SUMMER MEMORIES IN THE DEPTH OF GRAY FALL DAYS

There is a starting point of minimalistic nature stone statues in Haukipudas. When you put two nature stones on one, you can get fine results. Example number one shows an Indian elephant with the driver and a passenger heading to its ford.
Continuing in the same manner the second example shows a helmeted soldier capturing a piece of sugar.
A tall spruce with a thickened crown is called "the monster of Kurtinhauta" A stony freeway leading under the surface.

SNOW MELTING HERE UP NORTH

Now there is a vast low pressure area prevailing above whole Finland. It gives causes for higher temperatures above zero degrees and thus melting snow. The weather has been really terrible with lot of raining. The snowman on our yard had started bowing to his right and this morning he already had lost his head. It had fallen on the ground.

The parks and forests look out much other than a couple of days ago. With the melting snow the ground emerges again green. My wife hopes that "warm" weather will continue further. She could thus start her berry picking again after some days. There are still much cranberries and lingonberries to be picked. The former ones are to be found on the marsh lands.

WELCOME WINTER

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On a beautiful winter day, while skiing through a forest, I see lots of snow covered trees on both sides of the trail. The clear sky makes me enjoying the rich colours and tints of the trees and the sky (pic 1). Suddenly there is a loud noise nearing me. I see a snowmobile coming towards me. A father with a little child in front of him are driving it (pic 2). I wonder if they see the surrounding fantastic nature.

Continuing my skiing ahead, I notice tall pine trunks and between them a sweet little spruce - with much snow beautifully on its branches. The scene is stunning (pic 3).

On the right hand side there's a group of tiny pines almost covered up with snow. Again I get a shivering feeling of amazement. This group earns my full artistic respect (pic 4).

Well, everywhere around me I see a continously changing rhytmical play of pine trunks having snow patches on them (pic 5). The beauty of the season's forest has again conquered my heart. I promise to return here whenever it is possible.

Here you see a representative selection of my wife's last year collection

We have very nice curtains at kitchen window and the "snowflakes" glued on the window give a festive atmosphere. An added paper roseball prepared by our daughter is a masterwork, too.

STARS OR SNOW FLAKES: IT IS HOW YOU WISH TO SEE THE THINGS

Who ever wanted to make impression by one's pottering? My wife has invented a personal style of expressing herself by paperwork. She clips with scissors ornamental snowflakes out of thin white tissue paper. In many years - after snow has covered Finnish forests - she has started this occupation whenever she happens to have extra time.

By now this season she has clipped tens of flakes. She says herself about this activity: "I make this every time different way, so a new work differs from the preceding one in a clearly visible manner".

Almost night after night she concentrates into this clipping affair. This has been her hobby since she was a young lady. Now she is able to clip also 5 and 7 corner flakes in spite of those usual 4 and 6 corner ones.

Hereby I'll offer you some photos to view about her masterworks.

FREEZING --- IT IS COLD UP HERE

Now we have mostly freezing feelings here, because the winter came earlier than last year. The temperatures have been moving between -10 and -15 C the last week. My wife, who has been picking berries from the nearby forest, was compelled to cease her activity, when there is about 15 cm snow on the ground. It is simply impossible to rake up berries under snow.
this picture shows the snow covered ground in Haukipudas (photo Eero Pietilä)

SNOWMAN

When we get first time snow in the fall every year, the snow coming down is wet, and the children like wet snow. This is the snowman they created on our yard about a week ago.

This is the first beginning of this new blog concerning the beautiful place in Finland by name Haukipudas.