Celebrating the 500th View of my Post

I baked a small cake in order to celebrate the 500th view of my post 'Only in Kaskinen'.  I'm really happy and amazed that so many people have been interested in an English-language homestead blog telling about the smallest town in Finland.  Some other of my posts are close to the same amount of reads. Thanks to all readers for your interest and encouragement!

Seems that all trees, bushes and flowers are blooming at the same time. It's really been the spring of a lifetime!  A cold wind from the north blows the minute I leave our yard, but the yard, being surrounded by fences and various buildings, has a relatively favourable micro-climate.  My daughter and her fiancé brought me a pear tree as a surprise gift. It was planted close to the greenhouse, and we'll see if it will be able to survive the harsh winters of our town.  With a lot of plants it's not the cold that actually kills them but the quick variation of temperature that goes on throughout most of the year.

The petals of our cherry tree are already scattering from the tree forming white spots in the boxes where the onions have grown long green stems.  I made some traditional Finnish summer soup using those onion stems and chives from my garden.  Also pea sprouts to replace peas.  And of course potatoes, carrots, and some garlic.  It turned a real success and what I had thought to be enough for two days was finished in the course of one meal.  Not many people make summer soup any longer. One of the forgotten gems of the past.

There's recently been a great deal of discussion on Facebook about the way our public areas are being cared for in our town.  Many writers have expressed their dissatisfaction with the way action is taken (like trees are being cut) before anyone is notified and town-dwellers opinions are not being asked. Without going into too much detail I would say the problem might not only be the lack of money but also time.

There's really much going on in the technical department with planning, building and other urgent matters and there's no expert on gardening and landscaping recruited at all.  The environment and landscape section of our technical board only meets once a year to complain about overgrown hedges or branches and stuff.  Maybe they could take a bigger role in planning the outlook of our streets and parks. I wish the problem to be solved in a sensible way.  Many of us live in this town because we like the look of it!

Coffee, food and drink

The new summer residents, two little lambs, have arrived to enjoy the summer and create a jolly atmosphere among both residents and visitors of the town. I tried to photograph them, but if you have ever tried the same, then you'll know how quick the creatures are.  I just couldn't get one single decent shot. The pair of them will pasture in our next door neighbours' lower yard, the same family that have received fame and excellent reviews for running our guest harbour. As the town suffers from the lack of funds for anything extra, even sensible plans for refurbishing the harbour have been postponed to all eternity. Yet, their friendly attitude and great service plus good coffee and buns have won the hearts of a lot of sailing people.

The beauty of our harbour in comparison to some others close by is that it is located right in the centre of the town.  Especially in case you feel like having a night out, you will easily find several good options for grabbing a pint of beer or some drinks in the total of as many as four places in the close vicinity of the harbour.  (Considering the number of inhabitants, we may be in the top league for bars etc per capita. LOL.)

In the street corner next to the market place there's the local pub named Café Kung Gustav. (Kung is the Swedish for king.) I don't quite know the idea behind the name. the Kung Gustav part is obvious because of its location in Kung Gustavs Allé, but why café?  I don't think people generally go there for a cup of coffee.  It is clearly a pub. Maybe they originally intended otherwise?

Piano Bar, located right next to the marketplace, doubles as the breakfast room for Hotel Kaske, the only real hotel in town.  When the weather is warm, they open their roof terrace and you can sit up on the roof and look at the sea glittering in the sunshine.  Very nice!

On Fridays pizza and drinks are being served in my favourite place, Restaurant Albatross, situated in an old building that has remained quite the same over the years, both inside and out.  As long as I can remember, it has had the cosy old-time atmosphere.  By the look of it, the furniture dates back to the 1930's.  The place is a bit dark and shabby, but definitely has the feel of the olden times. It seems a waste to have the place only open once a week, but sometimes some special events like concerts or dancing are organised there.

Any sensible pub crawler would take my round the opposite way and start with a meal in restaurant Sininen Hetki / Blå Stunden, the name meaning Blue Moment, the moment when day turns into evening and everything looks blue, just for a while.  The restaurant is located right by the sea, so it offers an amazing view to the blue moments over the sound of Kaskinen.  The menu is still a bit of a mystery because of the recent change of ownership.  The pizza they served us last weekend was very good indeed, but the rest remains to be seen.  Good luck to Pia and her team and many successful years to come!!!

And just to remind you, our Cafe Hilda is postponed due to illness.  Fortunately, there will be a lot of stalls serving coffee and food in the market during the weekend.  Plus our pub, bar and restaurants, of course.  Have a lovely spring weekend with a lot of sunshine and shopping in the market!

Cafe Hilda Postponed

Due to a nasty virus, which I don't intend to spread around among the residents of Kaskinen, there will be no pop up cafe at our place at the weekend.

