Pieni pala Suomea / Small piece of Finland

Meilla kaikilla ulkosuomalaisilla on omat jutut, joita karrataan laukuissamme Suomesta tanne. Kahvia, ruisleipaa, tiskiharjoja, teeta, karkkeja, lehtia, Muumi-vaatteita lapsille, suomalaista designia ja niin edelleen. Yksi asia on, joka kuitenkin on hankalampi raahata mukana ja olenkin onnellinen nyt etta se pakattiin talon muiden tavaroiden mukana konttiin.
Mehan siis jouduimme myymaan talomme Suomessa. Eli koko talon irtaimisto pakattiin konttiin tanne kun lahdettiin. Kaiken muun mukana oli matontamppausteline. Valitettavasti aikaisemmissa paikoissa sille ei ole ollut paikkaa ja nyt vihdoinkin meilla on takapihalla niin paljon tilaa etta se pistettiin pystyyn. :D Vain suomalainen voi olla onnellinen tallaisesta asiasta.
Ja tamppausteline joutui heti hommiin. Meilla on pari paksua IKEAn mattoa, jotka kaipasivat kovasti pesua (painepesurilla hoitui kovin katevasti). Nyt kun ilmat ovat viela lampimia (talle paivalle luvattu +27C) niin kuivuvatkin mukavasti. Yksi matto on pesty ja on kuivunut yon yli ulkona.  Toivottavasti saadaan toinen matoista pesuun tanaan illemmalla.
Ja itse asiassa en malta millaan odottaa etta saan talvella tuulettaa petivaatteet pakkasessa oikein kunnolla. :D Polypunkeille kyytia.

We all Finnish expats have our own things that we carry back home when we visit Finland. Coffee, rye bread, dish brushes, tea, sweets, magazines, Muumin- clothes for children, Finnish design and so forth. There's one thing that would be quite difficult to bring now so I'm extremely happy that it was packed along all the other things when we moved.
We had to sell our house back in Finland so pretty much all of the stuff was packed and put in the container. Among all the other things was a rug stand. Unfortunately until now I have not been able to unpack it. Now we finally have so much room in the back yard that we've been able to put it up. :D Only a Finn can be happy about such a contraption.
And the stand is already been put to work. We have two big and thick IKEA rugs both in need of a good wash (we jet washed it). Now that the weather is still good and warm they will dry pretty fast (+27C is the forecast for today). One rug done and it's been drying over night outside. Hopefully we'll get the next one washed later today.
And one thing that I cannot wait is to air all the bedclothes properly outside. Cold enough temperatures will kill the dust mites.

Valokuvauskurssilla / On a photography course

Minapa tytto sitten paatin menna mukaan valokuvauskurssille. Mina kun tykkaan rapsia kuvia paljon ja jotkut niista on ihan onnistuneitakin. :) Mutta itse valokuvauksen teoriasta ja tekniikasta en sitten oikein tiedakaan mitaan. Lahinna kokeillut eri juttuja ja opetellut etta mika toimii ja mika ei.
Kaksi viikkoa ollaan kohta oltu kurssilla. Nelisen viikkoa viela edessa. Olen tykannyt kovasti. Oppinutkin olen paljon. Nyt kun saisi viela kaiken sen teorian viela paassa toimimaan niin etta kuvat onnistuu. :) Tassa pari "laksyna" otettua kuvaa.

I decided to take part in a photography course. I do love taking pictures and lots of them. Some of them even quite ok ones. :) But I do not know about the theory of photography at all. Until now I've been trying out different things and learnt from that what works and what doesn't.
The course has been going now for nearly two weeks. I've loved it. I've also learned a lot. Now I just need to get all the pieces to go together in my head so that I will get good pictures. :) Here's few of my "home work" pictures.

Teen ystaville / For tea lovers

Instagramin puolella minut haastettiin #5shotchallengiin tuossa parisen viikkoa sitten. Aiheekseni sain teen. Mikas sen mukavampaa. Minultahan tuo luonnistuu. :) Hasteessa oli siis tarkoitus julkaista yksi kuva per paiva viiden paivan ajan annetusta aiheesta. Tassa minun kuviani. Tiedan etta, jotkut lukijoistani ovat myos teen ystavia.

In Instagram I got a #5shotchallenge few weeks back. I got the theme #tea. What's nicer than that. :) The purpose of the challenge was to post one picture per day about the given theme. Here's my pictures. I know that some of you are also tea lovers.

