Last goodbye

 FIL's funeral was few weeks ago. FIL himself told he didn't want to have any fuss, no big gathering, no big flower arrangements... We had a memorial service at the Church, which was attended a lot of people (MIL has a huge family, she had 10 siblings with 9 surviving to adulthood), family, friends, neighbours... 

People were asked to bring just one flower per person/family to lay next to coffin, because FIL would be cremated and all those beautiful arragements would have just gone to waste.  Everyone did as asked - well, there's always first time to everything.

Funeral service is a basically a consentrated mass,  so the priest sings a hymn - this priest can't sing and I got a bit hysterical, you know, he was singing some very touching psalm and so off tune and everything was so sad and he was so off tune I couldn't help laughing and tried to stop laughing and it got just worse and worse. Luckily we were keeping social distance and had masks, so no-one but d noticed. 

We has a smaller gathering after the service, just sandwich cake and cream cake, coffee, tea, cookies etc.  If it wasn't FIL's final wishes and Covid19 we would probably have had gathering closer to 100 people with a real buffet with hot meals... And coffee and cake.

Two weeks after that hb fell on  our slippery driveway and hurt his buttoc and tight big way. He just told me he won't wear his slippers because they are, well, slippery and put his winter boots on. Aaaand down he went. So, for three weeks he has not been able to sit, to drive a car, and for the first week he couldn't even walk, he kind of shuffled.

So, he wasn't able to attend for the laying down his father's ashes. Again there was the same priest,  but luckily we sang only one, very familiar hymn, but I think I was the only one singing with the priest. The grave sits by the lake, it's an old graveyard from the 13th century, and FIL's home  at the narrow headland can be seen, just about 300-400m away. FIL was born on the other side of the lake, just behind that headland, it was an ancient Russian horsefarm, and before that there was a blacksmith. 

Once hb is able to sit in a car I will drive him to the grave, I can drive all the way down to the grave, so there is no risk for him to fall again.

FIL is in peace now, right by his beloved lake.

Time is a-flying when you're having fun

A lot has been happening. Most important, no matter what, is that D finally - finally! went to her prom. And she was lovely I never was that pretty when young. And on the very next day she cut her hair 🙄

Autunm is here in full force.  Leaves are all fallen and ground is yellow, I'm still foraging mushrooms, yellowfoots and chanterelles. I've tacled the 11,5kg pumpkin and now I've been left with 10 litres of aronia berries. Mead? Jam with brandy? Freezers a full to the brim so I need to figure out something that doesn't include adding something in freezers.

I've found myself in my first ever EU position. I've worked in EU projects before, but this is more permanent. I'm just happy that I can't travel for now because of covid. Two years ago I thought my future was somewhere between cow dung and harvesters! But just like Forrest Gump said, life is like a box of chocolates, you'll never know what you'll get. But I DO love cows and harvesters... I have wowed I'll never leave them completely.

But on much much darker note, my father in law is just hours or days away of passing away. He has terminal cancer and is now on palliative care, he still eats a little, but his only medication is strong painkillers, actually he's getting morphine. He's way over 90 and had been poorly over three or four years now, so this is to be expected, but his death will still be a great loss.

Hb's family is one of those families where everything is someone else's fault, and I know that fil's death will cause not only much sorrow and sadness but also a lot of bad words and fighting. I admire my fil, in his own way he is a great man, but I'm also aware of his darker side, which I can't talk about even with hb. Mil has shared those things with me, but hb refuses to see any flaws in his father, which is understandable.

Everything has a season, autunm is a season of death, loss and leaving things behind, giving up. But autunm is also a season to prepare to new seasons, groundwork for spring is done in autunm. Without autunm there will be no winter and no spring. Our next month is actually named month of death.

Better gardeners

I think I've been moaning enough about my poor poor garden. Endless rains and hot and dry weather  both sucks when you have clay as soil. This soil is blue clay, so you can't even make bricks out of it, bah.

But it's not all misery. I've been improving soil in my veggie plot for 7 or 8 years now, and I see so much changes! There's plenty of worms, weeds have changed from thistles to nettles and chickweed, and after even this summer of floods and drought my soil is still workable, I can dig it easily. Of course it would be much much better if I could use mulching to cover everything, but right now I can't get enough mulch to to that (a lot of little things like a new mower which shreddes grass into atoms so I can't use that anymore). 

Another thing is that water was an issue this summer. We have our own groud water well, and when groundwater levels are low,  we have only little water. And due to several little things, again, I didn't save water for watering (like breaking tap in my huge watertank, it's about 20 years old and the tap was plastic...).

Weather is something I can't change, but I can prepare for it. Next summer I will be better prepared, that's ok.

But. There are bunch of much better gardeners around. 

I was at 'Sumawalk and dug some potatoes from my parents potatofield. Their potatoes have grown nicely,  sandy soil that keeps moisture is ideal for potatoes. Well, it's ideal for everything but beets. But those cucumbers?

Our neighbour ( half a kilometer away from our house) was fetching his dinner ingredients from his garden/field and greeted us with "Would you like to have some cucumbers? I don't want to toss them to compost and I already have my share at my root cellar." It was very fortunate indeed that I had my potatoe bags with me. I picked 10kg of cucumbers- some of which were way too big - that was all I was able to carry home. I had those potatoes already...

I've made a test batch of relish, in next batch I need to reduce amount of sugar and use just a bit more vinegar.

Another walk in the woods. Yellowfoots are there. Mother Nature is so much better gardener. 

That's about it

Last night was 1,5C. Haven't checked pumpkins yet, but if they have survived this, next cold night will kill them. I tried to close polytunnel door, but zippers broke, or rather the plastic around zippers. I need to order another cover before spring. And I need to relocate anything worth saving from polytunnel before we'll have anothet cold night.

Gardening wasn't very productive this summer. Too hot, too dry and then too cold, whole August has been around or below 15C,  and nights have been cold. My damson was eaten by hare,  so I got like 5 fruits. Oh well, if hares were so hungry they needed my damson to survive, I let them eat it.

