Sunday 28 June 2009

Summer Holiday, Tiny but Lovely

Last Friday Mr. Kotkarankki had his work done by lunch, and we had two whole days for just the two of us. This was carefully planned in March, so we tried to make the best of it.

First we drove to Tampere to see my mother, 92. We did some gardening for her, and them Mr. K heated the log sauna for us. It's been many years since we last bathed there. Come and see, this is the path down to the lake.





My mother can't go there with her walking aid, the grass has started to grow on the path.


This is the door to the sauna cabin. The wooden steps are my favourite place to sit and watch the lake, a sunset late late at night, or the rain, or a thunder and lightning, or just people slowly rowing in their boats.

The water is taken from the lake with a pump, and heated here in the washing room.


This is the kiuas to heat the sauna, in the other room. Here is a link to very detailed information about the sauna in English.


We sit up here where the heat rises. The benches are of aspen, it is not hot to sit on (on the towel called laudeliina).


This is what I can see from the steps, our little cove where I learned to swim.



A closer look, the yellow irises in my garden are from here. They are wild.



Don't you want to try if the water is warm?



This is another favourite place, niemenkärki, the point of our tiny cape, where we used to angle for perch and roach and usually get bleak.



After the bath - lake water makes my hair unbelievable soft - it was time to go back to the house and eat a light dinner.



The weather had been hot all day, but the walk back made me remember the time when this place was my home and we would run back in when it was cold and rainy in the autumn. During winter we bathed in the other sauna in the basement of the house.



Early on Saturday morning we left for Vammala for the Old Literature fair. This year's theme was War and Love. This is where my daughter Kaija was last year awarded the second price in a book binding competetition for this book. This year there was no competition, but the weather was even hotter than last year.



This is the school where the lectures and discussions took place. There were also many of the second hand book sellers' stands.



And there was this tent. Not a religious meeting, but more booksellers, and even hotter than indoors.


We found some nice books; I will show my loot on Vintage Thingies Thursday this week.



We were there already before the doors were opened, just in time to have an icecream. When we had spent more money than intended, we decided to drive out of town for lunch. In my next post I will tell you more about it. It is too hot to sew, and I must see my dentist tomorrow morning and my doctor before lunch, so there really is nothing crafty to show in the near future.


This last scene is from the local market place, where we found the last book or two, OK, two for me and one for him. The water made the place feel fresh in spite of the heat. I know some of my readers are from really warm places, but the weekend's 27 degrees C (80.6F) was too hot for me.

7 comments:

  1. What a beautiful place to grow up. It looks so peaceful and serene.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm so fascinated by the whole sauna thing. I've read about these in books set in your part of the world - - - but this is the first time I've ever heard about it form someone who has EXPERIENCED them.

    Do you go swim in the lake AFTER the sauna bath?

    This is a really really cool post. I'd like to see MORE of the house too!

    Oh my - - - the word verification for this was expauna - - - surely that could be SOMETHING to do with a sauna!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Ulla!! Looks like you had an enjoyable holiday! I agree...cool post. And I'm one of those people that live in a hot area of the world!! te he..

    ReplyDelete
  4. Morning Ulla, I hop the Drs and dentist went ok.

    What a lovely sauna house and perfect for going into the lake afterwards. What a lovely place to grow up.

    Oooo books!

    I am enjoying the good weather on the days we have it. Yesterday we had thunder which made it feel less muggy, today already we have 25.7C

    ReplyDelete
  5. With pleasure I remember the warm summer I spent at a lake near Tampere, so many years ago. It was the first time I saw a real Finnish sauna, a little wooden building in the forest but very close to the lake (so similar to the pictures you showed!). We actually have very warm temperatures too, and it is indeed too warm to sew (but I did it anyway, as a birthday gift for my mother had to be finished, a flannel quilt for winter :-) !).
    Enjoy summer and have a good time!
    Barbara

    ReplyDelete
  6. What a beautiful post, Ulla! The place where you once lived is lovely!I think the two of you had a very nice time together!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I was wondering just how hot "hot" was. :-D We have been having unseasonably cold weather this past week and next week too. The weatherman this morning said.. "It's more like Finland than Ohio". I had to laugh and think of you!

    What a lovely getaway you had! I can just imagine sitting in that nice warm sauna. And the book sale! Can't wait to see your treasures.. I'm going to Thursday's post next. :-)

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for coming by! Kiitos käynnistä, voit kommentoida myös suomeksi