Meeting my lovely Goddaughter

Song of the day: “Waves” by Dean Lewis. Gorgeous song, and often stuck in my head. There are way worse songs to have  as an earworm.

Life has been busy since I last wrote. One day flows into the next with such speed, that at times I have difficulty keeping track. Time is flying, the wrinkles on my forehead are the proof of that. Hah. Yep. I have wrinkles now. Whether they are from frowning in concentration too much, or simply because I am forty now, doesn’t matter, does it? Shall we say they give my face character?

Let’s see if I can bring you up to date on what has been going on, lately. The job is still to my liking, despite it not being easy, or even pleasant at times. I do long days, and feel them in my bones. More than ten hours at work is the norm, with a few exceptions. Luckily I only do three to four days of them per week, meaning that I get to recover a bit every time I’ve had a couple of shifts. Although I doubt, I would like to quit completely, I do look forward to the day that I will no longer be required to do this work, and can instead focus on writing full time. I do like the interactiveness with the guests, and the fact that the work is so diverse.

Which reminds me, I have been steadily working on the new project ever since we got back from the US. The manuscript had solid passed the 60K words mark. The characters are fully developed and quite real inside my head.  When an event is about to happen they will quite clearly tell me how they would respond to that given situation…however weird that sounds. I like them, though. They’ve got grit, a will to survive, and they have become fully 3D, just the way they’re supposed to. Added to that, the story has come to big OMG moment, which I had been working towards, so that is totally awesome. Now all that needs doing is work out how they are going to get out of a rather terrible situation, and rebuild their lives. I’m looking forward to that.

Celebrated my 40th birthday a little later in the month. Invited more people than showed up, mostly due to work,  but those that showed up made it a lovely evening of long talks and quiet lights. Really enjoyed it. And the food was good. And littlest brother was there too, which was nice.

My goddaughter was born in February, brought into the world via a c-section, due to the fact that the doctors were unable to get the labor started. She is a perfect little girl, whom I had the pleasure of meeting this eastern, when I visited her and her mom in Finland for a few days, so I could be there for her naming party, and accept my role a godmother. Was a bit startled there, in the middle of the party, sitting with the wee one in my arms when suddenly it turned out I had to join the other godparents in the center of the room during a speech. OMG, that is so not my thing. Hah. But no matter, I was there to meet her, and to see her mom, and that’s what it was about in the end.

As to the actual trip to Finland…that was pretty exciting for me. It was the first time I went on a vacation of sorts all by my ittybitty self. Had to get to the plane after big brother dropped me off at the airport (forgot my purse with money, ticket, credit cards in the car, aaaargh. Big brother had to return with it.) find my way to the train station in Helsinki, get on the train (was supposed to scan my ticket but didn’t realize it until after I got off to get on the long distance train in Pasilla) and transfer from the commuter to the speed train that would take me south to Turku. Half the time I stressed about whether I had the right one or not. I did. Thankfully, and arrived in Turku at the appointed time. Tiina came to pick me up, and we got chat while she drove me to the place I’d be staying at for the duration of my vacation.

Got to meet some really nice people, and we spent the evening prepping some stuff for the party, before calling it a night. Were going to do some prepping the next day, also the tour thing, see the future house (which was splendid, by the way. I was totally jealous, haha), the present house, see some of the area and then some groceries before we headed over to the log cabin that had been rented for the party and the night before. Gorgeous location in the middle of the woods. Big structure Had a lovely BBQ with friends and family before the night was through, and then we were headed in for the night.

The day of the party arrived. Tiina was already there when my hostess and I arrived to help out with the remainder of the party. Met more friends and family, spent some time with the folks I already knew (Tiina’s lovely mom and dad, and inlaws that I met last year or so when we all went to the zoo together. The kids were lovely, especially the little girl who was sooooo busy making a show now that she had such a rapt audience.) and generally had a lovely time.

The remainder of my stay there was spending time with my friend, getting to know the wee one, and then getting back home after our time was up. The trip back was a bit more eventful. Tiina and I thought to kill some time at a lovely thrift store, and the next thing we knew we had to rush into town to make my train. Regretfully we hadn’t calculated the fact that it would rush hour, so I missed my train by a minute. I ran, and jabbed the button but it would not open for me anymore. That meant I had to wait an hour…but at least it gave us a chance to say a proper goodbye. Repurchased a ticket and made it to the commuter train in Helsinki just barely. Seriously, had to run to make it from platform 6 to 2, and that was a matter minutes. Only made it because there was another lady who reached it before me, and opened the doors so I and two other ladies could board as well. Had forty minutes to spare upon reaching the airport. Security took only a few minutes, so I had time to rest and recover before we had to board. My feet were not amused about the entire thing, I tell ya. And when I finally arrived back in the Netherlands, there was more walking to do, because big brother (still sick) hadn’t been able to find a close parking spot. First thing I did when I reached the car, was change shoes. OMG.

Anyway, I arrived home after midnight, with the happy realization that I didn’t need to be at work until a day later, giving me one to recover. Turned out to be two. Apparently they had enough people at work for my chef to let me know to enjoy an extra day off.

My plants were looking awesome when I got back, by the way. When you see them every day, they seem not to change, but afterward they seemed so lush. Added to that, when I left nature was still sleeping, and when I returned everything had sprouted leaves, making nature sooooo beautiful. Spring is finally here, even though we are still being bugged by the occasional cold spell, loads of rain, hail and winds. It does not amuse me, especially not on days that I have to be at work. Nothing is quite as disastrous for my health as working in sauna heat all day, only to step out into the cold rain outside after a long work day. Been battling a cold that wants to sneak up on me. What with big brother having been seriously ill, Tiina and hers as well, it is bound to hit me any day now, but I am still hoping to avert it. I don’t think I’ll be that lucky, though. Been having some dizzy spells, a feverish feeling every now and then, but we’ll see.

Cooking has been infrequent, but as ever, necessary, of course. Had a rather lovely Asian wok BBQ last week for a friend’s birthday. She and another friend came over, and eating together in the lovely sunshine was our celebration. Marinated chicken in a sauce of sweet chili, apricot jam, shallots, soy sauce and some mustard. It worked out splendidly in the wok that I’d set on the open Asian ceramic bbq pot outside. Was a lovely evening.

Added to that I have experimented with bread. A lovely Mediterranean loaf, with sun dried tomatoes, loads of herbs and garlic, and some onion. Delicious. The same went for pizza cupcakes, which were awesome, buckwheat burgers, and tonight even vegetable pancakes that went down splendidly.

Been steadily working out over the past few months, although I’ve managed to go only once since my return…and the week before that also only a couple of times, because big brother was sick and I just couldn’t muster the energy. Been somewhat tired lately. Not eating enough meat, I fear…better that than anything else, anyway. If that doesn’t improve soon, I’m going to have to visit the doctor’s for a blood test, or something, to make sure that everything is alright.

