A Midsummer Eve (Finnish Juhannus Juhla)

Yesterday was a busy Saturday around here...I woke up to turn off the lights downstairs and thaw bread dough at 4:00 a.m. (forgetful girls living in the basement!). Opening the door to the bathroom, I noticed that it was, once again, under a good deal of water. I got Joe up (baby slept thankfully) and we sopped up the water with many towels by the new wood floor and on the new carpet and pad and in the bathroom. (Later today Mark from Roto Rooter--our new found "friend" discovered the water softener drain had rusted closed again and moved the hose to a better drain.) Had Joe and I been aware, we could have stepped outside to view a lunar eclipse. We went back to bed, Joe fell asleep and the baby got up to nurse. Laundry, making Pulla (Finnish sweet bread), buying bookshelves, making books to move books, and the normal meals and clean up. The children had a lot of fun at cousin Eli's fifth birthday party at the Arapahoe house. They had a Camping theme. One of the games they participated in was an obstacle course that taught them how to fly fish in a pond, go into a tent to sleep, build a fire, dress in camp clothes, etc. The children ate roasted hot dogs (in a fire), chips, salads, and had roasted marshmallow s'mores. Brett and Aino invited us to a Juhannus Juhla (Midsummer's Eve festival) at their "new to them" home. It was fun to mingle with Finns and some returned Finnish missionaries and taste Kiiseli (fruit soup), Lehtujas (crepes) with Linggonberry and Cloudberry jam, torts, voi leipa (cucumber open faced sandwiches), Pulla (sweet bread with Cardamom in various forms: sweet rolls, braids, etc.), O'Douels, Apple Beer and Root beer, makkara (sausages), watermelon. Marit Kemppainen (now at BYU) made a flip poster of the history of the holiday with it's kokkos (bonfires) by the sea, sauna, midnight dips in the sea, floral wreaths for young maidens, etc.