The Autumn Leaves

Autumn has shown its colours for the past few weeks. This year autumn has come very gradually, unlike other years when it just sort of whizzed by so quickly. It's exquisitely rare! :-D

The other day I went to a flea market downtown and I took some pics of Kitinen river as well. I found a pair of nice curtains that cost only about 7 Euros and a book. Yeah, I'm really weak when it comes to books HA HA HA HA HA...

Anyway, here are some of the pics I took: 

There are several flea markets in Sodankylä and this is one of them. The two bikes outside are for sale. :-D Do you notice anything particular in this photo? No? Look at the next photo then he he...

Tadaaaaaaaa....yeah, they hang these on the outside wall of the building ha ha ha ha...

You can see Kitinen river bridge farther away...

Here's another view of the river...and yeah, you can see how the water "changes colour" 'coz I took the photo when it was a bit cloudy...and that's my trusted bike! :-D LOVE it SO MUCH! :-D I can put plenty of things in my bike's bags and keep my balance well even in winter he he...

I saw this busy bee on the bushes (which were located on the right side of the above pic). There are plenty of flowers nearby. :-D

And here are some pics of autumn colours...:-D

Busy Bee

Yesterday was a busy day for me. R2 and I went to Kelujärvi to spend time with the family 'coz his eldest bro came from the south to spend time with us. It was his birthday as well as FIL's 80th birthday, so after we had lunch together there with the big family, we headed out to visit FIL and brought him a cake. Unfortunately he wasn't in a good enough condition to open his eyes. He did, though, eat the cake and drink the coffee that MIL fed him - with closed eyes. 

It was not a particularly warm day, but every now and then when the sun came out from behind the clouds, we felt warm despite the rather cool wind. Daytime temperature was only about 15'C, but at least it wasn't raining. It did rain in the early morning, though. 

We all got to our place to eat and play cards until around 2.30 am ha ha ha ha...We played Uno and laughed so much that my cheeks started to hurt LOL!!! People can be so funny after they get tipsy hi hi hi hi...some of us had trouble following the game after a few drinks hi hi hi...I drank a little bit of orange cider, but mostly I had water, so I was fine until the end ha ha...R2 was the one calculating the points and after several rounds of game, he started making mistakes in counting our points, so we had to recheck the numbers. 

Anyway, I took some pics of a busy bee in Kelujärvi garden as well as a pic of the cake we bought for FIL. I'd never seen such a cake before ha ha ha ha...mostly 'coz I usually buy frozen ones instead of this type. It's called "Käpykakku". Käpy means pine cone and the inside of the cake is very interesting 'coz it's not like a regular cake. I forgot to take a pic of it, though, but I know that I'm gonna be looking for this cake again later on when we have something to celebrate 'coz I love it!!! :-D 

OK, without further ado, let me just share the pics...

Garden Photos of the Day

Today was quite a day. In the morning until about midday, it was 30'C, then it started thundering and it rained for a while. Then the sun came out again for a while, then it got cloudy again (along with thunders) and now it's sunny again, though the temperature has dropped to 25'C.

Today I received my paycheck, but for some reason they made a mistake. I had submitted my tax card before I started working, but they must have not gotten it, 'coz they reduced my income by 60% (the law states that if the worker hasn't sent any tax card, they'd use 60% as my income tax). I was SHOCKED when I got the report, so tomorrow I have to tell someone at work about this so that it can be amended.

Now on to the pics...finally my kang kong seeds have germinated (they started germinating yesterday actually):


To Rita, here's the pic of the red flower and the leaves, so I don't think it's kurtturuusu 'coz the leaves are totally different.


Here are the flower buds of the above flower:


I guess this is sunflower, right?


We've just ordered a lawn mower, so our garden looks like a jungle ha ha ha ha...so many white flowers:


Here are the close-up pics of the flowers:


Wanna know how small they are? Here's a bee on top of the flower.


Okay, now I'm going to blog-hop a bit before sauna. Yesterday and today I did some gardening and also exercised using Wii he he he...I need a strong back for this part-time job, people...not to mention having a strong back is important for the rest of my life ha ha...

Midsummer Day "Party"

Back from a relaxing weekend!!! HAPPY MIDSUMMER DAY to everybody who celebrates it! ^______________________^

1. Glorious weather. When we went to my in-laws' on Friday, it was around 20'C. Saturday it got as hot as 25'C for a while, so we sunbathed outside. MMMMMM...Oh, and of course we had sauna on Friday eve after helping my mother-in-law move the flowers/plants out of her greenhouse to the yard ho ho ho ho...LOVE my sauna! ;-D

2. The food: STEAK! STEAK! STEAK! YUMMY indeed! :-D Steak, salad, sausage, cake, buns, coffee, strawberry curd, milk, lemonade. I can be fat if there are too many parties like this here he he he...Billy Blanks, wait for me tomorrow! I shall burn calories with you again!!! Gambatte kudasaiiiiii!!! ;-D

3. Laughing at my own folly. When I was helping my hubby and his Mom prepare the upstairs room for us (I got upstairs a bit late as I was doing something else at the moment, so they were nearly finished when I got there), I did something stupid. Arttu told me to pick a pillow and changed the pillow case. I THOUGHT his Mom had already taken off the old pillow case, so I just grabbed the new pillow case and put the new pillow case on. After they were done, his Mom asked where the old pillow case was. I tried to search for it even though I was confused as I hadn't seen it. Then Arttu realized something. He took my pillow and took off the new pillow case and ta-daa!!! At that very second, I started giggling hysterically! Talking about embarrassing yourself in front of your own mother-in-law! Then Arttu and his Mom started laughing, too. :-D It was the first time I could truly laugh at my own folly without beating myself up. It was SO funny that when we were about to go to bed that night, I couldn't stop giggling for a few minutes as I laid my head down on the pillow. LOL!!! (side note: The old pillow case was thin and the colour was white-light greyish so I REALLY thought it had been a "naked" pillow, you know? In my haste I didn't even think twice about it.)

4. Spotted a bee flitting about, so I took this video. Hope it's clear enough for you. I should've zoomed in better but oh well...It was FUN looking at the little fellow busily sucking away the nectar of the flowers.



5. Card games. Friday night Arttu, his Mom, and I played cards. First game I won, but two other games were won by Arttu. Saturday afternoon my mother-in-law's elder sister and husband dropped by and we played cards again. Again my mother-in-law lost, but at least we had fun together he he...

6. OK, here are more pics of the glorious summer and of nature...As usual, better click on the pics to see a bigger version.







The below pic was taken at 1 am, right after we finished our card games. ;-D


Me amongst the yellow flowers. Arttu said that the name of the flower was voikukka in Finnish or in English it'd be butter flowers. I think it's SO lovely to see the green grass dotted with yellow flowers everywhere.