journey

Some impressions from Finland this September.

My mother's flower garden.

A sunny day in the garden swing, looking through the oak leaves.

My second home - my mother's house.

I wrote a long text about the "long night of the museums" in Düsseldorf, which we attended a few weeks ago, but it mysteriously (ok, ok, I admit, I messed up) disappeared. So instead of writing it all again, I'm just going to show you the pictures.

For info, during the long night of museums many museums, churches, galleries and exhibitions are open until 2am and there are many special happenings throughout the night.

We saw some modern art, Chinese ink drawings, short films about cinema, a remake of an old video art work "Il Nuotatore (va troppo spesso ad Heidelberg)" by Studio Azzurro and a very lovely Iranian golden peacock (see picture below).

Here some more impressions from Creativa, the gorgeous craft fair in Dortmund, which I visited last Wednesday.

First the coolest ones. A lovely picture, no? But look at pic two: it's made with cross stitching! This was part of a Latvian stitch art exhibition, and I must say I was really impressed!

There were many interesting pieces from Latvia, but I just photographed this one, because I found it so fascinating.

The third and the fourth picture are similar: you first see some nice pictures, and then you come closer - and you notice they are knit!

How marvellous is that!

Now, click "Read more" to see some mathematical quilting!

I had Wednesday off work this week; I still had a day left of holidays 2008, and if I don't use it by the end of March, it's gone. So we originally thought, Nick and me that is, thet we'll go to Düsseldorf and see some sights. However, Nick got ill and stayed in bed that day.

I had read about the craft fair Creativa on Ravelry, and it happened to start on the Wednesday. And when the weather decided to very sightseeing-unfriendly, I made up my mind and headed to the fair in Dortmund.

Finally I get back to my normal blogging rythm, I hope. Vacation and the Sudan project have taken up all my time lately - we spent 8 days over Christmas in Finland. I was so happy to meet my family and see some familiar surroundings. I like Essen, but one does get homesick from time to time! Here are some impressions from the trip.

First, the Helsinki harbour.

Picture number two is the Christmas tree at my Mum's.

It's been so hot I haven't been knitting much. I am doing other stuff, however - worrying about the new job a bit (the employer's expectations are quite much higher than in Ireland), and visiting the local sights on weekends. Last weekend (sorry for not posting earlier - the job...) we went to Zeche Zollverein, the "most beautiful coal mine in the world" and an Unesco world heritage sight is just 20 minutes tram ride from Essen city centre. What a lovely, interesting, historical place it is! There's more photos after you press Read more

 * Kävimme vanhassa hiilikaivoksessa Zeche Zollvereinissa, joka on nykyään Unescon maailmanperintökohde. Se on lähellä Essenin keskustaa, n. 20 min, ja upea kohde! Kuulostaa kliseeltä mutta siellä menneisyys ja nykyisyys kohtaavat. Katso kuvat alta. *

I was very lucky to have some holidays before I move into my new job (next week!) and after I sorted out all settling-in matters in Germany I was free to go to Finland, my home country, for a week.

It was as usual very beautiful, and I enjoyed meeting my friends and family again.

I arrived on Wednesday evening very late, and Thursday I relaxed, but on Friday I got a chance to go to Tampere and meet my friends from the polytechnic university days. I met a lot of people, but also got a chance to have a cup of vanilla coffee and some mud cake in my all time favourite café, Vanha Vanilja.

* Vanha Vanilja on ihanin kahvila koko maailmassa (tai ainakin niistä kahviloista joissa olen ollut maailmassa. * 

We had a lovely week in Torrevieja, South-East Spain in the beginning of the month. No hectic, no fixed plan to see this and that monument - very different to what we usually do, but oh so relaxing! Torrevieja is perfect for that, as there isn't much to do other than enjoy the wonderful weather and sunbathe.

Loma oli ihanan rentouttava, pelkkää päivän paistattelua, säästä nauttimista, hyvin syömistä, ja vapaata ajelua maaseudulla. Torrevieja sopii tällaiseen lomaan hyvin, koska mitään erikoisia nähtävyyksiä tms ei ole!

My cousin left for a holiday, and as she has a car but no permanent parking space, whe brough her car over to our place (we have a parking spot but no car). She was also kind enough to let us use it while she's gone. So, of courise, when Saturday arrives, we pack our stuff and get going. To County Wicklow, the Wicklow Mountains and Glendalough. 

Serkkuni lähti lomille ja jätti auton parkkiin pihallemme - oli vielä niin mukava että lupasi, että saamme käyttää sitä. No totta kai heti lauantaina oli lähdettävä matkaan. Menimme Wicklow'n maakuntaan, Wicklow'n vuorille ja Glenalough'iin.

It was a beautiful one-day-trip, well we started early. There was a lot of walking in Glendalough,  and more beautiful scenerey as we drove back up to Dublin via Arklow and Wicklow. Here's some photos for you (after Read More)

Se oli  ihana päivän reissu, lähdimme tosin aikaisin. Kävelimme Glendalough'ssa, ja ajoimme maisemareittiä Arklow'n ja Wicklow'n kautta takaisin. Tässä kuvia (Read Moren jälkeen): 

A few more moments from Finland.

I picked these blueberries myself! You don't believe me? I have hands to prove it:

Nämä mustikat poimin itse! Etkö usko? Katsopa näitä! 

(Press read more)