they're back. in insane amounts. pearls of midnight blue. some are foggy, others plain darkness. it was all perfect today, a cool breeze kept the mosquitoes at bay and i can already feel my back exercises paying off. i hope tomorrow is the same.

i have some boletes drying in the dehydrator, even a little, maggoty porcini. they've been so elusive, but i know they are out there. so much forest to comb through, though. i should make a day of it tomorrow. pack lunch and all, trek a bit farther than usual.

the moon looks huge, lurking behind the treetops out there. it feels like ages since i last saw it. it's like the opposite of these berries, golden and luminous.

as far as plastic silverware goes — well, this one had me fooled.

if you ever happen to find yourself in rauma, finland, i highly recommend kahvila soppi, a small restaurant in the old town. they have italian gelato and very good food, mostly organic i believe. i tasted five different ice cream flavours on friday, plain milk was surprisingly good but apricot bowled me over. i even liked yogurt, even though i'm not a fan of frozen yogurt. the decor is delightfully retro and relaxed as well.

i have no idea what or by whom this exhibition was, but i adore the line drawing on top left.

this was my contribution to the black lace theme, the same as last year. the situation is just the same, too, the traditional falafel after. but before i had the most splendid night, even though i spent too much time choosing what to wear (it was so hot!) and missed my chance to get an old-fashioned portrait taken. i also missed out on participating in a burlesque workshop, because i was sitting in an old outhouse watching a video about composting poo for gardening by the japanese artist ayumi matsuzaka. but i caught the show, which was fun, and ran into old friends. the night was much more fun than i expexted it to be. still, i called it a night early.

today i picked almost a litre of wild strawberries from behind the sauna, thanks to dad being lazy with the lawnmower. they grow all over the place now in the dense grass. you just have to know to look in. we have a finnish saying, "oma maa mansikka, muu maa mustikka"  (own land strawberry, other land blueberry) which is derived from the fact that strawberry thrives on cultivated land, and huckleberry in the woods. it is often used to make the point that "home is best" although i personally could not choose between the two.

("ireland blackberry", i should add to that phrase... i can't wait to get back there.)

i am in love with this picture my dad took of me today by the sea. the way the wine reds flare up while the surrounding nature echoes the blue linen and pasty thigh hues. also, how the stone emerging from the water looks like an animal of some kind. and mostly, because it is like a window to the core of my being.

past two days have been so good, despite the sudden heat, but also thanks to it. i will post more next week, about the night of black lace yesterday, and all the awesome stuff i saw today, but now i just want to lull in this contentment and anticipation of thunder until i drift off to sleep.

these are crocheted socks i made, the pattern is from a japanese book by michiyo. i've been meaning to try it out for a while, even started it in another yarn, but wanted something softer, fluffier. last week i found a couple skeins of novita 'rose mohair' dirt cheap, one euro a piece, and finally got crocheting. the pattern is quick and easy, just variations of double crochet, and the result is surprisingly stretchy. i think i'll make some more of these. this pair is my backup gift for mom's birthday. i have no idea what to give her but at least i'll have something.

monotropa hypopitys

i am over the moon for having finally spotted a dutchman's pipe, or pineflower (mäntykukka) in the wild. they are so rare, and fascinating! this might also be an even rarer subspecies if it is completely hairless. without any chlorophyll, they leech off of a host tree's fungal symbiotic partner for sustenance. they do not necessarily flower each year, living underground as a root. i will follow up on this once it fully opens.

turns out i was a bit too optimistic about the porcinis this year. so far only one. not too many chanterelles, either. none in the usual spots. it's peculiar. i followed a path in the woods that kept on going and ended up in a place i've never been before, an old, fallen down log cabin where arctic bramble grows on a small clearing. the atmosphere was strange, i kept hearing an awful noise which i'm sure was a bird, but it was creepy nonetheless. yet i wanted to stay there. i imagined the people who built that cabin, a hut really, for keeping warm during work in the woods, how they walked the same paths as i, and smelled the meadowsweet and the pines.

on the way back i got a bit lost, but in a good way, because i landed on a bog full of blueberries. and i wasn't really lost, because i knew which way to go, but it's amazing how the trail can just vanish.

the season is sneakily turning. already? i love this time of year but it feels bittersweet. sitting among the blueberry bushes, in the middle of nowhere, i imagined not being alone in there. someone who should not be in my heart has hid away there. i spoke to him, told him the names of all the plants i saw, and what i would cook and bake with the foraging finds. he made me laugh, the funny one as he is. i wish it could be for real but it is what it is.

a mushroom omelette for one. and meadowsweet tea.

is it just me, or is this lizard giving me the finger?

photo from atelieri o. haapala

love love loving this. click on picture to see more. i think i need to lace up...

saw this on pinterest a while ago: stamping with a poppy seed head. i happened to find an odd one with just five 'rays' on top, and finally tried it out. quite neat, i think. i also want to try it with okra but my local supermarket doesn't have them.

it was nice to be away for a while, but city life is not for me anymore. i never seem to take any urban photos, this is the only one from last week, which says a lot:

almost went swimming today, but the thunder came when i was wading in... the air became redolent of sulphur in an instant. as much i'd love to go that way, in a big flash, i didn't dare dive. on the way home, rain was soaking and warm.

the storm cleared my head of all things dull and depressing so i packed my suitcase and left for a mini vacation.
be back in a week!

pale flowers and rain. white orchids (dactylorhiza maculata as far as i an tell) grow here and there in shady places. redder variation of the same species prefers the sunny ditches by the road, one grows opposite our house. they are not exactly uncommon, but rare enough to be striking wherever they grow. their leaves have burgundy spots on them, making it easy to spot them in the undergrowth early on.

the plant in the middle was a surprise so deep in the woods. i've seen it occasionally on the roadside lately. it's some kind of vetch, but a little larger than the common, violet cow vetch. i like it of course, for the white flowers, and i'll try and collect the seeds later. it would be lovely in the forest garden.

i can't get enough of the twinflowers. i wish i could eat them all up. instead, i picked the first baby chanterelles and one hedgehog, too, and made an omelet. i also discovered that the ancient pickles my mom made years ago are still delicious, and go well with my fermented beets.

i wish the storm would come already... air is so heavy...

not the kind of heat wave i was preparing for.

starflowers have given way to twinflower, another season within the season. the delicate, pale pink blossoms are all over the forest floor. i like them because of their simplicity and clean lines.

another flower that i really like is white clover. they smell heavenly. today, i braided a crown for myself with them. next time i'll let the flower chain rest a bit before wearing. my hair is still crawling with small insects. i included some lucky clovers in there, too. so many this year, on sunday i found seven.

i'd rather have gotten seven right in the record-breaking lottery jackpot, but i'll take any luck i can get.

chanterelles are in the bud, so to speak, not yet big enough to pick, but there. no sign of porcinis yet, but i'm sure we'll have a good crop of them this year. i get excited just thinking about mushrooming, and the best days for that are ahead.

there seems to be a bit of a heat wave on its way, followed by thunderstorms at the end of the week. i'm prepared, though. i made ice lollies from the last pack of (expired, of course) pink lemonade kool-aid i bought in america a lifetime ago. i have my linen shorts and top ready. i'm out of sunscreen, so i'll just lay in the shadow and do nothing for days. i might dream about a certain irishman a little. but that's all. bring it on.