Midsummer

On June 21 Finland celebrates the Midsummer festival. Traditionally Midsummer is celebrated by all Finns at the summer solstice, and people tend to escape to their summer cottages to leave the cities empty. 

In the Finnish Midsummer celebration, bonfires play a very important part. They are burnt at lakesides and by the sea. In addition, two young birch trees are often placed on both sides of the front door to welcome visitors. In Midsummer night, a sauna is typically heated and remains heated for a number of hours.  Family and friends are invited to bathe and to grill. In folk magic, midsummer was a very potent night and  time for many small rituals, mostly for young maidens seeking suitors and fertility.

Midsummer Day is also the Day of the Finnish Flag.

Our children and grandchildren are coming to celebrate Midsummer with us and spend their summer holidays at our summer cottage.
 I'll come back again after two weeks - about :)

Happy Midsummer to all of you!





Pärnu, Estonia







The city is famous for its spas, shallow white sandy beach and beautiful parks. It is also a popular place for conferences, theatre performances and concerts. In 1838 the first spa was opened and nowadays Pärnu is a health resort of international stature. This year the town is celebrating its 175th anniversary as a resort town.

Since 1996 Pärnu has been known as Estonia's Summer Capital. Beach life, dozens of festivals, night clubs, big party crowds, concerts and funfairs - Pärnu has it all and on tomorrow we'll be there!

Bye for a while! I'll be back after a week.

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Love Letter

This weeks theme in Beth's Postcard Friendship Friday is romance.

This young maid is sitting alone in forest and reading a letter from her loved one.

She doesn't  look very happy, or what do you think?

Amélie Helga Lundahl (1850-1914)

Love letter 1890



Amelie Helga Lundahl was born May 26th, 1850 in Oulu, Finland.  She attended art school in Stockholm and Helsinki and was one of the first Finnish women to study at the Académie Julien in Paris. After spending time in Bretagne in the 1870s, she had acquired a taste for the outdoors. She settled in Bretagne later and painted peasant themes.

Amelie died in Helsinki on August 20, 1914.

Architectural Monuments, Tallinn



The House of the Black Heads Fraternity 1597

Mustapäiden veljeskunnan talo

Pikk Jalg ( Long Leg) street

Pitkäjalkakatu

 The Great Guild Building 15th century

Suurkillanrakennus 1400-luku

Tallinn

Architectural Monuments

Aurora Art Publishers, Leningrad 1980 



Architectural Monuments, Tallinn

Great Sea Gates and the Fat Margaret Tower 1529

Suuri rantaportti ja Paksu Margareeta-torni 1529

 Fortification towers of the city wall 15th - 16th centuries

Kaupungin muurin puolustustorneja 1400 - 1500 luku

Saia Käik (White Bread Passage),  connecting Town Hall Square and Pikk Street.
Saia Käik-kuja Raatihuoneentorilta Pikk-kadulle

Tallinn

Architectural Monuments

Aurora Art Publishers, Leningrad 1980

Old Town, Tallinn

Because summer is time for traveling I decided to introduce some popular tourist destinations for Finns. Estonia is one of the most popular destinations and especially Tallinn and not only because it is just 70 km (43 miles) south from  Helsinki - Tallinn is beautiful.

At the historical and medieval heart of the city is the hill of Toompea, covered in cobbled streets and filled with medieval houses and alleyways.  The city's old town has been astonishingly well preserved and was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1997.

Washing Day

Pekka Halonen 1865-1933

Washerwomen

Pekka Halonen is one of the most notable artists of Finland’s Golden Age, who achieved his goal of gaining international recognition for traditional Finnish national artwork.

More Pekka Halonen's art here



From Rudolf Koivu's collection



From the collection of Croft House Tales

Photo: Ingela Nyman

On laundry day, fires burned under the laundry pots and the banging of washing bats filled the air. Clothes were rubbed against washing boards, boiled in lye water and then finaly rinsed in a river or lake.  Grandma's laundry bucket in Western Finland.