kevät – Page 7 – Owlnature

Some pics five days ago and today…

Spring really has sprung. It’s been very warm, 20 degrees Celsius and even a bit warmer for so many days, the sun’s been shining every day and it hasn’t rained. OK, and I visited Turku – I still have one part of my belongings there, but not for long anymore. 🙂 So, I spent three days in a block of flats, on the second floor, and I didn’t go outside at all. Probably had some things to do inside there. 😀 Now I’m back in our country home. In this blog post I have some pics I took on Thursday before travelling to Turku, and pics I took today. They’re like five days ago and today -pics of leaves and ‘stuff’, taken from the same spot. And it’s time to start taking pics of newly emerged or opened up flowers, too.

Leaves of redcurrant five days ago.

The same spot today. OK, and today I remembered again that it’s time to accept that the light dazzles and wind blows in summer when you take pics outside… 🙂

Buds in redcurrant five days ago…

…and the same spot today. There will be berries!

Raspberry leaves five days ago…

…the same spot today.

Lilac bush five days ago…

…and the same spot today. There’s already even a flower bud! Oh, how I love lilacs! 🙂 My favourite bushes. Luckily the previous owners of this house have liked them a lot, too… more pics of lilacs later… 😉

Leopard’s Bane or doronicum has opened up some of her flowers.

Narcissus buds and small grape hyacinth that suddenly emerged again last week. The previous owners of this house have planted these. And there’s narcissus and small grape hyacinth growing on several spots in the garden. More pics of all the flowers later on… Today I found out for example that we have here also quite big flower buds on some plants that I don’t remember knowing what they are and who planted them… 🙂

So this is the time of the year that you truly feel positively overwhelmed by it all… the constantly more and more emerging colour green, grass, leaves, buds, flowers – the abundance of nature all around us, everywhere. It wouldn’t be this amazing and miraculous if we didn’t have the long wintertime… Yesterday when I was travelling in the car from Turku to our country home here in Eura, I really was dazzled and amazed by everything around – the leaves and all that had grown so much in a few days, when I had been inside on the second floor for the three whole days. – It was like the best thing to do these days… 😀 But right now I need to get outside for a bit. So, here was this blog post, and let us take more pics of everything a bit later – right now the memory card of my camera is stuffed, too, and the battery is low. 🙂

-Leena

Campfires and delicacies

So, the campfire people, too, were celebrating vappu on Saturday…

In our garden late in the evening. We had a campfire also on Sunday night. I love it how every campfire is different and the fire itself is constantly changing. Staring at fire is one of the most relaxing things I know… and the warmth at cooling night-time is nice, too.

And the food… Just a pic of campfire marshmallows I had.

Some more delicacies… this is the second chili pepper that we have eaten now, this was yesterday night just before dinner – I was so hungry that I wasn’t able to take a better pic… just needed to have my potatoes… 🙂

Our chili peppers are a bit burning, but delicious. Eating just half the pepper is enough, which is quite good – one pepper for two people… and our chilies are not even that hot types of chili peppers. But they burn nicely. 🙂

And… today I took pics of the real traditional homemade vappu delicacies; this is munkki – like a doughnut ball, simply a ball (mine is a kind of a ball 🙂 ) of wheat flour spiced with ground cardamom and deep-fried in oil and then rolled in sugar. A sin. 😉

And here’s some traditional homemade sima. Sima is a Finnish slightly fermented lemon drink, sweet and sparkling. There’s water, white sugar, brown sugar, the flesh of a lemon, the rind of a lemon, a very tiny piece of yeast and raisins.
To be honest, our sima is still kind of fermenting, but this already tastes like the real deal. And sima is a fresh and good drink for the whole summer as well. And it’s not supposed to be an alcoholic beverage, sima is suitable for children, too. 🙂

-Leena

Celebrating spring

This weekend is something like the sun kind of in the coffee glass…

It’s Vappu in Finland. 🙂 – Vappu, May Day, First of May, May 1st…

The main thing with the Vappu celebration for many people, including myself, is celebrating spring. But how we celebrate tends to vary. We here at our home we’re just at home taking it easy. Maybe going for a car ride as well. And having some traditional homemade Vappu delicacies – a couple of pics here in my blog later on, hopefully. 🙂

A narcissus flower is kind of in the coffee glass, too. 😀

This year the weather is quite OK as well…

Some more violas…

There can’t be too much of the colour yellow in spring. 🙂

This was yesterday evening when we stopped by the lake Pyhäjärvi.

