3BT: Random Days

1. The roses aren't dead! I could see some green buds since yesterday. I cut a few dead branches (that had dead leaves on them) but left all the others alone. We'll see how they grow! Blur Ting, THANKS for your advice!

2. MIL bought some raffle tickets for us all (herself, her hubby, me, R2, R2's elder brother and girlfriend) on some occasion and R2 and I won something HA HA HA HA...Coffee and a set of salt-and-pepper shakers.

3. I saw a hare outside MIL's place - too bad it was too swift for me to take a pic of it, but still it made my day! :-D

4. Heaters!!! After 7 days of "early summer" (temp. 20-28'C), spring days came back with COLD mornings and showers that made us have to turn on our heaters again. Ah...thank GOD for heaters!

5. A boy said to a girl (they are VERY good playmates at the daycare): "You're my girlfriend" and they told us about it HI HI HI HI...SO cute!!!

6. Seeing buds growing in the garden patch.

7. When on the way home from MIL's house, we stopped by next to a vast field 'coz there were swans fighting. I could only take these pics from afar (too late to capture the heated battle between two swans - they were flapping their wings while standing upright on the grass):

First pic: Click to view a bigger version. Notice the swan flying away on the right side of the pic and yes, those are reindeer at the back! These two swans who stayed on the ground managed to win (I suppose). There were at least two contenders (unfortunately I only captured one of them in the pic) 'coz it all happened too quickly.


Another one - sorry for the lack of sharpness - it was hard to get a good pic when I had to be quick and I couldn't come closer - at least the zoom helped 'coz with my old camera, I wouldn't have been able to get this pic.


8. I'm ordering a used Wii CD and I'm going to order another one 'coz we need more game varieties for our exercise day on Wednesdays (and 'coz I've found a cheap one that I think might be suitable for us). :-D

9. Having a garden to work on (a pic of us raking the dead leaves last Saturday):


10. Receiving a HUGE sack of soil, compost, and 6 pansy plants from my MIL.

11. I accidentally cut R2's hair the wrong way - but he wasn't angry. Instead he just told me to cut it all off he he he...THANK GOD for a patient hubby!

12. Playing as a horse (a standing one) and having two kids ride on my back - one at a time, of course. It was FUN and they didn't want me to stop HA HA HA...oh dear...

Planting Potatoes

Yesterday right after R2 got back home from work, we went to my in-laws and the cabin, of course he he he he...When we arrived there, my MIL needed our help to plant potatoes and two new plants. It was hard work for R2 to prepare the ground for the two new plants, 'coz the ground was filled with many rocks, so he had to dig them out. You'll see what I mean when you see the pics later he he...

First pic: the patch of land where we planted potatoes (the brown area, the covered area is for strawberry plants). It was the first time I'd ever done such a thing. R2 dug the ground, I "threw" one potato at a time, then he covered it up with some soil. MIL spread some plant food all over (not poo).


These two pics are the two new plants I mentioned. Some of the big rocks had been taken out a week ago, but some of them had to be dug out by R2.


See? So many small and medium-sized rocks he he he...One part I didn't like too much was when MIL spread some chicken poo he he he...it smelled so bad he he he he he he...but it was a fun day out in the sun, though it wasn't too hot he he...


Then summer signs are starting to show he he he he...




While R2 was fixing the car outside to prepare for our long journey, I spotted a family of hares from afar (there were 4 of them). As usual it was TOO hard to get near them as they were so alert and they'd run away if I reached a certain distance from them. I tried waiting and waiting for any one of them to come near me. I even sat on the ground and sat still, but to no avail he he he he...



However, LUCKILY while playing cards, I spotted one of them right outside the living room window and I took a few pics right away HO HO HO HO HO...SO HAPPY!!!!





We went to the cabin to spend a night there and R2 put too much firewood in the fireplace. We went to bed already at around 10.30 pm and at around midnight we woke up 'coz it felt as if we were inside a sauna ha ha ha ha ha....WAY too hot!!! We opened the door to let some cool air in (it was SO windy on Friday and Saturday in Kelujärvi - though the temp. reached 23'C yesterday, due to the harsh, cold wind, it felt as though it were only around 10'C). Anyway, it's just fun to spend time together without having to think of work he he he he...

