February is almost over and I haven’t been updating the website as much as I promised. Partly due to the lack of events, dull weather and general photopportunities, partly due to those events I have no name nor an excuse for.
So we went to Turku/Åbo, took care of some research-related business, visited some museums and took pictures. Of grey, nearly empty Turku. I’m particularly fond of how this mosaic turned out, the orange hopeful corner… so, how was your February?
Yesterday prior to picking up boys’ wreck boat and taking it to the repair place (conveniently located next to a waste dump) we visited quite an exciting spot, Villa Mehu. If you like deserted spaces and/or Finnish nature and/or colourful pictures and you liked the statue park post from a few weeks ago, click on the above link!
On the way to Villa Mehu we passed another obviously deserted construction. It was huge; I wonder what it served as? Factory? Farm estate? Storage? All off above?
Villa Mehu (Villa Juice) was awesome as expected, and were surprised we were the only visitor that sunny autumn afternoon. The light of the late o’clock was wonderful, warm and golden and just added to the atmosphere of last berries of the year and the smell of wet foliage.
Before it turned completely dark yesterday – a sight which I’ve become unused to thanks to long Finnish summer days and white nights – the long day and long moving of the “boat” was closed off with the sight of this. No. Our boat is not in the picture.
A large part of my fieldwork takes place in Ostrobothnia – around the towns of Va(a)sa, Jakobstad, Karleby and similar. And the region quickly became one of my favourite places in the world; I’m not going to beat around the bush, to a large extent I would attribute this to the large percentage of Swedish speakers and their culture present…
… or it just could be due to the fact that I actually met with and got to talk to really friendly people;) but hey, the landscape (especially the rural areas and Kvarken archipelago) and urbanscape is worth a visit!
First a few shots from the town of Vasa… the very city centre is dominated by concrete. But there is a lot of wood and history just outside the centre.
As the destiny wanted I found myself at Stundars open air museum one night. It was closed for public and beautifully lit by the setting sun.
And of course I was criss-crossing the urban areas, mostly around Malax municipality:
(I totally love the following shot:)
One lovely day I had some spare time to kill, so I decided to take a short trip to Strömsö – to get the glimpse of perfection. For those outside of Finland, Strömsö is the name of this Finnish-Swedish show for people loving their homes. You will find all kinds of interesting recipes, instructions and home-improvement tips. The show takes place in the- yes, Strömsö masion – just off Vasa, and the whole point of the show is that… that nothing ever goes wrong on the show. You will get 30 minutes of perfect living in a beautiful old wooden house (and a modern sauna and a modern shed with all kinds of tools and equipment where all the project shootings take place – #CHEATING!). And witness the making a lot of unnecessary decoration items… Home bliss!
And of course I had to share the beauty of pampas (Österbotten) with V. – and we decided to spend a calm evening in a Fisherman’s house (for real) in Molpe, Malax. The largest part of the trip went to visiting the Bergö archipelago and picking lingonberry. Amazing. Peaceful. Smelling and feeling great.
On the way back to Helsinki we passed – accidentally almost – village of Harrström. And it was a pleasant visit, despite the rain! We visited the windmill – the largest functioning wooden windmill in Finland, and it was so AWESOME. I mean I never got to see the windmill from inside. The experience felt so genuine – last visitors before us visited the mill in late July, there was dust and mouse droppings and middlings and other objects typical for… uhm… milling wheat, duh. Sounds gross, but it was awesome. So was the bridge built in 1898 (and still in use) and the whole vibe of a sea-near village. Definitely worth a visit should you be driving along the coast.
It was a lot of fun – and so has this week been as well. I enrolled in a weaving course and I think I found a new hobby. Want to see the result of my week efforts? Check out my instragram! (@milleristine)
And most importantly, take good care of yourselves. Life is way too brittle.
MAIINLY VISUAL 