recycling

My lover has become an expert in the scientific field of recycling. Recently she decided to share her knowledge with the youth. In this picture she is practicing. She is using highly-sophisticated instruction material to tricker the youngsters' attention. (Note the object close to her right hand!)

well-kept secret

Our pikku-kaveri, Aarni. He entered this world not much longer after a certain event.

appreciation

I've been telling people how intensive my job is etc. It is, and it has been a tough week. Again. Many times the last few months I got to the point that I just wanted to quit. Walk away from it all. You work hard for a crappy pay. Kids nag all the time. Being called names. Gotten kicked, bitten, slapped, stabbed.

And in the mean time it is easy to forget all the good things. I realized that some days ago. I love my job! I get so much out of it. I'm actually doing something useful. It is rewarding in itself to help people, to help some kids to get their lives going, help them stay out of -real- trouble. I get to speak Swedish. I am outside a lot. I'm developing myself, learning. Enjoy the company of my colleagues.

And then I'm only talking about my job. There is so much more to be thankful for. Being healthy, living in a 'safe' country, more than enough food to eat, a warm bed, clothes, books, a loving girlfriend, a damn bus card, forest, sea, nature, squirrels, a \m/ black \m/ guitar, ....and of course this beautiful hand-crafted longbow on her way to me.... : )

ありがとうございました

Arigatou gozaimashita

the perfect hide-out

Solitude. Loneliness. I've found the perfect hide-out. Helsinki, Finland. The anonymity of a 'big' city. Surrounded by people speaking an incomprehensible language.

I remember spending hours staring out of the window at the parking lot in front of the student flat in Wageningen. At that time I wrote 'Recluse', a poem / lyrics to a song which illustrates the feeling I sometimes have quite well.

falco spirit

Ordered this beauty. It will take a few weeks for her to arrive. Can't wait to hold her in my arms. ...and start shooting. At last...

ashtanga yoga

Did a three-session ashtanga yoga course last weekend. Which was pretty interesting. "Now move your attention to your behind." And you're standing there in a circle with 15 women concentrating on there ass! :-)

But yeah, it was a very informative experience. Learned quite some new stuff. I have now been doing hatha yoga in the mornings since January or so. Somehow I'm now ready to move on and start practicing yoga more seriously. The instructor mentioned that you don't need to stick to one style and that was a bit of an insight. I can do hatha yoga at home and ashtanga in a group. That would fit really well. Ashtanga is more dynamic, more like a group 'training'.

Was really out of balance for a whole week. Restless, even a bit anxious. Had to somehow find a new balance. Must have been effective.

"You are as young as your spine!"

1-3b

divine poetry

I'm still reading Conversations with God Book 3. I often come across something I really would like to share with other people. I actually started posting parts (and other insights, poems, works of art) here: http://syksynsyvyys.blogspot.com/, but you can't start copying a book to a blog.... With this part I'd like to make an exception. It's so beautiful. Truly divine poetry:

"See the flower as dying and you will see the flower sadly. Yet see the flower as part of a whole tree that is changing, and will soon bear fruit, and you see the flower's true beauty. When you understand that the blossoming and the falling away of the flower is a sign that the tree is ready to bear fruit, then you understand life."

"Always remember, you are not the flower, nor are you the fruit. You are the tree. And your roots are deep, embedded in Me. I am the soil from which you have sprung, and both your blossoms and your fruit will return to Me, creating more rich soil. Thus, live begets life, and cannot know death, ever."