More noise



Little Ollie was mainly busy with the tractor

 A week to go until Midsummer, and we got some life to the house. JD's sister, daughter and her partner with their three kids (aged from 2 to 10) spent the weekend with us. The house was suddenly filled with noice - around the clock.

Men were cleaning the terraces and patios with pressure washer, carried the grills (yes, JD has several...) and heavy outdoor furniture out from the garage and prepared the summer kitchen for the season while the girls went to buy summer flowers in Agrimarket and Cassandra downtown Kemiö. Luckily we took the bigger car, because we found irresistible flowers and had 50 plants in the trunk on the way back.

The garden looked good because it had been raining. The poppies that had not blossomed a week ago, had almost withered. Everybody was busy doing something out of doors (again moving the lawns as well) and so we were very hungry in the evening. I made children's (and actually everyone's) favourite dish, pasta bolognese - takes only some 30 minutes to cook, is simple and makes everyone happy. Served with grated cheese and good South African pinotage it beats many restaurants' food. 

Pasta bolognese for 10 people
- take a large cast iron pot (e.g. Le Croiset)
- chop 2 large onions and 5 gloves garlic, cook in olive oil
- add 1.5 kg of good minced meat (beef), let it brown
- season with black pepper and 2-3 spoonfuls of dried basil (or fresh)
- pour one large can of Bertolli pasta sauce (2.2 liters) in the pot
- let it simmer while you cook 1 kg spaghetti

It was too cold to eat outside. Before dinner, we went to sauna, and after dinner we watched a family movie alltogether, Mrs. Doubtfire. Even seen the third time, it was great!

On Sunday, I made a walk in the forest with Henna (10 yrs). We saw Rhododendron Tomentosum (suopursu) which smells strong and can be used as a herbal medicine.

We saw Finland's national flower,  Lily of the Valley (kielo), which was my mothers' favorite wild flower and she had them in her wedding bouquet. All the roadsides were taken over by hundreds of wild Lupinus polyphyllus (lupiini).