But I'm lucky my family will survive without my gardening skills 😁 It's just it would be nice to be able to feed my family myself, you know?

No waste pie

Or quiche. I found a packet of thinly sliced sandwich ham ( pålägg) which was already past it's use by date. There's two kind of dates here, best before and use by; best before means that product is at it's best until thst date, but it stays edible a lot longer (if it ever goes bad at all). Use by is more strict, it means this stuff is safe to eat before this date,  and might be bad or even dangerous later. I opened the packet and it was fine. But it was way too much to eat in my breakfast bun, so I thought I should bake a pie. Or quiche. Whatever, pie is easier to say and write.

I made my basic pie pastry and rummaged fridge for other ingredients. Some old hard Italian cheese (best before 27th July; it might be past it's prime because I've opened and eaten some of it but I quess it will keep until Christmas) and leftover of some emmental and soft cheese. End of zucchini, some wilted beet leaves. A carton of cream (best before 22nd July, but cream keeps a lot longer).

A much more than just a packet of ham about to be fed to 'Suma. She got few slices, so no worry.

I'm trying to avoid food waste, and these savoury quiches are easy and tasty way to use up leftovers and forgotten treasures. This one will be our lunch today, and my lunch tomorrow.

Just add mushrooms

At some point I calculated our gamily needs about a ton of vegetables (veggies, fruits, berries etc) in a year in order to get out five a day portions. And about a ton of carbohydrates, like potatoes, rice, pasta abd so on. So that's two tons of food from plants. Then add bread, crisps, popcorn and other cereal or potato based snacks... No wonder I feel like I'm just going in to the shops or coming from them...

It would be a cheap solution to grow everything by myself - if only I could do that. I might have mentioned few times our soil is dense clay, and there's not many plants that thrive in clay. And we have groug water very near surface, so fruit trees don't grow in our yard (even if we wouldn't get frost until late June and again in early August).

Being stubborn I still try to grow at least some of produce we use. I have some plants growing directly in the soil, and I have 5 raised beds/grow boxes.

This year I've been lucky with lettuce, it's been way over 6 weeks since I've bought any lettuce and there's more to come. I planted all lettuce in containers,  lettuce don't grow in clay at all.

All green beans we eat come from my veggie patch ( it's only up to 5kg, I use green beans in soups/stews, curries, stir fry's and chili con/sin carne type of things. Should eat more, green beans are one of crops that actually give a good harvest in most years.

I had high hopes for potatoes, but this dry and hot summer meant I have only small (cherry sized) potatoes. I guess I planted about 5kg of souds and might get harvest of 20kg? Anyway we have our own potatoes until September, it's not much but it is at least something.

Tomatoes are producing. Pea sized cherry tomatoes and cherry sized beef tomatoes... and I don't think it's all my incabability of growing, because my mother has been complaining the same thing. Plus they had someone eating tomato plants in their green house!

I've got two pickling cucumbers so far. This is the last year in the ground, next year I need to plant them in grow bags, containers or raised beds.

No glut of zucchinies, I've only got one so far. Only male flowers on any of my pumpkins and courgettes. I just don't get it - I've plants in directly in soil, in raised beds, in containers... I've been fertilizing them, and watering. Some of them frow in shadow, some in direct sunlight... I just don't get it. What's wrong with me and my cucurbitas?

Even my beets are sulking, those few which survived that thunder storm right after sowing... next year I'll plant seedlings again.

And my poor peas. Pidgeon hunting season is on...

Carrots are doing fine. Corn is still not producing cobs, but they are growing nicely. Might be too late to hope any harvest, there might bee frost nights soon.

At least my black currants were producing a lot of berries this summer.  I froze as much I could fit in the freezer, maybe 10kg? And myother made us cordial/juice to drink.

But now it's autunm and rains are here. I have foraged mushrooms every day this week, and we have been eating them every day. Chanterelles and porchinies. Os has porchini slices in his pizza instead of bought mushrooms. So far I think we have eaten about 10kg of mushrooms! And that is a lot!

When I take 'Suma to het morning walk,  I usually pick some porchinies, they are dense mushrooms so if I have five it's over 300g, and after work I take anothet walk in the woods and pick a small bag of chanterelles and few porchinies, so it's about 700g per day!

Soon we have eaten enough, and there's some left I can freeze/dehydrate. If I can get 40 bags to freezer, that's enough for the whole year (one meal per week during the off season). One bag is roughly 500-600g of fresh mushrooms, so one meal=one portion per person. Some years we have more, some years less, mushrooms are wild produce and I have no control what so ever over them. But so far nature seems to be much better in this producing edible food thing that I am.

Second jab

This week I got my second jab. Another nurse, she wasn't as good in jabbing as the first one. This time I felt the needle and stuff injected, but it wasn't bad. Just felt it. My vaccine is Moderna, and they say it has more side effects to others. Well, I got high fever on the next day (over 39), but not with my usual fever headache. And I was SO tired. I slept three hour nap in the afternoon after work and 10hrs night. Yesterday I was a bit off, but that's it.  Now I'm feeling fine. I'm waiting to get that funny wasp sting reaction next week, I know most people don't get it. I had it with my forst jab, but didn't have that high fever. We'll see 😆

Youngest boys will get their first jabs next week during school hours, so I have to make sure they have their social security cards with them (as id). 

Oh well. It's raining, and Baby Boy wanted to go outside early. Maybe he is willing to come back inside?

But 'shrooms!

Finally some rain!

Since wednesday we've had some on and off rain. Wednesday I travelled (by train!!!) to the very big city to farewell party for my co-worker who's off to another office for over three years. We had a lot of sparkling wine😆.  Evening was planned to be a picnic, but for the first time in 5 weeks it was raining bucketfuls. So I put my picnic blanket on the office coffee room's floor - nothing will spoil MY picnic!

