Kaukkovainio Incident

The "Silent March" on Friday to remember the Moroccan who was killed last Saturday evening at the Monaco Pizzeria brought to mind my last entry on this Blog.

I had mentioned how Hasim and Kasim had turned around a pub habituated by drunks into a wonderful family restaurant.

Next to the Monaco Pizzeria in Kaukkovanio where the shooting took place,  there are two pubs. Sure enough it was from one of them that the shooter went to the Monaco Pizzeria.

The residents of the area have been terrified of the drunks who habituate these drinking houses, so much so that after 8 pm they do not visit the shopping mall.

All of them expressed in the local newspaper how they were not able to use the shopping mall in the evenings. They wanted the drinking houses closed and turned into shops.

A very valid request in the light of what happen last Saturday night.

I wish the City Authorities will stop lip service and have a review prepared and published of all the shopping malls around the city. Then we would be able to see how they can change the culture where there is a problem.

The Rajakylä shopping area is one which stands out a mile, as also the Topila area and Kaukkovainio.

The real exemplary ones are at Ranta Kastelli, where again the Goreme Pizzeria owned by Hasim and Kasim has ensured that the peace and tranquility are maintained.

Did I write too soon? Am I writing too late?

 

Another Jousimies?

If one reads the report about the recent murder of two Moroccans in the Kaukkovainio pizzeria, (Not Racism), the root cause was the alcohol bars in the shopping centre.

Residents of Kaukkovainio specifically tell that the shopping centre is not a safe place in the evenings and the weekends.

I had written how Kasim and Hasim had transfored the Höythyä Shopping centre from a drunken place by changing the traditional drinking hole ito a respectable family friendly restaurant.

This can be done in Kaukkovainio too!

Norwegians amazing behavior

Although I do not know the full story of the Indian children taken away from their parents and placed in a foster home, as it has not been covered in Finland, from what I have seen on the Indian media and have read about this subject, the behaviour by Norwegians of "officially kidnapping" children and placing them in "foster homes" at € 30.000 a pop is truly amazing.

In a detailed article by a Norwegian in The Hindu, the background to this kidnapping is explained.

The iron hand that rocks the cradle

MARIANNE HASLEV SKÅNLAND

I must compliment Indian newspapers, not least The Hindu, for giving a thorough coverage to the case of the Indian couple deprived of their children by the Norwegian ‘child protection services' (CPS).......

This foster home scandal included sexual abuse of the children by one foster parent who has now been convicted in Court.

Norwegians are not told the facts. The parents of the children taken into foster homes are deamonised. And they blindly believe the bureaucratic version as they are brought up to believe that the authority is always right.

Hopefully, the case of the Indian children will make some Norwegians to sit up and look at the way the system is being exploited for profit by a group of corrupt individuals.

In the meantime, please make as much noise as possible to get the children released and sent home to India.

Change from drunkeness onwards

Jousimies was a nice small restaurant in our local community area, but over the years it got taken over by a group of louts who spent the whole day in a boisterous fashion, drinking and puking all over the place.

No local resident could enjoy a peaceful meal at the place.

Last year my friends, Hasim and Kasim, the owners of Göreme Kebab and Piazza Restaurant negotiated a buy out of Jousimies. They renovated the restaursnt and made it an eating house where you had to buy food if you wanted to have a drink.

On Saturday, I had to wait for Annikki when she was at church. I decided to have some freshly baked bread with Garlic Butter at the new restaursant.

I found elderly locals and families with small children eating there in peace.

What a turn around as sober people have reclaimed this restaurants after a period of almost 20 years!

Thank you, Hasim and Kasim.

U Decide : Does This Guy Even Know His Subject?

There are times when you receive a forward from a friend and you laugh of guts out. I laughed at each line while I read through this.

In the evening, I read it to our grandson, Samuel, in Newcastle, with Annikki listening, and had them both in splits of laughter.

Being largely involved with Phyics in my later stage of my career, mainly Solid State Physics, the punch line hit me right between the eyes!

Enjoy!

