I am working from the cottage this week, surrounded by snow. There is no wi-fi but the invention of an iPhone hotspot can do wonders for work-life balance if one lets it. Everything but video conferencing works, and who needs video conferencing anyway when snuggling up behind the laptop in woollen socks and a thick homely sweater? Output quality trumps appearance and sense of style in my job.
And just because I feel like it: here is a repost of the wonderful poem “January” by John Updike.
The days are short,
The sun a spark,
Hung thin between
The dark and dark.Fat snowy footsteps
Track the floor.
Milk bottles burst
Outside the door.The river is
A frozen place
Held still beneath
The trees of lace.The sky is low.
The wind is gray.
The radiator
Purrs all day.
(Loviisa, Finland; January 2019)
That little house in the great woods is actually a sauna. Traditionally, a sauna has always been a separate building, standing apart from the main house. Possibly due to the risk of fire. Saunas used to burn down from time to time.
Rewinding back to a moment under the Nordic spring sun. The wonderful Finnish poet Edith Södergran loved cats, too, and wrote:
In mid-March it was barely above freezing, but the sun was shining and the local bistro had put out deck chairs, hoping somebody would be brave enough. I was. Naturally, hot chocolate with a shot of mint liquor and a cloud of whipped cream helped me stay warm.
Nobody knows better how to chill on a Saturday morning than a cat. Or, preferably, two.
In this charming, century-old country house there is not a room of one’s own for one person, but for three. The house belonged to my paternal grandfather, who might smile knowing that it now contains the desk and chair of my maternal grandfather. 
Three rooms, three colors, one wallpaper pattern. In the cold winter light the ambiance in each is different. Which one is your favorite?
(Loviisa, Finland; January 2018)
After seven years of listening to music from the laptop, this beauty moved in. Plays anything from pretty much anywhere. And the sound is like silk. Here’s to chill weekends.
When it’s cold outside, wrap yourself into a duvet roll like Sir Ramses, and never get out of bed.
Nothing better on a gray, dull Saturday than cupcakes and tea with my mother and sister. And some ambling around antique stores and little boutiques. It is the darkest time of year. A cupcake will always help, if just a little bit.
Lovely ones, on to quite a different topic for once: color. It is an endless source of inspiration for me, even if my home has exactly three colors: some cocoa brown, mostly shades of gray, and a touch of turquoise. And now, finally, after decades of thinking about it, I had my own colors analyzed. I always thought of myself as a True Summer, but could not quite make mint green or light blue gray work. Now I know why. My coloring is one of those tricky neutrals, on a slider from the coolest colors slightly towards warmer, but still more cool than warm.
This blue marble 