I know, my co-workers think I'm bonkers. But at least the leaving one already knows that, he has known me and my brother since my brother moved to Danmark.

It was lovely small gathering, and eventually we spent some time on nearby rockcliff watching sunset. And THEN we slept in a HOTEL!!! First time since March 2020.

Now I have two weeks before hb's nephew's wedding, and I'm planning to isolate myself until that.

Garden isn't producing much, but at least we get all lettuce we need. This seems to be ok year for beans,  apart from broad beans which seems  hate hot weather. My black currants are loaded, berries might be small but bushes are full of them. I have four chili pods growing, there's a lot of flowers but it's a bit late.

I pulled most of garlic today, not much but a lot better that nothing! There's still few on the other frame,  so I will have enough to plant next years cloves later.

Big Brother wasn't amused. Rain and thunder is not his favourite weather.

Book worm

I used to profilic reader. And I mean it, I used to read a book a day, sometimes two. When boys died, I lost reading. I couldn't read a book - I couldn't even read an article out of a gardening magazine. Heck, I couldn't even read product labels of the food stuff I was buying!

But I've always been a reader, and it was another thing that hurt me,  another thing I lost with my children.

It took me years to be able to read any kind of fictional texts,  scientific and professional stuff came back first. And now I hope I've gotten reading back to me.

Last week d had to go to town because she needed a new bank account, internet banking stuff etc. So visit to bank was needed - we had to book meeting beforehand, and when I contacted that specific bank I got a meeting... In five weeks! It's impossible to rob a bank nowadays. Firstly, they don't let you in unless you have booked a meeting, they'll check your id before you even step inside the bank! And most notably, they don't have ANY money in bank!

Anyway, we managed to get everything done and on our way back to our car we spotted a small book shop of old/used books. We stepped in, and I lured d to look for reference books for her art and I was drawn to a scifi shelf... Now I'm owner of Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth (edited by J.R.R. Tolkien's son Christopher). It was labelled 40€ which was way above the price I could pay for one book. D found wonderful huge anatomy book (with a lot of drawings of dead people - what is that thing with anatomy drawings and dead people?) I found Asimov's The Gods Themselves and another scifi book I've wanted to read ever since it eas published,  but it's been available only in UK and I'm not there. I don't buy my books from net. And I don't read ebooks!

I left the Tolkien book on the shelf, and when we stacked other books on the till the owner told me he could sell me the Unfinished tales a bit cheaper. After some hmmms and ummms he made an offer I couldn't refuse! I won't be buying anything for quite a long time, that quick visit was way too expensive... but I know I'll be reading the Tolkien book for years. Asimov is already read. I sat down on Friday night and I thought I'll just read the first few pages. After four hours I had only few pages left. So I thought I might as well read the whole book in one sitting.  I hadn't read it before, but it's the same age I am! It was about time to read it!

But honestly, I don't remember when was the last time I was able to read a whole book in one go. And it was nice to find out that I'm still able to do that.

Tolkien book will not be read in one go. It will be read during several years. It's heavy, text is unfinished (as per title) and not a story, not even a background story, it's compilation of Tolkien's notes. 

I'm quite convinced my children will hate when I'm gone. I'm sorry.

This summer

Is an odd one. No frosts in  the spring, no rain in June and a heatwave running from June to The mid July. Now we have had several very cold nights. Last night was worst so far, 5C. It is July! Luckily temperatures didn't drop below freezing, that would have been a bit too much!

We've been splitting and cutting wood, 3/8 stacks done. It's just so freaking hot during daytime, should be doing perhaps at night but hb has so poor vision in dim light that it's impossible.

And still no rain.

No rain means no mushrooms, no juicy berries but constant forest fire danger. And we do live in  the middle of the woods... We still have water in the well, but this is happening like every other summer (no rain) so I've started to gather up ideas how to collect water during wet seasons. Australian have several solutions, but problem is they don't have to mind water freezing. Digging a pond might sound like a good idea, but it's not reliable one in the end. Old man thinks we have to get bore well, he wants to have one for heating purposes, one for the mansion for drinking water, and once the company is here it might just as well drill a home for us, too. It's just is't so expensive I can't afford it, something between 10 000€- 15 000€ minimum!

Oh well. It might happen anyway.

The hottest summer

I think we are having the hottest and driest summer ever. We had some rain roughly a week ago (for an hour or so, light drizzle), and before that it was two weeks without rain. June is supposed to be wettest of our summer months, and yes, it did rain at least in four days in June vs one day in July so far. 

But the heat! Our temps have been over 25C since Midsummer, 3 and half weeks, and no cooler weather is promised. Nights are warm, over 20C, which means house doesn't get any cooler during the night. We have our cooler, but it isn't meant to cool down this much. There's no night mist, I need to water my plants every day. But I just can't water potatoes. They have stopped growing and are drying. But at least there's some potatoes, and they  will keep nicely underground. It's not like they will rotten! More likely they'll bake...

But the soul is rock hard. Clay keeps moisture for a very long time, but not for ever! I dug first potatoes today, and it was hard work. I ended up breaking several spuds just because I had to use my hoe as an axe to get through hard dry clay!!! Potatoes are small, but at least I don't have to scrub them much, just to blow dust away before boiling!

Lidl's veggie box

Local Lidl sells past best before products (vegetables and fruits) in 2€ boxes, I think this is all over Europe thing?

I don't usually shop at Lidl, their range is just not for our family. I mean if we could eat ready made meals, there would be a lot of cheap and affordable stuff! My shopping is usually done at lunchtime or early afternoon,  and 2€ boxes are available in the mornings. When on rare occasion I'm nearby in the morning, I'll take a look.

Last Friday I was lucky, there were two identical boxes left! I bought only one, not wanting to be greedy.

