Coffee to stay

Beyond Boston

2011-09-26T23:51:00.000-07:00

Once again on the better edge of annual Boston fewer, highest on July-August.

I just keep tracking the signals. I am alerted to Boston and of course the word pomps up more easily than another random word. F ex Louisiana. It would be a nice curiosity to start to follow how, when and where Louisiana would show up though.

Is it funny of what that 3 out of 12 of the bloggers I follow visited Boston within 6 past months? All for different reasons but still, Boston is not that famous tourist attraction.

Anyway, a nice link to the given name of this blog and Boston is the research showing that women who drink coffee are less in danger to get melancholia. Studied in Harvard. I have my idea of maximum resistance for melancholia aka the utmost pleasure; drinking coffee in Boston.

Summer lists

2011-06-14T23:09:00.000-07:00

My abandoned blog here...

As the holiday gets closer the listperson within me arises... and as I want to sanctify the holiday just for holidaying, the list is to-do list before holiday. To be able to be on holiday. Not to mention the to-do lists I must do at work.

1. Before holiday:
*fix the terrace curtains. Material already bought from Ikea. Wonder if it should be 100% polyester.
*fix the terrace furniture cushions. No need for that in case of new polyrattan group.
*fix kids rooms curtains.
*renovate the chair now in garage. Oh, just got idea to use that extra cloth of english flowers aimed to Lottas windows for that... thick enough...
*buy new bed for Otto. IF using that cloth for chair and IF chair going to little kids room, coordinate the beddings with that...
*how about the Kulkue cloth for a soft - board and placed to laundry close to exit door... hmmm...
*get a piano tuner!
*bake the fridge full of coffee serving material
*cook the fridge full of ready-to-warm meals
*I was suppose to hire the young unemployed chef for that damn
*am I done with responsibilities to all third parties of my life

AND then let the holiday become
*pic nic at the forest behind Ainola
*pic nic at Suomenlinna with goulash soup
*visit Puuhamaa with kids
*Mustasaari?
*try frozen youghurt ice-cream
*strawberries
*s'more with Marie biscuits
*running in the rain
*try pilates?
*plan a trip to France

Feeling relieved now :D

Strawberry ice-cream with seeds

2010-03-22T10:17:00.000-07:00

I have been collecting hits. I had the idea of "hit" being something very remarkable. Like a flash from blackblue sky. But how often remarkable things are like that? From my experience flashes in your life turn out to be, more or less, hardships.

But positive things, they are tiny winy little bits. Like strawberry seeds in strawberry ice-cream. When you notice the seed in ice-cream you know the ice-cream was real thing. When you notice little Boston seed in your information flow you know that .... it is ...real life. And not yet quite real life ( as it mainly is the concrete flow of things) but still somehow ... something added... to keep the life ... as it should be. (I start to understand why love songs are repeating same sentences).

Nro 10. My sister knows my boston -mania and understands it also. She found an interesting blog from Boston. Where the blogger says she fell in love with Boston and moved there. That Boston is not Alabama but still lovable. Well... in my case... I have not yet moved to Boston and seem not going to visit it this summer; so much money spent to matching sets of clothes. As enjoying the life as it is right now, not next summer.

By reading the blog I was informed of a book of happiness . When I was younger I was very against all advices. Including the traffic regulations; my dad told me (after 15 years) he was very scared being my traffic license educator. I did not believe the regulations when he told them but he also had to explain why they were as they were and sometimes I didn't accept that and did not follow them. Be critical, doubt everything and trust seldom = younger me. A year or so younger.

Either do I believe when somebody is telling how to become happy. Life is far too big area to one human to learn how to be happy, how on earth you can tell that to someone else! Though best advices so far have I read from Gabriel Kuris.

But now I am so much older and wiser. I know there are some advices, at least useful tips in traffic.

After last blog (Bengt Holmström light) I contacted my ex-professor and told I wanted to join doctor-to-be club. She said welcome. Now I have a guide, I have a plan, I have a schedule and I have a idea of topic. Which is consumerism reflected to Spinoza's view of world. (Spinoza was the philosopher who's idea was "real me" is active, gay, joyful and initiative. Like controverting traffic regulations?! :D ).

