128.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>I still remain an American citizen but do have my eye on becoming a Finnish citizen sometime in the near future. Why not? I have lived here for so long and have no intentions on returning to the States to live. The question is will I retain and maintain two citizenship's or just the one? I don't know. If I were able to travel to the USA with just a Finnish passport then perhaps but since I would be required to use a USA passport then maybe not. We will have to wait and see.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">Suomi, minä rakastan sinua!! </div>SaunaMattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09393454063504062128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27317749.post-40584219375683754382011-09-11T22:48:00.001+03:002011-09-25T12:16:45.998+03:00Catching Up<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR6JCKpdVMCoz24E_OSBXhSjBRKrLQ3J0LitauBfZ89_5-D2DsHWCtdFk405Dti04HgDy0vrAwiOUnLmsVCh10oILqHcr5x8W_bUalb9UXGTWzA-mTt2TVwOnVMyZ0Dot1LEcD/s1600/rainbow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR6JCKpdVMCoz24E_OSBXhSjBRKrLQ3J0LitauBfZ89_5-D2DsHWCtdFk405Dti04HgDy0vrAwiOUnLmsVCh10oILqHcr5x8W_bUalb9UXGTWzA-mTt2TVwOnVMyZ0Dot1LEcD/s320/rainbow.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Well it has been almost three years since I last wrote something here. I decided to change the style and layout of my Blog in order for a fresh feeling or start, if you will.<br />
So where do I begin? I guess for the moment I will begin where I had left off. On Monday, September 5th, Tiina had her fourth year control exam for breast cancer. The mammogram and ultrasound all showed clear! The radiologist was very happy as were we. Tiina will have a consultation with the nurse on the 19th concerning her blood work. We are confident that all will be okay. The past three years have been quite good and without any serious complications. Tiina did get fitted for a compression sleeve and glove to help whenever her hand and arm began to swell due to lack of lymph nodes in her left arm. She hasn't had to wear it very many times but it is there for her just in case. She has to be a bit careful with what kind of physical activity she does. For instance cross-country skiing is a bit of a no-no fir her. She has to be careful not to get any deep cuts or pricks to her left arm and hand. So over all everything is calm and clear under the rainbow of hope.<br />
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Well Tiina had her meeting with the nurse and all was clear there with the blood test results. They want to do an abdominal ultrasound because the have never done one (the private clinic had) and to check out a fatty lump that she has had for many years. I think deep down she would like to have it removed, if possible. So all is well for another year! Yes!! <br />
SaunaMattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09393454063504062128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27317749.post-62667675271122089172008-10-05T14:18:00.000+03:002008-10-05T14:19:38.443+03:00Update on Tiina<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTx0wtrUMeQAHt3aOjnvaiCTQuy9tBIgUer4t1jz4lFFyF_VMQ-3RVB-7Bb61a1CFVfz40MKcPV-vUoWz2LQ1ar_MfyS90BE_sDsMMbgSbHMYSIj8ULekBcTEWcwrRx1T7jm3O/s1600-h/tiina19012008004.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5253591507269708482" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTx0wtrUMeQAHt3aOjnvaiCTQuy9tBIgUer4t1jz4lFFyF_VMQ-3RVB-7Bb61a1CFVfz40MKcPV-vUoWz2LQ1ar_MfyS90BE_sDsMMbgSbHMYSIj8ULekBcTEWcwrRx1T7jm3O/s320/tiina19012008004.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="color:#000000;"><strong>January 18th, 2008</strong><br /></span><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div></div><div></div><br /><div>On this date Tiina had her last Chemotherapy treatment. This was the sixth out of six. This time around she had been given a prescription for a stronger nausea preventive medicine that has been in use in the USA for about a year. Three pills only and the cost was about 30 Euros apiece taken one a day for three days. The treatment went well as did the recovery. She felt queezy but managed not to vomit and she was able to eat as well. In this photo she is preparing tomato soup to eat on the evening of the following day after her treatment.<br /><strong><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi00eVluqPnOk8LzK8pR7EzldlZvp0KmXntYyorbnP7pkoXozWxOEIUYcbvzBfr03u3MM_JbJyz3FWpWxikiOExupXD_Eweu-Xvr4TYjtG-2uy_Q0nISQ2dG5BniAZ5bMcIbznx/s1600-h/tiina26012008016.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5253594723624266002" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi00eVluqPnOk8LzK8pR7EzldlZvp0KmXntYyorbnP7pkoXozWxOEIUYcbvzBfr03u3MM_JbJyz3FWpWxikiOExupXD_Eweu-Xvr4TYjtG-2uy_Q0nISQ2dG5BniAZ5bMcIbznx/s320/tiina26012008016.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="color:#000000;">January 26th</span></strong><br /></div><br /><div>We had gone to the mall to have lunch in celebration of Tiina's 45th birthday which was on the 23rd. She wasn't up to celebrating very much at that time. You can see by this picture that she was much more chipper. She was feeling good and happy that the worst of the treatments was finally over. Now all we had to do was wait to see when the radiation treatments would begin. Should be in about three to four weeks. We calculated that we probably wouldn't be able to to to our cottage in Jalasjärvi because of the treatments. She would have to go in every day so the most time we would get would be a weekend. Two days isn't really worth the travel time. </div><div></div><div><strong><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="color:#000000;">February 6th</span> </span></strong><br /></div><div><strong></strong></div><br /><div>Tiina had to go to Helsinki to get tattooed so that she would be in the same position for each radiation treatment. The tattoos were just a few tiny dots. She had been scheduled to begin the treatments on the 13th during week 7 but the doctor decided that another machine would be better for her so the start time was moved to the 21st of February in the middle of week 8, which was in the middle of our <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht_lBWBAJ73djuG_BZgMgoEHY_Ee5YZciD8qx510A1Na-wB3aQ_qAD-h6iMYpQ3M138NjViSezldfIe36moS9a1Y0OFDSyiq4BOQ_WuysuLkgvnOq-oCb1nEHn_lSJD54_WrIH/s1600-h/n&t16022008032.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5253598578813186802" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht_lBWBAJ73djuG_BZgMgoEHY_Ee5YZciD8qx510A1Na-wB3aQ_qAD-h6iMYpQ3M138NjViSezldfIe36moS9a1Y0OFDSyiq4BOQ_WuysuLkgvnOq-oCb1nEHn_lSJD54_WrIH/s320/n&t16022008032.jpg" border="0" /></a>winter holiday! Those because of this we were able to go up to our cottage from the 16th through the 19th. It was our first time there since spending only 8 days last summer. Tiina wanted to recharge her batteries whilst there by taking in fresh, country air and just relaxing before the 30 days of radiation began. </div><br /><div><strong><span style="color:#000000;">February 16th</span></strong> </div><div></div><div></div></div><div><div>Here Tiina is pictured with our eldest son Niki at Päivi and Raine Rautanen's home in Jalasjärvi. This was taken just after our arrival. The next photo was taken that same evening whilst we were playing the card game called <span style="color:#3333ff;"><em>Aggravation</em></span>. She doesn't look aggravated at. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvBSiGy5FouSwrkSQdtxWmwxNK7o1ixLZv-1MD5b50wu4GMEyUa7JMGjPr6oW6KTSe7lPRxZKPPvBiZH8rwXjJzd-FTddDl_vU9E2REMMmFS_1ASSFPRT-vTUIHfdJ9rn2UczP/s1600-h/tiina16022008037.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5253615290389763218" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvBSiGy5FouSwrkSQdtxWmwxNK7o1ixLZv-1MD5b50wu4GMEyUa7JMGjPr6oW6KTSe7lPRxZKPPvBiZH8rwXjJzd-FTddDl_vU9E2REMMmFS_1ASSFPRT-vTUIHfdJ9rn2UczP/s320/tiina16022008037.jpg" border="0" /></a>That's because she is winning! Playing Aggravation is how we pass the evenings (late evenings) away after the kids have gone to sleep. We turn the radio on and begin to get aggravated. Sometimes we play until 2 or 3 AM. But we are on holiday then, so who cares! </div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div><strong><span style="color:#000000;"></span></strong></div><br /><div><strong><span style="color:#000000;">February 19th</span></strong></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMM3aHQSnIRWvUaZE2ICaOhO4uNv2w68wpZQNY6Ptbolw33uEkUbK7J70oy5sLzqA7TxgD-lfYu6QreOF_gC4vLqG3psoCDh4H72I3W5_pb9MfPNEQJJo_0hT7pKp7fFTDHJDh/s1600-h/tiina19022008043.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5253623394450193522" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMM3aHQSnIRWvUaZE2ICaOhO4uNv2w68wpZQNY6Ptbolw33uEkUbK7J70oy5sLzqA7TxgD-lfYu6QreOF_gC4vLqG3psoCDh4H72I3W5_pb9MfPNEQJJo_0hT7pKp7fFTDHJDh/s200/tiina19022008043.jpg" border="0" /></a> <div></div><br /><div>The next picture is of Tiina driving home from Jalasjärvi. She had her pink "Bad Hair Day" knit cap on. I was putting it on her so that it rested in different positions and then took pictures. She didn't seem to mind so much. Over all she had a good and relaxing time at the cottage and with the <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-CPQQO0f0bwvpFKKzgEPibDC73DdUcd5BNNME3aeIwqrox837TirfvYGWDki4gt2XT9Iu9ZpxJMU6kxeNnDdI2jC89ExwRcAymj_45MPrGZzceVe2pLdgYaXIwfG8cF64E_pA/s1600-h/tiina19022008043.jpg"></a>neighbors.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMZFfW2Wmsw3YkJ-pPeGAYet7hbrV_pN-qntRIaG08u_448cVbc_T64m01M9s5A3UVxjFH4Tgu1Q_fA1r_dD4uW5Jbn74wCTLL8f-oiBQnDHGrxOB8uV6NmY1OO7eaOrMFSb1X/s1600-h/tiina26032008057.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5253616684702772386" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMZFfW2Wmsw3YkJ-pPeGAYet7hbrV_pN-qntRIaG08u_448cVbc_T64m01M9s5A3UVxjFH4Tgu1Q_fA1r_dD4uW5Jbn74wCTLL8f-oiBQnDHGrxOB8uV6NmY1OO7eaOrMFSb1X/s320/tiina26032008057.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><br /><div><strong><span style="color:#000000;">March</span><span style="color:#000000;"> 26th</span></strong></div><div><br />This next picture was taken at Pizza Hut after she had gone to her radiation treatment and then to the SFP party office where we stuffed mailer envelopes. We were hungry so decided to have a date at Pizza Hut. Before meeting her at the party office I had just returned from having physical therapy on my right wrist in Tikkurila. I took the train from their to Helsinki where I had met up with Tiina at the party office, which is located in the center of Helsinki. </div><br /><div><br /><strong><span style="color:#000000;">April 3rd</span></strong></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div>Well this was the last day of Tiina's radiation treatments. She had a total of 30 <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBosnzP4lvrw8HZ7C5tZlCOTLQSTFBQLsms9v3dzlL86hpA9aoj5dj-7FnZURUYWKIbPAffHbHI6D-qHHEeLfOwDxf6uuUonsclntb40OMRFdRrhO0DYDkoIiXrRRVjFBcm950/s1600-h/tiina15042008061.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5253616859985315618" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBosnzP4lvrw8HZ7C5tZlCOTLQSTFBQLsms9v3dzlL86hpA9aoj5dj-7FnZURUYWKIbPAffHbHI6D-qHHEeLfOwDxf6uuUonsclntb40OMRFdRrhO0DYDkoIiXrRRVjFBcm950/s320/tiina15042008061.jpg" border="0" /></a>sessions with the last five being boosters and only in the area where the tumor had been found. Her skin was becoming quite red, like a bad sunburn, especially on the neck and throat areas. Over the course of the next few weeks this would become a little more worse and then begin to fade into a tan. She hadn't had any bad blistering as I thought there would have been. It did interfere with her breathing from time to time. She had to use an asthma inhaler and wasn't able to walk very far or fast without having to stop a rest a bit. This was especially worse going up stairs. Tiina was a bit tired but the people at the hospital told her that this isn't mainly due to the radiation itself but due to having to go there every day for the treatments. Whenever possible Tiina took the train or bus to the treatments but usually came home by taxi. This time of the year there is always dust or smoke in the air and it makes it difficult to breath if one suffers from breathing disorders. The following photo was taken on the 15th of April to be used in Tiina's FaceBook profile. Here you can catch a glimpse of the radiation damage done to the skin on her neck and throat area. She still is smiling though! Now all we had to do was wait for the first control in the summer.</div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>SaunaMattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09393454063504062128noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27317749.post-22481544941810220472008-01-01T00:00:00.000+02:002008-01-01T00:36:38.967+02:00Hyvää Uutta Vuotta = Happy New Year 2008 !!!!<div>May ye all have a happy and prosperous New Year!!!<br /><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><br /><p align="justify">Some pictures snapped from our balcony.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA5XlUwpzNJM7j2KYWi5-7lWS2NtfVHHBiMrshE6QRJoceURPNTz8wEwdtmYcm_3LE9OkTMZghVoDEiWHlrMwEfxSv4a56g8kC1WmZW8_eeMRyw_PPO6STxnNAMW26v3MGGQ6y/s1600-h/fw6.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5150265782518312626" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA5XlUwpzNJM7j2KYWi5-7lWS2NtfVHHBiMrshE6QRJoceURPNTz8wEwdtmYcm_3LE9OkTMZghVoDEiWHlrMwEfxSv4a56g8kC1WmZW8_eeMRyw_PPO6STxnNAMW26v3MGGQ6y/s200/fw6.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXEhZYgviXoqeZlzlmSL3xrvynFftQw3ImTOB0piP6_ahbNok2zFIzwy_iv6lKqI6Jw7oHXg9MP37Eu2_v60LDxk7thFEdg8FtFsQZ-agqzEr3HbUqIgLh95KC9iw6_lIIfe6k/s1600-h/fw1.