I think contents were much much more worth than 2 euros I paid! I've already mentioned dill and lettuces. So 1 bunch of dill and purple seedless grapes, 2 bunches of seriously wilted lettuce, 12 mushrooms, about one kilo of new potatoes, 3 apricots, nectarines and oranges, and one huge apple and three  normal ones.

Some grapes were moldy, and some lettuce went to compost, too. One spud was spoiled, and that's it! Everything else was,  if not fine but at least edible.  I've made fruit salad twice and have still two apples and an orange left, lettuce is eaten, and potatoes were part of our lunch today. Os ate fried mushrooms while others had sausages.

Tomorrow D is having a meeting with school nurse, so I quess I'll pop at Lidl to find out if I'm lucky again.

Salmon soup

I bought a Lidl's 2€ boxes of past their best veggies. It had a bunch of dill in it, wilted as they are in those boxes. I just cut the stems and submerged tips in to ice cold water for a while. Tadaah! I had fresh dill. I don't usually use dill in cooking, because hb hates it. It was in fridge for several days smelling wonderful. D got an urge to have fish soup! I had bought yellow stickered  gravad lax for 1,5€, it wasn't much (150g) but I knew it was enough.

Had some old potatoes ( made mashed potatoes, you can't make mash with new spuds). They were on sale for 0,19€/kg, it was a shame I couldn't buy much... anyway. With 2 carrots, six potatoes, handful of peas and that gravad lax I made a very nice salmon soup. First I boiled peeled and diced potatoes and sliced carrots in mushroom salt seasoned water with some black pepper. Then I added fresh peas, the lax cut into small cubes and a cup of cream into a pot. It needed only few minutes to cook, and some more salt (using gravad lax you need to taste soup before adding any). Me and D shredded some dill in to our plates, hb ate as it was.

With some sourdough rye bread it was  delicious! I don't often make any fish soups, because none of boys eat it.

There were two bunches of sad and wilted salad in that box, too. I just picked all bad/brown/slimey leaves and submerged what was left in cold water. After a hour or so I got two perky bunches of crunchy salad! I'm quite convinced most people who bought those boxes just tossed away those salads,  which is a pity. With so little effort I got plenty of green to eat for three days, and now I don't have to buy any, because garden produces enough for us.

Heat is on

Most of Northern hemisphere is having a heat wave. If not, they are having floods. We are now on the heat cycle of it. My veggie patch is in dire need of weeding, but I can't do it. If I do weeding, my plants will suffer a heathstroke and they will die.

I'm watering, twice a day. I have finally - finally! - planted all my pumpkins and zucchinies and pickling cucumbers and they need constant watering. I don't water potatoes, but everything else.  I weeded one strawberry box and it was a mistake, now those plants are drying. But the box  was full of nettles... I need to replant more strawberries when I find some morsel of motivation.

Because of this heat I don't take 'Sumawalks at all, we wander aimlessly in near by woods which offer some shadow. 'Suma doesn't seem to mind.

I got an invitation to a hen party ( and to the wedding, too). I've never been in one! And the wedding, we realised it's the first time D will attend one, she's been in dozens of funerals, but never in a wedding! When I was a kid and a teenager, there were at least one wedding per summer, and not a one funeral per three years. Now it is complete opposite, well, the last 1,5 years funerals have been a small affair, but if it were normal times we would have attented at least three funerals (hb's old aunts and uncles have died during this coronatime, of old age, not on cancer or corona or whatever, and hb's old neighbour passed away, too). 

The hen party will be a small and quiet affair. We'll be having some western riding lessons, and nice evening with a small group of bride's friends, we'll be having sauna (bridal sauna), some good food and some bubbly. I'm suprised I'm actually looking forward to it!

I'm off for 4 weeks

 And it is lovely! I got everything done before last two days, so I managed to actually work shorter days.  It's been hot and hotter, and I'm happy we still have the swimming pool. My boss was a bit bored about it, every Teams begun with a question "So you were swimming right?"

Kids are bored, we've had major mosquito attack and outside was a no go zone for two weeks, now we have huge horse flies. Ah the wonders of nature!

Poor 'Suma, look at her head!

Gardening has been slow, because it's been so hot and windy. And thundery. We've had more thunderstorms this June than during all summer ever before. My polytunnel has bravely kept it's stand, it got a bit ripped, but I need a new cover anyway, it's fragile and disintegrating. It's plastic, it will not last forever.

Last summer was misery for my corn, but this year seems so much mire promising. I have more than 20 healthy plants! I did plant some bean seedlings between cornplants, and few courgettes/pumpkins, I hope that three sisters really benefit each others.

There are garlics at the end of this frame. I cut scapes already, I don't remember they have been this early before.

Old man has been splitting wood in out back yard and I've been stacking. 

This might be enough for the winter,  we still have some logs stacked at the wood store left. 

These are huge, there were six these massive ones. They are so big they can't be split by splitting maschine, they just don't fit in it. So old man has old time tools, hammer, wedges and an axe.

He agreed it was enough for one day, and I bet mum agreed on that.

So far I've picked rocket from the polytunnel. And three strawberries. There is salad leaves ready to be harvested. I'm bad at growing strawberries, but there's a plenty of runners this summer, too. So we'll have strawberries next summer, too.

Being prepared

 On Friday morning, while I was on 'Sumawalk, old man called, he was going to come to our house and cut the water off. In an half an hour. Yikes!

I mean, I needed a dip in the pool after the walk,  so I needed to hurry. I still had a good fifteen minute walk back home...

At home, after a swim,  I took all buckets and my BIG pans  and filled them with tap water. I filled my kettle and few empty Cola bottles. When old man and hb say water will be back by Saturday afternoon, I think maybe late on Monday. So I made sure I had enough water for four days.

Then I had my breakfast and logged  to my laptop.

Our water boiler in old, from '82 or '84, and it's been on it's last legs since... Last century? We ordered a new one, and a new water pump, too. So this water being cut off wasn't unexpected, but as always  you never know what will happen...

