Thursday
Got up early and had breakfast. Harri and I left for Alapihlaja at 8:45AM and got there by 10.
We checked on the old family home, then walked to check on our cottage. The snow was pretty deep in spots but we got there eventually. Everything checked out OK. We stopped to check our aunt Terttu’s cottage and everything was fine there, too.
We visited our country neighbor Leena for a few minutes. Saw her new Mercedes which she won in a raffle last December. Leena was cutting some branches off a tree by her sauna building. I gave her the Braille card games she had asked me to order for her granddaughter last summer.
Harri and I were back in Lappeenranta by 1PM. We had a light lunch, then packed our bags. Harri, Mirja and I left around 2:15 to go visit Harri’s sister/my cousin Tytti (real name Tarja) in Risulahti.
We arrived there around 4PM. Tytti, husband Esko and daughter Laura were home. Their other daughter, Maria, arrived shortly after us.
Dinner, Trivial Pursuit and sauna followed. We had some cognac and chatted until after midnight.
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- Our old family homestead
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- The sauna building
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- The old barn
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- A view from the driveway
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- Snow shoveling, a popular winter activity in Finland!
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- Inside the old family home
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- Lots of pictures and mementos
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- The view from the living room window
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- The kitchen
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- Walking the snow-covered dirt road. Some snowmobile tracks made our walk a bit easier
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- Harri is on the move
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- Arriving at our cottage
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- The view from the cottage
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- Up in the loft
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- Looking down from the loft
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- Another view from the cottage
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- The front porch
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- Our outhouse and shed
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- Our grill and tree trunk stools are under there somewhere!
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- A winter view of our summer cottage
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- Looking toward the bay
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- The view from my aunt’s cottage
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- Welcome!
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- Our neighbor Leena’s new Mercedes, which she won in a raffle
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- Leena’s grill house, all snowed in
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- Pihlaja Chainsaw Massacre? Nope, just Leena after trimming a tree
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- The old King’s Highway in Pihlaja
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- On our way to Risulahti
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- Beautiful scenery
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- Arriving at cousin Tytti’s house
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- Harri chats it up with Topi, the newest addition to Tytti’s family
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- Mirja and Laura
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- Esko, Tytti, Maria and Laura
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- Laura and Harri ham it up
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- Happy Birthday Laura 🙂
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- A nice picture of Maria
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- One of the family cats