Ihan pihalla / Yard stuff

Tanaan klo 8.30 "armeijallinen" columbialaisia/meksikolaisia miehia (6kpl - ihan selkeasti siis armeijallinen) saapui meidan pihallemme ja aloittivat pihatyot. Meilla onkin aikamoinen lista asioista, joita talla pihalla pitaa tehda. Niin paljon ja monta etta paatettiin sitten antaa asiantuntijan kasiin koko rytakka. Tulee tehtya huomattavasti nopeammin kuin etta jos me oltaisiin ruvettu tata tekemaan.
Isoin asia on etta puita kaadetaan aikamoinen laja. Suurin osa niista on pienempia ja lahinna siistitaan yleisilmetta mutta joukkoon mahtuu noin 10 isoa mantya. Nama poistetaan turvallisuus ja roskaussyista. Takalaisten mantyjen neulaset on paljon pidempia kuin kotisuomessa ja niita tulee syksylla alas aikamoinen maara. Tukkivat raystaat ja tekevat haravoimisen hankalaksi. Taman lisaksi ihan turvallisuussyista niita poistetaan lahelta taloa. Ne ovat nimittain yleensa ne puut, jotka taalla kovissa tuulissa ja myrskyissa kaatuilee talojen paalle. Mannyllahan ei juuret ole kamalan syvalla niin kuin varmaan koulusta muistatte.
Sitten vihdoinkin aloitetaan myrkkymuratin poistohommat. Etupihalle tulee aitaa, yhdelle kohtaa takapihaa pitaa tehda kuiva kaivo (Mikakohan se on suomeksi? Englanniksi on drywell.) ja kukkapenkit uusitaan, lasten leikkipaikalle tehdaan pohjustukset ja reunat. Aikamoinen maara hommia.
Tanaan kaatuu puut.

Today at 8.30am an "army" of colombian/mexican men (six men - clearly an army, right) arrived to our yard and started some landscaping work. We have a quite a list of things that we want done here. So much that we decided to give the work to a professional. It's going to get done in much shorter time than we ever could have managed.
Biggest part of the work is to get quite a lot of trees cut down. Most of them are small and we're just aiming to clean up the property but there are also about 10 big pine trees that we want to get rid of.  These will be removed because of safety reasons and because they make a mess. Local pine trees have much longer needles that the ones back home in Finland and there's a quite a lot of them that come down in the autumn. The needles block drain pipes and makes raking nearly impossible. In addition to making a mess they are a safety hazard. As we all know from school pine trees have shallow roots and they are the ones that fall on top of houses in storms and strong winds. Too many really big ones are close to the house and we don't want to have the risk of any of them falling on top of our house.
And we are finally starting the work to get rid of the poison ivy. There's going to be a fence in the front yard, we need a dry well in one area of the back yard, we're renewing the flowerbeds, levelling and framing children's play area. Quite a list of jobs.
Today they are cutting trees.

Paatos / Decision

Palasin sitten vanhanmalliseen blogipohjaan. Olen lueskellut ja kysellyt ja tuo kommenttilaatikon haviaminen tuntuu olevan kaytossa olleen mallin ongelma. Valilla nakyy, valilla ei, eika siina tunnu olevan mitaa logiikkaa etta kelle nakyy ja kelle ei. Eli palaan siis tavallisempaan malliin, jossa naita ongelmia ei pitaisi olla. Saatan viela saataa ulkonakoa mutta toistaiseki mennaan nailla.

I returned back to a traditional blog template. I've been reading and asking around and it seems the missing comment box was a problem in the template I was using. Sometimes it shows up, sometimes not, and there doesn't seem to be any kind of logic to whom it appears and to whom not. So I'm taking it back a step to a more conventional template where these issues shouldn't exist. I might tweak the look of the blog but at the moment this is how it looks.

Ongelmia blogin kanssa..... taas / Problems with the blog.... again

Sain tanaan tietaa etta blogissa on taas jotain haikkaa. Se vanha ongelma eli kommenttilaatikkoa ei nay lukijalle. ARGH! Yritan selvittaa asiaa mutta silla valin jos joku on yrittanyt kommentoida eika voikkaan niin laitatko minulle sahkopostia asiasta osoitteeseen ina(@)xenway.com. Saisin selvyytta etta kuinka laajasta ongelmasta on kyse. Yritan korjata asian pikimmiten.

I found out that there's something funny going on with the blog again. The old problem has raised its head: comment box doesn't show up for the reader. ARGH! I'm trying to get to the bottom of this and fix it but in the mean while if someone has tried to comment and cannot do so could you please email me ina(@)xenway.com so that I could find out how wide this problem is. I'll try my best to have this fixed as soon as possible.

