of blogs, visits and teeth

Friends,
It has been a long while since I have written anything here on the blog. We were away for 10 days in Israel and Istanbul and then I felt I should get those pictures up and write about the trip before I did anything else. But I haven't done those trip summaries yet, nor have I culled through our over-500 pics from the trip, and I decided I just needed to get on with life and the blog. So here we go.

Last weekend my colleague/mom's minister, Suzelle, came for to visit for the weekend. She was in Finland to explore her Finnish heritage for 10 days as part of her sabbatical. After three days together I can now call her "my friend Suzelle." We had such a great time. It was delightful for me simply to have someone to talk to and do things with who gets me and listens and has interesting insights on the world. The effortless communication ... goodness I have missed that.

Kalee also had a smashingly wonderful time with Suzelle. This woman LOVES children and Kalee reciprocated. Suzelle charmed her with her warmth and her thick pile of origami paper. The spent the whole weekend doing fun crafty things. By the end of the weekend Kalee was physically attached to Suzelle as much as possible and when Suzelle left on Sunday, Kalee spontaneously ran up to her and gave her a hug. If you know Kalee you know what a radical thing that is.On Friday Suzelle took us to The Craft Museum of Finland. Leave it to the visitor to show you around your own city! How did that happen? Anyway, not only do they have cool exhibits, they have a workroom filled with every sort of craft supply and tool you can imagine (and some you haven't thought of). Suzelle, Kalee and I played there for nearly two hours. Kalee and I went back today for three hours. It is endless fun and my new favorite place in Jyvaskyla.

On Saturday we all climbed the big hill in downtown Jyvaskyla. Lots of stairs ...
... then up an elevator to the observatory where we could have seen our apartment over on the other side of the lake, just to the right of the bridge, on a clear day.
The snow is melting in Jyvaskyla and spring is on it's way. I haven't seen anyone out walking on the lake for about 4 days now. Which is smart of these folks 'cause it has been above freezing during the day for the whole last week. The next few days are supposed to stay above freezing even through the night.

This morning we woke to a dusting of snow and the sight of two giant bunnies (hares, I guess) in the parking lot. The snow meant that Kalee and I could follow bunny tracks around the parking lot while we waited for her ride to school. But the MOST IMPORTANT happening of late is that Kalee lost her first tooth today. She is proud and happy and trying to stay awake to catch a glimpse of the tooth fairy.

Arctic Circle (5 of 5): The ARKTIKUM Museum

Our last day in Rovaniemi we visit The Arktikum Museum a museum dedicated to teaching about arctic peoples, traditions, history, wild life and environment. The exhibits were great but we couldn't take pictures of most of that (we snuck a few). I was really struck by the building itself, though. Most of it is underground, practical in that cold climate and also mimicking the way nature shelters itself from the harsh winter in the north. You enter through the crecent shaped building at the back of this picture, then decend under the highway and into the grand hallway that is flanked on each side by exhibit space.
Looking down the whole length of the building, from the river to the entrance.
Chairs made from birth trees and reindeer hides. Much of the building uses these and other indigenous building materials.
We meet a polar bear,
... explore the inside of an ice chamber ...
... see a very old sled...
... hug a brown bear ...
... see some arctic fish ...
... and Kalee and Charles make an important proclamation.

There must be a traditional story about these geese and the little charter who is leading them, but we didn't hear it.



Kalee dances to some contemporary Sami folk music. We ended the day at a great restaurant at a mall next to our hotel and Kalee had perhaps her favorite moment of the whole trip - a free bouncer in the mall.