SWINGING ON A BRANCH

Mornings, so silent, waking up with the light. Noons listening how the ice starts to melt again for once again. Breaking under steps, melting away. Streams around pebbles. A squirrel waits next to a mailbox. It must be the time when they roll their soft tails around new baby squirrels. Nests in fir tree branches swinging in the drama of the spring. (A song about a squirrel, take 1 & 2.)

Afternoons listening to new languages through radios. Reading new finds from the library shelves. Holding that black teacup once again, not always sure which of the green teas would be perfect for this moment. Choosing one called Limão. Taste of a sunny place, where the sun turns skin warm and brown. There is a bit of sleepiness in the air, the lemon taste makes the day fresh again.

Packing orders and a commissioned private painting of two siblings to their mother. Thank you to everyone for being here with me!

Evening for a concert of a favorite trumpet player, a few friends, a nice meal. A good welcome for the weekend.

Warmest thoughts to your weekend, make it a calm one!

HE WHISPERS THROUGH PINE TREES

It was very quick, the book fair. Smiling. People coming and going, talking or just watching me drawing. An older man showing his pictures (of sheep, goats and countryside homes). He had started to draw and paint in age of 75, I was happy. Listening his story I almost forgot that I was there to work. I drew a small forest, kids around me drew on the wall their names.

Then there was a happy lunch in the city, two cats and a girl behind one window, friends around till the last train home. The last train home broke down, but I was happily asleep as long as it was working again and making its lullabying melody of going home.

Today a long bicycle trip in town. Passed a beautiful graveyard, there was a small flower shop open. They luckily had also candles there. One I lit in the graveyard for my grandfather, who surely is sitting in top of a pinewood tree now and whispering his words when the wind flies through the branches. Of fishing luck, stacks of firewood and berry picking. "I am just listening to the radio," I remember him saying the very last time we met some years ago.

Squirrels were there too to lit the candle.

Originals of these photos were taken by Darren. He is going to travel almost around the world (in my mind). Bon Voyage dear, come back home safe!

ONE RASPBERRY CAKE, PLEASE

Hello dear October,

Lovely to have you here.

Sounds of woolen socks on the wooden floor. Mist covering everything. Would it be like this to live in a glass of soya milk? Mornings with candles, evenings with candles. Paint strokes on a light blue background. Light pink, turquoise and brown.

Finishing some paintings, bicycling to the post office to send orders, going to search for a vanilla colored white wool, heading to a summerhouse nearby with my family, knitting that wool (hopefully) to a hat to keep ears warm.

How are you?

October wishes, weekend wishes, warm thoughts,

Anna Emilia

P.s. Mama, keep your eyes closed till Monday as this is your birthday card!

FOREST TEAROOM

Good morning dear all of you,

Wind is making somersaults and blowing in cold whispers. Light has vanished from early mornings. The first layer of yellow leaves is softening steps on afternoon walks. Evenings come with a candle light.

My book, Proof of Winter is added to the shop. “I started to battle against winter because I wanted to be friends with it. ...As preparation I cut a wind-proof haircut. Wherever it would blow from now, my hair would not be on my face.” More pictures of the book in my Flickr.

Have a small walk in the forest and find to my small tearoom. Have a cup of tea and enjoy the landscape and the warmth of firewood with me. Have a good September, have a happy weekend!

SCENT OF HARVEST

Postwoman has been ringing my doorbell with parcels this week. The first one came over the seas and oceans from Kerstin. Books and a soft treasure to keep company for my teapot. Thank you! Second one came from Sweden, a Finnish magazine Maalaisunelma (Nr 7 2010) featured my sprout paintings (1 & 2).

Balcony door stays closed, yellow leaves cannot be counted anymore. Birds are flying more, practicing for longer journeys. Singing of jackdaws is back, loving it as afternoon surprises. After summer´s bicycle trips, now walking is the nicest way to reach tea, markets, post office and this evening maybe a concert, the last outdoor movie and an exhibition. Clouds covering the sky, walking makes the world visible only piece by piece, more concentrated, more comforting.

Tomorrow a train trip to the strawberry fields. The season is over, but hopefully there are lingonberries in the forests around. Continuing to knit a huge pile of black wool, reading a book. But before that, an unfinished painting is waiting.

Forest scent weekend wishes to you, thank you for stopping by!

With paintbrush strokes,

Anna Emilia

(Photo in the third picture by Shari Altman.)

OPENING ON A CLOUDY DAY

Hello dear you,

It is a bit windy and the first very cloudy day in weeks. Like curtains on all the day long. Or maybe a soft cotton ball cover above protecting. This weather feels very soft.

The shop is officially open now! Hopefully you will like it. It will be open now for two weeks (till the 24th of June). Then comes a small summer trip while it is closed but it opens again in August. Please have a look, I would be happy to know what you think!

Also, the website is updated with a few new works.

A crow is flying around the house. First singing next to my balcony door, then on the other side by the bedroom window and by the balcony again. Nice to have such a gentleman keeping me company. I wish that he finds a safe place middle of twigs and leave branches before the rain arrives.

Glad I feel of every email and comment I have lately received, thank you, thank you thousand times for them! Next week we could have a small game here where at least someone could win a small gift from me as a thank you. Please come back then again.

Be well and enjoy the weekend with some fresh rain scent.

Love,

Anna Emilia

......

Hei siellä,

Ehkä tänään myös hieman suomeksi. Kiitos kaikille, jotka siellä seurailevat sääpäiväkirjaani.

Tänään on kaupan avajaiset, tervetuloa! Aukioloaika on kesäkuun 25:nteen, sitten on pieni kesäreissu, mutta puoti aukeaa taas elokuussa.

Myös nettisivuilta löytyy uusia töitä.

