Mum's orchids are incredibly beautiful. They are just gorgeous. How she manages to keep them all alive and in full bloom is something I'll never understand. I once tried an orchid and it didn't last long! I'm only good with plants that require minimum care.
I don't know the name of this flower, but I just love the orange colour!
This is a bromelia. I love the yellows and reds in this one too. Very pretty!
On Sunday I went on a walk around the Espoo Cathedral (Espoon tuomiokirkko / Esbo domkyrka) while Mirja was at football practice. It was sunny and cold and absolutely gorgeous weather. The Cathedral is the oldest building in Espoo. The oldest parts are from the 1480s. The Cathedral is special to me because both my girls have been baptized in it. The Cathedral is going to be closed until the end of November because of restorations. The Cathedral is built next to the Espoo river. 
Ceramic pendant by Mary Harding, polymer clay connectors by Humblebeads, ceramic leaves by Diane Hawkey, jasper donuts, fire-polished beads, wood beads, copper, brass and hemp cord.
Agate slice, brass leaf and findings, bronze seed beads, four shades of freshwater pearls and lampwork beads from Bead Addicts.
Traditional food on Shrove Sunday is pea soup with rye bread and milk. Another must is a bun with whipped cream and almond paste or strawberry jam.
We've had some beautiful winter days this week. We've also gotten a lot of more snow. The trains have been late. There's been a lot more car crashes than usual. The parking spaces have disappeared under mountains of snow. Some cow-houses have collapsed under the weight of the snow. The last time we had this much snow and this many cold days after one another was something like 20 years ago. We've been joking that we'll be having a snowball fight on midsummer!
There are a lot of different versions of this recipe, here’s a simple one:250 grams of butter or margarine
3 decilitre of sugar
4 eggs
4 decilitre of gingerbread crumbs or Digestive crumbs
60 grams of shredded almond
2 decilitre of wheat flour
1,5 teaspoons of baking powder
bitter-almond oil (optional)
cardamom (optional)
1 decilitre of milk / cream / apple juice
Decoration:
1 decilitre of raspberry jam
icing sugar
a little water or juice
1) Mix butter and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time.
2) Mix all dry ingredients and add them to the butter and sugar mix and then add the milk or juice.
3) Grease a cake tin and sprinkle with crumbs or flour. Pour the mixture into the tin.
4) Bake in 150 C for one hour if you use a big cake tin, in 200 C for 20-30 minutes if you use smaller tins.
5) You can moisten the tortes with a mix of water and rum or punch.
6) Decorate with raspberry jam and a ring of icing around the jam.
Enjoy with a cup of coffee or tea or - as Runeberg is said to have done - a glass of punch!
I made some jewelry today. I made these simple earrings to go with the necklace I made earlier: red tiger eye, brass and copper.
Snowflake pendant from Summers Studio, boro beads from Brendan Blake Glass Art, freshwater pearls, silver beads and findings.
Koi pendant from Summers Studio, boro beads from Brendan Blake Glass Art, Hill Tribe silver beads, freshwater pearls, crystals, silver beads and findings.
It was Johan Ludvig Runeberg's Day on Friday 5th. He is the Finnish national poet. He lived from 1804 to 1877. His home in Porvoo is a museum today. It is said that his wife Fredrika started baking the Runeberg's tortes and that Runeberg had one for breakfast every day. There are several recipes for the torte, they usually include almonds and rum with raspberry jam and a ring of sugar on top. To celebrate I'm going to have a BIG cup of coffee and a Runeberg's torte.
10 things I love (not necessarily in any particular order):
Family: my girls, my husband, my mother and all the rest of them.
Friends: being together, talking and laughing about everything under the sun. Some of us oriental dancers started a darbuka group with Christer teaching. It has been a lot of fun!
Nature: taking long walks; listening to the wind in the trees, the birds singing, the sound of running water; looking at flowers, animals, colors, textures, everything!
Books: nature, history, art, beading, novels, short stories, can’t have too many books!
Beads: beads, jewelry, making jewelry, wearing jewelry, giving something you’ve made yourself as a gift. 
Exercising: walking, jogging, swimming, going to the gym.
Music: the radio is always on in the car and at work, CDs at home – preferably LOUD!
Home: I love being at home relaxing doing as little as possible, which is mostly reading, beading, listening to music, watching movies. We built a hobby room in the attic last summer and I got my own beading corner!
Travelling: The best ever was our honeymoon in Rome, but Vienna, Cairo and St Petersburg were great too. I’m not really a lying on the beach kind of traveller. We’ve mostly travelled in Finland with the girls and then we’ve been to Stockholm and Copenhagen.
Events: I enjoy going to museums, fairs, expos, the circus, the theatre, the opera, the ballet. It’s easier to go now that the girls are bigger and they like going too.
I was considering chocolate too, but maybe that's for another list....
