Just a short report…

…and a few pictures that I took today.

First we had more snow and then it was snowing, and then it was snowing again… We had around half a metre of snow here where I’m living. And it was cold. And then it was warmer. And then it was raining… a lot! And then snowing again a bit and the sun’s been shining lately as well, and it’s been a bit warmer again, and the days are much longer… And it’s been very slippery. So all this… Well, business as usual. We still have over 20 centimetres of snow on the ground. And I got shingles about a week ago (it’s pain in the back…) – whatever does that predict…? But it’s beginning to feel a bit like spring outside. And I’m not ready for spring yet, yikes! 😮 ( 🙂 )

February

This is the third stem of my amaryllis. This had four flowers. The stem grew super tall, the four flowers opened and the plant fell down. I had to cut the stem and put it into a vase.

February
February

As there is nothing more to report now, let’s have another moose video… Again in my boyfriend’s forest, or this is the field in the video, the camera is in the forest.

  • Leena

Strange how familiar – more about January

It was sunny and it was windy on Friday, and a lot of snow fell from the wintry trees that we had… We had some sunshine yesterday, too, but today, now it’s already snowing a bit, and they say that it will continue to snow. – Now that is what I really like! Right now, because it’s January! 🙂

January

Late in the afternoon on Friday.

The next four pictures I took already on Saturday a week ago:

January

Never before have we seen so many deer tracks in our yard. – We have seen deer tracks often in our garden this winter. The animals are night-time wanderers, but we saw a ‘herd’ of three deer once, early in the morning, and a couple of deer in the daytime.

On Saturday a week ago there were many deer tracks in our yard, first I thought there had been two deer, but then I kept finding new tracks, and it looked like there had been at least three deer. Well, that was our strawberry patch in the pic above – that was the first time that deer had actually been doing something in our garden – digging and eating and it looked like one had been lying down there. Deer oh deer…

Some prints and tracks that I found:

deer hoof print, cat paw print in snow
A deer hoof print and a cat paw print.

A deer hoof print and a cat paw print side by side. – A nice coincidence. 🙂 Deer hoof prints that we see here are usually quite small…

deer hoof print in snow

…but then I found these tracks – the hoof prints looked a lot bigger… “What was that? – The devil has been in our backyard?”, I thought to myself. ;D

deer tracks in snow

Now pictures that I took yesterday:

amaryllis

Amaryllis. Always majestic… And the scent is lovely and delicate!

My amaryllis had three flowers in the first stem, this is now the second stem, and it has four flowers, the flower in the picture is the first one that’s fully opened. Just marvellous.

amaryllis
amaryllis
staghorn fern

Now just one pic of our new house plant, staghorn fern or elkhorn fern. Hopefully it won’t dry out… An interesting plant!

January

I went for a walk barefoot from the sauna again on Friday night, twice. I had only a towel around me and the snow and the chilly wind felt very nice. Comfortable enough – meaning one can do it without hesitation…

Our cats’ mother, the mother cat, came to live with us – that’s something new and nice as well. We travelled to Central Finland to get her on Monday this week. We had seen the mother cat only once before, very briefly, almost four and a half years ago and we didn’t remember how she actually looked like, so that was an interesting surprise for us, too, when we saw her on Monday. 🙂

  • Leena

The next chapter

It’s… next year! Hmm… 🙂

First four pictures that I took in our yard yesterday, on New Year’s Eve:

December

A deer it was… I noticed these two days ago, and took this pic yesterday, before it started snowing in the evening.

December

One of yesterday’s many lights… It was snowing and it was windy. But very nice.

December
December

A candlelit sauna and from the sauna outside to walk barefoot in snow on the terrace and in the middle of the yard. And then back to sauna, and then do it again. I love how it feels! 🙂

So I watched one more Christmas film; The Polar Express (2004). I’ve tried to watch it, on two occasions, before – some years ago for the first time and again – was it at Christmas a year ago – I can’t remember anymore, but I fell asleep, on both occasions, already in the beginning of the film. – I was interested, but I was also very tired, obviously… So now I was determined to watch the film. And what a nice adventure it was! – And I’ve been just sleeping through it before… ;D

Another film I’ve watched after Christmas is Bird Box (2018 Netflix).

And two pictures that I took today, on New Year’s Day:

January

Amaryllis. I bought it yesterday, at half price at a local grocery store. I have to find a place for it in our living room, this is not the place, just taking a… hasty picture of two things that’s been happening. – I was watching the New Year’s Concert of The Vienna Philharmonic. I love watching it every year.