So, it's Monday and by noon we had running water! My quess was perfect.

It's not the drinking water which runs out, it's the toilet. Doing dishes takes a LOT of wayer, too. And washing yourself, too.

But, it's summer, and we have an outhouse. A working, clean composting toilet. We have a swimming pool. So when kids got fed up with outhouse loo, they just took a bucket of water from the pool anf flushed toilet with that. If you feel dirty, take a swim. Or a bucket of water and some soap. Maybe not the easiest way, but bulletproof.

And now? I'm going to fill dish washer and do a load of laundry in washing machine. Aaah the bliss of working domestic appliances!

Why bother?

As a gardener someone might feel the same. I mean why bother to sow, plant, weed, water, tend.. When it's going to be ruined every year. At least for different reasons.

I had 6 rows of peas and sugar snap peas. Pidgeons ate them, there's only tiny holes left. I managed to sow two long rows of beets, and soon after there was first proper thunder storm. I guess there's going to grow some nice beet seedlings among hay around my plot.

Aaaaaargh!

Worn out

I'm tired. I was at the office today.  I took my car to garage, it's MOT time again. The garage is 2km from my office and 12km from home - it was easy to decide which way to walk after dropping the car in the morning... and it was after my morning 'Sumawalk ( an hour walk). But most tasking was to actually to meet people and converse with them! So odd feeling doing that, I even ate my lunch with someone, not alone like I've done for the last 15 months.

'Suma wasn't happy for me being away all day,  but she wasn't alone, only ys is at school, others are homeschooling until end of term. None of them isn't doing anything useful anymore, tomorrow they are having picnic. Kids take their phones or laptops outside with their favourite eats and a glass of bubbly (most will have a glass of Coke or lemonade,  some will have sparkling water) and thry toast to summer, together and apart. A bit sad, but that's how it is now.

This, too, shall pass.

A bit more summerlike

Rain is on pause. Now ot feels like summer, and wr haven't have freezing temps at nights for over two weeks.

Potatoes have sprouted as well as broad beans, pumpkins, zucchinies, beans and pickling cucumbers. I got 10 tomato plants from old man and my mother and my chillies and papricas are still alive. Nice!

Lawn is been cut once (hb got stuck in a mud three times) and needs another cut. Baby boy has been out and about every day in and around our yard.  Cranes have two chicks.

I have been editing two video lectures for an online course. I hate looking at myself, and looking AND listening at the same time was a bit too much. I've been on telly once and I still feel nauseous about it. But I got it done and now I feel free!

I have no idea how other people do it, how they can film themselves and put it on their blog or YouTube channel.

There's much to do, but now that I got rid of those stupid videos I  feel like I have all time in the world. D and sys are home schooling again, there is Delta variant causing trouble now (Indian variant). Got my first jab, hb got his two days later, my brother got his yesterday and sister is getting hers on friday. 

There is light at the end of the tunnel. I just hope it's not a train coming...

Wet, windy and chilly

It's been raining all week. And by rain I mean record amounts of water, flooding, eroded roads (and not only country gravel roads but big tarmac roads have been eaten away by rain).  So, no mowing, no sowing, no weeding. Nights have been chilly, a bit confusing as it is raining all night. And Thunderbird. 'Suma hears thunder and thinks someone's coming by car! We haven't actually haven't any visitors since Number Two's name revealing party/sys's and d's combined bitrhdayparties. Oh well.

It's been Eurovision Song Contest week. I quite like Ukrainan song  Shum. Last year Russian had that bonkers Uno, this year their piece is much more boring. Finland's Dark Side is good, but I don't really  get Italian Måneskin's Zitti e buoni. I know their name means moonshine, but for me it doesn't have the right kick!  And they can't pronounce their own name with å. Icelandic Ten years is ok, but their last year's song Thinking about things was perfect! But it is sweet on it's own.

Aching

 Ouch.

I'be been gardening. Yesterday I finally got all potatoes planted. I thought I had enough seedlings fo two long rows. I made four.

As you can see, we have hardly any leaves yet.

Hb got the plot tilled on wednesday evening, and it's perfect for planting now. Not too dry and luckily not too wet. This is still mostly clay. I had to left a small triangle untouched because one of my black currants has decided to go wild.  It produces most sweet berries AND I got it from my grandmother, who had planted it just for me. So if someomr's got to giveroom, it's the plot.

I'm really behind on everything, we had snow just two weeks ago! Well, now, potatoes took a huce chunk of my plot  so I don't have to plant too much other stuff. Broad beans, beets, pumpkins or courgettes, chard and peas. My frames will be filled with corn, beans, carrots and pickling cucumbers. Last year I got one corn cob! But was suprinsingly lucky with cucumbers. Oh, I have to remember spinach!

I hope I'll get tomato plants from Old man, I have my own chillies. 

And I have three more black currants to plant and two frames of strawberries to weed.

Ouch.

And here we go again

D and sys are home schooling again, there's been cases at both schools (or more likely same people who teach in both schools). Ys can go to school, his school is a smaller one and they don't have same teachers. I was waiting for this because they have keep telling there's no way home schooling will be back, because there's no covid anymore. Funny thing there's been cases - if not daily but several every week.

What?! It's May?

 Oh dear.

It's been a.... spring. End of winter and then spring. We've had birthdays (d is now "adult" which she has found very difficult to digest). Ys is a teen, which is a bit sad.

Baby kitten got stuck in a tree. Well, not stuck, but too afraid to climb down. I had to call a tree climber (arborist) to fetch him down after three days. Very embarrassing for a countrywoman like me. Baby brother has lost his nuts since. And no more kitten pee on beds.

I got polytunnel up, and right after that we've had three weeks of snow and frosts. Great. I have sown some chillies, they're doing fine on top of my freezer, I have two growing lights for them.

