Summer
is finally here!
Summer
has been on and off, granting us mostly grey, rainy days and the last day of
June was very stormy, the water was pouring down and the whole sky was blazing
as the flashes of lightning preceded the deafening thunder. But! Then the first
day of July was the most beautiful day and that really kicked off the summer
this year! Better late than never...
Today
was a beautiful and warm, sunny day. We went for a walk around and I took lots
of pictures, because it is so nice to watch them when the summer is over. I try
to immortalize summer through a lens of a camera.
We
had our own kick off to summer when later today we went to the shore and sat on
a wooden patio, drinking chilled sparkling wine and enjoyed the sunny evening
with no hurry and nowhere to go... We were just relaxing and talking and just
listening the waves – the sound of sloshing waves is intoxicating.
We sat there as the sun was slowly setting and we were back home not until half
past nine. It’s truly amazing how time actually flies in good company!
The Finnish summer is very short comparing to the other seasons. So, I have
promised myself to enjoy the summer as much as I can and take everything out of
it!
PS. As you may have noticed, the photos in my most recent blog posts have been
not what they use to be, because my camera broke and I had to use this tiny
digital camera of mine instead. But! Now I've got my camera from the repair
shop where it was for weeks, which means I can start to take actually decent
photos again! I couldn't be happier!
Happy
Midsummer's Day everyone!
Midsummer
Day must be one of my favorite holidays. Not only because it’s the longest and
lightest day of the year, but every holiday gives you a permission to eat and
drink well!
My
mom gathered together the most beautiful bouquet and brought it home. The smell
of the fresh flowers were intoxicating!
The
cats were also interested in about the bouquet... Way too interested! Haha.
Later
we put on the grill and barbecued our own delicacies – only vegan delicacies for me,
of course.
The
dinner was very filling and good. And what can I say? I love food and I love to
barbecue!
The
Midsummer Day’s morning was beautiful and misty! Almost like a painting... On
Midsummer Day I give myself some more leash and let myself to stay up later
than usual. There’s nothing better than a night full of light when sun never
sets and you can get to see the rise of the new day.
We
had made the summer’s first sangria in the fridge to cool down and to absorb
all the flavors from all of the fresh fruits well ahead of time! To me, sangria
is a sign of summer!
Because
it was a holiday and stores were closed and there was nowhere to go, we slept
late – our cats are fascinating creatures for many reasons; one of them is that
they tend to sleep when we do. They don’t fill almost any part of the cats’
manual for they are unique. And besides, tiredness doesn’t look at a place or
time...
The Midsummer’s Eve and Day couldn’t gone any better! Only the weather could
have been sunnier, but to be honest, even the rainy, cloudy days didn’t bother
that much in the end. There’s still time for the sun to come out!
Yesterday
we had to take our second cat, Lara, to the vet. Her behavior changed during
late at night on the day before yesterday and we got very worried. She woke up
from under my bed and started to meow really low and different than usual, and it
sounded weird to our ears. She snuck near the corners and meowed and when I
went to sit on the floor, she came onto my lap. She crawled into a tiny ball
and she just wanted to be there. When she was on my lap, she was quiet. Someone
would confuse this to a cat’s need to get attention, but we know our cat and this
kind of meowing and behavior was unusual to her. Except the need to be close to
us – Lara has always been a cat who likes to be near the people she knows well,
but something this time felt “out of the ordinary” because first she meowed
like she was in pain and then she came onto my lap and just did not wanted to
leave. If I tried to move her she meowed and didn’t wanted to move.
We
took Lara onto the sofa and she was so tired. She just went to sleep onto the
couch and seemed exhausted. We were really worried and discussed about taking
Lara to the vet. She had an Idiopathic Cystitis about two years ago, in July,
2013 and we feared she might have it again...
Our
other cat, Pikkunen (Tiny), seemed helpless, because it was like she also
sensed that her sister wasn’t well. We decided to take Lara to an on call vet
which was open the whole night.
We
took Lara to the on call vet at midnight but there was about two hour waiting.