Been working on the cars, and the house. Big brother’s car needed a new radiator, which he reinstalled himself. Yay! And I’ve been sorting the mess in the garage. We are way too good at hoarding stuff, and not taking the time to put it all away. Working on it, though.

Through it all, big brother has really been working a lot…as is his inclination. It means that when he’s off he’s tired, and frustrated about not having the energy to work on the book, but we’ll have to sort that out at some point. For the moment it didn’t help that our company is expanding, and he was expected to help out on the new location, which is massive. I’m curious about the new location, I tell ya. I’ve been hearing stories aplenty about the kitchens there. It should be a pleasure to work in them…even though the new staff is facing some problems of a startup.

Have visited with dad infrequently. What with him working so much, and us, too, it is very hard to match our schedules on any given day. Heck, just big brother and me, trying to match a day off together, every now and then, is a disaster already. But it doesn’t matter. We had a few good visits since the last blog, and that is what matters, I guess.

Also visited Tenant. She had some trouble recently at the home she lives at now. Her rooms, which overlooked the patio with a pond, and all its fauna visitors, were no longer available to her, meaning she had to move to a different spot in the building. She didn’t like it at all. Refused it, in fact, until she saw her new quarters and they turned out to be bigger, and overlooking the main entrance no less. It meant that now she could see who came and went at any given time, and that she liked a lot. Hah

Been making friends at work, and actually went to a bingo night with a couple of my colleagues. It was totally ridiculous, but fun, even though I didn’t win anything. There was loads of laughter, and relaxation, and an entire evening passed without me actually noticing it. I’m thinking we’re going to do it again at some point.

Watched some movies, including Hereditary with Toni Coletti. It was the first movie in ages that actually freaked me out. Seriously. The last time I was affected that way was when Event Horizon came out. Hadn’t expected it of this movie. In fact, I was already dismissing the whole thing as Coletti being mentally disturbed when it turned out it was something else entirely. OMG. Definitely a movie to see for folks who love a good horror.

Well, that’s about all I can think of right now. It’s late, and soon it’ll be time for me to get my behind to bed…hopefully feeling a little less sickly tomorrow.

The road trip!!!

Song of the day: “Never be the same” by Camilla Cabello. It tends to linger in my mind. Wonder if that means something.

So, yeah, it’s happened. The big road trip has been over and done with for several days now, and already it seems like an eternity. It was an exciting event, involving so much new adventures in just 20 days.

It started early on the 2^nd of October, with the three of us heading for the bus station around the corner, and leaving behind a running dishwasher, because, of course it somehow didn’t run the night before. Aaaaargh. Hate that, but what can you do. Housesitters were going to have to take care of it, right?

Anyway, we headed to Amersfoort by bus, then by train to the airport in Amsterdam. Were nicely on time, too, meaning we had quite a bit of waiting to do before we were going to board the plane. But we did, naturally. Firs the connecting flight to Zurich, which went fine, except that we were running late, which meant that we literally had to run to make our flight across the Atlantic. Because, of course, our flight left from across the friggin’ airport! My poor foot was not amused. And here I thought my foot was going to have a well deserved vacation to get better after all the running around at work the past few month. Grrrr.

Be that as it may, the flight was interminably long, the seats small, the food good, and the staff friendly. I didn’t manage to sleep a wink, mind you. My knees were literally squeezed between the seats and practically everything hurt by the time we finally arrived in Boston, and had to take the shuttle bus to the car rental agency. Luckily it wasn’t too far.

Since we had basically taken all safety precautions in regard to insurance and whatnot, they tried to have us upgrade to a bigger car (which would increase the price by “just a bit”, naturally) but we decided to be frugal and stuck to the sedan…good thing, too. Because when we got up to the parking area they had two cars left, of which would could take our pick. We took the massive (twice the size of what we paid for) red Nissan Pathfinder in a New York second, and didn’t regret it for even one second. I mean, seriously. We had head space, legs space and luggage space. And to think we had almost paid for that but didn’t have to…it was bliss.

The first bit of the drive went a little iffy, partly because the TomTom app we had hit the occasional snag. But we reached the booked hotel before midnight, just barely. Not the best of hotels regarding maintenance, but the service was good, and it was clean, which are the most important aspects in my book.

We drove through some gorgeous areas those first couple of days, which included The Pioneer Valley, the Mohawk trail and the mountains bordering on New York State in General. Loved that bit…and Niagara Falls, for that matter, which we managed to reach just before nightfall, meaning that the light was awesome. I was very impressed with the sights.

There was lots of traveling involved, yes, in the end we travelled more than 5250 miles (8000km) and despite being tired, and sore from all the sitting, and the fast food, and the microwave food, it was still something I wouldn’t trade for the world.

There were friends to visit. Long-time friends that I have been chatting with for ages and ages, and whom I’ve been wanting to meet for years. There was Terry in Michigan, which meant a much-anticipated detour on our route to Detroit where we would meet for a wonderful dinner with her and her husband. Terry was…well, Terry as I’d imagined her over the years, although her photo doesn’t do her justice. Regretfully we got in a bad traffic accident on the way back, where someone died, so that was kinda rough.

The driving is a little “looser” over there. Everyone drives at least 10mph over the speed limit, when stuck in a traffic jam, some folks will just drive over the shoulder of the road, to cross to the other direction lanes, and try to integrate there while cars are speeding past at a 110. Downright scary, I tell ya. In fact, at some point I saw this fella in an old beat-up truck, on the phone, and one foot sticking out of the driver’s window. How he even managed that, is a mystery to me.

Then things got flat, and that flatness stayed a long, long time.

There was an area in Indiana that was absolutely lovely. And the climate was mild there, so in regard to places to live, it was definitely worth another visit in the future. This is where we visited the lovely Archer, whose cedar cabin was perched on this lovely spot in the middle of the woods, so far out that we would never have been able to find it if she hadn’t met us at the local Wendy’s. We might have found the road through maps, but it kept going so far, that we would definitely have started doubted about the accuracy of the direction within the first fifteen minutes. I got to know Archer for real, and it was grand. We petted dogs, petted horses, and went out in a big 4x truck so we could travel over dirt roads, creeks and whatnot. It was great…followed by a crock-pot meal that did well in filling the empty corners of our stomachs. Hah. We were all sorry to say our goodbyes that evening, and head on over to our motel, which was downright dirty compared to the ones we had visited in the days before. Not recommendable, that one.