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5150264184790478386" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXEhZYgviXoqeZlzlmSL3xrvynFftQw3ImTOB0piP6_ahbNok2zFIzwy_iv6lKqI6Jw7oHXg9MP37Eu2_v60LDxk7thFEdg8FtFsQZ-agqzEr3HbUqIgLh95KC9iw6_lIIfe6k/s200/fw1.jpg" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr3ZTp0Kd3iVlERj3_9RILMTTb9oYUJ4EwLFf4V_zL8V5xyITaTbQnGK-_uJ-oywLBjDlA5hx2BswoxdS4f3PaoR5ucw6tvcpRQrLdKGKxPg1INwT5TmUmtKrbYK6eIA-5MUmn/s1600-h/fw7.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5150264829035572882" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr3ZTp0Kd3iVlERj3_9RILMTTb9oYUJ4EwLFf4V_zL8V5xyITaTbQnGK-_uJ-oywLBjDlA5hx2BswoxdS4f3PaoR5ucw6tvcpRQrLdKGKxPg1INwT5TmUmtKrbYK6eIA-5MUmn/s200/fw7.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoUlNrPW5dZNxfQZdP2v5LM276ZsijpcWRAsn69HsF7NCPDMpKDoLDV77pB1MymkvuXZ7ph9zecx97sWUTV9ks60HodomY31E6L8BtgOonUPF0hQqvaH0KKuCJbeCkiDK_DEaY/s1600-h/fw2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5150264322229431874" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoUlNrPW5dZNxfQZdP2v5LM276ZsijpcWRAsn69HsF7NCPDMpKDoLDV77pB1MymkvuXZ7ph9zecx97sWUTV9ks60HodomY31E6L8BtgOonUPF0hQqvaH0KKuCJbeCkiDK_DEaY/s200/fw2.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrQb3e6UVeXIRGQKPHpMSHramRnf6wM_PCHzoo8KXRgRYloqrQYLm4sN8z9PsUzOCO_3bgUtqqyMQIeTm40RwLIspt1vS4Jx0_gEftjF_o3kdqzkGp7ozWcH44smhsMlkBikYM/s1600-h/fw8.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5150264889165115042" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrQb3e6UVeXIRGQKPHpMSHramRnf6wM_PCHzoo8KXRgRYloqrQYLm4sN8z9PsUzOCO_3bgUtqqyMQIeTm40RwLIspt1vS4Jx0_gEftjF_o3kdqzkGp7ozWcH44smhsMlkBikYM/s200/fw8.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2l3jTgb9-mm2iCgPuko16lzW25M7OK4rkedUxJzV0ZGwFGo5JsAMp7XJpmU8hFfxS6xevNfUThajMxByYpH_pjgZG5glI7F3WXsV1S5N0bFAlUHDNt5XiutaS4VEMUgoWSonO/s1600-h/fw9.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5150269295801560770" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2l3jTgb9-mm2iCgPuko16lzW25M7OK4rkedUxJzV0ZGwFGo5JsAMp7XJpmU8hFfxS6xevNfUThajMxByYpH_pjgZG5glI7F3WXsV1S5N0bFAlUHDNt5XiutaS4VEMUgoWSonO/s200/fw9.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX5SoX0ENrrtbSrQqVDCunhgVzURNKOCrJ4_t-ocx9XmpjI-tmFbZAxGtYOyYZywoG_TBMuvAhdM-KuMAiSQqkxta0SsIdxCFxwxAA15q0wexZwsxR5ZG0M9cSHtfjCyMKjIKp/s1600-h/fw7.jpg"></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0-bUe4Dzz6dK9Y8Qvt1bXsh0D-g1gFV0n8fyaO-AGKDNEUXB16K0cJvs-Gw4Unb8rcJLDSPubyGz8ScfFpxxPZhT7K4k1iJnIr8n_IIbBkvt4vS01RLjrjzFBH51Xx3fw8xZ0/s1600-h/fw3.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5150264425308646994" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0-bUe4Dzz6dK9Y8Qvt1bXsh0D-g1gFV0n8fyaO-AGKDNEUXB16K0cJvs-Gw4Unb8rcJLDSPubyGz8ScfFpxxPZhT7K4k1iJnIr8n_IIbBkvt4vS01RLjrjzFBH51Xx3fw8xZ0/s200/fw3.jpg" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihyphenhyphenijRKpI72OAW8T3rQNXCLqz5tkdLulZuBLai4MlHna7tGTm9ZIeoJlEjv-Eop2BTdErYNeTieIVUuQUxCQ459NZ5Vm_hdW_0LkEzsGSsjqdFlkJj5m87AYKnmSwNB02VmTPJ/s1600-h/fw5.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5150264592812371570" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihyphenhyphenijRKpI72OAW8T3rQNXCLqz5tkdLulZuBLai4MlHna7tGTm9ZIeoJlEjv-Eop2BTdErYNeTieIVUuQUxCQ459NZ5Vm_hdW_0LkEzsGSsjqdFlkJj5m87AYKnmSwNB02VmTPJ/s200/fw5.jpg" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2VQzk6WjA5Yu0HOMTzxsInxMr3uPpN095tiT171TN1E8hkI9M71knVmoc3If-6vCDMqxBWbCnNlpfy3zD7bNVNeva_S46-6UlA1E15A22xcg7FMaCQGfkGFUV9-QaXSmR5Vic/s1600-h/fw4.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5150264506913025634" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2VQzk6WjA5Yu0HOMTzxsInxMr3uPpN095tiT171TN1E8hkI9M71knVmoc3If-6vCDMqxBWbCnNlpfy3zD7bNVNeva_S46-6UlA1E15A22xcg7FMaCQGfkGFUV9-QaXSmR5Vic/s200/fw4.jpg" border="0" /></a> <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>SaunaMattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09393454063504062128noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27317749.post-71967775803095576122007-12-28T23:00:00.000+02:002007-12-29T00:04:41.459+02:00Update on TiinaI have neglected to inform everyone with an update to Tiina's treatment of breast cancer. I believe I left off with her coming home after the surgery and recovering from that.<br /><br />Tiina began chemotherapy on the 5th of October. She tries to explain to me what everything is and how it works but for the most part it goes over my head. I know that there consists a total of six treatments. The first three were Taxotere (brand) <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Docetaxel"><em>docetaxel</em></a> (substance) & <a href="http://www.breastcancer.org/treatment/targeted_therapies/herceptin/"><em>Herceptin</em></a> (brand) and the last three called <a href="http://www.chemocare.com/bio/list_by_acronym.asp?acronym=CEF"><em>CEF</em></a>.<br /><br />She continues to work even during the treatments. She is able to juggle her schedule in order to do so. I think she has some pretty understanding bosses. She could just as well taken five to six months of medical leave as was offered to her before treatments began. She declined this because she doesn't want to sit at home thinking about it. By keeping busy it helps her mentally to deal with it.<br /><br />The first treatment seemed to be the worst one after a few days. Tiina had so much pain one night that no matter what she took the pain wouldn't go away and there wasn't anything I could do to help the pain go away. She cried and I cried. She wasn't able to sleep and yet during all of this she was more concerned about me getting my sleep because I had to work the next day. I told her that work was the last thing on my mind and that everyone understands if I am not able to make it into work on time or even at all after a treatment. So she decided to go upstairs and watch TV to help keep her mind off of the pain. I was able to sleep but for only a few hours. When I got up at 6.30 to go to work I saw Tiina back in bed and sleeping like a little baby so I knew she was feeling better. She stayed home and rested that day when she had planned to attend class. She also cancelled two of her courses she was teaching in Hyvinkää just to make sure she wouldn't need to do so at the last minute.<br /><br />Tiina's hair began to fall out on the 14th day after treatment. She managed to take enough of it and tie it with a ribbon then had me cut the rest off. That was harder than I thought it would be for two reasons. One is that she has such thick hair and the other is that I hated to cut it off. She cried and so did I but after discussing the fact that it will grow back we both felt better. I continued the shaving and then we both went to sauna where we calmed even more. Tiina did get a wig but she doesn't like wearing it as she says it makes her too hot. She mostly goes without anything or wears a knit cap or just a scarf. The latter makes her look like a pirate or Gypsy.<br /><br />The doctor told Tiina that beginning with the second treatment that she should use Panacod before she goes to sleep so that she doesn't feel the pain. She had this all along but hates the way it makes her feel. The doctor told her that she would be sleeping anyway so by the time she woke up most of the effects would be worn off. So she did that and it worked good for the second and third treatment. She only had to use it twice each time.<br /><br />She had her fourth treatment with the CEF on the 7th of December. It wasn't the same as the first three. This made her quite nauseous. She remained in that state for a least ten days. She said she preferred having the pain because at least she could make it go away.<br /><br />Now she has had the fifth treatment today. So far she has vomited only three times. Her treatment began at 11.30 am and it is now 11.58 pm. She said that she is getting used to the vomiting as opposed to the last time. She knows now that it just has to be and no need to try to put it off as long as she can. I suppose it makes her feel a bit better just to go and do it as well. Still, it must be no fun. The boys are a little stressed about it. I kind of explained to them why it is happening. They mostly think it just sounds so terrible, which it does.<br /><br />Well Tiina has the meds she needs to fight the nausea so all we can do is wait and see how it works out for her. She is a tuffy and will do just fine. Right Babe? Right !! :)SaunaMattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09393454063504062128noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27317749.post-57594260170201917872007-12-28T22:11:00.000+02:002007-12-29T00:09:56.362+02:00Tapaninpäivä = St. Stephen's Day = Boxing Day<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzCurVRMHfE6yRmt_52TIGo4IhUbjXqEobRmp9Iwz7mOn5C2qA-kHXo3BMF0wLC6GapUExbD6o-Xp3c63jivZADjgBIGoZztMis9T65nodhcwPe3J-yBW_YyiJndgZJTJlnB9O/s1600-h/kids+at+play.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5149124614002732482" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzCurVRMHfE6yRmt_52TIGo4IhUbjXqEobRmp9Iwz7mOn5C2qA-kHXo3BMF0wLC6GapUExbD6o-Xp3c63jivZADjgBIGoZztMis9T65nodhcwPe3J-yBW_YyiJndgZJTJlnB9O/s200/kids+at+play.jpg" border="0" /></a>December 26th, 2007<br /><br /><br />Today we made the traditional excursion to Tiina's father's place in Vihti for dinner and exchanging of gifts. There were a ton of people there this year. That is mainly due to all of us having kids..... and one on the way :) No not us silly.<br /><br /><br />Let's see there was Saku, Tiina's father, and his wife Leena, Sampo and Marleena and their two kids Verneri and Marikki, Veera and her husband Jouni (Veera has one on the way), Leena Nuora and her husband Petteri and their kids Siiri, Elina and Salli. Siiri is the daughter of Leena and Sampo. Then there was Petteri and his girlfriend Pia and Me, Tiina and our sons Niki and Alexi. So that makes a total of 19. A household full it was too. The kids all had fun playing together and the adults had fun just visiting with each other. The food was good as well as the dessert. After the meal the boys, Niki and Alexi, played a few songs on the guitar and flute for everyone. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc-AH3gqGBSblN7351dNKbW3j_klGTm4TwbGU36Mxujfpcq4-OMwvAOnlSCipl4SPRRylCGpaC8PdoqVosujwS90XIgVg5YDDqjGrSVMy1Ld4CHijsGjEsf9ezRLwFh0uuuptW/s1600-h/tapaninp%C3%A4iv%C3%A4.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5149124734261816786" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc-AH3gqGBSblN7351dNKbW3j_klGTm4TwbGU36Mxujfpcq4-OMwvAOnlSCipl4SPRRylCGpaC8PdoqVosujwS90XIgVg5YDDqjGrSVMy1Ld4CHijsGjEsf9ezRLwFh0uuuptW/s200/tapaninp%C3%A4iv%C3%A4.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlmFZL8QsBIswfr9gQLAjuM2x76YTDkDaa70w1zJdthNl-2VE19ks97Af3yMpe4fl6Rh-37tclxkV926rcPd6yt9ZdGP-df4-G7VsyMo2yh_GmZUxL93JTQHhJMgRv3a96VMgK/s1600-h/sampo+%26+saku.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5149128956214668786" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlmFZL8QsBIswfr9gQLAjuM2x76YTDkDaa70w1zJdthNl-2VE19ks97Af3yMpe4fl6Rh-37tclxkV926rcPd6yt9ZdGP-df4-G7VsyMo2yh_GmZUxL93JTQHhJMgRv3a96VMgK/s200/sampo+%26+saku.jpg" border="0" /></a>After we left we stopped by to see our friends who built a house not far away from Tiina's father's place. They also live in Vihti. They are the Elstobs, Allan, Tea, Jonathan, Benjamin and Michaela. Allan is originally from South Africa. We met when were attending the same immigrant course in Nummela during the year of 1994. At that time neither Tiina and I nor Allan and Tea had any kids. We both were to start a family the following year just 4-5 months after our course ended. Allan and Tea are our eldest son, Nicholas's godparents. We had a nice time at their place and stayed quite late. We got home around 11 pm. So thus ends the Christmas days here in Finland. <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5149124961895083490" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBk_JygdPh1r4PJRTjqyfBUAinV98IuRVLhgabI54mv-tHnpgmkL3ylskQ4OS1ggqXIP5MJ0qt01qyLrKxJffMkMOsjg7PWo6yfW6mMSxnc51gT7mMoW9Tv33tsmd6GW1RNVW6/s320/niki+playing.jpg" border="0" />SaunaMattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09393454063504062128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27317749.post-89588052696611703032007-12-28T20:17:00.000+02:002007-12-29T00:12:58.114+02:00Christmas Eve & Christmas Day<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKNaz2-To7-b4Uj0yZGE-Xwe6EGsdCDtojbhwmLliv2LpNt5LhZwNQt_np9bY-ApBiN9iQvwnFr8CnrXxtjjG3fIlnSmV3ixG-6QVtgmlXGlYthFeY5dBCbs3YM1_KXVh-Tkpf/s1600-h/Christmas+2007.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5149102872878280018" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKNaz2-To7-b4Uj0yZGE-Xwe6EGsdCDtojbhwmLliv2LpNt5LhZwNQt_np9bY-ApBiN9iQvwnFr8CnrXxtjjG3fIlnSmV3ixG-6QVtgmlXGlYthFeY5dBCbs3YM1_KXVh-Tkpf/s320/Christmas+2007.jpg" border="0" /></a>December 24th, 2007<br /><div><div></div><br /><div><span style="color:#cc33cc;"><strong>Christmas Eve</strong></span></div><div></div><br /><div>The mad rush to finish wrapping those unwrapped gifts and sorting to whom goes what has finally come to a close. Now it is time to clean house a bit, prepare the Christmas meal, set out the decorations and set-up and decorate the tree. Once all has been done then comes the Christmas sauna to relax and get new energy. After sauna the tasty meal is served and eaten with delight. Afterwards the gifts are opened. First those from other people and relatives then those from each other and finally any that Santa may have brought by that evening. </div><br /><div></div><div>The price of Christmas trees this year are quite high. Many come from other places other than Finland. I have seen prices ranging from 10€ to 40€ for a 6' plus tree. This year we purchased our tree from the same farmer we got ours from last year. We paid 10€ for it. It is not a perfectly symmetrical tree, but then what is in nature? It was a Finnish tree from a forest nearby here in Espoo. It looks great standing in the corner decorated and lighted. That is all that counts, right?