SEASON'S GREETINGS!

Aww... Not lot's of sleep, lately! We are training Lumi to sleep without her nightly milk and fall into sleep at her bed. She is lovely as usual, especially in the mornings, and the time she falls into sleep is getting shorter and shorter night by night: yesterday 20 minutes, before that 40 minutes. No crying sessions since the day before! Mummy and daddy are happy...

So, Happy Holidays! We are going to our Grandfather's Old Place for at least two weeks. See you next year!

Frozen countryside, small luxuries

Most of my lectures are over, finally! We did find some time for a short holiday! Inside grandfather's cottage was +3 Celsius, when we arrived, so I did spend a luxurious and silent night heating the tile stoves until 3.30 A.M. with a bottle of classy red wine. No cell phones, no network. We went for a short hike to see a huge swamp area close to us. Everything was frozen. No traffic, no noise...

Afterwards...

The blizzard was great! I really loved horizontally flying snow, but the work the very next day when opening the drive and backyard was pure pain. The snow was humid and heavy. We got about 20 centimetres of it and the garden sheds were also full of snow. Riitta managed to change the tires with the help of a neighbour. I successfully escaped that responsibility and took care of the child and made a leftovers salmon pasta with Greek feta cheese. Hooray for the emancipation!

Busy times, rash, pimples and a blizzard

Sooooooo... this month we've had our first inflammation of the ear, a diaper rash and baby measles (three-day fever). Lots of restless nights.

We opened last Tuesday our show at the Kerava Art Museum and are now in a middle of a blizzard! Lumi's first snow (Lumi = 'snow' in Finnish) came in a quite dramatical way: there is a gale warning today for the seafarers. The wind speeds did hit the national news and some ferries are unable to arrive to ports due heavy northern wind. We've saw even two flashes' blue light in the middle of the horizontally flying snow, believe or not!

The temperatures were also dropping last week. No time for changing winter tires for our car, which means no driving until we have found few free hours for the job... but the car will be buried into snow tomorrow...

Autumn storm rising

Few weeks ago we visited the Porkkala peninsula by car to check the rising autumn storm, which was estimated to rise during next night. Winds were heavy, but not so frightening. Cliffs were nice, air fresh and cold. Carrying a baby in a backbag was a bit scary 'cause the rock and moss were humid and slippery, but we managed well. We decided that we need to do more things like this!

Riitta has been better, but we are still cautious and careful about our schedules, if we can. There are still few shows for this year, so some work has to be done. BTW: I did publish a book...

Some statistics... because this is harvesting time...

Soooo... so far, we have three exhibitions and one artist book -plus 30 litres of apple purée, 18 litres of apple preserve, 20 litres of apple syrup, 10 litres of damson plum preserve and other 10 litres of damson purée. Mushrooms: 9 or maybe more than 10 litres of dehydrated chantarelles (Chantarellua cibarius) and others (Cantharellus tubaeformis). One partly depressed mother and one stressed father. Not to mention the daughter, who had already her first teeth, is very talkative and has serious plans to try go up her feet. Sigh...

Summer memories

This was, in spite of hard times, a nice summer. Lumi is growing well, and I had time to make two small paddling trips. I have finished my book and it has come out from the print – I have awfully huge piles of packages in our studio!

Mum is getting better. We opened a show together at the Kemi Art Museum in September 9th. Check here and here!

We Are So Cute and We Know It (3)

It could have been easier. It could have been different. After the spring I am completely empty; no holidays, no late lazy mornings, no private time. Some periods I took totally care of the kid, when Mum was resting. I think I did read a book last year... or maybe it was this January. And I hate silly TV shows, which make me feel emotional and dumb. But definitely, would do this again. I do hope I am not too pathetic, when I am saying that even her smallest smile makes me feel alive again.

We Are So Cute and We Know It (2)

Ahh. Summer is here and we are trying to recover from the spring...

We are still here

...and we are fighting by doing small things, keeping our routine. Like, having a bath.

Back to Black

Her post-natal depression came back. We have had a difficult week, but since yesterday we have been trying hormonal treatment. Out of last three months, a period of 18 days has been good so far... We are not giving it up.

Celebrating her

Now, after a month's delay after the official date, we celebrated our daughter with a ceremony, champagne, delicious food and announced finally her name: Lumi Iiris Anni Päiväläinen [please, click the image].

Lumi Iiris a.k.a 'Snow Iris' can be also translated into Japanese: 'Yuki Ayame'. Riitta ordered 50 bright white Irises for the evening! We are very grateful to helpful grandmothers because they did most of the kitchen work...

Mother is feeling better, but this is not over yet. We are very thankful for our friends' warm thoughts: all the e-mails, calls and SMS messages. –Not to mention our special friends in Tokyo, who sent us an exclusive set of chocolate via London!

Planting time is now!

We did a short trip to grandfather's old cottage (now our's). Sunshine, gardening at the daytime and heating the sauna in the evenings.

Our idea was to help her to recover and to have some free time without doctors and meetings. As you can guess, her blues is not over. This was not what we expected, not what we thought that the motherhood or having a small family was about - but we will have to and we can live with it now. We love our daughter, but fixing things takes time. There are good days and some bad days. Fortunately the kid is all right and very healthy: she sleeps about 6 hours every night.

Planting time is now, so we are going towards summer, sunshine and better days!
As a city boy, I never thought I would spend time at the countryside, looking like that and gardening... not a pretty sight! Having a relationship with a girl who loves forests, plants and gardening makes one do really funny things...

We Are So Cute and We Know It (1)

Do these images need any explanations? Auntie made little trousers!

Easter Blues

Mommy has had a blues for several weeks, but we are fighting it together. Things are getting better -merry Easter holidays!

Opening my latest show

We were hanging the artworks together on March 5th and opening the show on March 6th. Drilling the concrete walls of the gallery did not interrupt her daydreaming at all (photograph by courtesy of Ilpo Päiväläinen)!

Spots...

Her grandmother did send a nice skirt to our tiny Seal Puppy few days ago. By the way, how come her mother likes spots too?

Little routines in twilight

We have started our daily routines... and nightly! Our little seal puppy bathed two nights ago for her first time in life. Unfortunately she was hungry and the whole thing involved quite a lot screaming and crying. But we are learning more and more, how to live with this new wonderful person.

Was it Tom Waits, who sang that you are innocent when you dream?

Birthday

I got this little image as my 47th birthday postcard. Please, forgive me this twisted self irony, but I really feel kind of an alpha-male... I have an upcoming solo show in a local gallery. I mean this week!

We have been at home since last Friday evening and all routines plus new things seem to find their place perfectly. I did some salmon teriyaki, grilled tofu with chinese mushrooms and sushi last Saturday. We finished the evening with champagne!

Riitta has started to make walks outside so we are proceeding, though still very emotional and she is sometimes exhausted. I have lots of time (working in our studio only max. 3 hours every day), so we do share all responsibilities of taking care of the baby. Fortunately the seal puppy sleeps at night 4-hour periods! I do get my privacy and solitude in the early morning hours, when everybody else is at sleep and the coffee with a fresh newspaper gives me time to think and relax.