It’s been sleeting and water’s been dripping again today, but they say that it will be colder in the evening again and that it will snow. And they say that then it will be cold and sunny. Hmm…

January

On the broken couch… Happy New Year!

  • Leena

Amaryllis & schlumbergera

It was a bit warmer again out there for a few days and water was dripping, and especially yesterday it rained a bit, but for many hours, but it still didn’t melt the snow we’ve had on the ground for four weeks (that’s a month!) now. And then it sleeted late in the evening. Today the weather’s a bit colder again and they say that it ought to stay that way now and that it ought to snow again as well.

So, now it’s been the perfect time for flowers inside the house! 🙂

amaryllis

My amaryllis is flowering now. Biiig flowers… First it had two flowers.

amaryllis

The jungle here… and, oh, a black panther there, up there in the picture… The black with white markings, a funny type of black panther. 🙂

amaryllis

The colours of this amaryllis are lighter than the colours of my previous amaryllis. I didn’t know what colour my amaryllis would be, or I knew that it has two colours, and I assumed they would be red and white, but the actual hue was a surprise. It turned out to be charming, sweet.

amaryllis

schlumbergera

Schlumbergera or Christmas cactus flowering, too. This plant moved here with my amaryllis after Christmas, my boyfriend decided to buy this plant. I like schlumbergera, too, very much, and I love the name – I think that it sounds beautiful. 🙂

amaryllis

Since yesterday my amaryllis has four flowers.

amaryllis

Why am I, all of a sudden, taking pictures in the corner of our living room…? Because on the usual spot we have now a plant light, a real plant light, purple light. Purple light is nice and decorative and good for the plants, but plants in pictures taken ‘under its spell’… not exactly natural, the colours they have under that light… I’ll have to think of something – I don’t like this corner that much, the way it is now, when it comes to taking pictures here…

amaryllis

jungle, tiger

The purple light… But look, that tiger up there looks pretty natural!

January

So, it’s already been snowing a bit, too, today. Here’s a couple of pictures I took just before publishing this blog post.

January

-Leena

The last day of the year, flowers, a book…

Today is the last day of the year 2017. The New Year is here! About the weather again; on Wednesday morning we had again a bit more fresh snow and the sun was shining in the daytime. Thursday and Friday were cloudy days and it was a bit warmer. Yesterday there was a bit more light out there, even some sunlight and it was snowing and the sun was shining by turns in the daytime. Today there was a bit of sunlight again. So, there’s been snow on the ground for three weeks now! 🙂

hyacinth

My hyacinths

hyacinth

The scent!

hyacinth

As charming as ever…

amaryllis

I bought this amaryllis after Christmas, for half the price. This is my second ever amaryllis plant. The first amaryllis plant I had… exists no more. – The trouble with the bulb plants inside the house… (?) 😮 So, now I’m expecting this plant to just flower for me. 🙂 A bud has begun to open.

viola in December

And the viola plant is still there in our garden. And it still has fresh flowers! – A few fresh flowers like this one in the pic. This must be sorcery! ;D

Puiden salattu elämä - The Hidden Life of Trees & knitted owls

The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben. I have started reading this book now, in Finnish. I am finally reading this book. – I have been interested in this book ever since I first read about it somewhere. A fascinating theme, fascinating nature. “What They Feel, How They Communicate. Discoveries from a Secret World.” – From the English book cover.

the last day of the year 2017

A bit of sunlight today, on the last day of the year 2017. Happy New Year! 🙂

-Leena

Amaryllis leaves

My amaryllis today… She had four big flowers in total, during the second blooming in early February.

amaryllis

Already two leaves (the shortest ones) have turned brown, got rotten and dried up. I don’t know why… But there’s also a new leaf growing, again. And the longest leaf…

amaryllis

Well, the longest leaf is… long. 🙂 Hopefully it stays this way. At least I’ve been trying to take good care of my amaryllis… I’ve been trying to give it reasonable amounts of water and fertilizer.

amaryllis

So, just hoping now…

-Leena

Amaryllis blooming again

My amaryllis today:

amaryllis

She really did it! 🙂

amaryllis

The bud was so thin that I thought that there would be only one flower and I believed that the flower would be tiny and poor, but… wow! There’s already two big flowers, and too new buds as well.

amaryllis

I wonder if this now is the last time my amaryllis has flowers… 😮 And it had three leaves growing, but one of them (the shortest one) has now turned brown, and it’s not even dry, just rotten… As I said before; I’m not at all confident…

amaryllis

But yes, this now… As majestic as ever…

February

It’s been freezing cold again and there’s still snow. But the sun’s been shining and it truly is warming nicely during the daytime! And it’s so bright…

-Leena