Last Friday we went to Kelujärvi again and there I saw some reindeer. Unfortunately they were more scaredy than the ones I saw in the past, so I couldn't get a good close-up, but I managed to take some photos of them running away LOL!!!
Now here they were running away from me ha ha ha ha...
It was raining cats and dogs when we were driving back from there at around 9 pm. Just crazy rain. It rarely rains that way here, so whenever it happens, it feels a bit surreal he he...
Oh, before I forgot, here's also a photo of the blazing sunset I saw a few days ago. It was around 1 am and I was still up. I looked outside and just had to get out to take some pics. Breathtaking colours!
Lots of buds have popped up and I've bought some pansies and planted them in the yard (different coloured ones). My sinus is acting up again, so I've been taking some allergy pills. Thank goodness this week is supposed to be a rather smooth return to work after my week holiday last week ha ha...Okay, I'm going to blog-hop later.
Hubby and I went for a week trip to Kuusamo (about 3 hours away by car to the south from here). We rented a cabin 'coz we found a good price for it and we just relaxed a lot during the week. That's also one reason why I haven't been blogging or blog-hopping too much. We did bring a laptop with us this time, but I didn't want to spend too much time online. It was 24'C when we arrived there last Saturday and it was also around
24'C on Sunday. During the week the temperature went down to around 15'C
during the day with some cool wind and it got colder during the night, but the sun was
shining almost the entire week. :-D Friday morning was cloudy, but it got
sunny during the evening (it went up to 18'C even in the evening). Now
we're back in Sodankylä and its 20'C and cloudy. Not bad! :-D
Here are some photos that I took. The surrounding area of the cabin. We went for a walk around the area...
R2 watching some geese from afar...
A closer pic of one of the geese. :-D
A pic of me bowling. Photo taken without flash. Because we went in there at around 7 pm, they turned off the lights and then went for a bowling with bowling pins that glowed in the dark. Dunno what it's called in English, but it's called "hohtokeilaus" in Finnish. My first time bowling ever ha ha ha ha ha...
A sneak peek for the rescue centre that we visited (I'll write another post for it along with the video clips). The caretaker feeding a bear...
And a pic of a sleepy fox named Mikko. :-D Ain't he gorgeous? The caretaker said that they fed him lots of reindeer bones and salmon.
A pic of a reindeer and its youngling. It just so happened that two reindeer fawns were born the day before we visited the place he he...I didn't take a pic of the lynx, 'coz I thought it was better to take a video clip of it (couldn't get closer to the cage due to safety reasons).
OK, I'll go unpack now and cook and stuff. Lots of things to do still, but thankfully I still have another week of holiday to go he he he he he he...
Last Saturday we went to Kelujärvi again because MIL and BIL and SIL went there already on Friday. BIL and SIL stayed at the cabin near the lake, whereas MIL stayed at her former house. It was rather hot for a while that day (at some point it got as high as 26'C), though it got cloudier during the afternoon so the temperature dipped down, but at least I managed to get some sun ha ha...
When we arrived there, a reindeer was watching us from the yard, but it ran away when we walked to the house. Immediately I grabbed my camera and took some pics of it he he...It kept on coming back and eating. Must be so hungry, methinks...The second time it came back, I managed to come closer to it to take better pics...so I'm only going to share some of the better pics.
Here are the pics...
I actually got much closer to it than the one shown in this first pic he he...
Just want to show you the horns from different angles ha ha...
This one below is one if the first few pics I took. Reindeer from behind ha ha...
I also took a short video clip of it while it was eating. At the end of the clip you can see it scratch its head he he he...Here it is:
I can't wait for our mutual summer holiday. R2 has started his summer holiday already this week and let me tell ya, he's a VERY VERY HAPPY MAN ha ha ha ha ha ha...he's actually got a long summer holiday due to overtime accumulation. :-D
1. Getting 3 new novels (they're on a discount). Best of all, hubby paid for them HUA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...
2. Seeing two reindeer close-up while riding my bike from MIL's place today. They were busily eating while I took pics from a few metres away. :-D
3. Mom's told me that a relative of hers wants her to go with her on a trip. I'm glad to know that they're able to do such a thing in their old age.
4. Making chili tuna puff pastry again 'coz we both love 'em SO much (easy to make, too - I just need to buy a can of super delicious chili tuna and a bag of frozen puff pastry, defroste the pastry, then arrange the tuna on top of it and just shove 'em in the oven until they're golden brown. No need to add any more spices 'coz it's the right combo already).
5. Finding some answers to some of the questions that have been bothering me for a while. :-D YAAAAYYY for enlightenment!!!
6. Went to bed later than R2 and when I came to bed, he turned around and held my hand. :-D
7. Delicious ice-cream on a special offer. Yum yum...:-D
How flexible you should be when it comes to work? I'm still trying to figure out the balance here. I've stated to my superiors that I feel like I've done too much work and they say that they're going to reduce my hours ('coz I've done MANY more hours than what is stated in my contract) when the new workers they hire start working next month.
I don't know if I'm lazy or not, but I feel that I don't want to work too much 'coz I want to live a balanced life. First of all, even though I DO appreciate being able to get the extra money by doing overtime, but I appreciate MORE having spare time to do other things I want to do 'coz we've got more than enough anyway even when I only do a certain amount of hours per week.
