For weekend reading this Saturday, I thought I would take you on a nostalgic tour around the yard and garden of my childhood home. I visited there last week for my dear dad’s 90th birthday.
The first thing I saw from my bedroom window waking up in the morning was the vibrant apple garden. The red “cinnamon” apples were hanging in huge clusters. They were not quite ready to be picked as yet. But the yellow-white apples were ready and so sweet!
I ate dozens of them for snack and for dessert. Could not get enough!
I loved just walking around the big yard and observing the activities going on. Like the mini-garden where my dad was growing vegetables and berries.
We had fresh lettuce for salad at every meal. Just to step out, pick and rinse!
The strawberries and blueberries had already come and gone, but there were still a few raspberries to pick for dessert. And my dad proudly presented a new type of berry, buckthorn, that apparently is very good for you. He eats them every day in his “berry mix”, is very healthy at 90, so I am inclined to trust the evidence.
Lots of other activity was also apparent in the yard, like my dad’s wood chopping endevour…lots of firewood to heat up the sauna and to provide cozy warmth to his large country kitchen from the wood burning stove in the winter. He has preserved the stove and uses it for his cooking more than the electric one.
My dad has always loved our forest and had started a new hobby. He had collected natural “wood art” and put it on display on one side of the sauna building. Please meet the couple, “Adam and Eve” (inset) and other art works that are part of his large exhibition of various artistic wood formations.
And of course there were hints of fishing activity. The old table where we used to clean the fish still stood next to the sauna building. Like it has always done as long as I can remember.
And the red boat was there too, now full of leaves that were blowing down from the birch and other trees.
However, my main attraction back home is always the lake itself. It is so peaceful and beautiful when it rains..
…and when it shines. When I was a kid, we used to swim in it when the water reached about 50 degrees F. Now I prefer much higher temperatures 🙂
Mid September still carried some fading feel of summer, but the signs of fall were clearly already there. It was a lovely visit back to my family, my childhood and back to the nature.
Hope you enjoyed the tour around the house. Have a great weekend everyone. – Tiny
TINY LESSONS BLOG 
A beautiful visit. Bet it was hard to leave.
Hmmm… that’s a place I’d like to be 🙂
It truly was. I wish I could be there much more, but still have so many “commitments” here. Being there is so good for the soul 🙂
tks for taking us to a beautiful trip
I’m happy you enjoyed it Paolo!
Wonderful tiny! Your father is 90 and still gardens and chops wood? I want his secret! Good for him. If I lived on that lake I think I would love to live forever. 🙂
🙂 he is a true old-fashioned (in a good sense) “iron man”. He does all that and more, including shops & cooks for himself. Last winter he told me he’d been up on the roof of his 2-story home cleaning out the snow…when I asked him to promise not to do it this coming winter, he smiled and said “I won’t if it doesn’t become necessary”. Hmm.
Ah he is a good man. With the ability to skirt the issue. haha! 🙂
I guess he didn’t want to give me a word he may not keep…nice skirting!
I enjoyed the virtual visit, and can just imagine how much more you enjoyed it in the flesh.
I’m happy you enjoyed the visit, albeit through virtual means!
Thank you for sharing the now and the then: extremely well written and complemented by the photos.
Thanks for your kind words Beeseeker. Glad you enjoyed it.
How beautiful – made me a bit homesick for a place I haven’t lived in many years 🙂
Oh, that was so lovely. I could have stayed another week 🙂 !! Your father is wonderful to be active and able still. Must be the buckthorns! Apparently they are a superfood but I don’t think we grow them here. Does your father stay by the lake all year round?
Thanks! Yes this is his permanent home, he built the 2-story house himself when I really was “tiny”. We have a picture of me and my sister there where I am about 4 and she is about 12 months 🙂
So his/your home is a very special home-made home. I like that he has lived there for most of his life. In New Zealand, people seem to like to change their homes every few years. There seems to be little interest in growing up, and old, with your house.
He wouldn’t move for anything! He was a building contractor and active well into his late 70’s building summer houses etc. so he has just made improvements over time. It’s probably one of the best isolated houses around and well maintained 🙂 You are right, very few in the younger generation will put down roots in a home in that way.
Oh I like his spirit; I really do.
🙂
Very Nice.
Glad you liked it.
Oh, I truly did enjoy the tour. What a wonderful and beautiful place to live and grow up. You took some terrific pictures and thank you so much for sharing. I see so few places like that any more and I love and miss them. Hugs
Happy you liked my little “tour”. Yes, it was a very beautiful place to grow up in and nowadays I enjoy every visit.
The canoe/boat sitting there abandoned with the leaves surrounding it…picture perfect.
Thanks Laurie. Apparently my dad cleaned it up before he went fishing just after I took the picture.
Dear Tiny!
Oh I must have missed your visit to Finland! I’ve been away for a while but I did think of you and remembered vaguely you had a trip coming up in autumn. I’m so glad to know that you had a marvellous time! Your Dad’s home looks lovely and what a setting! It surely must be good for the soul to live and eat from the good earth. Beautiful. Sharon p.s. Do keep me posted next time you’re in town because I remember telling you about coffee and pulla 😀
I thought of you too 🙂 but hadn’t heard anything for a while and had checked your blog so I thought you might be away…my aunt and cousins live in Helsinki, but since almost everyone came for the big birthday, I only visited the airport. Lots of hugs until next time !
Kahvi ja pulla 😀
We got a lot of Kahvi and pulla! And also a lot of kakku! It was a lovely visit, lots of new memories.
As always, beautiful pictures…and a lovely visit for us to see a window into your world. What a blessing to live and swim by a lake…I agree with the above statement, your photo is a perfect setting. Thanks for sharing and what a great life for your dad of 90 years! ~Marie
Thanks Marie! I now plan for my next visit – some time in the vicinity of my dad’s 91st birthday early fall.
Pleasant surroundings nurture…extremely pleasant folks…like yourself. hugs…
Thank you! Made my day, and now I have to try to live up to that high standard 😉