Kukkia ja kuiskauksia

My daughter and I began Advent by participating in a local Christmas market in perfect winter weather. I was too preoccupied to take any pictures on the spot, but let me show you what we've been working on. These frosty crafts were created especially for this December.

We named these snowballs Frost Whisper (Kuuran Kuiskaus). They were made by my daughter from strips of grandmother's old linen. Three tiny jingle bells attached to each snowball create the 'whisper'.

These reflectors are called Frost Flowers (Kuurankukka). I made them from high quality reflective fabric, cotton lace and grandmother's linen. They can be attached to coats, bags, or perhaps even baby carriages, by the pin in the back.

There are still some left over! Whatever we don't sell before Christmas will be wrapped up as gifts. (That's a secret.)

First snow

I use the term 'snow' loosely, since closer inspection reveals fluffy tiny hail.  Maybe someone who lives in a snowier part of the world has a word for this?

The snow is still no match for the invincible moss.....

You can see that we maybe got 1/2 an inch....still pretty exciting for us, and so early! This gripping winter storm called for emergency tea and rugelach!

Lara is having a busy weekend, so check back early next week for her post!

Waterfront

In Portland, there is a river that cuts right through downtown, which means a lot of bridges and a lot of waterfront recreation.  But despite the looming buildings, pockets of nature have been preserved and restored throughout the years.  I was lucky to have a break from the rain for some picture-taking this week, but it was only a short break!

 

 

 

 

Talvi

The other night I was getting ready for bed after 11 pm with the sounds of sawing and hammering in the background... followed by the sound of the vacuum cleaner. That time I found it even quite amusing, and happily I managed to get the maker of those sounds to smile at the situation too. Amy, you must deal with chaos better than we do. No, I'm still not going to post any pictures of mess!

Have these winter pictures instead. It seems we are going to have snow for a few days, but living at the gates of the archipelago, it will soon be gone again. For the time being it's lovely! There's just one problem: after searching again and again, I can't find the only winter coat that would still fit me.

Debris

Lara, I'm not afraid to show off my construction mess!  This delightful scene is our living room, which has looked like this for about 2 weeks.  And the centerpiece, tottering on a homemade wood frame, is our 500-lb pellet stove, which is really the only central heat we have in our house.  To the right of the fireplace you can see the gaping hole (covered with a sheet) that leads to our uninsulated addition.  The gist of my story is that this house is COLD!  I don't know about Finns, but most people I know around here keep their homes at least 68F (20C), and while I have grown used to the house being 10 degrees colder (except in the vicinity of the tiny space heater we finally broke down and got), our guests (especially the ones from Hawaii) appear over-bundled and unhappy! 

I will spare you the construction details, but when my husband ripped out the old flexible pipe that ran up the chimney, it ripped and piled on our floor like a crazy metal ribbon.  He had the good sense to know that I might want to do something with it.

After meditating on it for a week, I remembered some scrap yarn that I had bought last year.  I sat down and started experimenting.  When this is done, I think it will hang over the fireplace, close to its original home!

Muuta tekemistä

I'm wondering how many Friday posts will happen between this one and The Big Day my family is expecting. Two, four, or maybe every single Friday until Christmas?

The house is such a chaos that I can only take pictures of ceilings. We are trying to finish last minute wall and floor remodeling projects (see wallpaper waiting to be attended to on top of living room book case). My husband starts working after children's bedtime at nine pm and then gets up at six for work. My hands are working on my own last minute crafts, but not very efficiently because I usually would need a nap too while the little one is sleeping.

One of the great things about living in Finland is the äitiyspakkaus, a phenomenon that can't be matched as such anywhere else in the world. Äitiyspakkaus is a "maternity package" filled with baby things, provided for free by the public welfare system to all expecting families, if the mother has seen a doctor during the first half of pregnancy. Well, this package arrived at our house weeks ago and we still haven't found the time to open it - the only thing that has happened is that my husband has scribbled wallpaper measurements on the cardboard box. There's just so much else to do before we can settle down to baby times! (Personal note: start getting ready pretty soon.)

Indian summer

It was a rare sunny autumn day last week when I took these pictures.  And it had been sunny enough that the ground and chairs at a friend's house had dried enough for playing outside.  It is already raining again.

Tällä viikolla

Frustrating this week:

- There is so little sunlight that it's uninspiring to even think about a camera, not to speak of going outside.

- I was without a car almost all week, so my second-born daughter and I stayed home too much.

- I wake up almost every night due to lack of sleeping positions. I also stay up too late in order to get some time to myself and wake up early to get my first-born daughter off to school.

Happy this week:

- Two new everyday dresses arrived in the mail. So soft and comfortable that they may become favorites.

- My first-born daughter went to the library for the first time by herself.

- She also got into reading magazines at the kitchen table, which means that I sometimes have peace and quiet to read the newspaper even when eating in her company.

- While taking an ordinary walk on an ordinary day, I discovered that someone I used to work with lives in the neighborhood. She was having coffee at her kitchen window when she saw me walking by. We lived near each other for almost a year without knowing it!

- I signed up for a small Christmas market that's going to take place in the archipelago on the last weekend of November. It's good to have a deadline for some unfinished crafts!

- Tomorrow my husband will stay home and most likely begin his morning by getting breakfast for the little one and lighting that fireplace. (The picture is from last winter - see the white reflections on the glass?)