Driving to Helsinki and back

Yesterday's 1300 km drive was one with a difference.

A very strange storm hit mid Finland and I was amazed to see trees just pushed down as if the palm of a hand was just striking them down.

A power downsurge they called it as cold air was drawn down and crushed the trees.

Driving down to Helsinki I was caught in an enormous thunderburst in mid Finland. Driving at just 30 kms per hour I got through that and reached a sun-bathed Helsinki at midday. I left Helinki at 16:00 hours and went to Tampere - beautiful sunshine.

I left Tampere at around 18:00 hours and it was just a perfect drive except I saw this destruction which had been caused by a storm possibly just an hour before I went through. Got home around midnight.

Sadly I was not carrying my camera.

Annikki was worried stiff as she knew that i would be driving through that area just about then. Phone contact did not exist.

These trips are getting to be more exciting.

Next week, we will make that trip together to meet a cousin and her husband in Helsinki, so it won't be a day trip.

Gravity and Annikki

Sorry to have been of blogging for a time. I was recovering from my non-stop 4500 round trip drive to Amsterdam to drop Joanna and the grandkids at amsterdam so that they could catch the Eurostar train to London!

I have recovered, but am overworked as I am handling my Furnished Accommodation Service I run in Finland, without too much outside assistance.

I hope to be back at blogging regularly again, soon.

Today's question is what AWARD we should give to my better half?

Sir Isaac Newton got recognised because an apple dropped on his head.

How should we recognise this wonder "girl" because "birch syrup" dropped on her toe?

A look on the internet will find literally hundreds of entries on the best way to tap a birch tree to get the syrup, which is considered very healthy. Most of the methods require the tree is tapped by drilling a hole in the bark and then plugging the hole so that the flow is stopped.

There is possibility of considerable damage to the tree if this is not done properly.

The other day, Annikki was tidying up the garden. It was getting late. So she thought she would have a lie down as it was hot and the sun was still streaming through the branches of the birch trees at the end of the garden.

There were a few irritating birch twigs hanging around, so she snapped off one and lay down on her easy chair. A few minutes later, she felt a drop of something fall on her toe.

It was a sunny day, and no sign of any raindrops around.

This was followed by another drop.

Being a very curious cat,  she saw that the liquid was dropping from where she had broken the twig on the birch tree.

She tasted the liquid and found it to be water like but slightly sweet.

She rushed inside, and using her creative genius, she got a plastic bag and tied it to the end of the twig.

From Blogger Pictures

As she lay down, she saw the plastic bag gradually fill up with a water-like liquid. She observed that flies were greatly tempted to this liquid.

From Blogger Pictures

Soon she was up and about breaking twigs on birch trees that annoyed her, and promptly attaching a plastic bag at that point.

She had a steady flow of birch syrup collecting in the plastic bags.

The important point of this method of collection is that no damage is done to the tree. Secondly, as the collection is at the end of a branch, this is the excess liquid, as the tree has already used its requirements. This liquid would probably be lost by evaporation.

The process of collection could be increased substantially with some scientific experiments as to which were the best twigs to break off.

From Blogger Pictures

That the value of the liquid was no worse than that collected by traditional means of tapping into the bark is proven by the great attraction flies had to the plastic bags containing the liquid, although there was no unusual or strong smell coming from the bags.

And this collection was being made in the first week of May!!!

Sir Isaac Newton discovered gravity because of an apple.

Tan Sri Dr. B. C. Sekhar became called the Father of the natural rubber industry when he discovered that application of ammonia to the bark of of a rubber tree allowed continuous flow of latex, making life of the tapper so much more easier.

Should Annikki be Lady Annikki or the Mother of Birch Syrup Industry?

The debate has commenced! I bask in reflected glory! :-)

Now starts the real hard work

Oh! Not for me!!

Annikki has started in real earnest to set out the Vesaisentie garden with her vision.

First was the cleaning of the back fence area from years of accumulated rotting leaves and branches.

Then came the building of the Great Wall of Vesaisentie - a work in progress.

Yesterday evening we went to a shop looking for some garden stuff and came away with a large black plastic container.

Today it was in the garden with a circular brick wall around it. The first pond experiment of Vesaisentie.

But one pond is insufficient, so today we went to buy another pond. No doubt the ponds will find their right places tomorrow, in and above the ground.

Lots of minor works are in progress - as Annikki tries this and that. She is looking to create a garden with her stamp of design skills - and let me assure you that it will some unusual character about it.

But today was also buying day for trees. We will have two new trees, the first of many that will find their way into the Vesaisentie garden during this and subsequent years!