Note to self

We visited Runeberg's museum in Porvoo today. There was a dark separate room for dishes that had a window to the room next to it. A great idea, we have a little room under the stairs and a window from there to kitchen would look nice and give some light to the storage room.

A day as a tourist

We had a great day! First we toured Porvoo's fleamarkets, cafes and the little chocolate factory (guess if we bought anything...). After that we visited Malmgård estate (link...), got a tour by the current owner count Creutz and afterwards shopped in the estate's foodie heaven. We bought flours, pasta, rice made from spelt grains and beer.

I love shopping (in flea markets)

This was a great summer vacation day! We visited Hämeenlinna and bought a lot of stuff for the shop museum. Here are some of the items: hair water, leather paints, coffee tins etc. I love the 50's chair as I need one when I keep the shop and museum open - I don't want to stand the whole day and it is nicer to sit in a chair from the right era :)

In addition to the finds above, we are especially glad that we found an old shop coffee grinder from the 50's/early 60's (photo follows on a later day). I found it when I browsed tori.fi in the car when driving to Hämeenlinna.

In addition to visiting several flea markets, we also visited an adorable shop museum in Janakkala; the Hyvikkälän kauppamuseo. We strongly recommend for you to visit there too! Here is the link to their Facebook page, link.

Ladies (and gentlemen) who lunch

I just love our local cafe in Loviisa, Vaherkylä-Ek. We had a delicious lunch there today.

Just go!

We went to Mustila Arboretum today. It was raining in the morning but after visiting my parents in Vääksy we drove back to Elimäki and the weather was perfect for a walk in the woods. If you like woodland gardens, a vist to Mustila is a must.

Flowers in abundance

If you want to see colourful flowering, visit Mustila at Elimäki (Kouvola) during late May, early June. We visited Mustila last weekend and the azaleas were in flower. The rhododendrons will flower a bit later, maybe on this weekend. If you live in Helsinki, visit Haaga's rhododendron park - I heard that azaleas are at their best there, too.

Mustila is an arboretum so there are also fabulous trees and other plants. The Douglas firs from America are amazing, the highest are about 40 meters!