random photos on the last of july

This week the weather has been great, but I've been inside, battling a flu. It seems I always get a fever when I have some time off... Luckily, I've got many free days left, I hope the weather will stay sunny & warm now I can finally enjoy it!

On the last of July, I was feeling more like myself again.


Remember that toy vespa I got from miss A? Walking around my neighbourhood, I saw a real one which was a lot like mine!




I also saw these reflections, they made me smile.





As did this traffic sign!





My accomplishments on the last of July were doing a lot of laundry





and whipping up a skirt. I'll show it to you later! (Haven't got any pins here, so I used some tape instead. I know that's very very wrong.)

raspberry season

It's raspberry season in sister's allotment garden plot. We got something close to three litres on Sunday eve. We also got some salad,
and in the next few weeks there'll be masses of courgettes (or zucchinis, if you will) ready for picking. I used to help a lot with the gardening, but in the past few summers I haven't had that much time for it. Lucky me, I'm still reaping the benefits!


I think fresh rasberries are at their best when eaten with Greek yoghurt (or mascarpone cheese) and drizzled with honey. It's so simple and so good!

first day of summer holiday

The first day of my summer holiday was well spent; sister, her family and I went to lake Saarijärvi to swim and have a picnic. It's funny how even the simplest of meals always tastes so good outdoors! The new swimming suit I bought in June finally got some use -haven't had a chance to use it yet, what with weather being not so warm, sea water being cold cold cold, and me not having that many days off. In Saarijärvi the water was really warm and the sand fine and white.








That's sister in the top photo, and my toes & nephew in the bottom one.





(Nephew couldn't quite decide whether swimming was more fun or scary; at one point he, like a true city kid, exclaimed: 'Let's go indoors! Let's go back to Helsinki!' ...But in the end he did have fun, I think.)

holiday!

Today's the first day of my summer holiday. My mind has been set on holiday mode for the past week, though, and I've been doing holiday-like things already, like eating breakfast in a cafe last weekend and drinking beer in the nearby park and staying up late and trying to find something to eat after 10 p.m. All with my almost-neighbour miss H, thanks for entertaining me girl!

I don't quite get it yet that I'm not going back to work anymore - I just feel like I have a day off. I'm really in need of some time off work & school though, and I plan to make the most of it; I started it yesterday with going to eat dinner and see The Dark Knight with J from work. It's finally warm - just in time for my holiday - and when I walked home after midnight, it was still over 20 degrees. Just like l like it, dark warm evenings.











These photos are from a few days back; I haven't been sleeping so well lately, and one morning I took a walk just after five a.m. It's a time I'm normally never up, and my part of town was so fresh and new in the morning sun; seeing it made up for the lack of sleep (though I was pretty beat that day, had to work until eight). May have to take another early morning walk one of these days, but hopefully not due to insomnia. One of the things I intend to do on my holiday is sleeping in.

tampere railway station

Spent some time in Tampere, cleaning my soon-to-be-old room, meeting miss J, eating ice cream twice on the same day, and buying a new summer dress on sale ( just in time for my summer holiday, which is only a week away!!).






Tampere railway station was looking really nice in the evening light. It was under renovation recently, and I really really like the metal lettering they've put up instead of the old, boring signs.








Back in Helsinki late at night.

summer eve

six things

I like today (got tagged by Kristy):


*how, apart from the immediate city centre, Helsinki is very quiet in July weekends; many people leave the city and spend the weekends in the country

*sunshine, and time for enjoying it; even though the weather forecast had promised rain, this is what I saw when I lay on the grass in a park





*the fact that there are many parks near my home even though I live in a city

*doing nothing at all, except having a picnic in one of those parks, and doing it with miss A






*a vespa miss A brought to me from Rome (had to photograph it in a postcard with a photo of Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck riding a vespa in Rome) - I am partial to vespas





*the thought of having to work only two and a half weeks more



I will tag Minja, Liivia, Heli and Tanja, if they have time for this!

a perfect day off

I had Monday off from work. And what a great day it was! Good food and sangria in a park in Finnish-Dutch-South African company.


After waking up (pretty late) I went to market. Bought some strawberries & peas and ate a crepe with jam and cream for breakfast.




The strawberries and some rhubarb from my sister's allotment garden (she has a plot with a friend; sadly, no cottage) went into a tart. I have to say the tart was delicious, especially with vanilla custard!



This is the last piece I ate on Tuesday.


And the tart and I took a boat to a picnic with J and his boyfriend M. Later, some friends of M joined us, and even though the weather was cloudy and pretty cool, we had a fun afternoon.



Helsinki seen from the sea


(Publishing this a bit late - haven't spent that much time online, as I'm trying to teach myself to go to bed earlier.)

the hottest day yet

Today

It was very hot (at least by Finnish standards) - the kind of day you realize is going to be sweltering as soon as you step out in the morning. The mall I work in was practically deserted, everybody was outdoors.




people hanging out in the park near my home


When I walked out the front door of my building, there was a film crew beginning their work; my building's going to be famous! :) Although the film itself is set in another area of Helsinki, Punavuori. Didn't see any Finnish movie stars, though. (This isn't the first time my building is in a movie / tv series - couple of years ago I woke up to someone shouting 'Help! Help! Murder!' when the old book shop under my window was used for filming a crime drama. Quite exciting.)


I bought some peonies for myself; I have this big heavy glass vase which used to belong to one of my great-aunts, and it's perfect for tall flowers (plus I like to use it because it reminds me of my great-aunt).




I washed my new bedsheets and hung them out to dry - I love to go to bed when the sheets are fresh and crisp.






I ate super-easy, super-delicious potatoes with arugula (add chopped arugula, olive oil, pepper & salt to boiled new potatoes and stir well) for late dinner, together with some salad and soft goat cheese.



I didn't eat these potatoes all by myself - the last two photos are from two summers back :)

gardening II

More from the garden. I may have to go back and take photos from the cottages some day there are not so many people present (I don't think the cottage-owners would have appreciated getting their photos taken).