As a mother of 4, as a whole-day financial manager (a good one), as an interested-in society matters, I have very limited amount of time for this. More spirit though, absolutely more spirit. But I found my path so far. I go to a nice restaurant called Grandma and read and note there, like a crazy un-social professor, one hour every day.

That makes me happy. Very happy. Smiley-happy.

Which rotates to happiness.

Hit number 11. In beginning of the century USA government wanted to know what makes human being happy. They started a project, decades long project. They measured 268 male harvardians with very different types of test: Rochas, weight, habits, nature etc.

After some time someone understood life is too complicated to be measured and brought along to something so final as "this is happiness".

But interesting part is that all this material is hold in .... Boston. So in case this research would tell it... Boston if any place knows what makes a human being happy. I am quite sure nobody mentioned reading Spinoza at lunch break in restaurant called Grandma as a source of happiness. To me it is. As are strawberry seeds in strawberry ice-cream.

Sailoring to Rome

2009-11-18T09:24:00.000-08:00

Two hits.

Number 8.

The dear violin teacher of my daughters. She is the utmost positive and most motivating teacher I have ever met. She has 3 adorable kids who attend the concerts every now and then. And her husband is American. I knew they lived for years somewhere around NY city. But then she mentioned they lived (before kids) in New Haven. (Why would I say New Heaven???) The city where Yale is. From my Scandinavian view Connecticut and Massachusetts are... close enough. New Haven is Boston.

Anyway: the teacher wears very often exactly the same outfits with me. We have funny time recognizing that. I would love to invite her (with family) to us but we are so busy! No free weekend before Xmas and present shopping is already canceled to be done during lunch brakes. Maybe next year. Spring is always... light and easy.

When I started this blog I had some kind of picture how this would help me to go to Boston. Nothing of the kind. All paths I tried closed just before my first step.

But then. One big article of Bengt Holmstrom. Hit number 9.

It was sunny and bright Saturday morning. (Saturdays seem to be remarkable in my life, I have to pay more attention to them!) My husband plays hockey every Saturday morning. Which means if I manage to feed my children without my very own presence, I may lay in the bed till 9.30. And at that time life IS bright and sunny.

He came home. I cleaned the kitchen, he started the laundry. Machines comfortable humming background we sat in the kitchen, read newspapers and drunk coffee. Fed children playing upstairs. Harmony.

-What do you know about Bengt Holsmtröm? He asked as reading an article.
-Me? He works at MIT. Was Nobel candidate. Research about game theory.

I don't surprise my husband very often. After being in daily contact for 20 years. But now he was.

-How do you know that much? I hardly recognized the name!
-Well, how do you know how to change brakes in the car? General knowledge. From here and there.

I read the article. And this honorable and evidently intelligent man said thinking is not logical. Thinking is like a Capricorn jumping here and there. Therefore he finds it very hard to write articles where sentences must follow each other with some kind of red string.

I have always thought it is my personal lack of capacity NOT to be able to think systematically. I started to love Bengt Holmström right away.

He also said when starting a research you attend to go to a certain destiny, let's say to Rome (all roads end up to Rome...). But it is very common you end up to totally different place. You MAY get to Rome if trying very hard. But the purity of honest research is wounded.

By the way. Rome is Rooma in Finnish. We also have a word called ruuma (hold). O and U are sometimes articulated similar. "All roads end up to ruuma, said the sailor!"

Tea, party and party politicians

2009-10-09T13:11:00.000-07:00

This morning when settling down the computer and implementing mind from morning mood to work mood I realized I had to contact Sweden. Plain business. But the very next thought was Astrid Lindgren, I miss the world of hers! (Highly seems this blog is more or less concerning different types of missing... to be honest the VERY original idea for this blog was to picture and describe the daily coffee mug. I happen to collect beautiful cups. Therefore the coffee in the topic. But it seems the blog is taking another route. I let him.)

After mourning Astrid Lindgren's positive and sunny world I felt a big cascade of joy having my baby boy who is wholly ahead of it. Pippi Longstocking ! Emil! Lotta!

This blog is exactly the same. The sugar at the bottom. Last shining star. Infrequently visited dear friend. Having a profession among numbers I produce great amount of meaningful text (though not always objective which word was given as a synonym for meaningful ). The obsession of Boston has mitigated. I am not unhappy neither happy about the matter. As a pragmatic person I feel very adult when saying "Oh, the misery of Boston, I can handle that pretty nicely". Which happens to be also the truth.