<br /></div><br /><div>The boys and Tiina decorated the tree while I finished wrapping a few gifts I had for them. I placed the star on it and lit it up. Seems to be my job and I don't mind it at all. I like decorating the tree too. But the kids like it even better so I let them be kids and have at it after all I <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVoskNwYA27_iw0Tkrd266lAIIqNTTQUBynUSzIlk5Nhe9YE9-8MWcpHjEGEaD6fodIc_eiq4zW9RJjYDpNwNGqm26g4l6ztrXcLYRF3UhRFkJyyHwBtXcJm4nC-TaVFKKZyci/s1600-h/joulu+olut_2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5149103418339126626" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVoskNwYA27_iw0Tkrd266lAIIqNTTQUBynUSzIlk5Nhe9YE9-8MWcpHjEGEaD6fodIc_eiq4zW9RJjYDpNwNGqm26g4l6ztrXcLYRF3UhRFkJyyHwBtXcJm4nC-TaVFKKZyci/s200/joulu+olut_2.jpg" border="0" /></a>already had my share of it as a kid.<br /></div><br /><div>The boys went to sauna first and then Tiina and I after the food was ready to be set on the table. In sauna Tiina and I shared a bottle of Joulu Lapin Kulta beer. I bought it because I liked the pretty white bottle. The beer was okay and served its purpose for the sauna. We had the birch oil in the water that is tossed on the rocks which made it smell like Christmas. </div><div></div><br /><div>After sauna we had the first course of food which consisted of herring in mustard and wine sauce as well as herring Tiina prepared herself. There was cold smoked rainbow trout and cured Norwegian salmon (Graavi). We had liver pâté, hard boiled eggs, olives and pickles not to mention the rosolli = diced redbeet, pickles, onions and carrots topped with a non-sweetened whipped cream with a tad of beet juice to give it a faint, pink coloring and boiled potatoes.<br /></div><br /><div>The main course consisted of smoked turkey breast and a ham roll, mashed potatoes and gravy, and the traditional casseroles, rutabaga (lanttu), carrot (porkana), potato (peruna) and liver (maksa) without raisins. For the beverage we had a fine South African fruity white wine called Pearl Bay. Thanks Allan & Tea! The boys had apple cider.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBctzplBBzto8-lTF0qF5bS_nDB-Ool2aZFP3qRv5p6WoVAFwZPJL8j_S1TVUM9pVGt2I-GHRgAhfpD7yIOlHJ8JZLQWth0O0Kfx31DV-x7MF5ujQMxJijc1SnJ9o5-tnmxpDi/s1600-h/race+track.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5149104801318595986" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" height="170" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBctzplBBzto8-lTF0qF5bS_nDB-Ool2aZFP3qRv5p6WoVAFwZPJL8j_S1TVUM9pVGt2I-GHRgAhfpD7yIOlHJ8JZLQWth0O0Kfx31DV-x7MF5ujQMxJijc1SnJ9o5-tnmxpDi/s200/race+track.jpg" width="200" border="0" /></a></div><div></div><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7w7qUbsYuBF8XHJqeHkp7qNpw1O83gWnxJzNir6uppNR054Y-pzX0wf3s3FVSGa2-va6S66MGBY5VkfMgawe_4GFWguI08AHtb3M2lcwj92ORJ-8yKFSqzvh-ePbJpVRZ05lJ/s1600-h/Tiina.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5149103998159711602" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7w7qUbsYuBF8XHJqeHkp7qNpw1O83gWnxJzNir6uppNR054Y-pzX0wf3s3FVSGa2-va6S66MGBY5VkfMgawe_4GFWguI08AHtb3M2lcwj92ORJ-8yKFSqzvh-ePbJpVRZ05lJ/s200/Tiina.jpg" border="0" /></a>After the meal and the table was cleared we retired to the living room to open the gifts. I think the boys had a nice Christmas this year. They seem to enjoy all of their presents equally well. They were very surprised to see that Santa brought them a few things that they had wished for. We all played until about two in the morning before calling it a day. </div><br /><div>December 25th, 2007</div><div></div><br /><div><span style="color:#cc33cc;"><strong>Christmas Day</strong></span></div><div></div><br /><div>Today was spent at home in peace and quiet just watching TV or playing the Nintendo Wii or with the electric race car track. It brought back many nice memories of my own childhood. </div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5149104380411800962" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHs2rZM4V-3KTErlOw9JdUq4YzMJoTZyA_mpLXokKa2bKXiIVP9uxfvPS9JGFpkIXVaPIRRnFYq287aS50G3R18Tn8rhMFpnOqRO3ebD1Cck-O4ACbHQUzIuyNY6dVPkhMi79D/s200/Tiina's+Amaryllis.jpg" border="0" /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1zt41RVAcVHK4P8TRGncdPoESV0jk6ttYItJCqyWhSOOOmAWrV5a8Qp9Lat0wkmo46USWhGBtbbQpKnT5kjSWoNm7yaIwZDsmNQ5pZBYxTcytUNT29g1WHgjIpsKMuVminisq/s1600-h/no+snow.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5149106892967669170" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1zt41RVAcVHK4P8TRGncdPoESV0jk6ttYItJCqyWhSOOOmAWrV5a8Qp9Lat0wkmo46USWhGBtbbQpKnT5kjSWoNm7yaIwZDsmNQ5pZBYxTcytUNT29g1WHgjIpsKMuVminisq/s200/no+snow.jpg" border="0" /></a>We had a dark Christmas this year. No snow. It did rain some and it was quite windy. I never give up or gave up hope for a white Christmas. I am sure sometime soon we will get the snow. This picture was taken from our bedroom's door window just before Noon. A squirrel had been eating out of the feeder nearest the terrace. By the time I could fetch the camera it had gone away.</div><div></div><br /><div>So thus wraps up another year of Christmas joy and happiness. We hope everyone had a <strong><span style="color:#3333ff;">Very Merry Christmas!!</span></strong></div></div>SaunaMattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09393454063504062128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27317749.post-53623807074416585462007-12-28T18:22:00.000+02:002007-12-29T00:17:33.248+02:00Joulupuuro = Christmas rice porridge<span style="color:#ff6600;"></span><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhneI9VuFLYKSa-anxvCPVK_WZOBy3TifP-E-dWkDlB6QmzCZHUY7reWgWwcP5FohCaGrTJFcB0_YfnMmIaQ1Wtnyuh4Bd90bVe5NdBH26GxGVc-UtHQDmUVFgzAIFHXzfwPzoZ/s1600-h/joulupuuro.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5149072795222306018" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhneI9VuFLYKSa-anxvCPVK_WZOBy3TifP-E-dWkDlB6QmzCZHUY7reWgWwcP5FohCaGrTJFcB0_YfnMmIaQ1Wtnyuh4Bd90bVe5NdBH26GxGVc-UtHQDmUVFgzAIFHXzfwPzoZ/s200/joulupuuro.jpg" border="0" /></a> December 24th, 2007<br /><br /><div><div><div></div><div></div><div>Ahhhhhh....... what can I say? I wait for this day the whole year! For several years now we have been invited to Tiina's uncle and aunt's place on lake Bodom for Joulupuuro. You might say sort of a family tradition for us. We watch from TV the <a href="http://www.turunseurakunnat.fi/portal/turun_tuomiokirkko/english/">Turku Cathedral </a>bell ring 12 times for Noon and then the reading of the <strong>Christmas Peace</strong> = <strong>Joulurauhan julistus</strong> from the balcony of the <a href="http://www05.turku.fi/kulttuurikeskus/english/brinkkaeng.html">Brinkkala Mansion </a>in Turku, Finland. It is always read in Finnish and Swedish by the Turun kaupungin kansliapäälikkö = administrative manager of the city of Turku.<br /></div><br /><div>The following borrowed from <a href="http://www.joulukaupunki.fi/public/default.aspx?nodeid=9263"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Christmas City of Finland</span> </a>:<br /></div><div>"In Olden Times, the Declaration was Read from the "Doors and Windows of the Town Hall"<br />Christmas Peace was proclaimed from the Town Hall from the Middle Ages until the Great Fire of Turku in 1827. The Town Hall is known to have stood in the same location at the top end of the medieval Town Hall Square (nowadays the Old Great Square) since the 1320's.<br /></div><br /><div>After the Great Fire, the Brinkkala Mansion underwent repairs and became the Town Hall. The Declaration was then read from the middle window located above the archway. As the Brinkkala House underwent thorough renovations, a balcony was added to the facade. Christmas Peace was declared from this balcony for the very first time in 1886. The year before, the Declaration was made from the balcony of the building now housing the central administration of Åbo Akademi University. Today, Christmas Peace is declared from the balcony of the Brinkkala Mansion."</div><br /><br /><div></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL52q4HZnoJzG2LvYHf9TVBZGRnHuv-gYRdiAYh2CCaVs2FxHw0xmsh820PPQbfyNOu1usjC92pJKCcvON_Y3ghFBYJ789WnlIF0YBkITapZia8PqwBmji8hzBsiOhZYgHL0oc/s1600-h/joulurauha.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5149077012880190770" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL52q4HZnoJzG2LvYHf9TVBZGRnHuv-gYRdiAYh2CCaVs2FxHw0xmsh820PPQbfyNOu1usjC92pJKCcvON_Y3ghFBYJ789WnlIF0YBkITapZia8PqwBmji8hzBsiOhZYgHL0oc/s320/joulurauha.jpg" border="0" /></a> <div>(Finnish)</div><div><strong><span style="color:#ff6600;">Joulurauhan julistus</span></strong></div><div>Huomenna, jos Jumala suo,</div><div>on meidän Herramme ja Vapahtajamme armorikas syntymäjuhla;</div><div>ja julistetaan siis täten yleinen joulurauha kehoittamalla </div><div>kaikkia tätä juhlaa asiaankuuluvalla hartaudella viettämään </div><div>sekä muutoin hiljaisesti ja rauhallisesti käyttäytymään,</div><div>sillä se, joka tämän rauhan rikkoo ja joulujuhlaa jollakin laittomalla taikka sopimattomalla käytöksellä häiritsee, on raskauttavien asianhaarain vallitessa syypää siihen </div><div>rangaistukseen, jonka laki ja asetukset kustakin rikoksesta </div><div>ja rikkomuksesta erikseen säätävät. Lopuksi toivotetaan kaupungin</div><div>kaikille asukkaille riemullista joulujuhlaa.</div><br /><div></div><div>(Swedish)</div><div><span style="color:#ff6600;"><strong>Julfred</strong></span></div><div>I morgon, vill Gud,</div><div>infaller vår Herres och Frälsares nåderika födelsefest;<br />och varder förty härigenom en allmän julfred kungjord och påbjuden, </div><div>med åtvarning till envar att denna högtid med tillbörlig andakt fira, </div><div>och i övrigt iakttaga ett stilla och fridsamt uppförande,<br />emedan den, som häremot bryter samt julhögtiden genom något olagligt eller otillbörligt förfarande oskärar, gör sig under försvårande omständigheter förfallen till det straff, lag och författningar för varje brott och överträdelse särskilt påbjuda.<br />Slutligen tillönskas stadens samtliga invånare en fröjdefull julhelg</div><div></div><br /><div>(English)</div><div><span style="color:#ff6600;"><strong>The Declaration of Christmas Peace</strong></span> </div><div>Tomorrow, God willing, </div><div>is the graceful celebration of the birth of our Lord and Saviour;<br />and thus is declared a peaceful Christmas time to all, </div><div>by advising devotion and to behave otherwise quietly and peacefully,<br />because he who breaks this peace and violates the peace of Christmas by any illegal or improper behaviour shall under aggravating circumstances be guilty and punished according to what the law and statutes prescribe for each and every offence separately.<br />Finally, a joyous Christmas feast is wished to all inhabitants of the city.</div><div></div><div></div><div></div><br /><div>After the declaration has been made the national anthem of Finland,<em><strong> Maamme-laulu</strong></em>, is sung and the president's march, <em><strong>Porilaisten marssi</strong></em>, played. When they have completed we toast with glögi and wish everyone a merry Christmas. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguF2LWhmbEfyE-k7_Q2JgYxaCCdeMRubVnvGisfXt2sOhLqdeBSTFyaf3ahtMmPb4MJKmFKaY562vU763EyzUHxzdbB3cKlkoljTdtRqfgItdAig5dM9h1-6aEygSsd8_kCVlw/s1600-h/fruit+soup.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5149074156726938866" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguF2LWhmbEfyE-k7_Q2JgYxaCCdeMRubVnvGisfXt2sOhLqdeBSTFyaf3ahtMmPb4MJKmFKaY562vU763EyzUHxzdbB3cKlkoljTdtRqfgItdAig5dM9h1-6aEygSsd8_kCVlw/s200/fruit+soup.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><div></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiqAvAMwykTDbIYOaGt_Bv7VmQlwYoaJcadvFmVXopfonp7K_vDd3igFPAdJejV5RjIQI2AvWy2qfDnLpzlq5dnL2IRhEEEOIE0Pag9mnILWcYl76kqprSSXOqBz6QjUCvAD_v/s1600-h/mami+joulu+2007.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5149074448784715010" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiqAvAMwykTDbIYOaGt_Bv7VmQlwYoaJcadvFmVXopfonp7K_vDd3igFPAdJejV5RjIQI2AvWy2qfDnLpzlq5dnL2IRhEEEOIE0Pag9mnILWcYl76kqprSSXOqBz6QjUCvAD_v/s200/mami+joulu+2007.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><br /><div>This year we arrived early to have the joulupuuro first. It was delicious as always. We also had a fruit soup to go with it as well as cinnamon and sugar. Bread and liver pate was also available. I had my puuro with a punch eye. This is done by making a small dent in the middle of the puuro and then filling it with some Swedish punssi = punch (liqueur). </div><div></div><div></div><br /><div>Afterwards the boys entertained everyone with their guitar and flute playing and a few silly songs. This year present were Antti, Heidi, Hanna, Ese, Tuomas and Tarja and Tarja's mother, Mami-mummi and the four of us. Very lovely time. When all wound down we headed home for our own Christmas traditions. Kiitos paljon Antti, Heidi, Hanna ja Ese !!! <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5149074659238112530" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEnA3MBxRQGQI8qdaxQHpRZEHrCOslmyHfXw1vP_OiFsKmO48y0cvZahzXPB3UIvdbtiDNiC5Ii4_WNqZTCaL-ujjrX26Y7d5QuO6KyBfyXepO6YagdN7WzNi9E9F-mW43fKfd/s320/24122007240.jpg" border="0" /></div></div></div></div>SaunaMattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09393454063504062128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27317749.post-68954920545002837672007-12-28T17:53:00.000+02:002007-12-28T18:20:49.818+02:00Pikkujoulu = little ChristmasDecember 15th, 2007<br /><div></div><br /><div>This evening our housing association had a Christmas party outdoors. Sausages were grilled and hot alcoholic/non-alcoholic glögi (Glögg in Swedish) = mulled wine was served along with beer and cider. Mostly some of the tenants just hung around the grill and gabbed about events that <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgPudKSevXercW86RBmFut63V9tZ1qoGXTLuFfrEhyFXKzaLIVjfE_w82cPeuLoVoGre5_n8MdB81sj5vCMl0TgEJCSKWi5HBXlsOkI3SUYGxiy-mJX7WFi4nM-bL3BC7Na5GA/s1600-h/joulupukki.