My Finland 100 : 21-30

Finland became an independent state on 6 December 1917. Already there have been numerous events staged throughout the country to celebrate this centenary year. The theme of the centenary year is ‘Together’. 

As I have been a resident of Finland for the past ten years I wanted to do a little something. For this I decided to post 100 images to my Instagram account on social media with the hashtag #finland100_igchallenge .

Anyone familiar with the Instagram application will be aware of the vast amount of wonderful photography posted every day online. There are so many amazing images to be found featuring Finland's stunning nature and landscapes. I imagine my photography may be lack lustre in comparison and as a result may not be noticed. So I decided to simply look closer in and around my new home for another approach. I have posted a variety of images found around my own house and neighbourhood. I didn't know much about Finland before I moved here, so I view this as an opportunity to show others a few things I discovered about or associated with Finland and it's culture. I have included everyday items, nostalgic items, locations, food and also some Finnish-themed artworks which I painted myself while living here. In other words, a bit of everything!!

The images are in no particular order of importance or preference, so I'll continue with 21-30...

21/100
..Monday sounds! #finland100_igchallenge 21/100 - Finnish band Damn Seagulls 2009 album 'Hunting Season' bears up well! 🐻🐻🐻

A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on Aug 28, 2017 at 4:18am PDT

22/100

Rauli "Badding" Somerjoki would have been 70 today. (30 Aug 1947 – 14 Jan 1987) - His nickname Badding was derived from Paddington Bear.

A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on Aug 30, 2017 at 12:01pm PDT

23/100
'Had to try this springwater despite extreme arm pain today. Maybe it has some miracle qualities?!!! 😇✨💪 ....A nice new public park called 'Dagmar's Park' opened recently near where I live. A wonderful gift from the Fiskars corporation to the Finnish people and friends of Finland to celebrate Finland's 100th year anniversary.

A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on Sep 3, 2017 at 8:52am PDT

24/100
Late night tv, a Finnish dvd movie called 'Rööperi'. Decent crime movie set in Helsinki with good Finnish humour.

A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on Sep 8, 2017 at 3:33pm PDT

25/100
Congrats to Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki who's film 'Toivon tuolla puolen' (The Other Side of Hope) has just won the International Federation of Film Critics Grand Prix 2017 award for best film. It's the second time he's won this award, the first time was in 2002 for this film 'The Man Without a Past'. If you haven't watched any of his movies then I recommend this one or my favourite 'Drifting Clouds'.

A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on Sep 12, 2017 at 3:39am PDT

26/100
Bronze statue in Helsinki of Elias Lönnrot, 'best known for writing the Finnish national epic 'Kalevala'. ..The long-bearded guy beside him is Väinämöinen the hero of the story. Statue by Emil Wikström 1902. 

A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on Sep 14, 2017 at 7:17am PDT

27/100
...around this time every year in Finland the big MEHU-MAIJA comes out of storage. It's a finnish juice extractor and it's making apple juice to be frozen for the long cold winter. 'Just need to plug it in and wait for the good stuff!! 🍏🍏

A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on Sep 16, 2017 at 1:24am PDT

28/100
...the dish drain closet! A great idea invented in Finland. Any water from the dishes drains into a hole at the bottom of the closet and down to the sink underneath. Best of all it's functional, eco-friendly and keeps wet dishes out of sight!

A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on Sep 22, 2017 at 2:13am PDT

29/100
Finland is the biggest consumer of coffee in the world per capita and here's an old coffee can by a Finnish company called Paulig of Helsinki @pauligfi . The text is printed in Finnish on one side and Swedish on the other, the two official languages of Finland.

A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on Sep 27, 2017 at 4:11am PDT

30/100
The word 'Sisu' is best described as the will to persevere through all to achieve ones goals, or determination, or 'to have guts'. It is held by Finns themselves to express their national character. Sisu is also the name of a Finnish truck manufacturer who's factory has been a close neighbour of mine for the past ten years.

A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on Sep 30, 2017 at 1:29am PDT

Click below for more:

1- 10

11- 20

21- 30

31- 40

41- 50

51- 60

61- 70

71- 80

81- 90

91- 100

Share this blog!

Thanks for reading my blog and please feel free to share it with any of your friends.

