Happy New Year friends!

If you’re reading this you’ve *so far* survived rounds 1 and 2 and (hey what round are we in ?? this is exhausting) of the #COVID-19 virus, BUT most importantly you’ve lived to say goodbye to the AWFUL, TERRIBLE, and WOE-FILLED year that was 2020. 2020 you sucked!!!

The arrival of 2021 brought with it hope for better days – mainly because 2020 was in the rear-view. But unfortunately much of what made 2020 a crappy year remains lurking all around us with gentle and not so gentle reminders. As if anyone needed a reminder! Everyone, everywhere is looking for peace and calm, happy thoughts & images to brighten their days of lockdown, confinement and looking for ways to break the boredom of living life amid a pandemic.

News alert: We’re really rather hermit-like here. I saw a meme the other day in which there was a photo of a guy on a porch and the meme said something like….when your day-to-day hasn’t much changed due to the pandemic -you might be a hermit. I realize some people are going through hell right now. I am sorry. Not only that, but I’m doing what I can from my little space in the world to ensure the virus isn’t getting another victim, nor a spreader. If I do my part, and you do your part, we’ve got this thing in the bag. Now let’s get everyone else on board!

We’ve had a pretty weird week thus far, and it’s only Wednesday! Coming on the heels of the fantastically bizarre year of 2020 we seemed ready for almost anything. Strangely, we did not have- Presidentially-inspired insurrection on our bingo cards!!! We were, and remain blind-sided by the continued failings of a very withered and demoralized US Democracy. It’s really rather upsetting! Emboldened by every idiot who voted for him, Trump has continued to diminish the office he holds to the point, of …where is the bottom?? -how much lower can he sink it?? Despicable, loathsome, dysfunctional, disloyal, DEPLORABLE – I HATE THAT MAN AND EVERYONE WHO VOTED FOR HIM!! I despise too his many enablers in Congress and hope every one of them is held accountable for their culpability in ensuring this charade continued. There is NO tolerance in the heart of this bleeding heart Democrat for traitors, insurrectionists, and those perpetuating sedition. Unfortunately, 72 million people were added to my block list. But it’s mostly unfortunate for them. I rest easy every night knowing I wasn’t one of the miserable people who ever cast a vote for Donald Trump.

MEANWHILE: Snowmageddon happened! Initially, I really didn’t believe it would happen. There’ve been too many times when the weather forecasts were a bit too optimistic about especially pleasant and warm days on the horizon, or being warned about rain that never came. So when the Finnish meteorologists said there was a snow event coming and that it could drop 20, 40 or 60 cm of snow…well, I didn’t quite believe it. Surprise! It came! Boy, did it come!

Yesterday, I tried to get a photo to show how much snow had arrived since midnight and which was by then starting to fall quite heavily. This was just before sunrise or 09:15 am. (yes, it really is that dark at 09:15 am this time of year) They were tiny little flakes, but they came in the gazillions… and soon everything in the yard became mounds of white.

Pekka’s been digging us out every day, not like we’re going anywhere, but you know, just in case. About the time he gets everything cleared out, the city plow guy shows up and dumps the residential street portion right back into our driveway. Gee, thanks buddy! One year, a plow driver really had his thinking cap on and instead of pushing the snow back into our driveway like everyone else, every other year, he instead pulled into the farmer’s private lane with his huge plow and pushed all that snow right up and out of the way of our driveway AND cleared the council street at the same time. We haven’t seen that guy since. He was a one-shot wonder. I am curious about where he went. Maybe he’s running the show now – sure wish he’d passed along the good-neighbor snow plow tricks to his friends!

I ventured out of our hermitage yesterday to knock the snow off some trees and bushes which were sagging low from the weight of the snow – which had been coming steady for 24hrs.

This poor little fellow is a weeping spruce. But nearly flattened out is not the look we were going for! I brushed the snow away, and he popped up a few inches. Not sure how much torque can be applied in an effort to straighten it up without causing further injury. Before the snow arrived, it was completely vertical. Worrying to say the least! I’ve spent a good hour looking for information online about how to rescue snow and ice plagued garden trees and bushes. Seems we might be lucky if we can keep the damage to a minimum. Hopefully nothing snaps off from the excessive snow weight. Our thuja are also looking a bit haggard, with many seeming to come apart at the seams. Thuja is a multi-trunk upright shrub and can get a bit wonky-looking when the internal vertical branch members are wedged apart. I saw a photo online of someone else’s from another snow event and his were splayed wide open in places, and he described the branches as ‘flying away’ from the main body. Thankfully, ours aren’t THAT bad…yet. Yikes!

Both cars were completely cleared of snow TWICE… and these photos taken just now show what we picked up since yesterday evening.

I took a walk through the yard again and brushed off as much snow as I could from several sagging bushes. Then I thought I would take a long walk around the area for photos, but only made it halfway down the farmer’s lane when the north wind caught me straight in the face. I said, nope, no thanks to that and took this short video clip instead of the load of other photos I’d intended

Honestly, I got a bit winded walking around the yard in two to three feet of snow. I was plenty bundled up and wasn’t cold at all, but it was rather weird to lose my sense of navigation in my own backyard because the landscape had become so much changed by all that snow. Combined with the rather grotesque manner in which several key bushes and trees are now looking, it caused me to pause and wonder a few times just what that odd lump was here and there, and what was under all that snow! So my little walk down the farmer lane and the brisk north wind were about all the nudging I needed to turn around and come back inside. And you get this little story!

Snowmageddon is still pumping out snow here, but it’s tapering off. Next up! -Arctic Cold Front! The polar vortex shift will cause the temperatures to plummet. And I mean LOW. It’s been a steady -1/-5c the past couple of days. It’s getting colder through the day today, and that frigid north wind I met earlier is taking temperatures down low, dipping to -20c by Friday. I won’t be going out for photos regardless of how much, if any new snow we get!!! NO WAY!

Luckily, this seems to be a short-lived weather event. It has been named, Toini. You can read an English language report about it by clicking the link.

And that’s all I’ve got folks! Oh wait!

Some of you who’ve followed along for a bit, know that every Christmas Pekka and I do a large puzzle over the Christmas holiday. We have been doing large ones/3500 puzzle piece size for a few years now. This last puzzle is a group of hot-air balloons floating over Cappadocia. Stunning image. A biotch to put together. AND we managed to only lose 1 piece. We think the creature, i.e., ‘Greta the puzzle helper’ ate the missing piece.

See you next time! Vanha Talo Suomi ❤