No Wedding Photos

I´m sorry I can´t show any photos from my sons wedding and
the baptism ceremony of their son. They like to keep it private.
It was anyhow a lovely day and everything went nice.
I sang one song in the church and 2 songs at the
party.
The son was named David Benjamin.
I think he is the most cute baby in the world.

Back In The Village

A last photo of the island.

Late tonight, 10pm, we returned to my mams house in Petalax, which is a
village situated about 40 km (25 miles) south of Vasa.
The wind slowed down and we decided to leave the island to be sure we
will not be stacked there for days.
It has been lovely to be there and I feel more relaxed than ever even when
we have been quite busy doing a lot of stuff during our stay.

It´s now quarter to two in the night and I´m still awake. I have started doing
rehearsal of one of the songs that I will sing at my son Mattias and Pias wedding
ceremony on Saturday.
The song that I try to learn is called "Annu doftar karleken", by Marie Fredriksson.
They have picked the song themselves and I´m glad they took this one
when I like it too. My son has bought a studio made backing track for it which
means it will probably sound something like when I normally sing on Tenerife.

Brito called tonight and we have made some plans about what to do when I return.
Oh, I start longing for Tenerife now even when my time here is so lovely too.
Now I´ll go to bed... Sweet Dreams!

The wind was like gone when we left the island.
It really feels amazing when I think about how windy it was yesterday.


On the cable ferry that took us to the mainland.
You can also see the ferry almost in the center on the photo above.

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Very Windy

Oh, tonight it´s very windy on the island.

We had to take the terrace that is on the backside of the house in

use, to get the dinner prepared.


What a difference it was! Here the sea almost looked like a mirror.


I started up the barbeque. My dad has a big gasoline grill here on the island but
nobody of us know how to use it. We must do it in the old style.


We had pork with potatoes, salad and a Cream fraishe sauce.

My mam made for desert Mascarpone with strawberries and
a shot of Vana Tallin liqueur from Estonia.

Now we are listening to the radio weather forecast for tomorrow.
They say the wind will only be up to 12 meters per second.
If they are right we probably will leave the island tomorrow night and
return to my mams normal house in Petalax.


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The Bird House

It´s Sunday evening on our paradise island.
When we woke up this morning the winds had increased quite a lot.
We understood we would never be able to get to the mainland what ever happens.
We´ve only got the small boat. The bigger one is still up on the shore and it will not be put in the sea this summer. We have to be careful in whatever we do, to be sure we are on the safe side.
The day has so far went well and we are in a good mood.

I decided to start fixing the bird house which had lost the bottom.

There was a perfect piece among the sauna wooden that I did saw yesterday.

After an inspection I figured out how much shorter it must become to fit in.

This saw is lovely. Very easy to handle and it was just like to cut a piece
of cake to get it in the right length.

My dad was a cleaver man. He had used a couple of steal threads to keep the
bottom in place. Because of that it will be very easy to open up the bottom
every year, to clean the bird house inside, and I did not even have to take the
house down to get it fixed. Very nice!

He,he! I´m quite proud. I made it!!!
The bird house is now ready to get new guests next spring.

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Craw Fishes

I will finish for today with a photo of the
delicious craw fishes that we had tonight.
Good Night!

Some Flowers

Here some photos of the wild flowers and bushes that I
discovered today while I had a stroll around on the island.
Sorry, I don´t know their names in English...and some of
them not even in Swedish.

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The Life On Our Paradise Island

The house.

Oh what a day it has been here on Finngrynnan, which is the name of the
island here in Finland, where I at the moment stay with my mam.
It was very hot in the morning til the middle of the day but
in the afternoon we got thunderstorms and heavy rains while we sat in the sauna.
Everything that was outside on the terrace became wet, even when it
was under the roof, and we got a lot of extra work to take care of it.

The sauna house.


This is the restroom.
The black thing on the wall is filled with water and you can
wash your hands here after you have payed a visit.
The small blue carpet is handmade. I think it´s so beautiful.


He,he! I´ll show you everything...!
This is the throne.


Because my dad was ill this year the bird house was not fixed.
It has lost the bottom and is empty of birds.
I have a vision to take it down and fix it. Maybe tomorrow...?


