We have been at Jaanä's parent's house since Monday and the days have flown by. When we arrived 5 hours drive from outside Helsinki, there was a chill in the air but the cabin and surrounding outdoors seemed like the ultimate adventure. The main cabin house is 1 bedroom with a massive fireplace in the middle of the living/ kitchen area and warm as toast. The land rolls down to the lake with green lawns and little living areas to sit and eat and to while away the hours by an outdoor fire. Three row boats lay moored directly in the lake alongside a floating wooden platoon nestled in the reids. The lake is a crystal clear Finnish lake fit for fishing and rowing out onto the lake to 'take the sun'.
In the little cabin, Jaana and Marko cooked us a veritable feast of Finnish food- 'baby leg' sausages (joke) and pork mince with new potatoes and rye bread topped with forest mushroom spreads. Jaanäs mother cooked us a white fish pie with little muikku fish to be warmed and topped with full fat glorious butter. Marko and Mick went fishing the first few hours of arriving in one of the little boats across the lake. Marko was dressed in combat fatigues and a jaunty hunting cap and gumboots that meant business. Jaana and I meanwhile nestled in the main cabin warmth, talked & watched Finnish reality TV. Jaana took me for my first sauna last night....we dressed in towels (normally the Finns go nude but not ready for that yet) and I watched as she cranked up the sauna fire with birch wood to unbelievable proportions. The temperature gauge rose & rose- 60C and I was sweating like a pig. Jaana then directed me outside on the porch and we gulped cold rose wine while standing around in our towels in the crisp air. Then back in the sauna where we applied face maskes. The temperature got up to 95C and finally I'd had enough of the heat. Jaana can get up to 120C without breaking a sweat- ha. I felt so relaxed so afterwards. You wash off afterwards with a bucket of water and your skin feels alive, kuillarä!
Mick and I are sleeping in the 'Aitta' to the side of the house- kind of like a sleep out cubby house. It has no windows but is used for guests so then can sleep in the midsummer night of long sunlight and to keep cool. The weather has been cold but we sit out around the fire drinking wine & vodka and getting to know one another. Onni runs around like a demon possessed with his tail wagging and various pine cones in his mouth.
Marko & Mick have not caught one thing other than a cold. Marko has been dying for 2 days but has finally come good today. Jaana and I have been talking non stop. Mick and I walked along the 'matsea' road to the spring with Onni this afternoon and we were bewitched by the Finnish forest. It is so still with all the birds having flown south and is hushed quiet. Mick and I are terrified of bears (seen near the cabin in summer plundering fishing bait) but we both pretended to be brave. Thankfully can report not seeing a bear is a GOOD Finnish experience to have.
....tonight we eat reindeer. Jaysus.