- Alan

 

My Finland 100 : 1-10

Finland became an independent state on 6 December 1917. Already there have been numerous events staged throughout the country to celebrate this centenary year. The theme of the centenary year is ‘Together’. 

As I have been a resident of Finland for the past ten years I wanted to do a little something. For this I decided to post 100 images to my Instagram account on social media with the hashtag #finland100_igchallenge .

Anyone familiar with the Instagram application will be aware of the vast amount of wonderful photography posted every day online. There are so many amazing images to be found featuring Finland's stunning nature and landscapes. I imagine my photography may be lack lustre in comparison and as a result may not be noticed. So I decided to simply look closer in and around my new home for another approach. I have posted a variety of images found around my own house and neighbourhood. I didn't know much about Finland before I moved here, so I view this as an opportunity to show others a few things I discovered about or associated with Finland and it's culture. I have included everyday items, nostalgic items, locations, food and also some Finnish-themed artworks which I painted myself while living here. In other words, a bit of everything!!

The images are in no particular order of importance or preference, so I'll start with 1-10...

1/100 
After almost 40 days away I'm looking forward to this! 

Nice to be back home in Karis!

A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on Jan 14, 2017 at 2:22am PST

2/100 

Finnish power breakfast! Muesli with forest blueberries and seabuckthorn berries. Plenty of anti-oxidants and vitamin C eqivalent to 500 oranges!

A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on Jan 18, 2017 at 11:47pm PST

3/100
Happy Runeberg's Day!..these are Runeberg tarts, very tasty treats from Finland. Find out more about this tradition on my blog at www.alanhogan-artgarage.blogspot.fi/2017/02/the-dead-poets-breakfast.html

A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on Feb 5, 2017 at 4:42am PST

4/100
the Finnish pantti or moneyback system helps keep plastics out of nature's way. It makes cents to recycle your plastics in Finland!!! ♻

A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on Feb 21, 2017 at 1:16am PST

5/100
Back in Karis with a bucket full of sunshine!!! Happy Days!! ☀😎☀

A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on Apr 21, 2017 at 11:21am PDT

6/100
Captured this 'Aglais io' on camera last Monday while out for a hike in Västerby, Finland. More commonly known as the 'European Peacock' butterfly, I've modified it with selective colouring and it's available as a print on some of my art webstores.

A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on May 3, 2017 at 1:45pm PDT

7/100 
Yum! 😘 Finnish pea-soup isn't just for Thursdays!

A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on May 9, 2017 at 5:45am PDT

8/100
...'got a soft spot for this old Finnish band despite not understanding most of their songs. Nice melodies and compositions!

A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on May 17, 2017 at 5:12am PDT

9/100
..clouds and rain today in Finland, so posting a sunny painting of a red house to brighten up my Instagram! It's called 'The Red House in Finland'.

A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on May 30, 2017 at 11:17am PDT

10/100
...driving home for a lazy Sunday afternoon!

A post shared by Alan Hogan (@alanhogano) on Jun 4, 2017 at 11:32am PDT

Click below for more:

1- 10

11- 20

21- 30

31- 40

41- 50

51- 60

61- 70

71- 80

81- 90

91- 100

Share this blog!

Thanks for reading my blog and please feel free to share it with any of your friends.

- Alan

 

The Dead Poet's Breakfast!

This is a repost from 2011. I'm trying to restart my blog yet again. And what better day to reboot it than this special day in the Finnish calendar. Since Finland is celebrating it's 100 year birthday as an independent nation this year 2017 I hope to repost a few old stories here aswell as some photos from my time living in Finland.  

The 5th of February is known as Runeberg's Day in Finland, named after Finland's national poet Johan Ludvig Runeberg who was born in the town of Jacobstad, Finland on this date 1804.

'Runeberg's most famous work is Fänrik Ståls sägner (The Tales of Ensign Stål, Vänrikki Stoolin tarinat in Finnish) written between 1848 and 1860. It is considered the greatest Finnish epic poem outside the native Kalevala tradition and contains tales of the Swedish War of 1808-09 with Russia. In the war, Sweden ignominiously lost Finland, which became a Grand Duchy in the Russian empire. The poem, which is composed episodically, emphasizes the common humanity of all sides in the conflict, while principally lauding the heroism of the Finns. The first poem "Vårt land" (Our Land, Maamme in Finnish) became the Finnish National Anthem. Runeberg is celebrated on 5 February each year.'

