Mt. Rainier

Sometimes I forget that I am only a few hours drive to some really amazing places.  This weekend, we took a family trip to Mt. Rainier, only a 3-1/2 hour drive, but my first trip there in some 20 years.  My first trip to Rainier, as a kid on vacation from the east coast, was kind of a disappointment because all we saw was fog.  We could barely see our hands in front of our faces!  This time, we were more than lucky - even though the forecast was for rain, we ended up with clear skies all weekend!  A miracle!

(Okay, yes, that one was of the relief map at the visitor's center!  My favorite thing!)

Vanamo

Here's another small, white, naturally growing flower that like Vuokko is also a girl's name in Finland. It's among my favorites both as a flower and as a name, but hasn't yet been given to anyone in the family. Maybe some day I will have a couple of white kittens I can name Vuokko and Vanamo!

The scientific name Linnaea borealis is the basis for another Finnish girl's name, Linnea, which is much more popular than Vanamo but less common than Nea (short for Linnea), a girl's name that has for some time been among the top ten baby names in Finland.

The leading Finnish jewelry designer, Kalevala koru, has a (ridiculously expensive) Vanamo series that I've been admiring for years and years.

All of Finland is going offline to celebrate Midsummer now, and so am I! Have a lovely juhannus, everyone! Ihanaa juhannusta kaikille!

Garden song

"Inch by inch, row by row, gonna make this garden grow!"

That song creeps into my head every time I find myself hunched over, scrutinizing every seedling and its potential enemies.  Is there anyone alive who has not heard it?

My greatest accomplishment this week was summoning the nerve (really, it was an act of tough love by my mother) to destroy, with my own hands, Western spotted cucumber beetles.  Eeeeewww!

Loma, loma, loma... loma! Loma?

Oh, the multiple meanings of vacation! This is my third entire summer at home with the children, and since the number of children increased last winter, I've never before experienced such a workload, not even when I was employed in the adult world. Feeding little ones is one issue, but then there are also all those safety issues, like making sure they don't get sunburned, run into the street, fall, drown, choke, get bitten by snakes or preferably not even by a league of mosquitoes. Childproofing your whole life, that is. I don't care how much the big important people in the business world get paid for what they do, I claim that parenting full time is the biggest and most stressful responsibility you can ever have! After all, you are responsible for lives. And that comes close to being a doctor, which I hear is also big time stress. Yes, I definitely feel like I've been doing some work around here! Hooray for all the people who take care of the children of CEO's!

Poneista pienin

Blogger's lateness overcame me as I spent my usual blogging moment (Friday afternoon nap time) taking these pictures at my sister's house. Visiting the cousins is always pure happiness! We didn't have time for a proper riding lesson, so the young horse enthusiasts just took a wild ride around the yard on the littlest pony.

Tree story

The details of the story of this tree are too long and boring to tell.  However, the heart of the story is the kindness and generosity of my friends, specifically my two friends involved in this tree story who have met each other only once.  A theme among my friends seems to be creativity, thriftiness, and an amazing ability to repurpose almost anything in order to help find a loving home for any object they don't need. 

That said, I'm not sure either of the women involved in this tree exchange read this blog.  They are probably gardening right now.

  

Peanut butter tree, shipped via Wawa crate.

Beach day!

Last weekend, we visited southern Oregon, and one day, we went to the beach!  There is no better way to wear out a child!

Luumupuu

I admired our blossoming plum tree through the camera lens on three following evenings in May.

Tomorrow school is out for summer. Though I'm looking forward to many unforgettable moments and a more relaxed schedule, the truth is that having three children home all summer and the whole family home in July requires from me an unbelievable amount of cooking, as well as cleaning up mess caused by cooking and eating. So I'm just going to go into the kitchen now and emerge sometime in mid-August!