December’s here and today Finland 99 years – thank you!

About the weather lately… 🙂 It’s been rather interesting… On Friday 25th November we had snow the whole day, then at night… water… on Saturday 26th, no snow, but again on Sunday 27th, snow on the ground the whole day. And after that, many snowy days – a little bit of snow, not like heaps of it… Buuut again yesterday, on Monday 5th December, and today as well, no snow. But it’s cold!

December

This was on Saturday. There’s been many sunny days, too, the last days of November were sunny as well, so bye bye fifth season! 🙂

By the way, I’ve been using our, mine and Owlnature’s, Instagram (owlnatureleena) – my intention is to take more pics to my Instagram – I mean, more often than I’ve taken before. I’ll still have everything important (and less important) here in Owlnature, but some additional fun (? :)), too, on Instagram…

December

This was yesterday…

coffee owl

Coffee owl… my morning coffee today. Happy Independence Day! – Today, on 6th December, is the Independence Day in Finland. – 99 years! Thank you! 🙂

pine trees

A sunny day today! When I was taking these four pics, the sun was already on the treetops.

morning coffee owl

Morning coffee magic…

pine trees

“Okay, I’ll do it, I’ll do everything, every thing, but, you know… :

Princess Cat

…one mustn’t rush these things… or to be more specific; one mustn’t rush a thing… Did you know…?”

🙂

-Leena

No-snow November – it’s what’s inside…

There’s no snow out there anymore. All melted… came as no surprise. It’s the fifth season now – November.

The first two pics I took on our regular walk on Tuesday this week.

November walk

Going down… loving the spruce trees and all.

lake Pyhäjärvi

By the lake Pyhäjärvi… the lake is not that frozen anymore. It was already getting a bit dark as I took this pic, and it was so foggy that one was not able to quite see…

…yeah, that’s November – sometimes one just can’t see… or what one sees, is all the shades of grey or brown… This is the season in which one needs all the candles and campfires, and Christmas or winter lights that one possibly can have. But what’s the most crucial thing; one has to have the light within oneself… what truly matters is one’s heart, soul, mind… The mind is everything!

November

This pic I took before the walk. I was sitting at the kitchen table, nibbling some rye bread.

November moss

Some bright November moss in our garden. Moss. Magic.

November

What is that? – Some natural light and blue sky in sight? Today. That was fast. But it happened. 😀

Yes, some natural light outside is very nice indeed, but… you know…

Every little hamster...

“Eeevery little hamster…”

...knows that it's what's inside...

“…knows that it’s what’s inside…”

...that counts.

“…that counts.”

? 🙂

-Leena

Frozen lake, winter lights, …

All these pictures are from yesterday. The first three pics I took as we were taking our regular walk.

November walk

I came from there… just turning around to take a pic… I don’t have much time for taking pics on our regular walks – trying to keep up with my boyfriend’s pace… he is taller and faster, and perhaps in a bit better shape than me… my personal trainer…? 😀 Oh dear, oh dear…

frozen lake Pyhäjärvi

By the frozen lake Pyhäjärvi. It has been so cold that the lake froze fast. But it is not yet safe to walk too far on the ice…

frozen lake Pyhäjärvi

On the ice anyway, have to try it a bit…

winter lights

Later in the evening I had the inspiration to put up the first Christmas lights, or winter lights, outside. Outside our kitchen window – it’s nice to see the lights when sitting at the kitchen table and the lights also shine in a pleasant way to the kitchen, when it’s dark in there. 🙂

winter lights

One part of the lights are on our bikes, for practical reasons. My bike is the right one, I’ve had it since the year 1998. 🙂

“Okay, this is all very interesting, but…”:

kitty catty cat

-Leena

Sunshine and snow

The first snow has fallen. Snow – it feels soft to the touch and under one’s feet, but also makes the whole atmosphere everywhere soft, and magical. 🙂

The first three pics I took yesterday.

garden bunny

A garden bunny – a happy bunny.

persimmon

And yet another wonderful thing about November; it’s the season of Spanish persimmons! Persimmons are one of my favourite fruits. They are so delicious, sweet, juicy, quite big… 🙂

strawflower

The strawflowers meet snow now! 😀 They have closed their rustling petals…

half moon

Last Sunday, late in the evening, by the lake Pyhäjärvi. The fairly red half moon and the moon glade were just beautiful…

Follow the spiders?

Still following the spiders…? Yes… I am… 😉

Follow the spiders?

cat paw print

A cat paw print… whether it’s summer or winter, our cats enjoy getting outside.

marigold, calendula

The last pot marigold or calendula flowers today… 🙂

-Leena

Take it spooky or take it easy…

October is turning into November… it’s spooky time! I love spooky. I love horror films, and so on, and I love the darkness and silence here in the countryside… in the dead of night – it can feel creepy when you are alone out there… 🙂

Halloween

Time to scare your own ghosts… 😉 I came across these kind of tissue ghosts on We Heart It and thought that they would be just perfect ones to make for this time of the year, for Halloween time. Just string, tissues and a pen – everything readily available at home. These ghosts are now hanging on our kitchen window.

