Weekend trip and wild dolls

Today Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy wanted to play outdoors with two new Unicef kids, who are still waiting for their identity cards at our house. They went to see the raised vegetable bed.

Naturally the little rascal Andy had to show his new friends how clever he is, and started climbing up the willow trellis I had made for the peas.

The new boy was easily tempted to play along, although his limbs are not as flexible as Andy's.

The always sensible Ann told them to get down from there immediately or else ... she would come and tell me!

That worked! But Ann noticed how round and red and delicious the radishes looked, and they all decided to make a harvest feast.

They also brought in some lettuce for their salad, and dill for the fresh potatoes. It is nice to have such sweet little helpers around! I'll be sad to see the two of them leave as soon as their papers are OK, and I have their friends' wardrobe finished so they cann all go together to new homes.  But I have plans for some Unicef dolls to keep for myself, when the time is right.

On Saturday we made our annual trip to the Old literature fair in Sastamala (it used to be Vammala last year, but they took an old name for that region when some towns were put together at the beginning of this year). We took a scenic route because it was such a beautiful day. 

This is the Sääksmäki bridge.

Here we are again at the school, where the seminars and lectures are held, and many antiquarian and second-hand bookshops have their  stalls.

There were lots of people looking at the books, but not as many sellers as in previous years.

The most interesting books were again in the big tent. This year there were hardly any old handicaraft books, no nice old magazines, and really very many second hand books only a few years old.

During the first centuries of written Finnish language the literature was concentrated of religious and scientific texts. Novels in Finnish only began to exist around the middle of the 19th century, so there are hardly any really old books by Finnish authors. What we are looking for are books from the first decades of the 20th century, which are often very affordable. Here is what we bought: my two parts of Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset, for 1 € each, and DH's six books about Lapland, fishing and such things. I need to keep my eyes open for the last part of Undset's trilogy, which I think will not be too difficult to find. This is a Finnish translation of a Norwegian author's books.

Next time I hope to show some crafty progress, but the hot weather makes me very tired so I can't promise any great results in the nearest future.