Miten aika rientaakin / How time flies

Ei ole nakynyt Englannin reissusta kuvia saatika juttua taalla. Ei tosin kylla mitaan muutakaan juttua. Kymmenen paivaa hurahti ihan noin vain.
- Nuorimmainen ei heraile enaa viidelta. Loistojuttu.
- Tyttojen kanssa tuli tehtya reissu New Jersey:iin ystavan luo pariksi paivaksi.
- Olen aloittanut valokuvauskurssin ja sen myota olen adoptoinut mieheni kameran. :D
- Olen pessyt uusia kankaita seka manannut kuinka ne paastavat varia vaikka on ollut varisieppari mukana koneessa. Nyt on parin kankaan valkoiset ei niin valkoisia. Vinkkeja siita miten ne saa taas valkoisiksi otetaan vastaan.
- Ihanat naapurimme ovat muuttamassa pois. Tosin sen ymmartaa. Ovat jo yli 90-vuotiaita. Mutta harmittaa silti.
- Minulla tuli kymppeja taysi pari paivaa sitten. Vahan kauhistutti mutta ei se niin pahalta nyt tuntunutkaan. Eteenpain jatketaan.

There's been no pictures or stories of our England trip. Hey, there hasn't been any other stories either. 10 days just flew by.
- Our youngest is not waking up at 5am anymore. Brilliant!
- The girls and I made a little trip to New Jersey to see a friend for few days.
- I've started a photography course and also adopted my husbands camera while at it. :D
- I've been washing new fabrics and been cursing how the fabrics let out colour even though I had a colour catcher in the washing machine. Now few fabrics with some white on them has not such bright white anymore. Any tips how to get the white back to bright white?
- Our wonderful neighbours are moving. I do understand though. They are both over 90. But it still makes me sad.
- Few days ago I had a birthday with zero. I was a bit terrified but it doesn't feel quite so bad after all. Going forward.

Kotona taas / Home again

Olen itse asiassa ollut kotona jo viisi paivaa. Olen purkanut kassit pikkuhiljaa, pyykannyt ja laitellut tavaroita paikoilleen. Sen lisaksi olen kitkenyt, ajanut nurmikkoa, lakaissut jne pihalla. Mies oli poissa vain kaksi viikkoa ja vaikka oli kitkenyt kukkapenkit ja ajanut nurmikon ennen lahtooan meita oli vastassa varsinainen viidakko. Viikonloppu menikin sita raivatessa.
On ihana olla kotona! Saa nukkua omassa sangyssa. On omat tavarat kaytossa. Koiruuskin on saatu takaisin kotiin. Jotenkin on ollut vaikea asennoitua asioiden hoitamiseen taysipainoisesti. Yritys on kuitenkin kova. Ehka tama tasta viela.
Englannissa vietyt kaksi viikkoa oli aikamoista matalalentoa. Ei siina kuulkaas hirmuisesti kuvia edes kerennyt ottaamaan. Joitain sentaan kuitenkin. Yritan saada niista omat jutut aikaiseksi piakkoin. Lappari on taynna kuvia ja uusia ei muistikortilta mahdu ennen kuin selvitan taalla olevat pois.
Eilen juhlittiin pienimuotoisesti pikku-ukon 11v synttareita. Ei uskoisi etta meidan karvavauva on jo tuossa iassa. Ei nay paalle pain. Toivottavasti yhteisia vuosia on viela paljon.

In the matter of fact I've been home for five days already. I have been unpacking bit by bit, doing laundry and putting things away. In addition I've been weeding, mowing the lawn, sweeping etc in the garden. My husband was away two weeks had had weeded and and cut the grass just before leaving. Despite his effort we had a jungle waiting for us. Took the whole weekend to sort it out.
It's so lovely to be home! I can sleep in my own bed. I have my own things. We have Mr G. home as well. However, it's been really hard to get hold of life at this end and doing all the things that needs to be done. I'm trying hard though.
The two weeks we spent in England were very busy. It was so fully packed of things and places that taking pictures was put on back seat. I did manage some pictures though and will try my best to get postings about our time in England here soon. My laptop is full of pictures and I won't be able to transfer new ones before I've sorted these out of the way.
Yesterday we celebrated our little man's 11th birthday. I cannot believe our furry baby is already eleven. It certainly doesn't show. Hopefully we have many years still together.