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: 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.