There's something to be said for sitting in a dark hot room in order to get yourself back in place, so to speak. I'm talking about having a sauna. At the very least it's a moment or more away from any smart device (hooray!) and at most it can be a bit of an inner journey, a naked meditation all by your lonesome or a few words with the closest of family members or interesting conversations with total strangers if you happen to be in company. In any case, I try to make every s

This year's getting ready for Christmas is so drastically different from last year words can't do this justice. Hubby dearest and I feel so truly thankful. Last year I miscarried right around the beginning of December and this year, well; this picture says it all. I haven't really had the time to think much about Christmas preparations, and quite frankly I don't plan to do much other than the ginger bread baking I got up to last night while my sous chef happily fell asleep in

Hubby dearest texted me from work on Friday if I wanted to go eat out tonight. Of course I did! I've been feeling more or less scruffy now towards the end of the pregnancy and I knew he didn't mean I needed to get all done up for a restaurant; eating out where we're from means you get to show up as you are :) The sun now sets after 7pm and it is getting nippier by the day! I am hoping to get this baby delivered by mid November, and so I will be using all my thick knits as my

Hi, I was just referred to an article about a Danish concept called hygge, an idea of enjoying the opportunity to stay in and cozy up with friends and yummy Christmas treats instead of getting flustered about the dark and cold outside. I totally sign that hygge works and makes the perfect season's ambience in the home. I have never been the one to do any kind of seasonal decorations, but I guess you could say this year with so many visitors and all I figured it is time to try

Happy Lucia day! This week I was happy to learn my weavings made it into a feature in this Japanese booklet about artisans and craftspeople from Lapland. Also my friend Tuomas Kumpula with his artisan coffee roastery Rovaniemen Kahvipaahtimo is included! And Vanhalan Lammastila which has the loveliest natural sheep's wool! The first edition of this booklet is produced by Japanese-Finnish culture coordinator Ulla Pirkola and Kuropunkt and for now, the booklet can be found loca

Winter is about to set in here any moment now, already first snow reported this week (which is late I think!) in Pello and some other communities in Lapland. In previous years, this time of year I did not look forward to the long polar night ahead. Quite the opposite, I feared it and quite frankly resented the darkness which I could do nothing about. I have found some ways to cope with it now though. I have discovered that part of getting through our long dark winters is form

I've been in this absolute flow of weaving, organizing for participation in two Japanese Hokuo Christmas markets and hiking pretty much since summer ended. And of course hosting people in our home! I tell you, in my weekly work routine I sometimes gets so lonely it is the lifeblood for me to get to invite people over. Last month we had visitors all the way from Malaysia when my kung fu grandmaster came over to make some new sifus in our school and to train with us. Some of my