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5149059064211860658" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgPudKSevXercW86RBmFut63V9tZ1qoGXTLuFfrEhyFXKzaLIVjfE_w82cPeuLoVoGre5_n8MdB81sj5vCMl0TgEJCSKWi5HBXlsOkI3SUYGxiy-mJX7WFi4nM-bL3BC7Na5GA/s200/joulupukki.jpg" border="0" /></a>have happened over the year. Some stood near the fire to keep warm but most stood away because the wind was blowing smoke in everyone's eyes. We had no snow but it was rather chilly, especially with the wind. </div><div></div><br /><div>After some time of the adults mingeling and the children playing hide and seek in the woods we were told that Joulupukki = Santa Claus was on his way over to us and had gifts for the children. He showed up and I managed to get a few shots with my phone camera but it was so dark that only one image was faintly viewable. My son, Alexi, just happened to be in the foreground. The kids were wondering how he got down to us from Lapland when there was no snow on the ground. They also wanted to know where his reindeer was. </div>SaunaMattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09393454063504062128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27317749.post-26063991903663354862007-12-28T17:17:00.000+02:002007-12-28T23:42:58.073+02:00Niki's guitar recital<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzEIGawTMM8WQgesG4Qlmc92bwcHDbGFrwNLfZroDB-6Id9t8OFYpIJvRxsodlF-J_NnSncfJUX3IgzUcjdau9vKL3YR081DZW-d2N33CWA6iM9na58EEKOS3zffzJiGCSSATN/s1600-h/12122007536.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5149046505727487138" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzEIGawTMM8WQgesG4Qlmc92bwcHDbGFrwNLfZroDB-6Id9t8OFYpIJvRxsodlF-J_NnSncfJUX3IgzUcjdau9vKL3YR081DZW-d2N33CWA6iM9na58EEKOS3zffzJiGCSSATN/s320/12122007536.jpg" border="0" /></a>December 12th, 2007 <div></div><br /><div>Niki had his second guitar recital since he began classical guitar lessons 2,5 years ago. This time he played a piece by Patrick Benham called <em><strong><span style="color:#3366ff;">Invitation</span></strong></em>. He did very well and was quite relaxed throughout his performance. Notice he is wearing his winter boots :) Good job Niki !! </div>SaunaMattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09393454063504062128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27317749.post-80301589732874148562007-12-28T01:18:00.000+02:002008-01-02T02:07:58.976+02:00Happy Birthday Finland!!!!!December 6th, 2007<img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5148798149243595922" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEQPtobX0JBIFiYO6JmhY1cjR05c3-HtegxJIxDFjcMn4UAFnpXtQE67QCcudIQAmOz2XO4pcQ1fU0V10iob6t1pJLLdfh0sPw19YQJgkVZdAdn-vWFIu7_PBjE0Utq02OTdq_/s320/FINL0002.gif" border="0" /> <div><br /><div></div><div>Hyvää Itsenäisyyspäivää Suomi !!! </div><div></div><div>Today marks the 90th year that Finland has been an independant republic. Lots of activities and festivities are planned around the country. As usual the TV will be turned on and tuned into the Presidential Ball to view the 2,000 some guests that president Tarja Halonen has invited to this yearly event. </div><div></div><div>Also it is my son Nicholas's name's day. Hyvää nimipäivää Niki !!! ;-)</div></div>SaunaMattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09393454063504062128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27317749.post-6865696525669163902007-12-28T00:17:00.000+02:002007-12-28T23:41:25.451+02:00Happy Thanksgiving!!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMceQiVE0WlfES4ZjeqWJLAcCyitWgZd20xDQb-EX3lJFVxJXgJe-6NFk6yBcGK9fEo8B281fxfPCIX3fpqv4EpouPkac-UsHvRhwhkhWfSsL9mGN1Y5hHo823dyF3KxhiRH2K/s1600-h/Thanksgiving+table.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5148789164172012450" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMceQiVE0WlfES4ZjeqWJLAcCyitWgZd20xDQb-EX3lJFVxJXgJe-6NFk6yBcGK9fEo8B281fxfPCIX3fpqv4EpouPkac-UsHvRhwhkhWfSsL9mGN1Y5hHo823dyF3KxhiRH2K/s320/Thanksgiving+table.jpg" border="0" /></a>December 1st, 2007<br /><br /><br /><div>What's that you say? Thanksgiving happened already a few weeks ago. That is correct. But since Thanksgiving is not a Finnish holiday there is no national day of celebration for this. It h<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC0fPKZSOAWWwoeIomOlPTYo8Ctrlv-6Bh-_QgoIEjoQb1LE2PmzFN-cE_4m6RmWhAEI4lqkUJx3xFXk3Q9bDRrZwwklR5EL_DfFzy1_qLdHwtXXwch81Er2A73OWiPpJxoOqX/s1600-h/salad.jpg"></a>as become a tradition between two families to celebrate this dinner over the years since moving to Finland in 1990. At first we invited different branch of <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRjWADDPCXUdzo4HdE255O7BgCj0JxjV4fMv0rHLyvhTEwDke2ZwFkZ8BG4AcYxiPBPQT5eMtSbde9icZcTagNjSkFYvs_GTf_-TlFZmt_4Px9Qf8zSeFsrpmg4qU9FsRg4ZzD/s1600-h/salad.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5148790001690635202" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRjWADDPCXUdzo4HdE255O7BgCj0JxjV4fMv0rHLyvhTEwDke2ZwFkZ8BG4AcYxiPBPQT5eMtSbde9icZcTagNjSkFYvs_GTf_-TlFZmt_4Px9Qf8zSeFsrpmg4qU9FsRg4ZzD/s200/salad.jpg" border="0" /></a>the family each year for the dinner so that they could experience the meal. After we had run through the family we had some friends over for the meal. These are Marko and Päivi Haikkola. At the time, way back when, both of our families had no children. Now we do. Our family has the two boys and theirs two girls, Josefine "Jofi" and Frederika "Freja". The eldest, Jofi, is less than a year younger than our Nicholas and Freja is two years younger than Alexi.<br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisKtki4w2bboQWp1j6q1w2K9N1wrvijWo-5Vnp0bb2IGUWZLkWh_5fUEpN-0rFkBKNS-FyRwNXg6LZ2k2WNvlKTNVxz1-qdIJ1nWTOSBQcGK1644f8SZwqCtRRpzE3AUUMI9nr/s1600-h/apple+pie.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5148790298043378642" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisKtki4w2bboQWp1j6q1w2K9N1wrvijWo-5Vnp0bb2IGUWZLkWh_5fUEpN-0rFkBKNS-FyRwNXg6LZ2k2WNvlKTNVxz1-qdIJ1nWTOSBQcGK1644f8SZwqCtRRpzE3AUUMI9nr/s200/apple+pie.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>Tiina and Päivi first met when they were studying at Åbo Akademi in Turku. At that time her husband, Marko, was a Lieutenant (now a Major) in the Finnish army and stationed at Säkylä. We were living in Kustavi at the time. Päivi was renting a small flat near the school so she wouldn't have to drive the long way back and forth from base to school. Tiina was in the same situation. Päivi offered Tiina a place to stay in that same flat so that she wouldn't have to make the long trip back and forth as well. We were very thankful for this and it allowed Tiina to carry on with her studies. As time went by we moved to Espoo and started a family and the Haikkola's as well began their family. I haven't counted exactly but I think out of the 17 years we have lived in Finland we have shared Thanksgiving with the Haikkola's about eight or nine times. In 2003 we didn't have a dinner. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAoxjKg5FfueaEConaOrdxbhGSHHFzeKVWYQ2hVW6tNZNLqp4nvfPA8a_9_9mV0lhAKXnxvhAyDc_iReWuDhyU36xBK8_mpje6uRNj5X2f2ZtThFSfkh-kVvxKdi4cHJ_xjMfV/s1600-h/deviled+eggs.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5148791556468796434" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAoxjKg5FfueaEConaOrdxbhGSHHFzeKVWYQ2hVW6tNZNLqp4nvfPA8a_9_9mV0lhAKXnxvhAyDc_iReWuDhyU36xBK8_mpje6uRNj5X2f2ZtThFSfkh-kVvxKdi4cHJ_xjMfV/s200/deviled+eggs.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><div></div><br /><div>We coordinate between the two families for a free day on a weekend as close as possible to Thanksgiving Day. Sometimes it is closer sometimes a few weeks later. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJaIJoXv396KDHwiyIEuReN0ChUkSnFuUHUWPS3CRPlWis5wFA4qTiQ9Oq29c3C0K-ZPKnQyWd1XcSdz34bPbEah0gxMcIRkDo5qf2NgafX0U_JnN0ECiH1RE93676npnWE4a7/s1600-h/the+gobbler.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5148791247231151106" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJaIJoXv396KDHwiyIEuReN0ChUkSnFuUHUWPS3CRPlWis5wFA4qTiQ9Oq29c3C0K-ZPKnQyWd1XcSdz34bPbEah0gxMcIRkDo5qf2NgafX0U_JnN0ECiH1RE93676npnWE4a7/s200/the+gobbler.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />This year was a bit different. Päivi came a day earlier and spent the night with us. Her and Tiina went shopping for the food and then began to prepare it that evening and continued the following morning. Päivi made most of the dishes as well as preparing and stuffing the bird by herself. She did a fantastic job at it and all was just so picture perfect as you can see by these photos. As usual we ate too much! We had the turkey, stuffing, creamed green beans, fried breaded carrot sticks, in memory of my Grandmother Flossie Kujala, deviled eggs or (evil eggs) as the kids called them, for the first time, mashed potatoes and gravy, a salad made with orange peppers that we grew ourselves, cranberry sauce, black olives, miniature pickles, and corn bread. The dessert consisted of two pies, apple and coconut cream and two flavors of homemade ice-cream. Yummy!<br /></div><div>During the meal preparation Marko and I watched Nicholas Cage's movie <span style="color:#3366ff;"><strong><em>Next</em></strong></span><span style="color:#333333;">. After the meal we all watched the movie <strong><em><span style="color:#3366ff;">Click</span></em></strong>. Again it was another successful dinner with our good friends. We do look forward to next year for another fantastic meal and get together!!!!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsQJZ2nIQb2VU545eXoeqNkxfgtjiDD_khdR1inb55xuxyUd7Cq3uxNnNTsIspzrFw2D2Do0v_tZMyZz_Ko_mL37CBXUxThmpNI0zQTvrwpKz5F12gil7XhKfm5B8s6ljhzgMW/s1600-h/plant1.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5148793656707804242" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsQJZ2nIQb2VU545eXoeqNkxfgtjiDD_khdR1inb55xuxyUd7Cq3uxNnNTsIspzrFw2D2Do0v_tZMyZz_Ko_mL37CBXUxThmpNI0zQTvrwpKz5F12gil7XhKfm5B8s6ljhzgMW/s200/plant1.jpg" border="0" /></a> </span></div><div></div><div><span style="color:#333333;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1OLt8UqsilfejBYRpMv3gOHegGG0EFs4s1T8Vuhr1YNzovF_7bt3ofSY8i2pI1qQS5cDGBecVvghbtGRtNy2KYwRYv5Ij_L7TXvXYgbF8nJsi821L_IgnoHfQKZ0l2ZMeQ5xE/s1600-h/plant2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5148792617325718578" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1OLt8UqsilfejBYRpMv3gOHegGG0EFs4s1T8Vuhr1YNzovF_7bt3ofSY8i2pI1qQS5cDGBecVvghbtGRtNy2KYwRYv5Ij_L7TXvXYgbF8nJsi821L_IgnoHfQKZ0l2ZMeQ5xE/s200/plant2.jpg" border="0" /></a></span></div>SaunaMattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09393454063504062128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27317749.post-147468270325133712007-12-27T23:52:00.000+02:002007-12-28T01:17:31.243+02:00Alexi's first flute concert<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPvPCMuRWW1oDOcl7fi6hl98pzzKHmjzUU16v1HvmyHJdqcH7oWn5YjAW0scHcYyl-4H3IlMgda8FgzQm0IaT-cxVb28qesMwYAc5R-uygByTv3sHi7uGK4ZppCI45WyZ0K-pP/s1600-h/Alexi+%26+Niki.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5148777215572994930" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPvPCMuRWW1oDOcl7fi6hl98pzzKHmjzUU16v1HvmyHJdqcH7oWn5YjAW0scHcYyl-4H3IlMgda8FgzQm0IaT-cxVb28qesMwYAc5R-uygByTv3sHi7uGK4ZppCI45WyZ0K-pP/s320/Alexi+%26+Niki.jpg" border="0" /></a>November 23rd, 2007<br /><br />This evening Alexi had his first flute recital. He was selected to play first and Niki accompanied him on the guitar. They played <span style="color:#3366ff;"><em>Twinkle Twinkle Little Star</em></span>. They played very well together with only a few mistakes. Unfortunately Tiina had to step out of the room for awhile due to her stomach hurting.<br /><br /><div><div>This is Alexi's first year of playing flute. He also is studying music theory as well. Niki has been taking classical guitar lessons now for 2,5 years and is also studying music theory. All of these activities are done after the normal school day. Niki will have his guitar recital next month. I am very proud of these boys wishing to learn music and an instrument of their choosing. They play and sing very well together. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgMWgLySbBQYzTaf2zZPA2k9BewyojiwS3KOBxWr5IsQqO5pyMCo_hBZ28XgdYjFV-RXMFw368l5qWUtx2uInv3ZZsLAzXZZLVdU4YiL1nLJdRU-hMrIi4sMtJKuXngHPQg_p9/s1600-h/Alexi.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5148795353219886178" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgMWgLySbBQYzTaf2zZPA2k9BewyojiwS3KOBxWr5IsQqO5pyMCo_hBZ28XgdYjFV-RXMFw368l5qWUtx2uInv3ZZsLAzXZZLVdU4YiL1nLJdRU-hMrIi4sMtJKuXngHPQg_p9/s200/Alexi.jpg" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMzC9TAu9QkqqQy4BwWH2_IhYOOiK2J6V2antF3u5idnmNRT6tUuskE6ORf3dTkvetcFMtOaISm-RclMo059I9t7a3mw9iFkG8Z5cIZk0Lpgiuqn4EP0au56Su_yBpuaCLZZu3/s1600-h/niki.jpg"></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwX94bNVmnruoA47ouJduhcTzslbK8U3ocYyiVgJR91ULbuvzqpAh3w3SVFLt8NNp4aRhfSG4k-mHqdx9H9FroJ4c6oRgpOe3i3Qu8FFb41Qryh65rv1w1cVqvEaL1U0mf08en/s1600-h/Alexi.jpg"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD2sGt8EZ3kxl12e_SWRGmy90V1j8dd8WdDL1bMJdwE6e53CmG5kybzpVPeyhNprXE8CGAUupgpbL_kMbyKfDDsrghbxWsa6alfRPP9XXijZRFXkOAnJ60fE6M3FHN1gu39qz4/s1600-h/niki.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5148795602327989362" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD2sGt8EZ3kxl12e_SWRGmy90V1j8dd8WdDL1bMJdwE6e53CmG5kybzpVPeyhNprXE8CGAUupgpbL_kMbyKfDDsrghbxWsa6alfRPP9XXijZRFXkOAnJ60fE6M3FHN1gu39qz4/s200/niki.