Our next visit was near Kansas City, where C.W. and her husband lived, and who kindly invited the three of us to spend the night there. It was awesome to meet her finally, too. And the plans they had for us…oh my. So much to see in the area. We went to Union station, visited the Hallmark company, toured around the city a little, and then went to the local shooting range where we got our first shooting lesson. I kid you not. I shot several guns that day, and I was pretty darn good with several of them. Woohoo. I so need to see about learning more about that. Had a wonderful time, getting to know C.W. better. She was just like I imagined her, too, which is an odd realization to make…but also something that implies that somehow you’ve managed to become true friends, even through the internet. Oh, and they took us to eat real Kansas City Barbeque, which sure was something. Big brother and Lisa (our companion) actually tried most of it, while I managed to enjoy some of the grilled chicken. Woohoo. Seeing as our hosts were so great, and the place lovely, I was sorry to leave there the next day…did see live buffalo, though, which was awesome

I friggin’ loved the Ozarks! Seriously. If you’re a nature buff, and if you like the hills, it is a place you HAVE to visit. It is gorgeous. You have towering trees, flowing pastures, winding little rivers. It was so beautiful, even in the cute little towns with its old Victorians and colonial buildings, that at times it absolutely took my breath away. The Wandaroo lodge is definitely a place you want to stay when you go there. Nothing fancy, but a lovely atmosphere. They’re still working on it, but have reasonable pricing. Really enjoyed our days there. Went on several hikes, near the lake, through Eureka Springs, the trail to King River’s overlook, which was grand. So beautiful there. Even took the car on some dirt roads (which wasn’t really allowed with the rental, but what with the TomTom having gotten us lost several times already, on dirt tracks too, we figured what the heck. A gorgeous place to further explore, for sure. Missouri was beautiful.

Our next big stop was New Orleans. There we met JR and her son, who once again, was exactly how I expected her to be. It was awesome meeting her too, especially the second day when she, her son and his girlfriend took us out on the town for a proper look-see. New Orleans was nice and warm. In fact, for a while it seemed like we were right back in Spain on a humid day. Some beautiful sights in the Big Easy. So much history in the French Quarter, lovely old buildings, friendly folks and many places where you could stuff your face. JR, in fact, took us for a late lunch at the Gumbo shop, where big brother tried gumbo, and I had black grilled chicken with garlicky mash potatoes and creamy spinach. Yummy. We saw quite a bit of the town, and though I still find it fascinating, a big city is just not my thing. I would have liked to explore some more, for sure, but I also looked forward to heading east.

Farther than we planned for the first day after New Orleans, actually. We had decided that we wanted to see Maine after all, which meant skipping one planned stop and driving straight through one time. So, the motel in Birmingham, Alabama got picked, and the others we had already booked rescheduled, which didn’t go as easily as we’d hoped due to the approaching weekend. But big brother persevered, and they all worked out in the end, thankfully.

After New Orleans there was a really, really long drive, through Missouri, Alabama and straight to the Smoky Mountains, a place we have all wanted to see a long time. We had an old motel near Sevierville, from where we could head on up into the national forest and truly see some of the nature there. It was so beautiful. I wanted to get lost in those woods. They were haunting and amazing, doing their name justice with narrow tendrils of clouds drifting between the mountains like smoke. Gorgeous! We also visited the reservation of the Cherokee nation there, which was just as special as the rest of the area. And amazing place…where we spent quite a few hours driving around before the end of the day approached and we had to return to the hotel.

The day after, was another long drive, but this time there was a bit of time limit, because we were going to meet Elsie at her place. I LOVED the Appalachian Mountains even more than the Smoky mountains, or maybe just in a different way. The area east of Boone, I want to explore that further some day. The plan had been a late lunch at Elsie’s, but by the time the TomTom app finally got us there, well, by then we had given into the inevitable and opened up maps, it was close to four o’clock. Luckily she didn’t mind.

It was so nice to finally meet her, too. We’d been chatting for quite some time online, and now we got to while away the afternoon talking of her wonderful home, perched above an old quarry, and comparing notes about publishing books. We had so much fun doing it that we completely forgot about the time. In fact, while we had planned to leave around seven (we still had some distance to travel that day) we didn’t actually get on the road until almost ten in the evening. * sigh * Can’t say I regret it, though. It was a great afternoon, where I got to meet some wonderful, wonderful people.

It did make getting to the booked motel of the night not all that easy. We rushed our way through North Caroline and Georgia at top speed. Still it took a long time. In fact, I could barely keep my eyes open, navigating those roads, but we did manage before midnight, so all was well.

The next day we hit Washington DC, which was an experience on its own. We had some business to attend there, and regretfully that took longer than expected, so guess what, we got stuck in traffic, which was absolutely horrid. Seriously, I think it took about an hour to navigate out of the city, making us late in reaching New Jersey, where we planned to spend the night. Did the Pentagon, and the Washington Monument, the obelisk, and the of course the Smithsonian and the Senate, which were all grand sites to see…if only from a slight distance. * sigh * The loss of time did cause that we could only see Philly by night, however impressive that still looked with all its lights and towering buildings.

Alas time was limited, and our aim, Maine. New York came next, and we didn’t even bother with the poor TomTom app by then. Heck, even maps had trouble in New York, and even though we had planned to stay out of the city entirely, we saw Queens, we saw Harlem, and swore like the heroes in a Tarantino movie. Impressive city, and I got some gorgeous pictures of it along the way, but it took so friggin’ long to get out that by the time we finally exited the city and found a place with a restroom, I was ready to slap both big brother and Lisa on the back of the head if they missed that turn. Aaaaargh! It felt like an eternity, and then when I went into the “Dunkin Donuts” the restrooms were closed because they needed cleaning. What’s worse, there were already four women waiting, and while I joined the wait, another three arrived. The poor guy who had to do the cleaning got so worried about the glares, he told us to go ahead, he would clean up after us. Haha.

With some difficulty we reached our destination that day just after nine, because the privately owned motel had a closing time of 10. Not an easy thing when navigating the horror traffic around the big cities like New York and Boston, but regardless, the nature started becoming beautiful as soon as we reached the outskirts of the city. Oh the colors it was astonishingly beautiful to see fall already in full swing.

The last hotel was a lovely spot to spent our last day in the US. It was nothing fancy, and they definitely needed a boost in income in order to improve on the accommodations, but I loved the old bits of it most. We went for a walk our first day, the weather still good enough, even though the sky was overcast. Went to this small wildlife preserve, along the salt marshes and it was great. Got to talking with three lovely ladies, one of which ran a girl camp up in Vermont, and she wondered if I wanted to check it out and see if I might be interested in a summer job cooking for the girls that would come there in summer. Everything, including my trip and stay would arranged, which sounds very tempting. I will have to give it some thought, even though I think it won’t be possible what with my job. Still, it was nice to be asked.