We have had a couple of delightful, sunny days lately, on Saturday and today. The following pics I took on Saturday.

October

The white viola flower still there. 🙂

October

It’s still warm in the sunshine. I took this pic as I was sitting on the garden bench… first I had my morning coffee there, then, a bit later, my breakfast, and again, a bit later, I had my camera with me there.

October

Already waiting for snow, a bit. 🙂

lantern

A lantern outside again, late in the evening.

frost

Frost in the morning, today.

follow the spiders

Follow the spiders.” ( – If you want to find anything… in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. )

We found some fluffy balls and wires in the grocery store, for making some spiders. 🙂

Halloween?

What happened…?

“Just take it easy, will you?”:

cat catty kitty

“I hope she understood what I was trying to say… Zzz…”:

kitty cat catty

-Leena

Dark & cold, cosy fires & lights, and creating dream home

The campfire owl here again… 🙂 We’ve had already many campfires in our garden this autumn, too, but I usually just relax and enjoy them without my camera or my phone, but on Friday, late in the evening, I had the inspiration for taking some pics, too. (A pic on my Instagram (owlnatureleena) as well.)

campfire

Campfires in the garden are a part of my, our, dream home…

campfire

So, we have lived in this house for almost two and a half years now. But I still had one part of my belongings in Turku – as I was going on and on here in my blog last summer. 🙂 But since the end of August it has been only this, our country home, for me… and I love it! But this has been quite far from my (or our) dream home; almost everything, every thing, is in the wrong place here inside our home, only like the bookshelf and drawers are in the right spots, there are many untidy and disorganized spots in our home, and partly, naturally, because I brought so many things and pieces of furniture from Turku as well, and so on, and so on… Creating our dream home here now is not about renovating (we have done that, too – more about it later, in some other blog posts, too) and creating our dream home is not, heaven forbid, about buying anything, oh dear… yes, maybe buying some new candles and even more houseplants, but nothing more now… Creating our dream home is now about organizing, tidying up and cleaning up our home – it’s “a bit” of chaos here now… and almost all of our large windows still are without curtains, just window blinds are there… But yes, the only way to start the project for me was, first emptying, then cleaning and organizing, our garage, which definitely is not a place for our car, but for other useful things. 😉

And when we had some room for big items in the garage after rearranging, we removed a big pile of long wooden boards from the middle of our kitchen – they were taking over one third of the floor space there, so we didn’t have a kitchen table and chairs there for a year and a half, or so. (We were renovating some ceilings and walls…)

I now have a tag creating dream home here in my blog, so I’ll be posting, with pics, too, about the project here and there…

morning coffee satsuma

Morning coffee yesterday. And a satsuma! It’s the season of Spanish satsumas again! So juicy and delicious, and cheap. 🙂

oak tree

Under the oak tree…

strawflower

The strawflowers again! 😀 And they are still opening and closing their rustling petals, with the days and nights…

by candlelight

Yesterday evening, now this was in my dream kitchen. 😉 – Finally the big pile of long wooden boards is out and the kitchen table and the chairs are there! And the table and the chairs are the ones I had already in Turku. 🙂 I’ve been dreaming of candlelights in the dark evenings in the kitchen… warm and cosy… And the light of the warm oven can be seen in the pic, too – I was waiting for home-made thin and crisp barley breads to become ready.

lantern

Living candlelights in lanterns outside in the dark… and this lantern can also be seen from the kitchen window when sitting at the table. 🙂

campfire

One more pic of the Friday evening’s campfire to end this blog post… and to celebrate the dark and cold, bewitching evenings and nights! 😉

-Leena

More October

Just some more October pics, from last weekend and past few days, in our garden…

October

In the backyard again…

strawberry

October strawberry… In a pot. We thought this plant already died in the summer, but it started to grow again… but still ripe strawberries for this year…? – Not gonna happen. 🙂

cornflower

One tough cornflower. I’ve been visiting this flower regularly during this autumn – and it’s just always there! It’s been facing downwards already for a while. But it’s still there. 🙂

October

October

Backyard trees again – more pine trees, two apple trees, a birch tree, a bigger rowan and one other yellow Norway Maple…

annual mallow

And one sturdy annual mallow! This flower hasn’t fully opened up, and it, too, has already been facing downwards, but it’s been there for ages. 😀

October

Some lovely yellow tiny flowers spotted in our carrot field…

October

Under our bigger oak tree

October

October

Our smaller oak tree. 🙂

October

Dill, too, was still growing nicely in the ground, despite the cold at nights. Now I’ve picked most of them, some we ate, the rest are drying.

October

Still some tiny single viola flowers in the pots… Two of them in the pics here, symbols of boldness and strength – in the beginning, these plants were here and here. – Oh dear… 🙂

October

October

Some October fern

October

My next blog post will be about growing tomatoes. 🙂

-Leena