"This was a question in a physics degree exam at the University of Copenhagen:

"Describe how to determine the height of a skyscraper with a barometer."

One student replied: "You tie a long piece of string to the neck of the barometer, then lower the barometer from the roof of the skyscraper to the ground. The length of the string plus the length of the barometer will equal the height of the building."

This highly original answer so incensed the examiner that the student was failed immediately.

The student appealed on the grounds that his answer was indisputably  correct, and the university appointed an independent arbiter to decide the case.

The arbiter judged that the answer was indeed correct, but did not display any noticeable knowledge of physics.

To resolve the problem it was decided to call the student in and allow him six minutes in which to provide a verbal answer that showed at least a minimal familiarity with the basic principles of physics.

For five minutes the student sat in silence, forehead creased in thought.

The arbiter reminded him that time was running out, to which the student replied that he had several extremely relevant answers, but couldn't make up his mind which to use.

On being advised to hurry up the student replied as follows:

"Firstly, you could take the barometer up to the roof of the skyscraper,drop it over the edge, and measure the time it takes to reach the ground.

The height of the building can then be worked out from the formula H = 0.5g x t squared. But bad luck on the barometer."

"Or if the sun is shining you could measure the height of the barometer, then set it on end and measure the length of its shadow. Then you measure the length of the skyscraper's shadow, and thereafter it is a simple matter of proportional arithmetic to work out the height of the skyscraper."

"But if you wanted to be highly scientific about it, you could tie a short piece of string to the barometer and swing it like a pendulum, first at ground level and then on the roof of the skyscraper. The height is worked out by the difference in the gravitational restoring force T = 2 pi sqroot (l/g)."

"Or if the skyscraper has an outside emergency staircase, it would be easier to walk up it and mark off the height of the skyscraper in barometer lengths, then add them up."

"If you merely wanted to be boring and orthodox about it, of course, you could use the barometer to measure the air pressure on the roof of the skyscraper and on the ground, and convert the difference in millibars into feet to give the height of the building."

"But since we are constantly being exhorted to exercise independence of mind and apply scientific methods, undoubtedly the best way would be to knock on the janitor's door and say to him, 'If you would like a nice new barometer, I will give you this one if you tell me the height of this skyscraper'."

(The student was Niels Bohr, the only Dane to win the Nobel prize for Physics)"

Web contacts worth following

A few weeks ago, an email arrived in my Inbox. I sort of liked what I read. I decided to subscribe to the newsletter and have been receiving it since then.

The newsletter is called "Passive Panda" (passivepanda.com) and the Editor is sending me regular news postings with excellent advice about how to get better results in a web based business.

I have done most of what the Editor is saying during my 20 years as an active web player. I did it more out of intution and I enjoyed the results and the fruits of my work.

For me to read someone who has quantified this is very satisfying.

If I was 20 years younger, I would have been very excited about this, just as I had fantastic results 25 years ago by subscribing to a newsletter called "communications briefings". (communicationsbriefings.com)

It was that newsletter which resulted in our magaine, first print and then online, being named "findians brefings". Being a subscriber I had the right to print one of thwir articles in our magazine, and they were always well received.

If you really want to organise your working life and start to make some money on the web, I would suggest that you seriously look at these two publications!

Quick trip to Helsinki

I took the Blue1 flight at 09:15 to Helsinki (€ 54 was return fare!). It was bitterly cold, -32 C, and with the slight breeze, it was about -38 C. Helsinki was like summer as the temperature was just -8 C. Finished work and got back to the airport by 15:00 hours; flight at 16:40 and home by 18:00. Temperature was still hovering around -28 C but as it was not windy, it was bearable. Hope the temperature starts to rise and we hope it is sunny bright days ahead.

Finnish Fake Lawyers

23.11.2011

Speak no Evil, See no Evil, Hear no Evil
Motto of the Finnish Lawyer's Association

It was truly humourous to read the reaction of the Finnish Lawyer's Association regarding "Fake Lawyers".

