Hibernating

Does this need any comments? These photographs remind me about last spring, when we really had difficult time... This image is perhaps one of the most touching photographs I can recall from that period, sleeping together with Lumi [click here].

Party Time

Our Princess has now 10 teeth, she is walking well and she has said her first word: kukka ('flower'). We had about 26 guests and we celebrated two days... [top 5 photographs by Ilpo Päiväläinen, the yellow one by Riitta]

So, now we are celebrating...

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First 365 days

... are over! We are opening a bottle of champagne tonight after Lumi has fallen to sleep.
An update about the birthday party will follow ASAP ;-)
Tired, exhausted, with mixed feelings and quite happy

– us.

At the City's Winter Garden

The kid and her mother visited the Winter garden greenhouses of the Helsinki City. The place is famous for it's palm trees (some of them about 100 years old), and season's decorations (like Easter and Christmas). Place was opened for the public at 1893 and the city bought it in 1907.







































An exciting place, huh? Photographs by mom, Riitta Päiväläinen.

Madonna & child, weird stuff

Wow, our friends noticed that last Christmas we had a very peculiar image in our X-mas present cards. The child in the image, though very rosy-cheeked, was looking exactly like out little Lumi. WEIRD. SCARY. FUNNY.

I did try to get extra information about this kitschy painting from the manufacturer's web site, but in vain! It looks like something from the 1800's, but could also be some retro stuff.

Freezing Cold New Year

We are finally back from the countryside! Riitta had a bit worse period, so we spent quite a lot of time just resting. After two weeks in crispy cold weather some fresh running water, a television set and central heating feel like extraterrestrial wonders. We lost totally electricity 5 days before leaving home, so we were dependent on candles, electric torches, two tile stoves and our huge baking stove in the kitchen. It felt like we were going back to the 1800´s – luckily we have lots of firewood and a very solid model house, built in the 40´s during the war veteran and refugees relocating program. Night temperatures dropped down to -18 Centigrades. Please, click the images [photographs by Riitta Päiväläinen].

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...