The very first

The first flowers come up last weekend. This little yellow crocus basked in the sunshine - I was very happy to see it because I planted the crocuses very late in the autumn and it is said that crocuses should be planted as early as possible. The warm autumn and winter helped me here.

Hello 50's

Once again, I fell for a design from the fifties. This is Gunnar Nylund's Domino for Rörstrand. I'd like to get all the vases in the serie, there are at least three more.

Clean it up

I must be getting old as I have started to like cleaning stuff. The minute I saw this brush and dustban combo I just had to have them. Things you buy from Stockholm...

Think before you drink

This goes for all of you who have wooden tables without any protective surface treatment. As soon as you put your glass on the table, there is an ugly ring. We found fifities' style coasters in Stockholm. There is a blue fish (in picture), a yellow onion, a red beetroot and a green herb. We should have bought two packages to get two of each! I don't think these can be found in Finland. Let me know, if you see them somewhere (or even better, buy me a package).

And more...

I showed some eggs yesterday, here are some more. They look great in glass bowls, don't they?

Bright pastels for Easter

Easter eggs are great, they weight next to nothing so I bought quite a lot of them from Stockholm. This time I fell for bright pastel ones.

Souvenirs from a time long gone

When everybody didn't have a mobile phone with a camera you bought these small pictures in cardboard holders.

Yo, all you squirrels out there

We have always liked squirrels so this lamp was an obvious choice for the living room. We found it at Åhlens on Saturday.

Speed it up!

This old photo is from Portobello road, London. There was this about 80 years old man who had hundreds and hundreds of photos that he himself had taken through the years and he sold them for 50 pences each. He told me that he only managed to stay at his booth for a couple of hours a day and then had to go and rest. I bought a couple of photos for my husband and we finally found a frame for one of them. This one is from 1954 and shows Fangio in his car.

Gin gin!

A little afternoon drink, anyone?

Postman always rings thrice

As these postcards will never be posted, could I call them unposted cards?

Pots and primulas

I bought these metal pots for outdoor use but as it snowed I didn't want to buy daffodils quite yet. As I already had primulas I got an idea to put the primulas in the pots and what do you know, they look so great that I have to buy new pots for the daffodils.

Spring in the air and on the sofa

I changed most of the pillow cases and put the red blanket away to make room to a turquoise one. Spring is coming!

Short winter

I can take a winter that lasts a couple of days. And I am happy that it snowed before it got freezing!

Just fry everything

My aunt and uncle visited us on Friday and they bought us whitefish (muikku in Finnish). I fried the fish in butter and put some parsnips, red onions, chilli, garlic and dark bread in the oven with a touch of honey and a drizzle of olive oil. Super good Saturday dinner!

Tweet!

We have new birds, for now we can call them Easter decorations but I guess they'll stay for long after.

The last at last

I made a blueberry cake from the last blueberries in the freezer. It is no good to save the berries for years! As my husband wasn't home the picture is taken with my mobile phone hence the poor quality of the photo.

I am in stitches

As I am not allowed to knit I might as well try stitching. I found this wonderful book and maybe some day I'll start a needle work like no other.

The fox on the cover didn´t seem to hard, but the owl would be a real challenge:

Please, don't let it snow!

The weather is said to get snowy and cold. I am dreaming of summer and I dearly hope the forecasts are wrong.

It has been white enough for the last couple of winters, so I am waiting for more colour!

Colours of spring

I bought and got tulips in the weekend. I put them outside to wait for the next weekend. If there is no frost they have a better chance surviving outside than in the house.

Heirlooms

I got the bowl from my brother. He said it is either my grandfather's or my mother's. Either way, it is a heirloom to be saved. The table napkin is from Ikea but looks deceivingly old when paired with an old bowl.

Just try it!

If you haven't tasted kohlrabi (kyssäkaali), try it now! It tastes a bit like brussel sprouts but is milder and the consistency is more like e.g turnip. This anchovy gratin is a great recipe to start loving kohlrabi:

2 big onions thinly sliced
2 garlic gloves peeled and minced
olive oil
500 g potatoes peeled and sliced into sticks
1 kohlrabi peeled and sliced into sticks
2 carrots peeled and sliced to sticks
1 tin anchovies
1 tbl spoon of wasabi paste
5 dl thick cream
2 tbl spoons of bread crumbs

Put the onion and oil in microwave owen for 2 minutes. Add garlic, potatoes, kohlrabi and carrots and microwave for 6 minutes. Heat the regular oven to 200 degrees. Put all ingredients in a bowl and scatter the bread crumbs on the top. Bake for 1 hour or until all vegs are ready.

In case you don't know what to look for, here is one kohlrabi waiting to be cooked:

There is work to be done

I have started to plan Vårkulla's garden. Or started and started - this is an ongoing process amd some of the work is already done. Anyway, I looked through pictures taken from our cottage and I think it is very difficult to beat myself - how can I ever build another garden that will look better than the one at the cottage! And how do I find the energy - the first garden was easier to start as I did not know what to expect. Now that I know, the amount of work seems daunting.  In addition to these rather defeating thoughts it almost hurt to look at all the wonderful summer pictures. Here is one - it looks a bit different outside right now as the only colours are grey and brown...

Something on the side

There is a lot of stuff on the sidetables...maybe I should get more tables. Less stuff is not an option!

Old chap

The African sculpture and dishes have been with us for about 20 years. African stuff is not all the rage right now but we'll wait and will be fashionable again someday, surely.

Antiques are creeping in

The old stuff has found its way to our home to wait for a better place at Vårkulla. The radio doesn't work but looks good. I could call it a project, but won't, because I guess it will never be repaired. The cabinet is from Pentik (link) and is (of course) full of books. The boring parquet is not the best possible background for beautiful old wood but as we are only renting, we just have to make do.

Eggs again

I showed a picture of the easter eggs last week and here they are again. They just look so good, I want to share them with you again. We have tried to find more glass dome timepieces in flea markets but now that we'd need them there are none to be found.

Stuff it

It is funny: the more stuff you have, the more you need. We already have pictures on two to three rows on the walls and now the upper walls start to feel empty. In addition, there is not a lot of room on the small tables but I am still looking for more stuff to put on them.

Bright smiles, little city

If you want a bright smile, try Marvis!

Gray days

We visited Porvoo yesterday and I checked out all the lovely shops in the old town. These gray animal food containers are perfect for our bathroom.  Instead of animal food, I'll store cleaning stuff in the bigger one and use the smaller one as a garbage bin.

Easter is coming, be ready!

I happened to find a lot of beautiful easter eggs in shops yesterday. And my husband modified an old glass dome timepiece (vuosikello inFinnish) to a perfect "eggholder".