Award

I got this lovely award from Sandy. It's very heartwarming, thank you!
Right now I find it way too difficult to choose blogs I love, because there are hundreds of them, so I'm gonna be a bit dull and not pass this on.

Poetry

I've mentioned before my love for Anna Akhmatova's poetry. I'm still not good enough with russian, so that I could fluently read the poetess' authentic language. Marja-Leena Mikkola has translated Akhmatova's works to finnish in 1992, not all of them though, but an inclusive collection. To my surprise, I found that she has now made a new edition of the poems, some of which she has even changed a bit. This new book also includes works that haven't been previously translated.


Here's one of my favourites in english and in finnish (the newest translated version)

Willow

And I grew up in patterned tranquillity,
In the cool nursery of the young century.
And the voice of man was not dear to me,
But the voice of the wind I could understand.
But best of all the silver willow.
And obligingly, it lived
With me all my life; it's weeping branches
Fanned my insomnia with dreams.
And strange!--I outlived it.
There the stump stands; with strange voices
Other willows are conversing
Under our, under those skies.
And I am silent... As if a brother had died.

Paju

Kasvoin koruommelkuvioiden hiljaisuudessa
nuoren vuosisadan viileässä lastenhuoneessa.
Eikä ihmisen ääni ollut minulle rakas,
mutta tuulen ääntä saatoin ymmärtää.
Rakkaita olivat ohdake ja nokkonen,
vaan rakkain kaikista paju hopeinen.
Ja paju kiitollisena eli kanssani
koko elämänsä, unettomuuteeni
leyhytti unia itkevillä oksillaan.
Kummallista! -elin sitä kauemmin.
Tuossa törröttää nyt kanto, ja vierailla äänillään
toiset pajut juttelevat niitä näitä keskenään
yhteisen taivaamme alla. Olen ääneti...
Tuntuu kuin olisi kuollut oma veljeni.

Project management (or the lack of it)

I have several crafty projects going on and you can certainly see that when you step in to my home. All tables are full of stuff, piles here and there, lists of things to do lying around. But even if it looks like a total mess, I know where everything is. Let's call it a creative chaos. It sounds better.

Cheering up

Oh my, it's so rainy and dark outside. I can't even take proper photos because of the missing light. In the middle of this depressive weather I wanted to cheer myself up and bought a big and pretty tea mug. I'd been admiring this Iittala's "Taika" mug for a while, and now it was on sale, so I just finally had to have it.

Always learning

I signed up for this online class. I'm not really a scrapbooker, but maybe this way I'll get a kickstart to becoming one. In any case it's an interesting concept and will surely be useful and inspiring. We'll see how it goes. I'm excited!

TMTA: Halloween

It's Halloween time soon, and this week it was the theme at TMTA. So here is my little group of trick-or-treaters.

Ginger

I'm always curious to see which fruit seeds start to grow if I sow them in a flowerpot. This time I made an experiment with a ginger root. It grew amazingly fast. It's funny how some of my plants die despite of eager care, and some just keep on flourishing even if I'd rather let go of them. Same thing happened with my avocado. I just wanted to try if I could grow it from the seed, and now I have a 1,5 meters high tree in my living room. I need a conservatory!

Singer

I'm not much of a sewer (maybe it's just because of not having enough practice), but I've been dreaming of a sewing machine for a long time now. It's not that I really need one and would spend a lot of money on it, because I don't know if I can actually make anything decent with it. But as a stroke of luck, I was given this lovely old Singer 760. Yey! It's in perfect condition and makes very good stitches. The retro look of the machine is also adorable. I'm so happy. I'd better go and practice some more sewing.

Weekend in the nature

I spent the weekend at a lovely little cottage with two of my dear old friends. Although it was a bit rainy, we enjoyed the autumn nature, made grilled food and bathed in sauna. The nights are really dark in the middle of a forrest. When living in cities, people rarely see that kind of pitch-black nights anymore. It can be a bit scary too, especially when you know there are wolves and bears in the area.

TMTA: Coffee

What a great theme this week at TMTA! I start my days with a nice cup of black coffee, that's how I get myself going. But I'm not merely a coffee person, since I also drink tea. Coffee in the morning and tea in the evening. A good mixture.