Our last first snowfall

We woke to a white world this morning and it's still snowing now, steady but no blizzard. The seasonal shift is on with the hunger/fatigue/what time is it?? confusion but we are more aware of it this year, and maybe it's tinged with nostalgia as this may be our last true winter onset. Next year at this time... that's a saying we are now using a lot to adapt, as we look toward a move to the southwestern desert zone next summer. But we are also taking our vitamin D!

I currently am having some problems loading pictures from my camera so I'll share some BIG news instead. Did you notice the story of the world's largest cruise ship recently built here in Turku, Finland? It set sail last week, with a stop in England and then on to Miami. Having been on the ferry to Stockholm, which we all thought was huge, I cannot fathom the size of this vessel. The Swedes and Danes had a fun night watching as it passed under their bridge with a 2-foot clearance! That's after they lowered the telescoping smokestacks. Here's a bit from the AP:

KORSOER, Denmark — The world's largest cruise ship cleared a crucial obstacle Sunday, lowering its smokestacks to squeeze under a bridge in Denmark. The Oasis of the Seas — which rises about 20 stories high — passed below the Great Belt Fixed Link with a slim margin as it left the Baltic Sea on its maiden voyage to Florida. Bridge operators said that even after lowering its telescopic smokestacks the giant ship had less than a 2-foot (half-meter) gap. Hundreds of people gathered on beaches at both ends of the bridge, waiting for hours to watch the brightly lit behemoth sail by shortly after midnight (2300GMT; 7 p.m. EDT). "It was fantastic to see it glide under the bridge. Boy, it was big," said Kurt Hal, 56. Company officials are banking that its novelty will help guarantee its success. Five times larger than the Titanic, the $1.5 billion ship has seven neighborhoods, an ice rink, a small golf course and a 750-seat outdoor amphitheater. It has 2,700 cabins and can accommodate 6,300 passengers and 2,100 crew members. Accommodations include loft cabins, with floor-to-ceiling windows, and 1,600-square-foot (487-meter) luxury suites with balconies overlooking the sea or promenades. The liner also has four swimming pools, volleyball and basketball courts, and a youth zone with theme parks and nurseries for children.

There's some realtime video of the voyage at the ship's website www.oasisoftheseas.com if you are interested. And of course the quintessential Finnish quote:

Aboard the Oasis of the Seas, project manager Toivo Ilvonen of STX Finland confirmed that the ship had passed under the bridge without any incidents. "Nothing fell off," he said.

Masters of understatement that they are - a quality I find too rare these days.





So happy winter everyone! I'll return to readying the den for hibernation now, but hope to be able to post some of our own pictures again soon, or maybe some small news from Finland.

Suomi stamps

We're back to our routine after some wonderful visits this summer and not having as many adventures to share, so I thought I share something else I enjoy here and that is Finnish stamp design - they are quite interesting and varied. The snowflake design is transparent and the sauna pictures are scratch&sniff with a birch aroma - Claire sent some of those on her recent visit. The post offices here sell a lot of other supplies and gift items too and are a great place to spend some euros.

We are enjoying a balmy start to autumn here so far, but do feel the chill in mornings and evenings; it's another month until official 'winter time' in Europe.

Suomi stamps page 2

Festival of the Arts - Helsinki

Claire has arrived for a visit and luckily the annual Helsinki Festival is still going on. She missed the French company Les Plasticiens Volants and their balloon procession through Helsinki but Gerald and I saw it. Here are some pictures and I suggest you look them up the web too, to see moving images - really spectacular in person though. We also saw a Russian clown troop last night, Teatr Licedei, performing "Semianyki", a hilarious mostly pantomime show of family life - they too have some online footage - and as Claire studied 'clown' this last year, she was very happy to catch this comedia performance. We'll also see the Belarus Free Theatre Sunday, so she'll get quite a dose of far away art this visit. Gerald and I saw Kraftwerk (German) and Buika (Spanish/flamenco) and so we've been getting around this festival all while staying in town, and all of it has been really inspired. Even the canoe exhibition in my neighborhood! Art everywhere to bring summer to a close. (More pictures on page 2.)

Festival - page 2

As I was happily watching the cute fish floating through the plaza, Gerald pointed behind me and there was a huge fanged sea snake emerging from a side street, then it chased the fish a bit and descended down into the thrilled crowd too. The kids were fearless. What a wonderful performance - the puppeteers just walked right in the crowd and the jellyfish in particular was beautiful with its tentacles opening and closing as it ebbed up and down. We couldn't see the others - a whale, a lobster, some seahorses, because there were so many people - more than the Madonna gig even! I'm so glad we got to see more of the festival this year as we won't be here for it next year.

Porvoo

We had a busy July with a welcome visit from my brother Chris and his wife Jo. We did a bit of travel around the region - to Stockholm, Tallinn, and then to this small historic wooden Finnish village east of Helsinki. As I've posted Stockholm and Tallinn pictures before, here are some of Porvoo. It has an old fishing dock and a medieval cathedral that dates from the 13th century. We took a 3-hour boat ride on a nicely restored wooden ferry through the scenic archipelago to get there, then a one-hour bus ride back - a very pleasant day trip.

Hyvää Madonna päivää!

There's a big party in our neighborhood tonight - 100,000 extra people are here to see Madonna performing her first concert in Finland, and tickets sold out within a few hours. 85,000 are inside the new concert venue they've just built about at the end of our block, and another 15,000 are cruising the perimeter. And we can hear her singing as I type. We walked down to check it all out and I took some pictures to share with you - as it happens! I am not a Madonna fan, although we are both from Michigan and near in age, but watching them mount this superstar enterprise has been interesting. I must admit I much preferred our evening listening to the 57 year old Chrissie Hynde & the Pretenders a few months ago - that is one rockin' chick! So - no pictures of the front of the stage as it's pointed to the sea, but here's our view of the scene in the neighborhood (continuing on page 2), including a young fan who couldn't get a ticket - isn't she cute? And they are still running the ferries to Tallinn beside the venue - we were on that same green and orange ship with Chris & Jo just over a week ago.