Wed, 29 Jul

I really missed Niklaas today. More than usual. When he was here in Finland, he was the "go-to" guy for making on-line reservations, especially for the train. Without him today I had to muster on by myself... I spent a bit of time tonight making hotel and train reservations for when my sister Rhoda visits the third week of August. It did help break up the usual day of grinding data and reading papers. Tomorrow Risto and Leo and I are heading north and visiting a nursery near Kajaani. The plan also includes witnessing some machines doing "tending" in plantations. Apparently they have machines that grab the plants growing around the desired pine or spruce, and then pull them the weeds out of the ground. Sounds pretty wild. There are 3 prototypes working in the country, so I guess we'll go check it out. Probably too big for the garden at home...


You know how I joke about fish and potatoes in Finland, right? Well, today we had soup for lunch. All of sudden Eevamaria looked up and said, "What, no pototoes in the soup?" This really would have been the first meal without a spud. Upon closer inspection by those assembled at the table, hidden among the larger chunks of rutabaga, were little slivers of tuber. Catastrophe averted!