Bits of last weekend

I have some pictures from this weekend that I didn't have a chance to share!

 This was the stunning sunrise last Saturday!

On Sunday, the hubster was doing this! Bottling his second batch of beer! 

This time it is a light ale per my request. I hope it clarifies nicely, isn't as sweet as the last batch (or as strong, phew!) and hopefully we'll have no exploding beer bombs!

Sunday night dinner was chili with onion and cheese on top, alongside a fresh out of the oven jalapeno corn bread. 

Deeeeelish! 

That's all, I'm out of pictures now! :)

Until next time, that is. Tee-hee. 

Thanks for reading!

Winter walk

I took a short walk last Friday to visit a friend... here is what I saw along the way...

 

 If you want to see a picture of this area in July, see this post!

I love this city we live in, so beautiful year round! I just wish it had been a bit warmer (we've had about -10-15 C this past week and it's supposed to get colder!), I could have taken more pictures without my hands freezing! :)

Thanks for reading! 

Elli-mumma

Elli is the name of my paternal grandmother. 

She took her final breaths yesterday, peacefully. With her at the time, her two daughters and my dear sister (one of the eldest grandchildren). 

Elli-mumma (grandma in Finnish) and I were never very close. I spent my childhood only understanding Finnish and by the time we moved here and I learned to speak it fluently, I was too cool for an old and increasingly demented grandmother.

I hope karma will be kind to me despite the fact. 

The last time I saw her, she was quite far into her own world, but she seemed happy. She had a stuffed toy cat and she told me about how many kittens it had had. It was sweet, you can take the farm girl out of Finland but who you are never really changes! As I have been studying nursing and spent a lot of time taking care of the elderly, I have always found peace in the fact, that as you age and the dementia progresses, the more you return to your roots and childhood and what are surely happy times. I regret not asking her more about her childhood, she must have had some stories to tell!

(taken in 2000 at my sister's wedding)

I am happy for her, she was lucky to have children who cared for her till the end, grandchildren who will have fond memories of her. Now she can finally join her husband whom she loved very much (and had to live without these last 23 years!) and her dear siblings (I believe there were 8 of them!) and family. 

She was the last of that generation, she would have been 96 years old in March! 

Sending love her way, another angel in heaven! 

Elli Mirjami

 March 21, 1916 - January 28, 2012

A room with a view...

A room with a view:

A beautiful sunset:

Night:

There is such a weird yellow tinge at night, from the city lights. I can't wait to live far far away from the city one day, where night is black.

Thanks for reading! :)

purple granny vibes

Granny progress:

Up to 31 squares now! I believe I only had 17 last Friday. I have been making these while on skype or watching movies with the hubby. They are so great, because I don't really need to pay too much attention to making the stitches, it's very mind-numbing at times!

I can't believe what a large stack they've already grown to be!

I have been pretty good about not letting the stray yarn get away from me, I've been darning in as I go mostly. Right now I have 8 in need of darning, but 10 is my self-made max, that's when no square production must cease until the situation is under control! Wink Wink. 

This picture above has about all of my most favorite-st squares. Pink and blue with a dash of purple. Strange, since I'm really not a big purple fan usually...

This tower toppled after I tried to pick it up...

I have been spending a lot of time working down that skein of bright purple. I've been mixing the colors as I go mostly, but last week I focused on using up that purple! It was fun to switch out the other 2 colors and see what happens. 

And the aqua and purple are just made for each other!!

31 squares,  at least 69 more to go! 

Thanks for reading!! :)

Koda Bearz

He's loud, obnoxious and has a lot to say about "out", "hungry" and PLAAAAAY!!!

But I love him. And he loves me (not not the mama!)!  

I'm still trying to figure out what he is mixed with. His mama was St. Bernard/Rottweiler (she looked like a St Bernard!) but we don't know who is Daddy is! The mama's owner guessed based on the time his mama was AWOL that she couldn't have gotten far to get into such puppy trouble, and their closest neighbor with a dog was a Bull mastiff. They blamed him. 

But I don't see the mastiff at all! And he is about the size of his mama, weighing in at 42kg (92 lbs), about 70cm (27in) at the withers.

Any suggestions? He acts very rottweilerish, he drools like a St Bernard, and he is SUPER smart!

Howling/growling/complaining/talking, but I think it looks like laughing! :)

:)

Now I just need to do a little photo shoot with Manta one of these days!