If anything is fake it is the Constitution of this Lawyer's Association, whose sole purpose is to act on behalf of their brotherhood against anyone who dares to question the illegal actions of its registered members.

It would be interesting if this Association would inform the public of how many complaints it has received during the last 10 years and how many of the brotherhood members were made accountable for their illegal actions.

Probably less than 1 %! Probably less than 0.1%!

If my personal experience is anything to judge the situation, my father and mother had no debts and only assets when they died. After 7 years of my father' death, he became the founder of a company, he was taken to the bailiff for debts he incurred 9 years after his death, had all his money meant for his siblings run though by a noted Finnish "Oulu Lawyer" and his friends, and with the connivance of a Notary of the Oulu Magistrates Court and another member of this esteemed legal profession, usurped my parents assets for themselves, sold the inheritors properties and are enjoying their illegal gains, while the inheritors stand there with empty hands!

And what has the Finnish Lawyers Association done?
They have turned a blind eye despite all the volumes of evidence presented to them and they have declared their "brother" totally blameless.
They are nothing more than a Rubber Stamp for the daylight robbery by their brotherhood.
Finland, the least corrupt country on this planet?
Think again as that is only an image.

I say "Better Fake lawyers than Finnish lawyers"!

Finnish Version

23.11.2011
Älä puhu pahaa, älä näe pahaa, älä kuule pahaa
Suomen asianajajaliiton motto

Oli tosi huvittavaa lukea asianajajaliiton reaktio valeasianajajien suhteen.
Jos jokin on vale, se on asianajajaliiton perustuslaki, ainoa tarkoitus on toimia heidän oman veljeskuntansa puolesta ketä hyvänsä vastaan, joka uskaltaa kyseenalaistaa sen liiton rekisteröityjen jäsenten laittomia toimia.
Olisi mielenkiintoista, jos tämä liitto ilmoittaisi julkisesti, kuinka paljon valituksia he ovat saaneet viimeisten 10 vuoden aikana ja kuinka monta veljeskunnan jäsentä saatettiin vastuuseen laittomista teoistaan.
Ehkä alle 1%? Ehkä alle 0.1%?
Arvioin tilannetta henkilökohtaisen kokemukseni kautta. Vanhemmillani ei ollut mitään velkoja kuollessaan, ainoastaan omaisuutta.
Seitsemän vuotta kuolemansa jälkeen isätäni tuli yrittäjä, hänet vietiin ulosottoon velkojen vuoksi, jotka hän aiheutti 9 vuotta kuolemansa jälkeen.
Hänen viimeisen osoitteen postilaatikkoon laitettiin hänen nimellä ja osoitteella ulosottoviraston ulosottouhkalasku kyseessa olevan asianajajan järjestämä omaa tarkoitustaan varten vailla mitään virallista asemaa perässä. Tämä tunnettu oululainen asianajaja vei osakkaiden perintöomaisuudet käräjäoikeuden notaarin avustuksella ja erään muun tämän arvostuksella ja erään muun tämän arvostetun ammattikunnan harjoittajan kautta. He ryöstivät vanhempiemme meille jättämät omaisuudet, möivät perillisten kiinteistön ja nauttivat heidän laittomista saaliistaan samalla kun perilliset jätettiin tyhjin käsin!
He tekivät kaiken sen ilman mitään virallista asemaa osakkaiden suhteen, tietoa tai valtuutusta mihinkään.

Ja mitä asinajajaliitto on tehnyt tässä?
He peittivät silmänsä kaikelle suurelle määrälle todisteita jonka he vastaanottivat kahdelta osakkaalta. Asianajajaliitto julisti hyväveljensä moitteettomaksi.
He eivät ole yhtään enempää kuin kumileimasin heidän veljeskunnan päivänvaloryöstöön.
Suomi, planteetan vähiten korruptoitunut maa?
Ajattele hetki, koska se on vain imago.
Olen varma, että valeasianajajat ovat parempia kuin virallisesti valtuutetut suomalaiset asianajajat! Parempi mahdollisuus oikeudenmukaisuuteen missään asiassa olisi kuka hyvänsä vastaantulija kadulla!