Can't wait for our Rhodes holidayyyyyyyyyyy!!!! WHOOPPEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!! :-D OK, time to blog-hop now he he...

A List of Events...

Sorry I haven't had time to blog-hop. I was feeling a bit under the weather so I took a nap every day after coming back from work. The library's closed tomorrow, so tomorrow I'll have some time to blog-hop. Let's do some recap about the things I've been doing, shall we?

1. Last Saturday we went to my in-laws and as I was walking across the field to take pics, I saw a creature moving so fast nearby (approx. 2 metres away from me). Since I knew it was moving too fast for me to take a solid pic, I decided to take a video instead. I still didn't know what it was after I took the video, so I showed it to my MIL, who said that it was a "kärppä". I looked it up in my dictionary and it means an "ermine/stoat".

Here's the video clip:



Here's the link if you want to see it in HD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWxfcg_uqtE

I've taken some pics off the video, but unfortunately they're not too good, but here they are anyway:





I was actually trying to get good pics of these hares when I came across the ermine he he he...As you can see, the mother hare's fur has turned more and more brown as time goes by.



I also took these pics:






2. Went to the birthday party late from my in-laws' place. The birthday girl was so eager to ask me to colour some princesses with me HA HA HA...She also showed us all her gifts and her beautiful dress and she sang a few songs for us! :-D We both got a hug from her, too! SO SWEET!!! :-D

Oh, almost forgot...while we were colouring some princesses, she told me, "You colour the pics very well."
I said, "Why, thank you. You've done a great job, too."

Then she said all of a sudden, "I think you have a beautiful voice."
I was SO surprised to hear that, but I managed to say, "THANK YOU, you have a beautiful voice, too...And face, and hair!"
She nodded. :-D

3. Went to church today for the first time to hear the sermon and I must say that I didn't get the sermon except for some phrases here and there. I understood the songs more than the sermon 'coz I could read the lyrics from the hymn book. I understood the MC better than the priest who gave the sermon 'coz the MC is a woman, so her pronunciation is naturally clearer than the male priest's (if you know how Finnish language sounds like, you'll know that it's harder to listen to a man's voice when speaking rather than a woman's, esp. if the man is using a microphone and you can hear the echo of his voice).

As the church has this program for foreigners, one of the priests had invited us to come to lunch at their camp site after the sermon was done, so four of us went there with them. We had a nice lunch and there the priest also gave us a short sermon (this time I understood the sermon MUCH better 'coz it was a small room and no microphone was used).

Then we were interviewed HA HA HA HA HA HA...The priest asked us some questions and she also encouraged other people to ask us questions. Interesting. It was SO hard for me to try to explain my life in Indonesia, 'coz EVERYTHING is SO different!!! Anyway, we had a good practise to speak Finnish, though he he he he...

OK, I think this is long enough. Time for me to read some Finnish!!!

3BT: Random Days

1. Giving two surprises for my MIL on Mother's Day: a printer and a poster-sized photo version of them while she hugged my FIL he he he...And in return, I got two HUGE hugs from her HE HE HE HE HE HE...

2. Though it's been raining quite much and the weather's been so unpredictable these days, I got a chance to see double rainbow the other day. My first rainbow in Finland. Here it is:


3. Looking at the rainbow scene reminded me of one lovely church song, which if translated to English would be something like this:

"Life doesn't always look like dark clouds. God's promise is real, you just need to wait for His perfect timing. Even though you can't see the sky 'coz of the thick, dark clouds, beyond it there's God's loving rainbow."

4. I've finished reading one children's novel in Finnish and now I'm trying to read a Finnish chicklit that I bought a while ago on a discount. It's gonna be tougher and slower 'coz it's much thicker than the children's book and I try to look up every word I don't know in the dictionary he he...but I'm NOT giving up!!! :-D Cheers to determination!!! :-D

5. Finally able to take such a LONG sleep today after having had restless nights for a few days (dunno why 'coz I'm usually a sleepyhead!).

6. A few weeks ago when it was icy, the guy who rarely smiled whenever he came to the library to bring packages saw me ride my bike and told me to be careful. That's SO nice of him to do that! :-D

7. Having a peaceful mind. Some days a while ago I had such a noisy inner mind and that drove me crazy!!!

8. When I was questioning some things that made me feel sad, I read something in Our Daily Bread that really answered them.

