Midsummer Weekend

Spent Midsummer in Kelujärvi with the family. Amazed at the fast growth of the wild flowers in the field. I tried walking through the wild flower field to get closer to some birds, but found it tough to do. They reached up to my calf and some were even came higher than my knees. It was wonderful to see the different colours of flowers and different types of leaves and stalks and branches in a huge field. Have you ever tried touching the flowers and the stalks and leaves, tracing them with your fingertips in order to feel their textures? I've just recently tried doing so and I find it fascinating. It's a whole different thing compared to just admiring them by sight. The Lord is such a magnificent artist to be able to create all of them in their separate glories...my goodness what beauty!

It became even more beautiful with the lack of traffic sounds. The orchestra of the singing birds could be heard from far away without any distraction. It was such bliss to be able to sit down on the porch stairs and tilt my head backwards to watch the clouds rolling above in the sky. And when it got rainy outside, I could still enjoy watching the lovely butterflies in the field from the huge living room window. There were so many tiny fluttering wings out there that you could just not miss them! Amazing! 

It rained during the night last night and when I peeked outside before I went to bed, I was awestruck with the sight of those translucent natural pearls sitting on top of the leaves and flower petals. It made me want to sing this song. Praise the Lord for the wonders of His creation!
 

3BT: December 1st, 2007

1. Calling my Mom via Skype to say happy birthday to her (today's her birthday). I got to talk to Dad a bit, as well. I'm HAPPY to know that they're all healthy and well. ;-D Everything's ready for next Saturday! ;-D

2. Getting a hug from my mother-in-law and she wished me a happy birthday again. She also gave me a pot of flowers (cactus). I'll upload the photos tomorrow.

3. Eating my birthday cake. VERY delicious! Mother-in-law bought one for me he he he...it was strawberry-cream cake. YUMMY!!!!!!

4. Enjoying beautiful nature again and I saw lots of reindeer on some fields HO HO HO HO HO HO HO...Plus when I got back from the frozen lake (I went there to take pics), I was welcomed by jolly birds singing so wonderfully. Today there were SO MANY of them so that their song was SO vivid!!! Free nature entertainment. What can be better than that, eh?

5. Hubby was planning to take the tougher burger buns and he left the softer ones for me HUE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE...;-D However, I mistakenly put some ketchup on his bun instead of mine, but I TRULY appreciate his heart. Bless him!!!!!!

6. Being able to force myself to practice some more Finnish with my mother-in-law he he he he...

7. Being able to beat my hubby during our card game HUA HA HA HA HA...He's been beating me and my mother-in-law over and over again and today I told him that I wanted to play cards so that I could beat him. Then my mother-in-law suggested playing cards and I got lucky all the time HUE HE HE HE HE HE...YEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSS!!!! ;-D

Weekend Photos

Just wanna share some pics again in this post.

First pic: LINGONBERRIES!!! They're about the same size as blueberries. I tried one and it tasted sour. However, I found that lingonberry skin was actually a bit harder to chew than blueberry skin. Blueberry skin "melts" easily. You don't have to really chew it, but you have to chew lingonberry skin. It's not THAT hard, but still not as soft as blueberry skin. ----> I didn't get to the forest 'coz it was SO cold (8'C), but I saw a bucket of lingonberries, so I took a pic of them. ;-D




Second pic: Grinning me, right after sauna, about to eat the delicious sausage (with mustard) and ruisleipä (rye bread) with cheese. YUM, YUMMMMMMMMM!!!



More pics: Just some road trip pics I took.


I LOVEEEEEEEEEE passing by a wide open field like the one below.



Here're two more flower pics I took sometime ago:

Blogging Star Award + 3BT Weekend Wrap

Max has bestowed me this award. THANK YOU SOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH for this award, Girl!!!


I'd love to share this award with these following bloggers:

Agnes and Matt for having been cracking me up with their sense of humour and for having shown their opinions blatantly (BRAVO for that) and for having been informative with a twist. *wink*

Michelle for being such a WONDERFUL writer. She has a special way with words. She makes me almost able to see, smell, or taste anything she wants to tell the readers and I keep coming back for more to see, smell, or taste. It's addictive!!! I admire her for that ability. She's also been there in the toughest period of my life, the first 2-3 months in Finland, and I'm FOREVER grateful for that! :-D

Amber for having written such intelligent, mind-tickling, informative, and creative posts. I admire her for being her. :-D

Victorya for having been courageous enough to face her demons and ghosts without being cynical or bitter. I admire her for that, for holding on to the good and the present and future, not to the past. I also LOVE the way she writes her stories. I LOVE how she shares her most intimate feelings honestly even though she may have a hard time pouring the words out in her posts. You ROCK, Girl!!! ;-D

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Now on to my 3BT Weekend Wrap:

1. Tickling my hubby's face with my hair when he was just waking up from nap. *tee-hee*

2. Watching my hubby exert extra determination not to laugh or giggle or move any part of his face while being tickled by me, yet ending up shedding tears as he couldn't handle it any longer. LOL!!!!!

3. Having lots of trees around this apt. building means I can always figure out how hard the wind blows. This is vital for me as the wind chill factor affects the temperature and thus it affects which kind of clothes I have to wear before I go out.