Change from a decade

As you know I have been a Mac addict since 1984. With reason?

When I got my first Mac Portable in 1991, a PowerBook 170, I travelled by train between Oulu nad Helsinki when Annikki and I were on our way to India. That was probably the only computer on the portable train.

Since then we had the appearance of many computers. Whenever I have travelled there were no Macs other than mine, but just many brands running the Windows operating system.

On Sunday I travelled for a quick visit to Helsinki. On my way back I noted that there were four computers being used by the people in the seats at the side and in front of me.

The persons in the seat in front of me had a PC and was playing games and watching CDs. It was a Windows based laptop. The seats adjacent to them had two computers running. One was an architect doing house design and he was running a Metallic MacBook Pro. Th seat adjacent to him had a lady who was watching a film and that was on a white MacBook Pro.

In the seat absolutely next to me I had a music diretcor working on his music, who was running his MacBook Pro.

I noted that during the journey the Windows machine had to be rebooted at least 4 times.

None of the Mac even coughed the entire way of 7 hours.

And I did note that the PC had to be recharged but none of the Macs was even plugged in the entire journey.

I think this experience speaks for itself! What say you?

How time has passed!

Ruki Family

As usual, I have several excuses why my blogs has not been updated. None of them are valid except that I have not just been on the ball as I have had problems in running my retired life business.

I am glad to say, thanks to Rukshana, the daughter of a dear friend, Yezad Kapadia, I was introduced to a young man living in Helsinki, Yogesh Kale, formerly from WIPRO Administration in Banaglore, an experienced hospitality manager and a very sincere person.

He took time off from his working life to look after his baby daughter for the last 9 months while his wife went back to work.

He and I hit it off from Day 1. He has come in as a shareholder and Director of Raantel Oy from this month. He will take charge of Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa and also Tampere. He has brought a new face to Raantel. I am sure we will grow in South Finland and operate on a similar model as we are doing in Oulu.

I will not blow the trumpet about Yogesh as I watch him develop Raantel into an internationally acclaimed company.

With his induction, probably life will get a little easier for me. Knowing me, whenever a gap appears in my life, I jump in with a new idea or new project. I have so many up my sleeve that I should start keeping a diary of all the projects that have just been overlooked in the last 40 years.

I have lost much of my skills, but some do remain and hopefully they will result in a few more good projects.

Amazing photographs of Oulu Sunsets

Last week we went to see Annikki's sister. As it was nearing sunset, we thought a visit to the beach may give us something to brood about.

As we were driving, both Annikki and I noticed that the sky was becoming a wonderful golden purple as the sun was fast setting and the clouds had a great formation..

When we turned on to the beach road, the sun was already behind an island far out at sea and the view was amazing.


The island and the trees seemed to be alight with flames.

From Sunsets 2010 Oulu

Photo 1: Island on fire

From Sunsets 2010 Oulu

Photo 2: Island on fire

From Sunsets 2010 Oulu

Photo 3: Clouds at sunset

Which photograph of the Island on Fire is better. Both of rushed out of the car running to the beach to catch a shot with our cheap pocket cameras, which both of us carry with us all the time!

I am not going to reveal who took which shot, but it is test of each one's eye as against the reflex time.

Within a minute of us taking these shots - the scene had changed.

The clouds were as if painted in the sky, also an amazing colour spectrum. Annikki saw it change from purplish white to grey.

Sunsets, each one being different, in Oulu are truly amazing.

Visit of Indian Ambassador to Oulu

Ambassador Om Prakash and his wife Vineeta 

Thanks very much to Asheesh, the CEO of Medipolis I GMP in Oulu, the Indian Ambassador to Finland, His Excellency Om Prakash and his wife, Vineeta, were invited to Oulu to meet the top city officials and also to share an afternoon with the Indian Community here.

Indu and Asheesh, Aruna and Mahesh and Nushrat and Arindam took the lead and organised a wonderful event. They were assisted by a small band of youngsters who also helped to clear up after the event.

