Wednesday, October 31

can I have some larch cones with my tea, please?


there's me in the spoon, again

Today the clouds broke. First there were glimpses of blue sky amid the grey tufts of clouds, and then - the sun came out! It was like a miracle after yesterday's gloomy weather - there seemed to be no daylight at all, and continuous rain. I'm feeling better, thanks to sun and a good night's sleep. (Good, since I hate to complain even here - I do complain to friends too but feel bad about it afterwards.)
It was a perfect day to take gazillion photos (um, maybe 40 or so) of a mug and larch cones or to go for a walk. Didn't have time for the latter, but it was nice to bike to a meeting in the afternoon sun.

Camilla seemed to have a pretty good day as well. I love the top photo.
Hope something made you smile today too!



...or maybe I'll just have a stem ginger and lemon biscuit. Thank you.





Monday, October 29

helsinki part IV

street art in Kallio, Helsinki



I had problems with uploading photos in Blogger, so this post and the one before are a bit late. Despite the photos in the last posts, the sky's been mostly gray. Just plain, even gray. Which tends to dampen my mood a bit. But then I'm not a really cheerful person - sounds worse than it is! It's not that I'm unhappy; maybe I'm just melancholy by nature.

I thought I'd have lots of time for walking around and taking photos in Helsinki, but the week flew by. I had the chance to meet many friends though, which I'm really happy about. It was really nice! Luckily the distance doesn't have anything to do with how important your friends are (and with those friends who live in Helsinki, the distance isn't even that big). Maybe with some friends it'll even be a good thing, reinforcing friendship even more. Still, I do have a feeling of not really belonging anywhere at the moment. It'll take some time, I guess.





This recipe is probably the funniest thing I've seen pasted around. There's a lot of street art (or whatever you want to call it) happening in my neighbourhood in Helsinki and I did some 'collecting' last summer with my camera. I'll show you more later.

Saturday, October 27

helsinki part III







Helsinki railway station (1904-1910, architect Eliel Saarinen)

Friday, October 26

helsinki part II

leaves on a grey day






Tuesday, October 23

helsinki part I




in Helsinki for mid-term break - crisp sunny days - battling flu - seeing many friends - spending time with nephew - feeling home

Wednesday, October 17

i'm not the now girl


in the restroom of Rytmi bar in Helsinki

I'm not the 'now' girl,
I'm the 'soon' girl.
-random


That's me.

The photo is terrible (even if I tried to sharpen it and everything), there was very poor light in the restroom. But I recognized myself from that text...


On another note, have you read the Etsy newspaper yet? I only had time to browse it through, but will be getting back to it. I found this via The Storque already (from their showcase), isn't it funny and lovely? Might be time for beginning to think about the Christmas presents...

Monday, October 15

surprise

I had a really nice surprise on Saturday evening: a friend I haven't seen in years called. She was coming to Tampere for a meeting on Sunday and asked if I'd like to meet her while she was in town. Even though we've both been very bad at keeping in touch, haven't called, haven't mailed, we started chatting right away (well, actually we started chatting in the phone the night before, then continued it face to face) and there weren't any awkward moments. Not that I thought there would be, really. I wouldn't say we were catching up on each other's lives, because there wasn't really need to go back and tell what we'd been doing while not staying in touch. It was just like picking up the conversation from where we'd left it years ago. This really made my day! Or week.



I don't know who lives in this house near me, but I certainly could.



Today's exam went well enough. Now I should be studying for another one, but after very little sleep last night (not studying, just laying in the bed hoping I'd fall asleep - bah) I'm not sure if I'm going to take it tomorrow or on another possible day. Everyone seems to have problems with sleeping - sleepless friends out there, I can relate. I really can.
Now home to drink a cup of coffee and see if my brain starts working again!

Hope you'll have a good week and nice surprises, whether big or small.

Saturday, October 13

in my neighbourhood






The view from university to the part of town I live in is nice now the trees are all colourful(the first photo is taken through a window, so it's a bit blurry...).