The next day we left early, leaving our supplies at the hotel, with a note saying we hoped they knew someone who needed them. And then we were on our way, with regret in our hearts, to Boston and our flight back to the Netherlands. It was a Sunday, so traffic was light at least, and we made good time along color flanked roads back to the big city.

Reach our gate went nicely fast, too. Delivered luggage, went through friendly, if somewhat impatient customs, and still had an hour and a half to spare when we got there. Of course, after an hour we discovered that our connecting flight had a delay, and when that went over an hour, I headed for the steward to talk about making our connecting flight from New York to Amsterdam. It took him but a minute to figure out that we weren’t going to make it, and decided to rebook us on a direct flight from Boston instead. This, I didn’t mind. It would shorten our journey by at least three hours…but it did mean fetching our luggage from baggage claim and going through the whole check-in progress once again. Including customs, who were, at this time, starting to get a little frazzled with the increase in passengers. Still, they remained friendly enough, and the lady patting me down even laughed with me when I told her this was the second time I was going through this procedure. She sent me on my way with a smile, and then we were through.

We were boarding our direct flight at the same time our connecting flight departed from Boston, and half an hour before our original flight left New York. Added to that, the seats were better than on the way to, the meal not as nice, but doable, and the flight less than six hours in total. It was amazing, especially since the way too almost took eight hours and was so very uncomfortable. Before we knew it, we were back in the Netherlands, going through customs, picking up our luggage again, and then rushing through our goodbyes with Lisa, who needed to go a different direction, because we all needed to make our trains.

Ours got us to Amersfoort within 45 minutes, and there we had to wait another thirty for the bus to drive us home in 40 minutes. At the break of dawn we were walking down the road to our house, and entering the clean and wonderful house that I call home at this time. It was lovely to be home, if surreal.

Puttered around a bit, and held out until 9 in the morning, local time. Slept for several hours, then did some groceries after picking up the keys of big brother’s fixed car, and then came home in time to greet our friend and big brother’s colleague, dropping of our laptops and keys. Had a nice chat, talking about work and the trip, but we were both fading fast by then, so we cut it all short asap. More than enough time for that when we meet up for real in the near future.

But that about sums up the grand road trip for now. It was amazing, it was special, and I want to do it again some day, but until that time, I’m going to have to focus on work, the books and life in general.

If you want to see a, basically, day by day report of the trip, with pictures and everything you can check it out on our website where I maintained a blog. You won’t regret it. The pics are lovely! http://www.samayatyoung.com/blog

I hope you’ll go and read it…and enjoy.

Late now. Gotta go. I’ll be back.

Road trip coming up!!!!

Song of the day: “Bad Liar” by Selena Gomez. Such cute song. Am not at all bothered by having it in my head.

So this is going to be a real quickie post, even though I owe you guys more than that, after the “radio silence” of the past couple of months, but what the heck. I promise I’ll make it up to you…in part with the news that soon you’ll be able to follow my upcoming trip, with, hopefully daily updates of the where and hows and whatevers of the road trip through the USA together with big brother. Yay!

It’s been and incredibly busy couple of months. I know I have said that before, but besides the vacation coming up, there’s quite a few changes that have been starting to take route.

First off, big brother got some good news, which involves him finally getting a permanent contract at work. Yay, for him. He likes the job. It’s varied, a challenge, and he knows his thing. Can’t ask for more than that.

Second bit of good news is that our book “Girl in the Misty” Finally became a bestseller at all the big outlets online.  It hit various number spots on Amazon.com (in multiple countries, thank you very much) and managed to get as far as #37 of all their books. Wow. On iTunes we got to #10, I kid you not and B&A we actually got till #2 Yay! Was all very exciting for a couple of weeks and an absolute pleasure to see that it was indeed was possible. We didn’t make the USA Today bestseller list, especially because the sales didn’t shoot until two days before the list was made up, but it was close, I think…or I like to think. Hah Received some wonderful reviews, too, not to mentioned tripled our ratings on Goodreads, which is always a good thing.

Thirdly, another job change lies ahead of me. Nothing wrong with the catering one that I had, but an opportunity came up, another offer was made, and I felt I had no choice but to take it with both hands. I’m gonna be a cook. Yes, you read that right. I, am going to be a cook. A paid one at that. And not badly paid either. And it’ll be a challenge, and I really enjoyed it on the occasions that I worked over there, combined with my other job, which was a pain in the behind, not to mention exhausting. Two jobs, and then trying to get another book ready to start sending out? Practically impossible. Got one more day…what do you think? Will I make it? We’ll just have to wait and see, won’t we?

The new job will involve live cooking, which is a lot of fun, considering you get to talk with people and cook at the same time. Of course that is not all. There’s also prepping work, and cutting and mixing and making desserts…sooo many desserts. That’s the least favorite bit for as far as I’m concerned. Way too much sweetness.

Well, everything is ready for the trip. Bags are packed, house has been cleaned and organized for the house sitters, paperwork taken care of, everything triple checked, route completely set out, stops planned, people to see (at last), places to see and even a big part of our rooms already booked. Starting to get a wee bit nervous about the whole thing. I mean, this is the biggest trip I have done in ages, and to the other side of the world, no less. Exciting and scary a the same time, if you know what I mean. On the one hand, can’t wait to see it all, and on the other hand…OMG! OMG! OMG!

Car has been having some trouble. Both of them in fact. Had to call triple A myself once, because the engine stalled. Thankfully it wasn’t anything serious. Regretfully big brother’s is now also having trouble, so that means we have to deal with that as soon as we get back. Darn it.

Did quite a bit of experimenting with cooking, but the greatest part of that was that I was offered to arrange a big dinner for the CEOs at the company I now used to work for. So much fun. Got to set up a 3 course meal (well, I made a 3 course with three options per course so they could chose) and then serve it, which is not an easy thing, since there were products to order via places that only had order numbers and descriptions, rather than pictures, not to mention a limited amount of time to prep and actually cook before it was serving time. But it worked and everyone was happy and liked the food, so all went well…which was a relief. You know how I can stress about stuff like that. Hah

Well, that about sums it up for me this time ‘round. I hope that internet won’t be a problem for me over there, so I’ll be able to post blogs about the entire trip and let you all see where I’m at.

Looking forward to it.

It is happening!!!

Song of the day: “Shine” by Aswad. A classic that has been in my head for several days now. Nice song, but not so good to have stuck in your head this long. Hah.  Before this, I was a little luckier, having the “Never Enough” song from the Greatest Showman in my head, but okay. Earworms are not something you can really steer, can ya?