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5jJsLvIPInHzxj1A5UjvtzwaErDZ_XynLM4pvMCvBWUChwUxYCBYZ2ZLoHCEo0UDVm9eCY1zRhvmW_9PIV4JEAC0wrQgLqpGbqgXKEeRTgQuUcKVoYpUDmjlF-I4ZIERl_frs/s1600-h/Alexi.jpg"></a></div></div>SaunaMattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09393454063504062128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27317749.post-84766673582966901312007-12-27T20:20:00.000+02:002007-12-28T23:34:47.377+02:00Happy Birthday Sis!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8OwXYIGnhdZ7KZsEArBkO3oLrXqqp4BkBEnxeusbOPE8XaWwA7BWcXqfJ8KfRpTBUjKpAX3TYiyBrzEI0OBYPiMNcwVa-2jU8wiag6jTAuhKNwOV8uOj-A0NAtNHJ4pDBPjHd/s1600-h/Kristy+1975.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5148719547047111474" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8OwXYIGnhdZ7KZsEArBkO3oLrXqqp4BkBEnxeusbOPE8XaWwA7BWcXqfJ8KfRpTBUjKpAX3TYiyBrzEI0OBYPiMNcwVa-2jU8wiag6jTAuhKNwOV8uOj-A0NAtNHJ4pDBPjHd/s320/Kristy+1975.jpg" border="0" /></a> November 25th, 2007<br /><br />Happy 40th Kristy! Wow 40 ! Where has the time flown? I still remember being called Bat and finding all kinds of things in my shoes! Hope you had a nice birthday with many more to come!!!SaunaMattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09393454063504062128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27317749.post-35188283733209415292007-12-27T19:49:00.001+02:002007-12-27T19:55:25.805+02:00Happy Birthday Bro !!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwTqfXGd8h8rWaWTaC4qpDhSPnqGJWfjJGxiAbj1DE1NEscNKDtJDJLKmogE8VTiI33wSUwGUFhceExQLW5euUaoGzPHXiuvV5SjYPvfPQHsWXKl8jvih9QLNNIVsbvoEpCDxB/s1600-h/Jay.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5148711399494150946" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwTqfXGd8h8rWaWTaC4qpDhSPnqGJWfjJGxiAbj1DE1NEscNKDtJDJLKmogE8VTiI33wSUwGUFhceExQLW5euUaoGzPHXiuvV5SjYPvfPQHsWXKl8jvih9QLNNIVsbvoEpCDxB/s320/Jay.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />November 12th, 2007<br /><br />Happy 44th Jay!!!<br /><br />May you have many more to come. Sorry to hear that you were ill but glad you can recover enough to get by ;-)<br /><br />One of these days we will be able to kick out the tunes again. LOLSaunaMattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09393454063504062128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27317749.post-27070821364027970412007-12-27T18:57:00.000+02:002007-12-27T19:47:13.829+02:00Happy 22nd !!!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOL3yWnMroFAHygYkO4b3_kysBklv51DuYmjkq3ebLGqG9K6DZjwhXmSmeYomaL3jbMdqGmP4WV8fIDJLDwnwOGrGT64EFfx3ZP5SOZf5kzSekgFtfyFynMr-wQU59WZUs_tqX/s1600-h/Anniversary+flowers.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5148700778040027922" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOL3yWnMroFAHygYkO4b3_kysBklv51DuYmjkq3ebLGqG9K6DZjwhXmSmeYomaL3jbMdqGmP4WV8fIDJLDwnwOGrGT64EFfx3ZP5SOZf5kzSekgFtfyFynMr-wQU59WZUs_tqX/s320/Anniversary+flowers.jpg" border="0" /></a>October 12th, 2007<br /><br />Today marked our 22nd wedding anniversary. We didn't do much but our eldest son, Nicholas, took a train to a shopping mall to buy us flowers and a card. He wanted to have a better and bigger selection to make the bouquet. He is always so thoughtful. We thought maybe we would catch a movie but all the good ones were playing in Helsinki and being that Tiina had her first chemotherapy treatment on the 5th it wasn't certain if she would be able to sit through the whole movie and then have the trip by train or bus home. So we decided to just stay at home and take it easy. Maybe for our 25th anniversary we can go to Iceland or even Hawaii for a Honeymoon we never really had!!SaunaMattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09393454063504062128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27317749.post-40653014305667470562007-12-27T14:18:00.000+02:002007-12-27T14:45:39.451+02:00A Furry Visitor<img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5148626599659858690" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjms-Dqb9Jge3SF__JWLJmBuNqNkAs9b3eDhVVHpaU4dMC6mm1sSzqNWs-ERnnPfPgxk96Gf2JwDzlUpqX2MJznT8PI0OHXtNnpr5CzjY9nkadBS-oDEQHkgKCY1UFpepZ2jg0K/s320/sauna+mouse.jpg" border="0" />October 7th, 2007<br /><br />The night before this picture was taken Tiina had been in the bathroom and said she had seen something sticking out from under the washing machine. Sometimes we get small, thin millipedes that come down through the vent in the sauna when it rains. At first she thought this was one of those critters she doesn't care for very much, mainly because they go crunch when she steps on one that has already died and dried quickly over night. Anyway, it moved too fast for it to be a millipede, she thought. So I came in and had a look see around the bathroom, the sauna, hallway and kid's room but found nothing. I did notice about a week earlier something that appeared to be mouse droppings on the white rug on the bathroom floor but thought it unlikely. I just picked it up and tossed it in the garbage.<br />The next morning Tiina had gone into the bathroom to wash up and she let out a scream and came running into the bedroom waking me up. She said there was a mouse on the sink in the bathroom. I drug myself out of bed to investigate, my eyes barely open enough to see. At first I didn't see anything. Then I saw a strange, curved shape from behind the clear, plastic pump soap dispenser. A few seconds later I saw some whiskers twitching to one side of the bottle. I then noticed that the bar of soap Tiina had removed from the soap dish, only to drop it quickly in the basin, had teeth marks all around one curved edge of the bar of soap. So the little beastie was hungry. I put two and two together and figured it must have been in the bathroom at least a week and was famished. I sent the boys to fetch a slice of bread. I put on a leather work glove and held the bread in my palm. The mouse came out from behind the soap bottle and onto my hand where it began to eat the bread like no tomorrow. It then decided to take the whole thing away and back behind the bottle. I thought perhaps I could catch it with the glove on but that was not to be. Instead the mouse leap to the floor and shot up and over Alexi's foot and under the washing machine. I placed a towel on the floor to block the entrance to the sauna but the mouse just squeezed its way between the towel and wall and made it under the door into the sauna where it disappeared. It was then that I figured it, too, had come down through the air vent and couldn't get back up as it is a vertical drop. I went outside to check the cover on the vent and sure enough it had been removed. I put it back into place and stuck rocks in front of it to keep it in place. After 30 minutes I came back to the sauna and turned on the light. Mr. mouse was out from hiding. This time I would see where it had disappeared to. As I approached the mouse quickly turned and shot up between the sauna wall boards and the wall. There is space between the foundation wall and the sauna wall to allow for air circulation. I figured little rodent was hungry enough to do almost anything to get food, including falling for a simple catch 'em alive trap. There was no need to kill it. Besides it was rather cute. So I took a piece of picture framing wood and propped it up against an empty mop bucket. I placed three pieces of bread along this piece of wood and tore up the remainder into smaller pieces and dropped them into the bucket, turned off the light and left for about an hour. When I returned I found the fur ball in the bottom of the bucket enjoying its meal. It stayed eating long enough to get a few snapshots off but then became nervous and tried to jump out. It almost succeeded once. I placed a towel over the bucket and had Alexi take it up into the woods to release it along with the food. I think it was very happy to be back in its own environment just as Tiina was happy to be back in hers.SaunaMattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09393454063504062128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27317749.post-38335873755704443582007-12-27T14:06:00.000+02:002007-12-27T14:17:51.607+02:00A sign of Autumn<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin3CHv9oBywB2tdCSmOIYJHdYlpkQMR4G0yz8OgEHa7EGK8E30I90K_ZpNPW5LbVq5X4eCczuUxAceG9UQ9h4kGutdBAGN9-sz6Y3XSDlO4ETXGvNXN602OskK1ZTu5UHHUGxk/s1600-h/mushroom.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5148623932485167858" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin3CHv9oBywB2tdCSmOIYJHdYlpkQMR4G0yz8OgEHa7EGK8E30I90K_ZpNPW5LbVq5X4eCczuUxAceG9UQ9h4kGutdBAGN9-sz6Y3XSDlO4ETXGvNXN602OskK1ZTu5UHHUGxk/s320/mushroom.jpg" border="0" /></a> September 30th, 2007<br /><br /><br />Snapped this picture on the way to the bus stop. The leaves were beginning to fall from the trees and there was a slight chill in the air. Hoping that an early Fall will bring a nice, cold winter with lots and lots of snow!SaunaMattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09393454063504062128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27317749.post-59330228743565337202007-09-18T22:04:00.000+03:002007-09-19T09:26:03.988+03:00Host family for a week...Meet our son Justen Ray<div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqQAXdfHRWh7f1RE89yIMysYEuQUku3lv6XaE1mtnPJNgp-42eOKQuW3mcVyoGmhPmWVC3gDjP5lAwjzL02X877DJ8conr2dsqWFhbSI5ORgDLVQxGmC9VxGFLGTvEJA2aLaSY/s1600-h/05092007375.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5111797453885927250" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqQAXdfHRWh7f1RE89yIMysYEuQUku3lv6XaE1mtnPJNgp-42eOKQuW3mcVyoGmhPmWVC3gDjP5lAwjzL02X877DJ8conr2dsqWFhbSI5ORgDLVQxGmC9VxGFLGTvEJA2aLaSY/s200/05092007375.jpg" border="0" /></a>From September 5th - 11th we hosted a<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAO34Oww-Mo3UiCvz1JtOw8q9A9nH3sw5JiuvDaCBUoL2W6bhlv5a78acpjDwpXm6jOi5D1a5UnQueAkUpYf2Vc5VwrP1nuhHm8LdYFEboTgNCTiiSyIwD2X-dzQoVonAqB1E4/s1600-h/05092007380.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5111797629979586402" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAO34Oww-Mo3UiCvz1JtOw8q9A9nH3sw5JiuvDaCBUoL2W6bhlv5a78acpjDwpXm6jOi5D1a5UnQueAkUpYf2Vc5VwrP1nuhHm8LdYFEboTgNCTiiSyIwD2X-dzQoVonAqB1E4/s200/05092007380.jpg" border="0" /></a> fine, young gentleman from Texas who is a cast member with the<a href="http://www.castc2007.com/"><strong><em><span style="color:#cc33cc;"> Up With People 2007 </span></em></strong></a>touring troupe C. His name is Justen Ray. Justen came into our home straight from being in Thailand for a few weeks. He settled in as if he had always lived here. Niki and Alexi took a quick liking to Justen and liked the idea of him being their big brother.<br /><br />Justen's family should be proud of having a son that is well behaved, for the most part, and very courteous and polite. I say for the most part because at heart he is still like a kid and fit well into the family.<br /><br />His first night here we washed two loads of his laundry that "wreaked" of Thailand. Actually it wasn't so bad but apparently Justen thought so and it was good enough for me to aid him. He and I also went to sauna so that he could clean Thailand from his pores. He, perhaps, like most Americans was a bit shy about going into a sauna buck naked. But being the person that Justen is he went along with the traditional ritual of the Finnish sauna and certainly enjoyed it to its fullest! Especially with the hint of terva = tar in the air. We would stroll from the sauna to the back yard for a brief cooling down with the Midnight air. One night we even walked out into the yard where the dew was heavy on the grass and the sky clear of clouds with millions of stars shining brightly in the Nordic heavens. Justen was awestruck to say the least. I could tell he truly enjoyed himself.<br /><br />When Justen was around there was never a dull moment. He would be singing and dancing every chance he got. He even got Niki and Alexi involved in some of the <strong><em>Up With People</em></strong> routines they perform on stage. Our boys were not shy and they, in turn, even performed a few of their own songs for Justen as well.<br /><br />We truly regret and feel badly that we weren't able to attend the one performance in Finland that the troop had in Tapiola. We had to attend Tiina's brother's wedding the same day and evening of this performance. The reception ran a little late so we weren't able to get home in time enough for the show. We had to leave the reception early as it was because we needed to pick Justen up from Tapiola at Midnight since there was no bus transportation to our place that time of night. He said the show went well but not as many people attended as could have. That was too bad because all the proceeds went to charity.<br /><div><div><div><div align="justify"><div><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5111643389143917266" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHy_2PckY2oSd6HRjIMKieOiiwmOQE7u3U1m7InBC2sJtztim7iZCJ1BpRyKotsLWZlEWatv3FqYxx_OqChRTy_nadb_KAPxtwCD7K_2n0uOSgmOLUMk0DarGrAXI5bkoqgBrQ/s320/09092007196.jpg" border="0" />The troupe, outside of rehearsal and performances also do community impact work. They visited schools and children's hospitals. One of the places they went to was the Ronald McDonald house in Helsinki.<br /><br />Justen experienced some of Finland's finer sides of culture with glee. For instance salmiakki or salty licorice as it is called in English. He took a liking to this substance like a cat to a bathtub full of water! We didn't trick him into eating it. Someone else had that pleasure. I dislike it myself and would never offer it to anyone. He also got to taste Sisu which is a strong tar tasting candy. He thought it was good for the first few sucks then it hit him. He said he would always be reminded of us because he would have that package of Sisu for a long time. I think he later ate half the box whilst out in the woods one day. Justen was also introduced to <strong><em><a href="http://www.jenkki.fi/">Jenkki</a></em></strong> chewing gum. Jenkki is a Finnish term for Americans in general that basically comes from the word Yankee. Jenkki brand chewing gum is sweetened with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xylitol"><strong><em>Xylitol,</em></strong></a> which Finland is its "home country". It is <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYjtuaOpe1GlSuJ5T9BE05qq4PVfSlTaq-79Kf8TNM-MegAsbfTTCRS_WByYPCSA3_-7y_F5JBny6On9oR8ldJTACxMXd5CEMafnbYl1x0k12LMvEZlud4Tc6ikjralO4CdHhi/s1600-h/10092007209.