yesterday was stormy, and as i was about to leave to my japanese class the sky just burst with rain and i didn't feel like swimming there, so i stayed home and tried to study on my own. well, with a little help from my friends, of course...

in case the embedded video doesn't work, here's the link. i don't seem to have any options to edit how the video appears on this page, like before. i would've wanted to slo-mo the very end but didn't know how to do that, either.

the sticker survived, by the way. here it is on another notebook now:

maple in the old cemetery

eteläpitkäkatu

one of my favourite fall activities is having an evening walk in the old town, taking in all the different kinds of wood smoke scents drifting from the chimneys. the weather has been warmer than usual so not everyone has fires going yet, but i caught some autumnal whiffs this evening already. friday and saturday are the most fragrant, that's when all the saunas are being heated and used, it's a gorgeous mix of smoke, birch leaves and suds. that's a year-round indulgence of course, and available in most residential areas. the combination of chilly air, cobblestone streets and the smoke is so lovely, though, and i'm really looking forward to it.

i have started yoga and japanese classes, it's a strange feeling to be a student again after so many years, with homework and all. even though i have learned japanese on my own before, and know how to read most of the kana, it's funny how the brain switches gears upon studying. i find myself more fluent just like that, even though the classes have just begun and we have only been through a few hiragana. i have been playing a game on my tablet called 'pocketland' for a good while almost every day, but now all of a sudden i am comprehending much more. curious, isn't it? i thought it might be frustrating to go through things i know already, and at such slow pace, too, but it's actually kind of nice. my old notebook is so intimidating and crazy, i started by diving into the deep end and copied and translated, the best i could, a 'mori girl' magazine. that's kind of my thing, skipping the basics and going straight at the hard stuff. so the classes are new to me in that sense, having to be patient and more focused.

sysi moriarty & savu aomori

the ratty boys are turning a year old already! sysi has his birthday tomorrow and savu's is next week, on the fifth. tomorrow is a bittersweet celebration, since it's also the anniversary of a painful decision to have my old boy basu put to sleep the following day... i'm so glad i decided to adopt these two rascals despite specifically intending not to. i know they will, in turn, break my heart when they go, but what really matters is the here and now, and boy are they good at that. they are my sensei and they have been such a great consolation through my losses this past year. they just make my heart burst with love and joy no matter what.

last week i finally got a proper forest fix, and not just once but twice. i went back to forest home on three days, and the first trip was dedicated to mushrooming. there were crazy many. my first basketful filled before i was even officially in the woods, and i had to go back to the house to unload a bunch of funnel chanterelles before heading out again. the above is what i came back with the second time. ahh, good times...

hygrocybe coccinea

there had been some cooler nights, which always seems to bring out the waxcaps. there were white and yellow ones by our trashbin, and these fiery red ones by the logging road. they would've been edible, but there were only a few and my basket was already brimming...

i also picked and juiced a ton of apples one afternoon, i'm hoping to make some cider vinegar also. in this particular glass there was also siberian blackberry and nettle. so, so delicious. i never drink commercial apple juice but i love it freshly squeezed from garden varieties, the more in the mix the better. rowan berries also add a nice punch to the flavour. if there's time, i'm making more this week.

on saturday we went foraging in the nearby nature preserve omenapuumaa (apple tree land. there are wild apple trees, although we spotted none, but apparently the name comes from swedish åminnebo, referring to a dwelling by the mouth of a river.) with a couple of friends. i've been wanting to go for a long time, and the place did not disappoint. we had the best weather, warm but not too hot, and windy enough to keep mosquitoes at bay. for a small area, there were lots of different nature types, and all kinds of fungi all over the place, up in trees and under the roots of fallen ones. these blue-gray polypores were perhaps the most beautiful.

underneath some other polypores were these droplets of evaporation from the fungus itself. i wish i had brought a camera, these cell phone shots don't really do the mushrooms justice. my friend hanna took a picture of me taking this photo...

i left my basket at home so had to borrow a bucket. it's not ideal for mushrooms but it did a good job containing my haul. there were orange milkcaps, funnel chanterelles, various russulas and lots of gypsy mushrooms. i also found a chunk of chaga and took a birch polypore, which probably was against the rules but it was for a good cause, both fungi are medicinal, with anti-tumor properties, and they are for the rats, savu especially with his lumpy leg.

possibly a honey fungus

lepiota sp.