So, here we are again…later than planned, but here anyway. I would like to say that there were exciting things to get in the way of doing a proper update this time around, but basically it is all about life getting in the way, the way it tends to do on many occasions. If it helps, I often think, well, crap, I should write about this in the blog…and then forget when the time comes. * wink *

The good news first: I finally found a new (2^nd hand) bike and it rides like a dream. Have it now for little over a week, and already went on three rides…admittedly one was to get eggs, but beggars can’t be choosers, right? After selling my first bike (got that when I just arrived in the Netherlands) several months ago, I looked and looked, but didn’t get lucky, darn it. Then one day I had this thought, “hey, let’s just go to the store where we bought the first one” and behold, he had the right one, right there. We haggled the price a bit. He took off a whopping 75 bucks from the price, put on a new saddle, oiled the chains and before you knew it, I had a new bike that only cost me 75 bucks on top of what I got back from the old one. Not a bad bargain at all, thank you very much.

Have worked quite a bit this last month, but now I have blocked my Tuesdays, because I simply couldn’t muster much energy to work on the books, which is something that I find vital, especially for my future. Can’t be tired all the time if I want to get another book out, can I?

Not to mention that “the voices in my head” are clamouring to get out. Like, just the other day, I was responding to something on Twitter, talking about an actress, and WHAM, I got a new idea of a book in my head. Not smart, considering I am working on two at the moment already. HahTechnically the ones I am working on are done already, but that doesn’t matter. They still require the time and effort they deserve. Especially because one of them, the prequel to Girl in the Mist, is still under negotiation with the publisher. Once they say yes I’ll really need to dive into that, so before that time comes, I really have to finish the other one, which we plan to send to Harlequin in the near future. Could probably offer it to our present publisher, too, but it is always smart to not have all your eggs in one basket, isn’t it?

Cooking has been dialled down to a minimum at the moment. Gotta save the minutes where you can, you know. Meals are nothing too complicated, even though I miss complicated. I might get sick of that in a little bit, and end up doing something elaborate soon. We’ll see

Since the last blog we’ve had two weekends “interrupted” by friends spending a night or two. On the one hand great. Always nice to spend time with friends, but on the other, you can’t get much work done of the computer when you’re entertaining, can you? Ah well, can’t only work in your life. You need to stop and enjoy the roses every now and then. Hah. Also visited with friends, played with babies and pets alike, so socially things can be a tad busy too.

So, the big thing today. Y’all will be the first ones to know right here! Yay!

It’s finally gonna happen. Yes it is! It IS!!! We (finally, finally, finally) managed to coordinate our vacation time to the same date and…We. Are. Going. To. America! Yes!!!

We saved and saved, scrounged and scrounged, and finally popped that wishing balloon…so to speak. Hah.

We’ve got incredibly cheap tickets (seriously, they’re only a little more expensive than our short trip to Finland a few years ago), we got permission from Homeland Security and come October, we is gonna road trip through a whopping 19 States in less that three weeks!

That’s about 5000 miles, I KNOW! But we’ll be with the three of us (to save money), and we’re renting a car, so it should absolutely be doable.

We’re gonna meet up with family there, and finally meeting some friends that I have been chatting online with, like, forever! Seriously, I’ll be going face to face with folks that I have been communicating with since at least 2009! OMG! It’ll be grand, I assure you.

The fun bit is, they’re spread all over the place, which makes the road trip such a splendid idea.

I mean, we could have planned for some famous trip, like route 66 (this held a massive appeal, I kid you not) but then we thought, like: No! We’re going to do it our way and just pick our roads and see where they take us! Well, they will take us the direction of the folks I’m going to meet, of course, (duh) but the how of it will be an adventure.

That is the plan anyway. Who knows, maybe we arrive at some amazing spot and suddenly decide to not do all those States and just spend some time right there before rushing back to the airport at the last possible moment. You just don’t know.

Whatever it is going to be, I intend to do a daily blog (or at least as often as possible, considering I can’t give a 100% guarantee that I will have wifi everywhere along the way) of the trip. With pics, of course!!! I will be putting up a link to my official website (www.samayatyoung.com) in case you haven’t got that already, and then you can basically come right along with us…if you’re so inclined

Am so excited about the whole thing. I have been wanting to see the States for decades, and now it is finally happening. Will be traveling incredibly light, so basically, I will be washing things at every stop, hah. But the idea of hauling luggage along the entire way doesn’t appeal much to me either, so I’m picking motels with laundry facilities.

So, there will be just some basics (yes, I am already gathering stuff, haha) jeans, yoga pants, a skirt for special occasions, bathing suit, some underwear and some spares, and that is going to be it.

I do plan on doing some shopping there, so I might end up with taking more home than I left with, hah, but who gives a fig? Am curious as heck about US fashion.

As for a few of the highlights we’ll be seeing, in particular since we are going to try to not take highways: Niagara Falls, which is just a must, naturally. Chicago, even if only in passing, we’ll see how that goes. There will be nature reserves we’re stopping at along the way. YES! There will be the Ozarks, which has been on our list to see for years (long story, but it had to do with research for Girl in the Mist, duh). New Orleans is on the list, in particular the French Quarter and parts of the bayou. Yes, that is partly due to books we read, and movies we saw. We gotta see them in real life!

From there on, we are going to make our way back up to Boston. We had wanted to do Miami too, partly because book two to Girl in the Mist happens there, and on the Keys, but we’re afraid we just won’t be able to make that.

Next time! Heck yeah!

We’ll be passing through DC, of course! Can’t go to the State and not at least drive past the White House! I mean, seriously! It’s been in a gazillion movies, you have to have seen it if you go to the States, right?

We’ve debated New York, and finally decided to just pass it, rather than actually go in, but who knows. I do want to take a pic of the Statue of Liberty, and definitely a New York city skyline, so maybe we’ll venture beyond that and brave the city streets after all. In the end it will depend on time, of course.

So that makes for this blog’s big news. The trip will be extremely low-budget, and folks have been telling me horror stories of low-budget motels/lodges/B&Bs and whatever, so we’re going to just see how bad it’ll be, right?

Above all, it is going to be a huge adventure, and that’s what is all about in the end.

What else? Well, I can’t really beat what I just wrote, right? But here’s some more:

Did have to phone with the company through which we have the house, because recently (thank gawd that was in the days that I was dog sitting) while I was walking the dog at night, there was a prowler near the house, and, if I am to believe the dog, who kept going from window to window to bark afterward, around the house. Also, the barn on the property has a door in the back that someone pried open. The dog did not appreciate the nightly visitor and tried to go in pursuit, until the fence stopped him.

But anyway, it shows exactly why folks like us are asked to take residence in these buildings. After discussing it with the company, we’ve all agreed to put padlocks on the barns. In regards to this little incident, I am very happy to often have dogs staying over. Any entrepreneur-ish prowler will have to think twice about thinking that there are none there on the night they want to get adventurous and break in. No alarm system is quite as discouraging as a possible massive dog behind the locked door.

