Hieveryone,
today was a beautiful day. we are staying at the yara guest house, a big house on the baltic sea that is owned by a some big company. the view is beautiful. it is great to have a restful place where the team and i can be away from our guests. they are great, but having privacy is always good.
this morning we were picked up by three people. They drove us to cabin where a man took us out on an old fishing boat. we were in the archipeligo off the sw coast of finland. the boat captain, an accordian player, four finnish rotarians and the four of us were the passengers. as i sat on the boat, in the morning sunlight, listening to accordian music,watching swans, and sea gulls i felt so grateful for this trip. i didn't expect that much finland. i don't know why. it just isn't a distination place. but it is really stunning. the farmlands,the seacoast, the red farm buildings, all of it is so pleasing to look at. people are always trying to show us the best they have.
anyway, after about an hour of boating we pulled along side a platform with a net in the middle of it. a man was standing on the edge of the platform and he gathered up the net and scooped out herring into a bucket. we took it back to the cabin to grill. the captain of the boat showed me how to gut the herring with my thumb and finger. it wasn't creepy at all. it was grilled in olive oil and salt. the taste of the herring, one hour from the sea, was delicious.
after that snack, we went to a restaurant and had a full several course lunch. from there we went to one of the women's "farm". it is a 700 year old manor house. it is filled with antiques. (the team pointed out to me that this woman was dripping in diamonds, including one implanted into her tooth. somehow i missed all of this.) anyway, the house has been in her family all this time. she showed us her family tree. charlemagne was one of her uncles a few generations back. the place was gorgeous and interesting. she was fun.
(now, the team is in the tv room, watching american idol. all i can hear are comments on who is hot and who looks terrible and who can and can't sing. it's more fun to hear this second hand i think than to be in there.)
back to the story...
after cake and coffee at the manor house, the men drove us to a granite quarry, just for fun. it had a big no tresspassing sign on it. then we stopped at an old church with way too many war heros buried in the cemetary. how did they do it, the finnish? two brutal wars in four years ( 80,000 men died in 8 months between novemeber 1939 and may 1940), and then occupation for years and years.
back in the van, the men in the front, we in the back. the men started singing. they had beautiful clear voices. we asked what they were singing. they said love songs. then one of the men said "finnish men are so romantic" and started laughing hysterically! they were great to be with. it's like this all the time. we meet wonderful people and then we say goodbye.
tomorrow should be another good day. no slide shows. just walking through the town and going to the bonk museum, which appearently is a museum of make believe inventions. i'll let you know.
by the way, i haven't found a way to use spell check on this so, sorry.
more later. i love you guys and talk about you all the time.
mom/mary
today was a beautiful day. we are staying at the yara guest house, a big house on the baltic sea that is owned by a some big company. the view is beautiful. it is great to have a restful place where the team and i can be away from our guests. they are great, but having privacy is always good.
this morning we were picked up by three people. They drove us to cabin where a man took us out on an old fishing boat. we were in the archipeligo off the sw coast of finland. the boat captain, an accordian player, four finnish rotarians and the four of us were the passengers. as i sat on the boat, in the morning sunlight, listening to accordian music,watching swans, and sea gulls i felt so grateful for this trip. i didn't expect that much finland. i don't know why. it just isn't a distination place. but it is really stunning. the farmlands,the seacoast, the red farm buildings, all of it is so pleasing to look at. people are always trying to show us the best they have.
anyway, after about an hour of boating we pulled along side a platform with a net in the middle of it. a man was standing on the edge of the platform and he gathered up the net and scooped out herring into a bucket. we took it back to the cabin to grill. the captain of the boat showed me how to gut the herring with my thumb and finger. it wasn't creepy at all. it was grilled in olive oil and salt. the taste of the herring, one hour from the sea, was delicious.
after that snack, we went to a restaurant and had a full several course lunch. from there we went to one of the women's "farm". it is a 700 year old manor house. it is filled with antiques. (the team pointed out to me that this woman was dripping in diamonds, including one implanted into her tooth. somehow i missed all of this.) anyway, the house has been in her family all this time. she showed us her family tree. charlemagne was one of her uncles a few generations back. the place was gorgeous and interesting. she was fun.
(now, the team is in the tv room, watching american idol. all i can hear are comments on who is hot and who looks terrible and who can and can't sing. it's more fun to hear this second hand i think than to be in there.)
back to the story...
after cake and coffee at the manor house, the men drove us to a granite quarry, just for fun. it had a big no tresspassing sign on it. then we stopped at an old church with way too many war heros buried in the cemetary. how did they do it, the finnish? two brutal wars in four years ( 80,000 men died in 8 months between novemeber 1939 and may 1940), and then occupation for years and years.
back in the van, the men in the front, we in the back. the men started singing. they had beautiful clear voices. we asked what they were singing. they said love songs. then one of the men said "finnish men are so romantic" and started laughing hysterically! they were great to be with. it's like this all the time. we meet wonderful people and then we say goodbye.
tomorrow should be another good day. no slide shows. just walking through the town and going to the bonk museum, which appearently is a museum of make believe inventions. i'll let you know.
by the way, i haven't found a way to use spell check on this so, sorry.
more later. i love you guys and talk about you all the time.
mom/mary
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