Le chat a la Chalet

Oh la la, ski cottages have so many options to have fun!

Planning for the Xmas Theme 2013

What is the first mate up to? She piles some unrelated stuff and takes pictures? Oh, she is collecting ideas for this year's Xmas decorations. I believe this is one of the ways to alleviate symptoms of moving to land routines and adjusting to the increasing darkness before the snow is here to stay. I had to help her with my own proposal, can you guess which one is mine?

The inspiration source of the theme is Jardin Francais. I believe that kind of garden must have a lot of mice, birds, insects and other inspirational elements in addition to usage of symmetry and perspective, color scale of frosty pastel pinks and delicate details. I support this idea!

Where it all started

This is final stop on our summer adventure of year 2013. After five weeks of adventures we were back to our starting point in Mustakari marina in Kokkola. 

I had to release all the excitement and energy I had collected during the two days on trains and one night in a ship. I explored the beach vegetation and checked out the beautiful wooden boats that all had returned home for approaching fall. Mustakari has its lovely view to the open sea. This view, the view with a very strong symbolism of freedom and being a gate to the world of adventures without limits, we had looked at every day we spent in the marina preparing the vessel. Now the look over the vista made us a bit sad and in a way a little bit proud - we had to leave the sea adventures for a full winter of life on land but still the vessel is now in Kalmar that means we had achieved our target we had dreamed about. And also there was sense of a new start waiting us in upcoming Spring in the new seas.  

After this I had the most restful Kokkola-Oulu ride I ever had; after the long outing in Mustakari I just fell asleep in my car travel compartment and woke up in my lair on land well rested. 

PS It is worth of mentioning that the crew's state was opposite to mine. They were exhausted on all the planning, predicting and execution the sailing required. Exhausted but still super happy. The cognitive load of the journey was high for them; new routes, new harbors, new towns and cities, all the time finer and finer experiences and views. Oh, that can be loading for a crew that spends their winters on land in land routines. But I still need to say that after this demanding sailing of 700 nautical miles they have been remarkably more happy and more creative. This makes me think that suitable amounts of positively demanding activity is good for a human. Stretch yourselves, have your crews to stretch themselves! Fortunately I, as a chief of a vessel has to have, own more advanced mental and physical capacities and can handle changing levels of streams of new experices and places calmly ;-)  

Uncaged and energized.

Mustakari boats have returned from their Summer sailings.

This is where is all started, the view to the freedom and the world of seas.

Family news

My brother Tuiskutassun Hulivili, http://sipsun.net/urokset/tuiskutassun-hulivili/,  has started a family. Congratulations!

I plan to concentrate to my career as a sea cat for now. But who knows, some day I may meet a lovely lady who changes my mind ;-)

October Storm

Turku - Kokkola

The last leg from Kalmar to Kokkola. I think my new soft travel compartment is quite comfortable. By the time we were back to Finland I had collected enough confidence to leave it and relax on the first mate's lap and enjoy the changing views. 

The Snow is here!

Last night we got the snow that has stayed all the day. How could the crew sleep until 8 am in this kind of important morning? How ignorant of them... The snow inspired the first mate to start think about Xmas. I believe this year too I have to post some Xmas preparation and decoration stuff to keep her happy. 

I will return to the mountain weekend when I have finished posting about the last legs from Kalmar to Oulu; some more train traveling and returning to Mustakari marina where it all started.

My 2nd Anniversary

Congratulations to my crew! You have passed the second year in my service!

PS I had exceptional mountain weekend. I will report more. 

Shipping

Oh, how relaxing was the trip from Stockholm to Turku... However I had some responsibilities to take care: The wind of N 15 m/s caused the first mate to wake up and be afraid. I had to stay awake with her  until the ship reached Åland archipelago and the waves calmed.

Stockholm, oh, Stockholm

The crew likes Stockholm a lot, it seems to cause strong positive emotions in them. I do not yet understand why. I need to analyze this - it is always good to know this kind of motivational factors when being a chief of a vessel and managing a crew.

This picture is taken from the ship terminal. In this vessel I was a passanger only and enjoyed all the way from  Stockholm to Turku, without responsibilities. 

Alvesta - Stockholm

I was tired, very tired by the time we got into Stockholm train. It was a really pleasant, quiet, smooth ride, like Pendolino back home. Being tired on pleasant train means good sleep. I slept till we arrived in Stockholm. The crew was eating and tried to serve me some food too but I did not care about eating. I know that something new and exiting was on agenda tonight - we were boarding to a bigger boat than Exter, much bigger. I concentrated on sleeping and collecting energy.

A cute little dog travelled in the same carriage. There was a bigger dog too. The first mate behaved...

Kalmar - Alvesta

This and few upcoming posts tell about our travel from Kalmar to Oulu. The vessel was all set for the winter and with slight sadness we said goodbye to her and at the same time started to wait for the spring.

This first train I did not like, it was a bit loud. The waiting for the Stockholm train in Alvesta I liked less. I was horrified by the trains speeding past the station platform before our own train arrived. Fortunately the first mate and the captain were covering my travel lair so I felt a bit safer. 

Reaching new heights

Since returning to my lair on land I have concentrated in exercising. I run from the other end of apartment to the other end. From the kitchen to my bed room. Use the furniture as hurdles. And bounce  with superhero style from a bed headboard to a new sprint. I do this to show good example to the crew, and I have been successful in that as they started regular training routine too. And of course I train to maintain and develop my own physique. 

I am very happy to announce that I have been successful in this: with my improved jumping performance I can now declare the top of the tableware cabinet as a part of my domain ;-)