We had a kind of lockdown, but numbers went down before lockdown was on, so we are basically in slow limbo. Covid19 cases are low, but not low enought. I've worked long hours and I do hope after summer this will be mostly gone. I would love to work with something nice for a change, like waste water Managementin plants of farms with million tons of manure stinking to high heavens. My Covid19 tracing education has proven to be beneficial even I dont't do actual tracing.

We have one meat free day per week. Hb hasn't noticed and sys wants me to cook (why autofill wants me to "cook reindeer"?) soy strips.

This weeks meatless meal was cream of spinach soup made fron last of last summer spinach from freezer. Milk was out of date more than a week, byt it didn't split. So, I managed to reduce food waste and use odds and ends. Win win and the soup was nice with boiled eggs and sourdough rye bread.

I've been watching the Crown, and then Duke of Edinburgh passed away. It was sad, as always, but I think it wasn't unexpected. He was 99, and after watching the Crown, endless documentaries and reading all kinds of orbituaries I think he lived his life content and with meaning. Can't ask much more?

Messes dealt, mostly

I have one last load of stinking landry left, I had to was other clothes in between. But ys has a clean bed and bedsheets, and all is well until next time.

Fiftr, an incontinent dane would be a lot to handle  and you are absolutely right, everything is forgiven, always. I have taken those animals, they live in our house, and it is our responsibility ta take care of all the mess, too.

I have few days off, but nothing really changes. I didn't have my alarm set, but Baby Brother woke me up at the same time I usually get up. I took 'Sumawalk, and had breakfast. I need to set fireplaces ready and cook lunch to kids. I just don't sit in front of my laptop whole day.

Stinking mayhem

We had a bit of a situation this morning.  Someone (I know who) left Big Brother in bathroom/sauna. I had some clean dry laundry left there, because... anyway. BB needed to pee, and no-one opened doors for him. So he peed on my clean laundry. No big thing. But, he's a big boy and does a big pee, so... someone's got to wash sauna seats now (they are made of ashen).

And while BB was making a lot of mess on bathroom, BabyBrother got scared and peed on sys's bed. And then sys found BB and let him free but didn't realize there was a pee in the sauna. And I only went to check later, so now everything (laundry baskets, sauna and bathroom) stinks of cat pee and shampoo, because BB also knocked down every bottle from the windowsill and some of bottles leaked, because they weren't thightly closed.

Sister's cat made a poo behind a tv-set this morning.

Sand dunes of Sahara

We had a sandstorm. No, not that Sandstorm  This one came straight from Sahara!

As we are heading towards spring, this orange dust will thaw snow faster. A week ago we had something like -25C, today we had +5C. I'd like to have slower changes, but no-one asks me.

D and sys will be at school tomorrow, and then they are home schooling again another month. Ys will be at school  for time being. 

Was that it?

 Brothet just messaged me saying that's it for the winter. I disagree, but he's living near sea and we're inland. Yesterday morning it was -10C, and by midnight it was raining. Water. 

But I still don't think os needs to mow next week

I haven't done anything towards sowing seeds yet. I'll need to check my chillies, they need longest time. And warmest place.

Tomorrow I'll take my car to garage, one of cooler lines needs replacing ( things happen when it's really cold) and changing oil might be a good idea. Have no idea how to get d to school in the morning and back home at noon, but it'll work out.

Wow, ok, I'm not complaining

We have a winter here. But North Amerikan has THE Winter. 

My knees might got frozen this morning while on really short 'Sumawalk, just about a mile, but they'd thawn once I got inside in my warm home with power on and thick insulation all over. I have specific clothes to protect me and my children got to school in warm school taxi. Our water pipes will not freeze, and even if there would be long power cuts, I'm able to keep our house warm safely with fireplaces, which don't let carbon monoxide inside. All our cars have specific winter tyres so we can drive safely, and roads are well maintaned and clear of snow (because we have paid my cousin for doing that, he has equipment to do that).

I have fridge full of food  and freezers, too. And in case of power cut I can just put stuff from freezer outside, they keep well there in - 27C. I know how to cook with my woodburning stove. I know my relatives are all safe.

I'm lucky one, in so many ways.

Winter chores

Than you Fiftr for you thoughts. I really have had a fun figuring out how to use some products from D's school lunch bags. Those ready meals are kind of Ok, they are basic and as healthy as they would be if you would make them at home. So sometimes not so healthy😋😋😋

We do have just as much junk food in shops that any other place in the world. But we don't have so called food deserts (where only junk food is available, no fresh products or even basic ingredients). In every grocery shop there's plenty of choice. Food is expensive around here, even junk food, partly because we do have so much to choose from. Most people know how to cook (if not taught at home then learnt basics at home economics at school - at least they know how to cook pasta and bake oat rolls).

But they don't teach you to cook with wood burning stove at school.

Our cold is dry cold. Wet cold is so much worse to cope. And we usually have only mild winds, because we live inlands. My brother lives near seashore, and they do have much worse winds all through the year. So it might not be as cold as we have, but I'm absolutely sure I'd freeze and be miserable with moist sea air and few minus degrees too. It's easier to stay warm without wind.

This week was maybe the coldest week of this winter. Two mornings in a row I had to cut 'Sumawalk short because just didn't want to get freeze burns on my knees or cheeks. - 26C, thank you but no thank you.

But it's been breathtakingly beautiful.

About 8.15AM sun is not yet above treeline. It is even more pink in real life, could't change settings while taking pictures  fingers and screen wouldn't work if exposed too long to below -20C temps.

Number Two had her first birthday, my sister set up a little garden party. It was fortunate it was only -10C that day! 

I sew her a dress. 

I thought the pattern looked a bit big for a tiny fairy like Number Two, so so I made a practice dress first. I had this cute cat print, and I knew my sister would like it (she's a bit picky like all little sisters) and I was right. On both. Cat dress is too big, but with few alterations it's perfect. And sis loved the fabric!

Finally, the birthday dress. This is the back, front is without buttons, just like in the cat dress above.

