July 2008 - Posts
Are these hot days groundhog days or not? My sister says I do not qualify as she lives groundhog life and knows more about it than I do. That was after eight early shifts in a specialist care unit for severe Alzheimer sufferers. She has started work there recently and despite the wonderful activities they offer every day pretty much repeats the one before, especially when it comes to their clients abilities.
OK she won the argument but people in my life go round in sort of cycles too. When temperature reaches certain figure my other sister begins the annual process of divorce proceedings. On the home front - a lot less dramatically - No5 overheats, needs long play in cool water and then even longer cooling and drying period in the swinging hammock. We all push her at least half an hour each day and it is a bliss to see someone so relaxed yet keeping an eye on the work in the yard, waving daddy each time he drives by.
In the cool of the mornings I keep an eye of my blogger friends. This summer's theme has been Nantucket Island in the USA. It started with a new table cloth for kitchen table full of little signs and one of them is "Nantucket Bay Inn". Before long Finnish Blogger Mama from New Hampshire took her family of seven there to stay in a family house. The next thing I knew American Blogger from London was there with her family too on her way to Boston. While on the Island Blogger Mama bough a car from Oklahoma and from her drive home shared some fantastic pictures from Kansas. Which made me wonder how Kansasfarmer is doing? Could I put a request in for some more Kansas pictures and some from the beautiful old houses too?! The big summer suspense has been waiting for the next installment from the "Diary of Becoming a Farmer".
I trust you have by now figured out that we do not stretch the brain or muscle too much but just enjoy the few beauties mother nature puts our way. However we are still able to laugh.
As The Bus i.e. family vehicle, has broken down there has been a slight shortage of trips to the beach - Hisself is not partial to half a ton of sand on his leather upholstery, not to mention the wet body boarding gear & smelly dog. We all do not fit into the car anyway, so the boys decided to go to the nearby forest instead. On they return I asked "How was it?" "Raining." says No3. The sun was blaring from blue sky and temperature above +27 degrees C. "Raining what?" I asked. "Pigeons," said No1. ?????? On that day baby pigeons were practising flying. They had just about mustered the rudimentals of the job itself and sort of figured what to do with the trees but two large moving figures were just too much to cope with. Boys had no option but to leave the practising ground for health reasons, theirs and the birds.
Did anyone else watch George Gently on BBC1 8 pm Sunday night? Not my usual cup of tea either but Hisself and I collapsed in front of telly after a day of shearing sheep. It is a detective soap set in 1960's Britain and that episode had an ex German POW visiting the farm he stayed during the war. He got murdered and so the story unfolded.
Hisself found it a very positive story: the farmers were kind, generous people and the murderer a greenie - a park ranger or something similar. I on the other hand found the portrayal of farmer's wife stereotypical. The ugliest woman you can find in apron and cardigan dishing out hearty meals to the hungry family. I think she could have been found in a farmhouse kitchen in the 1860's but surely not in 1960's.
Where Hisself seems to find nothing wrong in the way farmers appear in media I do. Finally I figured out that the images dished out from television have no relation to his everyday communication with the wider world. However they impact mine quite dramatically.
Women, the competitive bunch we are, have a nice box for a farmer's wife with a label on it saying: kind, simple, large, old fashioned and plain. Which is generally fine by me. This autumn I will have to find a playgroup where No5 can make friends to have a social life. It means I must be friendly with several people because No5 likes their child regardless of my personal opinion. She has a right to fit among her peers, go to birthday parties and have play dates. In the process several women will try and convince me that I am uglier, stupider and more out of date than they are and should stop pretending otherwise. By the way they know what farmers wives are like, they have seen us in telly!
To make a point here is MIL [mother in law] with Hisself in early 60's. Yes, finally an image of him. He has changed somewhat but she still looks like the same despite us celebrating her 80th in August. Can't quite imagine her in apron or cardigan...
In real life I have been out with both No1 [son] and No2 [daughter]. I think I am getting too old for shepherding duties. In town to get No1's eyes tested with No5 who naturally was all over big brother. The result?? Every single shop assistant in her 20's drooling over my son. "Oh he is so good with babies!" "Isn't he handsome!". Yes, and he is just 17 and I am his mother, not a marriage consultant!
After that shock I thought we could recover with a trip to the beach. First time for couple of years No2 decided to stay in dry land and build sand castles with No5 while the rest of them went out to ride the waves. Well, if you ever want to see all breeds of dog in half an hour that is the way to do it. Males all ages parading round us with the pretence of walking their pooch. The dogless wanderers relying to frisbees, balls and kites. The young "loons" were well within the limits of fun but the hanging beer bellies with stretching tattoos aged 30 and over were beyond my sense of humor, after all No2 is just 15.
