European Vacation - Part III

An Assortment of Things Up High in Helsinki

Spheres and crosses on top of the National Church.

A weathervane and lots of domes on office buildings.

Here's a close up of the weathervane with date 1885.  Is it a dragon, chicken, what?

More gold crosses on top of the Orthodox Church. (To be featured in a separate post.)

More spheres and a ladder leading to them.

The flag of Finland.

Correction: the flag of Sweden - must have been on top of their Embassy.

This sphere topper looked like a frog from this way.

Front view shows it is something with two heads.

Another cross on a sphere.  The rest of it is a lighthouse on a church on Suomenlinna - the sea fortress islands in the waters near Helsinki.

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European Vacation Part II

Helsinki - National Church

One of the landmarks we went to on our first day of seeing Helsinki was the National Church of Finland.  Finland as part of Sweden for much of its history embraced the Protestant Reformation.  The National Church, or Cathedral of Helsinki is a Lutheran church.

The Cathedral sits up on a hill in a large square surrounded by government buildings.

I loved the stars on the domes.

Here's one of the building it faces.

The statue of Alexander II of Russia is prominent in the square.

It's a popular tourist spot and the woman on the left is volunteering to take a photo of all of us with my brother's camera.

Inside the cathedral, we would later realize, the decor was understated.

The organist was practicing so we paused to listen.

On Sunday we returned to this cathedral for the service in Finnish.  My sister in law had to tell us what the sermon was about.

More of Helsinki and other European cities to come in future posts.

Joining Inspired Sunday

Through My Lens

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Move Complete!

We have moved

We have unpacked.

We have organized

We have downsized even more than what we thought we would need to.

We are residing now at Vantage House, a continuing care retirement community (CCRC).  We have just lowered the average age of the residents because even thought the minimum age is 60, at 65 we are the youngest folks here.  I was mistaken today for the daughter of a resident which is understandable because if my Mom was still alive she would still be living at Penn Hall also a CCRC.

I've signed up for three trips.  Been to the movies in the auditorium.  Sat in the library to read.  Dan loves the coffee machine that grinds the beans each time he goes for coffee.  He has made regular trips to the fitness center.

I enjoy walking out the front door and down the street to walk around a lovely lake.  I can admire the gardens and not have to worry about weeding or watering them.

We are on the 11th floor and see magnificent sunrises and just as gorgeous sunsets.  We don't face the right way for the fireworks downtown but were invited to the apartment of a woman we knew from our former church who is 98 and living independently here.  She is on the 5th floor and we could see the top half of the fireworks.

The food is delicious with a wide assortment of choices each day.  There are 4 courses every day and we have learned to pace ourselves.

It's a lovely spot and very happy to have made this move when we are physically able to enjoy it for many years to come.

Tuesday Treasure #20 - The Bench

Move day was yesterday.  Today I'm back at the house cleaning for the new owners in preparation for their walkthrough before settlement.  Here's a look back at an old post with special memories.

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This post first appeared in December 2008.  My Mom was still alive and a widow for just one year.  The post was written just before her 90th birthday.  She lived until almost her 95th birthday.

Joining Tuesday Treasure.

The Bench

(December 5, 2008)

Almost two years ago Dan and I took a woodworking course. It was a lot of fun and I made some nice things. Afterward I helped Dan make tables for our shop. I also promised Emily a deacon's bench for her house. That was the summer of 2007. She found plans for me, I purchased them, and then filed them away.

Last summer Dan encouraged me to take the plans out and order the wood. We bought some very nice oak instead of the pine it called for. In reading through the plans we both realized I had not done enough woodworking to tackle the project on my own so I gratefully became the assistant to him.

We presented the bench to Emily and Matt at Thanksgiving and they took it home in their car.


It is a very special present because it was made by us and it was hand-painted by my mom, Emily's grandmother, who will be 90 years old on Sunday.


Before we did the final finishing of the bench, we repaired, sanded and refinished an oak antique table I had purchased for use on the porch. We realized it had been made by someone from pieces of wood they had around and we wondered about its history. So no one would wonder about the history of the bench 50, 75, or 100+ years from now we burned on the bottom who it was made for, when, and by whom plus we added who did the painting. (Sorry we didn't take a picture of that part.) We know it will be an antique for someone, hopefully a descendant of this family, one day.

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2016 Footnote:  The bench still resides at Emily and Matt's home in New Hampshire.  I have a lovely photo of my granddaughter sitting on it.

The referenced antique oak table has gone to ReStore for someone else to use.