Lights on!

We have twenty liters water all the time in big kettles on the wooden stove, batteries for the flash lights, matches and candles, canned food and juice, a generator at the shopping list. We are prepared but this latest storm lasted for hours. Our christmas tree had fallen by the village road - though it was quite a small misfortune compared with that the 23 metres high Christmas tree in Helsinki had fallen, too and compared to people who had had trees fallen on their house.

We had electricity off over 16 hours and got it back just in time to keep my 20 kg meat frozen - I had filled our storage before Christmas.. We buy all our meat from a fabulous local farm Nystu Lantbruk that has their sheep and cows grazing at the forest and meadows by the sea in Wattkast village in Korppoo. I didn't want to loose my steaks!

It's our fortune that we have a wooden stove to cook on and the other ovens keep us warm. It is cosy to sit in the candel light but a bit difficult to actually do something. So we were getting a bit bored with the dim atmosphere when we decided to take the car and drive to centrum of our island and to church to sing Christmas carols. We could see which of the houses were out of electricity because there were no X-mas lights, only a weak candel light from the windows. 

In the centrum and church they had electricity, so people sat on their seats and enjoyed singing both old and new carols. Then in the middle of the Silent Night the church went dark. The organ faded away. People continued to sing. I was moved and all the complexities that we had had without running water, difficulties to do every day chores became unforgettable. 

When writing this I can hear our roof banging again and I know many on our island are still sitting by the candel light, so I hope it won't get so bad  during the night. We have been working outdoors for hours today saving our building material when the tent over them had flown away. Please, no suprises next morning... And we haven't lifted up the Christmas tree yet, just in case.

A glad day at the cemetery...

Over twenty people with their rakes were like colourful umbrellas in the autumn weather gathering leaves into huge piles and chatting over graves this morning. It was the annual cleaning day at our local church-yard. After few hours of work together we could enjoy some sandwiches and coffee at the parish house.

We arranged some pretty heathers and junipers at the graves of Pellas anchestors - next sunday it is the All Saints' Day when people light candles at the graves of their nearest and the cemetery becomes a shining see of lights in the November evening.

August was a pilot and the builder of our house and father's grandfather's grandfather to little Isak August, so Isak was there, too, with his own tiny rake - although more interested in the tractor gathering the leaves.

August's father was taken abroad by the English navy during the Crimean War and never returned home. August as the oldest son had to take resposibility of the household and over 10 sisters and brothers. He had fallen in love with Cecilia as a young man but she would not have him - he had too much to take care of already. So she married another pilot and moved to Utö island, but her husband drowned. August tried again and asked her to marry him - and she said yes. They got two daughters, bought the pilot estate from the king of Russia and began to build a new house for them, our house, in 1870.  

August, Uno and Cecilia. August is here wearing his medal from the tzar of Russia after piloting his ship in the archipelago. Uno was the grandson of August and Cecilia, raised up at Pellas.

The church of Korppoo island is a medieval grey-stone church with special painted decorations on the inner ceiling, originally a catholic church. It has a peaceful atmosphere even if it is in the middle of the centre by the main road. From the grave stones you can read many special names that the sailors and sea-captains in the families brought with them from the seven seas, Atlanta, Oseania...