Nordkapp, Norway - There And Back Again (part 1)

From South to North
June 2015

***

We had a dream
To drive as north as we can
Swim in the Arctic Ocean
Feel the midnight sun
See the mountains
The reindeer
Live in a car
Escape from the civilization

We packed our car

And start driving to north from Savonlinna

We had only a slight guidelines were to go on our way

For two weeks there would be no specific plans for us

No dates nor time

Just us

Living a simple life

With the northern nature

On the summers biggest adventure

Everywhere we went

We drew this little fox

Maybe you have seen it on your way

And maybe you will see it again

This is part one of our adventure

From south to north

Enjoy!

Paholaisen Liemikirnu / Devil's Soup Bowl

We tried to rescue this little Boreal Owl (Aegolius Funereus)

from the middle of the road but it kept coming back to the drive way.

Finally we decided that it's fate wasn't in our hands.

The Gardian of The Forest

Tänään on pohjoisessa kesän ensimmäinen päivä

Tulitte hyvään aikaan

Tuumasi nainen Kemijoen törmällä

"Lähdimme roadtripille Norjaan.

Vaelsimme jossain vaiheessa Jäämeren rannikkoa myötäilevää pientä tietä pitkin.

Oikealla puolellamme aallot löivät rantaan.

Ne pyyhkivät rauhallisen verkkaisesti, tasaisen rytmikkäästi.

Ikään kuin meri olisi hengittänyt.

Koko maisema laitumineen ja vuorineen tuntui henkivän syvää levollisuutta,

kiireettömyyttä, ajattomuutta.

Vasemmalla olivat vuoret, massiivisina ja jykevinä.

Vuosituhannet näkyivät arpina niiden rinteillä.

Suuret kiviröykkiöt lepäsin vuorten juurilla.

Ymmärsimme, että ne olivat kenties tuhansia vuosia sitten vyöryneet alas rinteiltä.

Luonnon hitaan rytmin saattoi aistia sammalten peittämistä röykkiöistä,

vuosituhannet olivat läsnä. 

Kivet ja vuoret tulisiviat olemaan siinä vielä silloinkin, kun meitä ei enään ole.

Se pysäytti."

- Tommy Hellsten -

Kaiken kontrasti oli niin valtavaa

Olimme tämän avaran taivaan alla

Suurten vuorten juurella

Niin suurten, ettei niiden suuruutta pystynyt edes käsittämään

Välillä taas kuljimme kilometrejä ahtaissa tunneleissa

Näiden valtavien vuorten sisässä

Tämä kaikki sai väistämättä asettamaan asiat oikeisiin mittasuhteisiinsa

Ei ollut mitään muuta kuin tämä

Tässä ja nyt

Elämä kokonaisessa ihmeellisyydessään

Nordkapp
We made it!

A Housewarming Party - BakedExcuses

Once upon a time there was a housewarming party

It was a really nice party

Full of kind and lovely people

I was a stranger there

But only for a short moment

Before they took me for one of their own

Ystäväni lähetti minulle kutsun tupareihinsa

Juhlia edeltävänä iltana

Kuinkas muutenkaan

Kutsussa kehoitettiin tuomaan ruokaa mukanaan

Kuinkas muutenkaan

Luulen

Miehet eivät ajattele

Ei kehtaa tuoda sipsipussia

Tarvitaan aikaa valmistella

Pyöräytin pellillisen mustikkapullia mukaani

Ei ollut kaardemummaa kaapissa

Ei ehtinyt enään kauppaan

Mies sai kuulla

Vieraat eivät huomanneet mitään

My Vietnamese sisters wanted to learn how to bake Finnish sweet bread

Four black eyes staring in wonder

When I started to make the paste

Four little hands ready to help

When I rolled the sweet breads to shape

This was my first baking class fixed up in English

Baked excuses are the best excuses to spend time together

And afterwards eat together

Awesomeness!

<3 This recipe is for my lovely sisters from far away <3

Blueberry Sweet Bread / Mustikkapullat

3 DL  milk

2 DL  warm water

1 bag  dried yeast

2 DL  sugar

1 teaspoon  salt

150 g melted butter

15 DL  wheat flour

1 tablespoon cardamom

1 egg

Blueberry filling

2 DL blueberries

1 DL curd

1/2 DL sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla sugar

cinnamon

Finishing

1 egg

1 tablespoon milk

Mix the milk, warm water and yeast. Whisk them so there is no lumps.

Add sugar, salt, cardamom and egg, mix.

Add little by little 1/3 of the wheat flour and mix good.

When the paste is too thick for whisking start mixing the paste with your hand.

Add melted butter, mix.

Add rest of the wheat flours and knead the paste

until it starts to come of from the edges of the bowl.

Let the paste raise in a warm place covered with a towel for 45 minutes.

I used a sink with warm water for raising the paste.

Mix the blueberries, curd, sugars and cinnamon.

Take the raised paste and knead the air bubbles out of it on floured table.

Roll the paste to a thin layer on a floured table.

Spread a thin layer of blueberry filling on the paste.

Start rolling from one end, so you have one stick of the paste on the table.

Cut it about 2 cm peaces and put them on the baking tray so the spiral figure is facing up.
Mix the egg and milk and spread the blend on the sweet breads with a brush.

Bake in the oven in 225 °C about 12 minutes or when you think they look ready

(the time depends of the size of your sweet breads).

Bon Appétit!

Abandoned Adventures - An Old Finnish School

She called me the other day
"Girl, you gonna love this. Pack your camera, we will have an adventure!"
So, I packed my backpack
And hitchhiked trough the galaxy
Back to my old universe

In this universe
Everything seemed the same
And nothing felt the same
Didn't feel like home there
And I wondered
If I never had

I smiled to my Love

Still sad I had had to leave her behind

So happy to see her again

How much had I miss'd her

"You have a new car?"

"Nah... this is a friends car. I burrow it."

"So, what happened to your car?"

"Shut up and get in! Let's go hunt some adventures!"

We drove a long time on little curvy roads

Finally she turned the car to a yard of a big white building

A wicked smile on my face I looked the place

"So what's this?"

She turned to me

Saw my exited eyes

And smiled

"This.. is an abandoned school building"

With flashlights and camera as our weapons

We sneaked inside

I hoped for restless spirits to come by

My Love feared for them

Suddenly we heard a loud 'Bang!'

We froze in middle of our steps

With ghost stories on our minds we searched for the noise

Relieved smile came to her face

"It was the out door. Wind must have closed it after us"

I smiled

"Yeah, it must have been the wind..."

I took better grip of my camera and turned around

"Hey, here's retro-rooms!"

On the stairway I started to climb up

She stopped on the first step

"Do we have to go to the attic?"

"Of course we do!"

She stopped again

"Do we really have to go to the cellar?"

"We certainly do!"

I stared the way down to the darkness

I swallowed

I wasn't quit sure what I hoped to find from there

And what would be too much even for me

Flashlight on the other hand and camera on the other

I started to go down

I heard my Love follow me

I knew she would

Like she always does

The house didn't really look like a school from inside

There was actually four different apartments in two floors

The decoration suggested that those apartments could have been in use in the 70's

The ancient school desks in the attic and the nearby road named Schoolcape's Road

Are suggesting, that there would have been a school at some point

According to the internet the building was built on 1949

So maybe there has been school activity in the 50's

Who knows

Did you like this story? Here's some more:

A Derelict Spa

An Old Asylum Cemetary

An Old Farmhouse