busy, busy summer

This little sauna building is on an island called Ristisaari in the Finnish archipelago, in the Baltic Sea. Two weeks ago, I returned from the island to Helsinki, having spent three days on the island happily drawing (soon to be shown), having saunas and eating splendid meals cooked on a grill on the porch of the main cabin on this little island. When we weren't sauna-ing or sleeping or eating, we went visiting other people on other islands all around the bay we were in. It was quite idyllic.

This island trip was part of a longer trip to Finland to visit friends from the Queen Mary trip in 2006. Two years ago, Raili and Markku Pimia, and Pirkko and Simo Helander came here to East Boothbay to visit (and fish) over Labor Day weekend. This year it was my turn, together with Jane and George Metzger, to go to Finland. It was a wonderful trip. We don"t know where the next gathering will be, but there will be another!

Perhaps Alaska????

Here is the main cabin on Ristisaari. Like most rural buildings in Finland, it is log, with a big main room, a kitchen off the main room, and a bunk room in back of the kitchen. It is about the same size as the smoke sauna we used at Kierke, the lodge we went to in the lake country. A smoke sauna is one of the gentlest saunas you can imagine, though it sounds tough. In a largish log cabin, a brick fire box sends its smoke up through the rocks piled on top of the fire box. The smoke heats the rock and fills the room, but as soon as you pour water on the hot rock, the steam banishes the smoke (somehow), and you are left with a moist, gentle, very hot sauna, after which you go jump in a lake, or the Baltic Sea.

Finland was not just about what we did in the countryside, or out on the island, there was also Helsinki, its design flavor and the wonderful piano concert we had from Juho Polhonen. But more about that later. Coming home I was faced with the need to paint an Adirondack chair for the Y fundraising auction on August 24th. I had decided to try painting a plaid pattern, but had no idea how time consuming it would turn out to be. It took me 4 1/2 days to paint this puppy, and I would do it again only for an exorbitant amount of money. But I am pleased with how it looks, even with the pattern diversions.

enough for now...I've made dilly green bean pickles already from the garden uber-abundance, and must continue to try and catch up to the garden, which languished with the weeds in my almost 3 week absence. The raspberries are gone into the neighbors' freezers I hope, but the blueberries are still just coming, and a fine crop it is, too. The cukes are in full production, as is the zucchini, the lettuces and beets. Tomatoes are jusy starting to ripen, but hopefully will not allow the weeds to smother them. At any rate, there's work to be done, and paintings to be made of this wonderful summer... Happy trails to all of you...