Finland: Visiting the cemetery: Saturday, Sept. 29

It's tradition in Finland to visit the graves of loved ones several times a year to plant new flowers, shrubs and place candles. This time of year, the traditional flower to plant is heather (Calluna vulgaris) .

Yesterday I went with Fammo Svea, Faster Barbro and Kai to plant heather and pay respects to relatives passed.

Here is a photograph of my grandfather Faffa Heimer's resting place at the Pedersöre cemetery in Jakobstad. That's Faster Barbro and Fammo Svea in the photo. You can see the pinkish-purple heather in the foreground.

This next photo is of my great-grandmother Jenny Irene Wiklund's resting place at the Esse cemetery. She died when my Fammo Svea was just 2 years old.

Finland: Mining the lingonberries: Sat. Sept. 22

Lingonberries - Finland's red gold


Picking lingonberries in the autumn is about as Finnish as you can get. These tart little berries are akin to cranberries, which also grow in the forests of Finland. In Swedish, lingonberries are called "lingon" and cranberries are called "tranbär."


On the northeast side of Agnisholmen, my parents have the cabin they began building in 1977. It was designed by my Faffa Heimer.





As my parents have never permanently returned to Finland, the final sauna oven has yet to be added. But my brothers Mike and Kenny and I spent every other summer here while growing up. You can see Kai hanging out among the lingonberries.





Here is Uncle Ben in his Samurai hat. He wears it to invoke fighting prowess for when he must do battle with "huggormar", which are Finland's poisonous wood snakes.
























A Finnish specimen of the "huggorm." (We didn't actually see one this trip, luckily!)

Finland: Fammo Svea! Friday Sept. 21

This is my grandmother Svea. She is 93 years old and lives in her own apartment in Jakobstad. Kai met her for the first time last week. Now they're old friends, he even gives her hugs and kisses too!

I probably inherited my love of coffee from Fammo. She worked at her family's cafe in Kållby for years, before she married my Faffa Heimer. Faffa passed away in 1988. He worked as a "byggmästare" which is something like a building architect. Faffa was a lot of fun, I remember him twiddling his thumbs while he watched TV in his rocking chair. He also used to color in the loops of letters in the newspaper and then it was my job to hunt for them and circle them. Good times!

Finland: The Villa at Agnisholmen: Fri-Sun, Sept. 21-23

Last weekend we went to Ben & Bitti's villa. A villa is a cottage used for weekend relaxation, usually located near water.




Ben & Bitti's villa is located on Agnisholmen, which literally translates to Agnes Island. You can find it on the map located just above the word "Kåtolandet." (Note that water is yellow and land is grey on this map.)




There are so many lakes and islands in the Finnish archepelago that there is quite a lot of waterfront property for such a small country. Most villas are equipped with a sauna - and to cool off afterwards you run and jump in the water.




The island is in the vincinity of Öja and Kokkola, an area renouned for its ginormous population of ticks. These ticks carry a disease called TBE, which Kai and I got vaccinated for before we left the states.

Finland: Jakobstad or bust! Sept. 19 and onwards

We're in Jakobstad now - the town of 20,000 where my parents grew up. We're staying with my aunt Bitti and uncle Ben. (Click the following link to read about Jakobstad/Pietasaari - http://www.jakobstad.fi/index_en.html.)

We took care of some necessities which included visiting the municipal department of health to rent a baby car seat for Kai, and shopping at the local grocery store. My aunt Bitti is driving the cart and Kai is along for the ride.

Here is one of the thousands of glacial erratics (boulders) scattered throughout the city. My mom is standing in front of it, while Kai is checking out mushrooms in the lawn.

Finland: Välkommen till Finland: Part 1: Helsinki Sept 17-19

Whew - we made it!

My mom Harriet, Kai and I survived the 10 hour flight from Seattle --> Copenhagen and the subsequent 1.5 hour flight from Copenhagen --> Helsinki.

Exactly how do you keep a 2-year old quiet on a night flight for 10 hours strapped into an uncomfortable seat? Little plastic animals...

Then we met my Aunt Barbro in Helsinki (that's Helsingfors for all you Swedish-speakers out there) and went to her apartment in the Dromsö neighborhood.

 

Here is Kai munching on hotdogs (korv) in my Aunt Barbro's kitchen.

We stayed 2 nights in Helsingfos, most of our energy battling the jet lag. Or rather, Kai was losing the jet lag battle so that meant everyone was else suffered too.

But we did manage to visit with my second cousins "syslingar" - Åsa, Malena and my former roomate Linda. Luckily, Åsa and Linda have kidlets now too so there was no need to hush Kai excessively.

Åsa, Me, Linda and Malena at Åsa and Mårten's apartment in the Eina area of Helsinki.

Kai kept stealing away most of Casper's toys with the proclamation of "MINE." What can I say - we teach good family values, ones that include greed, taking advantage of those smaller than you...our motto is "if it feels good do it (?!)."

Here's me with Casper - he's a cheerful one.

Mårten, Casper's dad, had a neat creation. He had commissioned the creation of a Wallendahl family crest from a licensed crest-maker. The new crest is registered with the international organization that oversees crests. Pretty cool!

 

Later, we went to downtown Helsinki and went to H&M (my favorite clothing store ever!). And also to Stockman, which is a department store akin to Saks Fifth Avenue or Nordstrom.

Åsa, Mårten and Casper wait in the rain for the 3T trolley car to take us to the city center.

Small children and one parent ride public buses and trolley cars for free. How cool is that? Otherwise, a ride on the bus or trolley costs about 2.2 Euros (circa 2.75 USD).

 

Kai naturally wanted to sit in Casper's baby wagon since Casper was riding around in the Snugli.

Åsa even watched Kai so I could poke around H&M - tusen tack!

 

Kai chillin' inside Stockmans while Harriet checked out some stuff.

 

The next day, September 19, we left for Jakobstad by train. But before that, Aunt Barbro took us out for lunch at the World Trade Center in Helsinki.

Okay, more entries later. Kai only naps so long in the afternoon...