On Thursday, Asheesh rang me and asked me to give the introductory address about Indians in Oulu.

I spoke for about 10 minutes highlighting the arrival of Annikki, Susanna, Jaakko and me to Oulu in 1969 when we were en route to India. This was followed by our visits in 1975 and 1979, till we moved here in 1984. I also gave a glimpse of the relationship I had with two former Ambassadors, Fabian and Cherpoot, both of whom were our guests in Oulu on official visits to the Unversity.

I told the audience of Fabians outstanding talk on the "North South Dialogue" which was published in full, with his permission in my book "Seven Year Hard Labour in a Finnish Holiday Camp - A Finnish University".

The historic dual citizenships (Now vanished!)granted to our children, Joanna and Mika, the close links between the Microelectronics Laboratory of the University of Oulu and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and the way in which Oulu had become our home and how the Indian Community here had grown and become strong, featured in my short talk. There was much to say, but I did not want to bore the audience!

Mahesh then gave a a very well done presentation about the history of the City of Oulu. It was quite embarassing as he kept referring to my contribution in the aspects of Oulu life. (I was assisted by several people and it was embarrassing to be referred to it as the sole architect!)

The Ambassador gave a speech, which was a little sad, as he informed us thet he was just a few days from returning to India. I discovered that he was from the same University as me, Delhi (1971, Hindu College), considerably junior, and he had served under both Fabian and Cherpoot and also knew my good friends, Ambassadors Niranjan, Siddarthand Aftab, andf also Tony (former Chief Commissioner for Jammu & Kashmir), all of whom were Stephanians of my years in college (1960 - 1963).

The afternoon snacks provided by Nushrat and Arindam (Indian Cusine) were well received by the medium sized audience.

I was a little surprised why several prominent members of our Indian community did not come. Although most of them got the message through O-India, and the event did not cost a dime to attend, the lack of enthusiasm by one section of our community is a little sad.

I hope that in future we will have a better turnout, as these events help to cement a bond between the Indian ex-pats who are almost all doing well here in Oulu.

I also later suggested that in future the invitation to our Indian Ambassadors should be made at the start of their tenure as then we could get recognition and co-operation over the 5 years of their term in Finland.

After the event, Atul, my co-moderator at the O-India Group, has asked for a regular Coffee (Beer) Club session of our community, something that I started with CHAFF (Chamber of Assistance for Finns and Foreigners) and all ethnic minority communities and Finns, several years ago. That had been a huge success, but after I handed it to the members, it died a slow death.

All such Groups need a motivator and a theme. Just a casual get together may work for a few weeks, but one which needs to succeed over a longer term needs the undivided attention of a couple of people who make it an exciting event to attend. In short, they must get some personal value out of attending!

Let us hope Atul succeeds in his adventure of forming this group.

And I thank all those who organised the event and our Indian Ambassador, His Excellency Om Prakash and his wife, Vineeta, for the chance to share a few moments with all many Indian friends here in Oulu.

Jai Bharat.

I was really chuffed...

My Miss Universe 

Quite unknown to my better half, I have been blogging her attributes at various junctures. She, however, does not look at what I post! She has never even seen the tribute I posted for her on her 60th birthday - 6 years ago!

So when someone saw what she meant to me, and realised that I was not doing it to gain her affection, I was greatly chuffed when the comment was so very positive. Yes, I am deeply in love with this grand lady who has given her life for our grandchildren, children and me. She has been through hell-fire and I am a witness to that. But her love, faith and charity were so strong that it surpassed all obstacles - and there were many!

Of course, she was very active when we launched Findians Briefings. She was my source for local information. She scanned the newspapers - the Helsinki and Oulu papers and gave me a deep insight into how Finland really works.

The popularity of our newsletter which became a fortnightly web magazine was in no small measure due to her insight into Finnish life and culture viewed as a Finn who was a non-Finn!

Now we are entering in a new phase in our life. Annikki's life phases are exciting and each passing day reveals a new dimension in her thinking. So watch out for some really interesting news very soon!

She had to have it!

