Muumintroll in a mug

Ask any child in Finland about Moomintroll and his friends, and he will be able to talk about this delightful character in great lengths.

Moomin characters were created by Tove Jansson in 1940s. She published a book, and there has been no end for this saga.  

Moomin family and their funny and weird friends live in Moomin Valley, which is described like this on the Moomin web page www.moomin.fi:

"Its a marvelous valley, full of happy little creatures and blossoming trees. A clear, narrow river flows down from the mountains, winds around the blue Moominhouse, and then vanishes into the neighboring lands, where other creatures wonder where it came form."

Even thought this all started as a story book, I will introduce you to the Moomin mugs by Arabia.

My mom has a collection of these fun mugs and we drink coffee and tea of them every day.  

Many of the characters have gotten their own mug, where their unique characters and likes are displayed really well. 

 Snork Maiden, pretty and kind, loves everything sparkly like all girls do.

 Sniff, sometimes scared, sometimes selfish.

 Snufkin, friend of Moomintroll.

 Moomintroll himself.

 The Hemulen, lover of plants and flowers.  He wears a long dress all the time.

 Sniff also likes money a lot.

 We have two mugs of this romantic story between Moomintroll and Snork Maiden.

 The Groke.  Every good stroy has a bad guy in it.  Icy cold Groke freezes everything he touches.

 Black and white.

 Arabia - from Finland :)

One of the characters, Mymble. 

This mug is a summer seasonal from few years ago.  

It has Moomintrolls mommy Moominmamma...

 ...swimming with funny friendly fishes...

 ...and Moomintrolls dad Moominpappa. He always has his hat with him, even when swimming!

I am not sure what the names of these children are...but Moominmamma takes care of anyone who wonders into their house.

We have DVD series of Moomintrolls adventures and they are so well made and interesting than a parent might put them on just to be able to watch them herself/himself.  Ahem.

I hope you enjoyed a piece of Finnish culture!

This is for my husband!

Love,

Henna-Maria

Kirpparilöytöjä

Kirpputorit on kyllä mulle semmosia riippuvuutta aiheuttavia paikkoja! Olen kiertäny näissä paikallisissa kirppareissa jo monta kertaa.  Enimmäkseen haeskelen lapsille vaatteita.  Jos olisi ollut sadekesä, olisin ostanut kumpparit kaikille.  Viimeksi ostimme Suomesta parinkymmenen euron uudet söpöt kumpparit, ja niissä oli halkeamia jo ensimmäisen vuoden jälkeen.  Turhaa siis, kyllä minusta kumpparin pitäisi kestää muutamalle lapselle.

Esikoinen menee syksyllä kouluun Keski-Aasiassa, ja koulupuserona täytyy olla valkoinen paitapusero.  Niitä en kyllä oikeassa koossa ole kirppareilta löytänyt.  Onneksi ale-rekistä löytyi.  En nyt kuitenkaan ala noita vaatteita esitellä, kun ei ne mitenkään erikoisia ole.

Mutta tässä: aivan ihastuttava kesätarjotin! Tarjotin on 80-luvulta, metallia, ja siinä on naarmuja ja kolhuja.

 

 Se oli niin kesäisen ihana, että ostin sen heti hurjasta hinnasta huolimatta: 1 e!

 En ole tästä taiteilijasta kuullutkaan.  Monika P., onko kellään tietoa mitä muuta hän on taiteillut?

Tämä pääsee seinälle! Ensin meinasin keittiöön, mutta kyllähän tuo taulunakin menee, vaikka makuuhuoneeseen?

Toinen kaunis esine, johon heti tykästyin: lintunaulakko.  Se ei ole oikeasti laudoista tehty, vaan nuo laudanvälit ja -kuviot on maalattu.  En ole ollut mikään lintufani, mutta tässä naulakossa nuo suomalaiset pikkulinnut on kyllä söpöjä.  Ja kun olen haeskellut sopivia naulakkoja, joita viitsii matkalaukussa raahata takaisin Keski-Aasiaan...makuuhuoneessa on tälle sopiva paikka.

Ja sitten Leena Lehtolaisen pokkari, 2.50e.  Olen aikasemminkin lukenut Lehtolaisen pokkareita ja tykkään kovasti. Menee just näin vähän lomaillessa aivan hyvin ajanvietteenä.  Luin tuon kahdessa päivässä, kun en malttanut odotella loppuratkaisua.

Mitähän sitä seraavaksi löytää?

Berry Galore

Blueberries are ready!


 I saw it with my own eyes when we took a little stroll in a forest in Kainuu area.  My children found them first: "Blueberries mommy, blueberries!"


I was trying to suggest that they would be Black Crowberries or Northern Bilberries, because Blueberry season is in August.  
But after tasting them we decided very quickly that they were blueberries.  Sweet!


I remembered one summer camp in Lapland when I was about 10 years old.  We were given plastic mugs and sent to pick blueberries that were growing right next to the camp site.  When the cups were full, we got to add some milk and sugar on the berries, and a healthy....well, yummy snack was ready!


When we were young, we used to go as a family and pick blueberries from the forest.  In Finland the forests are free for the public to go and pick berries and mushrooms. Everybody in the family got a little bucket, and when it was full we emptied it into a big barrel. Sometimes we went to Sweden (we lived on the border).    At those times the customs guys still stopped cars and asked some questions from border crossers.  On that day they just looked at us kids on the back seat, laughed and said: "We know why you came to Sweden! You were picking blueberries!" I have to admit that eating blueberries was much more fun than actually picking them into a bucket! 


Are you a berry picker?


With blue teeth,
Henna-Maria

More Lilacs

Now the big Lilac bushes are blooming as well.  

 

 Very, very sweet.

I have always liked this color...

...but these white Lilacs are pretty amazing!

 

Have a sweet Weekend!

Sauna

 Best things in life must be experienced...

 ...the smell of fresh birch leaves...

 ...the softness of a towel on the naked skin..

 

Getting ready to end the day in a steamy hot room...

 Sauna stove getting hot...

 ...not hot enough yet! (This is in celcius).

 

'Löyly'

1. Steam and the associated heat in a sauna.

2.Generated by administering water on the hot stones placed on top of a sauna stove.

Did you know there are ways to describe 'löyly'?

It can be soft, sharp, good, sweet or dry, among other things.

 

 This is good.

We're done.

Hung to dry.

Welcome any time!