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5111644411346133746" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYjtuaOpe1GlSuJ5T9BE05qq4PVfSlTaq-79Kf8TNM-MegAsbfTTCRS_WByYPCSA3_-7y_F5JBny6On9oR8ldJTACxMXd5CEMafnbYl1x0k12LMvEZlud4Tc6ikjralO4CdHhi/s320/10092007209.jpg" border="0" /></a>very tooth friendly. Justen's teeth just kept getting whiter and whiter when he chewed that Jenkki. Oh! Lest we forget, <a href="http://www.saunalahti.fi/~marian1/gourmet/17_8.htm"><em><strong>VIILI</strong></em></a>.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4RXriW2yUhEs0N1jRCrpYzZ6ALvUz54PlBc5mKR09Ny236RenxLDMo5SMIVf9B_pqT3INLc-8NS2SkjxPlEf4RP_YQmVICVlROQvdbjdDgUTSszAQ-R0IWJr5xXD4XjtA7Vir/s1600-h/10092007208.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5111644041978946274" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4RXriW2yUhEs0N1jRCrpYzZ6ALvUz54PlBc5mKR09Ny236RenxLDMo5SMIVf9B_pqT3INLc-8NS2SkjxPlEf4RP_YQmVICVlROQvdbjdDgUTSszAQ-R0IWJr5xXD4XjtA7Vir/s320/10092007208.jpg" border="0" /></a> Now Justen took a liking to this like a babe to candy. Right Justen? Viili is Finnish curd milk. It is very slimy and loose in texture. Sometimes it is eaten plain or with sugar and cinnamon or with some fruit already mixed in. He tried both. He and Alexi even got the idea to make a viili shake and drank it all up.<br /><br />Some not so pleasant things, I suppose, or perhaps just rather unusual on Justen's part. He asked what kind of a store that was that had the<a href="http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.ippnet.fi/jaro/kuvat/kkk-supermarket.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.ippnet.fi/jaro/linkit.htm&h=38&w=100&sz=2&hl=en&start=23&um=1&tbnid=Oz5zPLHa0WAruM:&tbnh=31&tbnw=82&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dkkk%2Bkauppa%26start%3D18%26ndsp%3D18%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26rlz%3D1T4GGLJ_enFI222FI222%26sa%3DN"><strong><em> KKK</em></strong> </a>on the outside of it? Haha. We had to explain that it had nothing to do with the Ku Klux Klan! It was just the ranking used of the various chain of Kesko stores. Another was when Tiina had her white bathrobe on with a pointed hood. He came out of his room and she said hey Justen look. He said that that was bad. It was just something Tiina and I were thinking of at the time. A what if type a situation. I suppose he would have been very taken back just walking in on Tiina with that on and her not saying anything. We didn't want that to happen. We aren't that kind of people.<br /><br />Sunday was family day. We let Justen sleep in as long as he wanted. We knew he just had to be exhausted. After he woke up and we ate breakfast we took a small tour of the Espoo center. We went to see the Medieval stone church but it was closed for remodeling. We walked around the old cemetery a bit then headed over to the train station. We took a train to Helsinki from Espoo and back. I think Justen enjoyed that as well. In Helsinki we went inside the Helsinki Cathedral and stood out on the steps that overlooked into the harbor and the Silja Line terminal. We then walked through Senate Square and the Market Square and onto the ferry to Suomenlinna. We just barely made the ferry. <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5111645124310704898" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRisUVfQ2fQZnz6fccUbYyDlf5XDdryaM5FeOhd7TS1HqLDrtxNVselZasxcxhU_sORm0zNdDZYFU5srWEjd-xml1RDloU-GARsuINtIGZ6rR9DMH7Ht4-oYWfZqp2KcaU14FJ/s320/09092007198.jpg" border="0" />Justen truly enjoyed Suomenlinna fortress. It is old and big with lots of places to explore. After walking around awhile we stopped and ate some chips and energy snacks atop a knoll overlooking the Gulf of Finland. We watched the tourists walking by and the sailing ships and boats of all sizes coming and going. The forecast for the day called for scattered showers but it <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7fTRahYbATZWDTIBtCke3qtHzBr4Beycoyd0_C-AL1OgyO-Rp9hHdjAdbhWZnz6SkPacz9Ldj5SnV5xiiKX-7fW584gfTSqLnviSvj2UwtsA_TNaKL8SipvdmF1-90Umw4fd0/s1600-h/09092007200.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5111645416368481042" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7fTRahYbATZWDTIBtCke3qtHzBr4Beycoyd0_C-AL1OgyO-Rp9hHdjAdbhWZnz6SkPacz9Ldj5SnV5xiiKX-7fW584gfTSqLnviSvj2UwtsA_TNaKL8SipvdmF1-90Umw4fd0/s320/09092007200.jpg" border="0" /></a>turned out to be nice and sunny for us. Justen ran into a few "Uppies" while we were venturing around the fortress. Before we had even left for Helsinki he made the comment that we will see some of the troupe somewhere along the way. We did and twice at that! Too tired and exhausted to make dinner we all had McDonald's take out :) Family day ended quite successfully I do believe. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfnHnVLVEZHePGNdA5Imu6X5PjcFA6-I5MV6Yc54JU5U_aEFg8AICHp37JgNZPL7NjpSaMDf_Pi9bCEQ4e0ZFEShyYi03PQ6BRWz1B2ZtehSovrlOSwjqoKnpuWyCCGxsbOEWw/s1600-h/09092007202.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5111645815800439586" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfnHnVLVEZHePGNdA5Imu6X5PjcFA6-I5MV6Yc54JU5U_aEFg8AICHp37JgNZPL7NjpSaMDf_Pi9bCEQ4e0ZFEShyYi03PQ6BRWz1B2ZtehSovrlOSwjqoKnpuWyCCGxsbOEWw/s200/09092007202.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The following day Justen and the rest of the 69 members spent the day in Nuuksio National Park here in Espoo. They went hiking, swimming and partook in sauna as well as grilling makkara = sausages. Justen explained that after his sauna experience with me he popped into the sauna there in Nuuksio buck naked whilst all the rest were wearing their swim suits. So not to make them all feel uncomfortable he donned his trunks as well but the scout said he was Finnish and would be staying there naked. This was also the evening of viili for Justen. It was also our last night of having him in our home. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxyMI7GJTJ4IkD2EqH5Wej7WRi0DYycW30ZcTiSUaZfhb-FppnUltEMfoHFZMjR47Pr_bRk3pvflUbUVXt9P33NdHFXaYo7gtUrMTIRTwE5LnQ6YPS9eK4B1fJ2LOjMu2p74sq/s1600-h/11092007211.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5111646734923440962" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxyMI7GJTJ4IkD2EqH5Wej7WRi0DYycW30ZcTiSUaZfhb-FppnUltEMfoHFZMjR47Pr_bRk3pvflUbUVXt9P33NdHFXaYo7gtUrMTIRTwE5LnQ6YPS9eK4B1fJ2LOjMu2p74sq/s200/11092007211.jpg" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSRps2WrjpTyK44J1oQs-xmuA_BiOHbPN0yd6Ys_KJvs6LmoG1mmHR1yXym_zQGC2GnA_0dpn3T93ksqWwfSF5AlcwcnE_38ZWnBHN2PqHeeWXid2sB95VInrVkhpmCuCNqPFW/s1600-h/11092007210.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5111646262477038386" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSRps2WrjpTyK44J1oQs-xmuA_BiOHbPN0yd6Ys_KJvs6LmoG1mmHR1yXym_zQGC2GnA_0dpn3T93ksqWwfSF5AlcwcnE_38ZWnBHN2PqHeeWXid2sB95VInrVkhpmCuCNqPFW/s200/11092007210.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAX6YYX2duMe_Z2Kneu27_Wv2_sEJo7xWOGat2SbCnDfDPH-BaAjH20vmQOkL6vQXstbLuiNdCJyKvY8ZnTEIgYyXw1ZXKfcIURbqzEc0sg6zf5cDX685BBWqk0qPUfmtKqZDv/s1600-h/11092007213.jpg"></a></div>The following morning Alexi said his goodbyes reluctantly and went off to school. Tiina, Niki, Justen and I took Niki to his school with his backpack all loaded up for school camp in Tammisaari. So Niki said his goodbyes to Justen there. The three of us then proceeded on to Tapiola where we dropped Justen off to join his troupe. They would be there for awhile and then would leave early evening on the Silja Symphony <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2ZqeUJ2jPbzmKl_8bb3Xy6_WBhHNrxQhLLQryA3dFYqNFJPDPb9F127AHpRsSF5egJO6rLXqzciR8Rz3jaObMk7SaAwV9bIpixP_ao1ayreEfs14bNPVCzI5pAok5Hs97hLQe/s1600-h/11092007213.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5111658052162266018" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2ZqeUJ2jPbzmKl_8bb3Xy6_WBhHNrxQhLLQryA3dFYqNFJPDPb9F127AHpRsSF5egJO6rLXqzciR8Rz3jaObMk7SaAwV9bIpixP_ao1ayreEfs14bNPVCzI5pAok5Hs97hLQe/s200/11092007213.jpg" border="0" /></a>to Stockholm. They would be performing on the boat as well. We said goodbye to our son for a week and wished him all the best in life and a safe and continuing trip. We also welcomed him back anytime he wished to visit Finland and he did the same for us. As we left I could see some tears in host mom Tiina's eyes. She truly was a mother <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMKD-I_dSjP6QUkvZ4XJlQZL2gsLTnvvx6JqwE8z3jPZTwG13twvIh8uRbHkdUmCccgXmAhTO1LLVyiAZ7Ca1xYmSdMj8ek8XfVB4q50Seui9AvKOSTLrUqJNBsYTICuFYpZA0/s1600-h/11092007213.jpg"></a>to Justen and treated him as one of her own. Things certainly quieted down around here after Justen left. Mind you it was not bad that he was here but did leave a feeling of emptiness after he left. <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5111648753558070146" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXqHhT6MUdqVHhu1fuP2jp9q0WDFmZOI8vLGT-1H6A0eeBUi6KXVYTQeKPxhXautWuDe2QT0nxNKkbnPBg7OiNup4VGqIDdIB3W5DbRah-eKowncXa3v2OfImseBeoLKIk9B9u/s320/09092007399.jpg" border="0" />I don't think we will ever forget you Justen Ray! Respect! God Speed and good luck y'all! </div></div></div></div></div></div>SaunaMattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09393454063504062128noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27317749.post-985547138081889022007-09-18T13:49:00.000+03:002007-09-19T00:06:54.140+03:00Tahdon.......Wedding Bells Were A Ringing<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhddBqPczJ6TlxJghpiz2j53uFZGbQ6Cz7zcRzPleJZ3VzJbQ9Pxp6RXnnAmnSc-gx1leleYNsRldsn0ie9gub4xin1MoQpgY5VqEW4F192DaEcS6lA9Jf7AAfeRjhI62YRnnz4/s1600-h/08092007173.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5111513423433540178" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhddBqPczJ6TlxJghpiz2j53uFZGbQ6Cz7zcRzPleJZ3VzJbQ9Pxp6RXnnAmnSc-gx1leleYNsRldsn0ie9gub4xin1MoQpgY5VqEW4F192DaEcS6lA9Jf7AAfeRjhI62YRnnz4/s320/08092007173.jpg" border="0" /></a>Saturday September 8th marked a happy occasion for a very lovely and happy couple. They are my brother-in-law, Sampo, and his beautiful bride, Marleena. They were married in the Porvoon pikkukirkko where Pastor Kari Leikko officiated. It was a fairytale like wedding at best! The guest list was kept small but the atmosphere was gigantic. Celebrities that filled the pews included <a href="http://www.almightylove.fi/"><em><span style="color:#666666;">Miro</span></em></a>, all the members of<em> </em><a href="http://www.egotrippi.com/"><em><span style="color:#666666;">Egotrippi</span></em></a>, <a href="http://www.teleksmusiikki.com/index.php?offset=195&nav=kysy&kysy=lue"><span style="color:#666666;"><em>Teleks</em> </span></a>and <a href="http://www.joremarjaranta.com/"><em><span style="color:#666666;">Jore Marjaranta</span></em> </a>to name a few.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKaNFPl-M5aR6fMnIImUF-M-fSCiANi5D3mEXQ30XhmmFdWvCUzbHbbXU7qQJnC_6KX6lrSNtNxLy4s-aTQSh5jzK5wlHujo4PsEH81WACK7N6yLJ8HMloXi73xhd9ErgcxtBk/s1600-h/08092007177.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5111514114923274850" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKaNFPl-M5aR6fMnIImUF-M-fSCiANi5D3mEXQ30XhmmFdWvCUzbHbbXU7qQJnC_6KX6lrSNtNxLy4s-aTQSh5jzK5wlHujo4PsEH81WACK7N6yLJ8HMloXi73xhd9ErgcxtBk/s320/08092007177.jpg" border="0" /></a> The newlyweds left the church in a Ford Mustang. Sorry I didn't catch the year.<br /><br /><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /><div><br /></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-iid5oUfv-nE5jNDF7G4kie-pzYZycRIY0CwySB-tYzBrxbr1Ah7rzLDhM-4TNYBHee2G3bhVOpjdrhoyEBSTTFBqwEKqm_yrpEHFcAkmVMK1j627gCuVl43jM5Z_P8pHRqaM/s1600-h/08092007183.jpg"></a></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div><br /></div><div>We all relocated to <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-iid5oUfv-nE5jNDF7G4kie-pzYZycRIY0CwySB-tYzBrxbr1Ah7rzLDhM-4TNYBHee2G3bhVOpjdrhoyEBSTTFBqwEKqm_yrpEHFcAkmVMK1j627gCuVl43jM5Z_P8pHRqaM/s1600-h/08092007183.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5111514909492224626" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-iid5oUfv-nE5jNDF7G4kie-pzYZycRIY0CwySB-tYzBrxbr1Ah7rzLDhM-4TNYBHee2G3bhVOpjdrhoyEBSTTFBqwEKqm_yrpEHFcAkmVMK1j627gCuVl43jM5Z_P8pHRqaM/s200/08092007183.jpg" border="0" /></a>Solbacka in Pernaja for the reception. The reception kind of got a late start as we were all waiting for the newlyweds to arrive. They probably had gone home to comb the rice out of their hair :)<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUFapBQBtjajQiOqG4cRWdS7-NcO2nxJ4aI0FrNL0L3YdT_Pagp9cOMJQAmul_KDDdE-rfOax1qbcIazgbI3Z7ytW7ZzSVKRJi6Z7NoYpC1TRoeuXZ5f4aaIlu6Yk0vkP2tMXl/s1600-h/08092007189.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5111519612481413778" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUFapBQBtjajQiOqG4cRWdS7-NcO2nxJ4aI0FrNL0L3YdT_Pagp9cOMJQAmul_KDDdE-rfOax1qbcIazgbI3Z7ytW7ZzSVKRJi6Z7NoYpC1TRoeuXZ5f4aaIlu6Yk0vkP2tMXl/s200/08092007189.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>The food was all natural and very, very tasty! I don't think I have ever had such good food at a wedding reception before. Of course, all the food I have ever eaten at receptions has always been good. Something about this made it taste different. Maybe because it was all organically grown?