The cottage is red. The side paneling looks like well-painted wood until I discover it’s metal, imitating wood – and actually covering old wood, painted the same warm red. In this sea washed and windswept coastal area, wood probably wouldn’t last long with the damp air and wind blowing from Saaristomeri, the sea between Finland and Sweden. The little red cottage is located in the Åland Archipelago, the island of Kökar, the Southernmost community of Finland, two hours South East of the Åland Islands. My friend, Eija, paints here every summer, and finally, I have made it to her secret hideout.
I drove from Jyväskylä to Helsinki on Thursday night with a new UC Berkeley friend, David I had met in a conference. We had a nice four-hour drive, refreshed by a plunge into the Hartola River about half way down. In Helsinki, Eija and I packed her painting canvases, brushes, etc. in the car, took a sauna and left at 1:30 AM. To get to Kökar, we had to drive about 150 km and take three ferries between islands. Our third ferry left at 6:30 AM, and by 9 AM, we arrived at the cottage. The keys were hanging in the door, and Eija had decorated the house with white lilacs and apple blossoms before her departure to Helsinki two days prior. The sun lit the simple cottage brilliantly. Eija showed me around: the large main room, her bedroom, my bedroom, the outhouse behind the lush purple lilac bushes in full bloom, the piped faucet to get fresh water, and the sauna by the sea, about half a kilometer down the dirt road. Gorgeous! Absolutely! – And Eija has rented this charmingly run-down paradise for 400 euros for the entire month of June.
With fresh coffee in our mugs, we sat outside in the sunshine. Later, I heard a cuckoo bird and counted . . . it kept cuckooing . . . thirty three times. According to the Finnish tradition, that equals the years one has left. I’d be quite happy with thirty-three more! Later, we feasted on local smoked flounder.
The island belongs to Ahvenanmaa or Åland, an island province consisting of 6500 islands and - what some call – the most gorgeous archipelago in the world. Ahvenanmaa is an autonomous, demilitarized, administrative Province, both Finland and Sweden historically tried to make part of their respective countries. The decision by the League of Nations in 1921 joined Ahvenanmaa to Finland. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%85land)
The whole island is monolingually Swedish speaking, so you greet every passer-by with a smile, wave of you hand, and a cheery Hej! with a melodic Swedish intonation. The storekeeper can manage accented Finnish if a customer can’t do Swedish, but the natural first choice is always Swedish - so I am trying my best. Our jovial landlord and his friendly wife got our rusty tongues moving ‘på svenska’. We have rented bikes and every day, we leave on an adventure. Yesterday, we rode our bikes to the island church, built in 1784, decorated with miniature votive sailboats, typical in a coastal village, hanging from the ceiling. Sailors in danger would make a promise to God and later fulfill it by building a replica of their ship and donating it to the church. Next to the church, there’s a museum dedicated to the Franciscan friars who arrived on the island in the 15th century. Long before that, about 1000 BC seal hunters had settled on the island. There’s also a cemetery with old – and some new gravestones. Maybe some of the new ones belong to the last two fishermen who died last year. Now, there are no commercial fishermen on the island as young people are not interested in the harsh island life but leave for the mainland for study and work. We also visited the campground and stopped by at the beautiful new, refreshingly styled hotel and restaurant bar for a glass of cold cider.
Our evening adventure, after a sauna and swim in the very refreshing sea, included an adventure to the volunteer fire department hall where a dance took place. Two villagers were performing. We rode our bikes in our nice shoes and skirts to find just about a handful of older people sitting around. We decided not to get the 15-euro-tickets, but rode our bikes back, stopping to greet the three white cows Eija is trying to befriend. Hoping to paint them she believes daily friendly words can calm the suspicious animals down to lie still as future models. – We later found out that the dance had been a huge success with over 100 people partying by midnight. -
Sunday, we arrived at the hotel at 2 PM to splurge on lunch – and to use the wireless Internet. Sitting by the water, outside, we ate fish and chips. The fish was sea-perch, caught by the still-living fishermen, residing on the next island west, Foglö. The young chef, taking a break, entertained us with tales of the archipelago. He had moved here with his wife permanently a year ago. Enjoying the island paradise rest of the year, they escape to Southern France to taste wine or to Northern Finland to ski in the cold, damp winters. Sounds like a life!
Eija painted an island watercolor scene of sea grass, framed by boathouses and cottages while I answered email. Later, we took a walk to smell and photograph lilacs, wild roses, mountain ashes, and many nameless wild flowers in the small grassy meadows and around rocks and cliffs. First time, the wind swept the yard with such force that we had dinner inside the cottage. Then - music and a cup of cardamom tea in candlelight . . . sent us to Höyhensaari (the island of feathers = land of the sleepy) after even the sun had finally decided to go to bed.
On Monday night, our colleague, Heidi, arrived and we set to work on our web-based Finnish literature course. The weather had turned cloudy and damp, enabling us to stay in the cottage to work. On our lunch break we drove to the island museum to explore how Kökar people used to live. We also found a farm where the young off-spring was selling farm products in a barn, turned store: apple-gooseberry cider, hot apple salsa, hand-knit gloves and jelled apple, juniper, and mountain ash preserve. With big bags full of goodies we returned to our modern project.