I bought this grey linen  online, but ordered a sample first. Sis approved it so I had the right fabric. Then we spent three hours chosing right buttons, not an easy task if you can't visit the house...

First time in ages I had serious trouble with buttons. I think I sew every button at least three times. But now they are on and it's sister's headache to iron wrinkles! She wanted linen, sho got it, and she deals with wrinkles, too!

I know other people go to house parties and restaurants and visit friends and family, but we don't do any of that. Old man is still a high risk one and we really really want to have him with us much longer. So not only my parents stay away from other people, but also we who see them try to stay away any situations we might get infected. And by seeing them I mean we meet them 2m apart outside or leave their groceries on their porch without going inside. My aunt visits them, and that means we don't visit her, we only talk through open door/window. 'Suma is the only one allowed to go inside her house (and she hates furry animals but for some reason has developed a soft spot for our cats and dogs. She has dog treats and asks 'Suma to come in to eat them! She'd never ever allowed dogs inside her house before our Blackie!

School meals at home?

D is at home for three weeks, before that they were alternating home and physically at school every ither week. She's not coping well schoolwise  but socially Ok.

I've picked her school meal packets/bags every week now.

So in three weeks she has got:

3kg potatoes

2kg carrots

1 tomato

1 orange

1 iceberg salad head

2 sweet papricas

1 container potato salad

1 bottle of salad dressing

400g pasta

1kg rice

1kg porridge oats

1 jar strawberry jam

1 jar salsa

1 jar sweet'n sour sauce

1 tub spread

1l milk 

5 cheese rolls

400g crispy rye bread

1 packet soft rye bread ( sourdough)

10 eggs

400g minced meat

150g shredded cheese

1 bag prunes

1 tin tuna

Taco shells

1 tub cheesy dip

1 packet sausages

1 packet chicken nuggets

2 packets pancakes (spinach and plain)

1 bag chicken meat balls

1 tin split pea soup

1 container creamy vegetable soup

3 bags pasta meals ( just add water. And flavour)

4 microwave meals (lasagne, chicken soup, salmon casserole, ham casserole)

I'm actually a bit confused, this is SO much! I'm also very thankful. This is by no means "free" food, I've paid it in my taxes, but I have to say I've really got my money's worth! I'm not going to complain lack of fresh fruits ( it's winter) or amounts of processed meats (this needs to be edible for teenage boys, and they need their meatballs and sausages -and I could have ordered vegetarian packs, I chose carnivore version).

Kids are loving those ready meals, we don't usually have them! I'm happy there's also been  things to make meals from scratch, so I've been able to use them in our family meals.

On Friday we'll hear if she will be studying at home or be able to go back to school. Unfortunately I think she'll be at home few more weeks. It isn't doing any good to her studies. I'm considering if I should ask if she'd be able to redo these terms again next year. She's agreeing with me  which is very worrying.

I might be a hermit

 I've always known I like my own company. I didn't have friends, we lived quite isolated in the countryside, everyone around was either my own relatives or their relatives. In the early '70s there was a distinct lack of babies and children, there were first two (me and my cousin) and later six (our siblings and two neighbours's kids). Generation before us was THE baby boom generation after the war. So, because I wasn't very interested in wrestling in mud and tearing heavy machinery to parts, I had to find ways to keep me occupied.

I learnt to read all by myself when I was five, I learnt to sew and knit and crochet a bit later. In between I learnt how to pick mushrooms - quite an achievement because at that point I didn't eat any. My grandparents taught me, and I knew how to read so I read mushroom picking guides. At school I had some friends, basically we all considered everyone a friend because there was less than 50 pupils during my first years at school. In the whole school. 

But even then I felt a bit isolated, because most girls lived right next to school and I lived in the middle of the forest.

Later I went to a boarding school, which was the absolute peak of my social life. I even have managed to keep in touch with one of my then  friends  - we meet only twice a year, but we still hold on.

My university era was, again, less social (I lived in shared flat with two other girls from other schools/unis and during those years we were tight pack, but after that we just vanished from each others lifes) I keep occasional contact to few of my fellow student mates, but it's professional, circles are so small. I was already living with my hb ( when I wasn't staying in uni town).

I got job, then another and then another. I got kids, lost kids,  and realised I didn't want much from my life. I'm content here if I can't go to Mars.

It's been a year since covid came here. Since then I've worked mostly from home. I do miss meeting my clients, and I look forward to meet few of my co-workers ( but not all of them) when we must meet at the office, but I'm relieved when I come back home. I do once a week shopping for groceries, and if I have to go to town otherwise I feel uneasy. ( we call running to errands "going to town"). I work long hours, much more than before this virus. 

I see my sister about once every fortnight, my parents once or twice a week  and my aunt few times a week. And I mean SEE, we talk through open doors/windows when I'm dropping groceries or my lil sis is picking a bag of old kids' clothes for number one or number two. Last time I've been inside anyone else's home was in summer, and we were mostly on the patio. Sometimes, maybe once a month, I go for a walk with sis, we keep our 2m distance. My brother lives in high infection rate area, we don't see each other, but now we use Signal to keep in touch.

And I'm OK with this.  Of course I'm extremely lucky because I CAN work from home full time, I never had any social hobbies like choir ( can't sing) or theatre or drinking with friends. I have decided a long ago not to go holidays abroad (because of environmental reasons and because it is so difficult to find petsitter for our pack). I'm content on my solitude, I find no reasons to interact people in real life. Maybe this is just a continuation from my chilhood, when I had whole universe with me in my books. Now it's Internet and I don't have to wait for two weeks to get letter from Vienna.

I'm not missing anything, there is no void of iterraction in my life. All right, I lied. I DO miss meeting and holding number two! She'll be one in no time and I've hold her only few times. I miss the smell of a baby.

But it is what it is. I'm living content in a middle of a forest. I'm about to finish my covid tracker training soon, so that's another skill I can claim to have. Doing tracking means I will not meet people, I'm contacting them only by phone...

