I Woke Up this Morning

I woke up this morning with freezing feet. The room didn't feel colder than usual and my sleep had not been interrupted because they were cold. I was very surprised. When I put my right foot against my left calf, I could hardly believe how cold my foot was.

When I finally got up the courage to get out of bed and put on two pair of wool socks, I started to feel better. I headed to the kitchen and put the electric kettle on to heat some water for hot chocolate. Suddenly it occurred to me that maybe the cold is the reason that the Finnish are so addicted to coffee.

I am missing my flip flops as usual now that I am dealing with cold weather and more substantial footwear. It takes me so long to put on my snow/hiking boots. And it is definitely necessary to sit down to put them off. Fortunately getting them off does not present as many challenges.

Home Sweet Home

The home that we own in the United States was built in 1963 or 1964. That means that this year it will be close to 50 years old. Not too surprisingly, we have had several problems with house.

These two pictures are of a rotten pipe in our basement. Not just in our basement, however. Under the concrete floor. Our friend and handyman had to chip away the cement before he could get to the area where water was leaking.

We are so grateful to him for his help. And to the Blogger and her family for enduring living in a falling apart house.

By The Way

Our Marine is home from Afghanistan. We have not seen him, but have talked to him on the telephone. This picture has a typical "Steve goofing off expression."

We love him and are very proud of him and his desire to service our country.

My dad was a farmer at heart. Every house we lived in had a place for a vegetable garden. Most of the houses we lived in were fixer-uppers. Until I was 14 years old and living on the south shore of Montreal, I don’t think we lived in a house where the bedrooms were heated. In the winter time, the single paned windows would be brushed by Jack Frost’s artistic hand. I can remember taking my thumb nail and pushing it across the window pane. A long curl of ice that had formed on the interior of the window would peel away from the glass.
Some mornings were so cold that I would dash out of bed and grab my clothes then take them back under the covers to dress in the warmth created by my body overnight. We always had flannel sheets and rough wool blankets to keep us warm. The flannel sheets had been washed and dried on the line in the winter cold so they were never soft or fluffy against my cheek. It made no difference though. I would pull the blankets up around my face and cover my ears so that I would be as warm as possible on those cold nights.
After more than fifty years, I still sleep at the bottom of the bed with the sheets and blankets pulled up over my ears. When I glance over at my husband who was born and raised in California, I wonder how he can sleep with the blankets leaving his neck and shoulders bare.



When I was 5 years old, we moved into a house in need of enormous amounts of work. It had no bathroom and only had a pump at the sink. I remember my mother sitting on the floor reading my father the directions as he assembled the plumbing and built a bathroom at the end of the large kitchen. Now when I think about it, I assume that he must have dug a huge hole for a septic tank as well. In any case, Dad and Mum were the ones who turned the small cottage in the country into an inhabitable house.
I know there were not enough bedrooms for all of the family. That first year I slept on a bunk bed that was set up in the kitchen. I have a clear memory of lying on the top bed and looking down upon my mother. She was making cinnamon rolls. She rolled out the dough and sprinkle sugar and ground cinnamon on the flat surface. Next came scattered raisins. Then the magical dough was rolled into a tight tube and cut into individual rolls. I have no memory of eating those rolls. I cherish only the wonderful feeling of being alone with my mother and watching her making this delicious treat.
The small house that we lived in was about a mile from the local elementary school. Grades one through eight were taught there. Four grades to a room. The small village of Lisle, Ontario lay close to one of the gates to Camp Borden where both of my parents worked. Dad was in the Royal Canadian Air Force and Mom worked as a typist for the Army.
One Sunday after attending a conference meeting for the Church, we slowly drove towards home in a snow storm. When we reached Lisle, Mom and Dad decided that they would park the car in a parking lot for a business in Lisle. They knew that the road to our house would not be plowed in the morning and that they would be unable to drive to work unless they left the car close to a road that would be cleared of the heavy snowfall.
We always had blankets in our trunk in case of a winter emergency. The six of us got out of the car and wrapped blankets around us for the long walk home. As a small girl the snow seemed so deep. It came up above the top of my boots. I can remember the snow falling and my eyelashes sticking together as if by glue. My face was so cold, but my small right hand ne

stled in my father’s large one was warm. I asked him how come his hand was warm when mine was so cold even with my mittens on. It was so stormy and cold. I have no memory of his an
swer. I only remember the safety and security I felt with my cold hand resting in the warm hand of my father.