<br /></div><div>The program of events for the evening were great. Unfortunately for us we had to leave just before the waltz and other musical entertainment. All three of Marleena's brothers entertained us with their gift of music. Emppu and Emil playing the accordion and drums in one segment and Miro doing what he does best composing live using live-looping. It was fantastic as I had never seen anything like it before. When I later asked if he had made a recording of this masterpiece this was his reply, <span style="color:#ff0000;"><em>"I am sorry but I did not record my show from the wedding, it was once in a life time shot and the music goes on in our memories. I like that way to do music sometimes. It makes the music different because then it lives its own versions in everybody's memories or something."</em></span><span style="color:#000000;"> Believe me you, it surely did and continues to do so!!! </span></div><div><br /></div><div></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5111522193756758706" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK92dpmBfYQ7ut1mTgdsY27_iNBk_QV2zMsiRIxzzPMYZuPqk2l6ss5NWADq8dvvlmxfNavqi7FIUrdROHXJiVdg9PYs5Y5mIBpzWdbWC427S5EOZGeFoHdssR-EacfZwwRRAJ/s320/08092007195.jpg" border="0" /> <div>Here is a recipe for <em><strong>A Happy Life</strong></em> that was given to us by my Aunt Carolyn when Tiina and I got married way back when. It serves hundreds!<br /></div><br /><div><strong><span style="color:#cc33cc;">Take equal parts of kindness, unselfishness and thoughtfulness. Mix with love and scatter with helpful words. Add a smile or two. Throw in the spice of cheerfulness. Stir with a hearty laugh. Share with everyone!<br /></span></strong></div><br /><div align="center">Sampo and Marleena may you two have many, many, many wonderful years together. Remember the good times but never forget the bad times as they are what makes us stronger as the years go by. God bless you and your family!<img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5111520952511210146" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8yksP9oNoM2AVUcj9BVSXUHb6AzJE9ICifhF8ow_tF-TowxAlU3F7uPr6LHvAA_0R7SyX_2Yn84Ln0vwJ-NBhLjkmH-9r2zlMEvKc0QjXzSv4sa99PBr6JrMgE5mEp9sV_60h/s320/08092007190.jpg" border="0" /></div></div>SaunaMattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09393454063504062128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27317749.post-55377160591738037342007-09-02T10:10:00.001+03:002007-09-06T23:38:47.605+03:00Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon.......<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIRjE3756t7yk9JgRa63Mz-yQsyWo2ntz12SCX_3uovpsHqT0M01G3SMLMLdQqfzkPjYDfid9LqYHS2DeV5QDoXXeLt4x-ksl0wtDEJCpHsrI2uLsLyuJWNb6LF_pXPX7FJKXl/s1600-h/05082007336.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105502591050255490" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIRjE3756t7yk9JgRa63Mz-yQsyWo2ntz12SCX_3uovpsHqT0M01G3SMLMLdQqfzkPjYDfid9LqYHS2DeV5QDoXXeLt4x-ksl0wtDEJCpHsrI2uLsLyuJWNb6LF_pXPX7FJKXl/s320/05082007336.jpg" border="0" /></a> Here's a picture of me that Tiina snapped a few Sunday's ago. It was a warm and muggy day and I went out on the balcony to get some fresh air. I couldn't resist taking up Niki's new classical guitar and strumming on it while I sat outside. Not that I can actually play anything useful but it helps to relax and to keep my fingers exercised. Tiina was sitting on the sofa and thought the image was cool looking with me sitting in front of the insect screen we have in the doorway. She snapped this photo using her Nokia N73 phone's camera. She always has this way of seeing things that are interesting and if she can she manages to snap a few pictures to try and capture that same moment. Niki's guitar has such a beautiful sound to it that from time to time I just enjoy playing it. When Niki plays it sounds so much better. I am proud that he decided to stick with the guitar. I always wanted to learn but when I was his age I really wasn't given the opportunity.<br /><br />I got my first guitar in the summer of 1978. This guitar was probably one of my Dad's first guitars. I don't even recall the name of it but it was an acoustic with a wide body. I believe it had been refinished to a deep Burgundy red color. His name of Bob was painted on the head stock. It sat on a guitar stand in the corner of the Grandparent's room for as long as I could remember. I used to pick on it whenever I visited them during the summers out of school. In 1978 I was presented this guitar by the Grandparents after I had moved in with them. They said my father wanted me to have it and that they saved it for me until I was a certain age. I was 16 then. I got new strings for it and the neighbor man, Wayno Rintala, strung it up and tuned it for me. Sometimes Grandma would try to teach me some chords and have me strum along while she played Little Brown Jug on the piano. I was never any good it seems. Another neighbor man, Dennis Harrison, who lived up on the hill behind us, drew up some chords for me to practice. Practice those chords I did. They are probably the only ones I know! Sadly I do not know what has happened to this guitar. It never had a case for it so I couldn't take it with me on the airplane to Alaska or here to Finland. I am still trying to find out if it still exists or not. I do have a Grammer Guitar that my Dad gave to me in the early 1980's. He used to work at the <a href="http://grammerguitar.com/index.html"><em><strong>Grammer Guitar Factory</strong></em> </a>in Nashville, Tennessee. It needs to have some work done on the it but other than that it still sounds good for as long as it stays in tune.SaunaMattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09393454063504062128noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27317749.post-28281135051925762392007-07-31T01:20:00.000+03:002007-07-31T16:01:06.132+03:00A little back to normal life....<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrlSkm-J4btC-4deVRgROvcbQcyweDi0-b0RDMSSKhGLNmR7SKirhrj5UVzVhrZEydxtPV8LYSddwRAiv-I7hzboYkkf26P08I9083OfMR2lVi1RbRct6rlQ3uv4ar0Re9Be0J/s1600-h/lilies.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5093272437662686834" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrlSkm-J4btC-4deVRgROvcbQcyweDi0-b0RDMSSKhGLNmR7SKirhrj5UVzVhrZEydxtPV8LYSddwRAiv-I7hzboYkkf26P08I9083OfMR2lVi1RbRct6rlQ3uv4ar0Re9Be0J/s320/lilies.jpg" border="0" /></a>Now that Tiina has been home for four days and been a week since her operation we have gotten back to a half-way normal life. The second day home she decided she wanted to go for a walk to get fresh air and exercise. That walk turned out to be nearly 4 miles! First we went to the library where she needed to turn some books in, pay some fines (shame, shame) and pick up some that were being reserved for her. Then we walked to the mall in the center of Espoo and grabbed a bite to eat. After that we went to the pharmacy to get some gauze and stuff to keep the mosquito bites from itching when they bite Niki whilst he is up in Lapland all this week. We then went to the grocery store in the mall and bought a ton of groceries. There were two cloth bags and a small backpack's worth. Guess who got to carry them? I didn't mind. Tiina decided we should take the bus back because she was feeling a bit beat. Unfortunately for us the bus came a few minutes early and zoomed right on by before we could get out the door. She didn't want to sit around to wait 30 minutes for the next bus so we started walking. She did stop to rest at a bus stop halfway home. We just crossed the street near our place when the bus came! She took a shower and changed her dressings and felt new again. She did sleep like a baby but only until being awaken by the neighbor's teenage daughter who decided they should have a party at 2.30 in the morning. Tiina got up and climbed her way up the stairs and out to the balcony. She knocked on the wall separating us from the neighbor and told them they had two choices, be quiet or she calls the police and then asked if they understood. They did and they got quiet but only until 5.30 when they went at it again. This time I woke up. So I sent a text message via my phone to their father who is away somewhere on holiday with their mother. I think he got the picture that we weren't happy. He called his kids and then he called us to check the stories. He apologized.<br /><br /><div><div><div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEqyHxAODt-eEdGOVlXVdPzkAJg74N4yJsMoVksq4EX7uw9t8DSmmjy1AAjXegUOVNbW-xdloIl2SSSNb9JEuv3394WIZyHm9GYPqNzaNpoRUKNppNTI0xWN_gv1bbrFpiH957/s1600-h/matti+grilling_2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5093272639526149762" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEqyHxAODt-eEdGOVlXVdPzkAJg74N4yJsMoVksq4EX7uw9t8DSmmjy1AAjXegUOVNbW-xdloIl2SSSNb9JEuv3394WIZyHm9GYPqNzaNpoRUKNppNTI0xWN_gv1bbrFpiH957/s320/matti+grilling_2.jpg" border="0" /></a>Yesterday we went for a walk on the path through the woods. Tiina wanted to take a bucket in case we found some wild raspberries. We did and we walked up into the woods collecting about a liter or so. We then came back home as it looked like it was going to rain. But it didn't so I fired up the gas grill and cooked some hamburgers and chicken along with red bell peppers, corn on the cob, and one tomato. Check out my new apron and oven mitt that Tiina bought for me. It is from the Marimekko shop! ;-)</div><div></div><br /><div>Niki and I left on the bus to Helsinki where he was to meet up with his Scout troop at the Helsinki Railway Station. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNWarxH33KzpDmIFEeWYyNvIXJlFJ6Des8ow3hL10zGszL199ThY7gJVcV4bkhqZXR2WPzLt26kOwtm-svNBLcP6NICkfPR79rlJCIRvjmufO1ga9B8B2dI8w6hctSrn7drmPp/s1600-h/Scout+Niki.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5093273021778239122" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNWarxH33KzpDmIFEeWYyNvIXJlFJ6Des8ow3hL10zGszL199ThY7gJVcV4bkhqZXR2WPzLt26kOwtm-svNBLcP6NICkfPR79rlJCIRvjmufO1ga9B8B2dI8w6hctSrn7drmPp/s320/Scout+Niki.jpg" border="0" /></a>Their train was leaving at 22.27 for Rovaniemi. They were headed for Muonio up in Lapland where they will be hiking and camping all this week. He has been pretty excited about this trip since he learned about it last winter. He was all excited as I let him wear my prized Suunto Vector. He said he would be honored to wear it! Cute kid. He will be returning to Helsinki something like 7.30 a.m. on Sunday. The weather forecast has called for rain and cool temperatures whilst he is up there. Nothing more miserable than staying in a tent when it is wet outside and damp inside. I am sure they will manage though. Seems like he took everything with him but the kitchen sink!</div></div></div></div>SaunaMattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09393454063504062128noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27317749.post-87105836061412723882007-07-24T15:50:00.000+03:002007-09-20T23:22:58.367+03:00Breast Cancer and Tiina<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1qoBL4-SxKwea-tsE80pKML_OlJFX08o5b-YrKvtq9Sj4fY9KMZ4n65nGBQqNlF65K59j4lBGimnq4gb_-LHCM53X3qNwrmhOgiHNFlIB1Hqu0vmXtBm8wH4MfpkQtr0jggMf/s1600-h/tiina.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5090754083588677170" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1qoBL4-SxKwea-tsE80pKML_OlJFX08o5b-YrKvtq9Sj4fY9KMZ4n65nGBQqNlF65K59j4lBGimnq4gb_-LHCM53X3qNwrmhOgiHNFlIB1Hqu0vmXtBm8wH4MfpkQtr0jggMf/s320/tiina.jpg" border="0" /></a> Many of you do not know that just before Midsummer (20th of June) that my loving wife, Tiina, had taken it upon herself to have a mammogram performed. Well the mammogram and ultrasound revealed a growth approximately 3 cm = 1,18" in size. A biopsy was done immediately but she had to wait until the 3rd of July to really find out what the diagnoses was. She had been notified by phone on the 28th of June that it was bad and that it needed to be researched more. On the 3rd she found out what hospital she would be treated in. The nurse gave her a run down over the phone but her actual appointment wasn't until the 9th of July. So we both went in for the consultation and additional tests. A blood test and lung x-rays were taken and both turned out clear and negative. The doctor explained that the surgery would take place on the 17th of this month and explained what the procedure would be, etc. Tiina asked if it would be possible to have reconstructive surgery done at the same time since the total amount to be removed would amount to smaller than a tennis ball. The doctor called in the plastic surgeon who examined Tiina. She said it wouldn't be a problem to do that but the surgery date would have to be moved from the 17th to the 24th of this month. We left for our cottage as soon as our son Alexi was finished playing soccer with his team in the Helsinki Cup. We had an enjoyable time at the cottage. Both of us are quite calm, positive and optimistic that this will be overcome.<br /><br />Tiina and I went to the hospital yesterday for the injection of a radioactive dye into the tumor in order to locate the sentinel lymph nodes that will be taken out and examined for cancer. Well the first round didn't reveal anything so she had to be injected again. This time it was under the skin. Luckily one, only one was to be found! So this will be the one they remove for testing. I guess as many as 10 can be found which means they would all have to be removed. If none are found then all the lymph nodes in the breast and under the arm as well as the fatty tissue from under the arm are removed. Tiina explained to me that before the dye was used the lymph nodes were automatically removed during the surgery. By removing the nodes this can cause swelling in the arm as well as numbness.