At the same time I know the fewer will rise again next autumn. Anyway, I keep collecting the hints and saving the money to visit this dear destiny next summer.

I discussed with my mother about Ted Kennedy's funeral. Kind of macabre topic, must admit. But she is a great Kennedy fan. Next thing was that I found myself watching the funerals from youtube. And then John Kennedy jr. Then John F Kennedy. And Jacqueline Kennedy. And Marilyn Monroe. Because I love detailed history, which youtube can not serve, I also read their biographies. Or, to be exact, 500 pages of JFK political details are still under researches.

If only I had the newspapers and journals from that time! One should never put away old newspapers. They are very valuable when time passes. Ten years makes a miracle lift-up for a-day-old -news! But I do not have and must delay on what the writers say. And find the information also from what they don't say. American history is interesting. It is somehow vivid. Great Britain has a great history. But it goes so back on time, behind to the deep fog of passed centuries it is very hard to imagine how was that life like. "How did soldiers go to the toilet when they were fighting in the war at 1100's" asked my children last summer at the hills of Culloden. Yes. How? No idea.

Imaginable history, let say the time from 1500's is much easier to understand. And more interesting. Last weekend we traveled to this sad gathering of my grandmothers relatives and friends. I was suppose to give a speech. I had to write it in a driving car. For that I took big and heavy book of "History of Nations" ( 6 parts ). Looking that through I noticed Boston tea party happened exactly 200 years before I was born. Hit number 7.

Elements of happiness

2009-09-11T05:07:00.000-07:00

What makes this particular day so extraordinary? What makes ones life sometimes so wonderful? What is happiness?

Short answer. Happiness is when your personal needs and passions are in balance with yourself and with meaningfull people around you. You can fulfill both basic and astral (sometimes even astronomical) needs. Fulfilling them the way it is not making others unhappy.

I have thick and stiff hair. Last couple of weeks I have battled with it and unadequate foam. Yesterday I found the right one. And life is a bit brighter and fancier and more colorfull, simply because I see it now better.

And, referring to the topic in last blog, I contacted one friend I had not heard anything for ages.

Both these are making this day "the day", from their relatively small point of participancy.

Even though I assume the friend was delighted, fulfilling the needs (=making your life happy) is a selfish project. Or maybe not a project that starts and ends but just a ropedance without a start and en end. Sometimes bending to my side, sometimes to others. And all the time the rope is my life and the dancer is me.

I am so happy of that new foam!

Hit number 6. Finnish dairy brand Valio starts to sell lactose free milk in East Cost USA. They are not exporting it, the milk comes from New England farms. And is produced by Byrne Dairy. To me it is still a bit dim what exactly does Valio there do. Not produce, not sell. But still. Finnish designed milk in East Coast USA. How very convenient!

PS the post was a draft over a week. Friday night I got a call from my mother asking me to go with her to see my grandmother. Who was being very happy, in her very own words, but was not being alive for too long.

Right now life is somehow grey.

Missing

2009-09-09T07:39:00.000-07:00

The logic of the world remains the same. Be it a cobweb or internet; same logic.

Another fact is that there is not such a thing than mind-reading. Simply because the thoughs and ideas in our mind are not in any reasonable shape. Untill we print them out literally or mutually.

I understand that it can be coincidence if you mention a thing in a blog and next day that thing is concrete need or topic.

But it seems I should start every blog with "Did I just mention" and then repeat what was mentioned in earlier blog. Because those mentioned topics feels to be bugging me right after underestimated in earlier blog.

The logic of life. When the feeling in my mind takes a literel form in this blog, it changes to something concrete or need or topic.

Did I mention I do not miss anything right now? Because right after that I found many friends I miss so badly and would love to see. Coincidence? I don't think so.

Exceptions

2009-09-07T12:39:00.000-07:00

Did I just mention the raincoats? Since summer is still so close I took the first rainy day as an exception. It was not. Definitely not. Since then it has rained the whole week.

Yesterday I had 2 boys visiting my 2 boys. You can imagine there were noise and sound. At afternoon I packed them, the girl and the youngest with sugary and hot beverages to have a picnic with my dearest friend.