lycoperdon perlatum

lycogala epidendron

we had our picnic on a little beach, and while we were eating, a couple rowed a boat ashore from the neighbouring island, informing us they had spent the night in the small, red house we had been admiring. turns out it is a rental cottage, without electricity but very comfy, and the fee sounded reasonable enough for me to start planning a stay...

the second leg of our trek took us on some cliffs with pines and spots of abundant crowberries. i had to tear myself away, but with a handful in my pocket. they were so plump and nice... then there were all kinds of groves, one stretch of the path reminded me so much of ireland my heart ached. i've been pining for the eireann days lately, i just miss the place and the people so damn much. that spot was just like 'the woods behind the hotel' in kinsale, only without the omnipresent bramble.

all in all omenapuumaa was a lot like 'my forest' but it was more concentrated and intense, and obviously not in use for forestry. the nature trail was very clear and marked well, but uneven in places and you needed to watch your step a lot. i didn't take many photos towards the end, i was kind of exhausted. we were in there for six hours! i definitely want to go back, and visit during different seasons. it's going to be amazing in spring.

the rats have always enjoyed crowberries, they had them when they were babies and now they are ripening again. they don't even like bilberries as much! they just eat the insides and leave the peels, like they do with everything, even cucumber. savu nibbled a bit on the birch polypore i gave him, but didn't shred it to bits like i assumed he would. the rest of it will be made into decoction and tincture soon.

above is one of my favourite photos of savu and sysi, ever. i had the window open and some flies found their way inside, intriguing my boys into a mix of curiosity and suspicion. i just love how they are both so in the moment. i mean, rats usually are, but it's not always so easy to capture. and just look at sysi's little hands, they make the shot i think.

this is typically the scenario when i start a work day. sysi needs to be scratched and savu must chew everything. usually they soon retreat to their 'room' ie. cage for their nap time and i can actually get something done, but at some point one of the assistants will remind me it's time to take a break. i have a big study for working in, but sometimes it's even more distracting to be in the other room, listening for squabbles and other alarming sounds.

two weeks ago, my brother and his girlfriend visited again, and we went to the cairns of sammallahdenmäki, a unesco world heritage site nearby. it was my second visit but this time the weather was much nicer and i wasn't dead tired, so i enjoyed it a lot more. i must admit i was sidetracked by berries and mushrooms on several occasions, even found three little ceps amidst the lichen. i haven't been to the woods at all, despite all my intentions and growing desperation. things keep getting in the way and it is killing me, especially when it's been such an amazing early autumn here.

this bear sculpture in front of a cafe had apparently been vandalized, which is awful, but it was such a stark contrast to the idyllic surroundings i couldn't help but find it funny.

we also visited the maritime museum of rauma, which was much more impressive than i was prepared for and provided some tidbits of family history, too. they have a digital archive of local, old ships and their crew lists, and one of my great grandfathers appeared on a few documents, revealing a bit of his dating history, as he departed the ship first on a port near my great grandmother's home town and later retired entirely, due to 'getting marrid'. they bought a little farmhouse near my forest home and started a family which, among other relatives, produced my grandpa, also a sailor, and then my mother, and me. but even aside personal interests, the museum really brings the seafaring life to life. can't wait to have new visitors so i can show them...

that busy week culminated to a saturday evening spent on the cliffs in the woods by the sea with some friends. we had a little fire going in a sheltered spot (it was very windy), and watched the fireworks. it was the end of summer and boating season, the venetian evening. even the clouds cleared away and revealed thousands of stars, and having had the foresight to wear thermal leggings, it was a warm, lovely night for me. i really needed it, having not done any summery things like that this year.

five days of social activities in a row turned out to be too much for my sensitive nerves, though, and this week has been one of fever, migraine and joint pains. the rats have both given me gray hairs, too. sysi by falling and hurting himself, although he is fine now, and savu waking me last night, biting the cage bars in apparent discomfort. he ate a lot of apple seeds yesterday, having snatched a core, so i gave him a crumb of charcoal just in case. they can be poisonous to a small animal, apple seeds, but the charcoal may have made it hard for him to poop. i really don't know what caused his jumpy night terror, but he is still very tired, even though he did make big, black pellets in the litter box this morning. so the worry never ends with these critters, but they are worth it all.

this photo is from a week ago, when sysi and savu fell asleep on the shelf under my bedside table because i washed the whole cage and it took ages. savu pulled a paper hanky out of the package to sleep on...