Secondly, if I can help it, not being burnt out is better 'coz then I can do my best when it's time for me to work (remember that I have to communicate in Finnish and that takes mental effort to do, esp. 'coz I have to count money when I'm at the cashier). After all, when I signed up for the job, it was for a part-time job only, not a full-time job. The other week was really rough and I felt like my brain wasn't working well anymore and I wouldn't be able to give the best when I'm like that.
Anyhow, enough contemplation. Now on to some more wintery pics...
First pic: Another attempt at taking panoramic pics. Click to view a bigger size. I cropped out a bit of the right side of the pic he he...
2nd pic: As we were about to leave the place, the reindeer came to the field to find some food. The leader of the pack is busy digging for food in the pic below...
The two other reindeer in the herd:
Trick of the eye pic that I took of the cabin window that reflects the lights from the oil lamp and the candle inside the cabin he he...
I'll go blog-hopping now while I have a free day he he...
Because I have this weekend free, I told R2 that I wanted to go to the cabin on Fri after my evening shift ended. We almost cancelled it 'coz the weather prediction said it'd be -22'C and I only finished my shift that day at around 9.20 pm, but finally we had a solution: R2 went there straight after work to warm it up and then he'd go back home and pick me up. I'm SO grateful for R2 'coz he had to do the tough work of driving back and forth and warming up the cabin and the sauna when it was that cold outside (FYI, he had to get the water for the sauna by making a hole in the ice in the frozen lake).
Turned out it was -28'C that night and it even went down to -30'C when we both arrived there at around 10 pm. The stars were shining on a cloudless night and we both had sauna first before we had supper (hamburgers and sausages) while listening to the radio.
We were already so dead tired after that, so we just lay down in each other's arms while listening to the radio for a while and then we brushed our teeth and slept. Due to the cold weather outside, R2 had to wake up twice during the night to burn more firewood to keep the inside of the cabin warm enough.
In the morning at around 10 am, I woke up to pee in the outside toilet (turned out during the day the temp. went up to -16'C only) and I realized that the sun was just about to rise, so I went back inside to get my cameras - yeah, I brought both the Panasonic and Sony to compare and contrast the pics taken with both cameras ha ha ha...While taking some pics, I heard some kling-klong-kling-klong (bell sound) so I knew some reindeer must be nearby 'coz sometimes they put a bell on the neck of a reindeer. I waited but couldn't see any...After taking some pics, I got hungry and I realized that R2 had woken up and he had started warming up some hamburgers HE HE HE...He knew I'd be hungry again. ;-D
After that, I went back outside to take more pics and I saw a reindeer standing alone on the frozen lake. It must've been a young one 'coz it had no horns yet. It stood still as I took pics of it and after a while the parents came to the spot and the dad took the lead to guide the way towards the forest. 'Coz I didn't have time to take good pics of the parents, I went to chase them. Thankfully they walked slowly, so I managed to catch up with them, but when they realized I was chasing them (we were only about a few metres apart - they were on the forest, I was on the path leading to my in-laws' place), the dad decided to turn back towards the lake...
I followed them again and then they turned back again towards the forest HI HI HI...I followed them again, but this time I stopped near a clearing 'coz I knew if they passed by the clearing, I would be able to take some pics of them there. The dad hesitated before he crossed over the clearing 'coz he was probably afraid I'd do something bad, but at last he led the way and I took some pics. After that I left them alone he he he...I had bothered them enough that day HA HA HA...
So here are the pics...
1st pic: the kiddy.
2nd pic: Staring at me while I took pics, not knowing what to do.
3rd pic (taken by Sony, thus difference in hue): Daddy led the way to the forest...
4th pic: This was taken after I followed them toward the forest and then they turned back towards the frozen lake. Daddy was wary of me hi hi...
5th pic: The clearing I mentioned in the post. Even though it can be REALLY cold here up north, but usually it means I've got more chance to see beautiful pink skies like in this pic. It's just breathtaking...
Below are two group photos...
And last pics of the day: the gorgeous sky and frozen lake at around 10.30 am. If it hadn't been cloudy, the pink area would've been even wider he he...
OK, now I have to cook and dunno if I have time to blog-hop today or not. We'll see. Take care, everybody!!! Hope you've had a blessed weekend! I know I have he he...
I got SO lucky again today as we were in my in-laws. At first we weren't planning to go there as R2 was going to have a pikkujoulu (a small X-mas party) with his gaming buddies. But he didn't go after all, so instead I could go to my beloved in-laws' HO HO HO HO HO HO HO...
Just as we were about to arrive in their place, I saw some reindeer in another field, so I walked there to take some pics from a closer range than before and then I walked back to my in-laws' (only about 2 minutes away on foot). It was rather cold and foggy (around -9'C).
Here are some pics of the reindeer:
Then I got even luckier since plenty of waxwings (or "tilhi" in Finnish) came by to eat the red berries HO HO HO HO HO HO HO...I snapped some pics right away before they could go and they did fly a few minutes later, so I really had to be quick!!!
And I also saw this beautiful bird there...unfortunately I don't know the name of the bird and I'm too lazy to look it up online HA HA HA HA HA...but don't you think it's lovely? ;-D
Note: Crow's Feet has told me that this is a bullfinch and in Finnish it's called "punatulkku" (I looked it up in my dictionary HI HI...)
Okie dokie...I'll stop here and blog-hop tomorrow! It's already so late now, so I should go to bed he he he he...