My dad has made this bird feeding automate.
Mam fills it with sunflower seeds every autumn and it´s
always empty in the springtime.


This is the smoke oven where my dad used to smoke the fishes.
He made the oven himself.


You put logs on fire inside this little oven and when the hot smoke passes the
oven, where the fishes are hanging, they become prepared.


Today I was sawing some wood for the sauna.


I like all this kind of stuff that you must do on the island.
It´s relaxing work and very different from my normal life on Tenerife.


Today we also had a "fresh up bath" in the sauna.
This is the sauna heater.
We put rain water, which is collected from the house roof during
rains, into the boiler above the stove. By doing this we get warm
water for the bath. We mix it up with cold water, in a big wash bowl, til it gets the
right temperature...and then we poor it over ourselves, by using a bucket, to
wash away shower cream and shampoo. It´s a well working procedure.
The life here on the island is in many cases like it was 100 years back in time...
(Except the fact that I´ve got internet here)...
But, oh how I like it! To be able to live like this for a short time is luxury for me!
The closeness to the nature and the sea is so relaxing.
It´s an experience I wish would be available to everyone.

In next post I will show you some of the flowers that are blooming here at the moment.


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On The Island

Yesterday I returned to my mams house in Finland.
I have been away for about 10 days and it feels good to be back again.
There are still some stuff that have to be solved after my dads death and directly after I arrived we went to the funeral company and ordered the stone that will be placed at the grave.
Oh, to be honest with you I think it´s quite expensive to die.

Today I´ve been to Vasa with my mam shopping the clothes we will wear at the
wedding on next Saturday.
We were both very satisfied with the dresses and jackets we bought and I
found some extra pieces too.

Many years ago my mam and dad bought an own island in the archipelago outside of Vasa.
There is a little summer house with 2 bedrooms, kitchen and a living room.
To get there you have to cross the sea by boat for about half a mile (about 750m), after you first have traveled with a cable ferry for ten minutes over to an other bigger island called Bergo.
This is where I am right now together with my mam.
Directly when we came back from the town today, we decided to move out here.
We packed all the suitcases and bags in about 45 minutes and left and now we will stay here for a few days, maybe til Monday or Tuesday night.
It´s very different and relaxing to stay here. We have as an example no running water and the toilet is just a small house in the backyard, but we have got electricity and a sauna which is heated by logs. Tomorrow we will have a sauna bath in the afternoon and a special
dinner in the night.
I´ll try to remember to take some photos to show you...

The terrace.
There´s actually an other one in the backyard too.

The view from the terrace.
Tonight we decided to have a small barbeque for the two of us.

We were eating outside when the weather was just perfect.

First we had grilled halloumi cheese and salad.

Then fillet steak with a lot of black pepper.

As a desert we made grilled bananas filled with chocolate.

The nights are still quite light here in Finland.


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Un Besito Para Brito

Te quiero y echo de menos. XXoo


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Seaport Hotel in Turku

It says; Dear Susan Holm, welcome to be our guest... (The text is in Finnish).

I checked in at the Seaport hotel in Turku a couple of hours ago.
Tomorrow morning I´ll board the Galaxy cruise ship and head for Stockholm, Sweden.
I´ll be back at my mams house in a couple of weeks.

It´s a lot going on this time while I´m in Finland and
I will not return to Tenerife before in August.

My son Mattias and his girlfriend Pia have started planning their wedding
that will be held Saturday the 30th of July, in Korsnas.
Their newborn son will also be baptized at the same ceremony.

And I will of course be there...

This is the dinner I had tonight, here at the hotel. It was nice.
Chicken breast with a sauce of the typical kantarell-mushrooms of Finland.


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The Best Ribs Ever

Some days ago my sister Carola and her husband Calle invited
me and my mam for a barbeque.

Calle was doing the barbequeing.


They know how to make ribs. They were just delicious!

After the dinner we went out for a tour in their boat.

The whole family. Inside: Calle and Carola.
Outside: Sandra and Heidi (daughters) with Magnus (boyfriend of Heidi) in the middle.

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