Ensi viikolla pelataan, joku voittakoon pienen lahjan minulta. Tule siis kiltti takaisin!

On pehemeä pilvinen päivä, lämpö tuntuu silti. Herra varis kiertää taloa ja kraakkuu milloin parvekkeella, milloin makuuhuoneen akkunalla, siisti herrasmies pitää seuraa. Kun vain pääsisi suojaan ennen viikonlopun sateita, havujen tai koivunoksien alle.

Sateenropinan onnea,

Anna Emilia

RAINDROPS ON A MEADOW

Dear Friday,

Walking the morning in a meadow by a lake next to my home. A rain shower turned everything to a deeper brightness of a color and myself very wet. Summer rains are best of kinds. Snails, silent birds and sound of the lake while raindrops touch its surface.

A framer in a corner shop a few blocks away has hands of million stories. I tried to imagine all the pictures his hands have framed in his life.

The painting he framed for me this time is a wedding gift for a childhood friend with who we had a secret club called Mikki. We had a secret language, secret notebooks and secretly we recorded our parents´ conversations. Those secrets never revealed, even to us.

Have raindrops on roof and a bit of sunshine for your weekend!

P.s. Lately I got many emails and comments asking if I sell my work. I do, please just email me! There will be also a small online shop very very soon!

FLOATING LANDSCAPE

Greetings from a train going to the eastern Finland!

Sitting by and watching the landscape to change from woods to fields, from lakes to tunnels, from sun to clouds. From yellow houses to red ones, from curvy forest roads to highways. From small villages to towns with modern stations. The window next to me frames everything and shows a lovely movie (I wonder what could be the subtitles for all this). Trees growing to the same direction, bent by the wind. Secret forest paths and huts in solitude. It always feels like places which are not meant to be seen. Train just passes everything.

What is best about small train trips? Provisions for me of course. Some bread and juice, and a small triangle of dark chocolate. Always tastes better than at home. Happy lunch time!

These flowers are for mothers and grandmothers this Sunday!

Happy weekend dear all of you!

MR FOX, TUMMY FILLED WITH PILLOWS

Hello dear rainy Friday,

Here I write for you and wish that you are well.

The week here has been a soft one, with three new paintings and many many cups of tea. Sewing a little and bicycling far. Dreaming of adventures, stretching and reading. Learning, giving more space for thoughts.

Mr Fox appeared early this week on the yard. I bicycled home under a sunset after taking a friend to his train. Mr Fox ate something under the lilac bushes, I was surprised and he just very calm. Beautiful your suit, Mr Fox!

Perhaps an afternoon walk now, to fetch some balcony flowers. Would you like to join me under an umbrella?

Happy weekend dear all of you!

GREETINGS AS A CLOUD

The little one seems to be a bit lost. He made his way to Germany this week. Maybe he is listening to the black birds or waiting for the rain there. Or checking the volcano eruption sending greetings to the whole North Europe as a cloud of ash. Fire and smoke has always been the scent of home for me. Love back to you Iceland, I still miss you!

Flora sent me a heart-warming letter. More work came from South Finland. And a package of vanillin scent from the treasure island Iceland.

A small bag is packed. I am on my way to Tallinn.

Love to your weekend!

(P.s. If my site is down during the weekend, please come back next week! Workers are busy transforming it to a new comfortable home.)

UNPLANNED FOREST POND

Good morning dear you,

Last night I was painting till very late. When I woke up this morning again, a forest surrounded pond with a big rock in the middle had appeared on my table. I just needed to shovel some snow away to show also the tree trunks.

It surely looks like spring here now, the sun appeared too. Small birds sing a happy melody. A perfect timing, I am packing my small bag to have a walk in the sun, step in to a train for a weekend trip through even more snowy forests to my parents in the East. I think there might be many landscapes like this unplanned forest pond on the way. Eager to see what the weather paints on my way.

Have a lovely weekend dear all of you!

REMEMBERING THE FIRST RAIN SHOWER OF SPRING

For many days I have been thinking of rain. Then last night someone reminded me of it again. It is difficult to remember how it sounds. How it sounds over a roof when sleeping or on window sills. Or on a lake or a sea against water. Or through leaves of trees. I think it is the gentlest sound if I just remember right.

Very much I feel the spring even though it is so much snow in here and more floating all the time. This morning in the allotment garden I had the snow up to my tights on my walk. I laughed a bit there for that moment. Still, the feeling of spring is stronger than the snow outside. Being very restless. Waking up very early what I like a lot. Please send me a bit of tape or a string that I can tie myself in one place. Or I stay still, but I think it is the blood inside me wanting to go to every place in the world the same time.

Rosemary potatoes and carrots in the oven. Better to make some tahini sauce and salad to go with them.

Have a silent and slow weekend filled with warmth!

Love,

Anna Emilia

FORECASTING PINK BRANCHES

Spring comes when branches start to turn red in their bark, says my grandmother. Maybe this is a bit of cheating, but I walked with these branches home yesterday in -14°C in a new layer of snow.

Thank you kindly for telling me about the places you miss! They gave me a lot of new images in my mind. They are now places to dream about.

How will your weekend be? Have a cherry scented one!

MALAYSIAN TONES

Days will be warm with this gift from my parents. I was painting with Alizarin crimson when I received it. Indian yellow was the color of the sun when it peeked through clouds for a few moments. I borrowed its color too.

Birds are singing a lot these days. Also the light has changed, it is more white and it reaches further corners of the rooms. I have almost forgotten that there are corners in these rooms, the winter has passed next to the windows.

Have a happy, soft and raspberry jam —scented weekend!

FOR GREY FRIDAY

Brown, red and turquoise on soft cotton paper. Date-almond-coconut-raw chocolate-balls aside. Fallen berry branches on the way to a grocery store. Wishing you a pleasant weekend!