<br /><br />We got to meet the doctor who will be performing the actual surgery to remove the tumor. She had been on her summer holiday during our first visit. She is very nice and from what everyone tells us, the very best that they have. This is also a comforting thought. She drew lines on Tiina to indicate where the incisions would be made and how much would be removed. It appears that the size will be reduced from a D cup to a B cup. When the doctor had finished her drawing Tiina looked like a 3 year old got hold of a marker and had his way! These markings had to remain on her until today's surgery. The doctor was very pleased with the location of the tumor and with the texture of it. She said it should all go well. Another comforting thought.<br /><br />So now Tiina has been in hospital since 8 am this morning. The time is now 4.13 pm. The doctor couldn't say for certain but thought the surgery would begin around 11 am. She said if all goes well it should take about four hours or even less.<br /><br />I wasn't awake when she left this morning with her mother. She did come in to kiss and hug me and to say that she was leaving. I, of course, could not go back to sleep. It is a very eerie feeling. Heaven forbid something to go wrong but if it did that would have been the last time I would see her! Enough of that! No news is good news. So far I haven't heard anything yet. We had asked the nurse or doctor to call if something drastic had to be done. To let Tiina rest we decided that she would contact me first from the hospital.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5090753383509007906" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfim28WSKAwcCJO_Gu2_ZA0ETp7GvA6P9E4atZVz2su_4KcKN8n7EuPsK0MM6qBf7Htm4mqhbXSXPAMhyphenhyphendwJyi9rwSipzCIRU6TbEjCoahJMrzJsk7Thmd8GIyqiT_bpEkpjCd/s320/favorite.jpg" border="0" /> So to all of you friends of Tiina you can check here for any results. As soon as I get them they will be posted here! I thank you all for your concerns, prayers and wishes. They truly mean a lot to us.<br /><div></div><br /><div><strong><em>Tuesday 24.07.2007 22.15</em></strong><br /></div><div>Well my mother-in-law had called several times to the hospital to find out how Tiina was. She hadn't come back to her room by 8 PM so she called again at 10 pm. The surgery ended at 6.30 PM and if I understood right it went well. Too what extent that is I am not sure. She is being kept in recovery over night due to lack of personnel because of summer holidays. I will know more tomorrow and hopefully get to visit with her.<br /></div><div><strong><em>Wed. 25.07.2007 08.37</em></strong>Well my mother-in-law called this morning with good news. Tiina's operation had gone well and she had been moved to her own room just after Midnight. She had already eaten something this morning and had received pain killers and is now resting. She said we would be able to visit her just after Noon sometime.<br /></div><div><em><strong>Wed. 25.07.2007 14.44</strong></em></div><div>I just talked to Tiina via phone. She is doing well. Unfortunately all the lymph nodes in her breast and underarm had to be removed. We were hoping that it wouldn't have to be so. The doctor found one that was quite hard and decided to do away with them. The tumor has been sent to the Cancer Research Center in Helsinki and the results should be back for Tiina's first follow-up on Aug. 1st. The surgery lasted from 2 pm - 6.30 pm. She was transferred to her room around 11 pm last night. She is on antibiotics and painkillers. She can sit up and go to the bathroom on her own now. She still feels a little dizzy when she does so but said it is getting better. We will go to visit her after the meal time so that would be after 4 pm.</div><br /><div><strong><em>Thurs. 26.07.2007 11.00</em></strong>Tiina called this morning and said that she will have to remain in hospital until Friday. She still gets dizzy and nauseous when she stands. They want her to move around more as well. She only started walking about around 8 pm last evening. The draining tubes should be removed today so that will make it easier for her to get around. She won't be able to drive for two weeks and will have at least four weeks sick holiday. Other than that she is progressing just fine!</div><br /><div><strong><em>Saturday 28.07.2007 10.47</em></strong> Okay! So now Tiina is finally at home and doing well. She was released from hospital yesterday at 1 pm. She came home and rested a bit while watching TV catching up on all of her favorite shows that had been recorded on the digibox, especially All in the Family ;-) With a little guidence from her I made supper for everyone. Usually I am good at just throwing pre-marinated chicken thigh/legs in the oven and making macaroni and cheese or goulash that I have made since I was about 11. This time I fried up some small pork steaks with onion and cream and made macaroni and corn for the crew. Tiina ate it well enough, even though she doesn't eat much meat. She slept the night really good. I had the window open so it was much cooler downstairs than up. Her stitches are healing fine. Today we will try to go for a walk to the grocery store. She can't lift or carry anything but the walking and fresh air will do her good. Hopefully it won't rain before then or whilst we are walk about. Now that she is home I won't be updating here so often as she will be back on board with her Internet lists and groups (you all). I will make seperate entries for major things that come along concerning her future treatments. For those that just want to know leave me an email or comment and I will get back to you. I thank you all for stopping in and reading up about Tiina. I also thank those of you that have left nice comments about me to Tiina as well ;-) God bless you all! <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5092167870858403394" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHfM1Zlvo5-2LHvzuan5xoyZaOiaXCeDrJfoeeyj8N1xOaGXVIhlXS-6j60bhJaUW0bIA9j6mokCTWcjU14BlyXv1y0CpT1hhQHTrxDdTmxTeEKQYCfUd7Q62fAPOn7kmNfpyG/s320/Tiina+28+july+2007a.jpg" border="0" /></div>SaunaMattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09393454063504062128noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27317749.post-44847414577487133892007-07-24T14:39:00.000+03:002007-07-24T15:49:12.806+03:00Kesäloma = summer holiday<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimJmUojU-U7OLEh76vGecz2CZEnptkqsoNVyb9dm-SJk_mdV-sYcj-X1-ZerVnWHwaKshNlVUYOsAbSfcB0KCpLg88fMhMK_yMZO1qChTVB3ljMwCbpq0qfOOv47YyL6VUKevo/s1600-h/fields.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5090738909469220162" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimJmUojU-U7OLEh76vGecz2CZEnptkqsoNVyb9dm-SJk_mdV-sYcj-X1-ZerVnWHwaKshNlVUYOsAbSfcB0KCpLg88fMhMK_yMZO1qChTVB3ljMwCbpq0qfOOv47YyL6VUKevo/s320/fields.jpg" border="0" /></a> Ahhh.... at last the long awaited kesäloma!<br />This year's loma is a bit unusual compared to previous years. This will be explained in the next entry. We only got to have about eight days at our cottage. I think it is the shortest we have ever stayed a summer at the cottage since purchasing it in 1998.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNsISJ5ovkikke69gPJmwMyXXE_wCjgJ7CgMIG1c7uOYshN1z70670n0Jpc0WqbdkqHUYg71WmDZJGYYq9V5juERn7uH9sk6FyDXqqK9rsZ_Utn1m8hoj-WYzXxftyqTDgapl3/s1600-h/grill.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5090743444954684930" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNsISJ5ovkikke69gPJmwMyXXE_wCjgJ7CgMIG1c7uOYshN1z70670n0Jpc0WqbdkqHUYg71WmDZJGYYq9V5juERn7uH9sk6FyDXqqK9rsZ_Utn1m8hoj-WYzXxftyqTDgapl3/s200/grill.jpg" border="0" /></a> Well it isn't going anywhere. We have some good news concerning the property. We were finally<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKDN0Gu_0oteGVQiNUSOuCx0K0cC5CWY2Zhyp8Z2vVFnPa4sTk3dWc6pt6RB4Rn6tu5uKwHKzH8guDXSh0ebjQlRYvQ0FRdnkUKx6cj_nz7M2RCq10EkPs1fBMhLx8phx6NHYY/s1600-h/grilling.jpg"></a> granted the permission to split the property from that of the person from whom we purchased it. This has only taken nine years to accomplish. Our property is less than the minimum that the municipality requires. So with this permission we will be able to have it split with the boundries drawn on an official map and most importantly we will finally be able to rename it from that of Luhtala to that of Kujala! We will probably <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQufdhXUCGbukcmV_wIVsG1EI6Tsr06ykHimSbEj3s-wTrlM9GyuG70pooFdJoCVJTe_tvhq4oBVnkQsng_52fE3CvoNGxopVDueCr2IdiHyHRpuD0_-Zf6rZ65YFGJ5n0SBha/s1600-h/niki+mowing.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5090740210844310946" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQufdhXUCGbukcmV_wIVsG1EI6Tsr06ykHimSbEj3s-wTrlM9GyuG70pooFdJoCVJTe_tvhq4oBVnkQsng_52fE3CvoNGxopVDueCr2IdiHyHRpuD0_-Zf6rZ65YFGJ5n0SBha/s200/niki+mowing.jpg" border="0" /></a>have to <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB73AXiv0fL2hVByyulhHIezFq-Zzej5Qox1a5-MUA3wS5tsRNcy4n11AXwzJoQfssZL7qweQJbJZ4_XwuztPoz7IyCZ4MCJfwDrDYWTe6oOx6tpT8Bqh0wdlmMFvzEFvgp-am/s1600-h/grilling.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5090739777052614018" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB73AXiv0fL2hVByyulhHIezFq-Zzej5Qox1a5-MUA3wS5tsRNcy4n11AXwzJoQfssZL7qweQJbJZ4_XwuztPoz7IyCZ4MCJfwDrDYWTe6oOx6tpT8Bqh0wdlmMFvzEFvgp-am/s200/grilling.jpg" border="0" /></a>wait until next summer to do this but at least we know we can.<br /><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><br /><div>We didn't do much this year because of the short time and some rainy weather from time to time. We managed to do some real spring cleaning inside the cottage. It needed it pretty bad. I have never seen the place so clean! We visited with the neighbors who are distant relatives of mine but family all the sdame to me. I think they are the closest I have to MY own family here in Finland. I am very thankful for this as I always feel I am returning home when I visit the cottage. </div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_9XNtrX0hauC_VOSxQWGNOySe-MGzlsv6bmn_7iXMTXUeK41GpaJj5sizVDI6xJAHRBUC0gnfyb-A7GefTOgS3Iqc7PN_pGLcsavcDMtYJQINYrLDlmLE3mJctKFjR78TdUvw/s1600-h/cottage.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5090740490017185202" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_9XNtrX0hauC_VOSxQWGNOySe-MGzlsv6bmn_7iXMTXUeK41GpaJj5sizVDI6xJAHRBUC0gnfyb-A7GefTOgS3Iqc7PN_pGLcsavcDMtYJQINYrLDlmLE3mJctKFjR78TdUvw/s200/cottage.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>I spent some of my time helping the relatives with their computers. It is something I enjoy doing. I taught their son how to back-up DVD's to the hard drive or burning them. All legit of course. They had some problems with getting the new laptop connected to the wireless network. I started out working on it when another friend of theirs came along to work on it. For a while we both worked on it. You know the saying, "two heads are better than one". We had to call it quits around Midnight as the son and mother had to get to sleep as they both had to work the next morning. By the time I got over their the following morning the other guy had it pretty much up and running. So that was good.<br /></div><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_f-uUV3d-7ooaFgxyprKhe6X3i8-3Z3ZxV-Iy7XxhyphenhyphenULEkQwlTlw0ryUIAMzhlx6BjYhnQ4wS7uR1kXiLlADIHgmNsd65I2owlZr4zx9b2sySkPHU0fh1Mnddl__1HR7DbgE8/s1600-h/D.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5090741512219401682" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_f-uUV3d-7ooaFgxyprKhe6X3i8-3Z3ZxV-Iy7XxhyphenhyphenULEkQwlTlw0ryUIAMzhlx6BjYhnQ4wS7uR1kXiLlADIHgmNsd65I2owlZr4zx9b2sySkPHU0fh1Mnddl__1HR7DbgE8/s200/D.jpg" border="0" /></a>We went to visit a friend who lives in Jepua. We finally got to see her little son and had a tour of the fine, old house and all the improvements that had been made to it. The last time we had visited that house was in 1992. It was a nice day trip. We had last tanked up the car in Espoo the day <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfvExbDQYyBpN7Ns5g3MSgTa5-RI9lFoeHwEwjn5GL2_Uu27Hh0r_NXjHVPyNOoY1MhrPtfZOsD-er9KR8lpRYl37ycVKvBKkNmUeU0sle5nnswJXmm1Re6OpwL2FHJgvyvixG/s1600-h/20072007146.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5090741980370836962" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfvExbDQYyBpN7Ns5g3MSgTa5-RI9lFoeHwEwjn5GL2_Uu27Hh0r_NXjHVPyNOoY1MhrPtfZOsD-er9KR8lpRYl37ycVKvBKkNmUeU0sle5nnswJXmm1Re6OpwL2FHJgvyvixG/s200/20072007146.jpg" border="0" /></a>we left on the 13th. We tanked up in Jepua on the 18th with 48 liters. The car holds 60 liters. We had gone 543 km on that tank. We are quite happy with that. The Volvo would have used much more. We even had the air conditioning on most of the trip.</div><br /><div>Our last full day at the cottage we had invited the relatives over for sauna and food to honor the 100th anniversary of my great-grandfather leaving Finland (see earlier entry) for the USA on 17 May 1907. The sauna was ever so great. I think it has become quite popular with everyone. We are very proud of it ourselves. </div><div></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5090742293903449586" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij_P5DeI5EPGO93sKxv-TqfItfIR782gfLT5K9K1ii_0F6ppSoPPiZxsKLCd-IK6PNSTtNGgI6mn0zSxfFa_K-R1H-fn3erMuWU_K4LFqe25y5azJpZhhRxz-PSqrU6RWcqfNC/s320/sky.jpg" border="0" /> <div>So now we are back home in Espoo. We did some gardening work but that is about it besides the ton of laundry that needed to be washed. Got it all washed but then it began to rain and rain. I think I will have to take the sheets in and hang them in the sauna to finish drying. No, the sauna isn't turned on ;-)<br /></div><br /><div>I still have two weeks of holiday left so I will have some things to do as well as taking care of the boys and Tiina. </div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>SaunaMattihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09393454063504062128noreply@blogger.com1