When we went to the beach on the 6th, Annikki saw a large piece of driftwood. She wanted to have it. Unfortunately we did not have our trailer

Yesterday, another glorious day, we went to the beach one more time to get hold of this.

As you tell from the mischievous kid-like expression on her face, Annikki was totally contented with her effort and prize. It will find its place in the garden by this evening.

From Jacob's Blog

>

Before this, I went to see the Oulu Cricket Club lads hold one of their final sessions. Three new guys were there, two from Orissa and one from Chennai. Fourth from Managlore, came to watch.

They played this session with a tennis ball as the sting from a cricket ball, when the weather is cold, would have been too much for these lads from the tropics! :-)

If the weather holds, they may get in one more session this Indian Summer.

Could I refuse this request?

Yesterday was Annikki's birthday. I got home at about 6 in the evening and wished her.

She was talking to one of her sisters.

I asked her what she wanted to do. Her request for a present was to buy a pizza and go the Oulu Nallikari Beach. It was indeed a glorious Indian Summer evening!

From Jacob's Blog

From Jacob's Blog

From Jacob's Blog

It was really a glorious evening. There she was enjoying her birthday the only way she knows how!

Puzzled by darkness

Street Lights OFF?

Now that we actually do have darkness in Oulu, as our nightless nights have ended, I was greatly puzzled the other day.

I had to drop off one on my tenants at the airport at around 21:00 hours. On my way back, I decided to go to the office, pick up some papers and head for home. This was around 22:00 hours.

The highway, the E4, was well lit. When I pulled off the highway I thought it strange that not a single street light was on. All the way to the office and then through the City on my way home, I wondered why they had shut of the street lighting in Oulu. Only street lights at bridges and subways (tunnels) were on.

When I reached home I asked Annikki whether she had read anything in our local newspaper about this.

Answer: Negative.

We have a street light just in front of the house. It is extremely bright - but that night, like all the other street lights in Oulu - it was OFF!

Is Oulu City trying to save on electricity?

Living in Finland: Retrograde Steps

Retrograde Steps

The City of Oulu in Finland used to be of the very best cities in the world for pedestrians, cycles and slow moving mopos and scooters, as they had separate tracks for these apart from the roads. Only in the city centre, where all traffic is slow moving, did the scooters merge with the road traffic.

It was possible for me to go from our home to the office without once driving on the road. It was fast and safe.

Some pedestrians, quite unwarrantedly, started a campaign to take the scooters off these special tracks. Last week this was implemented.

My first reaction after driving my scooter on the roads was that the number of fatal accidents of scooter drivers is going to increase sharply. Also it will be quite impossible for scooter drivers to be on the road once the snow arrives. I used to be able to drive my scooter all through winter. albeit slowly, when I was driving on the slow moving tracks.

The reason why accidents will increase is that most scooters do not have the power to drive at the speed limits set for the roads - 40, 50, 60 and 80 kmph. 40 kmph YES. 50 kmph at a stretch, YES. But 60 and 80 kmph is quite impossible.

Hence, motorists - car and truck drivers will be impatient when they come up behind a slow moving scooter, and the impatience will make them to swing out into the centre to overtake these scooters.

This will have two effects. The oncoming traffic will be jeopardised and secondly, when these bigger vehicles overtake these light weight scooters, they will cause the scooters to wobble and be unstable.

As a result the only conclusion to expect will be a possible accident of either the larger vehicle or the scooter.

People will express concern, but it must be said that these activists who lobbied for this quite unnecessary change - will have blood on their hands!

Finland: Oligrachy?? = Democracy??

Oligarchy?? = Democracy??

Many years ago, when Annikki and I were running our fortnightly newsletter on the internet, "Findians Briefings", I had a wonderful Finnish lady called Sinikka Ikni who wrote a column for us with the title "Democracy ?? = Oligarchy??"

She used to write a short piece which really exposed what was the "real" Finland like! I would edit her English. We would then run an English and a Finnish version of her article.

We also had a young student, Ilari Sohlo, who also wrote a column for us called "Going Sohlo". In it he captured the mood of Finnish universities and the youth. Some very surprising facts were uncovered by him.