Would like to have a permanent dog, of course, but then events like the trip would, of course, pose a problem. Asking the friends who are going to be taking care of our plants, and feed the cat to also take the burden of a dog, just goes a little too far. Besides, there would still be the problem of this cushy place falling through in the near future, and then I’d have to get rid of the pooch, which would be so impossible just when you get attached. Grrr.

So, for now frequent dog-sitting will just have to do the trick.

The summer so far has been disappointing. We had a couple of steamy weeks, but the month of June on itself has been autumn-ish in regards to temperatures and sky cover. Grrr. It has been friggin’ cold at times, for crying out loud. The only advantage is that everything is gorgeously green because of it, and the biggest disadvantage? Mosquitoes! A gazillion of them! I look like a friggin’ pin-cushion. Dratted little creatures. Apparently there is a plague going on, I heard on the news. But I finally gave in and filled the house with a variety of mosquito repellents. I still feel pricks every now and then, but on the most part that is just my skin being upset in general. Poor skin.

Is there anything else to share? I’m sure there is, but for the moment it eludes me. I’m going to have to get into the habit of jotting down stuff when they happen, because my brain just refuses to retain memories of daily stuff that could be very interesting to write about.

Which means that I am going to wrap it up here. I’ll be back!

The new place!!!

Song of the day: “Things” by Nancy Sinatra and Dean Martin. Such a cute song, right? Never bores me, this particular song.

Sooooooh, I don ‘t have a lot of new news, since the past couple of weeks basically evolved around moving house and dropping half dead from exhaustion. Hah

But I survived the ordeal, and as of last night we are basically comfortable at the new place. Yay. It’s a gorgeous place, really, despite the fact that I was a teeny bit shocked when we first walked in (it was a friggin mess, I tell ya!) there was this old (strangely familiar) scent of old farm houses wafting from every corner, the walls were covered in cobwebs, the windows (which I still need to do, btw) are partially obscured by the same webs, there was black dust everywhere, and did I mention the smell? Hah.

The worst of it was, the first day we didn’t have enough time to do some actual cleaning, except for the kitchen cupboards, which you could simply not touch due to the greasiness. Eeeeewwww! First of there was the tour of the place, right after meeting our new handler for the first time, that is, which took longer than I would have liked. Was pretty tired already, you see, considering we had spent the previous evening loading up the rented trailer with as much big, unmanageable stuff as we could get in it. Then we’d gotten up around six thirty in the morning to stuff as much little bits and pieces in as well, before heading towards the new town in time for our eleven o’clock meeting…were late, too, considering we had to get off the highway because the friggin’ trailer started dancing on the asphalt like some bouncy puppy, almost tipping over due to fierce winds. Simply didn’t want to risk it, so we ended up taking small roads, protected mostly by houses and trees. Grrrr.

But anyway, we arrived only ten mins late, so within no time we were signing contracts just as soon our handler was gone, we started unloading. This was a lot less frustrating than loading up, if you must know. During unloading we had the trailer right beside the front door, meaning we could basically get the thing empty within thirty minutes…good thing too, considering we had our meeting at town hall around 16:00 hours so we could register…that’s one of the requirements of this type of living. FYI.

Be that as it may, once we had everything from the trailer we organized some in the living room, of which we had quite  bit of furniture along, so we had a relax spot in the house. The smell still bugged me, but that would have to wait until I had time to take out the cleaning stuff and attack the dirt. Got everything done that needed doing, had a very late lunch, or more accurately supper after having skipped lunch, hah, and then dragged out tired butts back to the apartment so we could prep for the next day by taking apart the last things that could be taken apart for transport.

A couple of weeks ago we already reserved a moving van for our actual moving day, and we were once again up around six to get ready to go pick it up in the nearest big town. We were a bit on a schedule so what followed were six harrowing hours of hauling stuff down from the third floor (using an aggravatingly slow elevator that was also, of course, being used by our senior fellow residents) and stuffing it into the van. We had to be at our new place at five fifteen, at the latest, for an appointment and due to that we ended up stuffing some final bits and pieces into the van somewhat haphazardously, and leave what was left of smaller pieces, at the old apartment to make it on time. Grrrr

You know what is the most frustrating thing of the whole thing? That which took six arduous, exhausting hours to get into that friggin’ van, was unloaded within one hour due to the fact that we could just lift it out an carry it into the house! Seriously, a slow elevator, two stories, several electric doors that were on timers rather than movement sensors and a effing load of thresholds aggravated the loading up tremendously. Hah.

No worries, though, the ordeal is over and done with, and now, after spending a day of cleaning, walls, ceilings, floors, doors, stairs, windowsills, a fireplace mantel and everything inside the kitchen, the place is looking pretty darn good! Both our furniture integrated perfectly, meaning that our office area is in light hues with fresh greens, turquoise, beige, birch wood and white. The dining area is rustic white, while the sitting area is in warm reds, browns, highlighted by plants and some light yellows. I like it.

We both have our own bedroom upstairs, with an extra for sleepovers, such a T. Strangely enough my bedroom, at the moment, looks like that of a teenager. Somehow I ended up with all white and birch wood furniture, meaning that everything is very light with dark blue carpet (now contrasted by my bright red knotted rugs), gray and white striped wallpaper and white ceiling. It looks cute, but hardly my age. Hah. Big brother’s is much simpler in that regard. His are mid-dark woods, same carpet, and blue and white striped walls. Both rooms are nicely spacious, however, which is all that matters for as far as I’m concerned.

Did finally get around to cooking a proper dinner again last night. First time round that I did that in the new kitchen, by the by, and boy did it taste good to have fresh veggies with tomato sauce and macaroni. Sometimes you just need a dose of carbs after several days of surviving on snacks mostly. I get that gnawing feeling when I don’t have proper food for a while, making we want healthy stuff, nutritious stuff, makes me wonder how people manage to survive on fast food…personally I can’t stand it for more than three days in a row. Hah.

First night at the new place was a tad fretful. Didn’t help that I was achy and extremely tired, I guess, and a bit worried about the fact that the bathroom is on the bottom floor, and the stairs are one step up from a ladder leading to the second one. A bit scary to go down and up that while you are half asleep. But I managed without mishaps and now, after going up and down there a gazillion times with clothes, any small closet I could find (can’t have my fancy big closet, because we simply can’t get it up the stairs) and all else that needed to go up to the bedrooms. The biggest problem to get up the ladder…ehm, stairs, were the beds. Seriously, that took some maneuvering!

The kitchen is the least nice place of this here, especially since the old, dark oak cupboards are, like, forty years old, and even though the doors are good material, the insides are basically falling apart. In regard to this, I have opted to acquire a very nice, 2^nd hand, classic commode that will serve rather beautifully as a commode. I love it. Makes cooking a rather pleasant experience. I was forced to use my antique glass and lead cupboard in the kitchen as well, but it looks rather lovely there, so I don’t mind no longer having it behind my couch. Hah. I’ll let you have a look at the primary pics of the main living areas.