Another year, another winter wonderland

As a dog owner I go for a walk several times a day. 'Sumawalks. No matter how cold, wet, windy or dark. I don't much care about walking,  it's boring at times. But sometimes it's just breathtakingly beautiful.

Our closest neighbouring house that actually has someone staying there occasionally.

We walk several routes. In mornings we often walk a circular route around the  village, there's few houses by the road. Some of them are empty, void of occupants. Some of them have a large family living there. Few houses belong to widowed older ladies, women here do outlive their husbands seceral years if not decades.  It's dark both in mornings and evenings.

Young oak at my aunts front yard. It shines brightly across fields. 

There's enough snow for decent skitracks. I don't like skiing, too much trauma from school days. Always last at competitions.

Sys likes skiing. And 'Suma likes winter.

I know we're lucky n many many ways. We live in a place without lockdown, we have all this wilderness AND fields to walk. We have neighbours who can keep our roads clean and safe, I can work from home. 

A bit like '70s photo. This my home.

Coping the cold

 It's been cold few days. First we had what was left of Spanish snowstorm. We got only like 10 more centimeters of snow, but it came with harsh wind and formed tight dunes over all roads. We managed Ok, but school taxi got stuck in the snow and the driver had to dig his van free. Poor guy, but that's why they have shovels in cars.

Then my cousin (ex rally driver ) tested his four wheel drive and narrowly escaped ditch, but of  course our new postman followed his  wheeltracks and got stuck in the ditch. I love my cousin but sometimes he drives me nuts.

After snowstorm came deep freeze. A good time to defrost the freezer... no suprises there, a bit dissapointing to be honest. I would love to have found some salmon or fish eggs... but no.

We had to buy new skis and ski boots for ys, they has PE at school and because someone destroyed skating ice, no skating, only skiing. PE is everything outside because of covid. Skis and boots fit sys too, he likes to ski, and our neighbour already made skiing track base in to the fields. At 11pm, in -27C. No bad weather  only wrong clothing.

I knew cold weather was on it's way, so I made  sure I burnt enough wood in all fireplaces a day before. If the house  is warm when cold weather hits, it's much easier to keep warm. If I let house to cool down and the try to heat it with excess wood burning, I only end up with cracked chimneys. Our house is big and I can keep it warm(ish) with electric (we have under floor heating), but I'm not happy to pay all that money.

I made sure I brought two crates full of fire wood inside so I didn't had to worry if I'm too busy to get them inside when it's really cold ( still working from home). I checked kids had warm clothes ready. They have thick coats with hoods. When temperatures go down  a hood is easy way to protect head and face. Even better if it has ( fake) fur trim, it creates micro climate inside the hood and your face will not freeze.

I got frostbites on my face when I was a child  cheeks freeze easily if there's wind. So my face gets easily frostbitten even now, so I know it is important to protect kids' faces.

And cold weather came. -30C was coldest. In really really cold winters it might get down to  -37C, but it rarely happening. Once in a decade. Usually cold spells are only down to - 25C to -30C. Yes, it is cold. Sys complained hs nosehair froze inside his nostrils. Sorry but I laughed so hard...

Mrs Nostradamus made a scarf for The Doctor, I made them to my kids.

Very useful.

And yes, they are waiting taxi inside a bin shelter, it was built for that,  too. It gives protection from rain and winds, and my aunt sort her rubbish so there's no foul smells. Boys  have long johns under they trousers, and hand knitted socks.

'Suma has no problems to go out for any reason or to go just for a walk. So far so good  but my knees are freezing. The colder it gets the shorter walks we do. Now it's roughly 20 min and 2km. Pretty Boy and Big Brother have decided litter box will do until it gets warmer. Cars must be preheated. My gearbox was a but stiff, but it warmed soon enough.

Some things are on hold until it gets warmer. But it's ok, it will get warmer. In the meantime we just try not to get frostbites or hypothermia.

Mushroom and freeze

It's getting colder. Funny thing, every time it's getting 5 more degrees down, I need a new piece of clothing. And after two days, I can drop that extra occasionally. Until it gets another 5 degrees ( celsius)  colder  when I need to keep that extra layer and add another piece again.

So it's been a winter. 'Suma loves snow, and she doesn't mind getting frost beard. She's so cute, I love her shnautzer beard!

Kittens hate winter, the cold, the wet and snow. Pretty Boy and Big Brother go outside to do their deeds and rush back as fast as they can. Baby Boy has been outside once and he could't get inside fast enough!

I got a darning mushroom as a Christmas present. I like it a lot, so much easier than using a bottle or a jar...

Can't do darning without proper snacks.

I just don't know how to take photos with my hand holding the phone...

I'm not trying to make pretty patches, I just want holes gone. So far I've got six pair back to daily use. It means I don't have to knit another pair for a while...

Winter

 

We have winter. I'm trying to learn to use my phone as a camera. After all I went on a week long course for audiovisual  presentation this autunm, so I should practise.

 Sys built a snowman on the other day, now we have frost so no more rolling snowballs. Today wasn't snowing anymore, so a short breather from all shoveling. 

Today is os birthday. He is 21 now, he asked for some money for his steam account, a cake and deer stew. Hb transferred the money, and I baked a cake and cooked his favourite dinner. 

A bit pricey for a simple meal: reindeer is the most expensive meat I agree to buy. We don't have reindeers here, too south. I made reindeer stew once for him when he was a toddler, and ever since he asks for it every now and then. For the price of 25-40€/kg I just can't cook reindeer very often, if I can find it at all. I know many people think I've stolen from Santa's herd, but if we have this once a year, I don't think it's a worst of my sins.

Few more days off, and then back to the office. This time I'm really going in to my office, I still need to sort and pack one shelf full of books.  Friday is my last day ever in my own office. From monday I'll have only my laptop, a keyboard and a mouse and every time when I'm in the office, I just have to find an empty working station... not looking forward to that.