In which the weather warmed up and I spent hours in a freezing box - 365

Friday - Friday is Lily's day of "Home Education" (now it's official) so she and I set off for the Art Museum. It was a multi purpose visit; a learning experience for Lily and I wanted to get a child's perpective of the current exhibition in preparation for the schools workshops I will be holding at the museum next week. There would have been some fantastic shots if I hadn't left the memory card in the computer. I would have loved to have got one of Lily trying out her genius idea of viewing the bold abstract art while spinning - or one of the face on the member of the museum staff who came to tell her to stop. I'm starting to get a bit anoyed with them (the staff not my kids) as this is not the first time that that have interfered with my kids enjoment of art.

Saturday- Sauna (& beer), Settlers and Sleepover (codeword for "lots of red wine")

 Sunday - Snow Party

 Monday - Bus Stop

Tuesday - Back a the Art Museum

Wednesday - Frozen Clothes Animation Workshop - Day 1 - FREEZING
                         Now that the temperature has risen to just below freezing I step inside a refregerated container
                        (-20 celcius) and will do so for the coming 4 days.

Thursday - "The Night is Red" (and filled with fur coats) - I finally realised that the symphony costs less than the cinema when you are a student in Oulu - we will be going more often.

Friday - Frozen Clothes Animation Workshop - Day 3 - Script Writing

Saturday - Frozen clothes Animation Workshop - Day 4 - Shooting

A backlog - 365

... or maybe a better way of posting. A week in photos anyway.

Friday - White II

Saturday  - Relief

Pyjamaday  - suitible for ages 2 - 122 (sometimes Gabor and I play with it once the kids have gone to bed)

Monday - no camera

Tuesday - This is what minus 32 degrees looks like. Is it how you imagined it.

Wednesday - Halfway home

Thursday - Light Reading

Limit

Minus 30 degrees (Celsius) does strange things to the mind; I have begun to find long-johns and woollen socks sexy. My being is split between the urge to make a nest of blankets and burrow in until spring (or until it is -20 at the very least) and the need to prove that the weather will not stop me. KEEP WARM & CARRY ON. The societal pressure to do the latter is immense. Finns need to demonstrate how hardy they are and us not-quite-Finns need to prove that we can keep up.

I remember some family members in Hungary complaining about “those lazy Greeks” when the Greek economy was going to shit – then those same family members complaining that it was too hot to do anything during the summer heat. I think the southern Europeans have it right with siesta; sleep through the hashed weather. All the wildlife around us here is doing the same (well all but the Great Tit, but their idiocy is implied in their name).

Today I finally succumbed to hibernation. It was -32^o (-45^o taking the wind chill into account), apparently this is my limit. I didn’t go to university, Lily didn’t go to school. We stayed home and watched Star Wars and ate pancakes. At times I stared out the window at the pretty sunshine making everything glow and glisten, almost fooled into believing in its warmth and stepping outside to bask in the rays (and soak up some much lacking vitamin D). Instead I put on the kettle for tea and popped a couple of fish oil capsules. 

Sleeping was assisted (not that any assistance was really needed) by the muscle relaxant pills I have to take for my neck, drowsiness is a major side effect. The doctor told me that my neck pain is common among students; it comes from sitting at the computer too much and is aggravated by the cold. There wasn’t really any preventative advice which leaves me with a bit of a problem – I’m not going to stop being a student any time soon it’s winter in Finland, it’s cold. Perhaps Hibernating until spring is the only thing to do after all.

Breathe - 365

I suspect "Cold" will be a feature of these photos for a while. I do live pretty far north after all. It was minus 26 when I cycled to uni this morning with predictions for as cold as minus 32 over the weekend. Stay warm people.

Another - 365

Whay can I say, the trees are so pretty that they deserved a second day of being featured. Besides I almost lost some fingers taking the picture so I am not just going to ditch it.