Darkness, dead leaves and corpse berries

After a busy autumn and several weekends either traveling or at home in Helsinki we headed to the island in the morning of our Independence Day, the 6th of December.

Besides celebrating the independence and relax a bit, we wanted to check the windows, set mouse baits (or killers = hiiribaari in Finnish), rake the dead leaves before the snow comes and make the final preparations in the house for the winter.

 

Precious independence

We Finns take independence very seriously, it is not self evident for us – has never been in the past and is not even today with several new signs of cold war. My father and JD’s father were both as young men (17 when the war started!) defending our country against Russians in the Winter War (1939-40) and in the Continuation War (1941-44).

Luckily both men survived and were able to tell us about it. Thank you, Dad! You made it possible for us to enjoy freedom.

After sauna, we had dinner and sat in candle light surrounded by total darkness, as if we were the only ones on the island. Of course we watched on TV The President’s Independence Day Reception, like everyone does.

 

Last berries before the snow

Corpse berry

Luckily it was not raining or snowing on Sunday, and I worked a couple of hours in the garden, raking leaves and emptying and washing flower pots. All the flowers and leaves were dead, except for the corpse berry (Symphoricarpos albus var. laevigatus). Somehow the name is so representative to the season. At this time of the year, it is normally already icy and snow. Now it was +4 degrees and even the sun popped up for a couple of minutes.