-Leena

The crocus flower today

Now. This made me want to run… 😉 (Why? Answer here. 🙂 ) There’s also another crocus, but it doesn’t have a flower at all – just the green parts…

Only one flower and a pic overflow… it couldn’t be any other way.

So subtle…

Grateful for this! 🙂

So, did I miss something a year ago…?

-Leena

Hailing, snowing, grounding…

It started to snow last night. Some very big snowflakes – snowflakes weren’t that big in the winter… and today there was snow on the ground:

But now it has already started to melt and the sun’s been shining, too, buuut… some more snow is falling right now again, too. Anyway. 🙂

Well, this was on Saturday, it hailed one more time on that day. The tiny snow balls were quite beautiful on the growing field in our garden. It’s actually nice to stand in the hail fall – the bouncing tiny snow balls are fun.

Yesterday ended with snowfall, but earlier it was sunny and warm. As I took this pic, I was sitting on the ground, half in our garden, half in the woods. 🙂 I had to put a cap on my head because the sun felt so hot on my head, and after coffee I felt the need to get some fresh tap water with cucumber. I like very much making these kind of tasty waters; with veggies, herbs, berries, fruits…

Just wait for it… Is it going to hail or sleet or…? – A bit later I was sitting on the ground on an other spot in our garden, watching the clouds approaching…

This was actually the first time I took my slippers off outdoors this spring. And the sunshine was dazzling. It felt so nice!

A person in Finland takes off the slippers and feels some dry earth beneath the woolen socks… feels heavenly. 😉 I love sitting on the ground and getting some good energy from the earth. 🙂

Did I say we don’t have crocuses in our garden…? Well, the thing is, last spring, which was our first spring in this house, we had this one in the pic. 😀 The previous owners of this house have planted something… It wasn’t and it’s not like a whole crocus flower, it’s just… half the crocus flower. I was so sure this won’t spring up anymore, but what do you know… all of a sudden it’s just there. The funny thing is that I’ve been watching this spot, checking it almost every day for this flower, but haven’t been able to see anything, but just suddenly – there it is again! 😀 Well, if this now opens up to be a whole flower…

And yesterday I dug up the remains of the summer flowers from last year and worked the soil barehanded – I love it! Black-tipped fingernails are in again. 😉 The previous owners of this house have made this flower bed. And I am grateful for it! This has a beautiful shape and the mossy edges are lovely.

Ok, being outside in the garden and in nature is wonderful, but sometimes you just need to be an inseparable part of the couch… and that’s completely fine, too! You don’t always have to be outdoors… 🙂

-Leena

Hail, sleet, sunshine… and these growing in the garden right now

But first one pic from Thursday… we had like ‘forgotten’ all about our Nordic walking poles, but on Thursday we felt the need…

…the need for speed. 😉 In the forests here at home. Hopefully there will be some more pics and stories about my Nordic walking here in my blog later on. I mean, that I will now continue this hobby of mine…

So the weather has been a bit on the weird side lately; it’s been hailing and sleeting, but there’s been a lot of sunshine, too – even at the same instant – for example yesterday, it was hailing heavily and the sun was shining at the same time, I even ate one of the tiny snow balls yesterday, but today, is it summer yet…? No, today it’s been sleeting, again, but the sun’s been shining, too. Clearly, the summer is coming to Finland. 😉

Dandelion greens – food! (Not weed… 🙂 ) I already started the nettle tasting season. Yummies, let us eat more nettles and dandelions – the buds and flowers, too, later on, here in my blog…

A garden bunny is a happy bunny.

Just one pic of the whole narcissus plant we have in the flower pot…

In our garden there’s narcissus growing from the ground, too. Here’s some of them. They have bigger flowers and also some different colours in the flowers. The previous owners of this house have planted them. Thank you!

Rhubarb, coming through! We’re used to having a rhubarb overflow, had to cut some of them down last summer. The previous owners of this house have planted these, too. Thanks! 🙂

The peonies! Here’s some of my growing darlings. Aand, the previous owners of this house have planted these as well. And I am so thankful! 🙂 Peonies are my great favourites.

-Leena

Viola’s eyes

I took these pics in our garden today. Violas…

There was this guy who enjoyed the flowers as much as I did.

…nothing more. 🙂

-Leena