Hyvää joulua! Holiday greetings!

First snow

Last night we got the first snow this year. It is quite late so I did not wait to get outdoors to enjoy it. 

Diamond dust

The crew snowshoed to the top of the local hill to admire the bright wintery sun and the bluest sky. 4 m/s N wind bites in -15 C temperature but they barely noticed it when admiring the shiny icy flakes the wind shook from the pine trees.

Hyvää Joulua! Merry Xmas!

Happy birthday to you Finland!

Snow flowers

Crisp -20 C nights have kept the swimming entry frozen and created the lovely feathery decorations.

Touched

Sunset skiing

Busy on vacation

I have started my winter vacation, or should I say my crew has started their winter vacation. For me it is getting hectic. The local forest birds have returned and the squirrels are active. Also, the day is getting longer so I do not feel like sleeping. Yesterday I did not have chance to sleep at all during the day as the birds kept coming to the feeding station and I had to stay alert all the time. I will keep you posted.

Meeting the dipper

I went to check out the swimming hole in the ice the captain had done. There was much more excitement I expected. The dippers were out having lunch close by.

The best snow ever

A week ago we got the loveliest 15 to 20 centimeter of new snow. This is not an overstatement at all - this was really the best ever soft light powdery snow, really good for skiing in the local forest and on the local hills. It was also super-beautiful. We can state that this winter has not been generous with the snow but we hope this exquisite dump of snow is predictive of the upcoming snow falls.

Moonlight activity

Yesterday evening the skies opened as the temperature started to decrease. My visit outdoors was quite short but the captain got exited... See the pics below. 

Merry Xmas! Hyvää Joulua!

A lot of activity still this morning. Here I refresh carpets and other textiles on the patio.

The crew skied up to the local hill. Misty weather today.

Merry Xmas to Fosse too!

The xmas trees are set. 

Ready for Xmas swim. And we are done, welcome Xmas to my cabin!

Under Ursa Major

Afternoon sun lingers on the snow

The crew is not allowed to ski down to this kind of steepness

Tracks in the Snow

Busy weekend - Part 1 Checking the skis