Mökki, Muumi & Mustikka

Mökki, Muumi and Mustikka are three words that you have to know in Finland. Lily made sure I knew what they are.

My first lesson was Mökki.
Mökki means hmmm...cottage I guess is the best word. Many families in Finland have a mökki where they like to spend holidays and weekends. Lily's friends Arto, Magda and Filip invited me, Lily and Lily's family to spend a weekend at Arto's family mökki near Kuusamo. 86% of Finland is covered in forest so we spent a lot of the drive there admiring the beautiful autumn colours.

There are also 187,888 lakes in Finland so many mökkis are next to lakes. It is very relaxing to sit an listen to the water and I have been told it is fun to jump in the lake after being in the sauna but I didn't try.

While we were out looking for mushrooms we came across a herd of reindeer.

Lesson two: Muumi.

...or the Moomins as they are known in English. Muumi are from a series of books by Tove Janssen . Muumi are strange white creatures who live in a fantasy world. You can get Muumi everything here; Muumi bags, Muumi pencils, Muumi mugs, Muumi toys, Muumi everything. The stories have also been made into and anime cartoon series.

The third 'M' lesson is Mustikka. I already said 86% of the Finland is covered in forest and most of that forest floor is covered in Mustukka or they are also known as blueberries. Blueberries are so fantastic though that the need a post for themselves.

Coming Soon: Blueberries

This is Oulu

Here is a funny little tour of Oulu looking it's worst.

Up in the Hills

This is Linus, Jaana and Anatol. They are friends of 3D Lily from Oulu but I got to visit them when they were on holiday at their grandparents' home in Austria. They were staying in Passail which a small village in the east of Austria close by to the the city Graz.

I went with the children and their parents to see their friend and her family who live in a very idyllic old farmhouse in the mountains outside the village of Passail. 



 

From there we went even further up the mountain, until we arrived at the lake Teichalmsee, a nice place to rent a pedal boat in summer or to ice skate in winter. Actually, 3D Lily herself was there just a few months earlier! But then it was winter and Lily, Linus, Janna, Ernest and their parents were skidding and sliding over the ice-covered lake.  


 


A few kilometers from the lake there is a zoo where you can see native wildlife, like sheep, deer, foxes, pigs etc. in an extensive forest area. A highlight for me and the kids there is the animal feeding - especially the little goats and rabbits cannot seem to ever get enough. I even dared to caress the goats a little bit.

 

I also went with pony riding with Jaana and her grandmother one day. Jaana was very proud to show me how to put on the helmet and mount the pony. I was very impressed and decided I wanted to have a go too.
 

Unfortunately, it was soon time to leave Austria, but not to worry, Linus, Janna and Anatol took me on the plane with them back to Oulu whe I get to spend some time with Real Lily!

Love from Austria

The Crinan Canal

This is where Gran and Gordo (Lily's grandparents) live. At the front of their house  is Loch Gilp and at the back of their garden is the Crinan Canal. The Crinan Canal goes right across the Mull of Kintyre from Ardrishaig (where Gran and Gordo live) to Crinan. 

 
The Canal was built over 200 years ago to save the Clyde Puffers, which carried supplies around the west coast and the islands, from taking the long trip around the Kintyre peninsular. The VIC 32 in the picture is one of the last Clyde Puffers and is moored in the Crinan basin. Crinan is a very pretty village and I enjoyed the little trip there. Gran showed me the sea lock where the boats can go from the canal to the open sea.

This animation shows how locks help the boat to rise up and go down to different levels of water.

    

 


Even though the Puffers aren't used anymore there is still a lot of traffic on the canal. Nowadays it  is mostly yachts with people taking holidays sailing around the islands. I like to wave to all the boats as they pass by Gran and Gordo's garden gate.

Paul McCartney wrote a song about the Mull of Kintyre, maybe some of the older people you know (like your grandparents) might know this song. 

 We forgot to take any pictures of me with both Gran and Gordo, so here is an old one of them with Lily.

Caledonia's been calling me, now I'm going home.

Hiking in the Southern USA!

After being in Albuquerque I stayed in the USA and dropped in on Ashley. She lives in Brevard, North Carolina. This is a small town in the Appalachian Mountains. The Appalachian Mountains are the oldest mountains in the world! These mountains go all the way from Georgia to Maine! There is a trail in the Appalachian Mountains that is over 2,000 miles long, and Ashley hiked about 500 miles of it in the Spring right before I got here. 



I really enjoyed looking at the pictures of her hike, the scenery is spectacular.

Since Ashley enjoys hiking so much she took me on a few trails near her home. Here I am walking along one of the trails we explored near Brevard!

While we hiked, Ashley showed me some interesting things in the woods! This is a plant called poison ivy, and some people are very allergic to it. I was very careful not to touch it!

We also hiked around to find different animal tracks. I saw some deer tracks!

Ashley is obviously a teacher. She taught me a lot about nature and how plants get their food while we hiked.

And, this is Looking Glass Falls. It's one of thousands of waterfalls in the area! Brevard is in Transylvania County, and Transylvania County is called "the land of the waterfalls".


It's beautiful, but water alway makes paper little me a bit nevous.

The USA has been great, such interesting people and places. I hope I can return some day it is such a big country and there is still so much to see. But for now I an going too Scotland to catch up with Lily's friends and family.