Autumn cuisine

The mushroom season seems to be finally over! Since September, we have dehydrated a huge amount of Yellow legs chantarells (Cantharellus tubaeformis). Now we are practicing with Black Salsify (Scorzonera hispanica) soup.

We are growing big

This is now week 23. The seal puppy is now about 27 centimetres total, and he/she is quite active and kicking! We were opening 13 huge and heavy artwork crates in our studio... It took three full working days and surely, it was painful. We will have to find an assistant soon. Any applications?

Sea and solitude

Had to run away from the hurries. Paddled 97 kilometres: spent three nights in a tent, two nights were about -5 Centigrades minimum... Reading a book was fun in the nighttime, drying the tent from frost in the morning was not. The silence at sea was overwhelming and so very very relaxing. I had no-one to speak with for four days!

About seal puppies and other small creatures

(Baltic Sea, the Finnish Gulf, 2007)


On May 6th I was on one of my early paddling trips, which I do in the beginning of the season. Tens of thousands of migrating birds, and almost non-existing boat traffic give you a special mixture of solitude and joy. The days are hot and full of sunshine, but nights chilly.

I did find this seal puppy from the other side of the island, where I was camping. Unfortunately –this time, really– I was without my camera! He/she looked very charming, though the nasty yellow poo he/she left to the cliffs was not exactly very fascinating to watch. I was against the setting sun, and unvisible higher on the cliffs, so I had about three hours to draw some scetches into my log book. I did even get back to my camp to make some coffee and return: things were good and we two all the time in the world for ourselves. At closest we had only 10 metres between us.

We decided at home that this was a good omen. So, the nick-name of our new-comer is now 'Kuutti' –which means a young seal puppy in Finnish.

A new snapshot

The little seal puppy seems to enjoy his/her living (please, click the image). The acrobatic movements ensured us that his/her future might be in the field of modern dance –or ballet! With mixed feelings, I am going directly to catch my flight to Brussels. See you all next week...