Thanks for reading!

Weekends, gotta love 'em!

Monday report:

I had a WONDERFUL weekend! 

I made time to work on my bachelor's thesis (stress levels came down about it temporarily), which left me plenty of time for my favorite things.

Eating. A lot. 

OK, so it's a bit indulgent, but I had been working really hard on that thesis and thought I deserved something GOOD! We were trying to make homemade big macs (recipe here) and ran into some trouble. Like the ingredients being different here. Like the buns being too round to stack (mine toppled rather quickly...). Like the beef patties being too meaty and round (adding to the toppling effect). 

But boy, they were MM-MM delicious! 

Do you like the bottle in the background? It's one of hubby's homemade dark ales! They are strong (like holy cow strong!) and pretty ok for a dark beer. Unfortunately, this so happened to be a bottle that slightly leaked thanks to Ikea's superb quality (wink wink), so it wasn't as carbonated as some of the others. Fortunately, hubby is smart and he's been bending the "bales" (I think that's what they're called, the metal bits...) and making the seal tighter for the next batch. (Light ale, ready in about 2-3 weeks!) 

Onward!

I crocheted more squares, up to 23 I think now and all the ends are sewn in!

This is what happened when I tried to take a picture of my beautiful yarn:

"I wanna be in the picture!! Let me talk to you!! Awoowowwowo ahhhh WOOF!!!" :)

(I swear that's what he sounds like!)

When he went away, I finally got it! 

I was crocheting (in my pajamas) with the falling snow outside my window... I really have enjoyed this winter!

And looooots of time was spent getting to know my camera (and lightroom) better. (Sticking to my new year's resolutions!)

I even broke out the tripod! (Yay for not being lazy!)

(Pardon the dying plant the cat has eaten...And why does everything look so much better in black and white?!)

Inspiration strikes when I'm home alone, so no one else to practice on but myself. It's hard to get yourself in the frame without being able to see! And then not make a totally stupid face either! There were a loooot of out-takes. Lol!

One reason I've been diehard practicing, is that I read somewhere (probably through a pin on pinterest...) that if you are shooting in manual but just going by metering, you are still not really shooting in manual. I was so guilty. 

So now I am trying to break free from the metering and I'm trying to use it more as a guide and analyze more what to adjust: iso, f-stop, shutter speed and use the tripod if I'm getting blurry pictures!!

These peppers deserved a picture and although I was too late for proper natural lighting, I still think these pictures turned out rather alright. I tried something new and hung a dish towel behind them for a more interesting background.

However, I could have used the tripod...and a speedlite. And a macro lens. Or just a lens with more range. Proper daylight would have been pretty sweet, too.

But all things considered, I'm still pleased as punch! :)

I had to give these granny smith apples a go as well! They were on sale at the store so I bought a bunch  for apple desserts (probably a nice pie) and for this reason, too. I love still life photos! 

 

I suppose I should end it here.

I have some more pictures, but I'm saving them for another post. They are of the doggy kind. :)

Thanks for reading!

grannies

Granny-ing. 

I promised pictures and couldn't contain my excitement anymore. No more waiting for better lighting! :)

This aqua blue in some of the squares is a new addition. My mom spotted the need for a lighter blue the day we decided on a blanket from her yarn, so when I saw this blue, my heart skipped a beat. Honestly, this aqua blue isn't a stranger to me, it made my heart flutter last summer when I was making my granny stripe blanket and stumbled across it in the store. It's obviously my favorite color to work with, along with that beautiful light pink!

My mama and I noticed yesterday that we were missing some colors: yellow and white. The yellow wasn't a surprise as my mom is by no means a fan of the color. The white however we had to think about adding, but we decided it would be distracting. It's beautiful the way it is! :)

If you are interested in making squares like these (I love this classic granny!) check out this link. (the purl bee). 

Thanks for reading, have a happy Friday night and weekend! :)

Simple beauty

These eyes are beautiful. I could watch her forever. In reality though, it's never very long as she gets bored with me and then walks away. 

Such a cat!

...and these dainty little feet complete with a tail wrapped around...

 (I was inspired to take a picture like this by this pin)

 Black cats (and dogs) are a lot more difficult to photograph!

This sunrise just about took my breath away. It was on Monday, my last day of vacation, at about 9-9.30. 

Simply beautiful! 

Thanks for stopping by!