I'm sure the girls would have done fine between the two of them, but the point of the cafe being mainly to see folks, it's best to postpone the date, so I will recover and have a chance for a little chat with our clients, too.

Btw, I, again, got an immediate appointment at the health centre. The diagnosis came quickly and the doctor told me (not for the first time) to avoid stress, no matter who/what I am.  The nurse seemed to suspect whether a teacher could have a stress-free rest at this time of the year. And she was right, of course.  My pupils need their reports, so I'm trying my best to count their test points before it is too late.

It's funny how I can, after all these years, correct language mistakes and grade answers quite automatically, even when I have temperature, but doing the math involved seems far too demanding. And I'm not talking about higher lever maths, but just ordinary sums like 3+ + 4- + 7.  The human brain works in mysterious ways...

The weather forecast for the coming weekend says half cloudy but warmish.  No rain.  I guess it's going to be a very good spring market.  Enjoy yourselves!!!

Only in Kaskinen

Cafe Hilda will pop up between twelve and five next Saturday and Sunday.  The same concept as in the previous address:  Coffee, tea, juice.  Something sweet and also nettle pie and salmon sandwiches. The current address is Raatihuoneenkatu/Rådhusgatan 44A.  Feel welcome, all our previous clients as well as new ones, too!  You might not meet Hilda in person, though...

Next weekend is when the annual Kaskinen Spring Market takes place in the centre of the town.  It's a lovely event with various kinds of stalls, like food, toys, clothes and candy.  It's nice especially in case the weather favours us.  If it's anything like it has been this fantastic spring, then there will be no problems.  Normally I would have bought plants at that point, but this year has been different.  This year spring made a giant in leap practically overnight.  Busy times in gardens. In ours, the pace has been rather too fast, so not nearly everything is in order, but I guess it never will.  When you have a garden, you'll always have plenty to do.  So, not much blogging because of the lack of time.

I still wish to share info on a unique event next Tuesday. A bank clerk of Kaskinen branch of Närpes Sparbank, the only bank in town, will get retired.  She has worked for the bank for 42 years and to show their gratitude the bank has arranged a locally known chef to come and wok food for all the residents of our town!  Nice!  Only in Kaskinen!

The 1st of May in a Doggy Way

I was pretty keen to participate the new Kaskinen event, cycling around the town on Labour Day, but alas, that did not happen.  Maybe next year?  The reason for this was the problems with my dog Mollie, a two-year-old rescue from Bulgaria.  She was just a puppy when she was found on her own by the roadside. I took her to the vet, got all treatments, vaccinations, a passport etc for her, and she has been a great companion for me, especially now as my children have moved out.  In perfect health, too.

Two months ago she started limping one leg, then another.  Started losing weight, was tired most of the time, didn't eat or drink like she used to.  Was taken to two vets in our area, given 4 courses of antibiotics, several kinds of painkillers, all that with no permanent effect.  She finally got an appointment in a vet clinic in Vaasa, where they took some instant lab tests plus some to be sent elsewhere to be checked by the end of the week.

Labs taken, the vet returned, totally horrified. The results showed severe lack of white blood cells.  He said he hadn't seen such low number ever before.  In case we wanted to keep her, we would need to take her to a veterinary hospital in Hattula, southern Finland. (Also, the vet was not too pleased about his colleagues prescribing antibiotics with no attempt to check the cause of the illness...)

So off we went, and  after four hours of driving arrived in Evidensia Hattula.  She was taken more tests.  At that point her temperature was 40,2 and CRP dangerously high.  The results, however, didn't give any clue as to what the cause of the problem was. The treatment was started with two different antibiotics directly into the vains,  plus hydration, painkillers and finally plasma.

As she had to stay hospitalized, we booked a hotel in Hämeenlinna.  A horrendous night.  Drunken celebration of the first of May going on in the pedestrian street while we were trying to get some sleep.  I stuffed my ears with  plugs and managed to sleep a bit, even though the room was right above a night club.  My daughter didn't sleep at all, which was just as well, as the fire alarm went on at 3.30. and everybody had to leave their room and go and stand outside in the rain and wait for the fire fighters to come and check the reason for the alarm.  Which was the smoke machine in the night club.  Never again to that hotel!  Maybe not even to the same town?

After two nights Mollie was ready to be treated at home and we left with a bag full of medication.  No temperature, lower CRP, blood cells OK.  (Farewell to about one month's net salary.)  I really hope she will be fine, as she has been a great companion for me after my children moved out.  Kept me somewhat fit, too, as she is a very active dog.

Mollie will stay with my daughter in Vaasa until the next check-up.  As for me, tired but happy to be back home in Kaskinen!