I asked for the whole weekend off so that we could spend time at the cabin. Fortunately for us, for the past few days the temperature had dropped down a lot compared to the days before. That meant that it was easier to walk along the snowy path towards the lake he he...because the snow had frozen quite well so that our feet stayed on top of the snow quite well.
We arrived at the cabin at around 5 pm and it was already so dark. There was a beautiful orange full moon hanging low above the horizon and it was a starry night as well! The temperature was -18'C. Funnily enough, the inside of the cabin was only about -6'C he he he...
Here's a pic of R2 trying to get some water from the frozen lake for the sauna. We were afraid it'd be so hard to get the water again, but thankfully the ice layer wasn't too thick. I remember one time it took maybe half an hour for him to use the tools before we could get some water (we almost gave up and R2 was sweating so much after all the hard work!!!):
By the time we got the cabin ready, I saw a halo around the moon, but it was SO hard to get good pics of it. One of the reasons was that when it got that cold, it was hard to press the button of the camera after a while. My fingers were freeeeezzzziiinnngggg after taking lots of pics (some of them were failures!). Here are some pics anyway...
Can you see the stars in the next pic? My monitor's setting is a bit darker than normal, so I'm not sure if it's still too dark or not...hmmmmhhh...
Woke up at around 10.30 am the next day. The sun had just started rising by then and it was gorgeous. Here are a few sunrise pics I took.
And we left the cabin at around 13.30 (around the time when the sun was just about to set). Here is a pic of the lovely pinkish sky at sunset:
Oh yeah, on Friday morning I made some cupcakes from a cupcake mix (with sourcream topping plus brown sugar sprinkles). Easy to make and yummy enough for us ha ha...here's the pic!
And here are some pics of tilhi/waxwings. I stood only a few steps away from them, can you believe it? One of the perks of living in Lapland ha ha ha ha...Aren't they SO cute and round??? :-D It got so dark already by then so I had to fix the pics a little...Hope you enjoy the pics! :-D
P.S. As you probably notice, there's not that much snow left 'coz until a few weeks ago the temperature got really warm, so most of the snow had melted! However, yesterday in southern Finland there was snowstorm in many places that brought so much snow (as much as 35 cm or so in Helsinki if I remember correctly).
Went to my in-laws as usual this morning. Mother-in-law left right after lunch since she had a birthday party to attend. Before going there, she took out some lights and asked Arttu to string them around the trees near their house. I saw another MAGNIFICENT sunrise again at around 11 am this morning (yes, the sun rises at around 11 am during winter). The sky changes so quickly here in Lapland, especially in winter as it gets dark already at around 3 pm.
Right after we came back to the house from sauna (remember that their sauna is about 15 metres away from their house), I saw my mother-in-law sitting down and wincing, still dressed nicely. Then she said something about her left ankle. I didn't get the details in Finnish, but I could guess what happened. She fell down and sprained her left ankle. Ouch!!!
I confirmed the story to hubby and he said that his Mom went to the birthday party on a kicksled. Then as she was walking up the stairs to the host's house, she fell down since the steps were slippery. Oh dear...I couldn't imagine her having to go back home on a kicksled with a SPRAINED ankle!!!!!!! I began to think that she was a super woman like my Mom. If I had been in her place, I would have called my husband to pick me up!!!
Do you know how to use a kicksled? Like this:
So now can you imagine how she did it? And I don't even know how far it was from the host's house to their house. Uuuuggghhhhh...good thing is that she had an ice-pack ready (cold already) and some elastic bandage. Hubby helped bandaging her ankle. She said that if it got worse, she'd go to the doctor on Monday.
Why not go to the doctor right then and there? Well, that was what I was wondering, as well, but hubby said that there would be no doctors available today. After all, in this little village there's no hospital. There's only a health centre. Then I asked what happened to women in labour. He said that the ambulance would take them to Rovaniemi hospital. *GASP* It's located 1.5 hours away from here!!! I made a mental note to ask my fellow students (Finnish class students) on Monday about this. I still can't believe that a pregnant woman can't give birth in the health centre, even though my Brit friend had said that the health centre here couldn't do anything much for more serious cases or injuries and they would refer you to Rovaniemi hospital. Gee...I'm still speechless!!!
Anyway, back to my mother-in-law. I felt worried seeing her limping in pain, even though she still managed to smile and laugh and even played cards with us!!! For some reason the scene reminds me of my Mom when she had problems with her knees. Being a super woman, she will NEVER wince unless the pain is unbearable already and it makes me wonder if my mother-in-law is the same type of woman. Anyway, but then I remembered that they had hubby's grandpa's cane somewhere in the house, so I told hubby to tell her about it. I figured that the cane would at least help her out to walk around the parts of the house where she couldn't reach any nearby object for balance.
I sure do hope she's going to be fine soon. After all, Christmas is coming soon and I know she's the type of woman who wants to cook so much food for her family on Christmas Eve.
Anyway...on a lighter note, here are some pics I took today.
The below pic is unsatisfactory to me 'coz of the electric lines there he he he...but it was tough to take a wide angle if I moved further. Well, at least the crescent is shown clearly, right? HE HE HE HE HE...
Remember my plumper snowman? Well, today it's been like this. The temperature had risen up again the last few days so the snowman had melted a bit. Mother-in-law said that her sister and husband came over and her sister's hubby said that they should turn it into a snow-woman by adding chest and they even added some arms he he he he...
I LOVE this lantern!!! I've seen many like this hanging near the porch of houses here...GORGEOUS!!! ;-D
Okie dokie, it's getting late, so I'll just go to sleep soon, I guess he he he...