We were told we were supposed to call first, but there had not been such
information anywhere when we were looking for a vet. I was so angry and sad and
disappointed that I can’t even describe it with words – I know I reacted too strongly
but I was just so very worried because what had happened to Lara already in
2013 and remembering what happened to our first cat, Siru, I was beyond
concerned.
So then we decided to go back home and decided that if the situation would look
as alarming as it had already seemed we would go back at 2 a.m. But Lara seemed
a bit energized when she came out of the carrying box. But soon she went back
onto the couch and slept through the whole night. We were up till 2 a.m.
discussing what we should do about her. We decided to keep watch through the whole
night and go back to the vet first thing in the morning... No need to say, I
didn’t get any sleep.
So,
we called to the vet next morning but the vet came on call duty at noon. So we
scheduled a time right then and took Lara to the vet again. We got the most heartfelt
vet and veterinarian nurse who cared for our dear Lara so well and gentle.
They
did all sorts of tests to Lara and in the meantime, we waited in the
examination room with Lara as the test results were getting ready. We pet her
and talked to her to keep her calm.
We waited for the final test results for over an hour and I was so nervous
before the doctor started to tell about them. They were basically fine except a
few levels which were a little high, but the doctor said they were not anything
alarming. I was so worried if Lara’s kidneys were also failing like they did
with Siru. One of the basic things, like blood levels and kidney levels were
alright, so I could sigh for the first time since last night.
Lara
got medication and we got to take her home. We went home with a bus, and it was
actually Lara’s first time in one – but she took it like a pro; silent and
still.
Once
back at home, Lara was exhausted from the visit at the vet and retreated to the
couch for some well-earned beauty rest. I cannot express my feelings with
words, for there is not enough words to tell how overwhelmingly happy I was to
get this little, brave girl back home!
Since yesterday, Lara has shown significant improvement and she has been more
energized and full of life compared what she was like earlier. I have my hopes
high, but I have to admit that after such amount of stress and worry, I don’t
quite know how to be still just yet or relax. Maybe it will subside in the
coming days...
Happy
May Day everyone!
Like
last year, we decided to avoid the crowd of the May Day market at downtown and
stayed at home more than willingly.
I
have always loved to eat and my love towards making food burst out in a bright
flame since I quit eating meat. I love that every kind of festivities are great
opportunities to use the whole day making food and gives me a chance to try new
recipes!
I always
try to hold on the traditional aspect about what I will make and eat, which
means that I won’t eat something completely different than what is usually related
to each festivity, but instead I try to create something new around the traditional
foods.
Although
making most of the foods from scratch, using a lot of time to do so, we still
had time to make vegan doughnuts which we rolled in sugar.
I have been eating the whole day, but isn’t that what these days are for? I
hope you had a great and plentiful May Day in every way!
p.s. The quality of the photos are not like they used to be because my camera
decided to break up its co-operation with me after all these years. I should’ve
seen this coming...
Yesterday, I was at Tampere Hall listening to the Gala concert of "International Leevi Madetoja Male Voice Choir Competition".
The International Leevi Madetoja Male Voice Choir Competition was held for the
sixth time in April 2015 in Tampere, Finland. It is the only choir competition
in the Nordic countries which is solely for male voices.
I started to get ready early and took a bus to downtown and went to my
dad’s to watch the rest of a Finnish hockey game, while drinking a glass of sparkling
wine. After that we took a taxi to the Tampere Hall and arrived there in good time.
We found good seats and the concert started right on time. Before the main
performances there was a boy choir “Pirkanpojat” singing.
At the beginning there were 35 men’s choirs around Finland – that’s 1200
singers. There were nine men’s choirs left in the Gala concert. Really all
except one male choir were performing a cappella – it was a nice change,
because without music you really hear the singing!
After all the performances, there was a prize ceremony and after that,
all of the male singers rose up and sang two songs, and the last song was “Finlandia”
hymn which, to me, crowned the whole Gala concert perfectly!
After the concert I looked behind my back and saw the Tampere Hall in
the light of a setting sun. The concert was really excellent! I love a bit of
culture in my life every now and then...