I seem to have nothing interesting to say these days. Not being able to blog at home when the mood strikes might have something to do with it... Today it's been a lovely sunny day, though I've spent most of the time inside - first sleeping late (good) and then procrastinating (bad). I should be studying for two exams. I am a big procrastinator, and the worst thing about it is that I decide I shall not do anything fun, so end up neither having fun nor doing what I should really be doing. Now I've got a prize for myself though - if I study hard enough tonight and wake up early tomorrow to study more, I'll get to take part in some student activity later tomorrow. We'll see what happens...

Friday, October 12

first snow & restless sleeping


toast=comfort food

On Fridays I have only one lecture, but that's way too early in the morning for my taste - from 8:30 to 10. I know it's not early by most people's standards, but for me it is, if I have to be somewhere (see number 14). If I can stay home and have my coffee in peace, it's ok. (I know, this is probably the result of spending many years as a student and/or having a job that was in a walking distance from my home and I didn't have to be there until 9:30. I do realise I'll probably have to give in to the fact that most of the world lives at a different pace sooner or later.)
I'd gone to bed early enough but woke up twice feeling someone was in the room with me, after having a dream about a ghost* which came to tell me that my friend was in danger. I'm not superstitious, but that's still not the best feeling to have when you wake up.
*Or maybe it was more like a hologram of another friend, like Princess Leia in Star Wars...

Luckily, today's lecture was really interesting, and when I walked home the sun began shining. After a second, proper breakfast I felt much better. I am going to call the friend who visited my dream, though. (Fear not friends - I've had dreams about something bad happening to a friend before, and nothing has happened really.)

Last night it snowed! Well, maybe it was more like sleet, and mostly gone by noon, but still. Isn't it a bit too early for that?

Monday, October 8

weekend




I was in Helsinki for less than 24 hours (wasn`t going to go, but went after all). Nevertheless, I had enough time for partying (it was sooo great to see friends and dance a little! must do that more), seeing sister & brother-in-law (strange to see them without nephew, who was at his grandparents' - to be speaking with them without interruption felt somewhat odd) and eating a HUGE salad in a newish café in my neighbourhood. So a pretty productive weekend, don't you think?



at the café - that`s J on the left; this photo was taken in August




Teriyaki chicken plus chick pea & herbs mixture plus yoghurt dressing with mint - yummy. Even though the bowl (it was not a plate, it was a BOWL) full of salad was a little bit too much for me. There was plenty of everything! It`s really rare I leave food over. Might have something to do with Estonian liqueur the night before. I told J not to pour me any more, dammit.



in place of an ashtray there was this


I miss you, Helsinki-guys. Not in a sad, makes-me-feel-miserable-I'm-so-alone -way, but in a good, can't-wait-to-see-you-again -way. In a wish-I-could-go-have-a-coffee-with-you-all-right-now -way. Surely I will make friends here, but it takes a little time and energy. Sometimes it's easier to stay by myself than to go and try to find something to chat about with someone you don't know. (But yes, I do already know a few people here I'd like to get to know more.)

The food photo made me think of Sandra's fika&food -photoset. I love looking at her set as thumbnails, it makes a nice fikamosaic. I like the photos separately too. This is wonderful.


Thursday, October 4

grey and red










A grey day in my neighbourhood.

I really like it when you can see 'ghost letters' in a place where a sign has been before, like in the top photo. You get to know a bit about the history of a building. In my neighbourhood, some former shops have been changed into apartments. The one next to my house seems pretty cool, at least the glimpses I've seen through the windows. Wish I could go and see it!

H has a birthday today, I wasn't sure about the date but sent her a card anyway, then had to ask if it really was her birthday today when chatting with her in the phone. Silly me. Hope you'll use your birthday as an excuse to do something fun on several occasions H! (That's what I did.)

Tuesday, October 2

apples




Hope you all had a good weekend.
Mine was quiet but nice.
On Friday night I went to see Marissa Nadler in Helsinki with A & H - she had a gig in Tampere too, on Saturday, but I wanted to see some friends as well. Plus the cold that was coming went away, clearly the result of few days in the coastal climate of Helsinki.
Both times I've seen Marissa perform people have sat on the floor dead quiet. Her voice is really impressive.
Plus I got to see nephew too. He's talking more and more every week it seems. Such a happy little boy.

Now I'm back at work, trying to learn 59 verbs and prepositions. We have this grammar class the teacher herself calls 'grammar hell'. 'nuff said.