9. Having fun during our Finnish study group with the girls. :-D

10. The flower plants in my MIL's house seem to be growing well. Now they don't need to be covered by plastic anymore. Here they are:




11. When we were about to go back home from my MIL's place, I saw two hares in a distance. I managed to get closer enough to take this pic. As you can see, now the fur is turning brownish in some parts!!! :-D

The Promised Hare Video Clip

Finally converted the clip to avi and uploaded it to youtube. Here's the jänis or Finnish hare in actiooonnnn he he he he...If you think my hand is unsteady, it's 'coz I used FULL zoom and when using full zoom, your hand mustn't move AT ALL in order for the camera to be steady, but it's rather impossible to do it without using a tripod he he...Anyway, enjoy!!!

Weekend Snaps

I haven't been doing anything much in the blogosphere lately, 'coz I've spent more time reading Finnish at home. I'm close to finishing one children's book and I still have TONS of Finnish books to read. YIIIPPPPPPIIIIIEEEEEEEEE!!!

Anyway, yesterday I had some luck with a hare...but before I showed you the pics of the hare, I've promised Blur Ting that I'll take some pics of my MIL's flower plants being prepared inside the house before being taken out later on when the weather is warm enough. It's been around 8-10'C when it's sunny outside these days, but at nights it can still be 0'C. I'm afraid I don't know the names of these flower plants, but I'll take more pics when the flowers bloom, OK? HI HI HI...






Look at how wet it is outside when all the snow around the yard starts to melt!!!


Yesterday in-laws also needed help with some wood, so R2 was the one who had to be "Sodankylä's Chainsaw Killer" HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...




Last but not least, here are two pics of the hare. I've also taken a short video clip of it, but haven't converted it and uploaded it yet, so maybe I'll show it to you people later, OK?



Notice that it's changing its colour to prepare itself for summer. It'll be brown in summer and pure white in winter so that it won't be easy to track it. A few weeks ago when my MIL showed me two hares playing about outside in the neighbour's yard, I almost couldn't see them, especially if they weren't moving. Since that day I'd been HOPING that I could take some good pics of just one of them and my hope came true yesterday HUE HE HE HE HE...


Wish you've had a FAB weekend, friends! I have a slight headache, so I'm going to blog-hop only later. Tomorrow evening we'll have our study group, so I should prepare to find some topics to talk about in Finnish. Last Friday I tried this kind of study group with only one friend and we also talked about what we could do. It was good practise anyway! :-D

And earlier today I went to a free lunch for foreigners, so I didn't have much time to do any blog-hopping today. Unfortunately not all my friends could make it, but the local priest came to our table to eat and talk to us, so it was good practise for me too he he he...The food was great, too!!! And we got some ice-cream as dessert HO HO HO HO HO HO...;-D

Whose Tracks Are These?

Last night I remembered something. When R2 came to visit for the first time in Indo to marry me, I gave him all my journal books. I also showed him many pics, including my class pics in Elementary School, Junior High School, and High School.

Then I told him that I had a crush on two boys in my Junior High School pic and I asked him to guess who they were. There were about 20 boys in my class at that time. After browsing all the faces for some time, he picked two of them and that made me STUNNED. He got both of them RIGHT!

I said to him, "How did you know? HOW DID YOU KNOW??????"

At this point, I thought he was psychic LOL LOL LOL!!!

He said calmly as usual, "Easy. I just picked the handsome ones."

GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

I refuse to admit that I only had crushes on cute boys he he he he...Besides, they say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so our views on who is "cute" and who isn't may be TOTALLY different, right? I think he was just lucky in guessing he he he...

Anyway, last Saturday I found which we thought would be a hare's (jänis in Finnish) tracks near my in-laws' place. Here's the pic (my shoe size is 37):


Do you think these could be a hare's tracks?

I'd LOVE to take some pics of the hare. I once had the privilege to see one hare stop in front of me for a second before it run as fast as it could to the forest. I had NO time to prepare my camera at all. :-((((

Well, maybe someday! ;-D