Walking to Church in mid January

I put on tights and a heavy skirt today. Earl and I bundled up in our outerwear. Both of us wearing boots, scarves, hats, and gloves/mittens. Walking to church was fine. I got there and took off my boots and put on my shoes. Walking home we walked into the wind. A little bit cooooolder. Earl's hands were cold in gloves and my thumbs were cold. We bunched our hands up inside our gloves/mittens and got home with all of our appendages. Earl says we will not go if it is blowing and howling out. Ruth says to call. She'll come get us in a blizzard. I think I love her more all of the time. I don't think I'll be calling in a blizzard. She can go back to bed and cover her head with her pillow just like I will me. She lives about two miles from church in the opposite direction from us.

The Mark, man in the bishopric who is American (teaches at the international school) says that sometimes the temperatures drop to below 0. And that Finnish meteorologists never factor in the wind. So we will never know what the temperature is including the wind. Burrrrrr. It was about 19 degrees today.

On our way home we walked with a young couple. They have a new baby and a three year old girl. The baby was completely covered so that no one could see her. The three year old (who was in a stroller) apparently thought that mom should carry her. Just like kids. They had been late for the tram and rather than stand in the cold waiting for the next one, they decided to walk. So we had company for about half of our trip.

The meeting house is about 2 miles away and takes us about 30 minutes to walk there. We still have not found any transportation that makes sense to take on a Sunday when fewer trams and buses run. Either that or we are a little crazy. That could be it. :O)

Feels like Winter

It is already lighter longer in the day than it was at the beginning of December. It is three thirty and it does not feel as if twilight has arrived. The high today though was about 19 degrees. Walking we periodically walked into a very cold wind. Amazing how one's teeth can feel as if they are freezing.

Here are a few pictures from today. We walked through the park and watched two little girls at the top of a very steep hill. When they finally got on their sledge together, they came flying down the hill and stopped far across the path that we were walking on. The little girl being pulled on the sled kept saying "Mamma! Mamma!" while her mother responded, "Yo, yo." The other two pictures are from the ice rink by the train station. The children playing on the hill of snow are playing on the snow removed from the rink.

I think there were moments when Earl/Dad felt cold and wished he had a second scarf. I am so grateful for Leanna's winter coat. Only my legs under my corduroy pants felt cold periodically and I wished I had put on my "long Johns."

It definitely is winter.

Back in Helsinki

I took the shuttle to the airport on Monday morning. Everything went so well. The traffic at seven in the morning was moving quickly and I got to the airport two hours before my flight left.

The scales gods must have been with me because the man at check-in did not even put the bag on the scales. He just put on the tags and sent me to the big x-ray machine to drop it off at SLC.

I got to Dulles okay but from there it went downhill. Nothing that couldn't be managed though.

We boarded the plane in Dulles and were delayed over an hour because someone checked in luggage but did not get on the plane. When they finally located and extracted the luggage, we had to wait in line to be de-iced before we could take off. My connecting flight in Munich going on to Helsinki left at 8:50. We arrived in Munich at about 9 am. That meant there were about 200 people standing in line hoping to get their flights rerouted to their final destinations. Sigh.

When I finally got to the front of the line about an hour later, the agent told me that I had already been rerouted on a flight going to Warsaw and from Warsaw to Helsinki. The alternative? Stay in Munich until 2:45 pm to get the next direct flight on the airline to Finland. I opted for the later flight. I had no desire to see the airport in Warsaw.

The next problem was, how was I going to let the professor know that I would be arriving about six hours later than we thought. No free internet. Well, I could have had 30 minutes free if I had given Telekom my phone number. No phone. And the airline would have called him but no telephone number. Bigger sigh.

By then I was so tired that I propped my carry on luggage against my leg and fell asleep on a chair.

On the flight from Germany to Finland, I had seat 6C which was great. So close to the front. I slept every minute we were in the air on the way to Helsinki. When we landed the door was frozen shut so no one could get off the plane. Fortunately there was not a very long delay.

The very best part was that when I got my luggage and walked out of the door, there was the professor waiting for me. If it had been a movie there would have been fireworks or at least a crescendo.



We got home and I took my travel weary body and had a hot shower. Clean clothes. Here with my sweetheart. Who could ask for more?