Bit more action - wk 2

Holiday in Finland continues with bit more action. But just a bit.

On Sunday 30.7. I had the honor of babysitting my two lovely nieces Milla and Minja, a priviledge I don´t too often have the opportunity to accept. We went to a park and made sand cakes and then drove to my aunt´s summer house in Suomusjärvi. We even got their big brother Konsta to join us. He´s now almost 14 and getting him onboard is no longer self-evident as friends are starting to be slightly more interesting than family... He now is also obsessed with motorbikes and could not stop talking about how he would tune his bike once he gets one... quite educational, really.

The drive from the cottage was almost more eventful than being at the cottage; Milla was sick in the car couple of times, poor baby!, and then I got asked to join a bus-full of blokes to go to Helsinki! I was getting some petrol as a guy started to chat me up and eventually he asked if I would come with them to Helsinki (bunch of guys returning from a party weekend by bus...). I had to show him my car with the 3 kids in it and say that I couldn´t really leave these three at the gas station :) He looked at the car and asked how many are there... and then just gave me a big hug and a smile (his friends obviously watching from the bus...). Quite flattering really as he was quite cute :)) But the kids were even cuter!

Monday 31.7. was a very lazy day. All I managed to do during the day was doing some work (yes, I know I should not as I´m on hols but it was just a little bit, very innocent mail reading...) and then the highlight; I washed my poor old bike. Very interesting, I´m sure....

In the evening I got a visitor from Kurikka, my old and dear friend Pia. She was just coming for a coffee but I managed to talk her into staying overnight. Which was great as we went for a long walk with her dog, did some BBQ, had wine first at my terrace and then moved on to check out Salo by night, pls note! on a Monday night! We actually had a very fun night talking with all the 5 guys in the local Irish bar (as we had absolutely no competition :). I think I even ended up giving my phone number to the bouncer... he promised to call me when he comes to the UK to see a football match again, apparently he is a fanatic and travels the world to see the matches. Good fun!

Tuesday, again a very lazy day. Drove to my aunt´s summer house again with my mom and Minja. It was nice as I saw quite a few of my cousins etc there as well. Her summer house is bit of a family reunion spot in the summer time as people tend to just stop by. Love it!

Me and Minja at Enäjärvi cottage

Minja feeding the ducks with my god-mother Pirkko

On Wed 2.8. I actually worked in the garden and then drove to Helsinki to pick up my sister Mari from the airport. She´d been to Bulgaria for a week and had suffered the last 3 days of a terrible stomack pain. It was so bad she had been treated in the local hospital. Luckily the antibiotics they´d given her (apparently strong enough to kill a cat...) had worked and she was fine.

Thursday is a market day in Salo, especially in the summer. I got a nice invitation from an old acquaintance for a coffee during the day and we had a nice& long chat. He seemed very nice... In the evening I hanged around the market square with Mari´s family and we got soaked as we finally got a bit of rain. I just love these evening markets, see
http://www.suvisalo.net/kuvat.html. Good place to see old friends and just enjoy the small town vibe. Nice!

Mari and Dave with their offspring, Minja and Milla, at the market.

Minja and Dave

Later on I still drove to see my friend Leena. She has an adorable little summer house in an close-by island, in Kokkila, and I try to visit her there at least once a summer and see if we can make any sense out of men and relationships, seems difficult thou :)

Friday 4.8.06 was a dream come true as I finally got to go a Finnish summer dance, lavatanssit. Another thing I try to do every summer. I love all kind of dancing, also these old fashion, "hold-me-tight" type of dances. We went to Somero, to a place called www.esakallio.net . Lovely evening, which ended very nicely as well... there might be some romance in the air... but you´ll have to call me to find out more :))