Out newsletter was read in all parts of the globe. In those days a readership of 20000 was good. However Findians Briefings had a readership going well over 80000. I used to monitor the readership virtually on a daily basis to see where our readers were coming from.

We had no advertising except our own. Still we were making a lot of money as an Amazon.com associate, one of the very first to follow that route. Our pages on books in the Findians Paradise Book Store were only about subjects that we were competent in. That included India, Finland, Plastics, Rubber, Adhesives, Microelectronics, Stamps, and many other hot topics and hobbies.

So with this new approach, we thought we would see if this FanBox was really what it claims to be. This Blog is a trial to see whether that old magic we created in the mid-Nineties still exists.

Come back to this blog and spend some time here to see whether what we were writing about a decade and a half ago can still pull in the numbers.

We think it can!

Wondering why?

If you are wondering why I did not update this blog or any of the others recently, it is because I am trying a new experiment. I am always trying new experiments and that is why I am at the forefront of new technologies in web communication.

There is a limit to the number of readers I can add to these blogger.com blogs.

I came across a blog host called FanBox.com which supposedly paid me for putting my posts on that blog and it had no limits to the number of readers. (I do not believe that I will get paid, but one can always try! :-) )

I started with a copy of what I had posted on this blog and have put up a few entries since then.

I do not trust the host FaxBox.com. I am not pushing anyone there to read my postings there. But if you want to take a look please do.

I heard someone was asked to join the FanBox blog, etc. Please do not do anything so radical.

I will post all that I post there here, so do not get forced in anything you are not comfortable with.

On the other hand I will certainly not post any sensitive information concerning my grandchildren on that blog.

In the meantime, Jacob's Blog will continue to be my main blogging point.

I wonder what goes through her mind?

Zebras by Annikki - made for my mother.

 Took 7 months.

As I look out of the window, I see my better half of the last 45+ years doing many things in the garden. Moving small things here and there, and sometimes really back breaking work like moving a load of sand from one place to another so as to put a rubber sheet underneath so that the grass does not grow through the sand. She does things painstakingly, and occasionally stands back to enjoy what she has done. She seems to know exactly what should be done, when and where!

I thought to myself that all through my working life and since, I have been busy, not with the express purpose of making money, but the end result of what I did was make money. Even as I help many tens of people today in Oulu, Tampere and Espoo/Helsinki, the final result is that I am gaining some monetary benefit, however much I try to disregard that aspect of my work.

But looking at Annikki pottering around, I thought of all that she has done in the last 47 years that I have known her. Almost 99% of it has not been for money or financial return. All her paintings were for her personal pleasure.

On the page of Annikki as an Artist which I created on her 60th birthday, there are two photographs.

The first is of the only painting she has ever sold, and that too with great regret. The second photograph is of the large tapestry she created for my mother almost 30+ years ago. This hung on my mother's living room wall till her passing away and now adorns our living room wall!

The gingerbread houses and the cakes she has designed were for the pleasure of her family and friends. The gardens she has so painstakingly created and maintained have been for the pleasure of those who want to enjoy it. The food she cooks, the clothes she washes, the houses she has maintained - all for her pleasure and of her family. She does those things as her "duty" to her family members, never thinking it is a duty.

I thought to myself whether I could ever be like her! I felt I would never achieve that sort of status in my life - a person who has been so selfless in her work and who enjoys everything she does. She is happy when others are happy. She is sad when others are sad.

How many people are like that in this world?

No doubt many of you will say that their mothers and their wives are of the same mould.

I agree that the work of a woman is priceless.

I remember seeing an article in "The Times" of London, many decades ago, which valued the work of a woman, housewife, mother. The conclusion was that no man would be able to pay his better half enough for the work she does to run the family. This is more so today than it was a few decades ago.

I value Annikki for all that she has been and is - Daughter, Girlfriend, Wife, Daughter-in-law, Mother, Grandmother, Artist, Author, Educator.

I wish everyone had a person like her in their life!