- taken from Wikipedia

While the National anthem of Finland is sung in the Finnish language by the majority of people over here, it is also sung in swedish with the same passion and pride by a part of the Finnish population living in the west and south of Finland. In my opinion there is something very special and respectful for the people of Finland to have their anthem in both languages.

   

And it is also on this day Feb 5th every year that a certain cake named 

Runeberg's torte (Finnish: Runebergintorttu; Swedish: Runebergstårta) is eaten all over in Finnish homes to celebrate this great national poet. The story goes that the poet Johan Ludvig Runeberg enjoyed a torte with some brandy punsch for his breakfast every morning.

And not wanting to be disrespectful, I am only too happy to carry on this good tradition in my own home today. A little too late for breakfast, I will be eating one of these two little beauties here with a nice cup of tea later on this evening.

Thanks for reading my blog and please share it with all your friends.

-Alan

You are welcome to visit my art page on Facebook by clicking the 'Like' button here.

Original post from 2011.

Mayweather in Finland!

I just wanted to throw a blogpost in quickly as it seems the winter in Finland may finally be over, well at least until after autumn. And no, this post has nothing to do with the recent boxing fight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas, so apologies to any boxing fans who stumbled onto my blog here. I hope it was a good fight. I didn't see it myself unfortunately, I was fast asleep in bed!

Getting back to May-weather, last Thursday saw the arrival of Vappu, Finland's annual Mayday celebrations which actually begins on the 30th of April and can continue until May 1st or even longer for some folk depending on whether or not you have a strong head! It's traditionally a very Finnish affair with students past and present wearing their white graduation hats. I've been told that in the past students also had a blue hat which was worn during the winter months and then swapped for a white version on Vappu to celebrate the arrival of spring, summer and happy days. There are various styles of hats symbolising which area, academy or field you studied. For example if you qualified as an engineer you would normally have a long string and tassle attached to your hat. I think I prefer the normal white sailor type hat myself.

The traditional Finnish student hat

Of course as I studied in Ireland myself I don't have this white student hat. To my knowledge students in Ireland don't have student hats, maybe one or two junior schools wear them as part of a uniform but definately not used as graduation wear for Secondary School (High School). Nope, all we received was a certificate and a jolly good wave goodbye! Some third-level colleges and universities may have special graduation garments and hats similar to those found in the United States of America. These are usually rented though, so you would never see them worn annually on May day.

Anyway, with the absence of a white hat I decided to grab my old school tie instead and throw it on just for Vappu. Don't ask me why I still have my old tie, just a bit of nostalgia I suppose! I wasn't going to any Vappu parties so it didn't matter if it offended anyone or looked silly. With my striped-maroon St. David's school tie fitted on and a few drinks ready for some cocktail-experimentation I felt a bit like Harry Potter. My first trick was the exploding champagne bottle!!! Maybe I've just started a new trend for expats, wearing an old school tie on Vappu!

This years Vappu weather couldn't have been more confusing. I was planning a nice garden barbeque with friends for last Thursday, but then after a few pleasant sunny days this arrived on Wednesday morning and continued for most of the day. The final snow show!

  

With no option but to cancel my bbq plans I decided simply to enjoy a bottle of bubbly and some drinks indoors. This didn't stop those in the big cities from partying hard though  and to everyone's surprise the snow melted away like magic and sunshine brought joy to the land of Moomin and trolls. From what I heard there were actually a few new trolls crawling the streets of Helsinki on Thursday night! But overall throughout Finland people had a great day out. Lots of fun, balloons, good weather and of course champagne! Here's a video by a young mexican lady who went to the Vappu outdoor celebrations in the town of Lappeenranta in eastern Finland. She's explains what Vappu is all about in a more photogenic way than I could ever do!





You can read more about Vappu in Finland on my previous blogpost called 

Vappu! - May Day in Finland. 

- Simply click on the image below!

Thank you for visiting my blog!


Thank you very much and please share this with your friends!!!

Share

You can receive my blogposts direct to your email or facebook profile by pressing the follow button at NetworkedBlogs  and you are welcome to visit my art page on Facebook by clicking the 'Like' button under my signature below.

- Alan