(http://aplagarden.net/gardsbutiken.php)I drove from Jyväskylä to Helsinki on Thursday night with a new UC Berkeley friend, David I had met in a conference. We had a nice four-hour drive, refreshed by a plunge into the Hartola River about half way down. In Helsinki, Eija and I packed her painting canvases, brushes, etc. in the car, took a sauna and left at 1:30 AM. To get to Kökar, we had to drive about 150 km and take three ferries between islands. Our third ferry left at 6:30 AM, and by 9 AM, we arrived at the cottage. The keys were hanging in the door, and Eija had decorated the house with white lilacs and apple blossoms before her departure to Helsinki two days prior. The sun lit the simple cottage brilliantly. Eija showed me around: the large main room, her bedroom, my bedroom, the outhouse behind the lush purple lilac bushes in full bloom, the piped faucet to get fresh water, and the sauna by the sea, about half a kilometer down the dirt road. Gorgeous! Absolutely! – And Eija has rented this charmingly run-down paradise for 400 euros for the entire month of June.
With fresh coffee in our mugs, we sat outside in the sunshine. Later, I heard a cuckoo bird and counted . . . it kept cuckooing . . . thirty three times. According to the Finnish tradition, that equals the years one has left. I’d be quite happy with thirty-three more! Later, we feasted on local smoked flounder.
The island belongs to Ahvenanmaa or Åland, an island province consisting of 6500 islands and - what some call – the most gorgeous archipelago in the world. Ahvenanmaa is an autonomous, demilitarized, administrative Province, both Finland and Sweden historically tried to make part of their respective countries. The decision by the League of Nations in 1921 joined Ahvenanmaa to Finland. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%85land)
The whole island is monolingually Swedish speaking, so you greet every passer-by with a smile, wave of you hand, and a cheery Hej! with a melodic Swedish intonation. The storekeeper can manage accented Finnish if a customer can’t do Swedish, but the natural first choice is always Swedish - so I am trying my best. Our jovial landlord and his friendly wife got our rusty tongues moving ‘på svenska’. We have rented bikes and every day, we leave on an adventure. Yesterday, we rode our bikes to the island church, built in 1784, decorated with miniature votive sailboats, typical in a coastal village, hanging from the ceiling. Sailors in danger would make a promise to God and later fulfill it by building a replica of their ship and donating it to the church. Next to the church, there’s a museum dedicated to the Franciscan friars who arrived on the island in the 15th century. Long before that, about 1000 BC seal hunters had settled on the island. There’s also a cemetery with old – and some new gravestones. Maybe some of the new ones belong to the last two fishermen who died last year. Now, there are no commercial fishermen on the island as young people are not interested in the harsh island life but leave for the mainland for study and work. We also visited the campground and stopped by at the beautiful new, refreshingly styled hotel and restaurant bar for a glass of cold cider.
Our evening adventure, after a sauna and swim in the very refreshing sea, included an adventure to the volunteer fire department hall where a dance took place. Two villagers were performing. We rode our bikes in our nice shoes and skirts to find just about a handful of older people sitting around. We decided not to get the 15-euro-tickets, but rode our bikes back, stopping to greet the three white cows Eija is trying to befriend. Hoping to paint them she believes daily friendly words can calm the suspicious animals down to lie still as future models. – We later found out that the dance had been a huge success with over 100 people partying by midnight. -
Sunday, we arrived at the hotel at 2 PM to splurge on lunch – and to use the wireless Internet. Sitting by the water, outside, we ate fish and chips. The fish was sea-perch, caught by the still-living fishermen, residing on the next island west, Foglö. The young chef, taking a break, entertained us with tales of the archipelago. He had moved here with his wife permanently a year ago. Enjoying the island paradise rest of the year, they escape to Southern France to taste wine or to Northern Finland to ski in the cold, damp winters. Sounds like a life!
Eija painted an island watercolor scene of sea grass, framed by boathouses and cottages while I answered email. Later, we took a walk to smell and photograph lilacs, wild roses, mountain ashes, and many nameless wild flowers in the small grassy meadows and around rocks and cliffs. First time, the wind swept the yard with such force that we had dinner inside the cottage. Then - music and a cup of cardamom tea in candlelight . . . sent us to Höyhensaari (the island of feathers = land of the sleepy) after even the sun had finally decided to go to bed.
On Monday night, our colleague, Heidi, arrived and we set to work on our web-based Finnish literature course. The weather had turned cloudy and damp, enabling us to stay in the cottage to work. On our lunch break we drove to the island museum to explore how Kökar people used to live. We also found a farm where the young off-spring was selling farm products in a barn, turned store: apple-gooseberry cider, hot apple salsa, hand-knit gloves and jelled apple, juniper, and mountain ash preserve. With big bags full of goodies we returned to our modern project.
On Tuesday night, we had an excellent dinner in the hotel/restaurant, Brudhäll (http://www.visitaland.com/en/brudhall). We ate sea perch, new potatoes and wild strawberry Brule with champagne mousse. The view was ethereal with low clouds and the sun peeking through. On the terrace, while shooting photos, an elderly gentleman in pink pants approached me. He struck a conversation with me. Turned out he was a Virginian, sailing the area for the third summer with his pals. He was surprised at the young wait staff’s interest in the US politics. He proudly announced he would be voting for McCain, naturally, pointing to his grey head. I quickly announced my Berkeley roots and Obama affection, and we bid polite farewell.
Wednesday night, Eija, the lucky temporary islander, saw us off, and we took the 6:30 PM ferry away from the paradise found. It’s a far away hiding place. We arrived in Jyväskylä at 3 AM. tired but happy.
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