It was raining. Boys were running in an empty park. She and I were sitting and talking and drinking coffee. At the moment I just sat still. Looked at her. And thought how very delightful it is to have such a good friend around. I enjoyed the moment so much.

Enjoying the life is not exceptional to me. I normally do. A lot. Therefore this Boston fever is something very... mentally irritating.

I told my friend I was in love but knowing me so well she guessed what was coming. 'Where did you two meet actually' she asked. Such a clever question. She knows I use to stay at Michigan area. So where did I meet Boston.... 'Well, in Boston. I visited it couple of times when staying in Cape Cod', I answered.

But more than just a clever question it uncovered the foolishness of sudden passions. Or foolishness of calling 'love' the feeling to an entity you hardly know. Maybe it is not love. Just obsession. Or mental irritation.

As we sat in the wet park, cats and dogs raining, soaked boys competiting, I realised being surrounded a lot of precious things in my life. To be honest: I don't miss anything. I have pretty much all there right now. And yet the Boston remains.

Today I visited the library. The miracle of Boston books did not happen again. Nothing of the kind in the whole shelf. How come it is so hard to find a good book which is about family life, including kids and concerning everyday pleasures. There are many blogs though. The difference is blogs do not have the great story behind, conspiracy is rather random. But neither do all books! There are meters and meters of irrelevant and impressionist books about art and life and artist's life. But about family life, no. And why is that? Family life is not appreciated. It is not very highly ranked in Pulitzers list of valuable topics. There are murders. Passion. Obsession. Being poor and then rich. Thieves. Explorers. But NOT simple small plesures of family life. Such as drinking coffee in the wet park with your dear friend. That topic do not arise the emotions, they say. It does not bring anything new about human being. And stories of being alcoholic does...

Being curious I looked the countries that entry to this blog. Exploring those I ended to this blog http://booksncoffee.blogspot.com/ . Literary and coffee... in Boston. Hint number 5 s'il vous plait!

Wilderness hits

2009-09-03T11:51:00.000-07:00

What does blogging people do, other than randomly experience their lives through bloggers eyes?

When I used to blog daily, I noticed after a week that whatever happened I automatically fluoroscoped it in order to be blogged later. That is the hook of blogging. You are not only living but you are also re-living the same situations when they take verbal or pictural form in your blog.

Therefore I avoid daily bloggings. Instead I have many blogs for different uses. One for politics. One for Boston. One for fiction practices. In real life they are all mixed together and called 'life'.

Today it seems other bloggers concentrate on Kammakarlo. And rain clothes. Very wise. This morning our family was supposed to sit behind our desks (excluding youngest who is still only playing, not studying neither working) at eight o'clock. It was a rainy morning, first in a row for this autumn, and 7.40 everybody was after their rain clothes.

Since we have 4 kids, we have purchased rain clothes one for every size. They are very normal, like sold-in-every-supermarket. And were they somewhere available? Of course not. And would they have been, how last season are deep green or dark blue rain clothes. Kammakarlo is much more fancier. And funnily not even more expensive. Danish origin children clothes via internet turn out to be again and again cheaper than sold-in-every-supermarket.

Should I invest for trendy rain clothes to whole family? No. I save that money. Boston is our goal and no gain if no pain. Pain meaning in this case dark blue coats instead of light blue.

This was not the hit number 4.

Hit number 4 was yesterday. In public news, prime time evening, there were a long story about Mikko Nissinen. One Finnish ballet dancer. And where does he dance? In Boston Ballet! As an artistic director.

-Darling! Did you here?
He, laying in a sofa and reading news (I cannot say "newspaper" because nowadays news are more and more in mobile-connection form), glanced at me not responding.
-She said Boston in the radio! There is a ballet dancer in Boston!
-Oh really? No! You must be kidding!
Continueing after awhile
-But you don't even like ballet?

That is true. I have tried to understand it. But no. Opera and ballet are unexplored wilderness to me. Check out in youtube the very original version of Stravinskys Le Sacre du printemps. Which was the turning point to classical ballet I have been told. I simply do not understand it.

This blog was not supposed to be updated daily. For the reasons I explained earlier. But isn't it funny that when you are, for some reason (in my case as unexplored reason as an opera), sensitive or aware of something, you keep smashing in to the thing, person, taste, trend or word again and again.

