Day 28: Gluten-free, Dairy-free Cookies That Your Daughter Will Loove.

2 3/4 cups quality gluten-free flour mix
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp xanthan gum (I finally found it, sitting right there, in the shelf next to the baking soda!!!)
1 cup dairy-free margarine, softened
1 cup sugar (yes, I know, but it's sugar cookies, after all!)
1/4 cup mashed banana (or apple sauce, if preferred)
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 375 Fahrenheit, (190 Celsius). In a small bowl, stir together flour, xanthan gum, and baking powder. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and sugar until smooth. Stir in banana and vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls, and place onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 8-10 minutes.

[adapted from here, the non-dairy-free, non-gluten-free version. :)]

(And now I'm back to the couch to rest.)

Day 27: Moody.

Isn't it funny how the forest always reflects your mood somehow, no matter what it is?

Fall is here and so is the flu. It brought headaches and fever... we're on the couch, with a thick blanket, watching TV, taking it easy. Kind of nice. :) I'm getting my craft materials out... and the camera will be in the closet for the next few days. See you soon!

August 26: Sisters.

"Mama, I had a dream this night where I went for a walk with Sisie, just me and her. I pushed her in her pram, and I took her to the playground and to the swings. Then she cried and I held her in my arms and she was very happy again. It was a nice dream."

Day 25: Dream.

It has been raining, softly. The sky changes from a light gray to an almost white to a moody indigo blue. Kind of beautiful, actually.

I can almost see it, me living here, with our big family (4 kids?!), somewhere in the woods, by a lake, maybe... in one of those old, yellow wooden houses that they have here. The weather is an eternal fall. We wear mittens and woolly hats and scarves... play in our unkempt, overgrown garden, run about and splash in puddles, as they do in movies, and laugh a lot, too.

... kids room...
... more kids rooms...

Day 24: First Day

I thought I was going to have to entrust her little soul into strangers' hands, but when we got to her kerho this morning, I realized I already know one of her teachers (I love those twists of fate). (Fé and her son used to play on the playground together, when we still lived in our old home... they were but babies then... it feels like an eternity ago.)

When I went to pick the Miss up, she didn't even want to leave... sigh, when did she become so independent (of me)?

Day 23: Flapping Birds

It's raining... so we are making lots of colorful origami birds (with the lovely paper I won over on little.lovely ... thank you!). A bird mobile for Sisie... flap flap... but it really is for all of us. 

PS I can't wait for her new exhibition! Entry deadline is August 30th.
PPS Mika's etsy shop is open now. More to come. :)

Day 21: Stonehenge

"Hello, children" the big pebble says. "Hello, Mrs. Tikka" the small ones say. "Hello, I'm Fee, I have a little sister, she is really cute, and I have a mother with looong hair and a father with short hair. I speak Finnish and German, and even some English," one of the medium-sized pebbles shouts, before giving the teacher a rendition of all the songs she knows in English (which is Happy Birthday and The Itsy-bitsy Spider, sort-of). Then the pebble stops suddenly because she is bitten by a crocodile. "Anteeksi, Entschuldigung, sorry, but I really must go catch my boat now." And off she limps. The other stones erupt into laughter. And on and on it goes, under the stormy fall sky.

Hm, fall is kind of beautiful.

Day 20: A Bunch of Wild Flowers

... the wind is blowing colder, the wild flowers on the field are drying up... Fé is starting kerho (playschool) next week. Fall, fall is here! ( And some excitement, too, I must admit, about new starts, better tries, a new space.)

Day 19: sneak peek

slowly but surely... the loft conversion.

Days 16-17 (retrospectively)

I took only four pictures in Sweden. These are it. The second one, that's Fé doing what she likes best. Picking ice-cream (sorbet, actually, in her case, but we don't tell her... ).

The last one, that's the guard who guards the royal castle. It's a woman. Go Sweden! (Their public restrooms are unisex, just FYI).

Anyway, I've been avoiding everything I have to do and done only those things I want to do... and now life is catching up with me... too many things left undone... it's back to business. Fall, fall (that meanness) is creeping its way into my life.

Day 18.

Just dropping in quickly to tell that we are back from a spontaneous mini vacation to Sweden. Thank you all for your sweet comments on the last post, reading them today made me smile. :)

I wish I could make every one of you a heart-shaped sandwich.

Day 14: Little Red Riding Hood (with A Magician's Hat).

Role-play fun in the woods with the family.

In our version of Rotkäppchen (why does English need four words to translate this?), the girl and the wolf are the best of friends. Grandma doesn't get eaten. And the mother is sneaky and eats the entire cake herself. (He's really rather tame, the wolf. He said to me, yesterday, that he must love me a lot, as is evidenced by the fact that he runs around the woods wearing a tunic from Mecca and a mask.) Thank You Mr. Wolf.

These awesome leather masks were made by this talented young man. Aren't they fabulous? His etsy shop is opening soon. :)