I’ll spare you the pics of the ancient toilet, the somewhat basic bathroom, and for now the bedrooms, which still have boxes and suitcases in them. Those will be for the next blog.

At that time, I will also post some pics of our outing to grandpa’s family homestead, which is also incredibly cute. Until then, I’ll leave you to it…

The kitchen...duh. Once it was clean, it became nice and airy. Do you see the mantel there over the fridge? Used to have an old cooking stove there, I think, but the fridge fit in perfectly. Love the plants on there, btw.

Over by the far windows is our office. Nice big table, enough space for both of us, and on the right behind the red couch the nice table for when we have people over for dinner, or when I need to do sewing, or something. Seperated the two areas nicely, I think.

Love the high ceilings, and the all the light from the big windows.

Well, I gotta go now, so...seeya!

Back from Vacation!!!!

Song of the day: “Uptown Funk” by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars. Very cheerful song to have in your head, so not a bad one at all to experience it as an earworm every now and then.

Vacation in Finland! Yep. You guessed it: I’m back...have in fact been back for five days already, meaning that I should have gotten to this blog sooner, but what with going back to work immediately, that just wasn’t in the books. Seriously, I was still pretty bushed from our flight back when we were back to the grind, doing our usual stuff at the sauna the next day.

But no matter, our trip to Finland was a friggin’ success as in that I loved seeing T again, meet her family and see her in her “natural habitat”. Also, considering it was a five day journey, rather than a rushed weekend like last year when I had to go fetch Pimmetje over there. Weather wise we were both lucky and unlucky. Beautifully sunny days on the most part, but also cold, with an occasional splash of rain that caught us off guard at times. Luckily I’m the proverbial girl scout and had enough summer clothes with me to make layers work for me. Hah. Had we gone a week earlier or later, we would have been have enjoyed hotter temps, but it worked out well enough in the end. The cold made for beautifully clear skies and (a big one) thankfully less mosquitoes, because those babies were massive, I tell ya.

So, let’s see if I can give you a recount of my visit to Finland. The trip there was uneventful. Cousin Ed came to spend the night, I fed her dinner the night before and we departed from our place around nine in the morning so that we would be at the airport in time, despite rush hour still being in reluctant swing. Hah. It was a tight fit in her tiny Fiat, especially since she had three dogs with her and quite a bit of her own luggage because she was going straight on to her new place after she dropped us off at the airport. I guess we could have taken our own car, but that meant that she would have to bring it back afterward and then drive home. This was easier. Considering that father was going to pick us up at our return, it seemed wasteful to leave the car in airport parking somewhere.

Nah. This was way better.

So yeah, we arrived on time in Finland after a semi-quiet flight, and caused E (the same friend who hosted my stay the last time) some worry when we didn’t appear when expected. Apparently we followed the wrong signs and ended up at a wrong exit. No worries though, did find her in the end and soon we were on our way to her family’s vacation place in the country, where we would meet up with T later in the day. A long drive for sure, about two hours in fact, but beautiful country-side. I will try to post some photos at the end of the blog so you can get a taste.

As warned by E, our resting place for the night was a tad primitive. There was power, wifi, a roof over our heads, soft mattresses and plenty of food but, alas, no running water or in-house plumbing . Aaaaaargh. If you are female, you will know why these two things came as a bit of a startle to me at this particular time of the month. * sigh * Still made due, however, so it was no big disaster. In fact, I could actually laugh about it at times. I will have you know that this was the first time in my entire life that I used a genuine outhouse, which, I will tell you, I always thought as something exotic and part of history, rather than still in full practice. So strange to use “the can” and rather than flush sprinkle on some saw dust to fight odors...actually worked too, the smells weren’t too horrible, thank gawd!

Water came from a well, and yes, it could be pumped up by hand...instead, there was an electrical pump. Nice water too. Very soft and almost sweet. Came straight from the rich forest soil, too, so that was rather nice.

I will tell you that it was a special experience not to have any real night darkness. In fact, it seemed as if there was only a few hours of twilight before the sun came up again. I could get used to that kind of thing, I tell ya...at least, better than I could get used to permanent darkness which would definitely be a problem for me. Hah.

As it was, a walk after ten in the evening was still in full sunlight, and when I woke around six in the morning the sun was out and about again, confusing me for all of twenty seconds before I dropped off once more. Breakfast was a cheery occasion with both T and E, of which the latter’s parents were hosting our stay. A nice old couple that genuinely seemed to enjoy the company of “young folks” livening things up. They were very sweet and excellent hosts, and went as far as offering us a place to return to, should we so desire in the future. There was a language problem, naturally, seeing as our knowledge of Finnish (Suomi) is limited to counting to three, hello and goodbye. Pity, that. There were times I was tempted by the thought of maybe moving there some day, but I am definitely not doing that again. No more countries where I’m not fluent in the language, thank you very much.

Saw some beautiful sights in woods, lakes, sea...all of which there are plenty of over there. Day two, after another two hours’ drive, we arrived at T’s parents’ place where we spent the remainder of our visit. T’s parents, too, were incredibly nice. Her mom could do pretty good English, and her father not a word, but we all managed to get along well enough. Mom’s hospitality was tremendously generous, if the food was any indication. You’d think she thought we were starving orphans what with all the food served. Neither big brother nor I are shy eaters (picky, yes, but we don’t eat tiny amounts by any means...we’re rather big people, if in nothing more than height) but we were incapable of stowing away the amounts of food that were offered during breakfast, lunch and dinner, and it made me realize that I will have to be careful whenever I have guests over. Should never over-feed by keeping up offering food. Common courtesy makes you fold way too fast...it made a walk after breakfast and dinner every day essential.

Considering they were warned of our vegetarian tendencies, we didn’t get to try a lot of Finnish dishes, but the few that we did get were tasty and more than a little cute in appearances. Am definitely going to base some of my own experiments on their design in the near future. Hah

We saw the town of Naantali, which is T’s birth town. Visited the local hotspots, saw the presidential summer place, and some wonderfully authentic architecture. I love all the wood.

Also went to the city of Turku, which has some wonderful architecture as well, and a old handcrafts’ museum located in the old part of town that consisted of buildings that had just barely survived the big fire of 1827, leaving some structures that were up to two hundred years old. Impressive, considering it was wood built. Loved going through that place, which seeped with history. I kid you not, I played tourist for a few hours and took pictures of EVERYTHING! Hah

Before the museum we roamed the city a bit, went to genuine fresh produce market where they had a delicious variety of strawberries for sale. Seriously, you could get strawberries from Finland, Sweden and Spain of all places. Actually got to compare tastes, and gotta admit that taste wise the Finnish ones were tastiest. They do berries really well over there. They also like their cucumbers and cheeses, the latter of which I actually liked, surprising, considering I am picky about my cheeses.