I btw passed the modern management test I mentioned in last blog. I was waiting for the opposite result. And now I have a very strong feeling that this brings me closer to my great love. Be the path as unexplored as ... a foggy valley at Sunday morning before the sun rises.

Yours. With love.

2009-09-01T22:11:00.000-07:00

With a bos bos here
and a ton ton there
here a bos, there a ton
everywhere a boston.

That is the theme of past weeks. This is so funny! Not that I would not like it, no, I love it! Such a nice colors adding to my life. One day I found myself at the pages of L L Bean. And suddenly I imagined my family setting up a camp deep in the forest or up on the hill. Never done that so far... but when the youngest gets older than 2 years, we will overnight in a tent and cook the food in a bonfire.

First hit: I started to read (after finnishing the test of modern management) something funny, nice yet interesting. World according to Garp. It is not my favorite John Irving, A prayer to Owen Meany is. But Garp is passable. And how does it start: Jenny Fields was born in Boston.

I did not took the book with fully purpose neither fully accidently. The book certainly has the very special mixture of autumn, leaves, boarding school and new England that I like very much. For no reason; my experience from Boston is limited only to summertime.

And this "no reason" is also a funny part. I have weird sense of humor. That is because the humor genes went to my siblings specially the youngest sister. So I was forced to build up my sense of humor of my own and of course it came out weird.

Lately when we have been seeing our friends and discussed sophisticatedly about recession, EU aid for that, caffeine causing dysrythmia and roses with best smell added with long lasting colors. The normal early-adulthood topics so to say. In the middle of that talk I have announced to my friends that I am in love. In looove.

-What!
-Excuse me?
-I am in love. Or crush, however you like it.

Carefully they check the face of my husband.

-But when? How? Why? You two seem happy together!
-No no. I still worship my husband. But I am in love with Boston.
-Boston!

Very fast thinking where exactly Boston sits in the large map of USA. Chicago Barack Obama, LA bridge, Texas oil, Minnesota NHL, Boston where-is-boston.

-Yes. Boston! Pure love, no reasoning. I can't help it! This is so ridiculous! I don't know where it came.(Pretended sobbing). Suddenly I found this enthusiasm and nothing helps. Boston is in my thoughts if not every minute at least every hour. Now I only think how to get closer to Boston. How to get a sight of Boston. How to smell Boston. (To this smell -bit I return later).
-Uhhum... in...te...rest...ing... uhh ... cough cough
-So we have decided to...
-Move to Boston? (Question aimed to my husband)
-To go there for couple of weeks next summer. We rent a house, wanna join?

And then my friends sight with a relief. Ok, money it was. We just want to share the cost of the holiday somewhere very far Barack Obama - NHL - Boston.

But of course it is not money. It is something so complicated I hardly can analyze it to myself. Absolutely absurd to try to verbalize it.

Second hit: Edward Kennedy and the death of his. Btw, why in some cases Victoria becomes Vicky and some other cases Vicki?

Last hit: yesterday I was in library with all my 4 kids. My beloved husband got a sudden urge to take a evening walk in Paris. So he flow to Paris returning today. I was alone and passing some time away.

Checked Irving shelf, no Owen Meany. Checked English fiction shelf. And right to my hands dropped Jane Green "Life swap". (Does swap have other meaning than financial?). Back-cover says: "Amber Winslow has got the kids, the hubby, the suburban home in Connecticut, USA - and the feeling that somehow life is passing her by". Well, Connecticut is not exactly Massachusetts. From fennoscandinavian view it is. So very same.

Life passing her by? Living in Conn., USA. What!

I know carpe diem. I am pragmatic enough to carpe any diem. There is no diem so small that could not be carpe-ed! Are you returning from library with tired kids? Listen to that soft-music cd you just borough. In the car. Before anybody leaves. Lights shut. Everybody quiet. Add an order to close their eyes. A diem! Or have you boring bread-and-cocoa for evening tea? Add some candles and you have a fantastic diem!

I don't exactly therefore think life is passing me by. Not at all. And still. Why do I wish to be somewhere else? Though, must be added, with my family.

I analyzed Amber Winslow. Her problem is that her background is something and her life is something else. They don't match. And she is not adjusted to that mismatch.

My background was the same boring middle-class than my life is now. No short skirts. No shrink t-shirts. No bright colors. No bling-bling. No rock music ecstacy but classical music catharsis.

