Sweet July

July was wonderful, full of outdoor activities and other simple pleasures of life. We kept ourselves busy doing nothing but enjoying Nordic summer, practically at the same address by the sea. The heavy rainfall that tormented many parts of the country pretty much skipped our region. It wasn’t all sunshine but it does feel like that. Although I only managed to publish two posts in July I did keep my camera at hand and even took it out every once in a while. Let the photos speak for themselves.

Seaside cottage

All of a sudden, our daily routine changed from driving to a different nature site each day to heading to the same place all the time: we found a modest little summer cottage to rent by the sea.

We got the keys 11 days ago, ie a few days before Midsummer, and managed to take all the essentials there for a stay through the holiday. From then on, we’ve continued carrying all kinds of things to the cottage as it was practically unfurnished.

Hubby is horrified about the amount of goods we are hauling to the place whereas I am happy to find some use for some of the stuff I couldn’t dispose of when we sold the house but stored exactly for this kind of a purpose. A friend of mine commented we probably rented the cottage because I was longing for a new decorating project. By the look of it she wasn’t entirely mistaken.

I saved the best point of this story last. The cottage is located only 12km from our home! This is such a ridiculously short distance we can come and go as we please, just pop in or stay until we need to do some grocery shopping or if there is something interesting happening in town. Such as the current UEFA European Championship on TV (we are planning to keep the cottage TV free). Neither of us is a sports enthusiast but we could never ignore a major international football event.

Earlier this week, there were a few days off in the Euro 2016 matches. We overnighted at the cottage and my daughter paid her first visit to the place with her two Maine Coons. She is such an efficient outdoor person I cannot wait for her next stay. While I am concentrating on cleaning and arranging the interior, the grounds will be presentable in no time as soon as she is parking her cats on the site.

On a lake

As soon as my daughter had returned from California and fetched her cats we took a little domestic holiday. We stayed away for a week visiting, among others, my brother and sister-in-law at their summer cottage almost 500km to the northeast from here in the Northern Savonia region in Eastern Finland.

Most of our country is practically a patchwork of lakes. However, I spent my  childhood in a region where there weren’t any close by. Even as an adult I never got friendly with the element of water unlike by brother who turned boating and net fishing into a dear hobby thanks to the many summers he was lucky to spend under his father-in-law’s gentle guidance.

Despite my slightly troubled relationship with water, it is always a thrill to be taken safely on a lake. My brother rode us and my sisters a round on his small motorboat. The evening was very calm and beautiful, one of the loveliest moments this season has given us. I could get used to that kind of cottage living.