4. Mother-in-law told us to buy the kind of bread we wanted to have along with the meal she had prepared. In the end she gave us the bread!!! I chose the bread and I ended up bringing it home. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYY!!!!! Thank GOD for such a KIND mother-in-law!!!

5. Pancakes! I made my own pancakes on Friday - the first time I made them myself using my hubby's fave recipe. I only busted one piece. The rest came out nicely enough. YAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYY for me!!! ;-D

6. Hubby kissing me and saying thank you right after he had my pancakes. Boy, that felt GOOD!!! ;-D

7. Listening to the radio on our road trip (it took 25 minutes by car to my in-laws) plus being surrounded by nature. MMMMMMMMMMM...

3BT: August 22-23, 2007

1. Being spooked again by my hubby.

2. Pretending to sulk for exactly 5 seconds after being spooked. LOL!!!

3. Being squeezed A LONG time last night. He wouldn't let go. It's one of the BEST feelings in the whole wide world. *grin*

4. Teeth are WONDERFUL, esp. if you've got no problem with any one of them (going to the dentist can be SO expensive). You can chew food with them and best of all, I LOVE being nibbled!!!

5. Reading these words today:

He (God) knew the size of my pain, the color of my frustration, the fabric of my fears, and the fashion of my insecurities.

SUCH comforting words!!! ;-D

6. The anticipation brewing inside me as I'm about to buy ice-cream at the supermarket soon. YIIIPPPIIIIIIEEEEE!!!! There are SO many choices. I wonder which one I'll pick today. I'm drooling already. *tee hee*

7. The wind rustling the leaves.

8. Feeling the warmth of the sun on my back MMMMMMM...

9. Hubby running to the door to hug me tightly. He came home for lunch break while I was at the supermarket. Now I know how WONDERFUL it felt to be greeted like that. *HUGE grin*

10. A cluster of birds flying away as I was passing nearby. I LOVE Finnish nature!!! ;-D

Cabin Trip

Well, as I've told you, my husband and I went to the cabin yesterday. To his parents' cabin, that is. It was around 14'C when we got there at around 7 pm and we went straight to sauna. YEEEEESSSSS!!!!

Then we went to the cabin after drinking coffee. We brought a deck of cards (well, actually my kind-hearted mother-in-law told us to bring theirs he he) and a radio. It was SO lovely there. The first time I spent the night at the cabin was a little over 3 years ago. Back then it was still winter, so this time everything was TOTALLY different. While Arttu tried to light up the fireplace, I decided to sunbathe near the lake as it was still COLD inside the cabin and took some pics. Here're two of them.




Finally I thought summer would definitely come. We spent some time near the edge of the lake, sitting down and basking in the sun. I told Arttu then, "It's SO nice to be here. You don't have to be anything. You don't have to prove anything to anybody. You simply exist." It was EXQUISITE! The birds were chirping happily, other birds were communicating with one another by squawking while flying over the lake. The sun was really warming us up. We didn't have to talk about anything at all. Here's a pic of us. :-)))


Here are two pics taken at around midnight.



After the wind began picking up, we came inside the warm cabin and started to cook our hamburger and sausages in the fireplace. YUM YUM YUM!!!!!!!

After that we just enjoyed our time together. Arttu said that it brought back so many memories. Yep, in the cabin he "informally" proposed to me over 3 years ago. Yet our path wasn't that easy. Only now we're together again. Sweet, sweet, sweet!!! One thing I ABSOLUTELY love about the cabin is that there's NO distraction. No TV, no computer. We can TOTALLY enjoy quality time together! YEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSS!!! My cup runneth over he he he...Then we started playing cards.

The one thing that I dislike about the cabin is the fact that the toilet is located outside the cabin, attached to a barn or something. So if I need to go, I have to put on my jacket and shoes and I have to walk out. Plus there's no sprayer there he he...Yep, most Finnish toilets, even public toilets, have sprayers and I LOVE them!!!

If you want to know what the cabin toilet looks like, here's the picture.




However, I'm not going to complain. I just want you to know how it is like there in the cabin. When we finally went to bed at around midnight, it was a bit dark but not too dark still. Here's a picture of me at around midnight.


Then at around 3 am my bladder was screaming for help, so reluctantly I went out. The sun was then shining so brightly again. What a funny feeling indeed, waking up at 3 am and being welcomed by the sun!!! LOL!

Oh yeah, I also spotted a hare running out from the forest when I was taking a walk to the lake again today (we spent this morning and afternoon in my in-laws' after we woke up). Too bad the hare saw me, so it ran back to the forest to hide just as I was taking out my camera to take a pic of it. Drat!!! >_______________________<>

My mother-in-law left a note on the kitchen table for me. She was in a hurry today as she had to help cook for her niece's son's graduation party, so she didn't have time to water the plants in the greenhouse. So I went there and did it (hopefully I did it right!!!). Here're two pics of her flowers. :-))))




On the way home, we spotted a few reindeer on a field, so Arttu stopped the car this time to let me take a pic of them because he knew how DESPERATE I was he he...So here goes...my FIRST reindeer pic. YYIIIIIIPPPIIIIEEEE!!!!


Okay, I'm SO tired now, so I'm gonna post this and relax. :-))) Hope you had a MAGICAL weekend!!! Mine was SO magical and RELAXING. It was TOTALLY worth it!!!