Visited with a couple of close friends of T, one with three daughters, living out in the country in a gorgeous old farm that was for sale…was sorely tempted, I tell ya...if I had any money and the inclination to move to a country where I don’t know the language. Hah. It was wonderfully old, made of logs and with a gorgeous set of stoves in the center of the house around which all the rooms at been constructed.

I’ll see about putting some pictures off this below...and also the location was absolutely gorgeous. In case you’re wondering, basically every house in Finland has it’s own sauna (even the one without the plumbing) and they use it like us poor westerners use their shower: every evening. Imagine that, most folks pay good money for an outing to a sauna, and there they are, treating it like a daily thing never the wiser about what is considered a luxury around these parts.

The next day we visited another friend of T’s who makes a habit of fostering dogs...from Spain, too… so I got to play with doggies for a bit. It was nice, but it made me a little sad, too. When you don’t have them around you on a day to day basis, you forget how much you miss them, don’t you?

Had a small one rutting on my lap for quite a while, which was rather endearing; she (the doggie) has been experiencing some discomfort lately, so we discussed possible treatments before it was time for us to leave. Seriously, these people live in the most gorgeous places. This one, too, had a house right in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by woods everywhere. So jealous!

Also picked up T’s semi-son-in-law, who arrived by train on Friday afternoon. Cute kid, with a great sense of humor, especially for a 12 year old. Had loads of fun with him there, and it sure made the coming party that evening (T’s aunt likes to give a karaoke party this time of year, especially when they have international guests) a lot more fun, since it guaranteed conversation. Only a few of T’s relatives were adapt (or not too shy) at English, and I didn’t want to hoard all of T’s attention seeing these few days were about twenty percent of her own vacation that was to be an opportunity to reconnect with her family. Was a very cozy evening, all in all. Mostly a clear sky, so the sun stayed out keeping us semi-comfortable at least. Still, I was mighty happy about the three layers I had bothered to don at the beginning of the evening.

First thing at the party was a real Finnish game that took quite a bit of time and required mostly patience and a steady hand. There were 12 little trunks with numbers on them, and one without which you had to throw at the lot. I could go on about the whole system, but won’t bore you with it. It was all about reaching fifty, without going over it. The one who got there first, won, and suffice it to say I didn’t win...neither did big brother, considering the price was to sing Karaoke first. Hah...added to that “incentive” big brother also got seriously buzzed on the whiskey that was liberally offered to him during the course of the evening, and which threw off his aim, and thankfully for him, some of his shyness, at least.

In case you’re wondering...Yes, I did karaoke! Three times, in fact, and admittedly it was mostly because T’s family was so nice about it. Had been playing with the idea, naturally, figuring I was now old and confident enough to do some singing in public (and let’s face it, at work I am totally capable of forgetting that are colleagues around to hear me) but it was mostly T’s semi-son-in-law. I made a deal with him that if he’d sing, I’d sing, and he did, so I was pretty much toast. Hah. Ended up singing first an easy one: Madonna’s “Don’t cry for me Argentina”, which thankfully went without a hitch, followed later on in the evening, after a second cider, by Allanah Miles’s “Black Velvet”. Went well up until the last crooned “if you please”, but by then I didn’t mind all that much and was well content with my endeavors for the evening. Ended the evening, after one in the morning no less, with a duet...or triplet, more accurately of Ronan Keating’s “When you say nothing at all”, which didn’t go well at all, since we started too low, T, the kid and I. Hah. No matter. Were in bed after three (the drive back was almost another hour) and it would have to be an semi-early morning because we still had to drive a nice 200 miles back to Helsinki to catch our flight.

Fell asleep on the ride, so it went faster than expected. Made our goodbyes to T and the kid somewhat rushed, which was a pity. Before you know it we were inside the airport, through customs and waiting endlessly for boarding to be announced. Like the flight to Finland, the one back was packed to full capacity once more, had another half hour nap during that, and then we were back in the Netherlands with father waiting at the exit for us. Strange to see him standing there, but nice, too, despite me being pretty bushed.

He and mother-in-law took us out for dinner in Amsterdam, at this cozy little vegetarian place near the center. Had a very nice meal together before they drove us home where big brother quickly checked if the car was still working (fine, battery was still working, yay!) before we went to our respective apartments to unpack. Were a tad late getting to bed, too, considering we had a nightcap, but were back at work on the dot the next day, as planned.

Well, that about sums that up. Let’s see about those pics.

 Here we have E, together with T's lovely pugs, Nero and Fidel.

 A lake...duh!

Countryside.

A lake!

A paddock after ten in the evening.

Part of the sea, but it looked more like a lake. After nine in the evening.

T. As you can see, it was already cold by then.

Crop fields.

 

Meadow...gorgeous, right?

The day we went to Turku. How 'bout those strange clouds.

A museum...wouldn't you love have a courtyard like this?

I thought these rocks lovely. Had a lot of this over there, a combination of rocks and trees. Love it.

This used to be the town covered market. Now it was transformed into a place with tiny little restaurants, bistros and shops inside. It looked like a movieset...remember Cheers? That style. Wonderful. Too dark for a proper photo, however.

Next one is at the museum of the handcraft. You see T there, her mom and big brother's back. Hah.

 Up here the Karaoke party, with T, the kid and her mom singing together, and below here the kid posing for the pic.

Now let's do the house that was for sale. I absolutely loved the kitchen.

As you will see from the amount of pics I took of it. Hah.

See the pallets that were used for couches. Very cosy.
Logs were ancient, and in the room below here untreated.

In every room in the center you had a piece of art called a stove. All of them different, all of them lovely.

See that door in the corner. Old fridge. They used to build it in the coldest corner of the house so stuff stayed good. Nifty.

See that structure down here. It was a loom from the 17th century. Very cute.

Kitchen again.

And more kitchen. I want it...

 The poles by the stairs used to be used for drying of the hay. I thought it very nice in this way.

E, playing monster under the stairs.

The upper floor was one big room. Parts of the walls were papered with newspapers. I loved the look. Am going to remember that.

The stairs from the other side. The branches are a very nice touch. Kept everything open and light.

The outside. Typically finnish, actually.

And the time of the year was the best. Still blossoms everywhere.

A sauna.

 A converted barn. Cold as heck in winter, naturally, but incredibly cute in summer.

An outhouse...these seemed to be everywhere!

 And lastly, one more time, the kitchen with the three girls on top of the stove. like a triplet of pixies, right? Wonderful.

And with this, I'll leave you for now. Time to get to bed, and ready for work in the morning.

Seeya.