ends of earth place

  Finland is an open plain.

 Here in East London I brush away my exotic blond hair.

As I reach down and whisper to my son in my mother tongue,

I am part of Eastern Europe. While Finnish is not Slavic, not even European,

it is from a distant, ends of earth place in the North, Finland.

  When life seems hectic in London, 

I return in my mind to the moments when these pictures were taken.

I am the only human in the landscape. Sun is setting. A blizzard is coming.

window decorations

The boys decorated our windows with a chalk pen.

just the two of us on Sunday

It is just the two of us this week.

 

We went  to listen to A Christmas Carol 

by Charles Dickens at Vestry House here in the borough.  

 

 My son joined in a snowball fight at the mall.

 We played at our friends play street.

 

He made a stick elf.

doors to brighten our mornings

Mornings are full of suspense this month with advent calendars.
My favorite is the Finnish Scouts one with pictures that ad on.
School can sometimes seem like hard work and this morning ritual makes it all better in our house.

a letter to a friend

Every year for almost 20 years I have send a letter to my friend J in the Netherlands.
Every year I am waiting for her letter to arrive and make my December.

This year I am sending another parsel to a friend, who has her birthday on Christmas.
I wanted to surprice her and bring her little Christmas joy.

a crisp December morning

I woke up this morning with blue skies and frost. 

Beautiful weather is the perfect way to start the month and my advent calendar.

What else does December have in store for me?

Walking in the Rain