Our summer place in North Karelia

On our funeral trip to North Karelia we stayed at our summer place. We visit it very seldom and hadn't done it as a family this summer at all. The place was bought originally for Juha's parents to grow vegetables as they both were retired and longed something to do and with their history of being farmers the answer was the piece of land. It was bought right from the neighbour of Juha's mother's childhood home. Actually the little shed there is built by Juha's father of the very logs of Juha's mother's birth home. The shed is on the left and the building on the right is the sauna.

I just loved to visit the country side and the weather was so beautiful. It was almost like a summer weekend so God really blessed us with the weather. I enjoyed the simple living, peace and quiet and escpecially the real darkness of the nigt without any lights near there. We heated the sauna in the evening and we would go out to cool ourselves. I loved the feeling of freedom being able to go out all naked in the darkness! I also didn't remember how bright the stars actually are. I could have watched them hours but I got cold...

Here is the sauna. Juha's father built it from the board of the old barn. There is just the heatroom and a dressing room in it like all the saunas at the old days here in Finland. One has to do all the washing in a heat room. Naturally the sauna is heated with wood and that's the only way to get a good heat in sauna. We go to sauna at least twice a week here at home but it's just not the same in saunas heated with electricity.


This is what the sauna looks from inside. On the left is the dressing room. The sofa can be used as a bed too. Juha's mother slept in it while we took over the shed. In the shed there is just one room with one bed and one wooden sofa (like in sauna) and one leather sofa so we all couldn't fit in it.

On a good weather we always eat out. Sometimes we cook outside on fire but we also have electricity coming so there is a possibility to cook inside too. We don't have running water but we have an electric pump on our well which helps a lot. Anyway washing the dishes takes much longer than with the machine but you get to do it outside!

Because we don't have the running water we don't have water closet either but Juha's father built a very nice dike to all of us! I haven't had to empty it never and hope that I don't have to do it either. i can imagine that isn't very nice thing to do.

Right next to our summer place there is a big fence for cows. Cows maybe the thing our girls love the best in Sukkulansalo. They go inside the fence and this time Jonna got her shirt tattered by one of them. She was simply standing too close to the cow who started to cratch itself. So no harm done. The only noice (or should I say sound) you can hear during the night is the sound of the cow bells. Oh, how my soul rested!

And here is Juha and his holy cow...

The only thing we don't have and what is the biggest reason we don't go our summer place very often is the lake nearby. But in North Karelia there are many beautiful lakes and while we were driving there I remembered how much I miss the lakeside scenery! My dream is to have a home right by the lake. There are examples of the North Karelian landscapes with lake in here. Can you understand my longing for it?