There is a real snake in this blog too. Day after the hols No2 showed us a lump sized half an apple on the side of her foot. It looked like an insect bite, though a giant one, so we just let it be. When swelling went down two little holes came visible. She had been walking along the coastline and felt a nip in her foot. It was an adder trying to get her through her shoe! That piece of coastline is famous for its snakes, No3 saw some next to the cabin earlier. Snakes was the main reason I wanted a place facing the evening sun as they often slither to cabin steps to warm in the first rays of sun. They are known to bite when stepped on...
We are back from holidays and on the way home from airport I visited a local supermarket to fill the fridge. Looking at the vegetable selection my face fell. The selection and quality was poor.
I have to say that this time of year even the Russians have a wider selection, better quality and more realistic pricing system. At least in there they get what is in season; and at the moment it was succulent varieties of cherries, that were very cheap, strawberries at give-away prices, peaches and nectarines in season and raspberries just beginning to appear with higher prices. They were stored in huge enamel measures and looked so juicy in the sun. Vegetables were equally good quality and abundant.
In Finland I was simply blown away. There was an open market every morning with fresh produce directly from farms. There are farms that bake bread for market maybe twice a week and others that come every day with a fresh fruit and vegetable selection. There was two large supermarkets surrounding the market place and both were doing good business too. In food the top line in labels is country of origin. Most commonly fresh produce is locally sourced and it says so in large letters too. In smaller print one can read what the product is - I mean a cucumber is a cucumber - we all know what it looks like and then the price of course. None of this nonsense that I have often seen in Tesco where home grown and imported vegetables are in the same container and the country of origin in tiny letters printed in an obscure place.
The other thing I liked was availability of advice. All potato varieties were clearly named, there were six locally grown the day I counted and beside them was a list what each variety was best for. There was two boxes of each; washed and unwashed [cheaper] for choice. Finns think pre-packed food is suspicious, my mum in her 80's walked to the market place rather than bought her potatoes in a plastic bag.
Most impressive was the variety. Large boxes of spring cabbage (I had forgotten they existed) just arrived as did small new beetroots in bunches. As in Russia, in addition to locally grown the crops in season further south in Europe were available in large quantities too. There was no push for pineapple or mango - this is the local high season and people were taking full advantage of it.
I cannot understand why, in a country able to grow a much wider variety of fruit and vegetables for a far longer season than Finland we eat like poor Russians in mid March? Sadly we do it year round, every year. Makes me wish for green fingers and a large vegetable patch, unfortunately I was blessed with a killer thumb when it comes to all things green.
After 18 months of planning we finally got our final family holiday. Next summer the two oldest are going their own way and it surely will not be Finland, somehow they do not associate words fun and relatives from my side together. I have a huge family who love to organise. If we stay with them I'll get our holiday meals minutely detailed two weeks before we travel and during today's afternoon coffee they tried to explain No1 son what he wanted to study in the university. Soon followed by "He is desperate to learn Finnish, if you would let him!" .....?******
For reasons of peace I this time round turned down every offer of accommodation and hired a cottage in the end of a very long and winding gravel road. They are all coming for a BBQ tomorrow - so much for my careful planning. But I must admit this is an ideal place for country dwellers: No near neighbours, large cottage and a second one to separate the teenagers with reasonable breathing space. The second one houses the inevitable sauna too, and yes, we have been. We mix and match and eat in the middle and go swimming and then back to sauna again. Health warnings do exist - I just do not want to remember any of them.
The place is next to Baltic and offers endless fun. My kids are trying to fish and as they never have tried before their ingenious attempts are killing the family with laughter. My dad is likely turning in his grave but as they are all allergic to fish I see no reason why they should catch any.
They have all learnt to row a boat too. First we pulled the boat up to the beach and practised on dry land, then tried on water. The owners are very wise, the oars are bolted in and cannot escape and buoyancy aids are offered free of charge. No5 wears one all day long. If she wanders to the water we should be able to spot her riding the waves safely. I think the biggest threat to her is mummy swan who is rather protective of her five babies.
The kitchen in the cabin is first class but the BBQ is even better. It stands in the middle of a roofed sitting area and is a home made design I've never seen before. A square funnel, with a hole in the bottom (covered with removable drain cover) and a bucket for ashes below. Bit of mesh on the top and it cooks beautifully.
Hisself is not one for boats but we are only 3 miles from one of Finland's topmost agricultural colleges. It is open every day for visitors in summer time and has enough to keep any farmer happy for a day of two. We had good links there before as Hisself has over the years visited a few discussion group meetings and given the odd lecture.
Oh, you are still waiting for the giant knickers. When the first load of washing returned from the washline I found a giant pair of knickers! They were obviously in the machine before we got here. So I lifted them up and hisself said "Definitely not mine." I do hope so as they were ladies. Turned to No2 daughter who innocently said "I thought they were yours mummy, extra room for comfort on the flight...." The size of them!!! I am still speechless.