So what would match better to this picture than Boston? Nothing!

Life. I really am curious!

Blueberrish season

2009-08-07T03:58:00.000-07:00

Pringle. Pringle is the ultimatum golfbrand. Born in deepest windiest Scotland and including nothing but very warm sheep wool.

I accidently visited Pringle shop last summer is Scotland. We were out of gasoline. UK highways do not announce gasoline stations at any way; you really have to look for them. We searched many small towns, in vain. I was getting very desperate (not showing it to my 3 very excited kids also on board), and took one ramp off even it had no signs of major town nor gasoline station. The little road wound between sheepfarms. And suddenly, still without any signs, there were a BIG tourist attraction. Modern cafeterias, loos with wall-to-wall carpet (if that is modern...), nice restaurants and brand shops. I bought very big home-made cookies and juice to my kids and visited those shops while they ate the cookies outside in big calm agora. And when they started to romp my quality shopping time was over. And had therefore no time to purchase Pringles. It is an expensive brand and decisions to buy one in the heat of July was not that fast to make!

I did purchase one cardigan in the color of blueberry. It was so handy to use when went to pick up blueberries earlier this week. With my son, also wearing blueberry - colored knitwear.

But Pringle. To keep things short: we are a upper-middle -class as economical status here. And still it means that after mortgage, insurances (yes, we pay insurances AND have high taxes. The taxes should be shielding from all harms life could bring to us... since my society is told to be one of the most welfare societies in the world. Well, maybe it is, still we pay a lot for insurances!), food, kindergarten fee, car costs, I have ca 100 euros per month to spent for sports, pleasure and clothes. That is not too much! That is actually so little I am a mass user of flea markets. Earlier this spring I found eBay. Lovely easy-to-use ebay! And suddenly I had acces all the brand I earlier only dreamed about. Brands like Pringle.

And yes. Now I have Pringle of my own. Only waiting for time to play golf.

The very first.

2009-08-04T01:05:00.000-07:00

Summer starts when Martha Stewart announces the first tips for fathers day / holiday / beach day / visiting friends -day (or week, hopefully not month).

Father's day is a very special day. When I spent the summers in USA I was supposed to celebrate my father who was down here. I picked up the Happy Father -card when everybody else did. Which automatically ment it could not reach my father by the time. So I was allowed to make a short long-distance call.

And I did wonder what I was suppose to do in first Sunday of November when we have official fathers day here in Finland. Though fathers are worth of celebrating twice or three times per year, no doubt of that!

But I do doubt that difference between June Fathers day and November Fathers day is characteristic. We also have our Independence Day in 6th of December; absolutely no picnics or fun parades.We have a big fun day in first of May (as having rather socialistic history in my country... and let me pronounce emphatically the word history!).

It only happens that First of Mays are so often so cold we still have to wear winter jackets. No kidding! And have we Sunday school picnics in end of May. If only the end of Mays would not be so cold also! This year I was taking a high risk and wearing capris in that picnic. 'You must be extremely cold' said the other ladies in companion. Pronouncing the "cold" so that it sounded like "fool".'Attitude sisters attitude!' was my answer. And capris they were. And Pringle cardigan. But the cardigan is a different story.

Read me.

2009-08-03T01:32:00.000-07:00

About 4 weeks I heard a lovely piece of Bach piano music. I did not know quite exactly what it was. But I knew close enough. Either French suite or English suite. Right upstairs to youtube. I took the list of those suites and started to search the right one. My son researched my doing and mentioned was I really going to succeed. I was.

Except so many good melodies came by. I found the right one; English suite BWM 807 first part. At least I think it was the same. And anyway it is good enough.
Good enough for what?

This particular suite illuminated to me the destiny of my life. Nothing less. Nothing more diminutive, futile or humble. The destiny itself. That is having a Bed and Breakfast in Cape Cod area. Read the word "area" with its widest sentences.

I found two paths to this destination. 1. Make big money. 2. Try to get to Boston area.

I tried the first one. It collapsed: we urgently need to buy two more bicycles before school starts. No savings, be the stock markets as low as they tempting are.

Hence path 2. Longer way it is, I assume. And this blog is the report of this journey.

Therefore being as light as life itself. And as light as life's clearest destiny can possibly be.