Season's Greetings!

Lumi made an elf at the Kindergarten!

























We are leaving for our mid-winter holidays. The first week will be from -15 to -22 Centigrades. HUH! Heating the old sauna and grandfather's old cottage will be an interesting task... See you next year!
[photograph by Riitta Päiväläinen)

Shooting at Hanko beaches

Oh boy, it was great, though sleeping with a daughter and my wife in a low two-person tent was painful. And we didn't have enough time for enjoying the kayak gathering together. I'm starting to whine and whimper again... missing the summer...
(images by Ilkka Salmi)

Autumn Summary

...so far: four or five cases of flu and three cases of inflammation of the eyes - and I am still very satisfied with our kindergarten. One just can't avoid this sh*t when dealing with small kids. But we are very tired... designing my web page is late, one exhibition proposal is half-done and both the studio and the house are a mess.

Summer Memories #3

My most beautiful portrait of Lumi, ever!

Father's Day Blues and Cabin Fever

Last Sunday was local Father's Day and my girls served me my Sunday paper, a cheese cake and full breakfast (which was great because I am the early bird in our family and I am usually making the coffee).

The flu has not left and the house is a mess. We had to stay indoors several days, so I really got crazy and frustrated. Lumi can turn a room chaotic in few minutes, and unfortunately we are too tired to clean it. Both parents want to sleep long and well, and get better again... and I miss the sea.

Kayak session

On Saturday I was shooting for a kayaking book by the pool which is the second oldest in Finland. It belongs to the National Defence University and was originally built for the Helsinki Olympic Games (1940), which accidentally never came true until 1952 -thanks to WW2. Interesting functional style of the 30's with perhaps a bit classic pillars.

I was in a bad shape, luckily not in fever. Lots of people involved, great guys and nice place to shoot in, though there was not so much light!

Aww, sigh...

Two cases of inflammation of the eye and three serious cases of flu in the family! Staying indoors with a very active little girl under three years is driving me nuts. And when we were staying again at the 'Grandfather's Cottage' about a week ago, we had very little time for ourselves, being or doing things together. Like, preparing the garden for the winter. Some girls can be very demanding. We are in a bluesy mood now.

We are creative in the kitchen

...and constructed an extempore castle form two cardboard boxes! Somebody enjoyed the painting part quite a bit –see her red cheeks. Our kitchen activities get sometimes wild: you shoud check also this!

Last Days of September

Wow! Finally we really managed to do something! Besides finishing the bigger chimney, we did some apple calvados syrup and jam... And half of the calvados went down our throats - which is part of the fun...

Drumming again...

Our Great Project for This Summer (2)

.. was finished in early October! The metal parts will be re-made during the springtime and the scaffold will be taken down, but we can really heat the house again!

And Riitta found some great boletus in almost perfect condition...

Our Great Project for This Summer (Grandfather's Cottage)

Uhh... was re-building of our two chimneys in August. Wow, it was hot on the roof!

I have got a terrible tenosynovitis for years, and last year I have developed a tennis elbow. So, taking down 140 heavy bricks from the 1950's and putting some of them back with new ones (in four days) plus extra heavy mortar made me feel really bad and tired. I am finishing the work in this month.

Anyhow, I still felt good. I had a brilliant teacher for the work, and it was great to learn new things!

Summer Memories #2

Sleepy time (Summer Memories #1)

...hot July night, after the sauna...

Pigtails

...she definitely hates. And wow, how big girl she is when she has them!

The great expedition of this year (cell phone images)

Two weeks at sea, 352 kilometres and terrible heat wave.