Carnations ~ Dianthus

Carnations have not been one of my favorite flowers. I have no idea why. Last year, in the spring I for the first time bought carnation plants. They richly flourished all the summer, way into mid/end September. So, of course, I also bought some for this summer. I read about carnations on Wikipedia. I had no idea there are  about 300 species. Seeing the pictures I did recognize and remember some, especially, the “Borstnejlika”, the Dianthus barbatus which my mother in law bought every summer to plant in the garden at the summer cottage. I think I will buy some of them too next summer.

Nokian Piha Rubber Boots

In my posting on June 13 I told about the Ristomatti Ratia boots I wanted to have. I was so excited that I wanted to order the Red Dahlia boots right the way.  I’m glad I went back to the site and checked the wide of the shaft. The Red Dahlias were not wide enough. The short-shafted Ratia boots also looked nice  but were not exactly what I had in mind. Next time we went to Myyrmanni shopping mall I tried on the Nokian Piha (Piha means garden) boots. Yes, now I found the right kind of boots for me. Only problem there were no in my size. I went to all the shops there but nope, they were either in one size larger or one size smaller. Today we went to Sello shopping mall. Yay, Piha in my size and on sale. A week ago they were 52 € now 40 €. Just let it rain. My feats do net get  soaking wet 🙂

Midsummer 2014

Tomorrow it’s Midsummer Eve. Last year it was so nice, warm and sunny. Tomorrow the day temperature will be about 14 degrees Celsius. On Saturday, the Midsummer Day, only about 10 C. Brrrr, I’m not going to swim in the lake. This morning the ground in Lapland was covered with snow !

Despite what the weather, I wish you all a wonderful Midsummer.

Quiet Night

We took a tour to down town Helsinki on Friday at about 9:45 pm. Where were all the people. An empty town. So quiet and peaceful. Oh yes ! The Football World Cup. We didn’t stay for very long. After a couple of pictures we went back home.

Cruise ship MV Silver Whisper at Helsinki Katajanokka harbour.

The Brig Tre Kronor af Stockholm at the South Harbour.

Rubber Boots

This was supposed to be a selfie (a usfie). We both dressed in raincoats 🙂 I’d need longer arms to shoot good selfies. As, always, I look awful in pics so I cut me away from it.

Oops, it happened again 😦  Wrong year on the pic.  Should read 2014.

After the good start of the summer with sunshine and southern heat, temperature about 30 degrees Celsius, it now looks like it will be an average Finnish summer. Meaning mostly rain and about 15-20 C. Yesterday it rained all day. My feet were soaking wet after having been out walking Canelo. If he had not had to get out we would have stayed inside all day. Both my jogging shoes and my rubber boots have big holes in them. Well I don’t jog anymore but like to walk in comfy type of jogging shoes. The shoes I’ll buy after midsummer when there are summer sales. Boots, I need as soon as possible. Yesterday I surfed online for boots. I found some designed by Ristomatti Ratia. Now I can’t make up my mind which. There are birch tree leaf boots in black and green or in black and purple or dahlia in red or black. I asked Leif. He said birch in purple. Myself seriously thinking of the black and green or the red dahlia.

          
Now I think the red Dahlia 😉

Loud Bird

When I had my morning coffee I heard a bird. He was loud ! To me the sound was exceptionally loud. Was the bird singing of joy and happiness or was he angry or maybe he was in some danger. I grabbed my cam and run to the patio. Still in T-shirt and undies ! I truly hope our neighbors didn’t happen to look out the window. The bird was sitting high up on a branch in a bird cherry tree. The cherry moth has in no time changed the big green tree to which to me now looks like a gray skeleton. The second he saw me he stopped singing and after my first shot he flew away. Good, he was fine. He probably just was extra happy this morning. I have looked for pictures of birds to figure out what bird it is. I think it’s a Blackbird, a female (Turdus merula).

Rhododendron Park Helsinki – Alppiruusupuisto

If you like flowers, especially rhododendrons and azaleas, then you must visit Helsinki Rhododendron Park in Haaga. The rhododendrons are in full bloom now. I don’t think they are in bloom for very long anymore as some of them already shed their petals. So hurry, hurry if you want to experience the about eight hectare area in the middle of the woods. I don’t remember when we last were there. Probably too long ago. There are always many, many visitors. Also today. There came busloads of people. Most were, like I , very excited by all the beauty. You could hear many aahs and oohs.

XXIV Helsinki Samba Carnaval in June 7th, 2014

Today’s Carnaval was the 24th, we were there for the third time. When we left home it started to drizzle. Luckily we had both umbrellas and jackets with us. Fortunately we needed neither one nor the other as it stopped raining by the time we were there. The event was as enjoyable as always.

Пельме́ни – Pelmeni

I studied Russian at the Adult Education Centre in Helsinki for three years. Last year at Christmas time when the, about a total of abt 150 h, course was over, our teacher kindly invited us to brunch. She asked if any of us had ever had pelmeni . Some had , but most of us had not. She served the pelmeni with black bread, sauerkraut, Russian pickles and sour cream . She told us that she always has pelmeni in the freezer because it is easy and quick to make for guests. She said her guests find it exotic food and we thought the same. It was a very nice way to end the course. Thank you 🙂

I bought frozen pelmeni already sometime in January in a small shop ” Eestin extrat “. In January there were no pelmeni in the supermarket we go to but now there is.

The beginning of this year went so fast. I didn’t feel very well and was even in the hospital for one week. I actually forgot about the pelmeni in the freezer. Yesterday I saw them and decided that today we are going to have pelmeni for lunch. As always, when I cook something extraordinary, my husband and son are very doubtful. This time I was pleased to hear them say it was really good.

After The Rain

It has been a gray and rainy day. Good thing is it stopped right before I went out for the 7:30 pm walk with Canelo 🙂

Everything became so much more fresh and green as all the yellow pollen waswashed away. The air is so oxygen-rich. The birds are singing even more than usually. It sounds like in a jungle. They are happy for all the insects, snails and worms that appeared after the rain.

Well, it’s almost midnight and time for my beauty sleep 😉 Good night !