random culture (not in Turku)

Outside student accommodation, a stump has been stubbed out ;D

 

Midsummer Madness!

At Midsummer (or more accurately, the weekend after midsummer) the Finns celebrate their biggest holiday of the year. We went to visit J's parents for the weekend 

• a treat for me; no cooking, cleaning, or general "doing" 
• a treat for the kids; full time attention from the rest of the family 
• a treat for J; catching up with his parents as well as the visiting siblings and their progeny.

This time, J & I took the opportunity to take a couple of walks on our own... no kids... bliss! We also spent some rare "fun" time with the kids.  Monkey is staying with her Mummi and as I left she told me that she'll miss me, cos "we've had fun together, Mummy, colouring and playing on the swings". It reminded me to take quality more time with my husband and with my kids.

Mouse leads the way!

Monkey on the steps

Mummy showing the way!

Swinging

like this?

Feeling adventurous... Monkey was a bit nervous just watching!

well, it is a Finnish holiday!

Big Game Hunting

Wild Strawberries- yummy!

view from the bridge near the house

Karjaa - we love walking round this lake

Karjaa

Billnas

The sun through the clouds, reflected on the water at Billnas

 Depressingly the car radio en route reminded us that there's only 6 months til Christmas! AAAggghhh!

More rudeness

Last year I wrote a bit about finnish rudeness. Well, today, I'm doing it again. 

A couple of days ago we took The Monkey & The Mouse to a big department store in town. They behaved really well all afternoon and we wanted to treat them. We waited patiently for the lift (we had the buggy) and when it arrived the two occupants were obviously slightly confused about which floor they had stopped on. No problem, they figured it out and stayed in the lift but as Monkey stepped into the lift before me, they pushed the button again for the floor they wanted, causing the door to close, bashing Monkey's arm. I managed to put out my hand quickly enough to stop the door but as we all got in, Monkey just burst into tears. It was probably shock as much as pain but she was genuinely distraught (not like her recent "I'm-not-getting-my-own-way" tears!). I actually had to pick her up and she sobbed into my shoulder the whole 5 storey journey. The other occupants appeared to be completely ignorant of the incident. No apology, not even a sympathetic or apologetic look - total ignorance! 

I was flabberghasted! Even if they felt they had not caused in the incident, surely they could still see a tiny, sobbing 5 year old girl... Maybe they weren't parents or grandparents, maybe they were too embarrassed to even acknowledge the presence in a tiny lift of a big noise or maybe they were just inconsiderate, deaf, dumb, blind and/or stupid!!! 

I was just so angry but of course I wasn't going to make a fuss in front of my own kids... I really wanted to ask her to apologise; I should have done that. I didn't even do my speaking-to-the-adult-through-the-child trick "Where does it hurt sweetheart? I'm sure the lady didn't do it on purpose, maybe she'll say sorry". I just had a good rant while waiting to pay for the parking. 

The Monkey suffered no bruises and there's been no mention of it since, so I guess it's just a thing that happened.

grrr. rant over.

More Less Random Culture

A trip to the Botanical Gardens in Ruissalo today revealed a trail of blue stones leading to a sculpture trail. A beautiful walk on a cloudy afternoon.

Splat

cracking...

...hatching...

hatched & splatted?

Monkey said these look like honey pots

love this one...

Random Culture part 5

although not quite cultural, the old shipyard cranes are getting a nice makeover; 1 done, 2 to go

hatching stones next to Esposito

Monkey meets the biggest one

Less Random Culture!

Yesterday, we (The Ladybirds) went for a little walk! The City of Culture have organised 3 circular walks of 2km, 9km & 11km around the "steps" of Turku. Given the heat (currently up around 30 degrees C) we opted for the shortest walk, which took us around the Campus of Turku University & the Abo Akademi (Swedish University). As the schools all broke up last week and several members of the Ladybirds are teachers, we opted for "Holiday Rules" i.e. not a problem if we stray from the map!

 

 

 

For a moment I wondered if I had mentioned the Ladybirds before... I did... here!