Monday, March 30

saturday

When you wake up in the morning and see sleet falling horizontally rather than vertically...




...and the weather only changes for worse during the day...





(and it's Saturday so you don't really need to be anywhere)

...it's a good day to





have a breakfast with friend's, this time at miss H's place







(she has the coolest toaster ever [customized by her boyfriend O]



wander between the shelves in the silent university library






I was almost alone in the basement






cook some delicious risotto with courgettes and ricotta for dinnwe, and eat it in candlelight with good company.


And this is exactly what I did.

Friday, March 27

five senses friday from Helsinki







seeing: my old university; I walked through it and missed it a little

hearing: Emma Salokoski's latest album, for the first time





tasting: sugared ginger (ginger in any form is great great great)

touching: the softness of a cat's fur

smelling: dusty city



I visited miss A tonight. We took a long walk in the light, cool spring evening - there has been so much light in the past few days I might be getting along with this spring thing after all.

Friday, March 20

five senses friday






Seeing - Tampere orthodox church, where we had our interpreting class; I'd never been in there before; it's ceiling is beautiful, blue with golden stars.

smelling - spring; yes, you really can smell it: puddles, sun, melting snow, warmer wind...

hearing - Lykke Li

touching - water; cleaning day...

tasting - tortellini with broccoli (which is so good! sometimes I think I could easily eat broccoli every day) and toasted pine kernels


Thursday, March 19




Spring is coming; even though I didn't believe it two weeks ago, this week it's undeniable. It's inching closer and closer, however slowly. Stealing space from winter. Snow is melting everywhere. The onions in my pantry have sprouts.

I'm a bit shocked by spring. It took me ages to get used to having a proper winter this year; last year there really was no winter at all. The fact that there's been snow and it hasn't melted away yet seems like a miracle every time I've stopped to think about it in the past few months.

It's not like I don't like spring; far from it. It's just that I seem to be very slow when it comes to getting accustomed to changes, and even changing of the seasons can feel difficult for me to grasp. Winter can be bleak and dreary, but it also gives an excuse to stay home, cocooned from the outside world. In spring there's all that raw, unforgiving (but lovely) light which urges you to get out into the world and do things. I tend to get awfully tired in the springtime.

Maybe it's that first glimpse of spring which made me anxious and gloomy last week (this week I'm too busy to think about how I'm feeling, which sometime is a good thing). I hope I find some extra energy soon, as I should be doing things instead of worrying about not doing them...

Sunday, March 15

this week

I just noticed that this post could well be titled "what I ate this week". Oh my. My life must be pretty dull. Also it looks like I spend my days eating pastries; alas, I don't.


On Monday there was time to admire tulips





Tuesday wasn't such a nice day, but I was delighted when I found some plates on a nearby flea market (which I accidentally stumbled upon a week ago). I like these a lot.






And on Wednesday I ate some apple and banana pancake off one of the new plates and paid all my library fines.




On Thursday I decided it was time to put away the last of the Christmas ornaments (though I think about these more as winter ornaments).





Friday was miss R's birthday! Hence the scones for breakfast.




In the evening I met some bloggers and non-bloggers in a café for some knitting/crocheting. It was fun and I was glad I went even though I thought I wouldn't have time.


Miss R hadn't had time to bake a cake for our breakfast...





...so she invited me over for cake on Saturday. I was happy to oblige.


On Sunday I stayed in bed reading Agatha Christie in the morning.




And had a banana & walnut muffin for breakfast.

Friday, March 13

friday of senses






tasting - scones with strawberry jam for breakfast

seeing - snow melting; the spring is coming, even though I'm not quite ready

touching - soft soft alpaca yarn

smelling - jasmine tea

hearing - Edith Piaf and Kings of Convenience



inspired by Abby


Monday, March 9

present for miss A

The weekend went by fast. It included a trip to a museum, delicious cakes in my new favourite café, a movie (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), a long long walk in the sun, and lots of chatting. Miss A and I have known each other for nearly 22 years, and for 19 of those we've lived in the same city. Nowadays we don't get to see each other half as often as I'd like to - and I wish the weekend had lasted twice as long... But I hope I get to visit A soon! Or soonish, anyway.

As I said, I made a little birthday present for A. A year ago she moved into a flat with a balcony; I know she's dreaming about having her own garden, so I gave her something to help her turn her balcony into a mini-garden...

I happened to find cute gardening tools (I don't know if she actually needs them, but I had to buy them anyway). Then I bought small pots and some seeds; I would've liked to find pretty gardening gloves as well, but couldn't - maybe it was too early for them.




I sewed an apron (which here is modeled by miss A, and already wrinkled...) with a pocket just large enough for those seed bags (the other side of the apron is solid light blue).





And a little bag too, to put all the stuff in.




It was so nice to be able to sew something - it's been a long time since I've really had time for sewing! I have some other presents to sew, and I wish I could work on them instead that stupid paper...

Friday, March 6

weekend, yay!






Two things make me very very happy: midterm break and a visit from miss A (who'll be here in thirty minutes), who will make sure I'll spend my weekend relaxing, not studying (like last weekend - despite of the lovely long walk last Sunday, I spent most of the weekend at my laptop). I have a lot to do on my break (like writing a paper... ugh) but I have the weekend off, which is great, as there has been many exams and deadlines crammed into the past few weeks. Which is why I've been silent.

Today I've been mostly sewing; miss A had her birthday in February, but I decided to give her present a bit late, so I wouldn't have to send it by mail. I'm fairly happy with the present, I hope she likes it too!


Monday, March 2

sunday

Sunday was the kind of day when


there's time for a long breakfast and the sun is shining





the snow is shining too, and the air is fresh





there's time to take a walk on ice and envy those who were skiing (it was a perfect day for skiing, and walking was much harder in all that snow)








you cast two shadows. A perfect day.