Strawberries (and other berries)

one of the things I loved in Finland was the native strawberries. Tiny little fellas but just so full of actual flavor.



then there was the other berries, such as Crow Berries:



Lingon Berries:



and wild blueberries



But even the cultivated blueberries are great there!


you can't go past the wild rasberries either ...

wintertime inventiveness

Finns can be quite inventive and engineering skilled people. Take my friend Markus, he is an engineer and somone who enjoys winter sports. Combine the two with excess time to think about things with a few spare parts hanging around and you get stuff like this:



a 2 stroke powered snow board.



its a piece of genius isn't it?

confidence in the police

Having a police force which has the confidence of the public is an essential thing. Finland seems to enjoy such a situation.

The situation is quite the reverse in Australia where any number of royal commissions into the corruption and behavior of the Police is something which would seem more in place in under developed countries. Even after some century of cleanups the situation still requires attention. The latest step in this direction in Queensland>may make a difference ... but I wouldn't be counting on it restoring much of the public confidence in the Police here.

no longer an ex-pat

Well now this blog will have to take a turn for a while; a turn towards commentary from outside and reflection on what I saw. I'm now no longer in Finland and instead enjoying sunny days, nights with skies filled with stars, mountains and oceans.

:-)

rintamamiestalo

The classic countryside house seems to be the rintamamiestalo ... though its normally quite the boring cube.



however some Finns get creative with theirs. This owner has added a veranda to transform it into something which is almost European at first glance



cunning and creative

communication style II

Viivi and Wagner is a classic Finnish cartoon strip (at least here in Finland). I recently was given this one by my wife (who knows how I feel about the way the stereotypical Finn communicates).

I loved it, so I've added a translation to the scene so you can get the point better :-)


Keeping in mind that dumb originally means "unable to speak" ... Ahhh ... I love Wagner

Kouvola gets snow

Well in a strange quirk of nature Kouvola (where I live) has more snow than any other part of Finland.

This is pretty unusual, and as far as I can tell this is the first time in recorded weather history.

Normally there is more snow in Lapland or on the Eastern Border near Ilomantsi.

Either way I'm not complaining (although the people who do the snow clearing sure are) as the local forest around my home is filled with winter wonderland scenery like this poor little Spurce saping which is totally smothered in snow.

My ski track is in better condition that it ever has been

and the whole place looks great


wow